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You might wonder what was so amazing about her. Well, the sight of her cycling up a hill with two kids on the back, a rucksack on and a bag balanced on the front was mesmerising. Not to mention the fact this wasn't your average hill, but a very steep Lochend hill. Oh, and she did it all with a smile on her face!
As I watched her peddle up Marionville, I couldn't help notice she was doing it with great ease. There was an air of complete confidence and joy. This wasn’t a bother to her. As she stooped at the lights I saw her gently squeezing her kids knee with that motherly reassurance as if to say "you ok?". How wonderful.
As she cycled past the Hibs stadium, a water bottle fell out of one of the kids rucksacks. As I saw her pull over, I immediately did the same. I handed it to her and told her I thought she was amazing for cycling with two kids on the back. She smiled and thanked me for stopping to help, but I wanted to thank her for just being incredible to these two young kids – and for restoring my faith in the world.
I can't stop thinking about how determined this woman is. If that's the effort she puts in to parenting then those little bambinos, they will grownup very well grounded people. Lucky them. It made me think how different the world could be if all parents put that effort in. The air would be a lot cleaner for a start. | https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/to-the-mum-cycling-uphill-with-two-kids-youve-restored-my-faith-in-the-world-hayley-matthews-3646134 | 2022-04-09T09:07:54Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/to-the-mum-cycling-uphill-with-two-kids-youve-restored-my-faith-in-the-world-hayley-matthews-3646134 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
BEVERLY, Wash. -
Washington State Parks hosted a grand opening and dedication ceremony on April 8 for the refurbished Beverly Bridge. Hikers, bikers and even horse riders gathered for the event.
This restores a large gap in the Palouse to Cascades Trail, now complete at 285 miles long. Before, travelers would have to use the I-90 bridge or use other transportation to cross the Columbia River.
The bridge was a railroad bridge until 1980, when the railroad stopped using that line. In 1982, it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places for its significance in westward expansion.
Unfortunately, a fire destroyed the bridge deck in 2014, making it unsafe.
The Beverly Railroad Bridge was allocated $5.575 million in funding through the 2019-21 capital budget. Due to this funding, bridge construction started in 2020, leading to this opening.
The Beverly Bridge is 3,000 feet long, 85 feet high and crosses the Columbia River, about eight miles south of Vantage.
"We are excited to celebrated this landmark trail connection and to gather together before we venture across this magnificent addition to our cross-state trail on its opening day," said Scott Griffith, Parks region manager. "The Beverly Bridge will be connecting cultures and communities and we are honored to add this to our vast and diverse State Park System." | https://www.nbcrightnow.com/news/washington-state-parks-holds-grand-opening-and-dedication-for-refurbished-beverly-bridge/article_eee6f0b6-b7c8-11ec-b6c5-73c078b3029e.html | 2022-04-09T09:07:59Z | nbcrightnow.com | control | https://www.nbcrightnow.com/news/washington-state-parks-holds-grand-opening-and-dedication-for-refurbished-beverly-bridge/article_eee6f0b6-b7c8-11ec-b6c5-73c078b3029e.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
WEST RICHLAND, Wash. -
Drivers around West Richland can now drive on the newly-paved Paradise Way. The road is reopened from Onyx Avenue to West Van Giesen Street.
Now you can drive straight from West Van Giesen to Bombing Range Road.
Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. | https://www.nbcrightnow.com/traffic/paradise-way-in-west-richland-reopened-with-new-paving/article_fc055766-b7c2-11ec-b868-ebf6c03157f2.html | 2022-04-09T09:08:05Z | nbcrightnow.com | control | https://www.nbcrightnow.com/traffic/paradise-way-in-west-richland-reopened-with-new-paving/article_fc055766-b7c2-11ec-b868-ebf6c03157f2.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Fears that his men were too soft to go head-to-head with high-flying Hearts were laid to rest when the pair met in February and the Leith gaffer believes there is even less likelihood they will be out-muscled when they go toe-to-toe today.
Living in the city and meeting fans, as he headed into that first capital derby, Maloney was quickly appraised of the intense desire for a win, but what he also discovered was that there were many, even within the clubs’ own support, who feared they were not up to the fight.
While Hearts enjoyed superiority in terms of their league position, it was the perception that the Gorgie side packed some extra clout on the pitch which unsettled the Leith club’s fans and they did not shy away from sharing their concerns with Maloney.
In the end, although neither team could land a knockout blow, delivering the second 0-0 stalemate of the season, the Easter Road gaffer was relieved to see his men hold their own in a match both teams played on the front-foot.
“What was really impressive from my team was that, maybe, speaking to supporters before the game, they had a real concern about Hearts being physically dominant against us.
“And, I actually felt we matched them physically. That was a big thing for our fans.
“And I feel we are physically in a better place now than we were then.
“So what was a really big worry for our support going into that match, was one of the really big positives to come out of it.
“If they thought that [we were soft then], I don’t think they do now. The physicality of the team against Dundee United last weekend was as high. Physically our data showed it was as high as it has been all season so the players have worked extremely hard and couldn’t be in better physical condition.”
Today, at Tynecastle, Hibs are fighting for their top-six status, the lure of Europe and another league derby before the season concludes and while Maloney has a preferred style of play, he knows it is worthless if his men are unable to stand up to challenges as well as scrutiny.
“I would give credit to both sets of players for maintaining that intensity for 90 minutes. It literally felt like for every minute of that game, neither team took a step backwards.
“Competing is one of the aspects of the game I love.
“Players can make mistakes in games but the bare minimum they have to do is compete and I think that’s what I loved in the last performance, even from some of our most technical players.
“Joe Newell was just a monster, physically, in that game. And how we tried to press Hearts out of possession…they did the same but that was a really big thing for us, we felt that physically we matched them. That had been a big worry for the club – externally, really.
“So you’re asking if I learn things from my players. In that last derby, I learned a lot about my squad in terms of competitiveness and desire not to lose.” | https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/hibs/what-hibs-taught-shaun-maloney-and-how-soft-edinburgh-derby-fears-were-eased-3647754 | 2022-04-09T09:09:20Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/hibs/what-hibs-taught-shaun-maloney-and-how-soft-edinburgh-derby-fears-were-eased-3647754 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM HST
SATURDAY...
* WHAT...East winds 20 to 30 knots with rough seas 7 to 10 feet,
except north winds and lower seas in Maalaea Bay.
* WHERE...Most central through eastern waters and channels.
* WHEN...Until 6 AM HST Saturday.
* IMPACTS...Conditions will be hazardous to small craft.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Inexperienced mariners, especially those operating smaller
vessels, should avoid navigating in these conditions.
&&
HONOLULU (KITV4) -- Peter Choi's waited more than six months for building permits to remodel a deteriorating home his family bought in August 2020.
According to builders that's fast for the city's beleaguered Department of Planning and Permitting.
The Chois had planned to move into their new East Oahu home about a year ago. And the delays mean their budget is shrinking.
"My property is idling while I had to pay rent and mortgage so that is the heavy burden," he said. "Every month it's got to be like over $10-plus thousand I'm depleting my bank account."
Meanwhile, building costs are skyrocketing.
"Most of our reserves is gone and a lot of stuff we need to do we have to hold back you know like landscaping, rain gutter, we don't have enough money to do it anymore," Choi said.
There's a current backlog of more than 3,200 building permit applications, according to DPP. A spokesman said people are waiting on average four to five months.
But contractors said it's actually much longer.
Atlas Construction has 28 applications in the pipeline. The contractor does almost 60 projects a year and said building costs are escalating at about 6% by the time permits are issued.
"It's about nine months what we're averaging on our building permits," said Rodney Kim, vice president of Atlas Construction. "They're operating at 30% capacity and it's just because there's been a big overturn attrition rate in that position."
Delays in processing have been a problem for years. The department came under scrutiny last year when six people were charged with taking bribes to expedite permits.
The city's in the process of overhauling the building permit system by the end of the year. In the meantime DPP Director Dean Uchida told KITV in a statement the department is still trying to figure out how to improve processing times as contractors continue to wait.
Kristen joined KITV4 in March 2021 after working for the past two decades as a newspaper reporter. Kristen's goal is to produce meaningful journalism that educates, enlightens and inspires to affect positive change in society. | https://www.kitv.com/news/building-permit-delays-cost-oahu-homeowners-big-money/article_6451d7b0-b7b7-11ec-8226-430a162ea69a.html | 2022-04-09T09:15:48Z | kitv.com | control | https://www.kitv.com/news/building-permit-delays-cost-oahu-homeowners-big-money/article_6451d7b0-b7b7-11ec-8226-430a162ea69a.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM HST
SATURDAY...
* WHAT...East winds 20 to 30 knots with rough seas 7 to 10 feet,
except north winds and lower seas in Maalaea Bay.
* WHERE...Most central through eastern waters and channels.
* WHEN...Until 6 AM HST Saturday.
* IMPACTS...Conditions will be hazardous to small craft.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Inexperienced mariners, especially those operating smaller
vessels, should avoid navigating in these conditions.
&&
HONOLULU (KITV4) -- Day four of the drug trafficking trial for the brother of Katherine Kealoha had the prosecution revealing years of evidence obtained by the FBI on the big island doctor.
One of the witnesses the prosecution called to the stand was a pharmacist who filled prescriptions for Christopher McKinney, Dr. Puana's close friend.
In his testimony, he verified records that showed dozens of prescriptions issued by the Puana Pain Clinic to McKinney between 2015 and 2017 that totaled thousands of oxycodone pills
Prosecutors also called to the stand several FBI agents who testified that they collected years of evidence on Puana and McKinney that included 20-thousand pages of phone and text logs. The focus was on 2015 where the logs showed several instances where McKinney made a call to an accused drug dealer, followed by a call to Puana shortly later.
Agents also presented documents of four years of Dr. Puana's travel flight history, showing he made trips to Honolulu on the same day he issued prescriptions for McKinney.
The trial is scheduled to resume on Monday with more witnesses from the prosecution.
As someone who grew up in foster care, the only thing that mattered to me was finding love and belonging. Being able to connect with the community as a reporter in Hawaii is why I do what I do. | https://www.kitv.com/news/crime/day-four-of-the-trial-for-brother-of-kathrine-kealoha-brings-out-years-of-fbi/article_0d248a4c-b7b1-11ec-ba25-bfb355712ee3.html | 2022-04-09T09:15:54Z | kitv.com | control | https://www.kitv.com/news/crime/day-four-of-the-trial-for-brother-of-kathrine-kealoha-brings-out-years-of-fbi/article_0d248a4c-b7b1-11ec-ba25-bfb355712ee3.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM HST
SATURDAY...
* WHAT...East winds 20 to 30 knots with rough seas 7 to 10 feet,
except north winds and lower seas in Maalaea Bay.
* WHERE...Most central through eastern waters and channels.
* WHEN...Until 6 AM HST Saturday.
* IMPACTS...Conditions will be hazardous to small craft.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Inexperienced mariners, especially those operating smaller
vessels, should avoid navigating in these conditions.
&&
FILE - People arrive for work at the Amazon distribution center in the Staten Island borough of New York, on Oct. 25, 2021. Amazon plans to file objections to the union election on Staten Island, N.Y., that resulted in the first successful U.S. organizing effort in the company’s history. The e-commerce giant stated its plans in a legal filing to the National Labor Relations Board made public Thursday, April 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, File)
AP -- Amazon is seeking to overturn the historic union victory at one of its New York City warehouses.
The e-commerce giant listed 25 objections in a legal filing obtained by The Associated Press on Friday.
The retailer said the federal labor board must order a re-do election. The company says the National Labor Relations Board acted in a way that tainted the results.
It accused organizers with the nascent Amazon Labor Union of intimidating workers to vote for the union. An attorney representing the union has called the claim “patently absurd.” The company also accused the labor board of improper influence. | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/amazon-seeks-to-overturn-union-win-says-vote-was-tainted/article_20b7e160-b7cc-11ec-a799-772caa336fc0.html | 2022-04-09T09:16:06Z | kitv.com | control | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/amazon-seeks-to-overturn-union-win-says-vote-was-tainted/article_20b7e160-b7cc-11ec-a799-772caa336fc0.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM HST
SATURDAY...
* WHAT...East winds 20 to 30 knots with rough seas 7 to 10 feet,
except north winds and lower seas in Maalaea Bay.
* WHERE...Most central through eastern waters and channels.
* WHEN...Until 6 AM HST Saturday.
* IMPACTS...Conditions will be hazardous to small craft.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Inexperienced mariners, especially those operating smaller
vessels, should avoid navigating in these conditions.
&&
MAUI COUNTY, Hawaii (KITV4) – A quarantine order has been issued on Molokai to restrict the movement of all ungulates – animals with hooves – except horses due to detection of bovine tuberculosis on Friday.
The Hawaii Department of Agriculture (HDOA) issued the quarantine orders after six infected herds prompted quarantines in the Central and West End of Molokai between June 2021 and March 2022. The orders are also necessary to stop the spread of the disease on the island and to control the rest of the state.
Friday’s orders expand the quarantine and requires approval and a permit from the State Veterinarian’s office before any movement of live ungulates, other than horses from premises on the entire island, HDOA said.
This includes cattle, sheep, goats, swine, deer and antelope. The approval and permit are also required for ungulates, other than horses, transported into Molokai.
“The department’s Animal Disease Control Branch has been working closely with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to prevent the further spread of bovine tuberculosis on Molokai,” said Phyllis Shimabukuro-Geiser, chairperson of the Hawaii Board of Agriculture. “However, with recent detections, this quarantine is necessary to help protect uninfected herds on Molokai and also livestock across the state.”
The quarantine order does not regulate the hunting of feral and wild deer, antelope, pigs, sheep and goats on Molokai. The order also does not prohibit the slaughter, harvest, sale or transportation of meat from livestock, feral or wild deer, antelope, pigs, sheep and goats from the Molokai, according to state agriculture officials.
HDOA will be holding a public informational meeting for livestock producers, hunters and other interested individuals on Monday, April 18, 2022, 6 p.m. at the Lanikeha Community Center, Hoolehua Molokai. | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/hawaii-ag-officials-issued-quarantine-of-hooved-animals-on-molokai-to-prevent-bovine-tuberculosis-spread/article_ab4165ca-b7ab-11ec-9955-4f67a979929d.html | 2022-04-09T09:16:12Z | kitv.com | control | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/hawaii-ag-officials-issued-quarantine-of-hooved-animals-on-molokai-to-prevent-bovine-tuberculosis-spread/article_ab4165ca-b7ab-11ec-9955-4f67a979929d.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
(CNN) -- On a beach vacation, a venomous sea slug probably isn't high on your must-see list.
That's exactly what San Antonio resident Erick Yanta came across on his trip to Mustang Island, an 18-mile-wide stretch of land in the Gulf of Mexico near Corpus Christi, Texas.
While strolling along the beach, Yanta and his wife, Anna, spotted a tiny blue and white creature no longer than an inch clinging to a rock. He scooped it up to take a closer look and filmed it before carefully placing it back into the water.
Yanta didn't know it at the time, but they had encountered the venomous Glaucus atlanticus, also known as the "blue dragon."
"We've seen plenty of jellyfish like the Portuguese man-of-war, but never this animal," Yanta said. The Portuguese man-of-war is a siphonophore, a species closely related to jellyfish, according to the National Ocean Service.
As soon as he captured the video, Yanta hopped onto Reddit so users could help him identify the animal.
They adapt to avoid predators
The blue dragon normally lives on the surface of the open ocean, said David Hicks, professor and director of the School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg.
The slugs have a bright blue underbelly and a softer silvery tone on their back, he said. Blue dragons float on their back so the blue on their underside can blend in with the water while the gray blends in with the sea surface, Hicks said.
This is called countershading, an evolutionary trait that helps animals avoid predators, he said.
The sea slugs can be found at nearly any beach in the tropical and subtropical latitudes, but their small size means most beachgoers don't see them, he said.
"They are also soft-bodied, so they are often broken apart by the time they get through the surf zone and deposited on the shore," Hicks said.
A venomous sting
Despite their small size, blue dragons pack quite a punch with their sting.
The animal eats creatures like the venomous Portuguese man-of-war and stores its prey's stinging cells, called cnidocytes, in sacs, Hicks said. Blue dragons will use the cells to protect them from predators, and humans sometimes get caught in the crossfire.
The pain of being stung feels similar to a man-of-war sting, which can be quite painful and, in rare instances, life-threatening, Hicks said. Symptoms following a sting can include nausea and vomiting, according to American Oceans.
If you are stung by a blue dragon, it is best to go to a hospital for treatment, according to Ocean Info.
Yanta did not know that the blue dragon he found was venomous and later laughed when he realized what he had held. He said that knowing ahead of time wouldn't have made a difference though.
"I would've done the same thing," Yanta said. "I would've still scooped it up, filmed it and put it back in the water."
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/man-caught-a-venomous-blue-dragon-sea-slug-along-the-texas-coast/article_3d666eda-b7ae-11ec-bc64-5f420e563c76.html | 2022-04-09T09:16:18Z | kitv.com | control | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/man-caught-a-venomous-blue-dragon-sea-slug-along-the-texas-coast/article_3d666eda-b7ae-11ec-bc64-5f420e563c76.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM HST
SATURDAY...
* WHAT...East winds 20 to 30 knots with rough seas 7 to 10 feet,
except north winds and lower seas in Maalaea Bay.
* WHERE...Most central through eastern waters and channels.
* WHEN...Until 6 AM HST Saturday.
* IMPACTS...Conditions will be hazardous to small craft.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Inexperienced mariners, especially those operating smaller
vessels, should avoid navigating in these conditions.
&&
HONOLULU (KITV4) -- The death of 32-year-old Jason Gardellis from Indiana who fell to his death at Olomana is a reminder of just how dangerous Oahu trails can be.
"No matter how safe, how experienced you are accidents can happen, we've all had the little slips here and there," says Lena Haapala, the president of the Kokonut Koalition.
Haapala says she sees a lot of close calls, especially when people aren't aware of their limits.
"It looks like they're going into something that they were definitely unsure of and they didn't to their research and they think it's not as hard as it is," Haapala says.
Recently, rescues have been on the rise. So far in 2022, the Honolulu Fire Department has reported a total of 119 land and water rescues.
And they don't discriminate - there was able an equal number of locals and visitors who needed rescue.
As it stands right now, rescues are already included in HFD's budget, and they spend about $2.8 million a year in helicopter operations.
Some have been arguing that people who are rescued should have to pay. Currently, that's not what happens. HFD says they support keeping the system the way it is now, because they're concerned that by charging people for services, it would discourage them from calling 911 if they really it.
But some state lawmakers are pushing a bill that would allow rescue crews to charge in certain situations, such as if people are hiking on an illegal trail.
"There are some trails that are known especially in the tourist community that are dangerous and off limits, and knowingly they still go on these trails," Branco says.
Do you have a story idea? Email news tips to news@kitv.com
Tom anchors Good Morning Hawaii weekends and reports for KITV4. He comes to Hawaii after reporting in Nevada, Oklahoma and Georgia. Tom is a proud Terp, graduating from the University of Maryland in 2012. | https://www.kitv.com/news/recent-oahu-trail-rescues-spark-debate-over-charging-to-be-rescued/article_d4d91788-b7b6-11ec-83fe-b389ba04150c.html | 2022-04-09T09:16:24Z | kitv.com | control | https://www.kitv.com/news/recent-oahu-trail-rescues-spark-debate-over-charging-to-be-rescued/article_d4d91788-b7b6-11ec-83fe-b389ba04150c.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The Met Office have offered their insight on whether we can plan for a heatwave this upcoming Easter weekend. Northern areas are far from likely to see a heatwave, with wind and rain forecast, however, across the south east, it is likely to at least be dry.
Though it will be dry, it wont necessarily be scorching hot, though we will see some increase compared with temperatures enjoyed this weekend. So you many want to hold off on the portable BBQs for just a few weeks longer.
According to the Met Office's latest forecast, come Good Friday (April 15), Gillingham and Maidstone are both likely to enjoy highs of 15C with Dartford one degree hotter at 16C. Canterbury, Sevenoaks and Ashford will see identical highs of 15C.
READ MORE: Thanet's popular open-top bus from Stagecoach between Ramsgate and Broadstairs
"In either case, it will be milder conditions than we have at the moment," Richard Miles, Met Office forecaster told the Mirror. Asked if there was any chance of a heatwave, he added: "It's not what it looks like."
"There's nothing particularly extreme in the mid range forecast but it's eight days off - things can change. But we don't have a signal for a heatwave - or an icy blast."
The Met Office site says that from mid-April, more settled conditions are expected "with longer spells of dry and fine weather". It added: "However, changeable intervals are possible - above average temperatures should persist, however overnight frosts may occur."
The outlook from April 12- 21 also says: "The start of the period is likely to be cloudy, with outbreaks of rain or drizzle for many areas, as well as some brighter spells in central and eastern parts. Potential for strong winds and heavy rain at times, particularly in western areas. Temperatures generally warm.
"Moving further into April, unsettled conditions are expected to continue, particularly in the south and west. Spells of rain and strong winds are expected for most areas, with occasional dry interludes. Temperatures expected to be above average."
Whilst we will enjoy this milder weather next weekend, the outlook for this weekend remains cool. Highs of around 12C will be enjoyed in Gillingham, Maidstone and Canterbury over today and tomorrow (April 10).
The same weather seems to be forecast for much of Kent with Chatham also set for 12C highs this weekend and Rochester and Dartford even seeing slightly warmer temperatures of 13C. Along the coast, Margate and Ramsgate will see highs of 11C this weekend whilst Hern Bay may see the mercury soar to 12C.
Find out more about things to do and activities in Kent with our free What’s On email HERE . | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/kent-weather-met-office-delivers-6928836 | 2022-04-09T09:21:13Z | kentlive.news | control | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/kent-weather-met-office-delivers-6928836 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Pictures from this morning (April 9) have shown the Dover town centre eerily quiet despite the ongoing Operation Brock contraflow which has gridlocked the area this week. The Operation Brock barriers have split the the London-bound carriageway by junction 9 into two-way traffic.
The coastbound carriageway toward the busy port is only open to lorry drivers heading for a space on a ferry. Disruption to ferry services began in March when 800 members of P&O staff were suddenly fired over a video call and its vessels detained.
So far, the contraflow has brought chaos and disruption to the Dover area and surrounding highways, which has seen freight drivers battle incredibly lengthy delays. Despite the apparent calm this morning in pictures taken by Dover District Council, leader Cllr Trevor Bartlett has threatened to declare a 'major incident.
READ MORE: Operation Brock latest and traffic updates for April 9
This is due to the impact the issue is having on communities, causing some areas to be completely cut off during the roads chaos. This has caused some residential areas to become clogged with traffic as drivers seek alternative routes.
In a statement, Cllr Bartlett said: "This weekend is again likely to be challenging on the local road network.
"With P&O Ferries still not operating from Dover, the port will be under severe pressure throughout the busy Easter getaway. It would be remiss of me not to warn you to expect, and prepare for, some disruption again this weekend. But I have made it clear to the Kent Resilience Forum, Kent Police and Kent County Council that we will not tolerate another weekend of gridlock in Dover.
"For too long, local residents and businesses have had to endure disruption and quite frankly, deserve better. We share your concerns about the impact of gridlock on local businesses, and access to vital health and social care for our most vulnerable residents."
Cllr Bartlett continued by reassuring residents that the council is "applying pressure at the highest levels" as they seek for a solution to the congestion. He added: "Declaring a major incident would force the issue and trigger a more robust response.
"Finally, I want to assure you that we are applying pressure at the highest levels for a long-term solution. Together with our local MP and the Leader of Kent County Council, I met with the Roads Minister on Monday. We were united in calling for more investment in Dover to ensure that our road network is fit for purpose, both for local residents and businesses and as the nation’s Gateway."
The council has advised residents and visitors to 'be prepared' over the weekend, in a statement on their website the council have said: "With P&O Ferries cancelling all services, and potential for poor weather, tourists and hauliers using cross-Channel services are being advised to allow extra time for their journey, and to be prepared for long delays.
"Traffic management is in place for cross-Channel freight traffic which must join the queue on the M20. Enforcement is in place across the Kent network and HGVs ignoring the system will be sent to the back of the queue.
"Inevitably, this is having a major impact on local traffic. Diversions are in place, but please allow extra time for your journey. Arrangements are also in place to filter HGVs making local deliveries."
Sign up to get the latest stories from Kent direct into your inbox here | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/pictures-show-dover-eerily-quiet-6928912 | 2022-04-09T09:21:23Z | kentlive.news | control | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/pictures-show-dover-eerily-quiet-6928912 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
To the editor -- Re: reader Whitmont's (YH-R of April 6) reply on "How did we become so hateful and cruel?"
He was correct on one point in that "this is the default state." Christ died on the cross for the redemption of mankind from their "default state." The rest of his letter points to man's futile attempts to save himself.
This world is on the downward spiral so well documented in biblical prophecy. The wise will seek the solution contained therein.
MARVIN COLLIER
Yakima | https://www.yakimaherald.com/opinion/letter-human-cruelty-is-evidence-of-our-downward-spiral/article_bd6e34d4-f5c6-52c2-b5e7-bfb6e619e4a8.html | 2022-04-09T09:29:47Z | yakimaherald.com | control | https://www.yakimaherald.com/opinion/letter-human-cruelty-is-evidence-of-our-downward-spiral/article_bd6e34d4-f5c6-52c2-b5e7-bfb6e619e4a8.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
As we wrap up “Explore Your Career Options Week” April 3-10, it’s a good time to reflect on what we’ve all learned as a result of the pandemic workplace closures.
Washington is slowly inching its way out of the economic toll of the pandemic, but the conversation around career changes, upskilling and reskilling, and home-based offices and flexible work hours continues.
We’ve seen a lot made of what’s being called “The Great Resignation,” but, to us, it actually seems more like “The Great Reinvention.”
The truth is periods of crisis also bring opportunities for change, for reinvention.
Higher-education and business leaders are looking at what innovations they can make to serve students and employees more effectively, while also adapting to a changing landscape that has allowed for a flexible work environment.
No doubt the move to online training and education has inspired many Washingtonians to finish their degrees, explore new careers and find ways to support strained professions, like teaching and health care.
Western Governors University has led the way in unabashedly being unique. All the degree and certification programs are online and have been since its inception 25 years ago — which created a seamless transition for current and new students to access accredited degree programs.
For Washington’s employer community, the pandemic created new opportunities to reinvent the workday, the workplace and the worker experience. Families were put in tough spots — parents were homeschooling, Zoom meetings took up hours of the day and in-person meetings and the hours employees worked changed to accommodate work and family.
AWB’s Workforce Summit 2.0 last year brought together lawmakers, policy experts and employers to take a deep dive into the challenges and opportunities the pandemic brought about.
The discussions mirror what we’re still hearing today: Employers want quality employees with the skills to do the job; employees want to continue to have flexibility in when and where they work. Employees also want the tools and opportunities inside and outside the workplace to reskill and upskill, to reinvent their careers through seeking higher education options or starting or finishing a certification program as a means to advance in their current job or move to a new one.
Washingtonians want work-life balance. They want to work in careers that match their passion. And, they want to be valued in the workplace.
Many Washingtonians found a passion for new careers. As parents were put in the position to take on the role of teacher, enrollment in WGU’s education programs increased 20%. One student in Puyallup overcame her unique challenges to finish her nursing degree.
Employers like Halcyon Northwest in Olympia have been able to hire people from all over the country since the pandemic, opening up a larger and more diverse workforce pipeline.
While we’re all still a bit weary from the pandemic, the good news is there is opportunity ahead as we reinvent the workforce, education, training and how we balance work and life with the tools we developed the past two years.
Leadership Coach Jenefeness Tucker of the Washington Small Business Development Center said it best at AWB’s Workforce Summit: “It’s extremely hard to be a leader when things are constantly changing. But research shows that these five practices help people reach their personal best: Model the way. Inspire a shared vision. Challenge the process. Enable others to act. Encourage the heart.” | https://www.yakimaherald.com/opinion/saturday-soapbox-career-exploration-is-reinventing-the-workforce/article_66bef148-fef9-549f-bffb-fa19577e3851.html | 2022-04-09T09:29:59Z | yakimaherald.com | control | https://www.yakimaherald.com/opinion/saturday-soapbox-career-exploration-is-reinventing-the-workforce/article_66bef148-fef9-549f-bffb-fa19577e3851.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Jamesburg earns first Blue Ribbon School recognition
JAMESBURG – For the first time one of the district's two schools was named a Blue Ribbon School.
John F. Kennedy Elementary School is one of only nine schools in the Garden State cited as an "Exemplary Achievement Gap Closing School" for 2021.
Schools in this category have made significant advances in closing subgroup achievement gaps in English, language arts and mathematics over the past three to five years, JFK Principal Kristy DeFazio said.
The designation was surprising and affirming, said Diana Sanger, special education resource teacher and president of the Jamesburg Education Association.
"This award is the direct result of the individuals who dedicate their careers to providing nothing less than the best educational experience for all," Sanger said. "My colleagues and I at JFK Elementary School are proud of the efforts and rich, diverse cultures of our students.
"It’s through our school’s vision that these achievements are possible. And it’s through the compassion and commitment of the members of the Jamesburg Education Association that JFK catapulted into the national spotlight."
The district's demographics include a 54% population of Hispanic learners, as well as students who fall into populations of 34% white, 7% Black, 3% Asian and 2% two or more races.
The Front Street school houses about 465 students.
"Because we are such a tiny little school," Sanger said. "And for us to close the gap, it's enormous. Sometimes schools struggle in different areas. For us, we have a very high Hispanic population. So, we have a lot of English language learning students and we closed the gap. That means that we now are on level with other schools for performance. So, we are one of nine schools in New Jersey to get the blue ribbon and the only one of the nine in New Jersey to close the gap."
"Our students are so proud," Sanger continued. "It takes a long time to complete the process to be awarded a Blue Ribbon."
To celebrate, the district hosted a ceremony on March 22 and a parade on April 1. Every student was given their own Blue Ribbon and made a heart depicting what they love about their small town. The hearts are now displayed on the walls of the school.
"They are beautiful," Sanger said.
The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program recognizes public and private elementary, middle and high schools based on their overall academic excellence or their progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups.
For 2021, Walter M. Schirra Elementary School in Old Bridge received a Blue Ribbon designation, in the “Exemplary High Performing Schools” category.
In all, 325 schools were honored from around the country. Other Garden State schools recognized were North End School in Cedar Grove, Hillside Elementary School in Closter, Weymouth Township Elementary School in Dorothy, Lucy N. Holman Elementary School in Jackson, Torey J. Sabatini Elementary School in Madison and Wemrock Brook School in Manapalan.
Email: cmakin@gannettnj.com
Cheryl Makin is an award-winning features and education reporter for MyCentralJersey.com, part of the USA Today Network. Contact: Cmakin@gannettnj.com or @CherylMakin. | https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/education/2022/04/09/jamesburg-nj-earns-first-blue-ribbon-school-recognition/7229893001/ | 2022-04-09T09:48:18Z | mycentraljersey.com | control | https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/education/2022/04/09/jamesburg-nj-earns-first-blue-ribbon-school-recognition/7229893001/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
NJ students: Kazantsev named Distinguished Student of the Year (Grades 6-8) for Academics
The NJ Association for Gifted Children is honoring Philip Kazantsev as the 2022 NJAGC Distinguished Student of the Year (Grades 6-8) for Academics. The awards were developed to recognize students with exceptional ability and achievements in the areas of Academics, Leadership, and/or Visual and Performing Arts.
Kazantsev is an eighth grade student at Readington Middle School in Whitehouse Station. Kazantsev is always seeking to know how the world works, and is fascinated by math and science, especially chemistry. In fifth grade, Kazantsev was a state finalist in the You Be the Chemist competition hosted by BASF. By the time he entered eighth grade, Kazantsev had completed his first college level chemistry course and during the current school year has been working on college level math curriculum.
For fun, Kazantsev tinkers in game development, coding in Java and Python, designing his own UI and game play strategy. From a young age Kazantsev was an accomplished chess player, hitting the highest ranks in Boy Scout Chess Club tournaments where he plays with his fellow Boy Scouts from all over the state. Kazantsev loves the outdoors. He is an aspiring hiker and mountaineer regularly attempting to climb different peaks nationwide and his current record is 12,600 feet at the summit of Humphrey’s Peak in Arizona. He also trains rigorously with his Hammerheads swim team. But what he may love best is caring for his four pets at home: a dog, a cat, a bearded dragon, and a snake.
The NJAGC Distinguished Student Awards recognize students in grade levels K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12. Nominations for the 2023 Distinguished Student Awards in all grade-level categories will be accepted from Thursday, Sept. 1, through Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022 through the NJAGC website at njagc.org. To find out more about these awards, contact awards@njagc.org.
Also: The Readington Middle School Life Skills class took a community-based instruction trip to the First Choice Aquatics fish store. The store is in Flemington and owned by 20-year-old Randy Fisher.
A few days before the trip the students explored the store's website and watched an intro video on First Choice Aquatics. With teacher support the students created three written questions they would later ask Fisher.
Fisher and his mother, Peggy Fisher, gave the students a tour of the store. Peggy Fisher fed their 5-year-old shark named Biggie. Randy Fisher showed the students many of their saltwater and freshwater fish. The students were able to see the coral being grown in the back of his store. Randy Fisher even let them touch a starfish. He discussed many of the jobs and responsibilities within the store. Randy Fisher also discussed his Coy fish pond at home and how he maintains ponds for customers on the days the store is closed.
Many lessons were learned by the students and Randy Fisher was able to connect with some future aquatic enthusiasts.
Creative Marketing Alliance (CMA)
CMA, a full-service communications, marketing and association management firm, welcomes a Rider University student to its internship program.
Marissa Fernandez of Franklin Township was chosen to be part of the firm’s longstanding program that fosters the next generation of talent in the marketing industry.
“CMA cares about the community where we work and play,” said Jeffrey Barnhart, CEO and founder of CMA, who is a Class of 1977 alum of Rider University. “We have built long-lasting relationships in our own backyard with faculty at Rider University and its students. Our internship program plays an important role in creating opportunities for our industry’s new talented professionals who are eager to learn. We are grateful to serve as a growth catalyst for our neighbors.”
CMA’s interns have worked on several client accounts, including the Organ Donation and Transplant Association of America and the relaunched Central New Jersey Network (CNJN), which was formally Princeton TV. CMA President Christian Amato serves as a board member at CNJN.
Fernandez, a senior marketing major with a concentration in advertising, has served as account manager on several accounts.
“My experience at CMA has been full of new learning and life lessons, from the best way to communicate with clients to digital marketing solutions, such as SEO and PPC/Google advertising,” said Fernandez, who resides in Franklin Township. “CMA has allowed me to learn more things beyond just account management. And the staff has always made me feel excited and comfortable to come to work during the week!”
READ: The good things students are doing in Central Jersey and beyond
READ: Education news from around the region
READ: College Connection: Advice from local expert columnist
Pennington School
After finishing in the top 20 of the MIT Solv[ED] Youth Innovation Challenge, The Pennington School’s Women in STEM Solving Problems (WISSP) club has been chosen as a finalist in HP’s Girls Save the World contest. This subset of MIT’s competition focuses on the intersection of gender and climate change, and invites students between 13 and 18 to submit ideas to address an environmental issue in the community.
WISSP’s submission, entitled “Hybrid Sanitary Napkin for Economic Change,” detailed the initiative they have been engineering since spring 2019: a part disposable/part reusable product. This hybrid design keeps menstruating girls in the Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi from missing school while also offering refugees the opportunity to work towards economic independence through the making and selling of the reusable pads. As well as the educational and economic impact of this product, the part disposable/part reusable design allows the women to use less water for washing and creates less waste overall. Due to limited water resources and access to safe waste disposal in the refugee camp, these aspects also benefit the environment and community there as a
whole.
The students involved in the project will attend an MIT online finalists camp in May, where winners will be announced. The prize for the winning team is a $10,000 donation to their initiative, funded by HP.
The faculty advisor for the group is Susan Wirsig, the director of Pennington’s Applied Science Certificate Program.
Pingry School
Mirika Jambudi of Edison, a junior at The Pingry School in Basking Ridge, won the school’s 2022 Dr. Robert H. LeBow Class of '58 Memorial Oratorical Competition on Friday, March 4. She was one of six finalists to emerge from an original pool of 17 entrants.
Coordinated by Upper School Latin Teacher Judy Lebowitz, the competition was funded in 2005 through the generosity of Pingry’s Class of 1958, led by the late William Hetfield, in memory of their classmate. LeBow was an accomplished author and public speaker who addressed audiences worldwide about the need for health care reform. In this annual event, sophomores and juniors write and deliver speeches between four-and-a-half and six-and-a-half minutes on topics of their choosing.
Having joined Pingry as a freshman, Jambudi enjoyed listening to students’ speeches the past two years and looked forward to participating. She was excited by the prospect of writing her own original speech, developing skills in public speaking, and reframing a large-scale issue in the context of the Pingry community. The issue she selected, based on recent conversations and events, is the concept of “pursuing one’s passion.”
“Many discussions have included the question of what I want to pursue in college and do later on in my life, even though I’m still a high school junior,” Jambudi said. “Additionally, I realized that the virtual college info sessions and tours I attended over Winter Break all seemed to share an emphasis on developing passion.” In her speech, she argued that the idea of “passion” is flawed because, instead of being self-fulfilling, it has become a means to an end — such as getting into college, publishing one’s writing, or selling one’s art. She also noted that “passion” is not fixed because people’s interests change over time.
“We don’t do things simply because we want to; we do them with the expectation of results,” she said in her speech. “Careers and passions must be uncoupled. Interest in your job is ideal, or important of course, but it doesn’t have to be your reason for existing on this planet.” Jambudi hopes the audience realized that passion does not have to be sold to others, but should be cherished, celebrated, and nurtured.
Raritan Valley Community College
Raritan Valley Community College’s Arts & Design department will present two Music Students Recitals on Wednesday, April 20, and Friday, April 22. Both concerts are open to the public and will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Welpe Theatre at the college’s Branchburg campus.
The programs are being coordinated by Dr. Anna Keiserman, assistant professor of music and collaborative pianist.
The Wednesday, April 20, program, an Evening of Song, will feature performances by voice majors in the department’s Associate of Fine Arts and Associate of Arts (Music Option) degree programs, as well as music students from studio and ensemble classes. The singers include sopranos Victoria Mango, Carolina Silva and Kathleen Strong; tenors Jadon Black and Brandon Schuetz; and baritones Dasan Freeman, John Manganelli, Patrick Murphy and Jose Perez. All are students of Dr. Will Berman.
The Friday, April 22, event will feature instrumental performers in the Associate of Fine Arts music program, including clarinetists Mackenzie Brown and Brendan Daly; violist Alesia Kafer; saxophonist Ian Dalida; guitarist Christian Volpe; pianist Felipe Primero Guzman; and percussionists Sean Maher, Payton Teague and Gabrial Youngman. Guest flutist Alissa Delgado also will perform. The musicians are students of Greg Giannascoli (percussion), Richard Lempicki (guitar), Oliver Santana (woodwinds), Robert Radliff (strings), and Jeremy Sweet (piano).
General admission tickets cost $12 each, $8 for students and seniors. For advance ticket reservations, contact the RVCC Theatre Box Office at 908-725-3420. For additional information, call the Arts & Design department at 908-218-8876.
Also: Raritan Valley Community College has been awarded $20,000 from the New Jersey Community College Consortium for Workforce and Economic Development to plan for the college’s participation in the NJ Pathways to Career Opportunities initiative.
RVCC’s role in the NJ Pathways initiative includes acting as the lead community college for the Center of Workforce Innovation in Advanced Manufacturing and as a community partner for the Center of Workforce Innovation in Cybersecurity. The college has been awarded $10,000 for the planning of each of the centers.
The Centers of Workforce Innovation are funded with a $500,000 grant to be distributed amongst the participating community colleges to support the development of educational pathways that support the industry sector.
“As the lead college in the Center of Workforce Innovation in Advanced Manufacturing, Raritan Valley Community College — home to its state-of-the-art, Workforce Training Center — is poised to help students prepare to meet the regional employment needs for entry-level and advanced skilled machinists. Over 90 percent of students who have enrolled in the College’s Advanced Manufacturing program have secured employment in manufacturing fields. In its role in the New Jersey Pathways to Career Opportunities initiative, RVCC will build on its successes and help develop new curriculum to ensure that students are prepared for the workforce of the future,” said RVCC President Michael J. McDonough.
Joining RVCC in the Center of Workforce Innovation in Advanced Manufacturing are Camden County College, County College of Morris, and Sussex County Community College.
RVCC is also participating in the Center of Workforce Innovation in Cybersecurity. In addition to RVCC, the center’s community college partners include Bergen Community College, Camden County College, Ocean County College, and Rowan College at Burlington County.
The goals of the Centers of Workforce Innovation include:
- Developing industry-valued credentials;
- Sharing curriculum and providing professional development for faculty and teachers;
- Facilitating dual enrollment agreements between high schools and community colleges and transfer agreements with community colleges and four-year institutions;
- Piloting prior learning assessments solutions;
- Designing training and education focusing on pathways for non-credit to credit programs, dual enrollment programs, and incumbent workers; and
- Creating multiple educational pathways for students to gain career mobility.
The college offers more than 90 associate degrees and certificates, as well as career training, small business assistance through the Small Business Development Center, and professional development courses. For further information, visit www.raritanval.edu.
Also: Raritan Valley Community College student Sangeetha Punnam of Bridgewater is one of 20 college students in the country to be named to the All-USA Academic Team. Punnam, who is being recognized for her intellectual achievement, leadership, and community and campus engagement, will receive a $5,000 scholarship. More than 2,200 students were nominated for this award.
A member of the Academy for Health and Medical Sciences, Punnam is majoring in General Science/Pre-Health Professional at RVCC.
Punnam will be recognized during the American Association of Community Colleges’ (AACC) convention in May. In addition to the scholarship funds, recipients will be presented with commemorative medallions, and their college presidents will receive commemorative obelisks.
The All-USA Academic Team is sponsored by Cengage, with additional support provided by Phi Theta Kappa and AACC.
“Community colleges play an important role in providing affordable education that helps students transition successfully to the workforce,” said Kevin Carlsten, senior vice president of the U.S. Higher Education Institutional Group at Cengage. “Unfortunately, community colleges felt the largest enrollment impact from the pandemic with a decline of nearly 15% in two years. We want to do all we can to support community college leaders and students with affordable access to quality education and are deeply inspired by the achievements of this year’s All-USA Academic Team, as prime examples of the power of learning.”
The All-USA program is widely recognized as the most prestigious academic honor for students attending associate degree-granting institutions. Each college may nominate two students for showing intellectual rigor and demonstrating academic achievement, leadership, and civic growth. The program also recognizes students who extend their community college education to better themselves, their schools, and their surrounding communities.
St. Francis Cathedral School
Thomas Edison State University
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has once again awarded more than $199,000 to Thomas Edison State University in Trenton's Heavin School of Arts, Sciences, and Technology programs in support of a two-year scholarship grant.
The latest cycle of funding is anticipated to help more than 40 students enrolled in the school’s undergraduate Nuclear Energy Engineering, Electronics Systems Engineering Technology, Radiation Protection, Cybersecurity and Information Technology degree programs.
“Ongoing NRC scholarship support has helped significantly in eliminating the barriers to degree completion for more than 120 students in our programs,” said Dr. Richard P. Coe, assistant dean in the Heavin School of Arts, Sciences, and Technology at the university. “This generous and ongoing funding underscores the NRC’s endorsement of our academic programs and the value they bring to the workforce.”
The scholarships often support qualified students who are active-duty U.S. Navy nuclear personnel and other military service members, military veterans, graduates of the Nuclear Uniform Curriculum Program (NUCP) from 28 active community college partners, and graduates of the university’s non-ABET accredited Nuclear Engineering Technology program who now wish to upgrade their degree status in order to graduate from the university’s ABET-accredited Nuclear Energy Engineering Technology degree program. To further fuel degree progression for these populations, the university’s innovative 3+1 Pathways Program allows NJ community college students to transfer up to 90 credits to TESU where they can complete the remaining 30 credits required for graduation. Students enrolled in relevant associate and bachelor’s degree programs can potentially qualify for up to $10,000 in scholarship support under the agreement.
The NRC and the entire nuclear energy community recognize a direct link between proper training, education and safe operation of nuclear facilities.
“Our curriculum is proven to meet the academic and career needs of a diverse pool of students who are current or future employees in the nuclear energy field where technical currency, practical knowledge and applied skills are mandatory in order to meet emerging workforce demands,” said Coe.
Students who receive NRC Scholarship support and can also apply for additional funding during upcoming scholarship cycles. The application period for these scholarships is open now through Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. Learn more about the NRC at Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Scholarship at www.tesu.edu/tuition/nrc-scholarship.
Wardlaw+Hartridge School
The Wardlaw+Hartridge School in Edison’s community has long been committed to supporting food insecurity in NJ. In the past two years, W+H Upper School students started the initiative "W+H Subscribes to Fight Hunger" after they saw how the pandemic exacerbated an already growing issue.
W+H Subscribes to Fight Hunger is currently led by seniors Aarush Dharayan and Ananya Murlidharan of Edison, Shankari Theivanayagam of Summit and Shiv Tickoo of Scotch Plains and juniors Chiupong Huang and Naischa Puri of Edison and Andrew Wolff of Scotch Plains. They have been organizing monthly food collections from the W+H community, which are then delivered to Starfish Food Pantry in nearby Plainfield.
"We, as a school, realize our privilege and want to take action in order to put ours to good use. Hunger is a grave issue in our world, and we want to solve this problem little by little, starting with our own community," Puri said.
Tickoo, the W+H Student Council and senior class president, said, "By maintaining a steady stream of donations of food, W+H Subscribes to Fight Hunger ensures that the problem of food insecurity is being tackled by one less person, one less family, and one less community having to worry about where their next meal is coming from."
As part of the initiative this year, W+H participated in the Community Food Bank of New Jersey's Students Change Hunger Campaign between the months of October and February. This effort was spearheaded by the W+H Subscribes to Fight Hunger Team along with seniors Masoma Zaidi of Edison and Nicole Sandrik-Arzadi of Sewaren, who serve on the Community Food Bank's Teen Leadership Council. During that period alone, W+H collected more than 1,600 pounds of food. This equates to approximately 1,350 meals for families in need.
However, the monthly collections have continued. W+H will continue to collect and deliver food to Starfish Food Bank for the remainder of the school year, and resume efforts when school opens for the 2022-2023 academic year in September.
Also: Seven individual athletes and one team from The Wardlaw+Hartridge School in Edison earned All-GMC Division recognition following the winter season.
Congratulations to Jordan Severino of Somerset and Mehkai Huey of Piscataway for being named to the All-Gold Division first team after leading the W+H boys’ basketball team this season. Both Rams were consistent forces at both ends of the floor.
Four W+H juniors were named to the All-White Division swim team: Matt Faust of Westfield, Aiden Lee of Sewaren, Maiti O’Connor of South Plainfield and Giselle Lee of Edison. Aydin Aziz of Mountainside received All-Blue Division honors for winter track.
The W+H girls’ basketball team earned the All-Gold Division Team Sportsmanship Award.
Also: At The Wardlaw+Hartridge School in Edison, first grade students in the classes of Bethany Howell and Jennifer Molloy embraced the spirit of the spring season and the month of March with two themed days of learning activities in the weeks before Spring Break.
The first graders celebrated their 101st day of school with a special Glow Day that featured a “Glow What You Know” theme. The students worked collaboratively in reading, writing, and math centers with glow in the dark learning activities.
Just before Spring Break, they kicked off March Madness and the college basketball tournament season, creating basketball hoops by using popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners and clothespins. Then they made a catapult and used it to launch ping pong balls into their hoops. They also engaged in various literacy and math activities with a basketball theme throughout the day.
Westfield Public Schools
An annual favorite returned in person to Washington Elementary School on Thursday, March 24, as third graders welcomed a special woman in their lives to a tea party in honor of Women’s History Month.
The annual Women’s Tea at Washington, organized by grade three teachers Lisa Bukowsky and Karen Geddis, is a culminating event that showcases the research and writing skills of the third graders as they share their biographies of famous women.
“Third graders at Washington School learn how to research and write biographies, as part of a nonfiction writing unit. The students select a remarkable woman to learn about and study,” Bukowsky and Geddis said. “After reading and taking copious notes, the students write their own biography, establish a timeline, and create a paper doll of that woman. They share their hard work at the annual Women’s Tea tradition which has become a third-grade favorite!"
Across the Westfield Public School District, there were lessons and activities in recognition of Women’s History Month, which is celebrated in March. As part of the "American Voices Project" in the social studies classes of Kira Brady and Elizabeth Lestrange at Roosevelt Intermediate School, eighth graders were assigned a person whose life they may not have learned about and were asked to consider what they might ask the person if given the opportunity to sit down for a conversation. The project recognized both Black History Month in February and Women’s History Month.
Fourth graders at Franklin Elementary School researched, wrote, and presented “Living Biographies” of famous women and other important historical figures, past and present. And, at Westfield High School, a student-created display in a prominent hallway cabinet honored inspirational women.
“At the end of February, the Women's Studies Class was asked, ‘if you had to design an installation or display for your school to celebrate Women's History Month, what would it include? Who would you honor and why?’" said teacher Kimberly Leegan. "Students journaled responses and brainstormed ideas."
On Tuesday, March 1, the first day of Women's History Month, Leegan said the students were challenged to put their theoretical ideas into action. Students worked in teams and developed a theme for their section of the display cabinet, conducted research on people they wanted to honor, and designed an installation.
Student groups had the following sections:
- Women of STEM,
- Empowering Quotes by Inspirational Women,
- Women in Sports,
- Female Firsts, and
- The Women of Westfield featuring Principal Mary Asfendis, Mayor Shelley Brindle, Virginia Apgar (developer of the Apgar test for infants) and Zora Neal Hurston (famed author of the Harlem Renaissance, who lived in Westfield for a period of time in the 1930s).
Also: The Optimist Club of Westfield has announced that the deadline for receipt of nominations for the 24th Annual Intermediate School Outstanding Teacher Award is Friday, May 6. Two intermediate school teachers — one each from Edison and Roosevelt Intermediate Schools — will be selected to receive the award at a Board of Education meeting in June and at an Optimist Club dinner in September.
Nominations should specify ways in which the teacher has demonstrated outstanding teaching, interest in children and continued pursuit of professional growth. The nominee must be a full-time teacher in the Westfield Public Schools in grades 6-8 for a minimum of five years. Previous Optimist Club Award recipients are not eligible to be re-nominated.
Students, parents, staff, and members of the community are encouraged to complete an online nomination form by Friday, May 6, stating how their nominee meets the criteria. The form, which includes a link to the list of past award recipients, is posted under “Recent News” at www.westfieldnjk12.org and on the Westfield Public School District’s Facebook and Twitter feeds.
Also: A bright blue Little Library at Tamaques School beckons readers to take a book and leave a book, as fifth graders in Girl Scout Troop 40445 presented their book exchange project on Friday, April 1.
The troop funded and built the small, enclosed bookcase to earn their Bronze Award, putting together a proposal that included a budget, a timeline, and the rationale for the library which they presented to Tamaques principal David Duelks last December. Once approved, the girls hosted a hot chocolate fundraiser, used troop funds to purchase a library kit and other supplies, and collaborated on the final design, including the Tamaques Tiger logo and a chalkboard for book requests and recommendations.
“They also hosted a weeklong book drive at Tamaques in order to provide a fully stocked library on Day One,” said troop leader Elyssa McMullen. “As a result of their successful project, the girls will earn their Bronze Award at a ceremony to be held in May.”
McMullen and co-troop leader Janice Cmielewski thanked Duelks and Tamaques head custodian Harry Squindo for their help and support.
“I’m very proud of our Girl Scout Troop 40445 in earning their Bronze Award,” said Duelks. “The girls were committed to this project from the start and it’s a wonderful legacy to leave to Tamaques before heading off to middle school.”
Student and School news appears on Saturdays. Email: cnmetro@mycentraljersey.com
Carolyn Sampson is Executive Office Assistant for the Courier News, The Home News Tribune and MyCentralJersey.com, and handles the weekly Student News page. | https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/education/in-our-schools/2022/04/09/nj-students-kazantsev-named-distinguished-student-year/7233673001/ | 2022-04-09T09:48:19Z | mycentraljersey.com | control | https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/education/in-our-schools/2022/04/09/nj-students-kazantsev-named-distinguished-student-year/7233673001/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Somerset County Park Commission joins NJ war on plastic waste. Here's how
Golf courses are an oasis of green space and the Somerset County Park Commission wants its courses to remain that way.
The commission announced it will no longer distribute plastic water bottles at its golf courses – Green Knoll, Neshanic Valley, Spooky Brook, Quail Brook and Warrenbrook – as part of the movement to remove plastic from the waste stream.
“From the Environmental Education Center to our public gardens to our golf courses, the Somerset County Park Commission is committed to not only protecting the environment but educating the public on actions they can take to make a difference,” Somerset County Park Commission Secretary-Director Geoffrey Soriano said in a statement. “Our policy to discontinue handing out plastic water bottles on the golf courses fits within this commitment to protecting the natural world Somerset County residents have entrusted us with.”
Golfers are encouraged to bring reusable, non-glass bottles and fill up before they head out onto the course. Each course now has filtered water dispensers.
More:NJ's ban on plastic bags, paper bags, food containers begins in May. What you need to know
The commission's decision comes weeks before the state's ban on plastic bags at retail and food establishments takes effect.
“So many of our courses are along waterways and are home to many different kinds of wildlife, and to properly enjoy being outside for a round of golf we all share an obligation to protect that environment,” Somerset County Commissioner Paul Drake, liaison to the Park Commission, said in a statement. “The policy reducing the use of plastic water bottles on our courses will mean less litter, a safer environment for wildlife, and a better experience on the course.”
Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com
Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account today. | https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/local/somerset-county/2022/04/09/somerset-county-nj-park-commission-joins-nj-war-plastic-waste/9475980002/ | 2022-04-09T09:48:23Z | mycentraljersey.com | control | https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/local/somerset-county/2022/04/09/somerset-county-nj-park-commission-joins-nj-war-plastic-waste/9475980002/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The forecast from FOX 17 Chief Meteorologist Kevin Craig: The same low pressure system that has brought West Michigan widespread light rain showers the past few days will continue to generate cloud cover and likely some rain/snow showers today. Cooler air flows into the region on the backside of this low pressure system, keeping our temperatures in the mid/upper 30s most of the day. If any snow does accumulate today, it will be a light dusting which will melt quickly...mainly on grassy areas and colder surfaces. Partial sunshine returns this evening, with a mix of sun and clouds on Sunday. Temperatures gradually increase starting Sunday, reaching the lower to middle 50s! By next week, several days are likely to be in the 60s! There's a chance for a few passing showers and thunderstorms next week, as well. Make sure to download the FOX 17 Weather App for the latest forecast and live radar.
TODAY: Lingering early morning snow showers possible, otherwise mostly cloudy in the afternoon with an isolated rain/snow shower possible. Gradual clearing from west to east by late afternoon/early evening. Highs in the upper 30s to around 40 degrees. Winds northwest at 10 to 15 mph.
TONIGHT: Becoming mostly clear to partly cloudy. Cooler too. Lows in the mid/upper 20s. Winds from the west and light.
SUNDAY: Mostly sunny to partly cloudy and warmer. Highs in the middle 50s. Winds southeast at 5 to 10 mph.
MONDAY: Chance of morning showers and storms, otherwise partly sunny to mostly cloudy. Sharply warmer with highs in the low/mid 60s.
TUESDAY: Partly sunny to mostly cloudy with a chance of showers. Highs in the mid 60s.
For the latest details on the weather in West Michigan, head to the FOX 17 Weather page. | https://www.fox17online.com/weather/todays-forecast/todays-forecast-mostly-cloudy-with-light-rain-and-snow-showers | 2022-04-09T09:55:43Z | fox17online.com | control | https://www.fox17online.com/weather/todays-forecast/todays-forecast-mostly-cloudy-with-light-rain-and-snow-showers | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Mumbai: Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) captain Kane Williamson won the toss and opted to bowl against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the IPL here on Saturday.
Both CSK and SRH are eyeing their maiden win having lost three and two games respectively.
The teams: Chennai Super Kings: Robin Uthappa, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Moeen Ali, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja (capt), Shivam Dube, M S Dhoni (wk), Dwayne Bravo, Chris Jordan, Maheesh Theekshana, Mukesh Choudhary.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Kane Williamson (capt), Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Shashank Singh, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Marco Jansen, Umran Malik, T Natarajan. | https://www.onmanorama.com/sports/cricket/2022/04/09/ipl-2022-chennai-super-kings-versus-sunrisers-hyderabad.amp.html | 2022-04-09T10:00:53Z | onmanorama.com | control | https://www.onmanorama.com/sports/cricket/2022/04/09/ipl-2022-chennai-super-kings-versus-sunrisers-hyderabad.amp.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Mumbai: Former Australian cricketer and current Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batting coach Michael Hussey has revealed that he was so impressed with the legendary Allan Border's batting that he switched to becoming a left-hander from being a natural right-hander during his formative days.
Hussey, who played 79 Tests and scored more than 6,200 runs at an average of 51.52, has had a long association with CSK, first as a player and then as batting coach. He reversed the fortunes of the Chennai franchise in 2010, which eventually went on to win the title that year. In January 2018, he was appointed CSK's batting coach.
Revealing an interesting story on how he switched from being a right-handed batter to becoming a left-hander, the 46-year-old Hussey said, "My cricketing hero was Allan Border, who is a left-handed batsman from Australia, and I can tell you a funny little story. When I was about eight or nine years of age until then I was a right handed batsman. But, I loved Allan Border so much that I changed to be a left handed batsman like Allan Border.
"I loved the way he played his cricket, he was tough, he never gave his wicket away he worked very hard, played with a lot of passion, so he was certainly my hero growing up."
Thanks to the switch, Hussey went on to eventually play 79 Tests, 185 ODIs and 38 T20Is for Australia, scoring over 12,000 runs in international cricket. He also played 64 T20s for Chennai Super Kings scoring 2,213 runs.
Hussey also gave an insight into the coaching philosophy of CSK.
"...we are all equal, and we try and treat everyone equal. Whether you are (Ravindra) Jadeja, or M S Dhoni or Deepak (Chahar), or you are the 25th player in the squad, you know we try and treat everyone the same, we try and treat everyone with respect, and the goal is to try and improve every player. Improve them as a cricketer, but also try and help them improve as a people and as characters as well. And, I think if we can do that and everyone can try and help each other then we are doing a good job."
Sections | https://www.onmanorama.com/sports/cricket/2022/04/09/why-did-michael-hussey-switch-from-being-a-right-hander-to-a-left-handed-batter.html | 2022-04-09T10:01:12Z | onmanorama.com | control | https://www.onmanorama.com/sports/cricket/2022/04/09/why-did-michael-hussey-switch-from-being-a-right-hander-to-a-left-handed-batter.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Suncheon (South Korea): P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth's impressive run ended in the semifinals after they went down in straight games at the Korea Open Super 500 badminton tournament here on Saturday.
Former world champion Sindhu, who came into the tournament after claiming the Swiss Open, suffered her fourth successive defeat to 20-year-old An Seyoung, losing 14-21, 17-21 in 48 minutes.
For World Championships silver medallist Srikanth, it ended in yet another semifinal finish as he came up short against Asian Games champion Jonatan Christie, going down 19-21, 16-21 in 50 minutes.
Sindhu, seeded third, tried everything at her disposal but couldn't find a way to get past the world No. 4. An Seyoung, who gave ample display of her athleticism and precision, leaving the Indian to do the catch-up job from the start.
The second-seeded Korean rode on her superb retrieving skills to gallop to a 6-1 lead early on.
Next she dived twice in quick succession on both flanks to blunt Sindhu's attack and sealed it with a delightful drop.
Two powerful returns took Sindhu to 4-7, but An Seyoung came up with two precise returns, a body blow and then produced another over-the-head return to gain a healthy 11-6 lead at the break.
Sindhu tried to step up the pace, but An Seyoung displayed a wide array of shots to stay a step ahead. The Indian got a few points with her smashes but she couldn't put pressure on the Korean.
An Seyoung disposed off two weak lifts from Sindhu and then grabbed eight game points, two of which were saved by the Indian, before the Korean unleashed a lightening straight smash to seal it comfortably.
Sindhu was off to a 3-0 start after the change of ends but An Seyoung soon surged ahead to 5-3.
The Indian grabbed two quick points before the match became a tight battle with Sindhu's precise forecourt return being matched by the booming smashes from the Korean.
A long shot was followed by a net winner from Sindhu to keep the scores tied at 9-9, but the Korean was relentless in her retrievals and soon moved to a two-point advantage when Sindhu shot one to the net.
Sindhu kept breathing down the neck of her opponent at 12-14, with the Korean going long and to the net.
A service error from An Seyoung made it 14-16 before the Korean produced a cross court return and, with Sindhu also miscuing a couple of shots, it was 18-14 advantage for the home star.
Sindhu reeled off three points on the trot to keep the match alive, but An Seyoung sent one away from the backhand of the Indian, who went to net next to gift three match points to the Korean.
An Seyoung unleashed another smash to seal the match and go down on her knees in joy.
In the men's singles, Srikanth and Christie entered the contest after winning four matches each in their eight career meetings, with the Indian losing in the semifinals at Swiss Open last month.
On Saturday, the Indonesian was once again more alert and showed better control in the rallies to outwit the Indian.
Srikanth kept things tight in the opening game, managing a 9-7 lead before ensuring a three-point lead at the break.
Christie tried to add more pace in the rallies and drew level at 13-13 after Srikanth went to the net.
The duo moved to 17-17 before a power-packed smash and a perfect return on his opponent's forehand gave the Indonesian two game points.
The Indian saved one before hitting one wide to concede the opening game.
Christie made a bright start with a 3-0 lead and maintained it at the break, with Srikanth lacking consistency with his finishing.
With the Indonesian committing unforced errors, Srikanth managed to make it 11-12 before grabbing a slender 14-13 lead. But Christie responded well, grabbing six points to reach 19-14.
The Indonesian held five match points, while Srikanth saved one before an alert Christie produced another quick return to serve to make his second successive final of a BWF World Tour event. | https://www.onmanorama.com/sports/other-sports/2022/04/09/korea-open-sindhu-goes-down-to-an-seyoung-in-semifinals.amp.html | 2022-04-09T10:06:54Z | onmanorama.com | control | https://www.onmanorama.com/sports/other-sports/2022/04/09/korea-open-sindhu-goes-down-to-an-seyoung-in-semifinals.amp.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Happy Saturday! It's a chilly start to the morning with temperatures in the mid 40's with clear skies and a light breeze. We've got a gorgeous, cool weekend on tap as temperatures remain below normal. Morning lows today through Monday will be dipping into the 40's with afternoon highs staying in the 60's today. Highs will warm back in the 70's by Sunday and Monday. Winds will be breezy out of the west today with gusts up to 25-30 mph. Expect warmer, more humid weather to return by early next week as high temperatures rebound into the mid 80's with partly cloudy skies and rain chances returning toward the end of next week.
As always, be sure to follow the ABC 27 First To Know Weather Team on Facebook and Twitter. Be sure to download the Storm Shield App to get watches and warnings delivered straight to your phone to stay updated on your forecast through the week. Get the app today: iPhone/iPad | Android. | https://www.wtxl.com/weather/saturday-morning-first-to-know-forecast-04-09-2022 | 2022-04-09T10:07:18Z | wtxl.com | control | https://www.wtxl.com/weather/saturday-morning-first-to-know-forecast-04-09-2022 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Doctors will soon have new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how and when to prescribe opioids for pain.
Those guidelines – currently under review as a draft – will serve as an update to the agency's previous advice on opioids, issued in 2016. That advice is widely blamed for leading to harmful consequences for patients with chronic pain.
Federal officials have acknowledged their original guidance was often misapplied; it was supposed to serve as a roadmap for clinicians navigating tricky decisions around opioids and pain — not as a rigid set of rules.
But the 2016 version was used as the basis for sweeping policy decisions, as lawmakers and health leaders struggled to contain the nation's overdose crisis. Many states adopted laws and regulations that set limits on prescribing, and health insurers also crafted policies to that effect.
And doctors grew wary of giving opioids at all, which often led to sudden disruptions of treatment, resulting in physical and mental agony, and even a heightened risk of suicide.
The restrictive climate around prescribing has persisted, says Cindy Steinberg, director of national policy and advocacy for the U.S. Pain Foundation.
"I hear from patients every week and doctors just don't even want to see pain patients," she says. "It's a really tough situation out there."
This is why the agency's revised guidance is now under scrutiny. The public comment period ends on Monday, and then the agency will weigh its final recommendations.
Some experts see the proposed changes as a promising step toward addressing the harms suffered by pain patients in the wake of the previous guidelines. And yet many others, including patients with chronic pain, argue that the guidance is still flawed — with the potential of being misinterpreted and misapplied.
A step in the right direction
The new proposed guidelines — a sprawling, 200-page document — continue to advise against using opioids for pain when possible and to take a cautious approach when it's necessary, given the risks of opioid misuse and overdose.
But there are some notable changes from the old guidance.
The topline recommendations — often the takeaways for clinicians and policymakers — no longer include specific limits on the dose and duration of an opioid prescription that a patient can take.
"That's an important change," says Dr. Stefan Kertesz, a professor of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
With the original guidelines, "it turned out that insurance companies and regulators seized on those numbers as simple tools to force changes to care that often were not safe for patients," he says.
The new guidelines also emphasize that clinicians should use their own judgment in deciding what will be a safe and effective dose for each patient. The authors state upfront that it's not "intended to be applied as inflexible standards of care" or as "law, regulation or policy that dictates clinical practice."
Kertesz believes that is a much needed recognition of how the previous guidelines were misapplied, especially to patients already on a stable regimen of opioids for chronic pain.
"The CDC's changes are really an effort to ameliorate that without losing track of the fact that these medicines were vastly overused and oversold for a period of decades," he says.
Indeed, the proposed guidelines steer doctors away from using opioids as a first-line therapy for many common acute pain conditions — among them, lower back pain, musculoskeletal injuries and pain related to minor surgeries. It also discourages using opioids for chronic pain, but acknowledges that opioid therapy can play a role in treatment, in particular if other approaches have been tried.
"We're trying to be very explicit about the fact that these are not meant to be hard thresholds," says Dr. Roger Chou at Oregon Health & Science University and an author of the 2016 guidelines and the updated version.
Chou notes the evidence still shows an increased risk of opioid misuse and overdose as the dose goes up and that the benefits seem to be pretty small. However, he says their 2016 guidelines were often applied in ways that they had warned against, for instance for patients who had cancer pain.
"It's sometimes difficult to see how you can blame the guideline for that?" he says. "We've tried our best this time to be clear — even clearer than before."
'Not far enough'
Some patients and clinicians say the updated version still falls short of fixing the problems chronic pain patients face.
"I don't think it goes far enough to protect patients from really the egregious inhumane harms these guidelines have caused over the past six years," says Steinberg.
The new proposed guidelines lack balance when discussing decisions around starting and stopping opioid therapy, she says, by focusing mostly on the "harms of opioids, not the benefits when medically supervised, or the risks and harms of poorly managed pain."
Steinberg would also like to see stronger language against abandoning patients who rely on opioids for pain.
Dr. Sally Satel, who has studied the impact of opioid prescribing rules on pain patients, says she worries about the instructions on lowering patients' doses, or tapering. They generally advise not to reverse a taper once in progress, which she believes could lead to harm.
In addition, the "sweeping pronouncement" that opioids are not the preferred treatment for non-acute pain "undermines physician discretion and tailored care that the guideline already affirmed," says Satel, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
Satel does see some positive changes in the new document, but ultimately she believes it runs into some of the same issues as the earlier version — citing specific doses throughout the document that could give the impression of a "hard ceiling" when prescribing opioids.
"Any mixed message has high potential for being interpreted in a harmful way," she says.
Questions about the guidelines' impact
Many of the problems resulting from the old guidance had to do with interrupting treatment for those who were already on long-term opioids.
But for acute or post-operative pain, removing clear dosing thresholds and the number of days a prescription should be filled could be "problematic," says Dr. Gary Franklin, a research professor at the University of Washington.
He defends the 2016 guidelines, saying they were effective because they gave clear parameters to doctors who may have been uncomfortable prescribing opioids, and unsure how to navigate decisions around pain management.
"If you take that help away by removing the specific guidance, it's going to make them uncomfortable again. They're not going to know what to do," says Franklin.
Rather than softening its guidance, CDC should issue two different sets of recommendations, he says, one for those starting opioids and the other for those already on opioids.
Franklin, who's also medical director of Washington state's workers' compensation program, was among the first to raise alarm about the escalating use of opioids and its link to overdose deaths.
"It's the worst man-made epidemic in the history of modern medicine — and it's made by us, by physicians, by surrogates for the drug companies," he says. "We're trying to figure out, how do you reverse this?"
Yet some argue that the prescribing guidelines may have had little effect on the overdose crisis. Opioid prescriptions have declined by more than 40% over the past decade — a trend that began before the CDC issued its 2016 guidelines. Meanwhile, annual U.S. drug overdose deaths have increased, reaching an all-time high last year, with more than 100,000 people dying.
It's now illicit street drugs like fentanyl that are primarily driving the increase. Prescription opioids were involved in about 16,400 of the more than 91,000 fatal overdoses in 2020.
While the CDC's guidelines may have reduced prescribing, "what they didn't do in the long term was reduce overdose death rates," says Dr. Sebastian Tong, who's an addiction medicine specialist in Washington D.C.
'Unbearable pain' for patients
Experts caution that even with an update to the guidance, the effect on prescribing practices could be hard to unravel, effects that include forcing some patients to suffer intensely.
Amanda Votta says she started having trouble getting doctors to prescribe her any opioids at all "pretty much coinciding almost exactly with the CDC guidelines."
Votta, 41, was diagnosed with juvenile onset rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease, when she was 10 years old. Her particular form of the disease does not respond well to treatment.
"I have damage that causes constant pain from bone grinding on bone," says Votta, who's had to take opioids to manage her pain on and off throughout her life. "I always took them as directed, and have never been flagged as misusing my prescriptions."
After the CDC guidelines came out, her primary care doctor wasn't comfortable prescribing oxycodone and finding anyone who would give her enough to manage her pain proved difficult. She was a graduate student and working several jobs on campus.
"There were times when I would go and sit in one of the small cubbies in the library and just cry because I was in so much pain," she recalls "It was unbearable."
Pain patients like Votta still struggle to get prescribed opioids. In many places, primary care physicians won't accept new patients who require the medication.
Just last year, about 20,000 patients in California were left without pain management when their clinics shut down, and those on long term opioid therapy were given only a 30-day supply, according to a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine.
"Many patients quickly found that their primary care clinicians were unwilling to prescribe opioids. Patients without a current clinician learned that almost none would prescribe opioids to new patients, and some would not prescribe opioids at all," the authors write.
The reluctance among physicians also relates to increased monitoring of their prescribing practices in state electronic databases. State medical boards and federal law enforcement agencies can investigate those who are flagged as prescribing more opioids than their peers.
Kertesz says he's seen the Drug Enforcement Administration warrants explicitly reference opioid prescribing doses that were part of the CDC's 2016 guidelines (although Kertesz was never involved in any cases himself).
"You could imagine that would have a chilling effect," he says.
However, he says, the CDC guidelines cannot be held responsible for all the "chaotic mistreatment" of patients because doctors, policymakers, regulators and insurers all reacted in a way that went well beyond what the document called for.
He hopes the new guidance will lead to meaningful changes in the laws and policies that are in effect but says it's hard to predict.
"Obviously, bureaucracies don't unwind what they've done quickly," he says.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.klcc.org/npr-news/2022-04-09/cdc-weighs-new-opioid-prescribing-guidelines-amid-controversy-over-old-ones | 2022-04-09T10:11:21Z | klcc.org | control | https://www.klcc.org/npr-news/2022-04-09/cdc-weighs-new-opioid-prescribing-guidelines-amid-controversy-over-old-ones | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A bill that will require Virginia schools to notify parents if their children are assigned books or other materials with sexually explicit content was among more than 100 measures Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed into law this week. In a statement Friday, Youngkin held up the measure as part of an effort to fulfill a campaign pledge to empower parents’ involvement in their children’s education. Youngkin faces an action deadline next week for measures passed during this year’s regular session of the General Assembly. Youngkin can sign or veto bills or send them back to lawmakers with proposed amendments.
Youngkin Signs Bill Regulating Explicit Content in Schools
- Updated | https://www.wboc.com/news/youngkin-signs-bill-regulating-explicit-content-in-schools/article_138e99d4-b7e5-11ec-8f20-ffe40ab75903.html | 2022-04-09T10:24:15Z | wboc.com | control | https://www.wboc.com/news/youngkin-signs-bill-regulating-explicit-content-in-schools/article_138e99d4-b7e5-11ec-8f20-ffe40ab75903.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Today: Partly sunny to mostly cloudy. A slight chance of pop-up showers. Highs: 56-58° Winds: W 9-14 mph
Tonight: Mostly cloudy. A slight chance of showers. Lows: 38-40° Winds: W 5-7 mph
Sunday: Mostly sunny. Highs: 53-55° Winds: W 9-18 mph
Sunday night: Mostly clear. Lows: 35-37° Winds: NW 5-10 mph
Monday: Mostly sunny. Highs: 60-64° Lows: 35-37°
Tuesday: Mostly sunny. Highs: 69-75° Lows: 51-57°
Wednesday: Mostly sunny. Highs: 73-80° Lows: 53-56°
Thursday: Partly sunny. A chance of showers in the evening. Highs: 75-82° Lows: 57-62°
Friday: Mostly sunny. A chance of showers. Mostly sunny. Highs: 70-78° Lows: 53-66°
Forecast Discussion:
Happy Saturday Delmarva! Today will be partly to mostly cloudy with a few popup showers here and there. This morning temperatures are starting in the mid-40s. We will have an upper-level low move over the region. This low will give us a slight chance of showers throughout the day. Most of us will see sunshine today as temperatures make it to the mid to upper 50s across the region. This evening we still have a slight chance of seeing showers in the evening. Temperatures will fall to the upper 30s to low 40s overnight as we make our way into a slightly cooler day on Sunday.
Sunday will start off partly sunny but turn into a mostly sunny day as high pressure returns to the region. Temperatures Sunday morning will be in the upper 30 to low 40s and by the afternoon we will be in the low to mid-50s. Although the evening will be a little cooler than the last few days, making our way into Monday we are going to start a warming trend that will bring temperatures around the 80s by the end of the week.
We will head out the door Monday morning in the upper 30s and warm to the low to mid-60s by the afternoon. Sunny dry conditions will continue through Monday and much of the mid-week. Tuesday, high temperatures will be in the mid-70s. By the mid-week temperatures will start flirting with the 80s. Our chances for showers and even thunderstorms will rise towards the end of the week as models are not agreeing on which day the cold front will arrive. Stay tuned as we get closer to the end of the week and the models align.
The average temperature for early April is 64 degrees for a high and a low of 42 degrees. | https://www.wboc.com/weather/forecast-updated-on-saturday-april-9-2022-at-5-14-am/article_2fdca496-b7e5-11ec-b92a-379b2aa41133.html | 2022-04-09T10:24:21Z | wboc.com | control | https://www.wboc.com/weather/forecast-updated-on-saturday-april-9-2022-at-5-14-am/article_2fdca496-b7e5-11ec-b92a-379b2aa41133.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
CNN: Trump Jr. text shows ideas to overturn 2020 election
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump Jr. texted White House chief of staff Mark Meadows two days after the 2020 presidential election with strategies for overturning the result if Trump’s father lost, CNN reported Friday.
The text was sent two days before Joe Biden was declared the winner, according to CNN. It reportedly laid out strategies that then-President Donald Trump’s team pursued in the following months as they disseminated misinformation about election fraud and pressured state and federal officials to assist in that effort.
The cable news network reported that Trump Jr.’s text made “specific reference to filing lawsuits and advocating recounts to prevent certain swing states from certifying their results.” It also suggested that if those measures didn’t work, lawmakers in Congress could dismiss the electoral results and vote to keep President Trump in office.
Trump Jr.’s lawyer Alan S. Futerfas, in a statement Friday to CNN, said: “After the election, Don received numerous messages from supporters and others. Given the date, this message likely originated from someone else and was forwarded.”
CNN said the Trump Jr. text had been obtained by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. In the last week, the committee has interviewed former President Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner. Their virtual testimonies are the closest lawmakers have gotten to the former president.
Separately on Friday, Ali Alexander, a conservative activist who helped found the “Stop the Steal” movement, said he had received a subpoena to provide testimony to a federal grand jury as part of the Justice Department’s wide investigation into the insurrection.
In a statement through his attorney, Alexander said the subpoena was seeking information about the “Save America Rally” that was held at the Ellipse — hosted by the pro-Trump nonprofit organization called Women for America First — which thousands had attended before a surge of Trump supporters stormed into the Capitol on Jan. 6.
“I don’t believe I have information that will be useful to them but I’m cooperating as best I can further reiterating that I’m not a target because I did nothing wrong,” he said.
Alexander voluntarily appeared for hours in December before the House panel investigating the insurrection, providing congressional investigators with a slew of documents and information about his communications with lawmakers.
In court documents, Alexander’s lawyers have said he told congressional investigators that he remembers having “a few phone conversations” with Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., and had exchanged some text messages with Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., in the run-up to the Jan. 6 rallies.
“I did nothing wrong and I am not in possession of evidence that anyone else had plans to commit unlawful acts,” Alexander said. “I denounce anyone who planned to subvert my permitted event and the other permitted events of that day on Capitol grounds to stage any counterproductive activities.”
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wbko.com/2022/04/09/cnn-trump-jr-text-shows-ideas-overturn-2020-election/ | 2022-04-09T10:52:09Z | wbko.com | control | https://www.wbko.com/2022/04/09/cnn-trump-jr-text-shows-ideas-overturn-2020-election/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
High school student arrested for attempted murder, sexual assault of teacher, police say
LAS VEGAS (KVVU/Gray News) - A high school student was arrested after he reportedly attacked a teacher and assaulted her when the two were discussing his grades.
KVVU reports the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department was called to Eldorado High School Thursday afternoon, where a teacher was injured.
Arriving officers were directed to a classroom where a female teacher was being treated by medical personnel for multiple injuries, police said.
According to the LVMPD, an investigation by the department’s Sexual Assault Section indicated that the teacher was in her classroom when a 16-year-old student entered to talk about his grades.
At some point, police say, the student got violent and began punching the teacher and strangled her until she lost consciousness.
Police said the student left the classroom after the attack, and another school employee later found the teacher.
Police were able to identify the student, and Clark County School District police officers took him into custody in a nearby neighborhood.
According to police, the 16-year-old was transported to the Clark County Detention Center and booked on charges that included attempted murder, sexual assault and robbery.
Copyright 2022 KVVU via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wbko.com/2022/04/09/high-school-student-arrested-attempted-murder-sexual-assault-teacher-vegas-police-say/ | 2022-04-09T10:52:23Z | wbko.com | control | https://www.wbko.com/2022/04/09/high-school-student-arrested-attempted-murder-sexual-assault-teacher-vegas-police-say/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Two men have been charged with the murder of a man in Dartford. Police and ambulance crews were called to Temple Hill at around 7.10pm last Saturday (April 2).
They attended the scene after a man had been found with a stab wound to his abdomen. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The victim was reportedly assaulted in a communal car park in Mallard Close before his death. Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate then opened an investigation into the incident, and two suspects were arrested on Wednesday (April 6) and Thursday (April 7).
READ MORE: New heatmap shows Kent's cheapest to most expensive neighbourhoods in 2022
The crown prosecution service authorised charges of murder on Friday (April 8) against Emanuel Nkrumah-Buansi, of Mayplace Road East, Bexleyheath and Jacob Afolabi, of Bevis Close, Dartford. Mr Nkrumah-Buansi, aged 22 and Mr Afolabi, aged 26 were both remanded in custody and will appear before Medway Magistrates’ Court on Saturday 9 April.
Officers have spoken with several potential witnesses but believe there are more people who have important information about the incident. Anyone with information which can assist, including eyewitnesses and anyone with privately held CCTV or dashcam footage recorded in the area, are urged to contact Kent Police on 01474 366149 quoting 02-1033.
You can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or by using the online form on their website here.
Sign up to get the latest stories from Kent direct into your inbox here | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/murder-charges-after-man-stabbed-6929098 | 2022-04-09T10:52:53Z | kentlive.news | control | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/murder-charges-after-man-stabbed-6929098 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Birdseye images show Kent looking like a lorry park, with queues snaking through the county. Operation Brock contraflow has caused large scale disruption to the area, stemming from the M20.
A seemingly never ending gridlock of lorries has been seen sat along the motorway waiting to get to the Port of Dover. Drivers had hoped to have seen the last of the infamous contraflow when the Brexit deadline passed, however disruptions at the port forced a return of Operation Brock.
Delays to ferry services in the area began last month when 800 members of P&O staff were suddenly fired over a video call. The vessels have been removed from service and detained pending safety checks.
Read more: actively discourage drivers from using the M20 and A20
Bosses of the long-standing ferry firm said it had to wipe out its workforce or face the entire company's collapse, with 'a total loss of 3,000 jobs'. One former P&O employee is attempting suing the company for £76million, claiming unfair dismissal, racial discrimination and harassment after losing his job 'out of the blue'.
Due to the now limited number of operating ferry services, the contraflow was brought back in order to manage the large amounts of freight traffic heading to the port. Since it began, freight drivers have contended with lengthy delays and serious traffic. Dover District Council has advised drivers to 'be prepared' this weekend.
In a statement on its website, the council stated: "With P&O Ferries cancelling all services, and potential for poor weather, tourists and hauliers using cross-Channel services are being advised to allow extra time for their journey, and to be prepared for long delays.
"Traffic management is in place for cross-Channel freight traffic which must join the queue on the M20. Enforcement is in place across the Kent network and HGVs ignoring the system will be sent to the back of the queue.
"Inevitably, this is having a major impact on local traffic. Diversions are in place, but please allow extra time for your journey. Arrangements are also in place to filter HGVs making local deliveries."
Maidstone Council has gone a step further to actively discourage drivers from using the M20 and A20 altogether this weekend. A spokesman for the council said: "The closure has caused disruption for many Maidstone residents in the past week as traffic has been diverted on to the A20 at Hollingbourne and the delays are potentially set to get worse as the volume of traffic increases across the weekend (8-10 April) during the Easter getaway.
"We are warning that as P&O Ferries has cancelled services, DFDS being at full capacity and possible poor weather conditions forecast, the weekend traffic disruption is likely to get worse with the increase in the number of people using cross-Channel services from Dover and Folkestone.
"Many have been queueing for hours over the past few days with traffic management being put in place for cross-Channel freight traffic which must join the queue on the M20. Unfortunately the ongoing situation on the motorway is having a major impact on local traffic, businesses and residents around the Maidstone area with local diversions in place.
"People are being asked to avoid using the A20 and M20 if possible but if they have to travel to please allow extra time for their journey. Arrangements are also in place to filter HGVs making local deliveries."
Sign up to get the latest stories from Kent direct into your inbox here | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/operation-brock-m20-pictures-show-6929028 | 2022-04-09T10:53:03Z | kentlive.news | control | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/operation-brock-m20-pictures-show-6929028 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
A violent and callous burglar from Kent who tied up and assaulted a pensioner inside her own home has been jailed for life. Billy Williams, 29, of Smarden Road, Headcorn, gagged and bound his elderly victim so tightly she remained secured to a chair for more than two days.
She was only discovered after worried relatives called police. The harrowing ordeal began at around 6pm on April 4 last year when the victim initially noticed Williams acting suspiciously next to her property in an area close to Maidstone.
Williams was unknown to the victim and asked for water after claiming he had lost a bottle from his bike. The victim provided him with water as he stood outside a gate, but as she made her way back inside he leapt over the gate and forced his hand over her mouth whilst holding a chisel to her neck.
READ MORE: P&O Ferries u-turn and suspend ferries between Dover and Calais again
Williams then made repeated demands for money and valuables and forced the victim into several rooms of her home. He picked up a knife and held it to the victim’s face and abdomen, threatening to kill her. She was also sexually assaulted, Kent Police say.
After ransacking the house, Williams tightly bound the victim to a chair using wiring and tape across her hands, ankles and neck. Her mouth was also bound and stuffed with material, leaving her unable to shout for help and struggling to breathe.
He then doused the victim with alcohol from bottles in her living room, before leaving with money and possessions including a laptop and other personal items, as well as a suit protector case to carry them in. On April 6 last year, Kent Police received a call expressing concerns from someone who had been unable to contact the victim.
An officer attended her home during the evening and found an entrance to the property was open. The victim was found gagged and tied to the chair, which had fallen onto its side. She was dehydrated and had suffered cuts and bruises to her face and body.
An investigation was carried out by the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate. This included a police media appeal which led to a witness coming forward who identified Williams at an identification parade, having seen him in the local area on the same day as the burglary. The victim’s property was forensically examined and Williams’ DNA was detected on a sherry bottle used to douse the victim in alcohol.
CCTV footage was also recovered which showed him riding a bicycle and carrying a suit protector case which matched one stolen from the victim’s home. It appeared to contain several bulky items.
Williams was arrested on April 20, 2021. He admitted he was the person shown in CCTV images with the bike, but claimed he was carrying ‘an awning’ which he had found in a hedge.
Officers charged him with counts of aggravated burglary, false imprisonment and sexual assault. He was further charged with a separate and unrelated burglary, which was carried out on the same day.
Williams denied any wrongdoing and the case went to trial at Maidstone Crown Court, where he was found guilty on all counts by a unanimous verdict. During the trial, on December 13, 2021, he tried to escape from custody and forced his way to a main exit but was pursued by a police officer and wrestled to the ground with the assistance of a court officer.
He pleaded guilty to additional charges of escaping from lawful custody and two counts of assaulting an emergency worker. He also admitted assaulting an inmate in March 2020, when he was a prisoner in HMP Peterborough.
Williams was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court yesterday (April 8) to life in jail and ordered to serve a minimum of 18 years.
Senior investigating officer, Detective Chief Inspector Neil Kimber, said: "Williams targeted a vulnerable woman living on her home and subjected her to a truly terrifying ordeal. He beat, threatened and cruelly tormented his victim and then left her bound to a chair, knowing there was every chance she could die unless someone came to her aid.
"Williams is an extremely dangerous individual, with a history of violent offending. He hasn’t shown a flicker of remorse for the suffering he has caused to his victim, who clearly stood no chance of defending themselves and sadly will have to endure the psychological impact of his despicable actions for the rest of her life. Today’s sentence will at least ensure he remains behind bars for a significant amount of time." | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/pensioner-tormented-headcorn-burglar-home-6929005 | 2022-04-09T10:53:13Z | kentlive.news | control | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/pensioner-tormented-headcorn-burglar-home-6929005 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Vehicle collides with food truck in Austin, Texas; 11 hurt
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Eleven people were injured in a “major collision” Friday night in Austin, Texas, involving pedestrians and two vehicles, one of which hit a food truck, authorities said.
Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services tweeted that two of the victims sustained potential life-threatening injuries. Seven others sustained non-life-threatening injuries requiring medical evaluation. The other two didn’t require hospitalization.
The collision occurred in a popular area near downtown Austin where there are frequently several food carts stationed.
Jennifer Dunn, an employee at a nearby restaurant, told The Associated Press that a group of 25 people had just left to get ice cream at a food truck a few feet away when patrons inside the restaurant heard a loud boom.
Dunn said several members of the group then ran back inside injured and asking for help. Dunn said she and others ran to the scene where several people, including the drivers, appeared severely hurt.
“We work in the restaurant industry, so we are used to helping,” Dunn said. “I have been doing this for a long (time), so have the servers and we just wanted to help.”
Austin is the Texas state capital and home to the flagship campus of the University of Texas.
___
Associated Press reporter Acacia Coronado contributed to this report.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wbko.com/2022/04/09/vehicle-collides-with-food-truck-austin-texas-11-hurt/ | 2022-04-09T10:53:17Z | wbko.com | control | https://www.wbko.com/2022/04/09/vehicle-collides-with-food-truck-austin-texas-11-hurt/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
U.S Paratroopers assigned to 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, engage targets during a live-fire training event in Zamość, Poland, March 21, 2022. The 82nd Airborne Division is currently deployed to Poland at the invitation of our Polish Allies to enhance our readiness and strengthen our NATO Alliance. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Claudia Nix)
This work, Paratroopers hone their skills during live-fire training [Image 4 of 4], by Sgt Claudia Nix, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright. | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7134779/paratroopers-hone-their-skills-during-live-fire-training | 2022-04-09T10:55:32Z | dvidshub.net | control | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7134779/paratroopers-hone-their-skills-during-live-fire-training | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
NEW ORLEANS, La., April 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors that they have until May 16, 2022 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Grab Holdings Limited (NasdaqGS: GRAB, GRABW), if they purchased the Company's securities between November 12, 2021 and March 3, 2022, inclusive (the "Class Period"). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Get Help
Grab investors should visit us at https://claimsfiler.com/cases/nasdaq-grab/ or call toll-free (844) 367-9658. Lawyers at Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC are available to discuss your legal options.
About the Lawsuit
Grab and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.
On March 3, 2022, the Company announced its 4Q2021 results, disclosing "a 44% decline YoY" in revenue and a $1.1 billion loss for the quarter due to "invest[ing] heavily" in driver incentives and that it would take one or two quarters "to get that equilibrium between drivers and riders, between supply and demand."
On this news, shares of Grab fell $2.04, or 37.3%, to close at $3.28 per share on March 3, 2022, on unusually heavy trading volume.
The case is Peccarino v. Grab Holdings Limited, et al., No. 22-cv-2189.
About ClaimsFiler
ClaimsFiler has a single mission: to serve as the information source to help retail investors recover their share of billions of dollars from securities class action settlements. At ClaimsFiler.com, investors can: (1) register for free to gain access to information and settlement websites for various securities class action cases so they can timely submit their own claims; (2) upload their portfolio transactional data to be notified about relevant securities cases in which they may have a financial interest; and (3) submit inquiries to the Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC law firm for free case evaluations.
To learn more about ClaimsFiler, visit www.claimsfiler.com.
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SOURCE ClaimsFiler | https://www.wbko.com/prnewswire/2022/04/09/grab-holdings-shareholder-alert-claimsfiler-reminds-investors-with-losses-excess-100000-lead-plaintiff-deadline-class-action-lawsuit-against-grab-holdings-limited-grab-grabw/ | 2022-04-09T10:55:52Z | wbko.com | control | https://www.wbko.com/prnewswire/2022/04/09/grab-holdings-shareholder-alert-claimsfiler-reminds-investors-with-losses-excess-100000-lead-plaintiff-deadline-class-action-lawsuit-against-grab-holdings-limited-grab-grabw/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In conjunction with Nucor's (NYSE: NUE) first-quarter earnings release, you are invited to listen to its live conference call with host Leon Topalian, Nucor's President and Chief Executive Officer. This conference call will include a review of Nucor's results for the first quarter ended April 2, 2022, followed by a question-and-answer session. The event will be available on the Internet on April 21, 2022, at 2 p.m. Eastern Time.
Nucor and its affiliates are manufacturers of steel and steel products, with operating facilities in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Products produced include: carbon and alloy steel -- in bars, beams, sheet and plate; hollow structural section tubing; electrical conduit; steel racking; steel piling; steel joists and joist girders; steel deck; fabricated concrete reinforcing steel; cold finished steel; precision castings; steel fasteners; metal building systems; insulated metal panels; steel grating; and wire and wire mesh. Nucor, through The David J. Joseph Company, also brokers ferrous and nonferrous metals, pig iron and hot briquetted iron / direct reduced iron; supplies ferro-alloys; and processes ferrous and nonferrous scrap. Nucor is North America's largest recycler.
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SOURCE Nucor Corporation | https://www.wbko.com/prnewswire/2022/04/08/nucor-invites-you-join-its-first-quarter-2022-conference-call-web/ | 2022-04-09T10:59:29Z | wbko.com | control | https://www.wbko.com/prnewswire/2022/04/08/nucor-invites-you-join-its-first-quarter-2022-conference-call-web/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
HARRISBURG, Pa., April 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A new program dashboard has launched with detailed data about the Commonwealth's homeowner relief program for individuals who have been financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Pennsylvania Homeowner Assistance Fund, or PAHAF, administered by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA), has made a program dashboard publicly available to provide a real-time snapshot of both statewide and county-level totals and information on the program.
"PAHAF is making a difference in the lives of eligible homeowners across Pennsylvania," said PHFA Executive Director and CEO Robin Wiessmann. "Now, the launch of a data-rich dashboard will help keep state and community leaders, partners, and other stakeholders well informed with up-to-date program results and statistics."
The dashboard includes cumulative totals and trends about PAHAF applications submitted and approved and funds disbursed, as well as amounts requested by applicants. All dashboard data can be filtered to show county-specific views. In addition, the dashboard shows applications submitted and approved by household income and by the number of applicants that meet the U.S. Department of the Treasury Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF) definition of "socially disadvantaged."
The PAHAF program opened for applications on February 1. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was awarded more than $350 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds through HAF.
The fund supports Pennsylvania homeowners whose household income is at or below 150% of the area median income (AMI) and are facing financial hardships as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. PAHAF uses these funds to provide eligible Pennsylvania homeowners with financial assistance to prevent and/or ease mortgage delinquencies, defaults, foreclosures, displacement, and utility disconnection.
View the PAHAF program dashboard at www.pahaf.org/program-dashboard and visit www.pahaf.org for more resources and information about the program.
About PHFA
The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency works to provide affordable homeownership and rental housing options for older adults, low- and moderate-income families, and people with special housing needs. Through its carefully managed mortgage programs and investments in multifamily housing developments, PHFA also promotes economic development across the state. Since its creation by the legislature in 1972, it has generated more than $15.9 billion of funding for more than 186,412 single-family home mortgage loans, helped fund the construction of 138,000 rental units, distributed approximately $191 million to support local housing initiatives, and saved the homes of more than 50,520 families from foreclosure. PHFA programs and operations are funded primarily by the sale of securities and from fees paid by program users, not by public tax dollars. The agency is governed by a 14-member board.
Media Contact:
Mandy McIntyre
Mandy.McIntyre@pahaf.org
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SOURCE Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency | https://www.wbko.com/prnewswire/2022/04/08/pennsylvania-homeowner-assistance-fund-program-dashboard-now-live/ | 2022-04-09T10:59:36Z | wbko.com | control | https://www.wbko.com/prnewswire/2022/04/08/pennsylvania-homeowner-assistance-fund-program-dashboard-now-live/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Also in This Edition: Media Industry News
NEW YORK, April 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Below are experts from the ProfNet network who are available to discuss timely issues in your coverage area.
EXPERT ALERTS
- Stress Management and Self-Care
- Television and Streaming Services
- Relationships and Psychology
MEDIA JOBS
- Translator, Japanese Language Service – Dow Jones (NY)
- Deputy Section Editor - Future of Everything, WSJ - NY – Dow Jones (NY)
OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES
- Earnings News: How to Get the Latest Financials in Your Inbox
- 4 Wine Blogs to Say "Cheers" to This Spring
Stress Management & Self-Care
Samantha Gambino
Psychologist
Healthcare
I specialize in stress management, anxiety, depression, wellness, self-care, fitness and exercise.
Mental health and wellness
@samanthagambinopsyd
Website: DrSamanthagambino.com
Media contact: Samantha Gambino, sgambinopsyd@gmail.com
Television and Streaming Services
Aaron Barnhart
Senior Editor and Author, TV Expert
Primetimer.com
As an internet pioneer, TV critic for over 15 years, and the Senior Editor for Primetimer.com, the web's leading resource for television news, reviews and commentary, I am a leading expert on trends and topics regarding TV, streaming services, movies and what to watch next.
Aaron can discuss: 1. What's new and noteworthy among all the network and streaming services, what's best for every interest and every budget. 2."Cord-cutting" and 3 easy steps that will give you the best bang for your buck. 3. The hidden gems on streaming TV. Great shows no one's talking about. 4. "The curated binge:" Short on time, some viewers have stopped bingeing entire seasons of shows and are instead watching playlists of episodes from a single or multiple shows by theme. 5. Can share hand-curated lists of recommended shows to watch, depending on what other shows you like
https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronbarn/
Website: https://www.primetimer.com/
Media contact: Aaron Barnhart, leslie@prbythebook.com
Relationships and Psychology
Dr. Alyson Nerenberg
Licensed Psychologist
Dr. Alyson Nerenberg Psychology Associates, PC
My hope is to help lessen the shame, blame and guilt we all suffer from so we can live our best lives with honesty, accountability and love.
Dr. Nerenberg can speak on most all topics in the psychology realm, but specializes in relationships (including perfectionism, narcissism), trauma, and addictions.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alyson-nerenberg-08b9217/
Website: https://www.healingrelationshipspa.com/
Media contact: Leslie Barrett, leslie@prbythebook.com
MEDIA JOBS:
Following are links to job listings for staff and freelance writers, editors and producers. You can view these and more job listings on our Job Board: https://www.cisionjobs.com/jobs/united-states/
- Translator, Japanese Language Service – Dow Jones (NY)
- Deputy Section Editor - Future of Everything, WSJ - NY – Dow Jones (NY)
OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES:
Following are links to other news and resources we think you might find useful. If you have an item you think other reporters would be interested in and would like us to include in a future alert, please drop us a line at profnetalerts@cision.com
EARNINGS NEWS: HOW TO GET THE LATEST FINANCIALS IN YOUR INBOX. Our team is here to help journalists plan ahead for their earnings coverage and stay on top of the latest financial announcements.
4 WINE BLOGS TO SAY "CHEERS" TO THIS SPRING. We're returning to one of our favorite topics and recognizing a few more standout wine blogs.
PROFNET is an exclusive service of PR Newswire.
To contact ProfNet: profnet@profnet.com or 800-776-3638, ext. 1
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SOURCE ProfNet | https://www.wbko.com/prnewswire/2022/04/08/profnet-expert-alerts-april-08-2022/ | 2022-04-09T10:59:49Z | wbko.com | control | https://www.wbko.com/prnewswire/2022/04/08/profnet-expert-alerts-april-08-2022/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
From Jabawockeez to Simon Sinek, the UNBrokerage Brings Down the House, Proving 'Anything is Possible' Pledging to Fulfill Even More Dreams in 2022
LAS VEGAS, April 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- During its largest event ever, Realty ONE Group International, a modern, purpose-driven lifestyle brand and ONE of the fastest growing franchisors in the world, rocked the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, NV, this week during its 2022 ONE SUMMIT, drawing impassioned real estate professionals and franchisees from 49 states and for the first time ever, international attendees and representatives from eight countries.
With the Aria marquee welcoming the powerhouse brand to the strip, attendees inside barely left their feet, blown away by industry-leading business coaching, some of the world's best speakers and entertainers and branding like real estate has never seen before.
"We refuse to put on an average convention; this is an unforgettable experience and our professionals deserve nothing less," said Kuba Jewgieniew, CEO and Founder of Realty ONE Group. "We know we left them inspired and impacted, with not ONE doubt in their mind that they're with the right real estate brand who's painting Las Vegas and the entire globe gold."
For two days, legendary speakers like Simon Sinek, Dr. Eric Thomas, "the Hip Hop Preacher," Ben Nemtin, Nick Santonastasso who speaks at Tony Robbins' events and the first African American U.S. Olympic gold medal speed skater Erin Jackson, sent shockwaves through the ballroom with compelling attestations that anything really is possible, while performances by the Bella Violinists, Israeli 'mystifier' Lior Surchard, America's Got Talent winner Kodi Lee and local Vegas sensation, the Jabbawockeez, flat out stunned the crowd.
Topping the sensational two-day agenda was the launch of the company's new campaign, #MyONEDream, with a goal to fulfill as many life-changing dreams as possible in 2022. ONE SUMMIT attendees attached their biggest dreams to a dream wall in the ballroom, with the company fulfilling several of them at the closing ceremony. #MyONEDream is a continuation of Realty ONE Group's purpose to open doors and an extension of its ONE Cares 501(c)3 efforts which help thousands every year from victims of natural disasters, veterans and children in care, partners like One Tree Planted and One Girl Can and more recently the company's massive effort to help Ukrainian children refugees.
ONE SUMMIT 2022 concluded Tuesday with the annual BLACK & GOLD gala and a packed party at Aria's popular Jewel nightclub.
The UNBrokerage, as it's known in the industry, now has more than 17,000 real estate professionals in more than 400 offices in 45 states, Washington D.C. and Canada and will be opening in Ecuador, Costa Rica, Italy, Singapore and Spain, in addition to the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.
Learn more at www.OwnAOne.com.
About Realty ONE Group
Founded in 2005, Realty ONE Group is an industry disruptor, radically changing the face of real estate franchising with its unique business model, fun coolture, technology infrastructure and superior support for its real estate professionals. The company has rapidly evolved to include more than 17,000 real estate professionals in over 400+ offices across 45 U.S. states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, Canada, Italy, Spain, Singapore and Costa Rica. Realty ONE Group ranks in the top one percent in the nation by REAL Trends, has been recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine as a Top 5 Real Estate Franchise and has been on Inc. 500's list of the Fastest-Growing Companies for seven consecutive years. Realty ONE Group is surging ahead, opening doors, not only for its clients but for real estate professionals and franchise owners. To learn more, visit www.RealtyONEGroup.com.
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SOURCE Realty ONE Group | https://www.wbko.com/prnewswire/2022/04/08/realty-one-group-stuns-one-summit-2022-attendees/ | 2022-04-09T11:00:03Z | wbko.com | control | https://www.wbko.com/prnewswire/2022/04/08/realty-one-group-stuns-one-summit-2022-attendees/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
golf betting
Tony Finau one of two best live bets after Day 1 of Masters
April 7, 2022 | 9:08pmTony Finau to finish in the top-20 is one of two best live bets for The Masters.
Use these tips for betting The Masters
April 6, 2022 | 5:38pmBefore The Masters tee off, read through these tactics about how to approach the biggest golf weekend of the year from a betting perspective.
Four long shot bets ahead of the Masters
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This golf star passes the Masters class test
April 6, 2022 | 10:00amIn a field filled with young talents who are largely still unknown commodities on the game’s biggest stage, I’ll go with the guy who’s proven he can raise his game...
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April 6, 2022 | 10:00amLongshot first-round leader bets for the Masters this week
Tiger at the Masters: A bettor's dilemma
April 6, 2022 | 8:00amWith Tiger Woods making his return to Augusta National for The Masters, bettors have to grapple with whether to bet on the legend to do the improbably once again.
Fade this two-time major winner in best Masters matchup bets
April 5, 2022 | 10:15pmDespite being a popular name, Collin Morikawa should be considered a fade for The Masters.
Justin Thomas to finish top-five one of four best Masters bets
April 5, 2022 | 7:28pmJustin Thomas to finish in the top-five at The Masters is one of four best bets to consider before tee time.
Diving into the stats of the Masters: Long drives and Par 5's keys to victory
April 4, 2022 | 6:22pmMasters betting for Golf this weekend. Modeling strategy show long drives very important. | https://nypost.com/golf-betting/ | 2022-04-09T11:05:10Z | nypost.com | control | https://nypost.com/golf-betting/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
This story was first published in KCUR's Creative Adventure newsletter. You can sign up to receive stories like this in your inbox every Tuesday.
If you’re thinking of rows of abandoned clapboard storefronts, proliferate weeds, and wilting residences along a pock-marked dirt road, the term “ghost town” may seem a little misleading.
Around the Kansas City metro region, you can journey through the shadows of a former town without even realizing it. Some were gobbled up by urban expansion. Others dwindled when fortunes turned. Some are just a short turn off the main road, while others have reverted back to the lands on which they were built.
Not necessarily all ghost towns are empty shells. Generally, the term ghost (or dead or extinct) town is a place that was once thriving but has since changed in some essential elements: the population decreased, the town annexed, buildings destroyed through fire, flood, blight or eminent domain. Some places that qualify as ghost towns may have 100 residents or more.
According to the website Ghost Towns of America, there are 21 ghost towns in Missouri (10 of which are within 25 miles of Kansas City) and 308 in Kansas (20 within 25 miles of Lawrence).
However, research by Daniel Fitzgerald of the Kansas Historical Society includes over 6,000 “dead towns” in Kansas. In “Ghost Towns of Kansas,” published as a traveler’s guide in two volumes in 1988 and 1994, he estimated that if each of these communities had survived, you couldn’t travel 12 miles through Kansas without coming to a town — a much different reality than the clear skies and open spaces experienced in most of Kansas today.
Though perhaps only remnants and scattered memories remain, we’ve selected a handful of nearby ghost towns whose heritages inspire curiosity.
Shifting currents
Founded in 1856 by abolitionists from the East Coast, free Black people, and members of the Wyandot tribe, Quindaro is perhaps the most quintessential of the Kansas City region’s vanished towns. It was a ferry boat crossing and a stop on the Underground Railroad, but the town didn’t last long, diminishing even before the Civil War.
The neighborhood is still called Quindaro. There’s an overlook and audio tour of the area, with restricted access to the ruins (where townsite foundations still remain) and the old cemetery, sitting high on a bluff overlooking the Kansas River.
The area was also the home of Western University, which was founded in 1857 as the first HBCU west of the Mississippi River and closed in 1943.
Nearby, the Quindaro Underground Railroad Museum is in the Vernon Multipurpose Center, a former elementary school designated a Kansas State Historical Site in 2004. KCUR's Luke X. Martin reported on Quindaro’s role in helping enslaved people escape to freedom, and the dream of turning the National Commemorative Site into a historic tourist attraction.
Just across the river from downtown Kansas City, tucked under the Hannibal Bridge, is the hamlet of Harlem, one of the earliest settlements in the area. Northland News reported that in 1913, the oldest living resident said about the town: “Harlem was Harlem when Kansas City was Westport landing.”
The little ferry port was there in 1822, but after a devastating flood in 1951 and decades of industrialization, only a few homes and businesses exist today.
KCUR explored the town of Harlem in a story from 2015. Sadly, the 115-year-old Harlem Baptist Church, the last relic of the community, was severely damaged by fire in 2021.
Remnants
Little remains of some communities, but the clues are there in the names of streets, parks, and sometimes a handful of protected (or just lucky) historic buildings.
Steptoe was a town south of Westport, founded in the 1850s. First inhabited by enslaved and free Black people, today it’s part of the African American Heritage Trail. In 1933, Steptoe Street was renamed W. 43rd Terrace. St. James Baptist Church, which was founded in 1883 with the current building erected in 1939, is still there and listed on the Kansas City Register of Historic Places.
A few historic homes remain, though the neighborhood is squeezed between the ever-expanding St. Luke’s Hospital and the nightlife of Westport. The sidewalk tiles spelling “Steptoe” that once signified the town’s borders are no longer there.
The neighboring towns of Dodson and Marlborough were once just south of the city limits but were absorbed in the 1940s. Founded in 1888, Dodson’s history is explained in an article for the Martin City Telegraph by local historian Diane Huston. Three buildings remain (built circa 1912) at 85th and Prospect Avenue, the hub of the business area.
Marlborough, while never an incorporated town, began in the early 1900s and was lauded as a bustling growth community by the 1920s. Its main street (now The Paseo) is still home to buildings from that boom time, though many are vacant. The Marlborough Community Coalition is working to restore the area’s vibrancy.
A few historic markers around the area offer insight into the unique communities that dotted the region. North of the river, a marker near Barry School commemorates the Town of Barry, founded in 1829.
Linden, founded in the 1880s, became Gladstone in 1952. The original public park of Linden is now known as Central Park and remains a focal point of the community.
Eminent domain
Progress opened up possibilities for some and spelled doom for others. The river first invited settlement, with river trade and ferry ports, but flooding made those communities vulnerable. Trails, bridges, railroads, automobiles and air travel changed the way we navigated our spaces.
The town of Hampton was a farming community in Clay County, one of several smaller settlements and farms annexed by the Kansas City International Airport. Amongst the fields, all that remains is the road name and cemetery. But from those relics sprang the Heart Forest, a project from the mid-1990s, a symbol of Kansas City still observable today from the air.
People have literally changed the course of the river, the lay of the land and our relationship to our surroundings. A collection of small towns south of Lawrence, Kansas, were ousted when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers created Clinton Lake.
The Wakarusa River Valley Heritage Museum shares these histories near the old townsite of Bloomington, founded by abolitionists in 1854. Most of the town’s land is underwater but is commemorated as Bloomington Beach, now the site of summer fun.
The museum is open from May through October. This season, the featured exhibit is “Remembering Richland,” with collected images, artifacts and stories from those who grew up in the area. Near the museum and old townsite, artist Stephen Johnson created the art installation Freedom Rings, with large golden circles representing those 10 communities.
Historic sites
Oftentimes, the only sites left of a community are a school, a church or a cemetery.
The Monticello Community Historical Society in Shawnee, Kansas, represents a handful of communities that once thrived in the northern reaches of Johnson County: Monticello, Wilder, Clare, Holliday, Chouteau Station and Zarah.
The museum is housed in a former fire station (open to visitors by appointment) and the historical society has put together a driving/biking tour of these locales, linking the townsites and remaining historic buildings and sites. This self-guided tour takes about 90 minutes by car, the route crisscrossing railroad tracks as it leads you through rural scenes, suburban subdivisions and industrial parks, demonstrating how separate and self-reliant these communities were back in the horse-and-buggy days.
Lecompton, Kansas, is near Lawrence along the Kansas River. Originally called Bald Eagle because of the many eagles along the waterway, it was appointed the territorial capitol of Kansas, and later the county seat. But when it lost the seat to Lawrence, the population sharply declined. Historically, losing a political seat or a bid for the railroad was often the start of a town’s decline.
Admittedly, it's a bit of a stretch to call Lecompton — which still has approximately 700 residents — a “ghost town." There’s a short stretch of shops in the middle of the residential area, as well as a collection of historic buildings, including Constitutional Hall. Built in 1856, it's the oldest wooden building in Kansas.
The town hosts two museums dedicated to Lecompton’s role in Kansas and Civil War history and has historic markers designating significant sites, with the tour narrated by Lecompton students.
If you want to experience that ghost town vibe without leaving the metro, visit Shoal Creek Living History Museum in Northland’s Hodge Park during the weekdays, when the buildings are closed and the grounds are deserted. Established in 1975, the replicated town is a collection of historic buildings from around the area dating back to the 1800s, which have been moved and refurbished in period detail.
The park, open from dusk to dawn, is free to visit except during special events when reenactors stage scenes from the early days of Clay County. The only permanent residents here are a small herd of bison in their pasture.
Want more adventures like this? Sign up for KCUR's Creative Adventure Email. | https://www.kcur.org/arts-life/2022-04-09/ghost-towns-are-all-around-kansas-city-if-you-know-where-to-look | 2022-04-09T11:13:42Z | kcur.org | control | https://www.kcur.org/arts-life/2022-04-09/ghost-towns-are-all-around-kansas-city-if-you-know-where-to-look | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Three young Russian spies, Pavel, Mikhail and Marat, working from computers in a 27-story skyscraper at 12 Prospekt Vernadskogo in Moscow, over five years targeted the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant in Burlington, Kansas.
They were on a sophisticated cyber reconnaissance mission to learn about the inner workings of the plant to prepare for a possible precision electronic assault by the Russians.
That is the story that broke March 24, when the U.S. Department of Justice suddenly and somewhat mysteriously unsealed an indictment against the hapless trio. The indictment was filed under seal on Aug. 26, 2021, in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kansas, and lay gathering dust for seven months.
Context matters, and in this case it explains why the Sunflower State and its lone nuclear plant have been woven into a saga laced with John le Carré spy novel overtones.
The bloody context is the devastating war Russia launched weeks ago against Ukraine. It also includes the remarkably successful psychological warfare ops that the Biden administration and its Western European allies have thrown at Russian President Vladimir Putin and his war machine.
James Lewis, a nuclear cybersecurity expert, said that the DOJ indictment probably was unsealed in Kansas now because the Biden administration has fresh intelligence about the Russians and it wants those overseeing America’s critical infrastructure to be on heightened alert.
“Maybe the Russians are giving more consideration to a cyberattack than in the past. It is driven by what the Russians are up to,” said Lewis, director of the Strategic Technology Program of the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington.
Wolf Creek, completed in 1985, is located about 100 miles southwest of Kansas City. Evergy, formerly Kansas City Power & Light, owns 94% of Wolf Creek and the balance is owned by the Kansas Electric Power Cooperative.
Evergy declined to discuss the Russian cybersecurity attack on Wolf Creek. Their statement is illuminating, however, in that it immediately references the Ukraine war.
Chuck Caisley, Evergy senior vice president of public affairs, in response to a request for an interview instead sent an email that stated, “Given the current geopolitical situation and the ongoing cyber security threat posture relative to the national electrical grid, generally, we are not publicly discussing cyber security at Evergy or at Wolf Creek. In addition to not discussing our perspective, practices and protocols generally, we are not discussing this incident either.”
Security experts say that until the presidencies of Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, U.S. intelligence agencies never publicly identified the identities of foreign government hackers. Doing so now in a big way is an escalation on the ongoing battle against these threats and meant to get the attention of those governments and their agents who had hoped to do their dastardly deeds in obscurity.
Named in the Kansas indictment are Pavel Aleksandrovich Akulov, Mikhailovich Gavrilov and Marat Valeryevich Tyukov.
For them, being publicly branded as cyber hackers “is a life changer,” said Tim Conway, industrial control systems curriculum lead at the SANS Institute, which provides training on cybersecurity. These guys will not be able to travel much beyond Russia’s borders for fear of being seized by international police agencies.
“For starters, there are rewards out from the U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice program for up to $10 million for information leading to the identification or location of the individuals, which will limit travel capabilities, work capabilities, and likely limit the role in their current organizations,” he said.
Photographs of the three hackers of Wolf Creek were included in the indictment. While unlikely, if you spot them on the Country Club Plaza or at a Kansas City Royals game, you would be well advised to call the FBI.
Experts say their public exposure by American authorities is unique.
“Yes, yes, to my knowledge we are the only ones naming and shaming people,” Conway said.
After being provided a copy of the unsealed indictment, Conway told Flatland that the attack at Wolf Creek was akin to a fishing expedition to learn more about how the plant operates.
“They were building a list to inform future actions,” he said.
Bottom line, safety systems at Wolf Creek would not allow cyber intruders to trigger a meltdown that would potentially poison the region and Kansas City, Conway said. Added layers of security are provided because operating systems at the plant are largely siloed from the internet where cyber intruders roam.
If there ever was a catastrophic release of radioactivity at Wolf Creek, Kansas City could very well be in its path, according to Bryan Busby, KMBC chief meteorologist.
“So, usually before rain and storms of any sort move in, the winds will come in from the southwest, meaning that any radioactive fallout would be transposed toward us,” Busby said. “As a rule, KC has about 105 days of precip — roughly just below one-third of the year.”
“Should people in Kansas City be panicked from attacks involved in this campaign which occurred years ago? Probably not,” Conway said. “But they should pay attention, saying to themselves, ‘Hey, this is happening in my state. This is not something happening in Ukraine or around the world.’”
The real point of releasing information about a cyberattack “that has been out for a long time,” Conway said, may be tied to Russia’s ongoing attack on Ukraine.
Publishing that information now, Conway said, “is absolutely informed by the geopolitical situation around the globe” and is likely to cause high level anxiety in the Kremlin.
“It highlights that things aren’t going well for Putin,” Conway said.
It also underscores Putin’s predicament of possibly being blindsided by his own intelligence agencies, which underestimated Ukraine’s fighting abilities in recent weeks.
American and allied intelligence agencies clearly have burrowed deeply into Russia’s cyberattack forces — as demonstrated by the details in the unsealed indictment.
How did America get the pictures of the Russian hackers and how long has the investigation been under way? That is a question hackers in Russia — as well as Iran, China and North Korea — are now asking themselves.
In addition, the indictment detailing how the Russians gained access to various energy and industrial networks provides good information for companies and their vendors tasked with having to build up defenses against future incursions.
The Department of Justice, in a press release issued March 24 about two unsealed indictments, said "two separate conspiracies, targeted the global energy sector between 2012 and 2018. In total, these hacking campaigns targeted thousands of computers, at hundreds of companies and organizations, in approximately 135 countries.”
One indictment was in Washington, D.C.
The second, filed in Kansas City, Kansas, detailed “a separate, two-phased campaign undertaken by three officers of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and their co-conspirators to target and compromise the computers of hundreds of entities related to the energy sector worldwide. Access to such systems would have provided the Russian government the ability to, among other things, disrupt and damage such computer systems at a future time of its choosing,” the DOJ press release stated.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco said in the release: “Although the criminal charges unsealed today reflect past activity, they make crystal clear the urgent ongoing need for American businesses to harden their defenses and remain vigilant. Alongside our partners here at home and abroad, the Department of Justice is committed to exposing and holding accountable state-sponsored hackers who threaten our critical infrastructure with cyber-attacks.”
U.S. Attorney Duston Slinkard for the District of Kansas, said, “The potential of cyberattacks to disrupt, if not paralyze, the delivery of critical energy services to hospitals, homes, businesses and other locations essential to sustaining our communities is a reality in today’s world.”
The DOJ press release continued: “between 2014 and 2017 … the conspirators transitioned to more targeted compromises that focused on specific energy sector entities and individuals and engineers who worked with ICS/SCADA systems.
“As alleged in the indictment, the conspirators’ tactics included spearphishing attacks targeting more than 3,300 users at more than 500 U.S. and international companies and entities, in addition to U.S. government agencies such as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
“In some cases, the spearphishing attacks were successful, including in the compromise of the business network (i.e., involving computers not directly connected to ICS/SCADA equipment) of the Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation (Wolf Creek) in Burlington, Kansas, which operates a nuclear power plant.”
SCADA stands for “supervisory control and data acquisition” computer systems that monitor and control the guts of industrial equipment and processes governing such things as generating power in a nuclear plant and maintaining its operational health.
“Moreover, after establishing an illegal foothold in a particular network, the conspirators typically used that foothold to penetrate further into the network by obtaining access to other computers and networks at the victim entity,” the DOJ said.
The DOJ gave a shoutout to Wolf Creek’s utility operators, saying they “provided invaluable assistance in the investigation.”
The nuclear industry is mindful of the importance of safeguarding its assets in the face of mounting cyberthreats, according to Rich Mogavero, senior project manager at the Nuclear Energy Institute, the policy organization of the nuclear industry.
“As one of the nation’s critical infrastructure sectors, the nuclear energy industry routinely engages with federal agency intelligence agencies on situational and threat awareness and assesses its readiness for emerging cyber threats,” he told Flatland in a prepared statement.
This story was originally published on Flatland, a fellow member of the KC Media Collective. | https://www.kcur.org/news/2022-04-09/exposing-the-russian-spies-who-attempted-to-hack-a-kansas-nuclear-plant | 2022-04-09T11:13:48Z | kcur.org | control | https://www.kcur.org/news/2022-04-09/exposing-the-russian-spies-who-attempted-to-hack-a-kansas-nuclear-plant | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Back in the day, if you wanted to watch one of the finest clubs in Major League Baseball, all you had to do was switch on the TV… and maybe adjust the rabbit ears.
In the 1970s a free, over-the-air TV station — Channel 41, then known as KBMA — owned the rights to Royals baseball, and everyone in town knew it. When the team took the field, it wasn’t unusual for 70% of TV sets in Kansas City to be tuned to KBMA, way up on the UHF dial.
No one then could imagine that free agency would lead to bidding wars for players’ services, a power struggle that heavily favored big-market clubs with their preposterously rich local TV deals, over smaller-market clubs like the Royals. (Kansas City is No. 34, according to Nielsen; only Cincinnati and Milwaukee are smaller among MLB markets. By contrast, revenue from NFL broadcasts is distributed equally among teams, thanks to a system created by Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt.)
Nor could anyone have imagined that the need for ever-higher revenues would not only put an end to free baseball but make watching the Royals on TV so expensive.
Perhaps you were hoping to save some money this year by dropping your cable subscription? Well, if you’re also hoping to follow the local team in baseball’s most exciting and competitive division, sorry, you’ll have no choice but to pony up.
However, if you’re willing to settle for a little less live Royals action, there will be plenty of chances to follow them through a growing array of national broadcast and streaming-TV options.
What’s free:
Of course, you can listen to the Royals for free on KCSP-AM (610) and the Royals Radio Network. Hall of Famer Denny Matthews will calmly narrate the action for another season, his 54th as the club’s lead announcer. But if you like pictures with your radio, and you don’t pay for TV, then you’d better circle April 29 on your calendar.
That game — when the Royals host the New York Yankees — is the only currently scheduled free-to-watch telecast featuring Kansas City’s men in blue. Plot twist: It’s on streaming.
In a brand-new package negotiated with MLB, Apple will televise two Friday-night baseball games per week on its Apple TV+ streaming platform, including Royals-Yankees on April 29. For a limited time the games will be free, which means you only need to download the Apple TV app to watch them.
You should also sign up for an MLB.com account if you haven’t already. Every day Major League Baseball chooses one game as the MLB.tv Free Game of the Day that registered users can watch, whether or not they’ve purchased an MLB.TV subscription.
As I write this, I’m streaming the matchup between the Royals and the Cleveland Guardians, which was selected as the MLB.tv Free Game for Opening Day. The only catch: You have to check in every day to see what the game-of-the-day will be.
What will cost dearly:
All locally televised games will be shown on Bally Sports Kansas City, formerly known as Fox Sports KC. Ryan Lefevbre, in his 24th season, will do most of the play-by-play calls. With few exceptions, you must have a pay TV subscription (cable or satellite) to watch the local Royals TV broadcasts.
But what if you’re a cord-cutter and use streaming TV? For now, your options are limited. That’s because sports is a huge selling point for pay TV, and cable and dish operators have usually been able to negotiate aggressively for sports channels, passing along the high fees to customers.
But that is changing. For the first time more people report using streaming TV than traditional pay TV.
Because of Royals broadcast rights, Fox Sports KC was for many years the second-most expensive channel for cable operators to carry, after ESPN. Then along came streaming TV to replace cable: Hulu with Live TV, YouTube TV, Sling and Fubo. Millions of cord-cutters made the switch to streaming.
But then along came Sinclair Broadcast Group, a company noted for its, um, innovative approaches to local TV. Sinclair acquired most of the Fox Sports regional sports channels in 2019, sold the naming rights to Bally casinos and steeply hiked the price that was being charged to streaming platforms for carrying the channels.
All but one of the streamers responded by dropping Bally Sports. The one that didn’t, DirecTV Stream, offers Bally Sports as part of its Choice tier, which starts at $90 a month.
Is $3 a day worth it for the Royals diehard? Arguably local coverage has gotten better over time. In 2011 Fox Sports KC only televised 140 of the Royals’ 162 games; this season Bally Sports will televise every game that isn’t being offered on national TV or streaming.
What won’t cost so dearly:
As part of the MLB deal, Apple TV+ is also offering an on-demand replay channel and a new nightly program, MLB Big Inning, a whirlwind of live look-ins and highlights that’s being compared to NFL Red Zone.
So if the Royals have men on base and Salvy’s at bat, you’ll probably get to see him take his swings. For many fans those add-ons will make Apple TV+ worth the paltry $5 a month it charges (plus there’s Ted Lasso, starring noted Royals fan Jason Sudeikis).
While you’re at it, think about forking over another $5 for Peacock, the streaming arm of NBC Universal. It just announced a Sunday-morning MLB deal that starts in May — and there are two Royals games on the schedule so far: July 3 at the Detroit Tigers and July 17 at the Toronto Blue Jays.
You’ll need to subscribe to Peacock Premium, as MLB won’t be on Peacock’s free version.
Stay tuned — it’s a long season:
When Sinclair priced the streaming platforms out of the market for Royals games, there was speculation that Sinclair wanted to sell its own streaming platform directly to Kansas City sports fans. And indeed, that’s what has happened.
The new streaming service, announced earlier this year, will allow Royals fans in Kansas City to watch games directly from Bally Sports, no cable subscription required. Needless to say, it won’t be cheap (estimates are it will cost $23 a month) and it won’t be available outside the Kansas City metro because MLB.tv has the exclusive contract for out-of-market fans.
Look for more news later this season about this direct-to-customer streaming service.
Also later this season, we’ll know if the Royals are in contention for the playoffs. If that happens — or if they or one of their AL Central Division rivals goes on a hot streak and is playing the Royals — more KC games will be added to the schedules of networks with MLB rights.
On free TV, that means Fox’s Baseball Night in America, which returns in the summer; and on cable, ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, TBS Tuesday Night, and FS1, which airs several games a week. ESPN, TBS and FS1 are carried by Hulu and YouTube TV. Fubo carries ESPN and FS1 but not TBS. | https://www.kcur.org/sports/2022-04-09/kansas-city-royals-2022-watch | 2022-04-09T11:13:54Z | kcur.org | control | https://www.kcur.org/sports/2022-04-09/kansas-city-royals-2022-watch | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Hosted by RX France, MIP Cancun brings international content distributors and TV content buyers from the Latin American and US Hispanic through an exclusive VIP concierge service.
MIP Cancun has built a reputation for being a fun and effective way for TV professionals in the Latin American markets to come together, make new connections and strengthen existing relationships. As a VIP concierge service, MIP Cancun specialises in getting the right people together for a blend of keynote speakers, event panels and face-to-face meetings.
To mark their first in-person event after nearly two years, RX France knew there were high expectations for MIP Cancun 2021 to be the blockbuster event of the year. However, with nearly 500 people on site, bringing the right people together couldn’t be left to chance. To keep churn from the event low and convert first-time attendees into loyal customers, it was essential that people could network effectively and make the most of their time at the event
“Our industry is about relationships… A 15-minute face-to-face session with someone is better than a 2-hour meeting through Zoom.” – Marcelo Tamburri, WarnerMedia Latin America
People loved the event, which featured industry heavyweights from Gaumont US (producers of hit Netflix series Narcos), Banijay, Telemundo and many others. Grip’s hosted buyer solution made it easy for attendees to complete their profile, manage their personal agenda and connect with these industry experts, all in one easy to use platform. As a result, they were able to have more meaningful meetings, leading to the highest Net Promoter Score (NPS) in MIP Cancun’s history.
Bonus Content: Top Tips for Running Your Hosted Buyer Event
The RX France team have shared their secret sauce recipe for organising a successful pre-scheduled meeting event. Learn how to get buy-in from attendees, find the right buyers, and ensure success through internal team training. | https://www.pcma.org/how-to-put-on-a-hosted-buyer-event-attendees-will-love/ | 2022-04-09T11:22:23Z | pcma.org | control | https://www.pcma.org/how-to-put-on-a-hosted-buyer-event-attendees-will-love/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
PCMA’s Catalyst community offers members a platform to ask each other questions, share ideas, or, as the website says, “communicate and collaborate.” Here’s a sampling from a recent Catalyst discussion.
“With the latest updates to recommended mask policies from the CDC, are associations with spring meetings still mandating masks onsite? We’re in Chicago [in the spring] and are debating about this internally,” Beth O’Brien, CMP, DES, director of meetings and conventions, Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP), asked her peers on the Catalyst forum. “Also, how are your registration numbers? Thanks!”
Everything is up in the air. I am guessing we will have a more normal spring and fall with a few hiccups here and there. I think for us the biggest problem is people’s confidence, and how much fear [is] still dictating legislation.
— Pepe Gomez, CEO, DCPV360
We are following the local guidance of the city where the conference is. If they require masks, we’ll require. If not, we are no longer requiring masks. We are sending personal protective equipment to show sites in case people need anything. Of course, if something changes, we will update our policies.
— Stephanie Dumey, Senior Manager, American International Association of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)
So far, [registration] numbers have been up. In fact, a couple of conferences that we have done have exceeded their totals from 2019. With regards to protocols and mandates, you obviously want to follow local government regulations. What I have seen with respect to attendees is that with each passing day of the conference, you will see fewer and fewer masks being worn. If you have daily testing, attendees try their best to avoid it after the first day. It’s like [playing] cat and mouse for the testers trying to catch attendees coming through the door. I think you have a little time to see how things go before making a final decision.
— Amilcar Mendez, Managing Partner, Rayne Event Tech & Lounge
The Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) is hosting their meeting at the Chicago Hilton. Now that the City of Chicago and the Chicago Hilton have lifted proof of vaccination and masks, ASCD will follow the same. We will have signage encouraging the wearing of masks throughout the conference. We know some will continue to wear masks and others will not.
— Noreen Burke, CEM, Director of Business Development, Corcoran Expositions
We are seeing a sudden shift and relaxing of mask and testing protocols after the CDC reduced the COVID-19 mandates late last week. I have a team headed to the Indianapolis Convention Center next week and they just recalled prior plans of requiring testing, proof of vaccination, and masks mandates. After this show released the updated statement, I’ve started to see a few more shows and conventions begin to follow the same standards.
— Cole Sales, Marketing Manager, Engaged Companies
For masking, if it’s not mandated then you may not need to require them. But I would not discount continued reluctance to shed all protection — masks, having lots of people together inside, etc. Personally, even though where I live we have high vaccination rates and mask requirements are being lessened, I still wear mine indoors for the most part, partly because we’ve been down this road — lifting requirements, new variant, requirements come back. Since wearing a mask is easy for me, I keep doing it.
The reason I share that is to advocate for normalizing people making choices that make them comfortable attending in-person gatherings. As someone mentioned in a reply, some will choose to wear masks, some will not. We need to make both okay (as long as mandates/requirements are not in place). And if an attendee is going to be headed home to someone who is immunocompromised or has young children who can’t get a vaccination yet, they may choose an abundance of caution. We won’t know everyone’s situation, so we need to make it easy for them to make the choice to attend. … Mostly, I’d advise, regular and as consistent as possible communication with your attendees.
— Mary de la Fe, CAE, CMP, DES, Owner, MCJ Meetings
Read previous Catalyst discussion in our Catalyst Questions Archive. | https://www.pcma.org/mask-mandates-meetings-should-they-continue/ | 2022-04-09T11:22:30Z | pcma.org | control | https://www.pcma.org/mask-mandates-meetings-should-they-continue/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
I think the first event I ever attended at New York City’s Javits Center was probably 25 years ago when I was editor at a food retailing website and attended the Fancy Food Show. To be honest, my memories about that visit have more to do with the food (I had decided to limit my tasting only to vendors that offered biscotti as a sample) than the facility itself. Once I started covering the events industry, I visited the Javits Center — less than 45 minutes from my home — many more times and have followed its expansion progress with the interest of a local.
Now that the North Javits expansion has been completed, I was happy to be invited there for NYC & Company’s Tristate Meeting Planner event, held on April 5 in conjunction with Global Meetings Industry Day (April 7). More than 250 planners from across the metro New York region came together for a night of networking in the natural-light-filled rooftop Pavilion of the new building, along with more than 100 NYC & Company member businesses, including hotels and attractions like The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.
Before the reception, several planners and I accompanied Lisa Lopez, the Javits Convention Center’s director of sales and marketing, for a look at the new four-level facility, which is big on indoor and outdoor space, wide-open views of the Hudson River, and sustainability efforts, including new solar panels and energy efficient operations.
That the Javits can call itself an industry leader in sustainable practices is quite a shift from just about a decade ago. As a 2015 New York Times article described it, for years the Javits Center’s dark façade and severe angles earned it the nickname Darth Vader — especially apt for bird lovers like me since its mirrorlike façade caused birds to crash into the building, making it a major site of bird fatalities. A half-billion-dollar renovation begun in 2010 changed all that, cutting those deaths by 90 percent and creating a green roof that at last count has been inhabited by 35 bird species and four bat species. While the nearly 7-acre roof’s sedum vegetation was still winter sparse during our visit, we could see seagulls circling overhead.
The North building’s one-acre rooftop farm complete with greenhouse, which is adjacent to and in full view of the Pavilion, promises to offer a true roof-to-table dining experience and makes a lovely complement to the green roof.
And just as the spring and growing season is coming to the farm and green roof, so is the group business. “There is a strong demand for in-person meetings and events in New York, and our bookings certainly reflect that,” Alan Steel, president and CEO of the Javits Center, said in a release. “With our recent expansion, we are seeing significant interest in new corporate events, while our largest trade shows and conventions are returning with a renewed sense of excitement and energy.” Indeed, there were signs that the convention center was gearing up for the New York Auto Show while we were there, which opens on April 15.
Added NYC & Company President and CEO Fred Dixon in the release, “It’s great to see the return of face-to-face meetings and events in New York City.”
I’m looking forward to a return trip to Javits for one of those upcoming events. And to see the birds.
Michelle Russell is editor and chief of Convene. | https://www.pcma.org/north-javits-center-expansion-tour/ | 2022-04-09T11:22:36Z | pcma.org | control | https://www.pcma.org/north-javits-center-expansion-tour/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Happy Saturday! It is a chilly Spring morning across the Tennessee Valley, with temperatures starting in the 30s under cloudy skies. A few snow showers will be around this morning in the higher elevations. Any accumulations will be along the Tennessee/North Carolina state line, where 1-3" will be possible. The rest of the area will be dealing with chilly, breezy conditions with high temperatures ranging from the upper-40s to lower-50s. Dress in layers if you have outdoor plans today!
Tonight, areas of frost will develop across much of the area as temperatures drop into the 30s. It will be a good idea to bring in any potted plants before going to bed tonight!
Sunday and Monday will feature much warmer temperatures as highs return to the 70s. Temperatures will approach the 80-degree mark Tuesday and Wednesday, with a few afternoon showers possible. Rain chances will increase Thursday into Friday as deep Gulf moisture returns to the region.
For the latest, download the Local 3 Weather app. | https://www.local3news.com/local-weather/chilly-temperatures-continue-for-saturday/article_5892d986-b7dc-11ec-8aed-9b17776e1e5d.html | 2022-04-09T11:29:23Z | local3news.com | control | https://www.local3news.com/local-weather/chilly-temperatures-continue-for-saturday/article_5892d986-b7dc-11ec-8aed-9b17776e1e5d.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
President Joe Biden and his aides are actively working to refocus on the litany of domestic issues threatening Democrats' prospects in the midterm elections following weeks of the President's days being consumed by the war in Ukraine.
Since Biden returned from a last-minute diplomatic outing to Europe last month, he's held no scheduled events about Russia's invasion -- a stark contrast to the previous weeks, when the President emerged regularly to update Americans on new sanctions, intelligence and Western military assistance.
Even as the atrocities of Bucha played out on television screens across the world this week — including in the West Wing, where an outraged Biden and his team watched with horror — there were no specific events to address the grim footage.
Instead, Biden's focus has been squarely at home. From the cost of health care to supply chain bottlenecks to prices at the pump and a robust economic recovery — one that officials believe simply hasn't broken through — Biden's public focus has lately been guided entirely by domestic issues.
The shift comes as Biden and his team assess a concerning political landscape complicated by the ripple effect of severe economic sanctions imposed on Moscow. Other recent developments -- including a decision to lift pandemic-era restrictions on the border -- have contributed to growing unease among Democrats about November's elections. And a recent surge of Covid-19 cases among Biden's circle has acted as a reminder of the virus' continued presence.
Biden's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine has done little to boost his sagging political standing, despite generating unprecedented unity among Western allies. As the White House settles in for what officials believe will be a prolonged conflict, there has been a clear effort to try and break through wall-to-wall war coverage with Biden's domestic priorities.
"We can do more than one thing at a time," a senior administration official told CNN. "We have a story to tell at home and it's only natural that we would focus on that as much as possible."
It's a move in line with a seemingly simple piece of advice from President Barack Obama to Democrats this week.
Obama, making a triumphant return to the White House to celebrate his signature health care law alongside his former No. 2, offered a prescription for Democrats fatalistically anticipating a drubbing in this year's midterm elections.
"We've got a story to tell," the former President said. said matter-of-factly as he departed the East Room. "We've just got to tell it."
Yet how to tell the story of economic revival amid a grinding war that's roiled the global economy and preoccupied the administration's time has become a defining challenge for Biden, as he warns the conflict in Ukraine won't end anytime soon.
A pivot to focusing on the homefront, but Ukraine remains top of mind
The shift is intentional, according to White House officials, and in direct response to uneasy congressional Democrats eying midterm elections at a moment when Biden's approval ratings sit at the lowest point of his presidency.
The new-found attention to domestic issues is unlikely to change in the near term, one official said, with Biden tentatively scheduled to hit the road at a regular clip over the course of the next several weeks to highlight the issues that have been central to White House messaging efforts over the last two weeks.
Yet that was the plan weeks ago after Biden delivered his State of the Union address, a speech that was heavily revised to include a 12-minute opening section on the crisis in Ukraine. Biden visited Duluth, Minnesota, and Fort Worth, Texas — but plans for a more robust sales-tour became overwhelmed by events overseas.
When Biden spoke to a building trades group in a Washington hotel this week, he began his remarks by decrying "major war crimes" underway in Ukraine. But he didn't carve out time for a dedicated event to the suite of sanctions he was unveiling that day, choosing instead to announce them to the builders.
"This war could continue for a long time, but the United States will continue to stand with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in the fight for freedom. And I just want you to know that," Biden told the crowd of unionized trade workers, adding an aside as he transitioned into a speech about the economy: "By the way, if I got to go to war, I'm going with you guys."
Behind the scenes, aides say much of Biden's daily schedule remains consumed by the events unfolding in Eastern Europe, including briefings from aides and secure telephone calls to foreign leaders. A longtime foreign policy hand, Biden has engaged intimately with the crisis and conceived of last month's in-person summits in Brussels himself, deciding it was important to meet with his counterparts face to face.
A new round of sanctions, the result of intense negotiations and coordination with G7 and European Union allies, were deployed this week. New lethal aid is arriving each day, with Biden moving to fulfill a direct Ukrainian request for $100 million in new Javelin anti-armor systems this week.
Yet it has mostly been Biden's top Cabinet officials and deputies who have become the face of the US response in news conferences and briefings. That has left Biden to focus almost entirely on his domestic agenda.
Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security adviser, briefed reporters with the latest US intelligence assessment about Russia's shifting military objectives and a clear message to allies that what appears to be a protracted crisis necessitates a lasting united front.
"The images from Bucha so powerfully reinforce now is not the time for complacency. The Ukrainians are defending their homeland courageously, and the United States will continue to back them with military assistance, humanitarian aid and economic support," Sullivan told reporters on Monday.
The Biden administration, Sullivan added, is "working around the clock" to fulfill security assistance requests from Ukraine, detailing US and allied response so far and hinting at forthcoming "additional military assistance in the coming days."
Biden himself did not schedule an appearance to discuss Russia on Monday. Instead, he delivered an impromptu, minute-long statement to reporters as he arrived back in Washington from a weekend in Delaware.
"I have one comment to make before I start the day," he said, making clear he wasn't interested in an extensive back-and-forth on Russia. "You may remember I got criticized for calling Putin a war criminal. Well, the truth of the matter -- you saw what happened in Bucha. This warrants him -- he is a war criminal."
Kitchen table issues rise to the top following European trip
The attempt to limit Biden's public focus on Russia is not by accident, aides say.
While the American public has shown wide-ranging approval for supporting Ukraine, their primary focus remains on the pocketbook issues they are feeling at home. And while Biden enjoyed a small rise in his approval ratings in the immediate aftermath of Russia's invasion, the bump vanished after a few weeks as Americans returned their attention to issues at home.
A Quinnipiac University poll released last week showed 30% of Americans said inflation was the most urgent issue facing the country. Less than half that number named the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Other polls have shown rising prices and inflation are overwhelmingly at the top of Americans' minds and not the conflict in Ukraine.
Upon his return to Washington from Warsaw, Biden's public schedule has reflected that reality, with events ranging from a budget rollout carefully calibrated to try and unlock key components of his agenda to remarks highlighting the achievements from his first year, including the bipartisan infrastructure law and the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.
The lone event with a direct tie to the Ukraine crisis was tailored for a domestic audience: The announcement of an historic release of one million barrels of oil a day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for the next six months.
The move was in direct response to market instability driven by one of the world's largest oil producers launching a war against a Western ally. In his remarks, Biden used the phrase "Putin's price hike" four times.
"Our prices are rising because of Putin's actions -- there isn't enough supply," Biden said. "And the bottom line is: If we want lower gas prices, we need to have more oil supply right now."
Biden's monthly remarks on the jobs report last week highlighted an economic recovery that is still humming, despite headwinds coming from inflation at 40-year highs and the market effects of Russia's actions.
There was an event highlighting the administration's efforts to support the trucking industry, with Biden's podium ringed by big rigs on the South Lawn.
And then there was Obama's first return to the White House since the day Donald Trump was inaugurated to highlight a myriad of Biden efforts to strengthen the Affordable Care Act. The event was conceived by Biden's advisers to herald the now-popular health law while also bringing in a popular ex-President to inject a spark into the White House's messaging.
It was billed by White House officials as a "celebration" of the law, but it conspicuously was not tied to any particular date or anniversary. The event marked 12 years and 13 days from the time Obama's cornerstone legislative achievement was signed into law.
The war in Ukraine didn't arise once -- despite both men's complex histories with the crisis.
As Biden was leaving the East Room following the reunion with his former boss, he tried to stay on message. Asked when the war crimes might be labeled a genocide, he demurred.
"Let's talk about health care," he said before exiting.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.local3news.com/regional-national/biden-turns-his-focus-from-ukraine-war-to-kitchen-table-issues-at-home-as-midterms/article_44990ad4-722e-57a1-aab5-4bb43a82db84.html | 2022-04-09T11:29:29Z | local3news.com | control | https://www.local3news.com/regional-national/biden-turns-his-focus-from-ukraine-war-to-kitchen-table-issues-at-home-as-midterms/article_44990ad4-722e-57a1-aab5-4bb43a82db84.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Eleven people were injured after car crash pushed a vehicle into a group standing near a food truck in Austin, Texas, on Friday night, according to authorities.
Two victims suffered potentially life-threatening injuries while two others sustained "potentially serious" injuries, according to Capt. Christa Stedman, a spokesperson for the Austin-Travis County EMS.
First responders were called to the crash area around 8:20 p.m., Stedman told CNN in a phone call.
Nine victims were hospitalized, and two others, including one of the drivers, refused medical treatment, she added.
The cause of the crash is under investigation, officials said.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.local3news.com/regional-national/car-crash-near-austin-food-truck-leave-11-people-injured-officials-say/article_02ebb12c-acc6-5603-92df-2f669c982539.html | 2022-04-09T11:29:35Z | local3news.com | control | https://www.local3news.com/regional-national/car-crash-near-austin-food-truck-leave-11-people-injured-officials-say/article_02ebb12c-acc6-5603-92df-2f669c982539.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Zoos across the country are moving their birds indoors to protect them from the spread of a contagious and potentially lethal strain of the avian flu.
Cases of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) have been rising in backyard flocks and wild birds across dozens of states in recent months, prompting zoo officials to temporarily shut down bird exhibits.
"This strain of the disease is highly contagious and lethal to birds," the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore said in a statement on its website. "As a precautionary measure, we have closed our aviaries and moved several of our bird species to behind-the-scenes facilities with limited human contact until the threat of avian influenza has subsided."
Birds in zoos could get infected by wild birds, humans or a new bird introduced to the facility.
The avian flu was first detected in February in a commercial turkey flock in Dubois County, Indiana, according to the US Department of Agriculture. This was the first case of infection in the US since 2020.
The disease caused by the flu has been detected in commercial and backyard flocks across 24 states and in wild birds across 31 states, according to the department.
The Type A viruses naturally spread among wild aquatic birds worldwide and can infect domestic poultry along with bird and animal species, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They don't usually affect humans, it said.
The spread has led zoos in Pennsylvania, Colorado, Michigan, Wisconsin, Texas and Ohio in addition to Maryland to take preventative steps, including closing outdoor bird exhibits and moving the birds indoors for their safety.
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) established the Zoo and Aquarium All Hazards Partnership program, which collaborates with zoos to create a plan before outbreaks occur.
Preventative measures include putting up tarps or netting around the exhibits, closing walk-through aviaries to the public and implementing strong quarantine protocols, according to Rob Vernon, AZA's senior vice president for communications and strategy.
"Facilities are going to be in full response mode to protect their birds for at least the next couple of months until transmission decreases," Vernon told CNN in a statement.
Zoos take precautionary measures
In an effort to prevent infections, zoos have taken various steps to keep their birds safe.
The Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium has barred the public from accessing birds including ostriches, chickens and owls. Visitors may see flamingos and penguins through the glass of their indoor habitats.
In Colorado, the Denver Zoo moved its birds indoors for at least 28 days, it said in a statement.
Dr. Ann Duncan, who heads animal health at Detroit Zoological Society, said moving birds indoors is a crucial preventive measure.
"By bringing these animals indoors, we can more closely monitor them and prevent contact with wild birds who may be carriers of HPAI," Duncan said in a February news release from the Detroit Zoo.
The Maryland Zoo is adhering to a multi-tiered response plan reviewed by the USDA as well as other state departments, it said in a statement.
The zoo, which has the largest colony of African penguins in North America, has not detected cases -- but the case count is close enough to move its birds indoors, according to its senior communications director, Mike Evitts.
"We are hatching penguin chicks as part of a plan to increase their numbers with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums breeding program as part of a global conservation effort," he said.
Prompted by an abundance of caution, the Milwaukee County Zoo's Aviary and Humboldt Penguin exhibit has temporarily closed, according to its website.
The Dallas Zoo also moved its birds away from public-facing enclosures "until the threat has passed," saying animal health experts will continue to monitor and follow protocols as needed, the zoo said in a statement.
Ohio's Columbus Zoo also shuttered some bird habitats as they undergo monitoring and evaluation, according to its director of communication, Jen Fields.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.local3news.com/regional-national/zoos-are-moving-their-birds-indoors-to-protect-them-against-a-deadly-strain-of-the/article_28432fb4-c057-5143-9b1d-40af611e6f48.html | 2022-04-09T11:30:00Z | local3news.com | control | https://www.local3news.com/regional-national/zoos-are-moving-their-birds-indoors-to-protect-them-against-a-deadly-strain-of-the/article_28432fb4-c057-5143-9b1d-40af611e6f48.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Rappahannock County’s largest private business – the renowned Inn at Little Washington – is working to translate its dazzling culinary success to a broadened hospitality and retail enterprise focused on what its ever-inventive leaders think of as “life-affirming experiences” – all the while expanding the options for delicious food.
Proprietor-Chef Patrick O’Connell, 76, and General Manager Robert Fasce, 54, are mapping the Inn’s next chapter, the latest addition being the $1 million acquisition of the Middle Street Gallery next door on Warren Avenue; they’re now analyzing just what to do with it. The Inn is growing with no master plan, no board of directors, and no executive advisors. The expansion and diversification drive – the campus of Inn-owned structures now stands at 25 – builds on a continuous conversation between O’Connell and Fasce, a chef himself who is on his third stint at the Inn.
“Things come onto the screen,” Fasce explains, and while not all ideas ripen at the same pace, he and O’Connell – manager and artist – talk multiple times during each day to discern which innovations are likely to entice new, well-heeled guests to the Inn and convince established patrons to stay longer. As O’Connell sees it, the collaboration with Fasce is ideal. “He's able to embrace and implement many of my ideas which others might regard as unrealistic,” he says. “He has learned to believe in the impossible.”
Here’s what’s on the current menu of priorities and possibilities:
• The Inn would like to add as many as 10 meticulously decorated rooms, in addition to the current 23.
• E-commerce sales of branded Inn at Little Washington items, which exploded last Christmas, will shift to a fulfillment center to be built on 11 acres of commercially zoned land the Inn owns opposite the Quicke Mart on U.S. Route 211.
• The successful launch of Patty O’s, designed to be a more affordable dining experience, has sparked exploratory conversations about establishing replicas in high-dollar destinations like Palm Beach and Aspen.
• A specialty food shop in the Town of Washington’s former Health Department building on Main Street will offer cheeses, olive oil and just-roasted coffee beans, among other items.
• A pool, fitness center and spa, possibly offering memberships, would advance the goal of making the Inn about more than food, while giving guests a reason to spend another night. (Because rooms are significantly less labor-intensive than meals, overnights are desirable.)
• A new event space would add to the capacity for weddings and conferences. This project was sidelined during the pandemic but now may be revived.
• Early deliberations could lead to a long-shot real estate venture involving cottages designed, built and managed by the Inn, for guests seeking regular access with few maintenance burdens.
“They’ve ramped up the dreams,” observes John Fox Sullivan, Washington’s former mayor, who served with O’Connell on the Town Council.
The addition of more rooms emerges as a near-term priority. Most of the accommodations reserve for more than $1,000 a night, with the capacious, two-bedroom Craig Claiborne House listed for $4,425 a night. Guests apparently aren’t deterred by the rates, reserving months in advance, and Fasce figures that new rooms won’t sit empty. Meanwhile, a meal for two at the Inn – after a bottle of wine and payment of state and county taxes – tops $600.
Within the O’Connell-Fasce collaboration, O’Connell sometimes channels the archetypal corporate strategist, while Fasce, trained at the Culinary Institute of America, can play the perfectionist chef. With respect to the enterprise’s wide-ranging ambitions, O’Connell states: “We believe that a business such as ours is either growing or dying. Standing still is not an option.” Meanwhile, Fasce brags about sampling more than 50 hamburgers for the Patty O’s menu before selecting the winning recipe.
Naming the culture
Running through the blizzard of ideas is an intense focus on the Inn’s particular culture. The enterprise is O’Connell’s invention, but it succeeds and endures only when others understand it. Asked what defines The Inn at Little Washington, staff and patrons agree on a few core concepts: It’s about hospitality on steroids, uncompromising commitment to beauty – but tempered by humor and kindness. It’s about going beyond the strictly necessary at every turn, transforming eating and sleeping into art forms. The goalposts are never anchored, and each achievement opens onto a new aspiration, whether it’s mastering the art of “supreming” an orange, or refining a new tactic for attracting and indulging guests from the upper echelons of business, politics, sports and entertainment. At the Inn, when accomplishments lead to complacency or repetition, the adventure turns stale.
O’Connell says Fasce “has a perspective of our culture which can only be achieved over a long period of time.” For his part, Fasce, who held senior chef and management positions with clubs and restaurants in the Southeast, says the Inn is about more than good meals and big profits. “It’s not a normal business,” he states. A recent documentary features O’Connell about to sample an offering from a nervous sous-chef seeking approval; the fork poised mid-air, a smiling O’Connell says, “It’s either art or it’s garbage.”
O’Connell has no plans to retire, but while avoiding discussion of succession scenarios, he and Fasce think seriously about the future. Fasce declares: “The universe needs an Inn at Little Washington,” a respite from ordinary time and an escape from the stresses of success. Many high-end hotels emphasize self-conscious luxury, while the Inn fashions an identity that is both therapeutic and theatrical. Humor keeps the atmosphere more friendly than fussy: cheeses are served from a sculpted cow on wheels, and O’Connell boasts that the dress code consists only of a ban on wet bathing suits, which would damage the upholstered seats.
To help the staff of 225 internalize the ethos, Fasce last October recruited Christine Sellers, experienced in the hospitality business, to serve as an “ambassador of talent and culture.” Working with seven managers who oversee different aspects of the enterprise, she is preparing training materials that tell the Cinderella story of the gas station O’Connell transformed into a Michelin Three Star restaurant and inn. “I love training and I love watching people grow,” Sellers says. “But this is about culture, and Bob is great about building culture.”
The Inn culture asserts itself through countless encounters. When Patty O’s was under construction, a contractor floated the idea of saving money by installing painted Styrofoam beams, rather than hardwoods, across the ceiling of the dining room, a suggestion O’Connell and Fasce waved away derisively. Meanwhile in the kitchen of the new restaurant – which serves exquisitely prepared versions of ordinary American foods – the biggest challenge was the potato salad. The problem, Fasce says, is that some cooks harbored the misaligned attitude of “it’s just potato salad.” The new eatery, which insiders consider “the gateway drug” to the Inn’s flavors and atmospheres, is unlikely to veer too far from the Inn’s cultural rigors: Fasce’s son, Christopher, manages the operation, following jobs in the Inn’s dining room.
To make sure the world beyond the Town of Washington also gets the picture of the Inn’s unique culture, a New York public relations firm pumps out information about the latest awards and flourishes, powered by an email distribution reaching 70,000 computer screens.
Andrew Wright, the 36-year-old director of culinary operations, says he gives each cook “a checklist that says, ‘This is where you are, and this is where you want to be. This is what you need to be successful.’” Recognizing that perfectionism can wear people down, Fasce tells staffers: “My number one expectation for you is to be nice,” not only to guests but to one another.
Fasce also says he enjoys working with a staff that includes employees “from South Korea, Guatemala, Honduras, and Israel, along with those who are gay, straight, and transgender.” But he adds: “We don’t ring that bell and say, ‘Look at us.’” Language training is available for those with rudimentary English skills.
The challenge will be extending the alchemy of the O’Connell kitchen into a broader enterprise. What’s coming is “new but with the same soul,” says Fasce. Emphasizing a future that goes beyond food, Fasce says the Inn’s offerings will be “transformative, restorative, life-affirming” – all key words in the Inn’s lexicon today. If the buzzwords seem vague, it’s partly because other labels falter. Given the coming amenities, it might seem that the Inn is becoming a resort, but both Fasce and O’Connell dislike the word.
Wright says that despite his passionate interest in food, the experience must be about “more than what’s on the plate.” He believes that guests experience food differently when they have just gazed at the Piedmont landscape outside, or taken in the Inn’s ornately patterned ceilings. “Everything matters,” he says. “It’s about how happy can we make our guests? It’s cool to think of it that way.”
The pandemic shock: Record revenues
The bold expansions follow a period Fasce calls “a perfect storm of success”: in 2018, a third Michelin star; in 2020, a near-miraculous boom during the pandemic, which staggered other hospitality businesses; and in late 2021, the opening of Patty O’s Cafe & Bakery to rave reviews.
The Inn’s experience with the pandemic points to a capacity to manage the unexpected, which Fasce believes will be crucial in the next chapter. When COVID-19 swept the country, pundits immediately saw catastrophe for the entire hospitality sector, which did suffer widespread failures. The Inn went through a two-and-a-half-month shutdown, sidelining 165 staffers in the spring of 2020, which Fasce says was the most painful moment in his career. Ten weeks later, the Inn began staffing up, naming “Covid ambassadors” for each department. Subtle reminders about masks and sanitizing were inserted, and ultraviolet lights and extra ventilation appeared unobtrusively in public spaces. The goal: Make guests feel safe, without turning the celebrated Inn into a sanatorium.
O’Connell credits Fasce with the imaginative touch many guests will long remember. “We were only permitted to be at half occupancy so we had to come up with a plan to make the dining room still appear full and jolly,” he recalls. “Knowing that I love fantasy, folly and fun, Bob proposed that we bring in mannequins to fill the empty seats. I loved the idea and we found a theater company willing to help us dress and stage them. Stories about our mannequins appeared all over the world and on national and international television.”
The other move was to put an envisioned event space on hold, and instead invest in a glass conservatory added to the main building in order to offer greater space between tables. Guest bookings surged as vacationers canceled international travel plans and sought more accessible luxury in Virginia. Many weddings were scratched but some families opted for small but exquisite marriages at the Inn. Revenue in 2020 and 2021 set records (as a privately owned business, specific financial results are closely held).
Says O’Connell: “While others retracted we expanded.”
Taming county conflicts
In a county marked by divisive fights over new structures and new ideas, the Inn’s inventions might be expected to ignite the next culture war. In the 1990s, some local residents railed against the Inn’s postcard-perfect renovations and its parade of glitzy visitors. And the more recent displacement of the humble Country Cafe to make room for the upscale Patty O’s stirred resentful notes on the county’s RappNet listserv. But Washington residents have become accustomed to living in a company town, aware that the Inn generates as much as $600,000 in meals and lodging taxes for Washington’s coffers. A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that another 10 rooms would harvest an additional $100,000 in taxes for the town.
“It’s hard to imagine being critical of what they’ve done to date,” says Supervisor Keir Whitson, who represents Hampton District, which includes Washington. “They’re the economic anchor of our county.” And recent clashes suggest that citizens dread aggressive housing developers far more than affluent tourists, who, after all, return home without making lasting demands on local infrastructure or schools.
The Inn’s approach to expansion is as important as its contribution to local tax revenues. Its growth has been incremental, and concentrated on rescuing existing buildings from neglect. Starting with O’Connell’s conversion of the gas station that became the original restaurant in 1978, “he hasn’t built a lot of new stuff,” Whitson points out. “He’s repurposed old stuff. That’s the way to go.”
Discussing the current expansion plans, Fasce envisions the new projects taking shape within the Inn’s current footprint by renovating buildings the enterprise already owns, or making use of in-fill parcels that might connect them. The exception would be the planned fulfillment center along U.S. Route 211, which would also accommodate trucks and service vehicles involved in the Inn’s daily operations.
The Inn’s expansion plans will face scrutiny by the Washington Planning Commission, zoning authorities and the town’s Architectural Review Board. The Inn’s ambitions also will figure in the just-launched discussions on Washington’s next Comprehensive Plan. The planned structure along Route 211 will be subject to the normal zoning and land-use reviews at the county level.
Caroline Anstey, chair of the Washington Planning Commission, is hopeful that the growth plans can be successfully knit into the fabric of the town, and specifically, within the Inn’s current footprint. But she recognizes the need for businesses and structures designed to meet local needs. “Residents want community, with their own social events and cultural events,” she says, and she notes that with the loss of Tula’s, a popular Gay Street eatery, and the inactivity at the theaters because of COVID-19, Washington has seemed unusually sleepy outside the Inn and Patty O’s.
There is one element of the expansion plan she applauds unequivocally – the Inn’s plan to move trucks and service equipment to the new site along Route 211. “This is a huge plus for the town,” she says.
Foothills Forum is an independent, community-supported nonprofit tackling the need for in-depth research and reporting on Rappahannock County issues. The group has an agreement with Rappahannock Media, owner of the Rappahannock News and InsideNoVa, to present this series and other award-winning reporting projects. More at foothillsforum.org. | https://www.insidenova.com/headlines/famed-inn-at-little-washington-has-big-plans/article_601c61c8-b7d1-11ec-ba7c-cb6c665d3bc1.html | 2022-04-09T11:35:18Z | insidenova.com | control | https://www.insidenova.com/headlines/famed-inn-at-little-washington-has-big-plans/article_601c61c8-b7d1-11ec-ba7c-cb6c665d3bc1.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
BORODYANKA, Ukraine — In the devastated town of Borodyanka, north of Kyiv, Natasha Romanenko has pushed paper into the bullet holes peppered across her windows.
It's to keep the cold out, she tells us.
"You can see, there are holes where they were shooting directly in our window when we were hiding there," she says, speaking through NPR's translator
When Russian forces invaded and occupied the town, the damage was devastating. Ukrainian officials say Russia deliberately bombed civilians and that hundreds are still missing more than a week after the invading forces withdrew. Now, crews are sifting through the wreckage to see what - and who - survived.
We start to see signs of the destruction on the drive from Kyiv into Borodyanka. What should be a quick trip now takes hours as destroyed bridges mean more cars crowd onto the few reliable routes, and the military checkpoints create long lines on narrow roads.
We pass through the village of Dmitriovka and see a burnt-out car near homes reduced to rubble. A little further on there is a flattened tank.
Then, another destroyed car that has the word "children" spray painted in Russian along the side door.
We arrive on Borodyanka's main street– Central Street –with a humanitarian convoy that immediately begins handing out food and water.
It's here that we meet Natasha. She and her family spent a month hiding in a cramped, dark root cellar.
"What did we eat? Mostly potatoes," she says. "I had some spare oil, and I have a cow, so I had milk. And I went to my neighbor, I gave her some milk. She gave me some other things, some cheese. So this is how we survived. Our cow saved us."
Natasha takes us to the cellar, which is mostly filled with crates of potatoes. She explains that at night, they would lay a carpet over the crates and try to sleep on top of that, keeping warm under all the blankets they had.
In the final days of the occupation, Natasha says a Russian soldier confronted her. She had ventured out to milk her cow and he thought she was scouting Russian troop locations. She says he took her out to the middle of the road, and pointed a gun to her head.
"He was threatening me," she says. "And what did I say to him? I said I just wish one thing: That he would see my face for the rest of his days, so he would never forget what he's done here."
The soldier spoke to someone else on his radio. Then, Natasha says, he let her go.
As the aid workers move through the main street, we break from the group and the scale of the destruction starts to sink in. It's utter devastation everywhere you look.
There's an apartment building blackened from flames, with the middle collapsed from the bombing. The windows in all the storefronts have shattered and roofs have collapsed. There are burned vehicles in the streets and most of the power lines are down and frayed on the ground.
Across from the destroyed apartment building, there's a small park with a monument in the middle. On top sits a giant bust of Taras Shevchenko, the famous Ukrainian poet. Bullet holes pierce his forehead.
The tall pillar that the bust rests on is cracked and crumbling from all the shrapnel. Three policemen are holding a ladder while another man stands nearby, ready to climb to the top.
Yaroslav Halubchik is an artist from Kyiv and has come here to help create an ad hoc art project – an instant memorial of sorts.
"We're calling it 'The Curing of Shevchenko' or 'The Healing of Shevchenko,'" he says.
Yaroslav steps up the ladder, and starts to wrap a big gauze bandage around the bust's giant head. As he does that, a man in a Ukrainian military uniform comes up and asks him what he's doing.
Yaroslav explains that it's performance art, and the soldier seems satisfied. It turns out, he was worried that they were repairing it.
"In this case, it is vital that we keep this monument as it is right now, it shouldn't be touched," the soldier says. He adds that it's especially important because of who Shevchenko was.
"This is really important, because we all know that Shevchenko and other Ukrainian poets were always enemies of Russia," he explains. "I really hope that people will rebuild everything here as it was, but we should keep this as it is now."
We ask his name. He's Yevhen Nyshchuk — the former Ukrainian minister of culture. He's in the military now and based nearby.
We keep making our way down the main street. Building after building has collapsed from the bombardment of tank and rocket fire.
In the nearby town of Bucha, bodies were found in the street. Here, with so many collapsed structures, the worry is that bodies are still trapped underneath.
Several cranes carefully pick up debris, as recovery teams look for remains. There's a playground in front of one of the buildings and a woman is sitting there on a bench next to a slide, watching the recovery work.
Her name is Ludmila Boiko.
"My sister and her son lived here. This is what's left of them," she says, pointing to a pile of old notebooks. "His mother kept his old notebooks from school."
Ludmila found them scattered around the debris of the apartment building. That and some pictures, she says, are the only things she's found.
Ludmila's sister Olyna Vahnenko was 56. Her nephew, Yuri, was 24. He had just graduated from college.
They'd left their apartment and sought shelter. But on March 1, during a break in the shelling and bombing, Olena and Yuri went back. Ludmila says they talked on the phone, and Olyna said they had been able to shower and eat some food.
An hour later, Russian forces destroyed the building.
"Our friends were trying to help us, but for four days, it was a huge fire here," Ludmila says. "And so first they were trying to fight the fire. They didn't have a chance to do excavations right away."
When the fire stopped, people started trying to look for survivors. Then shelling began again, and they had to flee.
After that, she says Russian forces were posted here, and nobody could get near the building.
Searching couldn't resume until a month after the attack. So Ludmila sat, and waited.
"I just want to see how they discover all the bodies that they assume should be there, and then probably I would like to do something like with DNA testing because I want to know for sure what happened," she says.
"I was so close with them that I don't even know how I should live now. How should I live in this place?"
The crane continues to slowly remove rubble from a collapsed building.
Soon, workers discover a woman's body. Ludmila climbs up the pile of rubble to look.
The body is removed, covered, and placed next to three others found earlier that day.
Ludmila goes back to the playground and sits down, continuing her vigil.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.klcc.org/npr-news/2022-04-09/this-is-what-a-ukraine-town-looks-like-after-russian-troops-withdraw | 2022-04-09T11:43:39Z | klcc.org | control | https://www.klcc.org/npr-news/2022-04-09/this-is-what-a-ukraine-town-looks-like-after-russian-troops-withdraw | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Icy roads are causing a number of accidents on freeways around the Grand Rapids area.
Accidents have been reported on a part of I-96 west of Walker along with I-196 near the College Street Exit and Northbound US-131 heading into Grand Rapids.
The left lanes at US-131 SB at Ann Street were blocked for a short time just after 6:20 Saturday morning because of a crash according to MDOT. Those lanes have since reopened.
Caution is advised when traveling on the roads this morning. | https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/slick-roads-causing-a-number-of-accidents-around-grand-rapids | 2022-04-09T11:52:59Z | fox17online.com | control | https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/slick-roads-causing-a-number-of-accidents-around-grand-rapids | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The Department of Justice is warning states like Texas that policies meant to block transgender children from receiving gender-affirming care violate their constitutional rights.
“Intentionally erecting discriminatory barriers to prevent individuals from receiving gender-affirming care implicates a number of federal legal guarantees,” DOJ officials wrote in a letter sent Thursday to state attorney generals.
The letter comes after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton authored a nonbinding legal opinion that some gender-affirming care may constitute child abuse and Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the state’s child welfare agency to investigate parents who get such care for their children.
[…]
The DOJ says additional lawsuits may follow.
“State laws and policies that prevent parents or guardians from following the advice of a health care professional regarding what may be medically necessary or otherwise appropriate care for transgender minors may infringe on rights protected by both the equal protection and the due process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment,” said the DOJ letter, which was sent on Trans Day of Visibility.
Not much to add here. I don’t have a whole lot of faith in the courts, but I also don’t know what else there is to be done right now. A better Senate is really what’s needed to move the ball forward, and the odds of that happening in this election aren’t great. But again, what else is there to be done? The 19th has more. | http://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=104891 | 2022-04-09T12:00:51Z | offthekuff.com | control | http://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=104891 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
But I suppose I have to make note of this.
The race for Texas Democratic Party chair is being roiled by allegations that a challenger, Kim Olson, pushed the party’s top staffer during a bus tour in 2018.
Olson denies the allegations, which her opponent, incumbent Gilberto Hinojosa, has publicly amplified and used to argue she is unfit to lead the party. Thousands of delegates to the state party convention in July will elect the next chair, who is responsible for raising money for the party and leading its messaging.
The controversy came to a head late last month at a meeting of the State Democratic Executive Committee, the governing body of the state party, at which Olson supporters unsuccessfully urged the party to remove from its website a resolution that condemned Olson over the alleged incident. The resolution, which was submitted at a county convention, also called on her to drop out of the race.
Olson responded by calling the allegations false and asking a separate Democratic group, Texas Democratic Women, to condemn the author of the resolution.
The allegations date back to the fall of 2018, when Olson, who was at the time running for agriculture commissioner, joined a bus tour with other statewide Democratic candidates. During an event in Killeen focused on veterans, Olson got upset because she was not seated more prominently as a veteran herself, according to four Democratic campaign and party staffers who said they witnessed the incident. Olson is a former Air Force colonel, but the organizers had been trying to seat all candidates in ballot order to maintain consistency throughout the tour.
After the Killeen event, Olson angrily confronted party staff on the bus, according to the four people. The executive director at the time, Crystal Perkins, intervened and sought to address the dispute, but Olson remained angry and pushed Perkins, causing her to fall backward, the witnesses said.
The four people declined to comment on the record because they are still involved in politics and concerned about retaliation by Olson. Perkins declined to comment for this story, but after Hinojosa had publicly raised the allegation in December, she confirmed to The Texas Tribune at the time that Olson had pushed her.
There’s more, but I don’t want to get into it. If this happened as described – the facts are in dispute, and I have no personal knowledge of any of it – I would call it bad and would expect Olson to apologize, but I wouldn’t call it disqualifying. I’d certainly understand anyone who refused to support Olson as a result of this. Beyond that, all I want is for us to not be fighting among ourselves once the convention is over. I hope that’s not too much to ask. | http://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=104910 | 2022-04-09T12:00:59Z | offthekuff.com | control | http://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=104910 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
But it could be good for Houston, so…
Axiom Space launched a high-stakes mission Friday, sending three paying customers to the International Space Station as Houston seeks to anchor a new era of human spaceflight.
The crew, tucked inside a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 10:17 a.m. CDT. They’re scheduled to reach the space station Saturday morning and spend eight days there.
American Larry Connor, 72, Canadian Mark Pathy, 52, and Israeli Eytan Stibbe, 64, are not the first people to buy tickets to the International Space Station. But their privately funded mission — each reportedly paying tens of millions of dollars — is notable because it’s the first all-private crew to visit the station. Previous missions have been shepherded by a government-paid astronaut. The Axiom Space commander, Michael López-Alegría, 63, is an Axiom employee and former NASA astronaut.
There’s a lot riding on this mission. The crew must show that private astronauts aren’t a nuisance to International Space Station operations. Houston-based Axiom Space must learn to conduct human spaceflight missions before launching its own commercial space station. And Houston must show that it can continue supporting human spaceflight as NASA trusts companies to own and operate the hardware that protect people in space.
“The space industry, as a whole, is currently in a massive switch from completely government to commercial,” said Meagan Crawford, co-founder of Houston-based venture capital firm SpaceFund. “And in order for Houston to maintain its moniker of Space City, we’ve really got to cultivate that startup environment here.”
Houston has a long and storied history in human spaceflight. When astronauts called home from the Apollo spacecraft, space shuttle and International Space Station, they spoke to folks at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
But lately, it’s not just NASA sending people into space. The Axiom Space mission, Ax-1, is the sixth human spaceflight mission launched by Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX.
For missions to the ISS, astronauts train on the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule in California and learn the International Space Station systems in Houston. Spacewalks are practiced in Houston in a giant swimming pool called the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory.
But as companies begin to own and operate the systems used to launch people into space, lower them onto the moon and shelter them in low-Earth orbit, their facilities may or may not be located in Houston.
“Houston has the possibility of becoming a place where a lot of people who know how to ‘do space’ live and want to start their own businesses,” said John Logsdon, founder of George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute.
NASA is willing to share its facilities and expertise in operations, medicine, food and spacesuits, said Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche.
“We’re in a renaissance,” Wyche said. “In order for us to explore — go onto the moon, go onto Mars — it’s going to take all of us. It’s going to take government, it’s going to take commercial industry and it’s going to take the international community.
“I want Houston to continue to be the human spaceflight hub. For the world,” she said.
I don’t have a whole lot to add here. I can’t say I’m a fan of rick guy space tourism, but it’s not like I can do much to stop it. Maybe some benefits will eventually trickle down to the rest of us, I dunno. Better these guys take the risk of this activity than me, that’s for sure. CultureMap has more. | http://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=104971 | 2022-04-09T12:01:07Z | offthekuff.com | control | http://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=104971 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
EDISON, Neb. (AP) — A wildfire in southern Nebraska fueled by dry conditions and strong winds forced the evacuation of the small village of Edison, destroyed several homes and led to the death of a rural fire chief who was killed in a crash while he was responding to the blaze.
The Nebraska State Patrol called for a mandatory evacuation Thursday night of the Furnas County community of about 130 people about 187 miles southwest of Lincoln as the fire neared the town and spread over 30,000 acres by Friday.
The patrol also said that Elwood Volunteer Fire Chief Darren Krull died after the emergency SUV he was a passenger in collided with a water tanker as smoke from the fire cut visibility to zero. | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/news/rural-nebraska-fire-chief-dies-in-crash-on-way-to-wildfire/ | 2022-04-09T12:03:09Z | siouxlandproud.com | control | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/news/rural-nebraska-fire-chief-dies-in-crash-on-way-to-wildfire/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
SATURDAY, APRIL 9
Jeff Baker Classic at Gar-Field High School
Park View-Sterling vs. Gar-Field, 10 a.m.
Gainesville vs. Liberty-Bealeton, 1 p.m.
Unity Reed vs. Gar-Field, 4 p.m.
Eddie Hope Memorial Tournament
at Colgan HS
Woodbridge vs. Osbourn, 3 p.m.
Colgan vs. Washington-Liberty, 6 p.m.
at Hylton HS
Battlefield vs. Potomac, 3 p.m.
Hylton vs. Osbourn Park, 6 p.m.
MONDAY, APRIL 11
Mingo Bay Tournament, Myrtle Beach, SC
Patriot vs. Greenbrier Christian Academy, 3:30 p.m.
Forest Park vs. Carolina Forest, 6:30 p.m.
Jeff Baker Classic at Gar-Field High School
Unity Reed vs. Park View-Sterling, 3 p.m.
Liberty-Bealeton vs. Gar-Field, 6 p.m.
Eddie Hope Memorial Tournament
at Colgan HS
Osbourn vs. Washington-Liberty, noon
Colgan vs. Woodbridge, 3 p.m.
at Hylton HS
Battlefield vs. Osbourn Park, noon
Hylton vs. Potomac, 3 p.m.
TUESDAY, APRIL 12
Mingo Bay Tournament, Myrtle Beach, SC
Patriot at North Myrtle Beach, 6:30 p.m.
Forest Park vs. Asheville Home School (NC), 3:30 p.m.
Jeff Baker Classic at Gar-Field High School
Park View-Sterling vs. Liberty-Bealeton, noon
Gainesville vs. Unity Reed, 3 p.m.
Gainesville vs. Gar-Field, 6 p.m.
Eddie Hope Memorial Tournament
at Colgan HS
Woodbridge vs. Washington-Liberty, noon
Colgan vs. Osbourn, 3 p.m.
at Hylton HS
Potomac vs. Osbourn Park, noon
Hylton vs. Battlefield, 3 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13
Mingo Bay Tournament, Myrtle Beach, SC
Patriot at Loris, 6:30 p.m.
Forest Park vs. Louisa, 3:30 p.m.
Jeff Baker Classic at Gar-Field High School
Liberty vs. Unity Reed, noon
Gainesville vs. Park View, 3 p.m.
Eddie Hope Memorial Tournament
Teams from Hylton and Colgan brackets will face each other at Hylton and Colgan, noon and 3 p.m.
THURSDAY, APRIL 14
Forest Park, Patriot at the Mingo Bay Tournament, Myrtle Beach, SC
FRIDAY, APRIL 15
BASEBALL
Forest Park, Patriot at the Mingo Bay Tournament, Myrtle Beach, SC | https://www.insidenova.com/sports/prince_william/updated-local-high-school-baseball-spring-break-tournament-schedules/article_e51ba0c6-b413-11ec-8ee8-cb3f98c1da30.html | 2022-04-09T12:12:25Z | insidenova.com | control | https://www.insidenova.com/sports/prince_william/updated-local-high-school-baseball-spring-break-tournament-schedules/article_e51ba0c6-b413-11ec-8ee8-cb3f98c1da30.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Martin Lewis has shared a number of 'survival' tips to help people during the current cost of living crisis. In the 90-point guide, the Money Saving Expert has shared many ways people can make the most of their budgets.
This useful guidance comes as the UK faces unprecedented increases in the general cost of living. There has been a 54 per cent rise in the energy price cap, a 10 per cent hike in National Insurance tax and huge increases in food and petrol prices.
Brexit, COVID and Russia's invasion of Ukraine are all said to be contributing factors to the recent rise in the cost of living. When introducing his guide, Martin said: "On 1 April, the 54% rise in the energy price cap hit 22 million homes, a desperate, typical £700/year increase – catastrophic for those with the lowest incomes.
READ MORE: New heatmap shows Kent's cheapest to most expensive neighbourhoods in 2022
"Yet the pain stretches far further – when combined with all the other price rises, we will see a material drop in the standard of living for most on low to middle incomes. For some there is sadly no route to cut expenditure below income; that fix will need political intervention. For others, we need a collective endeavour, to work together to take financial pressures off where we can. And that is partly behind this guide," as YorkshireLive reports.
After sharing tips about wifi boxes and ovens, other fans have also reached out with their suggestions. One of them centres around washing machines.
The appliances are quite power hungry, but drying the clothes afterwards can take a lot more energy if you have to use a tumble dryer (very expensive to run), put the radiators on (still pretty expensive) or use a heated airer (cheaper, but not free). But one savvy saver's advice was to time the washing with the weather - as well as watch your machine's cycle settings.
@BrylewskaF said: "Watch the weather report. Sun due out, washing goes in the day before." Another follower then asked her which cycle on a washing machine is the right one to use to save a bit more energy. She replied: "Rapid works fine and I think is cheaper. Pre-soak big stains in cold water before washing."
@Traceylou11247@gmail said: "I've used the quick wash for years. Never had a problem. As I live alone I invested in a combi microwave oven so I don't need the big one. Use lids on pans and turn gas/electricity down. Close doors and make door sausages for every room."
The other top tip centres around hot drinks. One follower told Martin's fans that boiling water once, then storing it in a flask, instead of re-boiling every time you want a drink, is one way to cut down electricity use.
She also advised people to 'forage' wild foods including nettles for soup. @HeatherHornett said: "Boil water for hot drinks once a day and save the rest in a flask to save electricity. Forage food (made nettle tagliatelle, nettle and potato soup, dandelion flower jam etc during hard times)."
Sign up to get the latest stories from Kent direct into your inbox here | https://www.kentlive.news/news/cost-of-living/martin-lewis-shares-survival-guide-6929077 | 2022-04-09T12:23:33Z | kentlive.news | control | https://www.kentlive.news/news/cost-of-living/martin-lewis-shares-survival-guide-6929077 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Traffic chaos currently continues across Kent due to the Operation Brock contraflow on the M20, the A20, and the A2 today in Kent, Dover and Folkestone. Because P&O Ferries are not operating at the moment, the Port of Dover has been affected.
The vessels at the dock are undergoing safety reviews. It is not known when its vessels will be reinstated.
All non-freight traffic is being urged to use the A20 instead of the M20. On the other hand, freight traffic which comes off at J8 of the M20 is then sent back down into the holding areas as they await clearance to head to the Channel Crossings.
Read more: 'Operation Brock explained: Why it was brought in and why the traffic is so bad'
Our live traffic blog is dedicated to helping your journey run smoothly, focusing on the traffic chaos across Kent. For those who want to know the set diversion routes that are in place, we have all the information you will need.
National Highways has announced the set diversion route for all light vehicles and HGV's driving in this area today. All drivers planning to travel in or through Kent are being advised by National Highways to "plan ahead, follow diversion signs, check before they travel and leave plenty of extra time for their journey."
The diversion for all light vehicles such as cars (including tourist traffic bound for Eurotunnel and Port of Dover) and HGVs under 15'6 for local destinations is:
- Exit the M20 at J8 and take the third exit at the roundabout and at the next roundabout take the first exit on to the A20
- Remain on the A20 to Ashford and at the Drovers Roundabout and take the fourth exit on to the A28
- Follow the A28 to the second roundabout with the B2229 at the roundabout take the first exit B2229 (Brookfield Road) and continue to the second roundabout with the A2042
- Take the third exit on to the A2042 and head east
- Remain on the A2042 and at the first roundabout and take the first exit on to the A2042
- Follow the A2042 onto the A2070 and at the first roundabout and take the second exit to remain on the A2070 to the M20 J10A roundabout
- Take the third exit on to the A20 and remain on the A20 to re-join the M20 at junction 11.
HGV drivers travelling to Eurotunnel of the Port of Dover are reminded they must follow the signs and use the M20 and join Operation Brock at M20 junction 8. Any EU-bound hauliers not complying with signage and trying to jump the queue not only risk a fine of £300, they will also be sent to the back of the queue by Police or enforcement agents. This includes trying to bypass the M20 by using the M2/A2 at Brenley Corner.
Is Operation Brock fit for purpose? Have your say as traffic misery spreads in Kent.
Never get stuck in a queue again with our FREE traffic and travel email for KentLive readers. Find out more here. | https://www.kentlive.news/news/diversion-routes-avoid-operation-brock-6929362 | 2022-04-09T12:23:43Z | kentlive.news | control | https://www.kentlive.news/news/diversion-routes-avoid-operation-brock-6929362 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Fears over widespread congestion in Dover's town centre today (April 9) have been eased as traffic remains free flowing with minimal delays. While the M20 has seen extensive gridlock due to the Operation Brock contraflow, the heart of Dover appears to be fairing much better.
Last month saw the return of the dreaded contraflow near junction 9 due to reduced ferry services at the port of Dover following the firing of 800 members of P&O staff. Both the Dover area and surrounding highways have seen great deals of traffic and congestion as a result of the in place system, which has split the London-bound carriageway in to two way traffic.
Only freight traffic headed for the Port of Dover has been allowed to use the coastbound lane, which has resulted in large backlogs of lorries awaiting a place on a Port of Dover cross-Channel ferry. Recent birdseye images have shown gridlocked freight vehicles snaking through the countryside as far as the eye can see, one trucker spoke to KentLive claiming to have been stuck in traffic for more than 30 hours.
READ MORE: Operation Brock latest and traffic updates for April 9
Despite the chaos on the M20, Dover itself remains much calmer, with traffic keeping steady with only minor delays at key junctions where Kent Police are actively managing HGVs. Fears of large-scale traffic this weekend had led Dover District Council to consider declaring a major incident in order to help keep Dover clear.
Fears were circulating of conditions returning to the extremes seen between April 2 and April 3 when the town was effectively cut-off with local roads choked with port traffic. However, it seems now that these strong measures will no longer need to be implemented.
Cllr Trevor Bartlett, Leader of Dover District Council, said: “Kent Police and the Kent Resilience Forum have worked hard to keep Dover open on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year and in the face of the disruption caused by P&O Ferries.”
Acknowledging the wider issue being faced across the country, Cllr Bartlett continued: “This won’t be the last time we face this challenge, and we need a long-term solution which starts with the government recognising the Port of Dover as critical national infrastructure and vital to UK trade.” | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/government-urged-invest-east-kents-6929294 | 2022-04-09T12:23:53Z | kentlive.news | control | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/government-urged-invest-east-kents-6929294 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Police have responded to an incident in Tunbridge Wells town centre today (April 9). Part of Mount Pleasant Road around the A264 Crescent Road, has been coned off by officers.
There's heavy traffic in the area, with the air ambulance also landing close to the scene. One eyewitness claimed to see a swarm of emergency workers surrounding a person.
The incident, believed to be a crash, is said to have happened at around 11.30am. A picture from the scene shows a police incident sign blocking part of the area near Wetherspoons.
READ MORE: Operation Brock: Dramatic photos show extent of M20 traffic chaos as Dover brought to a standstill
One police officer can be seen manning the coned off area. Follow our live updates for the latest on this ongoing incident.
See below for the latest. Find out how you can get more Tunbridge Wells news from KentLive straight to your inbox for free HERE .
Delays to bus services
There are significant delays on the #MB231, #MB233 & #MB291 because of an accident in Tunbridge Wells. Buses are unable to serve The War memorial and Royal Victoria stops. Please expect delays to your journey. Apologies for any inconvenience.
— METROBUS (@METROBUS) April 9, 2022
Eyewitness statement from the scene
"It looked really serious. There seemed to be two people being given CPR by lots of emergency service workers. It wasn't clear what had happened but I hope they can be saved. It's actually shocked me quite a bit."
Check before you travel
See what's happening on the roads or trains near you by entering your postcode below or visit InYourArea for latest traffic info | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/live-updates-police-incident-seals-6929367 | 2022-04-09T12:24:03Z | kentlive.news | control | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/live-updates-police-incident-seals-6929367 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
HONOLULU (KITV4) -- How did this happen? Who dropped the ball? Those are some of the questions being asked after the arrest of Marte Martinez -- the head of training for the Hawaii Department of Public Safety (PSD).
Martinez is accused of lying to the Hawaii Labor Relations Board and lying about her educational background to get promoted. She's now charged with 14 counts including perjury, which is a felony.
PSD said it closed its internal investigation into Martinez three years ago, but the criminal investigation stayed open. Despite that, Martinez remained on the job.
Investigators with the Hawaii Department of the Attorney General arrested Martinez at her office in Iwilei on Thursday morning.
The arrest came as a surprise, according to Martinez's attorney Myles Breiner.
But Sen. Clarence Nishihara said he wasn't surprised. He's the chair of the Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs.
"It was long time in coming," Nishihara said.
Nishihara blames it on the past leadership at PSD, specifically former director Nolan Espinda.
"Personally I think the one who dropped the ball is if the department in this case was under Nolan, it's kind of hard to go to the department and get him to do the right thing when the head of, the director was not doing the right thing anyway," Nishihara said.
Nishihara said he raised concerns to PSD about Martinez back in 2019.
"And I asked did you check on it and I was assured that the person in charge of checking it did that, and I seriously doubted that they did that because they kind of did a whitewash on the whole thing," Nishihara said.
KITV4 asked PSD who's responsible to vet the credentials of the training staff?
PSD spokesperson Toni Schwartz replied: "It depends on how the recruitment is posted. If it is external recruitment, then the Department of Human Resources and Development vet the applications. If it is internal recruitment, then the vetting of applications falls under PSD."
KITV4 asked PSD how many people has Martinez trained at PSD and what happens now that it appears she was not qualified to train?
Schwartz replied: "Martinez is qualified to train in firearms based on her trainings and work experience."
"That does leave it open for discussion whether or not if she improperly was hired and improperly given the authority and did the training and all of that the people who received the training could make the argument that they were improperly trained," Nishihara said.
KITV4 asked PSD how will this affect pending civil cases regarding use of force?
Schwartz replied: "PSD, in coordination with its legal counsel, will review civil cases on a case-by-case basis."
Nishihara said he is worried that there could be lawsuits that come out of this that could cost taxpayers big bucks.
"You take the money away then it's monies that won't go to education, that won't go to other kinds of things, and services that they should probably go to," Nishihara said.
When asked what they as lawmakers can do to try to prevent this from happening again, Nishihara replied: "Well I think like everything in life you got to have good people sitting in the positions where they have the authority or responsibility to do the right thing, and if they don't there's very little you can do."
When asked what changes PSD has been made so this won’t happen again, Schwartz replied: "The Department reserves comment until the outcome of the pending criminal investigation and possible legal proceedings have concluded."
Martinez was released after posting $11,000 bail. She's scheduled to be in court next Thursday, April 14.
Breiner said his client will plead not guilty. He also said Martinez is now on paid leave. | https://www.kitv.com/news/crime/senator-said-arrest-of-head-trainer-at-psd-was-long-time-in-coming/article_9ebedcac-b7dc-11ec-b622-6f69d563c882.html | 2022-04-09T12:31:12Z | kitv.com | control | https://www.kitv.com/news/crime/senator-said-arrest-of-head-trainer-at-psd-was-long-time-in-coming/article_9ebedcac-b7dc-11ec-b622-6f69d563c882.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
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(CNN) -- The Indonesian and United States militaries are expanding their annual bilateral exercises to 14 participating countries, the Indonesian Army said in a news release Thursday.
Troops from the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Canada will be among those joining the Garuda Shield 2022 exercises from August 1 to 14, the army said. The 16th edition of the war games will include live-fire exercises, special operations and aviation components among other disciplines, it added.
The expansion of the exercises comes at a time of simmering tension in the region, with analysts saying the move signals Indonesia has moved closer to the US than China in military cooperation.
Last year's Garuda Shield involved two US Army divisions -- about 1,000 soldiers -- as well as their Indonesian counterparts in what the US Army said was the largest edition of the war games to date.
"The two-week Garuda Shield joint-exercise continues to solidify the U.S. -- Indonesia Major Defense Partnership and advances cooperation in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific region," a US Army statement said in advance of last year's exercises.
Indonesia did not give an estimation of how many troops from each of the 14 countries would participate in this year's Garuda Shield.
The US military and US Embassy in Jakarta had no immediate comment on the exercises.
South China Sea disputes
Indonesia sits on the southern edges of the South China Sea, which has been a hotbed of military activity over the past few years as China has militarized disputed islands there and the US and its partners have challenged those claims.
In March, China's state-run Global Times tabloid accused US Adm. John Aquilino, the head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, of attempting to copy the Ukraine crisis in the Asia-Pacific, rallying allies, partners and other countries in the region to confront China.
The Global Times comments came after Aquilino took journalists on a flight over the South China Sea to highlight Beijing's militarization of the disputed islands.
Analysts say Indonesia has long tried to avoid taking sides in the US-China dispute in the South China Sea.
But they note that in the past year Beijing has been assertive in pushing its claims near the Natuna Islands in an area inside Indonesia's Exclusive Economic Zone but also inside China's "nine-dash line," under which Beijing claims control over almost all of the South China Sea.
Col. Frega Wenas Inkiriwang, North Jakarta Military District commander and lecturer at the Indonesian Defense University, said China's current behavior is increasing the risk of conflict in the region as nations boost their military presence, including Indonesia, which has strengthened its forces around the Natuna Islands.
But don't expect Jakarta to call out Beijing directly, said Collin Koh, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
Indonesia "may avoid megaphone diplomacy and directly confronting ... China over the South China Sea issues, but it'll undertake actions that subtly signal to Beijing -- and back home to the domestic audience -- its desire to safeguard its national interests," Koh said.
He called the expansion of the Garuda Shield war games "especially noteworthy" as "Indonesia is always cautious about signaling where it comes to sensitivities surrounding the South China Sea issues" and its ties with the United States and China.
"Clearly Indonesia wishes to engage in external balancing in the South China Sea, while using this as a platform to project its stature and influence in terms of multilateral defense diplomacy," Koh said.
Frega noted that Indonesia and China once held joint military exercises called "Sharp Knife," but the last iteration of those was in 2014.
Now, he said, in terms of military cooperation Indonesia is clearly closer to the US than China.
Frega also said Indonesia has long maintained close military ties with Japan and Australia, so their inclusion in Garuda Shield 2022 should not be surprising.
But he said, because Japan and Australia like the US have been highly critical of China's actions in the South China Sea, the news of the August exercises could be expected to be "received uncomfortably" in Beijing.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/joint-us-indonesia-war-games-to-expand-to-14-nations-as-tensions-simmer-in-indo/article_9380a7d6-b7d6-11ec-82a1-ef97a9dcdeb6.html | 2022-04-09T12:31:25Z | kitv.com | control | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/joint-us-indonesia-war-games-to-expand-to-14-nations-as-tensions-simmer-in-indo/article_9380a7d6-b7d6-11ec-82a1-ef97a9dcdeb6.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
(CNN) -- Prosecutors told a judge Friday that they still don't know a motive for two men charged with impersonating federal agents, whether they are connected to any foreign government or whether they received anything from the federal agents they allegedly duped.
"This investigation is less than two weeks old, and every day it gets worse and worse as more and more evidence comes forward, and more and more witnesses come forward," prosecutor Josh Rothstein told a federal judge on Friday.
The Justice Department is arguing that Haider Ali and Arian Taherzadeh should stay behind bars while the investigation continues. Judge Michael Harvey peppered prosecutors with questions, many of which they couldn't answer.
The hearing will continue Monday, and the two men will remain behind bars over the weekend. Neither Taherzadeh nor Ali has entered a formal plea.
The two men spent more than two years impersonating Homeland Security agents, currying favor with federal law enforcement officers, some of whom lived in a swanky DC complex where they had apartments, and amassing a small arsenal of weapons and surveillance equipment, according to court documents.
Federal investigators are trying to unravel how the men paid for five apartments in a high-rent Washington neighborhood, as well as weapons and other equipment, a US law enforcement official said.
Among the questions for investigators is whether the money could have come from a foreign government, though they have noted that the effort didn't appear to have the sophistication expected of trained foreign intelligence services.
Rothstein noted that one of the men, Ali, has citizenship status in Pakistan while also being a naturalized US citizen. Ali had traveled to Iran in the months before the scheme began, Rothstein said, and took five other trips abroad, including to Iraq and Pakistan.
Rothstein told Harvey during the detention hearing that they haven't determined the source of their funding or whether they had been able to fully cover the rent.
The men, before their arrest, had been in the process of being evicted from the building, where they allowed members of the Secret Service to live for free in two of the apartments they rented, Rothstein said. The prosecutor added that the landlord could have "subsidized their corruption, unwittingly."
Another outstanding question, prosecutors said, is whether any of the weapons or surveillance equipment was left over from Taherzadeh's alleged time as a deputized special officer with the DC police.
The apartment complex also did not have Taherzadeh's company listed as providing security, Rothstein said, and that still wouldn't explain the amount of weaponry and ammunition, as well as the battering ram, drone and other surveillance equipment that were found in their apartments.
"You don't need almost 100 rounds of ammunition to be a special police officer in the lobby of a building," Rothstein said.
The Justice Department also said it does not know how Ali and Taherzadeh acquired a list of everyone in their apartment building, a code to open the door to any unit and access to the building's security cameras.
The amount of evidence acquired from the five apartments is extensive, Rothstein said, noting that investigators filled up an entire moving truck with seized assets. Rothstein also said that the Secret Service is investigating whether anything found in the apartments was government-issued equipment.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/many-questions-remain-in-impersonation-plot-that-duped-federal-agents-prosecutors-say/article_195da0e4-b7d6-11ec-a760-6b4d50fa7850.html | 2022-04-09T12:31:31Z | kitv.com | control | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/many-questions-remain-in-impersonation-plot-that-duped-federal-agents-prosecutors-say/article_195da0e4-b7d6-11ec-a760-6b4d50fa7850.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
HONOLULU (KITV)- After acing Hawaii regionals, Maui High School's robotics team has earned itself a spot on the international stage. The team is now hoping to head to the Robotics Competition in Houston. Team 2-4-4-3, Blue Thunder robotics team needs to raise $35,000 to get there. They're halfway to their financial goal and hoping for some help from the community to help them get enough money to let them compete against some of the best in their field.
The announcement came over the speakers, "The final scores are going up to the screen and the champions are the Blue Thunders." Maui High School Team 2443 Blue Thunder's robotics team cheered as they became Hawaii's regional champs. Now they're off to the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology World Robotics Competition as Hawaiian champs, for the first time in 13 years.
The event's title spells out the word FIRST, but in15 years they've only won regionals twice and been runner-ups twice. The most recent second place finish in 2019, hurt. "When we lost in 2019, we lost by a big margin. I guess at that point it was just embarrassing and it just sucked. I guess it brought our moral down," said Blue Thunder Captain Keithjan Derick Quilal-lan.
FIRST Robotics competitions are not like those you've seen on TV. The students not only design and build robots, they program them to work on their own. Blue Thunder is one of the smaller groups in competition: 29 students, two teachers, an electrical enginer, engineer, and 2 programmers to mentor the students. Robots have a 125 pound weight limit, but no there's no cost lmit. This works against smaller squad. Win or lose, the students learn skills they can use in a career, and practice those skills as they work toward competition. "I am responsible for finding out about different types of machines and manufacturing some of the more specialized pieces that we need on the robot," said team member Cailyn Omuro. "I went into robotics, just wanted to try it out. After awhile you just get used to how the engineering process works. You have an idea, and you come up with a solution," said Quilal-lan.
The students work sometimes up to 40 hours a week perfecting their robot. Competitive spirit is also something they get out of it. There are 400 clubs competing at the Worlds. "We want to take these giants out," said Quilal-lan.
Team 2443: Blue Thunder is only half way to their goal of $35,000 that they'll need for an entry fee, travel, and lodging. To donate you can drop off a check at Maui High School or donate online at the Maui School Foundation website. | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/maui-high-school-robotics-team-raising-money-to-go-to-international-competition/article_f4bd6a82-b7dd-11ec-805b-d77e7220ed80.html | 2022-04-09T12:31:37Z | kitv.com | control | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/maui-high-school-robotics-team-raising-money-to-go-to-international-competition/article_f4bd6a82-b7dd-11ec-805b-d77e7220ed80.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM HST
SATURDAY...
* WHAT...East winds 20 to 30 knots with rough seas 7 to 10 feet,
except north winds and lower seas in Maalaea Bay.
* WHERE...Most central through eastern waters and channels.
* WHEN...Until 6 AM HST Saturday.
* IMPACTS...Conditions will be hazardous to small craft.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Inexperienced mariners, especially those operating smaller
vessels, should avoid navigating in these conditions.
&&
Public input sought for US Army draft for Pōhakuloa Training Area
HONOLULU (KITV4) -- The public can now weigh in on how much state-owned land on the Big Island should go towards continued military training.
Native Hawaiian organizations, federal, state, and local agencies and officials, and other interested organizations and individuals are encouraged to provide comments on the Draft EIS during the 60-day public comment period that will run form April 8 through June 7.
The Draft EIS evaluates the potential direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts of a range of reasonable alternatives.
These alternatives are:
1) full retention (of approximately 23,000 acres)
2) modified retention (of approximately 19,700 acres)
3) minimum retention and access (of approximately 10,100 acres and 11 miles of roads and training trails)
4) no-action alternative (under which the lease lapses and the Army loses access to the land).
To provide information on the Draft EIS and to enhance the opportunity for public input, two in-person public meetings are currently scheduled to take place from 6 to 8 p.m. in two locations:
• April 25 at ʻImiloa Astronomy Center; 600 ʻImiloa Place, Hilo, HI 96720
• April 26 at Waimea District Park; Ala Ohia Road, Waimea, HI 96743 | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/public-input-sought-for-us-army-draft-for-p-hakuloa-training-area/article_2cd32ab0-b7d9-11ec-884d-43af8271afaf.html | 2022-04-09T12:31:43Z | kitv.com | control | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/public-input-sought-for-us-army-draft-for-p-hakuloa-training-area/article_2cd32ab0-b7d9-11ec-884d-43af8271afaf.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
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220408-N-PG226-1116 IONIAN SEA (April 8, 2022) Lt. Luke Theriault, from Portland, Maine, directs the pilot of an F/A-18F Super Hornet, attached to the “Red Rippers” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 11, on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), April 8, 2022. The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group is on a scheduled deployment in the U.S. Sixth Fleet area of operations in support of U.S., allied and partner interests in Europe and Africa. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Tate Cardinal)
This work, The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group is on a scheduled deployment in the U.S. Sixth Fleet area of operations in support of naval operations to maintain maritime stability and security. [Image 11 of 11], by SA Tate Cardinal, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright. | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7134805/harry-s-truman-carrier-strike-group-scheduled-deployment-us-sixth-fleet-area-operations | 2022-04-09T12:48:36Z | dvidshub.net | control | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7134805/harry-s-truman-carrier-strike-group-scheduled-deployment-us-sixth-fleet-area-operations | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
220408-N-PG226-1212 IONIAN SEA (April 8, 2022) An F/A-18E Super Hornet, attached to the “Blue Blasters” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 34, lands on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), April 8, 2022. The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group is on a scheduled deployment in the U.S. Sixth Fleet area of operations in support of U.S., allied and partner interests in Europe and Africa. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Tate Cardinal)
This work, The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group is on a scheduled deployment in the U.S. Sixth Fleet area of operations in support of naval operations to maintain maritime stability and security. [Image 11 of 11], by SA Tate Cardinal, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright. | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7134806/harry-s-truman-carrier-strike-group-scheduled-deployment-us-sixth-fleet-area-operations | 2022-04-09T12:48:42Z | dvidshub.net | control | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7134806/harry-s-truman-carrier-strike-group-scheduled-deployment-us-sixth-fleet-area-operations | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
220323-N-HG846-1005 IONIAN SEA (March 23, 2022) – Damage Control Fireman Recruit Dominic Quellette, from Clarkston, Mich., conducts maintenance on a self-contained breathing apparatus aboard Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mitscher (DDG 57), March 23, 2022. Mitscher is currently deployed with the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group in the U.S. Sixth Fleet area of operations in support of U.S., allied and partner interests in Europe and Africa. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Daniel Serianni)
This work, Damage Control Fireman Recruit Dominic Quellette, from Clarkston, Mich., conducts maintenance on a self-contained breathing apparatus [Image 13 of 13], by PO3 Dan Serianni, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright. | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7134807/damage-control-fireman-recruit-dominic-quellette-clarkston-mich-conducts-maintenance-self-contained-breathing-apparatus | 2022-04-09T12:48:48Z | dvidshub.net | control | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7134807/damage-control-fireman-recruit-dominic-quellette-clarkston-mich-conducts-maintenance-self-contained-breathing-apparatus | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
220323-N-HG846-1009 IONIAN SEA (March 23, 2022) – Damage Controlman Fireman Apprentice Michael Resendiz, from Los Angeles, Calif., refills a self-contained breathing apparatus aboard Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mitscher (DDG 57), March 23, 2022. Mitscher is currently deployed with the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group in the U.S. Sixth Fleet area of operations in support of U.S., allied and partner interests in Europe and Africa. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Daniel Serianni)
This work, Damage Controlman Fireman Apprentice Michael Resendiz, from Los Angeles, Calif., refills a self-contained breathing apparatus [Image 13 of 13], by PO3 Dan Serianni, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright. | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7134808/damage-controlman-fireman-apprentice-michael-resendiz-los-angeles-calif-refills-self-contained-breathing-apparatus | 2022-04-09T12:48:54Z | dvidshub.net | control | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7134808/damage-controlman-fireman-apprentice-michael-resendiz-los-angeles-calif-refills-self-contained-breathing-apparatus | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
220330-N-HG846-1041 AEGEAN SEA (March 30, 2022) – Rear Adm. Curt Renshaw, commander of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 8, and Capt. Todd Zenner, commander of Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 28, address the chief’s mess aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mitscher (DDG 57), March 30, 2022. Mitscher is currently deployed with the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group in the U.S. Sixth Fleet area of operations in support of U.S., allied and partner interests in Europe and Africa. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Daniel Serianni)
This work, Rear Adm. Curt Renshaw, commander of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 8, and Capt. Todd Zenner, commander of Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 28, address the chief’s mess aboard USS Mitscher (DDG 57) [Image 13 of 13], by PO3 Dan Serianni, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright. | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7134813/rear-adm-curt-renshaw-commander-carrier-strike-group-csg-8-and-capt-todd-zenner-commander-destroyer-squadron-desron | 2022-04-09T12:49:25Z | dvidshub.net | control | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7134813/rear-adm-curt-renshaw-commander-carrier-strike-group-csg-8-and-capt-todd-zenner-commander-destroyer-squadron-desron | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
220330-N-HG846-1136 AEGEAN SEA (March 30, 2022) – Chief Boatswain’s Mate Anthony Hester, from St. Louis, Mo., stands as a safety observer while an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to the “Dragonslayers” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 11 departs on the flight deck aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mitscher (DDG 57), March 30, 2022. Mitscher is currently deployed with the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group in the U.S. Sixth Fleet area of operations in support of U.S., allied and partner interests in Europe and Africa. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Daniel Serianni)
This work, Chief Boatswain’s Mate Anthony Hester, from St. Louis, Mo., stands as a safety observer while an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to the “Dragonslayers” of Helicopter [Image 13 of 13], by PO3 Dan Serianni, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright. | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7134816/chief-boatswains-mate-anthony-hester-st-louis-mo-stands-safety-observer-while-mh-60s-sea-hawk | 2022-04-09T12:49:38Z | dvidshub.net | control | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7134816/chief-boatswains-mate-anthony-hester-st-louis-mo-stands-safety-observer-while-mh-60s-sea-hawk | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump Jr. texted White House chief of staff Mark Meadows two days after the 2020 presidential election with strategies for overturning the result if Trump's father lost, CNN reported Friday.
The text was sent two days before Joe Biden was declared the winner, according to CNN. It reportedly laid out strategies that then-President Donald Trump's team pursued in the following months as they disseminated misinformation about election fraud and pressured state and federal officials to assist in that effort.
The cable news network reported that Trump Jr.'s text made “specific reference to filing lawsuits and advocating recounts to prevent certain swing states from certifying their results.” It also suggested that if those measures didn't work, lawmakers in Congress could dismiss the electoral results and vote to keep President Trump in office.
Trump Jr.’s lawyer Alan S. Futerfas, in a statement Friday to CNN, said: “After the election, Don received numerous messages from supporters and others. Given the date, this message likely originated from someone else and was forwarded.”
CNN said the Trump Jr. text had been obtained by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. In the last week, the committee has interviewed former President Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner. Their virtual testimonies are the closest lawmakers have gotten to the former president.
Separately on Friday, Ali Alexander, a conservative activist who helped found the “Stop the Steal” movement, said he had received a subpoena to provide testimony to a federal grand jury as part of the Justice Department’s wide investigation into the insurrection.
In a statement through his attorney, Alexander said the subpoena was seeking information about the “Save America Rally” that was held at the Ellipse — hosted by the pro-Trump nonprofit organization called Women for America First — which thousands had attended before a surge of Trump supporters stormed into the Capitol on Jan. 6.
“I don’t believe I have information that will be useful to them but I’m cooperating as best I can further reiterating that I’m not a target because I did nothing wrong,” he said.
Alexander voluntarily appeared for hours in December before the House panel investigating the insurrection, providing congressional investigators with a slew of documents and information about his communications with lawmakers.
In court documents, Alexander’s lawyers have said he told congressional investigators that he remembers having “a few phone conversations” with Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., and had exchanged some text messages with Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., in the run-up to the Jan. 6 rallies.
“I did nothing wrong and I am not in possession of evidence that anyone else had plans to commit unlawful acts,” Alexander said. "I denounce anyone who planned to subvert my permitted event and the other permitted events of that day on Capitol grounds to stage any counterproductive activities.” | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/cnn-trump-jr-text-shows-ideas-to-overturn-2020-election/article_3fb50d02-b7ba-11ec-88f9-5b5932fc5aec.html | 2022-04-09T12:52:27Z | lockportjournal.com | control | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/cnn-trump-jr-text-shows-ideas-to-overturn-2020-election/article_3fb50d02-b7ba-11ec-88f9-5b5932fc5aec.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Scott Simon speaks with Hal Brands, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, about how the U.S. should handle the emerging alliance between China and Russia.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Scott Simon speaks with Hal Brands, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, about how the U.S. should handle the emerging alliance between China and Russia.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.klcc.org/2022-04-09/how-should-the-u-s-handle-china-and-russias-growing-alliance | 2022-04-09T13:15:15Z | klcc.org | control | https://www.klcc.org/2022-04-09/how-should-the-u-s-handle-china-and-russias-growing-alliance | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Ukraine is still reeling from a missile attack at a crowded train station in the eastern part of the country. At least 50 people were killed in the attack and about 100 are injured.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Ukraine is still reeling from a missile attack at a crowded train station in the eastern part of the country. At least 50 people were killed in the attack and about 100 are injured.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.klcc.org/2022-04-09/russia-accused-of-war-crimes-in-missile-attack-on-ukrainian-train-station | 2022-04-09T13:16:04Z | klcc.org | control | https://www.klcc.org/2022-04-09/russia-accused-of-war-crimes-in-missile-attack-on-ukrainian-train-station | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Scott Simon speaks with novelist, playwright, musician and spoken word artist Kae Tempest about their latest album, "The Line Is a Curve."
Copyright 2022 NPR
Scott Simon speaks with novelist, playwright, musician and spoken word artist Kae Tempest about their latest album, "The Line Is a Curve."
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.klcc.org/2022-04-09/spoken-word-artist-kae-tempest-looks-inward-to-search-for-peace-in-the-daily-rush | 2022-04-09T13:16:16Z | klcc.org | control | https://www.klcc.org/2022-04-09/spoken-word-artist-kae-tempest-looks-inward-to-search-for-peace-in-the-daily-rush | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
This week's show was recorded at the Harris Theater in Chicago, with host Peter Sagal, official judge and scorekeeper Bill Kurtis, Not My Job guest Matt Walsh and panelists Karen Chee, Alonzo Bodden and Helen Hong. Click the audio link above to hear the whole show.
Who's Bill This Time
Organized Prime; America's Pastime/Naptime; Fly The Friendly Roads
Panel Questions
It's the Motion of the Ocean
Bluff The Listener
Our panelists tell three stories remembering British acting legend June Brown, who died this week ... only one of which is true.
Not My Job: Matt Walsh answers questions about bad announcers
Improv legend Matt Walsh is one of the founders of the Upright Citizens Brigade, and a two-time Emmy nominee for Veep. With baseball starting again, we ask him three questions about legendarily bad announcers.
Panel Questions
The Bear Extravagancies ; Forgotten Forebearers
Limericks
Bill Kurtis reads three news-related limericks: Soft Swatch; Too Beautiful Too Love; ET APB
Lightning Fill In The Blank
All the news we couldn't fit anywhere else
Predictions
Our panelists predict what will be the next big changes in Major League Baseball.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.klcc.org/2022-04-09/wait-wait-for-april-9-2022-with-not-my-job-guest-matt-walsh | 2022-04-09T13:16:22Z | klcc.org | control | https://www.klcc.org/2022-04-09/wait-wait-for-april-9-2022-with-not-my-job-guest-matt-walsh | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Week in politics: Ketanji Brown Jackson confirmed as justice; Russia sanctioned By Ron Elving Published April 9, 2022 at 5:01 AM PDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Listen • 4:25 The Senate confirms the first Black woman as justice on the U.S. Supreme Court and also deals additional rebukes to Russia on trade. Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.klcc.org/2022-04-09/week-in-politics-ketanji-brown-jackson-confirmed-as-justice-russia-sanctioned | 2022-04-09T13:16:28Z | klcc.org | control | https://www.klcc.org/2022-04-09/week-in-politics-ketanji-brown-jackson-confirmed-as-justice-russia-sanctioned | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
BOSTON — A former Florida prep school administrator was sentenced to federal prison and a decorated water polo coach at the University of Southern California was swiftly convicted by a jury in a busy Friday in Boston federal court in the long running college admissions bribery scandal.
Mark Riddell, who was paid handsomely to take college entrance exams for wealthy students, was handed a four-month prison sentence, ordered to serve two years of supervised release and forfeit nearly $240,000.
Meanwhile, former USC coach Jovan Vavic, who faked the athletic credentials of rich students so they could gain admission, was convicted on all three counts of fraud and bribery he faced after a jury deliberated less than a day following his nearly monthlong trial.
U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Rachael Rollins said the verdict in Vavic's trial represents the final conviction in the headline grabbing case dubbed "Operation Varsity Blues."
The investigation announced in 2019 exposed corruption in the college admissions process at Yale, Stanford, Georgetown and other sought-after schools, and implicated wealthy and connected parents, including actors Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin and Loughlin's fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli.
"To say the conduct in this case was reprehensible is an understatement," Rollins said afterward, acknowledging the sprawling investigation preceded her taking office earlier this year. "The rich, powerful and famous — dripping with privilege and entitlement — used their money and clout to steal college admissions spots from more qualified and deserving students."
Joseph Bonavolonta, head of the FBI's Boston office, said he hoped "many important lessons" were learned from the investigation and that colleges make sure the proper safeguards are in place.
"First and foremost, you can't pay to play and lie and cheat to circumvent the college admissions process," he said. "Because you will get caught."
Vavic, a 60-year-old, who guided USC's men's and women's water polo teams to 16 national championships, strode out of the courtroom Friday with his family, declining to comment on the verdict.
Prosecutors said he received about $250,000 in bribes for designating unqualified students as water polo recruits so they could attend the elite Los Angeles school.
But lawyers for Vavic argued he was just doing what he could to raise money for his dominant, championship-winning program as athletic officials had demanded. They maintained he never lied, never took a bribe and was a victim of USC's desire to cover up a "pervasive culture" of accepting wealthy students who could provide donation windfalls.
The university, which fired Vavic after his 2019 arrest, has stressed its admissions processes are "not on trial."
In a separate courtroom just minutes after Vavic's verdict was read, Riddell was contrite as he faced sentencing on fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges.
The Harvard graduate, who emerged as a key figure in the wide-ranging scandal, apologized to the many students that lost out on college opportunities because of his "terrible decision."
He said he brought shame to his family and pleaded for leniency for cooperating with law enforcement officials and for committing to make amends now and going forward for his actions.
Riddell's lawyers said he should serve one to two months in prison because he was neither the ringleader of the scheme nor a university insider, like the coaches and college administrators implicated. They also noted he's already paid nearly $166,000 toward the forfeiture obligation.
Judge Nathaniel Gorton, however, sided with prosecutors who had argued for the four-month sentence.
He said Riddell played a key role for many years in the scheme by secretly taking the ACT and SAT for students, or correcting their answers.
"And for what?" the judge said. "You did not need the money. How could you have stooped so low?"
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.klcc.org/npr-news/2022-04-09/a-college-exam-taker-gets-prison-and-a-coach-is-convicted-in-the-admissions-scam | 2022-04-09T13:16:41Z | klcc.org | control | https://www.klcc.org/npr-news/2022-04-09/a-college-exam-taker-gets-prison-and-a-coach-is-convicted-in-the-admissions-scam | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
A newly arrived bird flu is sweeping through wild bird populations in the United States, and that may mean trouble for poultry farmers who have been doing their best to control this flu outbreak in their flocks.
Some 24 million poultry birds like chicken and turkeys have already been lost, either because they died from the virus or were killed to prevent its spread. But unlike a similar bird flu outbreak seven years ago, this one is unlikely to just burn itself out.
That's because this particular flu virus seems capable of hanging around in populations of wild birds, which can pass the virus on to poultry farms. While chickens and turkeys with the virus quickly sicken and die, some waterfowl can remain healthy with the virus and carry it long distances.
Scientists believe that wild migratory birds brought this virus to North America a few months ago. Since then, more than 40 wild bird species in more than 30 states have tested positive. This strain of bird flu virus has turned up in everything from crows to pelicans to bald eagles.
"It's somewhat surprising how widespread it is already in North America," says Jonathan Runstadler, an influenza researcher at Tufts University. "It's clearly able to persist and transmit from year to year in parts of Asia, Europe, Africa, and I don't think we should be surprised if that's going to be the case here."
As the virus moves across the country, and potentially settles in for the long haul, it will encounter new animal species that could get infected. This pathogen will also get a chance to genetically mingle with the flu viruses that are already circulating in the U.S.
"What that means for the virus in terms of how it evolves, how it changes, we just don't really know," says Richard Webby, a flu researcher at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
There has been only one known human case
So far, the risk to humans seems low.
But since related bird flu viruses have repeatedly jumped into people in the past, public health experts are watching for any signs of genetic changes that could make the virus able to move into humans.
"We're concerned with any avian influenza virus that's circulating in domestic poultry or wild birds," says Todd Davis, an expert on animal-to-human diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "Because humans have no prior immunity to these viruses typically, if they were to be infected and spread the virus to other humans, then we could have another pandemic virus on our hands."
This virus doesn't have genetic features previously associated with related bird flus that have infected humans. And the only person known to have contracted this particular bird flu virus was an elderly person in the United Kingdom who lived in close quarters with ducks; while some of the ducks got sick and died, their owner never had any symptoms.
The CDC has been monitoring the health of more than 500 people in 25 states who were exposed to infected birds, says Davis. Although a few dozen people did develop flu-like symptoms, all were tested and none were positive for this virus.
Raptors could be especially hard hit
Wildlife experts have long known that highly pathogenic bird flus like this one were circulating in Europe and Asia. And they have worried about the possible threat these viruses might pose to American birds.
Then, in December of 2021, chickens and other fowl got sick and started dying on a farm on the island of Newfoundland, Canada. Tests showed this deadly bird flu virus had made it across the Atlantic.
"The very first moment it got to North America, it was a heads up to us," says Bryan Richards, the emerging diseases coordinator at the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center.
In January, government officials announced its arrival in the U.S. after a wigeon duck in South Carolina tested positive. The last time a dangerous bird flu entered the country, Richards says, "the number of instances where we picked that particular virus up in wild birds was very, very limited."
In contrast, this latest bird flu virus is being detected in sick and dying birds all over.
"This outbreak in the wild bird population is a lot more extensive than we saw in 2014 and 2015," says David Stallknecht, an avian influenza researcher with the University of Georgia. "Just a lot more birds appear to be affected."
Waterfowl, and raptors that eat their dead bodies, are bearing the brunt of it.
In Florida, for example, more than 1,000 lesser scaup ducks have succumbed to the virus. In New Hampshire, about 50 Canadian geese died in a single event. In the Great Plains states, wildlife experts have seen mass die-offs in snow geese.
"In addition, there's a host of other species, including black vultures and bald eagles and some of the other scavenging species, that were likely infected by consuming the carcasses of those waterfowl," says Richards.
It remains to be seen how much of a toll this virus will take on American bird species.
In Israel, when this virus hit an area where about 40,000 common cranes had gathered for the winter, "they lost a reported 8,000 of these birds over the course of a couple weeks," says Richards. "So when you start thinking about losing 20% of a specific population of wild birds, that's a pretty substantial impact."
Poultry farmers cull their flocks
Chickens and turkeys raised by the poultry industry have suffered the most deaths, and farmers are bracing themselves for even more.
The bird flu that struck in 2014 and 2015 resulted in the deaths of more than 50 million birds and cost the industry billions of dollars. Back then, the greatest number of cases occurred in the month of April.
"So I think I am kind of holding my breath this month," says Denise Heard, director of research programs for the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association.
The virus has a number of ways to get from wild birds into poultry, says Heard. Since the last outbreak, the industry has worked to educate farmers about how to protect their flocks.
"Wild migratory waterfowl are always flying over the top and when they poop, that poop gets on the ground," she says, explaining that the virus can then get tracked into bird houses on boots or inadvertently moved from farm to farm on vehicles.
Heard says there currently seems to be less spread of the virus from farm to farm than was seen during the last major outbreak. Instead, there are more isolated cases popping up, perhaps because wild birds are bringing the viruses to farms and backyard flocks.
If this virus sticks around in wild bird populations — which some scientists think is likely — poultry farmers may need to just learn to live with this problem.
"I hope that this is not the case. I hope that in the U.S. this infection will die off soon, and the virus will go away again like it did in 2014," says Ron Fouchier, a virologist at Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands. "But there's no guarantee for that, as we've seen in Europe now that this virus has remained present for several years in a row."
Since December, farmers in Europe have had to cull more than 17 million birds. "So that's very similar to the situation in the U.S.," says Fouchier. "And we are seeing massive die-offs in wild birds."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.klcc.org/npr-news/2022-04-09/a-worrisome-new-bird-flu-is-spreading-in-american-birds-and-may-be-here-to-stay | 2022-04-09T13:16:47Z | klcc.org | control | https://www.klcc.org/npr-news/2022-04-09/a-worrisome-new-bird-flu-is-spreading-in-american-birds-and-may-be-here-to-stay | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Mairi Gougeon said Russia's invasion of Ukraine has had a "significant impact" on the UK's food supply chain.
And while the Scottish Government has already set up its own taskforce to consider the issue, Ms Gougeon insisted action was needed across the United Kingdom.
She has now written to her UK counterpart, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary George Eustice, telling him that the "sharp rise" in fuel prices resulting from the conflict is "contributing to the hardship being felt by our own food production sector".
Ms Gougeon said: "We have reports of these costs making it unviable for some fishing vessels to leave port, pig production costs becoming untenable, the food processing and storage sectors being hit hard with the general rise in primary product cost and the removal of tax relief for red diesel causing price increases beyond the levels of the limited fuel rebate."
While she said ministers in the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) had previously pledged to have "regular discussions" with the governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on the issue, Ms Gougeon claimed there had been "no opportunity for discussions with UK Government".
The Scottish Rural Affairs Secretary told Mr Eustice: "I am concerned that this lack of engagement will only lead again to suffering by Scottish businesses who were left fighting for support to continue to deliver exports following the Brexit deal."
Ms Gougeon added: "At this time of global uncertainty when we must have food security, I have set up together with Scottish industry, a Food Security and Supply Taskforce.
"It will seek to recommend any short, medium and longer-term actions that can be taken to mitigate impacts, resolve supply issues and strengthen food security and supply in Scotland.
"We would be happy to share our findings with you and the other devolved administrations.
"I would like to propose an urgent four-nation summit to discuss the significant impact of this, and possible options for support."
Defra confirmed that the Environment Secretary has received the letter, saying he would "respond in due course". | https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/ukraine-crisis-call-for-urgent-four-nations-talks-on-impact-of-ukraine-war-on-food-security-3647972 | 2022-04-09T13:30:14Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/ukraine-crisis-call-for-urgent-four-nations-talks-on-impact-of-ukraine-war-on-food-security-3647972 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Belfast Cathedral Hits All The Right Notes
Belfast Cathedral’s organ rang out to celebrate the Northern Ireland International Organ Competition’s (NIIOC) tenth birthday, with a gala recital from ten of its international winners.
The Belfast Cathedral gala concert, which was introduced by Fr Eugene O’Hagan of the singing group, The Priests, followed a series of seven simultaneous concerts held across NI on as part of “Northern Ireland Resounds”.
Richard Gowers, senior prize-winner in 2013, performed the NI premiere of a work by Grace-Evangeline Mason, specially composed for NIIOC and the Commission for Victims and Survivors for Northern Ireland, which is dedicated to all those touched by the Northern Ireland Troubles.
“The NIIOC stemmed from the demand of local organists who wanted to encourage, challenge and recognise the talents of young performers in a competitive environment,” explained Richard Yarr, Founder and Chair of NIIOC.
Richard continued, “The competition then quickly established itself as one of the leading platforms internationally for committed young organists and rising talent.
“We’re thrilled to be celebrating our tenth anniversary with this very special concert featuring ten young organists who are such great ambassadors for what we call ‘the king of instruments’ – and for our competition. Here’s to the next ten years!”
The NIIOC anniversary celebrations were funded by The Arts Council of Northern Ireland and The Commission For Victims And Survivors For Northern Ireland with sponsors: The Eric Thompson Charitable Trust; The Flax Trust; The Ecclesiastical Music Trust; The Priests Charitable Trust; Randox Laboratories; The Earl and Countess Castle Stewart; Mr Neil Shawcross; Mr David Scott; Harrison & Harrison Ltd; The London Organ Competition and Gormley’s Fine Art. | https://www.ulstertatler.com/2022/04/belfast-cathedral-hits-all-the-right-notes/ | 2022-04-09T13:33:03Z | tatler.com | control | https://www.ulstertatler.com/2022/04/belfast-cathedral-hits-all-the-right-notes/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
COLUMBIA – A smattering of giggles greeted the name of former Gov. Eric Greitens Friday evening when emcee Brandon Rathert called for the U.S. Senate candidates invited to speak at Boone County Republican Lincoln Days to come forward.
Up to that point, there had been no trace of Greitens or his campaign at the most important pre-primary gathering of party faithful in the county where a court will weigh the explosive charges of domestic abuse from his former wife.
No Greitens yard signs greeted those attending, as they did for other major candidates in the race. No literature adorned the dinner tables. And no one was wearing his campaign paraphernalia to identify themselves as a supporter.
All of the leading candidates were invited to make five-minute speeches, Rathert told the gathering of about 200 of the county’s most ardent party members. U.S. Reps. Vicky Hartzler and Billy Long were there, as was St. Louis attorney Mark McCloskey, but Rathert said he was calling names in alphabetical order.
“Is Eric Greitens here?” Rathert asked again.
More giggles.
“Eric Greitens?” for the third time.
Still no Greitens. Then Rathert called for Hartzler, who has represented the county in Congress since 2013 and greeted the crowd as a frequent visitor.
“It is so good to be home and to be with you all tonight, a group of patriots who are fired up and ready to take back their country, aren’t we?” she said.
The annual county Lincoln Day is a mainstay of retail campaigning for Republican primary votes. For statewide and regional candidates, it is a place to meet local party activists or reconnect with a reliable base of support.
Long used humor to introduce himself, reminded the crowd that former President Donald Trump recently praised him in a statement short of an endorsement and trolled rivals who have courted Trump’s attention.
“Nobody’s been closer to him than me,” Long said, “And some of the other candidates, I mean, they’re hanging around like bad breath at Mar-a-Lago.”
McCloskey rattled through his speech at break-kneck speed, taking the audience through a denunciation of Democrats as America-hating Marxists bent on undermining democracy to warning about “the Great Reset” and reminding them how he came to prominence – standing alongside his wife with firearms outside their St. Louis home as Black Lives Matter protesters marched by.
Because Hartzler must give up her seat as she runs for Senate, Friday night also featured speeches from five of the eight GOP 4th District candidates. Two — state Rep. Sara Walsh and former Boone County Clerk Taylor Burks — were jockeying for hometown support. The others in attendance were state Sen. Rick Brattin and former Navy officer and Lee’s Summit police Bill Irwin both of Cass County; and Kalena Bruce, a CPA and cattle farmer from Cedar County.
All candidates filed without knowing the eventual boundaries of the district. Lawmakers have been unable to agree, and a Senate-passed map would divide Boone County, putting the residences of Burks and Walsh into the 3rd Congressional District.
Both candidates for state Auditor, state Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick and state Rep. David Gregory, also showed up to take advantage of their five minutes. Incumbent Nicole Galloway, a Democrat, is not seeking re-election.
Greitens has spoken at a handful of Lincoln Day events. He was the only Senate candidate to speak at the March 26 Dunklin County Lincoln Days.
He participated in multi-candidate events last year but has not done so this year.
McCloskey, who along with Hartzler and Long spoke April 2 at the Taney County Lincoln Day, said he hasn’t seen Greitens at any multicandidate events since last fall.
“He apparently decided if he was going to be treated like everybody else, he wasn’t going to participate,” McCloskey said.
It came as little surprise that Greitens avoided the county that is the eye of the hurricane that has engulfed his campaign over the past two weeks.
On March 21, Sheena Greitens filed an affidavit in Boone County Court accusing her former husband of physically assaulting her in 2018 and striking one of their sons so hard in 2019 that a tooth had to be surgically removed.
The underlying case is about a legal issue – should jurisdiction over the parenting plan that was part of their divorce be moved to Texas, where Sheena Greitens lives and where the children go to school, or remain in Boone County, where it was filed while she was on the University of Missouri faculty.
A hearing is scheduled for May 27 on Sheena Greitens’ motion to move the case. A separate hearing on May 10 will be for Eric Greitens’ motion to force the case into mediation.
But it threatens to undermine the race Greitens saw as his political redemption. He is the only Missouri governor to resign, leaving office June 1, 2018, under a cloud of suspicion from allegations of violent sexual misconduct and campaign finance violations.
Criminal charges were dropped in exchange for his resignation and Greitens claims the entire episode was a conspiracy created by his enemies. He’s blaming former presidential advisor Karl Rove and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of concocting the latest charges, accusing his ex-wife of lying in the sworn statement.
Greitens is trying to subpoena phone records for Rove, Sheena Greitens, her sister and political consultant Austin Chambers searching for evidence to back up his claims.
Greitens supporters aren’t ready to abandon him yet, said Roger Fries, a member of the Boone County Republican Central Committee.
“I think people are taking a wait-and-see attitude, to see what happens to him and his ex-wife,” he said.
The GOP nomination to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt is one of the most coveted Republican ballot spots in years. Voting trends over the past two decades have given Republicans a clear starting advantage in fall elections.
But Republicans also remember sending damaged nominees into general elections in 1992, 2012 and 2018, easing the Democratic nominee’s eventual path to victory.
There are 19 names on the Republican Senate primary ballot, and the six highest profile candidates are registering support in recent polls. Hartzler, Greitens and Attorney General Eric Schmitt have consistently been receiving the highest support, with Long, McCloskey and Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz in the single digits.
Speaking to reporters, Long said the Senate primary could be won with as little as 21% of the vote.
In the 2016 primary for governor won by Greitens, four candidates each had at least 20% of the vote, with Greitens taking just under 35% for the win.
“People are afraid,” Fries said, “that is going to happen again in this primary.”
Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a network of news outlets supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. | https://www.kcur.org/news/2022-04-09/no-signs-of-support-for-greitens-in-missouri-county-where-abuse-charges-will-be-heard | 2022-04-09T13:41:30Z | kcur.org | control | https://www.kcur.org/news/2022-04-09/no-signs-of-support-for-greitens-in-missouri-county-where-abuse-charges-will-be-heard | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
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Activate your digital account | https://www.dnj.com/restricted/?return=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dnj.com%2Fstory%2Fsports%2Fhigh-school%2F2022%2F04%2F09%2Fdemitrius-bell-recruiting-blackman-football-tennessee-lsu-ole-miss%2F7097537001%2F&gnt-tng-s=1 | 2022-04-09T13:41:41Z | dnj.com | control | https://www.dnj.com/restricted/?return=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dnj.com%2Fstory%2Fsports%2Fhigh-school%2F2022%2F04%2F09%2Fdemitrius-bell-recruiting-blackman-football-tennessee-lsu-ole-miss%2F7097537001%2F&gnt-tng-s=1 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
It’s mold before its time.
The new Hudson Yards station — opened in 2015 as part of a $2.4 billion, one-stop extension of the 7 train — is already falling apart.
The Post surveyed the massive, once-gleaming station on March 6, observing the following:
- Mold growing on walls
- Water-damage stains on the ceiling in many places
- Dozens of missing ceiling panels, exposing wiring and conduits
- Multiple out-of-service escalators
- No police officer in sight, with one man comfortable enough to light up a cigarette for the long, slow ride on the escalator to the surface.
“Given that this is a new subway station, I don’t understand why there is mold … Definite health concerns,” said artist Yo-Yo Lin, 29, who had made “quite a trek” from Brooklyn for a performance at The Shed, an arts center that’s part of the high-rise, work-spend-sleep megadevelopment that is Hudson Yards.
She said she was used to shabby 100-year-old stations in the boroughs, but expected better in a new Manhattan one.
“There is a lot of damage here,” she said.
Iris Lieu, 34, who works in fashion, looked up at the holes above her. “The ceiling [is] not even finished,” she said.
The 7 train project was the priciest subway extension ever by length worldwide — at least until it was surpassed by the $6 billion Second Avenue Subway Phase 1 in 2017.
Transit geeks have griped that both stations — with large mezzanines, custom elevators, and many exit portals — were overdesigned, involving too much expensive excavation. The station, 125 feet below ground, is one of the longest and widest in the system.
The Hudson Yards extension was also opened years late, overbudget, and completed without a second station at 10th Avenue, which would have brought a subway stop to Hells Kitchen.
“It’s a huge money pit,” said straphanger Danny Stern, 33, a non-profit employee who was passing through the station on his way to Philly.
MTA rep Joana Flores said in a statement: “While some ceiling panels at the station have been removed to address an underlying condition, those panels will be reinstalled as soon as remedial work is complete. This maintenance has had no impact on 7 line service running at the station.” | https://nypost.com/2022/04/09/new-hudson-yards-subway-station-already-moldy/ | 2022-04-09T13:41:59Z | nypost.com | control | https://nypost.com/2022/04/09/new-hudson-yards-subway-station-already-moldy/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
One thing the past two years have shown us is that life is not only short but precious. So, when given the opportunity to save a life, one should lend a helping hand but may not have the know-how. Dr. Katherine Brown has been helping raise awareness and educate communities across the country on how to do CPR for over 10 years. Through her company, Learn CPR LLC, Dr. Brown has gone from Chicago and as far as Israel to teach CPR to communities and help reduce the troubling statistic that minorities are 30 percent less likely to receive bystander CPR in their communities.
Brown, who now resides in Nashville, Tennessee, recently spoke with rolling out about how she continues to educate, advocate, and raise awareness while developing strategies and partnerships on CPR education and other life-saving initiatives.
Tell us about how you use your platform to educate communities on CPR.
I originally started on the Southside of Chicago. I opened up the first free-standing CPR company, and people were [wondering] why I was opening up a company in a zip code where people are least likely to receive CPR. My thought was that sometimes we need to advocate for people differently. I wanted to remove the barrier of transportation and other issues by opening up this company. I opened up the company, and I started a door-knocking campaign. … From there I started traveling nationally and internationally teaching CPR. I am a spokesperson for the American Heart Association; I do a lot of webinars for them. I answered the call for advocacy and acting because lives were being lost.
What was the inspiration behind educating our communities on CPR?
I started volunteering at the age of 16 because my mother, who I named the nonprofit after, The Roberta Baines Wheeler Pulmonary Hypertension Awareness Group, was a nurse and taught CPR. She was a trauma nurse and did all of these different things [for] over 40 years. So, I knew its importance, but the inspiration for me was the data. Every 90 seconds in the United States, someone dies from sudden cardiac arrest, and the reality is that women are least likely to receive bystander CPR. The research shows us that in African American and LatinX communities, we are least likely to have funding even to get CPR training.
How are you using your platform to continue raising awareness?
I think there isn’t enough funding available for smaller nonprofits. Many nonprofits are serving underserved communities, and they are working so hard. They are not getting the support they need from grant writers and other organizations to simplify the applications to get the funding to build their staff up. I have trained over 300,000 people for free in CPR because they couldn’t afford my services. No grant gave me the money. I did it because it was the right thing to do. | https://rollingout.com/2022/04/09/dr-katherine-browns-love-for-community-is-helping-to-save-lives/ | 2022-04-09T13:48:00Z | rollingout.com | control | https://rollingout.com/2022/04/09/dr-katherine-browns-love-for-community-is-helping-to-save-lives/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Page Turner’s energy is infectious.
Her vibrant, ebullient spirit challenges you to match it. The confidence she exudes as a boss woman comes from her vast experience over the past two decades in real estate, and all of it can be seen on her HGTV show “Fix My Flip.”
Recently, Turner spoke with rolling out about the show and her journey as a sister with superpowers.
What are your superpowers?
Resilience, persistence, strength, knowledge, the pursuit of all that fun stuff? I have a couple of superpowers, a cape that I wear as a coat of many colors, we’ll call it.
What is the power of Black women in general?
The power of everything. Everything that the word power encompasses. That’s what Black women carry. That’s who we are from the inside out. Like it’s innate.
What is the premise of “Fix My Flip?”
The show is amazing. It’s like nothing you’ve seen in the world of reality flipping shows. So what I’m doing is coming in with my own money. I’m helping flippers, whether novice or with some experience, [I’m helping] with their failing flips.
So what does that mean?
That means that they’ve dug a hole, and they don’t know how to get out of this hole. They’ve done it for many reasons, which we can go into, but I’m coming in with my own money, my knowledge, my experience, which sometimes is worth more than money, because that’s what knowledge is, right? And I’m helping them turn their failing flip into a profit from getting them to the finish line and helping them make this money.
How did HGTV and reality TV come into play in your career?
This is my second series on HGTV, such a blessing … only about five years ago, I saw an email because I’m part of a Black realtor association, The National Association of Real Estate Brokers, and I saw this email come to us as an association that said, “Hey, HGTV is looking for minority couples with their formula.” The [premise of the show was the] husband was a contractor, the wife was a designer for a new series and it could be anywhere in the country.
Again, I was still in Nashville, [Tennessee], and I didn’t know any Black couples who are married with this formula.
[In the] middle of the night, I wake up and say to myself, “That’s not what they’re looking for. I’m going to rewrite what they’re looking for …”
So anyway, that turned into a series [with my ex-boyfriend] … I pitched the show to HGTV, they green-lit it two months later. And now here I am creator, executive producer and host of “Fix My Flip” and back on HGTV. | https://rollingout.com/2022/04/09/fix-my-flip-host-page-turner-gives-backstory-of-becoming-an-hgtv-star/ | 2022-04-09T13:48:10Z | rollingout.com | control | https://rollingout.com/2022/04/09/fix-my-flip-host-page-turner-gives-backstory-of-becoming-an-hgtv-star/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Kent has seen a huge expansion of Taco Bell chains opening up across the county. The American-Mexican food chain was little-known compared to other giants such as McDonald's, KFC and Burger King until recently.
The UK was the first European country to open up a franchise in 1986. It was opened in London on Coventry Street, near Leicester Square, followed by a second spot in Earl's Court. Another one opened in Uxbridge but they all closed in the mid-1990s.
It wasn't until 2010 when the first two successful branches opened in Essex followed by a third branch in Manchester in 2011. Now a decade later, there is a Taco Bell in every corner of the UK, and Kent is no exception.
READ MORE: New Taco Bell restaurant to open in Dover at St James Retail and Leisure Park
A new branch has been announced to open in Folkestone on April 15 and Dover is expected to open shortly after, although the date isn't confirmed yet. There are also existing branches in Maidstone which opened March 31 this year, Dartford which opened in November 2021 and Chatham which opened in May 2019.
In 2019 it was revealed that there may be a new store in Canterbury too. Mo Boussaba, who helped open the first Kent branch, said: "Kent was definitely always on the cards - and it doesn’t stop here."
But not everyone seems to be entirely happy about the expansion of the branch. When the application was submitted for the Folkestone site, it had six objections from neighbours when it submitted an application. They listed concerns about extra rubbish, the smell, noise and impact on traffic.
One local, calling themselves DM Kids Motorcross, posted a lengthy post in the Folkestone residents group, saying: "Well I’m absolutely puzzled as to what all the excitement of this place opening up in Folkestone is about.
"Another fast-food chain that serves nothing but nutrient-dense c***! It’s like a McDonald’s with a few added spices there’s not too much I can elaborate on it is what it is.
"Not for me! But if any individuals find it happy then I’m happy you’ve found this happiness in your life... it’s no stars from me today!" But other people have expressed their utmost joy at the new franchise opening in Dover. Shannon Morrison said: "Oh my God! I have never been so happy."
Yet when the store in Chatham opened, there were huge queues with people waiting for hours just to get a taste. When people heard that Taco Bell was coming to Dover, people claimed it was "the happiest news" they'd ever heard.
Emma Yearley said: "They're going to be everywhere." Shana Moore said: "My prayers have been answered." Rob Wright said: "FANTASTIC NEWS."
It is part of Taco Bell's plan that was announced in 2019 to open 200 UK stores within five years. Jorge Torres, general manager of Taco Bell Europe, said: "There are franchisees that are really excited and capable of continuing expansion.
"We prefer to work with fewer, bigger franchisees — it is more efficient for us as we are building a team and maximising our resources. It all depends on how big the market is and what the potential of the market is — the UK is so big right now that there is still room to grow.” | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/how-taco-bell-taking-over-6909365 | 2022-04-09T13:56:53Z | kentlive.news | control | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/how-taco-bell-taking-over-6909365 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Chatham Central and Rochester Riverside are the most dangerous places to live in Kent according to the latest crime figures.
During the year ending January 2022, Chatham Central and Rochester Riverside suffered more crime than anywhere else in our area. A total of 4,409 crimes were committed in that neighbourhood over the last 12 months. When compared to the population, that works out as 439 crimes for every 1,000 people who live there. A big concern in Chatham Central and Rochester Riverside is the high rate of violence and sexual offences with 170 of these types of crimes for every 1,000 residents - the 11th highest rate in all England and Wales.
But the neighbourhood also had the highest rates of burglary (15 per 1,000 residents), drug offences (12 per 1,000 residents), weapons offences (five per 1,000 residents), robbery (seven per 1,000 residents), and public order offences (42 per 1,000 residents).
Read more: Residents 'struggling every day to make ends meet' as cost of living soars
Ramsgate Harbour in Thanet had the next highest crime rate, at 349 offences per 1,000 residents, which was partly driven by the highest rates of antisocial behaviour in the county - 83 offences for every 1,000 residents. Folkestone Harbour in Shepway had the third-highest crime rate, (331 crimes per 1,000 people).
At the other end of the spectrum, the safest place in Kent was Lyminge, Densole and Elham in Shepway, where there were just 32 offences for every 1,000 residents.
Meanwhile, the highest rise in crime was seen in Chatham Maritime, Medway. A total of 1,771 crimes were reported in that neighbourhood in the year ending January 2022 - an astonishing 220% rise from 553 offences the previous year.
See how your neighbourhood compares:
Kent Police have been contacted for a statement regarding these figures.
Find out how you can get more news from KentLive straight to your inbox for free HERE | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/most-dangerous-neighbourhoods-live-kent-6924819 | 2022-04-09T13:57:03Z | kentlive.news | control | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/most-dangerous-neighbourhoods-live-kent-6924819 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Police have launched an investigation after a man was stabbed in Canterbury last night (April 8). Officers were called at 8.04pm following reports of a disturbance inside a property on Downs Road.
A 33-year-old man was taken to a hospital in London to be treated for his injuries, which were said to be consistent with stab wounds. He is described as being in a stable condition.
A 17-year-old boy was also treated for minor injuries. Officers have arrested both the 33-year-old and the 17-year-old on suspicion of grievous bodily harm.
READ MORE: Pictures show Dover eerily quiet despite Operation Brock causing huge M20 queues
Enquiries into the circumstances surrounding the incident are ongoing. One person posted on a Canterbury Facebook residents group this morning (April 9) with pictures of police presence in the area.
In the post, they said: "Police blocked the road in Hales place."
If you have seen or heard anything you think we should know about, or in relation to this, please contact the KentLive newsdesk by email at kentlivenewsdesk@reachplc.com
Alternatively, you can get in touch with us via our Facebook page or on Twitter @kentlivenews.
Sign up to get the latest stories from Kent direct into your inbox here | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/police-investigation-launched-after-man-6929665 | 2022-04-09T13:57:13Z | kentlive.news | control | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/police-investigation-launched-after-man-6929665 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
A road in the heart of Tunbridge Wells has been closed as police investigate a motorbike crash. Officers scrambled to Mount Pleasant Road after being alerted just before 11.30am today (April 9).
Onlookers claimed to see a mass of emergency workers as police coned off the road. One person claimed to see paramedics performing CPR - but this has not been confirmed.
Kent Police has since told KentLive that the incident involved a motorbike and two pedestrians. Police remain at the scene with drivers being advised to seek alternative routes.
A statement from the police said: "We are responding to a report of a collision involving a motorbike and two pedestrians on Mount Pleasant Road, Tunbridge Wells. Officers are at the scene along with South East Coast Ambulance Service and a road closure is in place while the incident is responded to."
The extent of any injuries has not yet been confirmed.
Updates to the ongoing situation can be found on our live blog found here.
If you have seen or heard anything you think we should know about, or in relation to this, please contact the KentLive newsdesk by email at kentlivenewsdesk@reachplc.com | https://www.kentlive.news/news/motorbike-collides-two-pedestrians-tunbridge-6929501 | 2022-04-09T13:57:23Z | kentlive.news | control | https://www.kentlive.news/news/motorbike-collides-two-pedestrians-tunbridge-6929501 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
After months of petitioning outside of grocery chains and Lake Avenue storefronts, hundreds of volunteers recently united on the steps of City Hall to celebrate the submission of 15,000 signatures supporting a ballot measure supporting rent control in Pasadena.
The 15,352 signatures, gathered by more than 300 volunteers in late March, must be verified by city leaders before registered voters in Pasadena can vote on a rent control and “just cause” charter amendment seeking to:
- Limit rent increases to 75% of the annual increase in Consumer Price Index;
- Establish a Pasadena Rental Housing Board; and
- Provide guidelines around “just cause” evictions.
Proponents say the proposed charter amendment would create strong protections for tenants, which they see as a positive for a city where 57% of households rent rather than own, according to the city’s 2021-2029 Draft Housing Element.
But not everybody sees the proposal as beneficial.
“There are a lot of problems with rent control,” former Pasadena city councilwoman Ann-Marie Villicana said.
For starters, according to Villicana, renters could use the extra money they save on rent to put a down payment on another property. The newly purchased home could then be rented out at a price higher than a rent controlled property.
“So what’s happening is you’re enabling people who could really afford to move on and you’re incentivizing them to stay,” Villicana said.
Another issue, the local Realtor explained, is if a family member who owns the property dies.
“So now they’ve got below-market rents that’s going to impact the sale of their property,” Villicana said. “And say there’s a water leak or there’s an air conditioning breakdown — they may not have enough money in reserves to go and make those repairs because they weren’t charging market-rate rents.”
The bottom line is, Villicana added, “housing is a business. And if you want nice housing, we have to have the funds in order to support the housing and keep the stock looking good in Pasadena.”
While debate rages and officials work to count the submitted signatures, Ryan Bell — a member and organizer with Pasadena Tenants Union — acknowledged that there’s still work to be done following the celebration. But the local coalition of housing advocates remain confident officials will certify the 13,366 signatures — of the 15,352 submitted — needed for placement on the November ballot.
The Amendment
Pointing to half of Pasadena tenants who pay more than 30% of their income in rent and a quarter of the city’s tenants who contribute more than 50% of their income to rent — according to the city’s Draft Housing Element — Bell and local rent-control proponents describe the “Pasadena Fair and Equitable Housing Charter Amendment” as historic.
The amendment seeks to limit evictions unless a landlord can show there is good cause, such as non-payment of rent or a breach of the contract, according to the amendment’s text. It would also limit rent increases to once a year and allow tenants to petition for decreases if repairs are not made or services are withheld.
If passed, the amendment would require a tenant be provided relocation assistance if a landlord is reclaiming an apartment or removing a unit from the rental market.
A Pasadena Rental Housing Board with powers to craft rules and regulations regarding rental properties and appoint hearing officers to mediate rent adjustment petitions would also be established. An online rental registry — that would list all rental properties in the city with relevant data, including any violations of building codes regulations — would also be created.
The first step
On the steps of City Hall, Monday, March 28, rent control advocates like Jane Panangaden, Michelle Clark and Jane Melton were but a few of the local residents who took center stage to share stories of families who support rent control after being affected by “unfair, excessive rents.”
“We can’t wait to bring the same enthusiasm, discipline and volunteer power to the rest of the campaign,” Panangaden said. “We’ve got momentum and we’re going to work every day until election day to make sure we win.”
During the signature submission rally, other longtime residents shared personal stories of struggling to afford such essentials as food, healthcare, education, and childcare, partly because of high rental costs.
“I shouldn’t have to wake up every day thinking: Do I pay for my son’s extra jeans or do I pay the rent?” said PJ Johnson, who regularly phones into City Council meetings to support the rent-control amendment.
“Pasadena is for families, diversity and community. It’s a place where people put down roots and meet their neighbors,” said Liberty McCoy, who along with her parents, has lived in Pasadena all her life. “All we want to do is make that easier for regular folks like essential workers, teachers, nurses, and families to stay in the city they love.”
What’s Next
Bell noted he can rattle off statistics all day but it’s actions – not words – that resonate with the voters, he said. This is why rent control proponents will continue working until November to garner support for the initiative.
“I don’t feel it’ll be easy, but it won’t be too hard if we see anything like the recent turnout outside of City Hall,” Bell said, highlighting how City Council members and candidates alike united to support the submission of the signatures last month.
“I am so inspired by the massive volunteer effort and positive response from residents,” said Councilmember Jess Rivas, who endorsed the measure during the signature drive. “It’s clear that Pasadena residents want more protections for their neighbors and less displacement. And it couldn’t come at a better time.” | https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2022/04/09/pasadena-rent-control-backers-mobilize-for-november-ballot-measure/ | 2022-04-09T13:58:24Z | pasadenastarnews.com | control | https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2022/04/09/pasadena-rent-control-backers-mobilize-for-november-ballot-measure/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
If you didn’t know any better, legendary race car driver Mario Andretti looked Friday, April 8, as if he could compete in Sunday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
There he was, dressed in full pro driver uniform, complete with a helmet, slipping easily into the cockpit of a two-seater IndyCar. Andretti was about to take a passenger for the ride of his life around the Long Beach race track at speeds of up to 170 mph on the Shoreline Drive straightaway. Andretti was scheduled to take several passengers around the track Friday and Saturday.
Andretti just turned 82 on Feb. 28. But he is healthy and fit and still filled with his lifelong passion for racing, which started burning in him when he was a teenager in Italy.
When asked if he wished he could drive in the big race on Sunday, Andretti demurred, though perhaps a little wistfully.
“I had a long and enjoyable career and count my blessings every day as far as my racing career,” the superstar said. “I definitely feel very fulfilled. Now, I enjoy driving the two-seater and following my son Michael’s team.”
Andretti said he enjoys driving race enthusiasts around the track — it’s a chance to meet interesting folks.
“They usually give me interesting people,” he said. “I think everyone has fun. I don’t know if they’re scared but I always go as fast as I can. I’ve driven people of different walks of life.”
Those who ride with him sign a wall in his traler, he said.
“The most memorable might be Lady Gaga,” Andretti said while sharing photos on his cell phone. “We had a lot of time together in Indianapolis.”
Indianapolis, home of the Indy 500, is sacred ground in racing.
But Andretti has had a love affair with Long Beach — and vice versa — ever since he drove in the first race on the city’s streets in 1975.
He has not missed a Grand Prix of Long Beach race in 47 years. He has been either a driver or a spectator during all of those years. His early relationship with the city blossomed in 1977, when Andretti, Jody Scheckter of South Africa and Niki Lauda of Austria put on one of the most spectacular driving exhibitions that Formula 1 had ever seen, according to someone who was there, Chris Pook, founder of the Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Andretti remembers that race like it was yesterday.
“I had a helluva time behind Schecter for most of the race and Lauda was behind me,” Andretti said said in a phone interview from his longtime home in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, before he flew to Long Beach on Thursday. “It was do-or-die time and I finally was able to pass Schecter.”
Andretti held on and won the race, beating Lauda by less than a second.
The win made Andretti a happy man.
But perhaps even happier were Pook and city officials, who had been counting on the Grand Prix to boost declining economic development in the city. The first two years were rough on the Grand Prix financially. It was on shaky ground — until Andretti won.
“It was the first time in Grand Prix history that an American won a Grand Prix in his own country, and the media went crazy,” Pook said. “Long Beach and Mario were on the front pages of the nation’s major newspapers and featured on network TV stations and the front pages of sports sections in newspapers around the world.
“Mario’s win made a statement,” Pook added. “The Grand Prix of Long Beach had arrived and it was here to stay.”
Andretti’s his first impressions of Long Beach, though, were not that good.
“Before then, I had never been to Long Beach,” he said. “When I got there in 1975, there were lots of boarded up places. But thanks to Pook’s vision, the race has grown and so has the city. It is a wonderful place now.”
Andretti’s 1977 win wasn’t the only time he helped Long Beach, Pook said.
A year later, Long Beach officials invited key business leaders, bankers and developers to attend the 1978 Grand Prix as the city’s guests, Pook said. One of those guests was A.N. Pritzker, chairman of Hyatt Hotels.
“On the Saturday before the race, then City Manager John Dever, with Mr. Pritzker in tow, asked me if someone could drive Mr. Pritzker around in a Pace Car,” Pook said. “This was right before qualifying was to start, one of the most important times of a Grand Prix weekend for a driver. Mario was asked if he would drive Mr. Pritzker and, without hesitation, Mario said, ‘Absolutely.’”
The ride was supposed to be two laps — but it turned into four.
Afterwards, Pritzker thanks Andretti and then turned to Dever.
“If you have enough spirit and determination to run this race through your streets,” the hotelier told Dever, according to Pook, “I am going to build a Hyatt Regency here, and I would like it to be located on that corner before the race track comes back up the hill to the Pit area.”
The Hyatt Regency has been a mainstay in Long Beach ever since.
Andretti ranks “right at the top of people who were instrumental in the success and longevity of the Grand Prix of Long Beach,” Pook said, “and I would respectfully suggest the redevelopment of our downtown.”
Andretti and his family have had great racing fortune in Long Beach.
After winning the race in 1977, Andretti went on to win the Grand Prix of Long Beach in 1984, 1985 and 1987. His son, Michael Andretti, won in Long Beach in 1986 — ending his father’s bid for a three-peat — and again in 2002.
The elder Andretti, a proud father, pointed out that his son’s wins in Long Beach were the first and last of his total 42 wins in IndyCar races.
“We have had a lot of great thrills and precious golden memories in Long Beach,” Andretti said.
One of his favorite things about Long Beach, he said, is the ambiance it creates.
“The people in Long Beach are so welcoming,” Andretti said. “Everywhere I go, I hear people calling out to me, ‘Hey, Mario, how are you doing?’ It’s almost like feeling I’m part of a family when I come here.”
While he was at the track Friday, fans constantly asked him for autographs and selfies. He was always kind and accommodating.
Speaking of family, Andretti talked about his birth on Feb. 28, 1940, in Montona, Italy (now Croatia), about 35 miles from the city of Trieste.
After World War II, the peninsula of Istria, on which Montona was located, became part of Yugoslavia, a Communist country. In 1948, the family decided to leave and they became refugees in a camp in Lucca, Italy, for seven years. The family of five – his parents, Luigi and Rina; a twin brother, Aldo; and an older sister, Ana Maria — came to the United States in 1955 and settled in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, where an uncle was living.
Andretti’s father got a job working for Bethlehem Steel. Andretti was 15.
“On June 16, 1955, we passed by the Statue of Liberty, a day I’ll never forget,” Andretti said. “My sister sang the national anthem. We never looked back.
“I learned an important lesson in life when we came to the U.S.,” he added. “A negative turned into a positive. The United States opened up opportunities for us that we never would have had in Italy.”
But before he came to the United States, Andretti and his twin brother had gone to Monza, Italy, to watch the Italian Grand Prix and world champion Alberto Ascari — Andretti’s idol.
“That’s when I decided to become a race driver,” Andretti said. “I didn’t know how, but I knew I was going to pursue that one and only dream. I never had a Plan B.”
When Andretti arrived in the U.S., he said, he was excited to see a race track near his home. It was a half-mile oval track around which modified stock cars raced. Andretti and his brother got involved with racing there without telling their father, Andretti said. Their father would have forbidden them from racing, Andretti said, because of the danger involved.
Unfortunately, his twin, Aldo, got injured in a crash and their father found out they had been racing.
His reaction, Andretti said, was “not pleasant.”
But Andretti kept racing.
Andretti’s Plan A worked out beautifully, of course, as he went on to win the Indy 500 and hundreds of other races — while becoming an icon and legend in his profession.
Yet, the past 3 1/2 years have been difficult for him, with Andretti describing that period as a “rough stretch.” During that time, his wife of 56 years, his twin brother, his sister and his nephew John have died. Andretti has leaned on his faith amid all that loss.
“My Catholic religion is helping,” he said. “There are some things beyond our control. You just have to accept them and move on.”
This week at least, Andretti will enjoy himself in Long Beach, the city he’s visited annually for nearly five decades.
Come Sunday, he will root for his son’s Andretti Autosport team.
And on Saturday, Andretti will once again hop in a race car. He’ll take some lucky people on a ride around the track of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach — a race he helped establish.
Staff photographer Brittany Murray contributed to this report. | https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2022/04/09/superstar-mario-andretti-loves-acura-grand-prix-of-long-beach-the-city-and-its-people/ | 2022-04-09T13:58:30Z | pasadenastarnews.com | control | https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2022/04/09/superstar-mario-andretti-loves-acura-grand-prix-of-long-beach-the-city-and-its-people/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Two downtown galleries are going all out for this upcoming Cheyenne Artwalk.
Beginning Thursday, Blue Door Arts will feature “For the Love of Animals” by Lander artist Susan Grinels, who really just wants to work with animals in any way that she can.
This isn’t surprising when you look at her upbringing. When she was just 6 years old, she watched as a new shopping mall was built on top of a pony pasture. As a promotion, the mall would hold a contest and randomly give away 19 ponies.
Grinels walked away with the last remaining horse.
She grew up with this pony, though she lived in the suburbs and had to stable the animal out in the country. In the late 1980s, she migrated to Wyoming to work as a horse-packer for the National Outdoor Leadership School, riding horses carrying rations out to groups training between Lander and Boulder.
“I was riding one horse, I had three horses packed, and we hardly ever stayed where the horses were staying, because if the grass wasn’t good, then the feed for the horses wasn’t good,” she said. “One of the instructors said, ‘Aren’t you afraid of being out there by yourself?’
“And I thought, ‘Oh, no. I’ve got the horses.’”
Grinels jokes that she prefers working with animals to working with humans. For her career, she worked as a veterinarian tech for 15 years, eventually attending art school in her free time.
She was most comfortable with pastels when she started out, and that’s what she mainly works with today. In the collection to hang in Blue Door, there’s the faces of dogs, horses and foxes, among other popular Wyoming wildlife.
However, she does prefer to know the animals personally before she recreates their likeness. One of her most personal bought home her most recent art show win at the Sheridan Artists Guild’s annual art show.
“Walters, the one I won at the SAGE thing, he was a horse I used to ride years ago in Virginia,” she said. “Some of them are my niece’s dogs. Some of them are my dogs.
“My husband’s like, ‘All the pictures that we have on the wall, they’re all gone.’ The pictures are just a bunch of dead animals,” Grinels said with a laugh.
One of her most acclaimed works is actually a “torn paper” collage – created with acrylic printed paper that’s torn up and glued down – of a sheepdog creeping up on a herd. It was created as one third of a series and submitted to the art show featured at the 2014 Meeker Sheepdog Trials in Meeker, Colorado.
The collage won Best in Show, and was used as the poster for the 2015 Trials. But that seems like small potatoes compared to her pastel painting of her niece’s pet mastiff, which won Best in Show at the American Kennel Club art show in Wichita, Kansas.
To her surprise, that painting was shipped off to be a permanent display in the American Kennel Club Museum of the Dog in New York City.
“For the Love of Animals” will conclude with a closing reception on May 6.
In the Garden
A couple blocks over, an Artwalk annual favorite will be bringing a little warmth to Clay Paper Scissors Gallery & Studio over the next month.
“In the Garden” is an infrequent call-for-entry show loosely based around transforming co-owners Camelia El-Antably and Mark Vinich’s gallery into a space of green leaves, pottery and other garden amenities.
Nineteen artists from Cheyenne and the surrounding region will be featured in the show, with artwork ranging from abstract paintings to statues.
“We interpret ‘garden’ loosely,” El-Antably said. “It sometimes includes things that are more like the Garden of Eden or animals that might be in the wild. We’re looking for things that fit the theme, maybe something different than what we’ve seen before or brings a different dimension to the show.”
Clay Paper Scissors also wasn’t particularly selective when it came to the submissions, even taking chances on things the owners aren’t exactly sold on. But sometimes, those oddities end up being their favorite pieces in the show. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/features/two-shows-to-catch-in-the-upcoming-artwalk/article_d1d9e843-fff2-5517-af03-7727349ba776.html | 2022-04-09T13:59:06Z | wyomingnews.com | control | https://www.wyomingnews.com/features/two-shows-to-catch-in-the-upcoming-artwalk/article_d1d9e843-fff2-5517-af03-7727349ba776.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
SATURDAY
Albany County 4-H Spring Bazaar: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Albany County Fairgrounds.
Albany County Democratic Convention: 9 a.m., via Zoom. To register, email albanycountydems.secretary@gmail.com.
Free cancer screenings: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Ivinson Medical Group. Email questions@ivinsonhospital.org for more information.
Stand With Ukraine Laramie rally: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., 1st Street Plaza. Rally for Ukraine and learn how to support the nation’s fight for freedom.
Free stress relief clinic: 10-11 a.m., Laramie Plains Civic Center Phoenix Ballroom.
Salamander Saturday: 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Berry Center at 10th and Lewis streets on the UW campus. Salamander story time, a biology seminar, trivia contest, games and crafts.
Bike Olympics sponsored by Laramie BikeNet: 1-5:50 p.m., Lincoln Community Center, 356 W. Grand Ave. Free entry, but BikeNet membership recommended. Visit Laramiebikenet.org for more information.
UW Cello Festival concert: 5 p.m., Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts. A free performance by participants of the 2022 UW Cello Festival.
Laramie Elks Lodge 582 Luau Dinner and officer installation: 6 p.m. installation, 7 p.m. dinner, 102 S. 2nd St. Dinner is $15, and public is invited.
UW planetarium presents “Max Goes to the Moon”: 7 p.m., UW Planetarium. Max the dog and a young girl named Tori take the first trip to the moon since the Apollo era.
An evening of Schubert with Kenneth Slowik (and friends): 7:30 p.m., Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets $10 general admission available at uwyo.edu/finearts.
SUNDAY
Friends of the Albany County Library book sale: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the library, 310 S. 8th St.
New Life Easter Carnival: 10 a.m. (after service), Albany County Fairgrounds.
MONDAY
Alcoholics Anonymous meets: Daily at various times in person or on Zoom. For more information, call 307-399-0590 or visit area76aawyoming.org or aa.org.
Survivors of Suicide Support Group: Meets from 5:30-6:45 p.m. at Hospice of Laramie House, 1754 Centennial Drive.
Women for Sobriety meet: 6:30-8:30 p.m. via Zoom. For meeting details, email 1093@womenforsobriety.org.
TUESDAY
Prayers & Squares Quilting Group meets: 9 a.m., Room 1 of Hunter Hall at St. Matthews Cathedral.
Laramie Rivers Conservation District meets: 10 a.m., 5015 Stone Road.
Free stress relief clinic: 1-2 p.m., Laramie Plains Civic Center Phoenix Ballroom.
Albany County Republican Party meets: 6 p.m., Albany County Public Library.
Albany County Genealogical Society meets: 7 p.m. Relief Society Room at the LDS church, 3311 Hayford Ave.
WEDNESDAY
UW Board of Trustees meet: 8:30 a.m., online at wyolinks.uwyo.edu/trusteesapr22.
Laramie Tai Chi and tea: Meets at 1:30 p.m. at the north end of the stadium in Laramie Plainsman Park, North 15th and Reynolds. For more information, visit laramietaichiandtea.org.
Wyoming Police and Fire Civil Service Commission meets: 3 p.m., via Zoom. Visit cityoflaramie.org/agendacenter for information. Zoom ID: 85440007. Passcode: 875167.
Albany County Planning and Zoning Commission meets: 5 p.m., Albany County Courthouse, 525 E. Grand Ave., or via Zoom. More information at co.albany.wy.us.
Ivinson Medical Group women’s health prenatal education: 5:30 p.m., Ivinson Memorial Hospital in the Summit Conference Room. Learn more or register at ivinsonhospital.org/childbirth.
THURSDAY
Caregivers for loved ones with Alzheimer’s/dementia: 3 p.m., meet for coffee, pie, understanding and comradeship at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery, 204 S. 30th St. For more information, call 307-745-6451.
Second Story Book Group discusses “Billionaire Wilderness” by Justin Farrell: 6:30-8 p.m., via Zoom. Call 786-877-3912 or email taninel@bellsouth.net for information.
Stitching the Past Together creative aging class: 6:30-8 p.m., Albany County Public Library large meeting room. Students will learn memory-based storytelling through beading techniques in this free course. Register at acplwy.org or at the circulation desk.
PFLAG Laramie meets: 6:30 p.m., St. Paul’s United Church of Christ,, 602 E. Garfield.
Lenten Taize worship services: 7 p.m., First Baptist Church, 1517 Canby St. Every Thursday through Easter.
UW Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster Fund Recital: 7 p.m., Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets $40 in-person, $20 for livestream. Call 3766-6666 or visit uwyo.edu/finart_ticket/eventsticketed,aspx.
FRIDAY
Free stress relief clinic: Noon to 1 p.m., Laramie Plains Civic Center Phoenix Ballroom.
Laramie Tai Chi and tea: Meets at 1:30 p.m. at the north end of the stadium in Laramie Plainsman Park, North 15th and Reynolds. For more information, visit laramietaichiandtea.org.
UW planetarium presents “Search for Extra-Terrestrial Life”: 7 p.m., UW Planetarium. Are we alone in the universe?
”Everything but the Kitchen Sink” concert to open UW Percussion Festival: 7:30 p.m., Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts. Free.
April 16
Kiwanis Club of Laramie Easter Egg Hunt: 10 a.m., Kiwanis Park in West Laramie.
Peeps and Paws puppy event by Laramie Animal Welfare Society: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., 1889 Venture Dr. It’s an Easter puppy party!
Free stress relief clinic: 10-11 a.m., Laramie Plains Civic Center Phoenix Ballroom.
Ester Extravaganza: 2-4 p.m., Trinity Baptist Church, 1270 N. 9th St.
UW planetarium presents “Distant Worlds — Alien Life?”: 2 p.m., UW Planetarium. For millennia our ancestors watched the stars and questioned the origin and nature of what they saw. Yet, Earth is the only planet we know for sure to be inhabited.
UW planetarium presents “Liquid Sky, Pop”: 7 p.m., UW Planetarium. Enjoy a custom playlist from today’s top artists.
April 17
Walk with a Doc: 1:30-2:30 p.m., UW Fieldhouse. Hear from health care professionals and get your steps in.
April 18
Alcoholics Anonymous meets: Daily at various times in person or on Zoom. For more information, call 307-399-0590 or visit area76aawyoming.org or aa.org.
Survivors of Suicide Support Group: Meets from 5:30-6:45 p.m. at Hospice of Laramie House, 1754 Centennial Drive.
Women for Sobriety meet: 6:30-8:30 p.m. via Zoom. For meeting details, email 1093@womenforsobriety.org.
April 19
Prayers & Squares Quilting Group meets: 9 a.m., Room 1 of Hunter Hall at St. Matthews Cathedral.
Free stress relief clinic: 1-2 p.m., Laramie Plains Civic Center Phoenix Ballroom.
UW planetarium presents “Wyoming Skies”: 7 p.m., UW Planetarium. What’s up in the sky around Wyoming?
Stitching the Past Together creative aging class: 6:30-8 p.m., Albany County Public Library large meeting room. Students will learn memory-based storytelling through beading techniques in this free course. Register at acplwy.org or at the circulation desk.
April 20
Laramie Rivers Conservation District meets: Noon, 5015 Stone Road.
Laramie Tai Chi and tea: Meets at 1:30 p.m. at the north end of the stadium in Laramie Plainsman Park, North 15th and Reynolds. For more information, visit laramietaichiandtea.org.
Award-Winning Author Jesmyn Ward speaks: 5 p.m., UW College of Arts and Sciences auditorium.
Ivinson Medical Group women’s health prenatal education: 5:30 p.m., Ivinson Memorial Hospital in the Summit Conference Room. Learn more or register at ivinsonhospital.org/childbirth.
April 21
Caregivers for loved ones with Alzheimer’s/dementia: 3 p.m., meet for coffee, pie, understanding and comradeship at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery, 204 S. 30th St. For more information, call 307-745-6451.
Ivinson Medical Group women’s health prenatal education: 5:30 p.m., Ivinson Memorial Hospital in the Summit Conference Room. Learn more or register at ivinsonhospital.org/childbirth.
April 22
Albany County CattleWomen meet: 11:30 a.m., location tbd. Visit wyaccw.com in the week before the meeting for location and more information.
Free stress relief clinic: Noon to 1 p.m., Laramie Plains Civic Center Phoenix Ballroom.
UW planetarium presents “Earth Day”: 7 p.m., UW Planetarium. Observe our beautiful planet from the ground, sky and space as we learn about glaciers, atmospheric science, meteorology, extreme weather events and climate history.
Violin virtuoso Augustin Hadelich with UW Chamber Orchestra: 730 p.m., Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets available at uwyo.edu/finearts.
April 23
Free stress relief clinic: 10-11 a.m., Laramie Plains Civic Center Phoenix Ballroom.
UW planetarium presents “From Earth to the Universe”: 2 p.m., UW Planetarium. The night sky, both beautiful and mysterious, has been the subject of campfire stories, ancient myths and awe for as long as there have been people.
April 25
Alcoholics Anonymous meets: Daily at various times in person or on Zoom. For more information, call 307-399-0590 or visit area76aawyoming.org or aa.org.
Survivors of Suicide Support Group: Meets from 5:30-6:45 p.m. at Hospice of Laramie House, 1754 Centennial Drive.
Wyoming’s energy economy panel discussion: 6 p.m., online at uweconomists.eventbrite.com. Features four University of Wyoming economists.
Women for Sobriety meet: 6:30-8:30 p.m. via Zoom. For meeting details, email 1093@womenforsobriety.org.
America Sewing Guild Laramie Chapter meets: 7 p.m., United Methodist Church, 1215 E. Gibbon St.
April 26
Prayers & Squares Quilting Group meets: 9 a.m., Room 1 of Hunter Hall at St. Matthews Cathedral.
Free stress relief clinic: 1-2 p.m., Laramie Plains Civic Center Phoenix Ballroom.
April 27
Laramie Tai Chi and tea: Meets at 1:30 p.m. at the north end of the stadium in Laramie Plainsman Park, North 15th and Reynolds. For more information, visit laramietaichiandtea.org.
April 28
Caregivers for loved ones with Alzheimer’s/dementia: 3 p.m., meet for coffee, pie, understanding and comradeship at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery, 204 S. 30th St. For more information, call 307-745-6451.
Stitching the Past Together creative aging class: 6:30-8 p.m., Albany County Public Library large meeting room. Students will learn memory-based storytelling through beading techniques in this free course. Register at acplwy.org or at the circulation desk.
April 29
Free stress relief clinic: Noon to 1 p.m., Laramie Plains Civic Center Phoenix Ballroom.
UW planetarium presents “Mars”: 7 p.m., UW Planetarium. The red planet is host to many questions; did it used to be like Earth? Did it once harbor life? Could it still support life?
April 30
Free stress relief clinic: 10-11 a.m., Laramie Plains Civic Center Phoenix Ballroom.
UW planetarium presents “Mexica Archaeoastronomy”: 2 p.m., UW Planetarium. Illustrates the important role played by astronomical observation for the evolution of pre-Hispanic cultures in central Mexico.
UW planetarium presents “Liquid Sky, Electronica”: 7 p.m., UW Planetarium. Enjoy a custom playlist of music from today’s top artists.
May 2
Alcoholics Anonymous meets: Daily at various times in person or on Zoom. For more information, call 307-399-0590 or visit area76aawyoming.org or aa.org.
Survivors of Suicide Support Group: Meets from 5:30-6:45 p.m. at Hospice of Laramie House, 1754 Centennial Drive.
Women for Sobriety meet: 6:30-8:30 p.m. via Zoom. For meeting details, email 1093@womenforsobriety.org.
May 3
Prayers & Squares Quilting Group meets: 9 a.m., Room 1 of Hunter Hall at St. Matthews Cathedral.
Free stress relief clinic: 1-2 p.m., Laramie Plains Civic Center Phoenix Ballroom.
May 4
Laramie Tai Chi and tea: Meets at 1:30 p.m. at the north end of the stadium in Laramie Plainsman Park, North 15th and Reynolds. For more information, visit laramietaichiandtea.org.
Ivinson Medical Group women’s health prenatal education: 5:30 p.m., Ivinson Memorial Hospital in the Summit Conference Room. Learn more or register at ivinsonhospital.org/childbirth.
May 5
Caregivers for loved ones with Alzheimer’s/dementia: 3 p.m., meet for coffee, pie, understanding and comradeship at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery, 204 S. 30th St. For more information, call 307-745-6451.
Diabetes Support Group meets: 5:30-6:30 p.m. via Zoom. Email questions@ivinsosnhospital.org for the link.
Cinco de Mayo at the Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site: 5:30-7:30 p.m., Horse Barn Theater at the site. Free to public.
Stitching the Past Together creative aging class: 6:30-8 p.m., Albany County Public Library large meeting room. Students will learn memory-based storytelling through beading techniques in this free course. Register at acplwy.org or at the circulation desk.
May 6
Free stress relief clinic: Noon to 1 p.m., Laramie Plains Civic Center Phoenix Ballroom.
May 7
Free stress relief clinic: 10-11 a.m., Laramie Plains Civic Center Phoenix Ballroom.
VFW Post 2221 Commander’s Charity Dinner: 5:30-8 p.m., 2142 E. Garfield St. Tickets 412 at the door, all proceeds to benefit VFW Poppy Fund and Albany County Search and Rescue.
May 9
Alcoholics Anonymous meets: Daily at various times in person or on Zoom. For more information, call 307-399-0590 or visit area76aawyoming.org or aa.org.
Survivors of Suicide Support Group: Meets from 5:30-6:45 p.m. at Hospice of Laramie House, 1754 Centennial Drive.
Women for Sobriety meet: 6:30-8:30 p.m. via Zoom. For meeting details, email 1093@womenforsobriety.org.
May 10
Prayers & Squares Quilting Group meets: 9 a.m., Room 1 of Hunter Hall at St. Matthews Cathedral.
Free stress relief clinic: 1-2 p.m., Laramie Plains Civic Center Phoenix Ballroom.
Albany County Republican Party meets: 6 p.m., Albany County Public Library.
May 11
Laramie Tai Chi and tea: Meets at 1:30 p.m. at the north end of the stadium in Laramie Plainsman Park, North 15th and Reynolds. For more information, visit laramietaichiandtea.org.
Ivinson Medical Group women’s health prenatal education: 5:30 p.m., Ivinson Memorial Hospital in the Summit Conference Room. Learn more or register at ivinsonhospital.org/childbirth.
May 12
Caregivers for loved ones with Alzheimer’s/dementia: 3 p.m., meet for coffee, pie, understanding and comradeship at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery, 204 S. 30th St. For more information, call 307-745-6451.
Stitching the Past Together creative aging class: 6:30-8 p.m., Albany County Public Library large meeting room. Students will learn memory-based storytelling through beading techniques in this free course. Register at acplwy.org or at the circulation desk.
May 13
Free stress relief clinic: Noon to 1 p.m., Laramie Plains Civic Center Phoenix Ballroom.
May 14
University of Wyoming graduation ceremony: 8:30 a.m., UW Arena-Auditorium, undergraduate ceremony for the colleges of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Engineering and Applied Science and School of Energy Resources.
Free stress relief clinic: 10-11 a.m., Laramie Plains Civic Center Phoenix Ballroom.
University of Wyoming graduation ceremony: 10 a.m., Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts, for the College of Law.
University of Wyoming graduation ceremony: 12:15 p.m., UW Arena-Auditorium, for master’s and doctoral students from colleges of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Business, Education, Engineering and Applied Science, Health Sciences and Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources.
University of Wyoming graduation ceremony: 3:30 p.m., UW Arena-Auditorium, for undergraduate ceremony for colleges of Arts and Sciences, Education, Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources and Office of Academic Affairs.
May 16
Alcoholics Anonymous meets: Daily at various times in person or on Zoom. For more information, call 307-399-0590 or visit area76aawyoming.org or aa.org.
Survivors of Suicide Support Group: Meets from 5:30-6:45 p.m. at Hospice of Laramie House, 1754 Centennial Drive.
Women for Sobriety meet: 6:30-8:30 p.m. via Zoom. For meeting details, email 1093@womenforsobriety.org.
May 17
Prayers & Squares Quilting Group meets: 9 a.m., Room 1 of Hunter Hall at St. Matthews Cathedral.
Free stress relief clinic: 1-2 p.m., Laramie Plains Civic Center Phoenix Ballroom.
May 18
Laramie Tai Chi and tea: Meets at 1:30 p.m. at the north end of the stadium in Laramie Plainsman Park, North 15th and Reynolds. For more information, visit laramietaichiandtea.org.
Ivinson Medical Group women’s health prenatal education: 5:30 p.m., Ivinson Memorial Hospital in the Summit Conference Room. Learn more or register at ivinsonhospital.org/childbirth.
May 19
Caregivers for loved ones with Alzheimer’s/dementia: 3 p.m., meet for coffee, pie, understanding and comradeship at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery, 204 S. 30th St. For more information, call 307-745-6451.
Stitching the Past Together creative aging class: 6:30-8 p.m., Albany County Public Library large meeting room. Students will learn memory-based storytelling through beading techniques in this free course. Register at acplwy.org or at the circulation desk.
May 20
Albany County CattleWomen meet: 11:30 a.m., location tbd. Visit wyaccw.com in the week before the meeting for location and more information.
Free stress relief clinic: Noon to 1 p.m., Laramie Plains Civic Center Phoenix Ballroom.
May 21
Free stress relief clinic: 10-11 a.m., Laramie Plains Civic Center Phoenix Ballroom.
May 23
Alcoholics Anonymous meets: Daily at various times in person or on Zoom. For more information, call 307-399-0590 or visit area76aawyoming.org or aa.org.
Survivors of Suicide Support Group: Meets from 5:30-6:45 p.m. at Hospice of Laramie House, 1754 Centennial Drive.
Women for Sobriety meet: 6:30-8:30 p.m. via Zoom. For meeting details, email 1093@womenforsobriety.org.
America Sewing Guild Laramie Chapter meets: 7 p.m., United Methodist Church, 1215 E. Gibbon St.
May 24
Prayers & Squares Quilting Group meets: 9 a.m., Room 1 of Hunter Hall at St. Matthews Cathedral.
Free stress relief clinic: 1-2 p.m., Laramie Plains Civic Center Phoenix Ballroom.
May 25
Laramie Tai Chi and tea: Meets at 1:30 p.m. at the north end of the stadium in Laramie Plainsman Park, North 15th and Reynolds. For more information, visit laramietaichiandtea.org.
May 26
Caregivers for loved ones with Alzheimer’s/dementia: 3 p.m., meet for coffee, pie, understanding and comradeship at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery, 204 S. 30th St. For more information, call 307-745-6451.
Stitching the Past Together creative aging class: 6:30-8 p.m., Albany County Public Library large meeting room. Students will learn memory-based storytelling through beading techniques in this free course. Register at acplwy.org or at the circulation desk.
May 27
Free stress relief clinic: Noon to 1 p.m., Laramie Plains Civic Center Phoenix Ballroom.
May 28
Free stress relief clinic: 10-11 a.m., Laramie Plains Civic Center Phoenix Ballroom.
May 30
Alcoholics Anonymous meets: Daily at various times in person or on Zoom. For more information, call 307-399-0590 or visit area76aawyoming.org or aa.org.
Survivors of Suicide Support Group: Meets from 5:30-6:45 p.m. at Hospice of Laramie House, 1754 Centennial Drive.
Women for Sobriety meet: 6:30-8:30 p.m. via Zoom. For meeting details, email 1093@womenforsobriety.org.
May 31
Prayers & Squares Quilting Group meets: 9 a.m., Room 1 of Hunter Hall at St. Matthews Cathedral.
Free stress relief clinic: 1-2 p.m., Laramie Plains Civic Center Phoenix Ballroom.
Have an event for What’s Happening? Send it to Managing Editor Greg Johnson at gjohnson@laramieboomerang.com. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/announcements/whats-happening/article_59e776b2-3f04-5f0d-a9fb-3686c2caefd4.html | 2022-04-09T13:59:18Z | wyomingnews.com | control | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/announcements/whats-happening/article_59e776b2-3f04-5f0d-a9fb-3686c2caefd4.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Ten years ago, Nate Storey was completing a Ph.D. in agronomy from the University of Wyoming while working to develop a new company with a bold objective of revolutionizing the way produce is cultivated and sold.
He and a partner had just won the UW College of Business entrepreneurship competition, receiving $12,500 to help start their company and one year of free business counseling services and space at UW’s business incubator.
Today, Storey is chief science officer for Silicon Valley startup Plenty Inc., which acquired his company, Bright Agrotech, in 2017. Plenty soon will open the world’s highest-output, vertical, indoor farm in Compton, Calif. It’s a major step for a new industry that is gaining increasing attention for its ability to supply high-quality produce year-round using relatively small amounts of water and land, and without the use of pesticides.
Walmart recently announced it has taken a stake in Plenty, becoming the first large U.S. retailer to significantly invest in indoor vertical farming as a way to deliver fresher produce to its stores.
It has been an eventful decade-long journey for Storey, who still lives with his family in Laramie while traveling frequently to California for his job. He says his success shows that a good idea, early stage support, intense effort, persistence and a willingness to learn and adapt make it possible for UW graduates to achieve their ambitions.
“When we competed in the first $10K (competition), we didn’t even really have a business at that point, just a concept with some work behind it,” Storey said. “Over the next couple of years, we built a business and got a crash course in how businesses work, how you set things up, how you manage people, taxes, overhead and compliance — all of the work that comes with starting a business. Since then, a lot has happened.”
Off the ground
Bright Agrotech emerged from UW’s business incubator in 2015 and established an indoor farm in Laramie, using vertical towers and other technology Storey developed and patented under license with the university.
The company grew quickly, generating several million dollars in annual revenue and employing dozens of people.
“I started to realize that Bright Agrotech was incapable of having the impact I’d hoped for on the food supply,” Storey said. “I was thinking about that problem when I ran into some guys from California who said they had the same idea for a food production business and liked our technology. They said, ‘Why not join us?’”
So, Storey joined Matt Barnard and Jack Oslan to co-found Plenty, handing off Bright Agrotech to partner Chris Michael. Subsequently, Plenty’s acquisition of Bright Agrotech folded in Storey’s patents and original equipment “to consolidate that technology.”
The Laramie operation remains and serves as Plenty’s research and development farm, employing about 80 people. Michael is now Plenty’s senior internal communications manager.
It has taken much more work in Laramie and at Plenty’s flagship farm in South San Francisco to take Bright Agrotech’s technology and develop it for large-scale application.
“We’ve gotten great traction with Plenty, but we have had hard technical problems to solve, and it’s complex from a business standpoint also,” Storey said. “No one in the world had a vision for these things. Developing that vision has required contact with the laws of physics, markets and customers.”
Steep learning curve
Storey describes the last 10 years as exhausting, “a decade of no sleep, of 100-hour work weeks, of selling and pitching.”
Plenty has raised nearly $1 billion for its next steps, and the first is monumental: opening its 95,000-square-foot indoor farm in Compton, which is expected to deliver its first produce in October to Walmart stores in California.
“This is the largest, most automated indoor farm in the world, by a long shot,” Storey said. “It contains a lot of the technology that we’ve worked really hard to develop at Plenty, a lot of the technology that represents the first steps to creating an entirely new form of agriculture.
“It’s something we’re all very excited about, even as we’re still in the rush and chaos of building it. It represents a lot of incredible work by a lot of incredible people.”
Plenty says its vertical farming towers are designed to grow multiple crops on one platform in a building the size of a big-box retail store.
Its systems feature vertical plant towers, LED lighting and robots to plant, feed and harvest crops using 1% of the land an outdoor farm requires while delivering anywhere from 150 to 350 times more food per acre.
The vertical farms are intended to supplement, but not replace, traditional farming practices while helping increase the food supply in a sustainable way.
“Plenty is going to be building many of these farms. These farms are very sophisticated assets that bring jobs to communities,” Storey said. “We are going to grow pretty meaningfully over the next few years to become a global ag production and technology business. As we grow, add new crops and invest in improving technology, we will see growth in our science team in Laramie as well.”
Storey’s success is exactly what UW had in mind when it launched the Wyoming Technology Business Center, now IMPACT 307, said Fred Schmechel, the incubator program’s interim director.
The university is augmenting its efforts to boost business startups with the launch of the Wyoming Innovation Partnership and the Wyoming Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, in conjunction with the state’s community colleges, the Wyoming Business Council and others.
Plans call for establishment of IMPACT 307 incubators in communities around the state, in addition to the existing ones in Laramie, Casper, Cheyenne and Sheridan.
“Nate’s story is a great example of how the university helps students and faculty develop ideas and then take them to the marketplace,” Schmechel said. “His story is particularly impressive, but a number of our incubator clients have gone on to become successful businesses in the state and beyond as well.” | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/laramie-man-living-a-true-success-storey/article_763ac01e-f307-57f6-afe0-5cc21ecbba72.html | 2022-04-09T13:59:31Z | wyomingnews.com | control | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/laramie-man-living-a-true-success-storey/article_763ac01e-f307-57f6-afe0-5cc21ecbba72.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
We’ve had it all the past two weeks: winds clocking in at 60 mph with gusts hitting hurricane velocity, snow blowing horizontally, nippy winter-like wind chills and even balmy spring-like bring-out-the-shorts weather.
Such is April in Wyoming.
In a poem, T.S. Eliot wrote, “April is the cruelest month.”
While his poem “The Waste Land” wasn’t actually referring to the weather, the saying is apropos for Wyoming conditions this time of year. The calendar indicates spring arrived a couple weeks ago, but the weather often tells us otherwise.
I recall a time years ago when I was driving home from Cheyenne about this time of year. The sky was clear and blue, but there was a 50 mph breeze making a significant wind chill. A man was waving, trying to get someone to stop while standing next to his car. He was just in shirt sleeves on a day where a parka was in order.
He was panicked and, since vehicles ahead of me drove on by, I pulled over. As it turned out the man, a visitor from Kentucky, had gotten out of his rental car to take a photo. The view was really quite stunning. Unfortunately, his car door slammed shut and locked while the keys remained in the ignition. The man had accidentally locked himself out.
Being pre-cellphone days, he needed a lift to get help to unlock his car door. I drove him to the nearest public phone so he could call a locksmith for help.
Riding in my truck, I turned the heat on full-blast and he finally stopped shivering.
“Does the wind always blow like this?” he asked.
With a laugh, I explained to him that the breeze is our population control mechanism.
“I bet it works,” he said, not cracking a smile and staring seriously at the road ahead.
Likely it is one factor that turns potential newcomers away, since spring in Wyoming is not for the faint of heart. The change of season from winter to spring is a stutter start here, offering pleasant and mild days, sandwiched between those that are certainly less than delightful.
As a Wyoming native, I know spring is our most trying season. We would rejoice if the prediction from Punxsutawney Phil was true where we would have a mere six more weeks of winter after Groundhog Day. In early February, we know we’re up for a good three months of snow and cold yet.
Two years ago we got a 6-inch dump of heavy, wet snow on June 9. Last year, we had a major blizzard hit Laramie on March 14. There’s one thing about our spring weather: it isn’t boring.
Two weeks ago temperatures soared, getting into the 70s in some parts of the state. It certainly gave me an attack of Spring Fever.
I celebrated the first day of spring this year by combining two activities: hiking and skiing. Dobby, my Australian shepherd, and I enjoyed the overlapping seasons in the Blair area of Pole Mountain.
For those who enjoy non-motorized activities, it’s a great time of year on Pole Mountain when gravel roads are closed to motorized travel. It’s a hiker, cross-country skier, dog-walker and mountain biker’s haven, especially during one of our rare warm spells.
On our outing, I hiked the bare areas, carrying my skis in my pack and skied when the route was covered by snow and significant drifts. I ended up skiing more than I hiked.
I spied bluebirds and chickadees. I noted fresh critter tracks, possibly one set from a passing bobcat, and another from a wandering coyote. I even spotted two moose in the woods. Luckily I saw them first and got Dobby on leash before they caught his interest. We passed without incident, the moose hardly giving us the time of day.
The key to enjoying spring in Wyoming is to remain flexible. There’s opportunity for skiing, cycling and hiking, all in the same week and sometimes in the same day.
Relish the peace when the wind stops, the sun comes out and skies turn blue. Such bouts can be fleeting, but one thing is for certain: The nice weather stretches will gradually outnumber the crummy days.
This is spring in Wyoming. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/local_news/april-weather-in-wyoming-at-least-it-s-not-boring/article_8887450f-16d0-5162-931b-0e6290d3d121.html | 2022-04-09T13:59:37Z | wyomingnews.com | control | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/local_news/april-weather-in-wyoming-at-least-it-s-not-boring/article_8887450f-16d0-5162-931b-0e6290d3d121.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The following calls were included in the Albany County Sheriff’s Office responses:
MONDAY, APRIL 4• 10 a.m., Albany County Area, report of death
• 4:25 p.m., Wyoming Highway 230, animal bite
TUESDAY, APRIL 5• 8:06 a.m., Interstate 80, accident
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6
• 1:12 p.m., 500 block of E. University Ave., possible domestic disturbance
• 3:02 p.m., intersection of S. 3rd St. and Soldier Springs Rd., possible impaired driving
THURSDAY, APRIL 7
• 1:55 p.m., Albany County Area, emergency
• 3:54 p.m., 700 block of Rampart Rd., emergency
• 5:47 p.m., Albany County Area, accident
• 7:20 p.m., Albany County Area, accident
The following calls were included in the Laramie Police Department responses:
MONDAY, APRIL 4
• 12:21 p.m., intersection of S. 13th St. and E. Sheridan St., animal bite
• 12:58 p.m., 1300 block of E. Fetterman Dr., theft
• 1:11 p.m., 500 block of S. Grant St., emergency
• 3:42 p.m., 1800 block of Skyline Rd., disturbance/harassment-threats
• 4:06 p.m., 4300 block of E. Grand Ave., shoplifting
• 4:45 p.m., intersection of W. Snowy Range Rd. and S. Adams St., traffic hazard
• 9:03 p.m., 900 block of N. 3rd St., disturbance/harassment-threats
TUESDAY, APRIL 5
• 7:44 a.m., 1300 block of N. 22nd St., theft
• 8:57 a.m., 1700 block of Boulder Dr., fighting
• 9:55 a.m., 3800 block of E. Grand Ave., possible impaired driving
• 10:59 a.m., 3100 block of E. Grand Ave., hit and run
• 11 a.m., 1300 block of N. 22nd St., possible sexual offense
• 12:03 p.m., intersection of S. 21st St. and E. Garfield St., accident
• 12:56 p.m., intersection of S. 9th St. and E. Grand Ave., accident
• 2:23 p.m., 4300 block of E. Grand Ave., shoplifting
• 3:16 p.m., intersection of S. 4th St. and E. Ord St., wildlife
• 3:52 p.m., 2000 block of Binford St., accident
• 3:58 p.m., 200 block of S. 3rd St., theft
• 4 p.m., intersection of S. 12th St. and E. Grand Ave., traffic hazard
• 5:02 p.m., 4000 block of Bobolink Ln., assault and battery
• 5:29 p.m., 1800 block of E. Steele St., vandalism
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6
• 1:12 p.m., 500 block of E. University Ave., possible domestic disturbance
• 1:18 p.m., intersection of N. 11th St. and E. Flint St., hit and run
• 1:52 p.m., 1000 block of N. McCue St., possible child abuse
• 3:02 p.m., intersection of S. 3rd St. and Soldier Springs Rd., possible impaired driving
• 7:29 p.m., 1700 block of E. Palmer Dr., theft/unauthorized use of vehicle
• 9:52 p.m., 4300 block of E. Grand Ave., shoplifting
THURSDAY, APRIL 7
• 1:39 p.m., 1500 block of Whitman St., emergency
• 2:40 p.m., 200 block of N. Taylor St., theft
• 3:48 p.m., 400 block of N. 3rd St., disorderly conduct
• 4:56 p.m., 1400 block of N. Cedar St., disturbance/harassment-threats
• 6:07 p.m., 2100 block of Wyoming Ave., burglary
• 6:32 p.m., 1500 block of N. McCue St., possible impaired driving
• 7:33 p.m., 900 block of Boulder Dr., disturbance/harassment-threats | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/local_news/arrest_record_and_police_calls/april-9-on-the-record/article_ad89834d-1d20-5b39-af48-dbc24be6699c.html | 2022-04-09T13:59:43Z | wyomingnews.com | control | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/local_news/arrest_record_and_police_calls/april-9-on-the-record/article_ad89834d-1d20-5b39-af48-dbc24be6699c.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
There is perhaps nothing more evocative of the American West than herds of elk, mule deer or pronghorn moving freely across the landscape. And a new series of detailed maps reveals their migration pathways thanks to a team of state, federal and tribal scientists.
The second volume in a series, the detailed maps will help wildlife managers conserve the big-game migrations that support herd abundance and provide cultural significance and economic benefits to regional communities.
“Many ungulate herds have to migrate to thrive on the strongly seasonal landscapes of the American West. These corridor maps make it possible to manage those critical movements,” said Matthew Kauffman, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the University of Wyoming, who is the report’s lead author.
Each spring and fall, ungulates move throughout the western United States in sync with critical food resources. But, as the human footprint in West expands, these species increasingly face obstacles such as new subdivisions, energy development, impermeable fences and high-traffic roads on their long journeys.
These barriers can increase mortality from vehicle collisions and disrupt the historical routes used by ungulates, threatening the long-term persistence of existing migrations. Detailed mapping from GPS collar data, like that provided in the “Western Migrations” report series, helps scientists pinpoint those barriers.
State and tribal wildlife agencies manage most of the migratory herds in the western United States. Biologists have long tracked animal movements as a cornerstone of state monitoring and management, but extracting the most biologically meaningful migration corridors from the tangle of individual animal tracks has been technically complex.
To meet the challenge, a partnership known as the Corridor Mapping Team was established in 2018, leveraging expertise from state wildlife agencies, tribes and the USGS. The Corridor Mapping Team consists of analysts from many Western states and tribes and is led by researchers at the USGS Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at UW. The team has been key to developing standard techniques for mapping the corridors and making them available to the public.
The team’s creation and dissemination of Migration Mapper software facilitated the production of maps for Volumes 1 and 2 of “Ungulate Migrations of the Western United States.” These mapping approaches, implemented in collaboration with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and other state wildlife agencies, have gained traction among western land and wildlife managers.
“The big-game corridor mapping program is strongly supported by western fish and wildlife agencies and serves as a model of how empirical science facilitates collaborative, landscape-level conservation efforts through state and federal cooperation,” said Zachary Lowe, executive director of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. “I am hard-pressed to think of many other successful landscape conservation efforts that have garnered such broad support from these diverse stakeholders so quickly.”
Unique from the first volume, the second report in the series includes maps of two mule deer populations that migrate across the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming, which are primarily managed by the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Department of Fish and Game.
Other new maps delineate migrations that span state boundaries, such as the Sheldon-Hart Mountain pronghorn that move between Nevada and Oregon and the Paunsaugunt mule deer that migrate between Utah and Arizona.
“This atlas of ungulate migrations is an incredible resource for anyone who cares about the West’s big-game herds and the challenges they face,” said Whit Fosburgh, president and CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.
Many agencies and conservation groups have developed collaborative programs to sustain migrations by building road underpasses or overpasses to mitigate wildlife-vehicle collisions; removing obsolete and impassable fences; and protecting agricultural lands from development.
“This migration research comes at a pivotal time as we tackle the threats of nature loss and climate change,” said Jamie Williams, president of The Wilderness Society. “We commend the Department of the Interior for its commitment to strong collaboration with state and tribal wildlife agencies. This report makes the science clear and, with these maps in hand, local communities can work with state and federal land managers to sustain the vital habitats these herds require to move and thrive across the West.”
To explore migration routes and ranges, visit the interactive WesternMigrations.net portal. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/local_news/report-maps-western-big-game-migrations/article_b9a815e2-ec92-56e5-afdd-48668ebe3709.html | 2022-04-09T13:59:49Z | wyomingnews.com | control | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/local_news/report-maps-western-big-game-migrations/article_b9a815e2-ec92-56e5-afdd-48668ebe3709.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
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