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Mayor Eric Adams said Sunday he is “concerned” about an increase in crime during the hot summer months, as he pledged to soon add more NYPD anti-gun units to patrol the five boroughs.
“The summer months are difficult months, and we are concerned about them, because you want to win January, February, [and] March,” he told the host of PIX 11’s “PIX on Politics.”
The mayor went on to tout the city’s expansion of summer youth jobs to 100,000 employment opportunities, pledged to “empower” the crisis management system, and the rollout of the NYPD’s Neighborhood Safety Teams tasked with making illegal firearm arrests.
Adams’ comments come as serious crime and gun violence has already risen before the hot summer months, when shootings typically soar. New NYPD data released last week showed a 37 percent increase in major crimes citywide, and that shooting incidents spiked 16.2% in March and year to date.
In an attempt to quell gun violence in the Big Apple, Adams in mid-March launched a new hybrid plainclothes police squad known as Neighborhood Safety Teams to replace the undercover teams tasked with firearm busts nixed under his predecessor.
Asked Sunday morning by PIX host Dan Mannarino “would you like to see more units going into the summer months, and if so, how many?” Adams replied, “Yes, we do,” without specifying the amount.
“A couple of things we need to do: we must analyze the manpower of the police department. Too many police officers are doing civilian jobs,” Adams continued, reiterating his February promise of an “immediate redeployment” of cops on desk duty. “I need them back in the street, we need them to do the jobs New Yorkers hired them for. Let civilians do civilian jobs.”
After the slightly delayed March 14 rollout of the NSTs, a central piece to Adams’ blueprint to reduce shootings, the NYPD on March 21 added five more units, The Post exclusively reported at the time. About 170 officers made up the first wave of units that patrolled 28 neighborhoods where shootings have increased during the pandemic.
The new plainclothes squads — a revamped version of the anti-crime teams disbanded in the summer of 2020 by former Police Commissioner Dermot Shea due to their involvement in a “disproportionate” share of misconduct complaint and shootings — wear uniforms that clearly identify them as NYPD officers unlike the old plainclothes squads.
Adams has repeatedly promised that the new teams will not repeat mistakes made by the “abusive” anti-crime units.
But while Adams has billed the NSTs as an “anti-gun unit” rather than an anti-crime one, the majority of its officer’s arrests have so far been for alleged offenses that are unrelated to firearms, a top NYPD official revealed Wednesday during a crime briefing.
The NSTs have made 135 arrests, and just 25 of them — or 19% — were for firearms, said Chief of Department Ken Corey. Of those arrested for guns, four were juveniles, five have open felony cases and seven were previously convicted of a crime, he said. In total, 91 of the 135 cuffed have prior arrests, 57 have prior felony arrests and 21 were on parole or probation when they were taken into custody, Corey said.
On Sunday morning during his TV appearance, Adams expressed appreciation for state legislators and Gov. Kathy Hochul including tweaks to progressive criminal justice reforms in the new fiscal year budget — but again declared “there’s more to do” in Albany on the matter before the end of the legislative session in early June.
“I thank God for those lawmakers who understood what I was saying, and the governor for partnering when she came up with her 10-point plan. There’s more to do,” Adams said. “We must make sure there are no loopholes for anyone that will commit a violent crime in the city.”
“So I commend them on what was done,” he added. “It was a real W, but there’s more to do, and we have another few months in Albany to do it.” | https://nypost.com/2022/04/10/eric-adams-concerned-about-summer-crime-uptick-in-nyc/ | 2022-04-10T15:35:48Z | nypost.com | control | https://nypost.com/2022/04/10/eric-adams-concerned-about-summer-crime-uptick-in-nyc/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Edinburgh cathedral goes ahead with new pop up cafe
A cathedral applied to Edinburgh City Council to set up its new temporary pop cafe at the premises but were told permission was not required.
St Mary’s Cathedral was told on April 4 permission for its application – validated on February 16 – to erect the temporary cafe at the 23 Palmerston Place location was not required.
The planning documents stated there was no need for any official permission to be granted because the works “do not involve the demolition of a listed building or its
alteration or extension in any manner which would affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest."
It was stated the temporary structure for “cafe use” would be located on the south side of St Mary's Cathedral.
An earlier proposal to install two temporary cabins with associated outdoor seating on garden ground to south of the Cathedral building was refused back in August last year. | https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/people/edinburgh-cathedral-goes-ahead-with-new-pop-up-cafe-3648441 | 2022-04-10T15:39:05Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/people/edinburgh-cathedral-goes-ahead-with-new-pop-up-cafe-3648441 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Fishermen rescue teens who were swept out to sea
MOSS LANDING, Calif. (KSBW) - Two 16-year-olds are safe after a terrifying ordeal off the coast of California when they got swept up by a riptide while swimming in the ocean.
It was three fishermen returning to Moss Landing, Calif., after a day of salmon fishing who very well may have saved the young swimmers from drowning.
“Thank God we were there because there was nobody behind us and there were no boats coming out. It would’ve taken them at least half an hour to get there and in that water, you can’t last 10 minutes,” boat captain Mike Arujo said.
Lifeguards say the teens were swept out by a rip current and in the water for nearly 30 minutes.
The water temperature was 53 degrees and hypothermia was setting in when they were rescued.
“I grabbed the first girl and helped her up. She was so cold... and she just collapsed on the deck,” Arujo said.
The fishermen say they may have never come across the girls had they not decided to stay in the water longer to catch a sixth salmon and limit out.
THey finally caught the big fish and came across those girls at just the right time.
“It was a close call for those girls, and they didn’t have a whole lot longer. I mean neither one of them could stand up when they got on the boat, and the one young lady said she couldn’t feel her legs,” fisherman Bill Weilbacher said. “They didn’t have a lot of time left so everything worked out as well as it possibly could have and the stars were really aligned for them.”
The girls were checked by paramedics at the harbor and released to their parents.
Copyright 2022 KSBW via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wbko.com/2022/04/10/fishermen-rescue-teens-who-were-swept-out-sea/ | 2022-04-10T15:46:23Z | wbko.com | control | https://www.wbko.com/2022/04/10/fishermen-rescue-teens-who-were-swept-out-sea/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Frost possible tonight into Sunday morning!
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) - Tonight’s lows will make it below the freezing mark for many of us with a frost advisory and freeze warning being in place. This means widespread frost is possible, ultimately being a threat for sensitive plants.
Sunday morning will be cold with temperatures in the 30s, so any church goers will need that thicker jacket. A quick warm up for lunch time though, we’ll be in the 60s by then before we make it to the low 70s through the afternoon. Once the warmth returns, it sticks around into next week. However, unsettled conditions return with daily rain chances running from Monday through Thursday. A slight cool down arrives for Good Friday. Temperatures will be in the 60s for next weekend.
Bowling Green 3 day forecast:
SUNDAY: Frost early, then mostly sunny. Breezy and much warmer. High 71. Low 55. Winds S at 16 mph.
MONDAY: Mostly cloudy. A few scattered showers and thunderstorms possible. High 72. Low 57. Winds SW at 16 mph.
TUESDAY: Scattered showers likely. High 77. Low 60. Winds S at 12 mph.
Saturday’s Climate Info for Bowling Green:
Today’s High: 53
Today’s Low: 39
Normal High: 69
Normal Low: 45
Record High: 89 (1978)
Record Low: 22 (1914)
Today’s Precip: 0.00″
Monthly Precip: 0.80″ (-0.49″)
Yearly Precip: 15.38″ (+1.84″)
Today’s Snowfall: 0.0″
Monthly Snowfall: 0.0″
Seasonal Snowfall: 15.5″
Today’s Sunset: 7:14 p.m.
Tomorrow’s Sunrise: 6:20 a.m.
Health & Allergies:
Air Quality: Good (Ozone Count: 29 / Small Particulate Matter: 31)
Mold Count: Low (545 - Mold Spore Count)
UV Index: 3 (Low)
Pollen: 6.1 (Mod - Trees)
Copyright 2022 WBKO. All rights reserved. | https://www.wbko.com/2022/04/10/frost-possible-tonight-into-sunday-morning/ | 2022-04-10T15:46:30Z | wbko.com | control | https://www.wbko.com/2022/04/10/frost-possible-tonight-into-sunday-morning/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
GUANGZHOU, China, April 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The 131st Canton Fair will be held online from April 15-24. Now, through various social media channels, the Fair has promoted various exhibits including cases and bags.
With the rapid development of the global society and economy and the improvement of people's living standards, luggage has become a necessity in people's lives as travel, business trips and other activities becoming more frequent.
The 130th Canton Fair has displayed a wide range of new commodities, including an anti-theft backpack, a dual-use carbon fiber case, school backpack bags adapted for ergonomics. Many buyers were surprised after watching livestreams, and left comments in social media accounts of Canton Fair. Hakim Jarrar from Spain was one of them, and he said the Cases & Bags section looked like a sci-fi world with everything one expected to find. Many commented in Canton Fair social media accounts, expressing the expectation of more hi-tech luggage at the 131st session.
With over 20,000 enterprises, China is a large luggage producer, occupying more than 70% of the global share. Manufacturers are mainly located in coastal provinces and cities such as Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Shandong, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and inland provinces including Hebei and Hunan.
The huge international luggage demand and the competitive pressure brought about by the high concentration of the industry chain have pushed more and more luggage business owners to focus on improving product quality. Beyond pursuit of beauty, many business owners have explored quality, practicality, and personalization. Some enterprises, taking "human+bag+technology" approaches, have collected numerous independent R&D patents, and their masterpieces have won awards in famous design contests at home and abroad. An example is the sustainable solar energy backpack, which won the Goldreed Industrial Design Awards for its innovative use of flexible solar panels to realize the transformation from light energy into electric energy and energy storage.
According to Alan Liu, Deputy Director General of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Canton Fair, the USB interface design on luggage has become the standard at the Canton Fair. Gyroscopes are installed in backpacks to send alarms when the elderly fall. The 131st Canton Fair will continue to display a number of intelligent and fashionable new products through its "Cloud Platform", aiming to help China's intelligent manufacturing better go global and benefit the world.
Visit https://www.cantonfair.org.cn/en-US/register/index#/foreign-email for more opportunities.
View original content:
SOURCE Canton Fair | https://www.wbko.com/prnewswire/2022/04/10/canton-fair-2022-hi-tech-luggage-showcased-131st-canton-fair/ | 2022-04-10T15:47:31Z | wbko.com | control | https://www.wbko.com/prnewswire/2022/04/10/canton-fair-2022-hi-tech-luggage-showcased-131st-canton-fair/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
GUANGZHOU, China, April 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The 131st Canton Fair is a few steps away from its opening. Every time, green and low-carbon development will come into the limelight. It is of great concern to domestic and overseas buyers how China's home building materials industry, the epicenter of carbon emissions, will reduce pollution and carbon footprints.
As indicated in the 2020 Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction by International Energy Agency, carbon emissions from buildings and construction account for 35% to 38% of the total. The 2020 Report on China Building Energy Consumption tells that, in 2018, carbon emissions generated over buildings' life cycle were 4.93 billion tons, 51.3% of the national total emissions. Carbon reduction in the building sector is crucial for carbon peak and carbon neutrality.
PV and wind power are taking up a larger proportion of China's energy mix, which has led to the development of PV glass and glass fiber product industry chains. The building materials industry is transforming into a pillar of the renewable energy industry. More efforts are channeled into energy efficiency, emissions reduction, decarbonization, zero-carbon, and especially innovative technologies such as power generation glass plus energy storage, green hydrogen, carbon capture, utilization and sequestration. The display glass, carbon fiber, and glass fiber exhibited at the Canton Fair in recent years have been of great interest to international buyers. During the 130th Canton Fair, the China Home Furnishing Industry Green Development Summit Forum was held in the Canton Fair Complex specifically.
In addition to the green transformation of exhibits, the Canton Fair Complex is moving towards zero-carbon. According to Alan Liu, Deputy Director General of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Canton Fair, green building materials such as recycled concrete blocks and ALC slatwall have been utilized in the Canton Fair Complex expansion project. The concepts of low-carbon technology and energy-efficient operation highlight the charm of "China's No.1 Fair."
According to the China Building Materials Federation, Market Penetration Index (MPI) for FY 2021 was 109.7 points, a rebound of 8.9 points from the previous year. The industry's high-quality development also provided strong support for a stable domestic economy. It is eagerly awaited what the green building materials industry holds for the 131st session, and how it may surprise us and facilitate a brand-new kind of wonderful lifestyle.
Visit https://www.cantonfair.org.cn/en-US/register/index#/foreign-email for more opportunities.
View original content:
SOURCE Canton Fair | https://www.wbko.com/prnewswire/2022/04/10/canton-fair-2022-innovation-bolsters-chinas-building-material-sustainability/ | 2022-04-10T15:47:38Z | wbko.com | control | https://www.wbko.com/prnewswire/2022/04/10/canton-fair-2022-innovation-bolsters-chinas-building-material-sustainability/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
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Readers' Choice Awards | https://www.parrysound.com/news-story/10604556--children-being-hospitalized-illegal-cannabis-being-sold-to-look-like-doritos-cheetos-skittles-/ | 2022-04-10T16:44:21Z | parrysound.com | control | https://www.parrysound.com/news-story/10604556--children-being-hospitalized-illegal-cannabis-being-sold-to-look-like-doritos-cheetos-skittles-/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
If you’ve been thinking about apocalyptic events lately, you’ve had quite a few options to consider: pandemics, invasions, resurging fascism, choking on the smoke from wildfires that have become a normal part of August and September.
One other possibility that has started receiving some attention in the popular consciousness in the last 10 years or so has been the disappearance of a lot of insect species.
“The Insect Crisis” by Oliver Milman joins “Buzz,” “Earth Grief” and numerous others in warning about the global decline of insect populations, especially the pollinators we depend on to produce much of our food supply. The book opens by poignantly imagining what would happen if all the insects suddenly disappeared all at once, followed by interviews with scientists and naturalists acting as tour guides in spots around the world where an eerie silence pervades where once there was buzzing and humming.
More than one cause is to blame for this, although climate change, pesticides and loss of natural habitat are the main culprits in Milman’s book. The last couple of chapters gamely suggest courses of action individually and collectively that can help stabilize or at least slow the decline.
Another eco-tourism book that’s recently joined the shelves is “Otherlands” by Thomas Halliday, which attempts to recreate the world as it existed in previous epochs before humanity (in other words, virtually all of Earth’s history). The author takes the fossil records from 16 sites around the globe and tells the stories of how their ecosystems were slowly built up in different eras before dying out and being buried. It’s a reminder that if human beings ever do drive ourselves to extinction, it may take millennia but eventually new ecosystems will take our place in the world we left behind.
None of this could be called escapist reading, exactly, when so many people are overburdened with things to feel anxious about. But they’re valuable books to read to keep in mind that human beings still possess the most advanced brain structures of any species that’s yet existed, and if we modified much of the world to its current state, we can modify it again.
• “The Insect Crisis: The Fall of the Tiny Empires That Run the World” by Thomas Halliday was published by Atlantic Books on Jan. 20. It retails for $28.95.
• “Otherlands: A Journey Through Earth’s Extinct Worlds” by Oliver Milman was published by Random House on Feb. 1. It retails for $27.95.
• Chris Saunders is a bookseller and used-book buyer for Inklings Bookshop. He and other Inklings staffers review books in this space every week. | https://www.yakimaherald.com/explore_yakima/arts_and_entertainment/book-scene-insect-crisis-contemplates-a-hidden-disaster/article_cab6018f-b6df-5d99-a746-41af33b53800.html | 2022-04-10T16:48:04Z | yakimaherald.com | control | https://www.yakimaherald.com/explore_yakima/arts_and_entertainment/book-scene-insect-crisis-contemplates-a-hidden-disaster/article_cab6018f-b6df-5d99-a746-41af33b53800.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
ATLANTIC:
Small Craft Advisory in effect from April 10, 7 PM
SUN: Winds NW 15-20 Knots. Seas 3-4 Feet.
MON: Winds N 5-10 Knots. Seas 2-3 Feet.
CHESAPEAKE:
Small Craft Advisory in effect until April 10, 11 PM
SUN: Winds NW 15-20 Knots. Seas 2-3 Feet.
MON: Winds SE 10-15 Knots. Seas 2-3 Feet.
DELAWARE BAY:
Small Craft Advisory in effect from April 10, 8 PM
SUN: Winds NW 15-20 Knots. Seas 3-4 Feet.
MON: Winds NW 5-10 Knots. Seas ~3 Feet. | https://www.wboc.com/weather/marine-forecast-for-sunday-april-10-2022/article_cbc0fb18-b8e5-11ec-84df-3b80cf312f4c.html | 2022-04-10T16:48:04Z | wboc.com | control | https://www.wboc.com/weather/marine-forecast-for-sunday-april-10-2022/article_cbc0fb18-b8e5-11ec-84df-3b80cf312f4c.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
They were only teammates for a short period of time, Dwayne Haskins and Ben Roethlisberger, but the retired quarterback still felt a bond with Haskins.
He shared his experience in a touching letter after Haskins, 24, was killed on Saturday in a tragic accident.
“He came to work everyday with a smile on his face and energy and love in his heart,” Roethlisberger wrote in the letter he shared on social media. “I really enjoyed his passion and love for the game and wanting to learn and be the best. His smile and zeal for life will be missed!
“Wish we had more time together on this earth, but I will cherish the time and the laughs we had! I’ll say it again just like I told you to your face, I still wish I could throw the ball like you!! Love ya pal.”
Haskins, a star at Ohio State, spent last season as the Steelers’ third-string quarterback and was in South Florida recently training with Steelers teammates. On Saturday, he was struck and killed by a dump truck while walking on I-595 West outside Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. It’s unclear why Haskins was walking on the highway. | https://nypost.com/2022/04/10/ben-roethlisberger-pays-tribute-to-dwayne-haskins/ | 2022-04-10T17:08:19Z | nypost.com | control | https://nypost.com/2022/04/10/ben-roethlisberger-pays-tribute-to-dwayne-haskins/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The co-main event for the UFC 273 bantamweight title fight ended with a bit of controversy as champion Aljamain Sterling won the title unification match over interim champ Petr Yan.
The official scorecards had two judges giving the win to Sterling and one judge giving it to Yan.
Never shy of stating his opinion on the judges’ scoring, UFC president Dana White said, “I thought the judges blew that one. I had it 3-2 the other way.”
The controversial decision had fans in a bit of a stir as well. The consensus was that Yan took the opening round and the final two while dropping the second and third rounds.
Verdict MMA, the open-source fan voting platform, had the scoring razor thin.
Typically, rounds are judged using the boxing format of 10-9. Ten for the winner of the round and 9 for the loser — with an occasional 10-8 round if it is lopsided and a very rare 10-7 if the round isn’t even competitive.
In an interview with Joe Rogan after the fight, Yan was in disbelief.
“I think I won this fight and I got robbed,” Yan said. “I think I won three rounds out of five. … I want a rematch.”
After the fight, White denied Yan’s rematch request despite believing that he won. When asked if a rematch was next for Sterling, White said, “Nah, that fight is going to be there. Petr Yan is one of the baddest dudes in that division. We will probably do the TJ [Dillashaw] fight.”
Dillashaw, the former bantamweight champion, will likely get a crack at reclaiming his throne later this year against Sterling. Dillashaw was stripped and suspended for two years as the result of a positive test for EPO, also known as blood doping, which was made famous by cyclist Lance Armstrong.
Dillashaw and Sterling could be expected to face off sometime this summer, although a firm timetable has not yet been discussed. | https://nypost.com/2022/04/10/dana-white-judges-blew-aljamain-sterling-petr-yan-ufc-decision/ | 2022-04-10T17:08:25Z | nypost.com | control | https://nypost.com/2022/04/10/dana-white-judges-blew-aljamain-sterling-petr-yan-ufc-decision/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Trudeau and EU chief vow to take in Ukrainian refugees
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen vowed to take in Ukrainian refugees during an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.
Why it matters: Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has caused a new refugee crisis in Europe, with more than 4.3 million refugees having already fled since the start of the war.
- The United Nations refugee agency has labeled the exodus the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.
- Nearly 6.5 million people have been internally displaced within Ukraine, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimated last month.
What they're saying: "Canada has always been a country to welcome in refugees," Trudeau said, making note of his country's historically large Ukrainian community and adding that Canada has "created rapid pathways" for Ukrainian refugees.
- "We've already taken in over 14,000 and we're continuing to do many, many more,” Trudeau said.
- Von der Leyen said it was "amazing to see the open hearts and the open doors of the European people mainly in the front-line countries like Poland, Hungary, Czech, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, just to name a few. They are very much willing to take these refugees in — more than 4 million.”
- "Yesterday I was in Kyiv. I saw President Zelensky and I promised to him that we're going to take good care of the refugees until they can return safely home. That is very important to rebuild their country," she added.
Von der Leyen added that "we have to do more" to help Ukraine, be it more sanctions, weapons deliveries and financial support.
- "Whatever is necessary is being done, and we know we're in for a long haul here to fight Putin's aggression, to defend the integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine." | https://www.axios.com/trudeau-eu-chief-ukraine-refugee-e6a4be7d-cf90-4357-bdac-b81303e4d8fb.html | 2022-04-10T17:11:26Z | axios.com | control | https://www.axios.com/trudeau-eu-chief-ukraine-refugee-e6a4be7d-cf90-4357-bdac-b81303e4d8fb.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Ukraine foreign minister: "War wouldn’t take place” if we were in NATO
Ukraine's foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said Sunday Germany and France made a "strategic mistake" when they previously opposed Ukraine's admission to NATO.
What he's saying: "If we were a member of NATO, this war wouldn't take place," Kuleba said on NBC's "Meet the Press".
- "The strategic mistake that was made in 2008 by Germany and France who rejected the efforts of the United States and other allies to bring Ukraine in is something that we're paying for. It's not Germany or France that are paying the costs for this mistake. It's Ukraine."
The backdrop NATO decided not to offer Ukraine a path toward membership in 2008 after France and Germany opposed its admission. | https://www.axios.com/ukraine-kuleba-nato-war-a30ac159-563c-4217-9e05-dfb284322d41.html | 2022-04-10T17:11:38Z | axios.com | control | https://www.axios.com/ukraine-kuleba-nato-war-a30ac159-563c-4217-9e05-dfb284322d41.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Hundreds of thousands of Mexican free-tailed bats in the coming weeks will return to an abandoned Texas Department of Criminal Justice warehouse, their preferred spot to spend the summer.
They will find their usual digs partly demolished.
Workers are focused this week on the northern end of the structure, which state prison officials long wanted to tear down. TDCJ said in a recent statement that the red brick building was “in danger of collapsing.”
It’s the first step toward what will be a total razing of the warehouse — a plan that has drawn concern from environmental advocates and residents watching skeptically as prison officials proceed. More than 750,000 bats live in the cavernous, decaying space during warmer months. No one knows yet how the flying mammals will respond to finding their home damaged, and later gone.
[…]
TDCJ in its statement promised only to tear down the rest of the structure later this year after the bats have left for the winter, and experts can make sure it is unoccupied. That will be the critical last step; the bats’ worried fans will likely be watching to be sure they are indeed gone when the bricks begin to fall.
Another concern is where the Hunstville bats will make their new home. Stragglers can stay in the main warehouse for now, but Monday’s demolition made quite a ruckus, as equipment beeped and rumbled and debris tumbled to the ground. One worker scooped strips of metal into a bin. Later, a machine knocked brick from the building’s facade.
The disruption raised questions among conservationists about whether some of the small portion of bats that remain year-round will start to look for new homes. Living amid the demolition noise and vibration would be like trying to sleep in on a Saturday and instead waking up to one’s neighbor running a lawnmower, said Fran Hutchins, of Bat Conservation International.
“They’re well aware something’s going on,” Hutchins said.
See here for the background. As we know, there were bat houses built by TDCJ in 2017 to house those bats, but for whatever the reason the bats preferred their current digs. What will they do once that’s gone? No one knows. Hope for the best, I guess. If some of them come to roost at your place, here’s how to handle it. | http://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=104660 | 2022-04-10T17:12:58Z | offthekuff.com | control | http://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=104660 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
NFL quarterback Deshaun Watson now will have to answer whether he had sex with 18 additional therapists who came to his defense about his massage habits last year, according to a ruling Tuesday by a Texas judge.
Watson is being sued by 22 other women who accused him of sexual misconduct during massage sessions in 2020 and early 2021. As part of the pretrial discovery process in those lawsuits, their attorneys have sought to have Watson answer written “requests for admission” about whether he had sex with the 18 therapists who publicly supported him after the lawsuits against him started in March 2021.
Watson, who recently was traded to the Cleveland Browns, previously refused to answer these questions, saying it was harassing, private and not relevant, according to an objection filed by his attorneys in court.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys countered by saying it will help show Watson’s pattern and motives in seeking massages with dozens of different women, many of whom he met on social media. They asked the court to compel him to answer, leading to a hearing in court Tuesday between the two sides.
Harris County District Court Judge Rabeea Sultan Collier decided in favor of the plaintiffs, overruling the objection by Watson’s attorney, Leah Graham.
[…]
The plaintiffs’ attorneys also succeeded in their quest to compel Watson to produce certain other information about his history of massages since 2019, as well as any language about massages in his contract with the Houston Texans, Watson’s previous team. The judge gave Watson’s team 30 days to comply.
“We will continue to force Mr. Watson to answer our questions and reveal the full parameters of his conduct,” plaintiffs attorney Tony Buzbee said in an e-mail afterward.
[…]
In the case of the 18 therapists at issue, they did come out to support Watson publicly one year ago in statements released by his attorney, Rusty Hardin. They said Watson, 26, never made them feel uncomfortable during their interactions with him, unlike the other 22 women who are suing him. Hardin’s strategy with releasing such information at the time apparently was to take some heat off his client. A year later, Watson must answer more about his histories with those 18 women, if there were any, according to the judge’s ruling.
Graham called it a “fishing expedition” by the plaintiffs and not relevant to the specific allegations in individual lawsuits.
Plaintiffs attorney Cornelia Brandfield-Harvey disagreed, telling the judge Watson “went to massage therapy sessions intending to have sex, intending to do something else, not have a massage.”
“That is at the heart of this case,” she said.
She added “we’re not asking whether he had sex with anybody in the world” but instead with specific therapists, including the 18 who had “voluntarily publicly identified themselves.”
I probably have a post that noted the massage therapists who publicly supported Watson, but I didn’t go looking for it. I don’t think I have anything to add to this. | http://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=104937 | 2022-04-10T17:13:03Z | offthekuff.com | control | http://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=104937 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said Monday he will prioritize passing Texas legislation that mimics the recently signed Florida bill referred to as the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
That state’s controversial law prohibits classroom lessons on sexual orientation or gender identity for kids below the fourth grade or any instruction that is not “age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate” for older students. It has come under heavy scrutiny as opponents of the bill say it will harm LGBTQ children.
While Texas’ next legislative session doesn’t start until January, the issue will be addressed in Education Committee hearings before then, Patrick said in a campaign email.
“I will make this law a top priority in the next session,” he said.
Patrick’s office did not immediately respond to a request late Monday.
Enforcing Florida’s law falls to parents, much like Texas’ restrictive abortion law, Senate Bill 8, which empowers private citizens to sue anyone who “aids or abets” an abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy.
A parent can sue a school district for damages if they believe it has broken the law. If they win, parents will receive money and recoup attorney fees. In Florida, the law’s supporters portrayed it as a way to give more rights to parents. Gov. Greg Abbott has similarly said parents should have more rights concerning their children’s education as he campaigns for a third term.
Val Benavidez, executive director of the Texas Freedom Network, said in a statement to The Texas Tribune that Patrick’s promise to bring similar legislation to the state is a “stain on Texas.”
“Gender expression by children is not something that is scary or harmful. What is scary is that political activists are grasping at power by overstepping into the lives of Texas families and education of students,” Benavidez said. “While politicians use hate speech that is far from center to harm our vulnerable youth, we will continue to love our children and make sure that all families are uplifted in public life.”
Look, we know Dan Patrick means what he says when he says crap like this. He hates LGBTQ people, and he’s going to do everything he can to make their lives miserable, especially now that he’s seeing other states do things that Texas doesn’t do. We can either vote him out, or we can watch him do what he says he’s going do. Not much else to say about it. | http://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=104987 | 2022-04-10T17:13:11Z | offthekuff.com | control | http://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=104987 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Those of us who have fruit trees have been enjoying their beautiful flowers for the last few weeks. Now that there’s piles of pink petals all over the ground, it’s time to think about thinning that fruit.
Fruit is ready to thin when it’s between one-half and three-quarters of an inch big. Not all flowers will set fruit, and some of the tiny fruit will dry up and fall off the tree due to inadequate pollination. The fruit that sticks around long enough to reach dime size has the potential to develop to maturity. In this case, we don’t want many mediocre fruit – we want fewer, high-quality fruit.
Peach, plum, apricot, nectarine, apple and pear trees require thinning to produce good fruit. The sugars that make fruit worth eating are produced by the tree’s leaves, and those leaves can only do so much. Reducing the fruit load means that more sugar is available for fewer larger fruits. Remember – the pit from a 2-inch peach is the same size as the pit from a 5-inch peach.
Thinning is also good for the overall health of the tree. Overloaded branches can break, allowing disease and pest insects in. Too much fruit can stress a tree, leaving it vulnerable to disease even if the branches don’t break.
Fruit that is too close together can become infested with insects or subject to mold. Trees that are allowed to overbear one year may not bear at all the following year, a phenomenon known as alternate-year bearing.
How does one go about thinning fruit? First, wait until the fruit is dime- or quarter-sized. At this stage it is easier to see all the fruit and select which ones should go. Remove all doubles, or fruit that has grown together. If two fruits are set on either side of a branch, remove one (preferably the smaller of the two). After thinning, fruit should be spaced at least 6-8 inches apart. This means that you will probably have to remove 80-90% of the fruit that has set already. Don’t be afraid to be ruthless!
Twisting is the easiest and quickest way to remove small fruit. If the fruit doesn’t come off easily this way, you can use kitchen scissors to snip the stems cleanly. Try to be methodical and do one branch at a time. It’s easy to miss some, so you may have to do this over a few weeks.
If you’ve forgotten to thin, (or missed a branch or two) and the fruit has gotten bigger, it’s still a good idea to thin them. Your fruit quality won’t be as good as if you’ve thinned earlier, but it will still be better than if you didn’t thin at all.
Thinning is not necessary for cherries, figs, guavas and jujubes.
Citrus doesn’t have to be thinned, even though each tree can produce an enormous amount of fruit. Their branches are flexible and less likely to break under the weight of a heavy crop, and we’ve found that the fruit quality is unaffected by thinning.
Have questions? Email gardening@scng.com.
Looking for more gardening tips? Here’s how to contact the Master Gardener program in your area.
Los Angeles County
mglosangeleshelpline@ucdavis.edu; 626-586-1988; http://celosangeles.ucanr.edu/UC_Master_Gardener_Program/
Orange County
ucceocmghotline@ucanr.edu; 949-809-9760; http://mgorange.ucanr.edu/
Riverside County
anrmgriverside@ucanr.edu; 951-683-6491 ext. 231; https://ucanr.edu/sites/RiversideMG/
San Bernardino County
mgsanbern@ucanr.edu; 909-387-2182; http://mgsb.ucanr.edu/ | https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2022/04/10/how-to-thin-fruit-from-your-trees-and-why-you-need-to-do-this/ | 2022-04-10T17:23:01Z | pasadenastarnews.com | control | https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2022/04/10/how-to-thin-fruit-from-your-trees-and-why-you-need-to-do-this/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
By The Associated Press
WILMINGTON, Del. — The White House said President Joe Biden will press Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take a hard line against Russia’s Ukraine invasion. Press Secretary Jen Psaki says the leaders plan a virtual meeting on Monday.
India’s neutral stance in the war has raised concerns in Washington and earned praise from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who lauded India this month for judging “the situation in its entirety, not just in a one-sided way.”
India abstained when the U.N. General Assembly voted Thursday to suspend Russia from its seat on the 47-member Human Rights Council over allegations of war crimes. India continues to purchase Russian energy despite Western pressure to avoid buying Russian oil and gas. And the U.S. has considered sanctions on India for its recent purchase of advanced Russian air defense systems.
Psaki’s statement says Biden will discuss how Russia’s war against Ukraine is destabilizing the global food supply and commodity markets, and the need to strengthen the global economy while ”upholding a free, open, rules-based international order to bolster security, democracy, and prosperity.”
KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
— US: Russia’s new battlefield commander has history of brutality
— Ukraine digs in to fight Russia’s looming eastern offensive
— Analysis: War, economy could weaken Putin’s place as leader
— Biden, Modi to speak as India avoids hard line on Russia
— Zelenskyy, in AP interview, says he seeks peace despite atrocities
— Poland-Ukraine ties seen as target of Russian disinformation
— Go to https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine for more coverage
___
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
BERLIN — Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday.
The Austria Press Agency reported that Nehammer told reporters in Vienna on Sunday that he plans to make the journey. It follows a trip on Saturday to Kyiv, where he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
APA reported that Nehammer aims to encourage dialogue between Ukraine and Russia and also address Russian “war crimes” in his meeting with Putin.
Austria is a member of the European Union and has backed the 27-nation bloc’s sanctions against Russia, though it so far has opposed cutting off deliveries of Russian gas. The country is militarily neutral and is not a member of NATO.
Nehammer said he was taking the trip on his own initiative, and that he had consulted with the European Union’s top officials. He said that he also informed Zelenskyy and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
___
BERLIN — The U.N. nuclear watchdog said Ukraine said the staff at the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear plant has been rotated for the first time in three weeks after Russian troops left the area.
The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency has expressed concern about the well-being of the workers since the Russian military took control of the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster at the beginning of the war.
The agency said Ukraine informed it on Sunday that it has now rotated the staff, but the situation remains far from normal. They had to be transported to and from the site by water, with the Pripyat River being the only way for people living in the city of Slavutych to currently reach the plant.
The IAEA said Ukraine has informed it that analytical laboratories for radiation monitoring at the site were destroyed, with analytical instruments “stolen, broken or otherwise disabled.” The automated transmission of radiation monitoring data has been disabled.
___
KYIV, Ukraine — The governor of the region that includes Ukraine’s fourth-largest city, Dnipro, says the airport was hit twice by missile attacks on Sunday. The Ukrainian military command said Russian forces also keep shelling Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, and have kept up their siege of Mariupol, the key southern port city that has been under attack for nearly six weeks.
The Russian Defense Ministry says it’s air-launched missiles hit Ukraine’s S-300 air defense missile systems in two locations, while sea-launched cruise missiles destroyed a Ukrainian unit’s headquarters in the Dnipro region. Neither side’s military claims could be independently verified.
The Pentagon said Russia has a clear advantage in armored forces for its next phase in its war on Ukraine. Press secretary John Kirby said Friday that the Russians spread themselves too thin to take the capital, but now they’re more focused on a smaller region, and still have the vast majority of their combat power. A major effort by Ukrainian defenses and more Western assistance will be needed to push them back.
___
WASHINGTON — A senior U.S. official said Russia has appointed a new commander to oversee its war on Ukraine.
The official speaking on condition of anonymity said Russia has turned to one of its most experienced military officers, Gen. Alexander Dvornikov. U.S. officials say the 60-year-old general has a record of brutality against civilians in Syria and other theaters of war.
The White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told CNN on Sunday that “this general will just be another author of crimes and brutality against Ukrainian civilians.” And he said “no appointment of any general can erase the fact that Russia has already faced a strategic failure in Ukraine.”
The new battlefield leadership comes as Russia gears up for what is expected to be a large and more focused push to expand Russian control in the Donbas after failing to conquer the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. Sullivan reiterated support for the Ukrainian government, saying the United States is determined to do all it can to help Ukrainians resist this general and the forces he commands.
— Robert Burns and Hope Yen
___
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s border guard agency says that about 2,200 Ukrainian men of fighting age have been detained so far while trying to leave the country in violation of martial law.
The agency said Sunday that some of them have used forged documents and others tried to bribe border guards to get out of the country.
It said some have been found dead while trying to cross the Carpathian mountains in adverse weather, without specifying the number.
Under martial law, Ukrainian men between 18 and 60 are barred from leaving the country so that they can be called up to fight.
___
WARSAW, Poland — Sirens have sounded in some Polish cities to mark the anniversary of a 2010 plane crash that killed the country’s president, despite protests that their sound would be unnecessarily traumatic for refugees from the war in Ukraine.
The sirens early Sunday were intended to add to the significance and the plaintive character of observances honoring the late President Lech Kaczynski, the first lady and 94 other prominent Poles killed 12 years ago in the crash of the presidential plane in Russia. Kaczynski was the twin of Jaroslaw Kaczynski — the leader of the main governing Law and Justice party.
Provincial governors ignored calls not to use the sirens out of concern for refugees from neighboring Ukraine, traumatized by air raid alarms. Authorities sent text messages to refugees’ phones that the sirens would mean no danger.
___
KYIV, Ukraine — The Ukrainian military says Russia has been beefing up its forces and trying to probe Ukrainian defenses.
The Ukrainian military command said Sunday that the Russian troops have continued attempts to break Ukrainian defenses near Izyum, southeast of Kharkiv. It reported that Russia was sending reinforcements to Izyum while continuing the shelling of Kharkiv.
The military added that the Russians also continued their attempts to take control of Mariupol, the Sea of Azov port that has been besieged by Russian forces for nearly 1 ½ months.
After Russia’s attempt to capture Kyiv and other big cities in northeastern Ukraine quickly failed, Ukrainian and Western officials expect Moscow to launch a new offensive in eastern Ukraine, where Russia-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian forces for eight years.
___
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he focused on the need to track down perpetrators of war crimes in a phone call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Zelenskyy said on Twitter that in Sunday’s call “we emphasized that all perpetrators of war crimes must be identified and punished.”
Ukraine has accused Russia of atrocities against civilians in Bucha and other places near Kyiv, where hundreds of slaughtered civilians, many with their hands bound and signs of torture, were found after Russian troops retreated.
Zelenskyy also said he and Scholz “discussed anti-Russian sanctions, defense and financial support for Ukraine.”
___
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has opened Holy Week with a call for an Easter truce in Ukraine to make room for a negotiated peace, highlighting the need for leaders to “make some sacrifices for the good of the people.”
Celebrating Palm Sunday Mass before crowds in St. Peter’s Square for the first time since the pandemic, Pope Francis called for “weapons to be laid down to begin an Easter truce, not to reload weapons and resume fighting, no! A truce to reach peace through real negotiations.”
Francis did not refer directly to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the reference was clear. He has repeatedly denounced the war and the suffering brought to innocent civilians.
___
HELSINKI — Finland says that a shipment of art works from Russian museums has been returned to Russia after it was seized under European Union sanctions against Moscow.
Finland’s customs service said late Saturday that the Foreign Ministry granted a special permit to return the consignment with a total insured value of around 42 million euros ($46 million). It said that trucks carrying the art works from the Hermitage Museum and the Pavlovsk State Museum in St. Petersburg, among others, left Finnish territory on Saturday afternoon.
The shipment was seized at the Vaalimaa border crossing at the beginning of April. The works were en route to Russia after loan to museums in Europe and Japan. Experts say that art works loaned from Russia typically travel overland via Finland.
Russia has demanded the return of all works on loan to “unfriendly” nations that imposed sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine.
___
MOSCOW — The Russian military says it has struck Ukrainian air defense batteries in the country’s south and east.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Sunday that the military used air-launched missiles to hit Ukraine’s S-300 air defense missile systems in Starobohdanivka in the southern Mykolaiv region and at an air base in Chuhuiv in the eastern Kharkiv region.
Konashenkov also said that sea-launched cruise missiles destroyed the headquarters of a Ukrainian military unit near Zvonetske in the Dnipro region.
The Russian military claims couldn’t be independently verified.
___
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk says more civilians are expected to leave Mariupol Sunday in their personal vehicles.
Evacuations are also planned from Berdyansk, Tokmak and Enerhodar in the south and Sieverierodonetsk, Lysychansk, Popasna and Rubizhne in the east.
Mariupol, a strategic port city on the Sea of Azov, has been besieged by Russian forces for nearly 1 ½ months, cut from food, water and power supplies and pummeled by relentless bombardment that has killed at least 5,000, according to local officials.
Ukrainian authorities have urged civilians in the east to evacuate in the face of an imminent Russian offensive. They accused Russia of killing 52 people on Friday at the train station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk as they were preparing to evacuate.
___
GENEVA — The U.N. refugee agency says the number of people who have left Ukraine since the beginning of the war has reached 4.5 million.
A regular update Sunday of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees’ online portal on numbers of refugees fleeing Ukraine since Feb. 24 brought the total to some 4.504 million.
About 2.6 million of those fled at least initially to Poland and more than 686,000 to Romania. However, UNHCR notes that there are very few border controls within the European Union and it believes “a large number of people” have moved on from the first country they arrived in.
___
LONDON — Britain’s Ministry of Defense says that Russia’s armed forces are seeking to respond to mounting losses by boosting troop numbers with personnel who had been discharged from military service since 2012.
In an intelligence update on Twitter, the ministry also said Sunday that the Russian military’s efforts to “generate more fighting power” also include trying to recruit from Trans-Dniester, a breakaway region in Moldova that borders Ukraine.
Russia maintains some 1,500 troops in the region, which is not internationally recognized.
___
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told The Associated Press on Saturday that he is committed to seeking peace despite Russian attacks on civilians that have stunned the world.
He said no one wants to negotiate with people who tortured their nation — “as a man, as a father, I understand this very well.” But he said “we don’t want to lose opportunities, if we have them, for a diplomatic solution.”
Zelenskyy said he’s confident Ukrainians would accept peace despite the horrors they have witnessed in the war. But meanwhile, Russian troops are regrouping for an expected surge in fighting in eastern Ukraine, including the besieged port city of Mariupol that Ukrainian defenders are battling to retain.
So Zelenskyy renewed his plea for countries to send more weapons. He says they have to fight for life — not “for dust when there is nothing and no people. That’s why it is important to stop this war.”
___
KYIV, Ukraine — U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, promising so much support that his nation might never be bullied again.
Johnson’s surprise visit included a pledge of 120 armored vehicles and new anti-ship missile systems, part of another 100 million pounds ($130 million) of high-grade military equipment. Johnson also confirmed an additional $500 million in World Bank lending, taking Britain’s total loan guarantee up to $1 billion.
Johnson said Ukraine defied the odds pushing Russian forces “from the gates of Kyiv, achieving the greatest feat of arms of the 21st century.″
The prime minister credits “Zelenskyy’s resolute leadership and the invincible heroism and courage of the Ukrainian people” for thwarting what he calls the “monstrous aims” of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Johnson says Britain and its partners “are going to ratchet up the economic pressure … not just freezing assets in banks and sanctioning oligarchs but moving away from use of Russian hydrocarbons.”
Johnson also described a vision for a future Ukraine so fortified and protected by the equipment, technology and know-how of Britain and its partners that it can never be threatened in the same way again. In the meantime, Johnson said, “there is a huge amount to do to make sure that Ukraine is successful, that Ukraine wins and that Putin must fail.” | https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2022/04/10/live-updates-wh-biden-wants-india-to-oppose-russian-war/ | 2022-04-10T17:23:03Z | pasadenastarnews.com | control | https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2022/04/10/live-updates-wh-biden-wants-india-to-oppose-russian-war/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Rutgers community members with ties to Ukraine provide help back home
Rutgers University students, faculty and staff are providing humanitarian help from more than 4,500 miles away as the horrors continue in Ukraine and the world gets a front row seat to images of dead bodies lying in the streets of the war-torn country.
The volunteers are a small but committed group who were either born in Ukraine, are first-generation Americans or have relatives fighting to stay alive. They are raising money and working to collect thousands of pounds of everyday supplies from diapers and blankets to canned food and first aid products to send overseas. They are also trying to assist students and scholars from Ukraine to find their way to the United States or provide short-term research positions to help them financially.
Rutgers officials have also reached out to current students from Ukraine and Russia to provide resources and counseling to those affected by the events in Eastern Europe.
“It’s a small thing to offer our support and remind our students, faculty and staff of the Rutgers resources available to them, but it’s clear from the responses I have received that these members of our community take real comfort from that support,” said Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway. “Their messages to me are heartfelt and sobering.”
One first-year Rutgers-New Brunswick undergraduate left Ukraine a month before the war began. Her mother and 11-year-old brother evacuated from Ukraine and found shelter with a friend in Austria, but some relatives stayed behind. Her father and other family members are hiding out in and around Kyiv trying to stay alive despite the daily horrors.
“My mom told me that before she left, those had been the worst days of her life,” said the 22-year-old woman who is afraid to speak publicly. “And it was not even as bad as it is now. It breaks my heart to see what is going on.”
More:'A matter of life and death': NJ hospitals send medical supplies to Ukraine
More:Edison man joins religious coalition in Poland helping refugees flee Ukraine
She and others including Anna Zakusylo, a first-year Robert Wood Johnson Medical School student, who is living in New Brunswick, and Oleh Matviyishyn of South River, who is graduating from Rutgers Law School in Newark, are watching the news and calling and texting relatives in Ukraine daily.
“Many of my relatives are in Lviv (about 40 miles from the Polish border) so they have so far been safe,” said Matviyishyn, who was born in Ukraine and moved to the United States with his family when he was six. “My mother and father are devastated and worried and angry. We all are. We’ve always worried that with Putin something like this would happen.”
He is volunteering for Razom, a nonprofit organization with a global network of 2,000 members that has united Ukraine activists throughout the United States to try to make a difference. He has joined others packing boxes, gathering donations and joining protests and demonstrations to support Ukraine.
Zakusylo, whose father was born in Ukraine and mother in Moldova, is doing the same between waiting for daily texts and phone calls from relatives still living in various parts of the country. Overall, volunteers at Rutgers have collected more than 600 pounds of donated goods shipped through Poland, which has taken in millions of refugees, to Lviv.
“It’s what I can do from here,” Zakusylo said. “I keep asking my cousins how they are doing and I can tell that they are trying to cope as best as they can. Instead of learning math or history they are learning tactical warfare and how to shelter from a missile attack.”
Students at Rutgers-Camden are also raising money and collecting supplies. Taylor Johnson-Husak, a third-year law school student who has lived in Ukraine with her Ukrainian-born husband, has been collecting donations for aid items through online purchases that are being delivered to Ukraine.
“This has been an extremely difficult month for me and my husband as we have had to sit back and watch a country we love be decimated by Russian aggression,” she said.
I keep asking my cousins how they are doing and I can tell that they are trying to cope as best as they can. Instead of learning math or history they are learning tactical warfare and how to shelter from a missile attack.
A group of about a half dozen of Rutgers faculty, meanwhile, has joined forces to try to help students, academics, scholars and researchers who are either still in Ukraine, are now refugees in other countries or want to come to the U.S.
Jan Kubik, a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Political Science in the School of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers-New Brunswick, said many academics he knows in Ukraine need financial assistance but want to stay in Europe because their main goal is to go back to Ukraine.
“They are hoping that this nightmare will soon end and they can go back home,” said Kubik, who was born in Poland, and is also a professor of Slavonic and East European studies at University College, London. “So, we are thinking maybe there is a way that they could do research and assist us and our academic programs here without coming to the U.S.”
Many Russian academics, he said, are looking for help to get to the United States because they believe there is no future for them in a country that is shutting down free speech and has criminalized speaking about the war in Ukraine.
“From the few conversations that I’ve had about helping Russian scholars, I can say that it is a very delicate issue, which I understand,” Kubik said. “While Ukrainian colleagues understand that Russians who oppose Putin can be jailed or fired, their situation is much more tragic as they are being bombed and face death every day. While we want to figure out how to help as many displaced scholars and students as possible, we need to be sensitive to such differences in circumstances.”
Eric Garfunkel, vice president for global affairs at Rutgers and head of Rutgers Global, said the university has so far received only a few requests to host Ukrainian refugees, but is partnering with the Rutgers University Foundation to raise and secure the philanthropic support likely needed in the near future.
“We will continue to do what we can for refugee students and scholars by providing information and support,” he said. “We know the situation is evolving but we want to be ready to help in any way we can.’’
Rutgers Global will be hosting an event to discuss the Ukrainian, Afghan and potential future refugee crises entitled “Higher Education Response to Refugee and Displaced Students and Scholars: Toward Sustainable Solutions” on April 22, starting at 9:30 a.m. | https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/2022/04/10/rutgers-community-members-ties-ukraine-provide-help-back-home/9512371002/ | 2022-04-10T17:28:06Z | mycentraljersey.com | control | https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/2022/04/10/rutgers-community-members-ties-ukraine-provide-help-back-home/9512371002/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
SOFTBALL STANDINGS: Skyland Conference standings, through April 9
Simeon Pincus
MyCentralJersey.com
By conference record (overall records in parenthesis)
Thru Saturday, April 9
SOFTBALL ROUNDUP: Daily Skyland Conference and western Union County results and analysis | https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/sports/high-school/softball/2022/04/10/softball-standings-skyland-conference-standings-through-april-9/9532913002/ | 2022-04-10T17:28:12Z | mycentraljersey.com | control | https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/sports/high-school/softball/2022/04/10/softball-standings-skyland-conference-standings-through-april-9/9532913002/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
First responders in Middlesex get look at specialized tech to help save lives
SAYREVILLE – AT&T showcased the benefits of specialized technology to first responders during a Mission Critical Seminar at the Middlesex County Fire Academy last week.
The event featured remarks from New Jersey State Police leadership and FirstNet users from Ocean and Essex counties. FirstNet deployable assets were on display, along with smartphones, tablets, and other devices that keep first responders connected during emergencies.
First responders in more than 240 communities across New Jersey are using FirstNet, the only nationwide, high-speed broadband communications platform dedicated to and purpose-built for America’s first responders and the extended public safety community.
“FirstNet, built with AT&T, gives first responders the tools they need to safely and effectively achieve their mission. The FirstNet network built specifically for public safety helps first responders in New Jersey and across the country do their jobs safely and effectively,” AT&T New Jersey President Joseph Divis said in a statement.
It was built with AT&T in a public-private partnership with the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority), an independent agency within the federal government.
It has unique benefits like always-on priority and preemption, and a high-quality Band 14 spectrum which help fire, EMS, law enforcement and more save lives and protect their communities by solving challenges that first responders face, such as interoperability, network congestion and commercial network providers slowing public safety’s data connection.
“We worked hand-in-hand with the New Jersey public safety community to understand their needs for the network. And this new infrastructure is a prime example of how that input and feedback is becoming reality," FirstNet Authority CEO Edward Parkinson said in a statement.
Feedback from first responders has been instrumental in deploying Band 14 spectrum across New Jersey and helped launch new purpose-built FirstNet sites in rural and remote areas so far, including areas where emergency responses have been previously challenged.
Twelve counties across the state currently benefitting from this new infrastructure include Bergen, Camden, Cape May, Gloucester, Hunterdon, Monmouth, Passaic, Salem, Somerset and Sussex.
The FCC estimates that over 10,000 lives could be saved each year if public safety were able to reach callers just 1 minute faster.
For more information go to FirstNet.com.
Email: alewis@njpressmedia.com
Alexander Lewis is an award-winning reporter and photojournalist whose work spans many topics. This coverage is only possible with support from our readers. Sign up today for a digital subscription. | https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/tech/2022/04/10/at-t-showcases-benefits-firstnet-tech-nj-first-responders/9497301002/ | 2022-04-10T17:28:18Z | mycentraljersey.com | control | https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/tech/2022/04/10/at-t-showcases-benefits-firstnet-tech-nj-first-responders/9497301002/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Personal loan rates edge up: Still lower than same time last year
Our goal here at Credible Operations, Inc., NMLS Number 1681276, referred to as "Credible" below, is to give you the tools and confidence you need to improve your finances. Although we do promote products from our partner lenders, all opinions are our own.
The latest trends in interest rates for personal loans from the Credible marketplace, updated weekly. (iStock)
Borrowers with good credit seeking personal loans during the past seven days prequalified for rates that were slightly higher for 3-year and for 5-year fixed rates compared to the previous seven days.
For borrowers with credit scores of 720 or higher who used the Credible marketplace to select a lender between Mar. 10 and Mar. 16:
- Rates on 3-year fixed-rate loans averaged 10.48%, slightly up from 10.43% the seven days before, and down from 11.16% a year ago.
- Rates on 5-year fixed-rate loans averaged 13.07%, slightly up from 13.01% the previous seven days, and down from 13.73% a year ago.
Personal loans have become a popular way to consolidate and pay off credit card debt and other loans. They can also be used to cover unexpected expenses like medical bills, take care of a major purchase or fund home improvement projects.
Rates for 3-year and 5-year fixed personal loans rose slightly over the past seven days. Rates for 3-year terms went up a slight 0.05%, while rates for 5-year terms increased by 0.06%. But rates for both terms remain well below average credit card interest rates, giving borrowers an opportunity to save on interest costs by refinancing credit card debt into a lower-interest personal loan.
Whether a personal loan is right for you often depends on multiple factors, including what rate you can qualify for. Comparing multiple lenders and their rates could help ensure you get the best possible personal loan for your needs.
It's always a good idea to comparison shop on sites like Credible to understand how much you qualify for and choose the best option for you.
Here are the latest trends in personal loan interest rates from the Credible marketplace, updated monthly.
Personal loan weekly rates trends
The chart above shows average prequalified rates for borrowers with credit scores of 720 or higher who used the Credible marketplace to select a lender.
For the month of February 2022:
- Rates on 3-year personal loans averaged 10.52%, down from 11.09% in January.
- Rates on 5-year personal loans averaged 12.99%, down from 13.40% in January.
Rates on personal loans vary considerably by credit score and loan term. If you're curious about what kind of personal loan rates you may qualify for, you can use an online tool like Credible to compare options from different private lenders. Checking your rates won't affect your credit score.
All Credible marketplace lenders offer fixed-rate loans at competitive rates. Because lenders use different methods to evaluate borrowers, it’s a good idea to request personal loan rates from multiple lenders so you can compare your options.
Current personal loan rates by credit score
In February, the average prequalified rate selected by borrowers was:
- 8.32% for borrowers with credit scores of 780 or above choosing a 3-year loan
- 29.42% for borrowers with credit scores below 600 choosing a 5-year loan
Depending on factors such as your credit score, which type of personal loan you’re seeking and the loan repayment term, the interest rate can differ.
As shown in the chart above, a good credit score can mean a lower interest rate, and rates tend to be higher on loans with fixed interest rates and longer repayment terms.
How to get a lower interest rate
Many factors influence the interest rate a lender might offer you on a personal loan. But you can take some steps to boost your chances of getting a lower interest rate. Here are some tactics to try.
Increase credit score
Generally, people with higher credit scores qualify for lower interest rates. Steps that can help you improve your credit score over time include:
- Pay bills on time. Payment history is the most important factor in your credit score. Pay all your bills on time for the amount due.
- Check your credit report. Look at your credit report to ensure there are no errors on it. If you find errors, dispute them with the credit bureau.
- Lower your credit utilization ratio. Paying down credit card debt can improve this important credit scoring factor.
- Avoid opening new credit accounts. Only apply for and open credit accounts you actually need. Too many hard inquiries on your credit report in a short amount of time could lower your credit score.
Choose a shorter loan term
Personal loan repayment terms can vary from one to several years. Generally, shorter terms come with lower interest rates, since the lender’s money is at risk for a shorter period of time.
If your financial situation allows, applying for a shorter term could help you score a lower interest rate. Keep in mind the shorter term doesn’t just benefit the lender — by choosing a shorter repayment term, you’ll pay less interest over the life of the loan.
Get a cosigner
You may be familiar with the concept of a cosigner if you have student loans. If your credit isn’t good enough to qualify for the best personal loan interest rates, finding a cosigner with good credit could help you secure a lower interest rate.
Just remember, if you default on the loan, your cosigner will be on the hook to repay it. And cosigning for a loan could also affect their credit score.
Compare rates from different lenders
Before applying for a personal loan, it’s a good idea to shop around and compare offers from several different lenders to get the lowest rates. Online lenders typically offer the most competitive rates – and can be quicker to disburse your loan than a brick-and-mortar establishment.
But don’t worry, comparing rates and terms doesn’t have to be a time-consuming process.
Credible makes it easy. Just enter how much you want to borrow and you’ll be able to compare multiple lenders to choose the one that makes the most sense for you.
About Credible
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Credible is a multi-lender marketplace that empowers consumers to discover financial products that are the best fit for their unique circumstances. Credible’s integrations with leading lenders and credit bureaus allow consumers to quickly compare accurate, personalized loan options ― without putting their personal information at risk or affecting their credit score. The Credible marketplace provides an unrivaled customer experience, as reflected by over 4,500 positive Trustpilot reviews and a TrustScore of 4.7/5. | https://www.fox32chicago.com/money/personal-loan-rates-march-31-2022 | 2022-04-10T17:28:59Z | fox32chicago.com | control | https://www.fox32chicago.com/money/personal-loan-rates-march-31-2022 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Kimatu claims the fifth leg of Safaricom Golf Tour in Machakos
What you need to know:
- Meanwhile, Caroline Thuo was the best among the Safaricom staff after posting 38 points. Taking the nearest to pin prize was Bob Odhiambo.
- Action now takes a short break and will resume after the Easter holidays with the sixth leg at Eldoret Golf Club on April 23 and 24.
High-handicapper Simon Kimatu was in his best form during the weekend posting an amazing 44 points to claim the overall title during the fifth leg of the on-going Safaricom Golf Tour at Machakos Golf Club course.
“I have been working so hard to try and improve my game by doing regular practice and it really paid off today. I am so happy to win this event and qualifying for the grand finale in Vipingo in August,' said Kimatu, who also thanked his four-ball which he said gave him all the encouragement he needed.
Playing off a handicap of 52, Kimatu bogeyed a number of holes in the opening nine where he however still managed to score 18 points.
It was however at the back nine where he doubled his effort and produced an impressive 26 points to claim the overall title in the event which attracted a field of 165 players.
"I had a very fantastic experience at the course. The greens were perfect, though I had prepared well for the tournament. This is one of my notable wins this season, and I am excited about it. It now gives me the challenge to start training and preparing for the finals and make sure Machakos golf Club shines in the tour's grand finale," added Kimatu.
He now joins a list of winners from the first four events of the tour namely; Nicholas Bundi, Leo Gitonga, Zain Manji and Lydia Jebichii, who emerged winners in Nanyuki, Limuru, Muthaiga and Nyanza golf clubs respectively.
It was a great day for South Africa-based Kimanzi Muthengi, who also produced an impressive 44 points, to clinch the men's category.
Rhodah Koech posted 39 points to claim the top spot in the Ladies' category, ahead of Milka Wanjiku with 35 points.
Posting the best nine score overall was Steve Makau on 23 points, while in the subsidiary section, Golf Park’s Hill Kip won the longest drive back-to-back from the Muthaiga leg, while the ladies title went to Nancy Kariuki.
Speaking during the prize giving ceremony, Safaricom PLC’s Head of Eastern and Coast regions, Elizabeth Wasuna said Safaicom has not only supported the game of golf in the country for some times, but has also been involved in other sports development.
“Safaricom has been involved in nurturing talent in football through the popular Chapa Dimba programme and we will continue supporting the development of sports in the country, because we believe in giving opportunity to youngsters in the country to explore their full potential," said Wasuna.
Meanwhile, Caroline Thuo was the best among the Safaricom staff after posting 38 points. Taking the nearest to pin prize was Bob Odhiambo.
Action now takes a short break and will resume after the Easter holidays with the sixth leg at Eldoret Golf Club on April 23 and 24. | https://nation.africa/kenya/sports/golf/kimatu-claims-the-fifth-leg-of-safaricom-golf-tour-in-machakos-3778028 | 2022-04-10T17:30:47Z | afar.com | control | https://nation.africa/kenya/sports/golf/kimatu-claims-the-fifth-leg-of-safaricom-golf-tour-in-machakos-3778028 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The son of a single mother who raised him on a pension, Anthony Albanese had a humble start to life for an aspiring Australian prime minister.
But despite his disadvantaged upbringing in public housing in Sydney, the man known since childhood as Albo has risen to the top of the center-left Australian Labor Party and is now only an election away from potentially realizing his ambition to lead the national government.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an election on May 21.
As a young child, to spare Albanese the scandal of being “illegitimate” in a working-class Roman Catholic family in socially conservative 1960s Australia, he was told that his Italian father Carlo Albanese had died in a car accident shortly after marrying his ethnic-Irish Australian mother Maryanne Ellery in Europe.
His mother, who became an invalid pensioner because of chronic rheumatoid arthritis, told him the truth when he was 14 years old: His father was not dead and his parents had never married.
Carlo Albanese had been a steward on a cruise ship when the couple met in 1962 during the only overseas trip of her life. She returned to Sydney from her seven-month journey through Asia to Britain and continental Europe almost four months pregnant, according to Anthony Albanese’s 2016 biography, “Albanese: Telling it Straight.”
She was living with her parents in their local government-owned house in inner-suburban Camperdown when her only child was born on March 2, 1963.
Out of loyalty to his mother and a fear of hurting her feelings, Albanese waited until after her death in 2002 before searching for his father.
Father and son were happily united in 2009 in the father’s hometown of Barletta in southern Italy. The son was in Italy for business meetings as Australia‘s minister for transport and infrastructure.
Anthony Albanese was a minister throughout Labor’s most recent six years in power and reached his highest office — deputy prime minister — in his government’s final three months that ended with the 2013 election.
“It says a great thing about our nation that the son of a (single) parent who grew up in a council house in Sydney could be deputy prime minister of Australia,” Albanese said. He had just defeated the son of a former deputy prime in a ballot of fellow lawmakers for the post.
But Albanese’s critics argue that it’s not his humble background but his left-wing politics that make him unsuitable to be prime minister.
The conservative government argues he would be the most left-wing Australian leader in almost 50 years since the crash-or-crash-through reformer Gough Whitlam, a flawed hero of the Labor Party.
In 1975, Whitlam became the only Australian prime minister to be ousted from office by a British monarch’s representative in what is described as a constitutional crisis.
Whitlam had introduced during his brief but tumultuous three years in power free university education, which enabled Albanese to graduate from Sydney University with an economics degree despite his meager financial resources.
Albanese’s supporters argue that while he was from Labor’s so-called Socialist Left faction, he was a pragmatist with a proven ability to deal with more conservative elements of the party.
Albanese had undergone what has been described as a makeover in the past year, opting for more fashionable suits and glasses. He has also shed 18 kilograms (40 pounds) in what many assume is an effort to make himself more attractive to voters.
Albanese says he believed he was about to die in a two-car collision in Sydney in January last year and that that was the catalyst for his healthier life choices. He had briefly resigned himself to a fate he once believed had been his father’s.
After the accident, Albanese spent a night in a hospital and suffered what he described as external and internal injuries that he has not detailed. The 17-year-old boy behind the wheel of the Range Rover SUV that collided with Albanese’s much smaller Toyota Camry sedan was charged with negligent driving.
Asked at the National Press Club of Australia in January to explain who he was, Albanese replied he was the son of a pensioner mother who had grown up with the security of a local government-provided house.
Albanese said he was 12 years old when he became involved in his first political campaign. His fellow public housing tenants successfully defeated a local council proposal to sell their homes — a move that would have increased their rent — in a campaign that involved refusing to pay the council in a so-called rent strike.
The unpaid rent debt was forgiven, which Albanese described as a “lesson for those people who weren’t part of the rent strike: Solidarity works.”
“As I grew up, I understood the impact that government had, can have, on making a difference to people’s lives,” Albanese said. “And in particular, to opportunity.” | https://www.wwlp.com/news/ap-international-news/australia-pm-hopeful-albanese-had-humble-start-to-life/ | 2022-04-10T17:34:50Z | wwlp.com | control | https://www.wwlp.com/news/ap-international-news/australia-pm-hopeful-albanese-had-humble-start-to-life/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Russian ally Serbia took the delivery of a sophisticated Chinese anti-aircraft system in a veiled operation this weekend, amid Western concerns that an arms buildup in the Balkans at the time of the war in Ukraine could threaten the fragile peace in the region.
Media and military experts said Sunday that six Chinese Air Force Y-20 transport planes landed at Belgrade’s civilian airport early Saturday, reportedly carrying HQ-22 surface-to-air missile systems for the Serbian military.
The Chinese cargo planes with military markings were pictured at Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla airport. Serbia’s defense ministry did not immediately respond to AP’s request for comment.
The arms delivery over the territory of at least two NATO member states, Turkey and Bulgaria, was seen by experts as a demonstration of China’s growing global reach.
“The Y-20s’ appearance raised eyebrows because they flew en masse as opposed to a series of single-aircraft flights,” wrote The Warzone online magazine. “The Y-20′s presence in Europe in any numbers is also still a fairly new development.”
Serbian military analyst Aleksandar Radic said that “the Chinese carried out their demonstration of force.”
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic all but confirmed the delivery of the medium-range system that was agreed in 2019, saying on Saturday that he will present “the newest pride” of the Serbian military on Tuesday or Wednesday.
He had earlier complained that NATO countries, which represent most of Serbia’s neighbors, are refusing to allow the system’s delivery flights over their territories amid tensions over Russia’s aggression on Ukraine.
Although Serbia has voted in favor of U.N. resolutions that condemn the bloody Russian attacks in Ukraine, it has refused to join international sanctions against its allies in Moscow or outright criticize the apparent atrocities committed by the Russian troops there.
Back in 2020, U.S. officials warned Belgrade against the purchase of HQ-22 anti-aircraft systems, whose export version is known as FK-3. They said that if Serbia really wants to join the European Union and other Western alliances, it must align its military equipment with Western standards.
The Chinese missile system has been widely compared to the American Patriot and the Russian S-300 surface-to-air missile systems although it has a shorter range than more advanced S-300s. Serbia will be the first operator of the Chinese missiles in Europe.
Serbia was at war with its neighbors in the 1990s. The country, which is formally seeking EU membership, has already been boosting its armed forces with Russian and Chinese arms, including warplanes, battle tanks and other equipment.
In 2020, it took delivery of Chengdu Pterodactyl-1 drones, known in China as Wing Loong. The combat drones are able to strike targets with bombs and missiles and can be used for reconnaissance tasks.
There are fears in the West that the arming of Serbia by Russia and China could encourage the Balkan country toward another war, especially against its former province of Kosovo that proclaimed independence in 2008. Serbia, Russia and China don’t recognize Kosovo’s statehood, while the United States and most Western countries do. | https://www.wwlp.com/news/ap-international-news/china-makes-semi-secret-delivery-of-missiles-to-serbia/ | 2022-04-10T17:35:05Z | wwlp.com | control | https://www.wwlp.com/news/ap-international-news/china-makes-semi-secret-delivery-of-missiles-to-serbia/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo on Sunday denied that his administration was attempting to delay the 2024 presidential elections after senior politicians including his close ally supported the idea of extending his stay in office beyond the two-term legal mandate.
His statement came a day before students planned to stage a massive protest in the capital, Jakarta, and several other cities to oppose the alleged plan they say could threaten democracy. Student protests in Indonesia often turn violent.
During a Cabinet meeting to discuss the preparations for the 2024 elections, Widodo ordered his ministers to publicly explain that all stages and schedules for the polls had been determined.
“This needs to be explained so that there are no rumors circulating among people that the government is trying to postpone the election or speculation about the extension of the president’s tenure or a related third term,” Widodo said in comments released by his office on its official YouTube channel. “Because clearly we have agreed that the election will be held on February 14, 2024.”
Powerful figures including Cabinet ministers Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan and Airlangga Hartarto, who is also the chair of the Golkar party in the ruling coalition, have suggested that the elections should be deferred.
Pandjaitan, who is Widodo’s close ally, recently claimed that data shows 110 million Indonesians support a delay of elections. It wasn’t clear what data he was citing.
Recent reports by Kompas, Indonesia’s reputable pollster, indicate Widodo is hugely popular in the archipelago nation of more than 270 million people with over 70% public trust rating. However, a poll by the Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting showed that more than 70% reject any plan to extend his stay in office.
The two-term presidential limit was a centerpiece of the first amendment to the Indonesian Constitution in 1999, a year after dictator Suharto was toppled by massive pro-democracy protests.
Suharto ruled Indonesia for more than three decades through an authoritarian, often violent regime. Under his rule, corruption and rights abuses became rampant as the elite plundered the economy. His downfall ushered in a democracy in Indonesia and term limits are meant to prevent a repeat of its authoritarian past.
Last Wednesday, Widodo also told his ministers to address the nation’s rising inflation instead of stirring controversy around the 2024 election.
“Nobody bring up a (presidential) term extension or election delay anymore. No more!” Widodo said.
In June last year, he said in a news conference that he plans to adhere to the constitution when his supporters began to roll out the idea suggesting his term could be legally extended through a constitutional amendment or election delay.
Supporters argued it was necessary to give Widodo more time to deal with the recovery of the economy that slumped during the two-year pandemic, and allow him to complete his agenda, including the $35 billion capital relocation project to the island of Borneo.
Despite denials, doubts about his intentions have persisted.
“People are still skeptical about Jokowi’s indecision regarding the third term,” said Ujang Komarudin, a political analyst from Al-Azhar Indonesia University, using Widodo’s popular nickname. “The alleged plans have deviated far from the constitution and would be a major blow for Indonesia’s democratic reform,” he said, adding that it may not stop students from taking to the streets.
Widodo was sworn in for his second and final five-year term in October 2019 with pledges to champion democracy and take bolder action against poverty and entrenched corruption in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation.
Known for his down-to-earth style, Widodo is also the first president from outside the country’s super rich and often corrupt, political, business and military elite. He grew up in a rented bamboo shack on the banks of a flood-prone river in Solo city on Java island, and often presents himself as a man of the people.
His popular appeal helped him win previous elections for mayor of Solo and governor of Jakarta. | https://www.wwlp.com/news/ap-international-news/indonesian-leader-denies-delay-of-2024-polls-to-extend-term/ | 2022-04-10T17:35:19Z | wwlp.com | control | https://www.wwlp.com/news/ap-international-news/indonesian-leader-denies-delay-of-2024-polls-to-extend-term/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
LONDON (AP) — For many in the U.K., the pandemic may as well be over.
Mask requirements have been dropped. Free mass testing is a thing of the past. And for the first time since spring 2020, people can go abroad for holidays without ordering tests or filling out lengthy forms.
That sense of freedom is widespread even as infections soaredin Britain in March, driven by the milder but more transmissible omicron BA.2 variant that’s rapidly spreading around Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere.
The situation in the U.K. may portend what lies ahead for other countries as they ease coronavirus restrictions.
France and Germany have seen similar spikes in infections in recent weeks, and the number of hospitalizations in the U.K. and France has again climbed — though the number of deaths per day remains well below levels seen earlier in the pandemic.
In the U.S.,more and more Americans are testing at home, so official case numbers are likely a vast undercount. The roster of those newly infected include actors and politicians, who are tested regularly. Cabinet members, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Broadway actors and the governors of New Jersey and Connecticut have all tested positive.
Britain stands out in Europe because it ditched all mitigation policies in February, including mandatory self-isolation for those infected. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s conservative government is determined to stick to its “living with COVID” plan, but experts disagree on whether the country is coping well.
Some scientists argue it’s the right time to accept that “living with COVID” means tolerating a certain level of disruption and deaths, much like we do for seasonal flu. Others believe that Britain’s government lifted restrictions too quickly and too soon. They warned that deaths and hospital admissions could keep rising because more people over 55 — those who are most likely to get seriously ill from COVID-19 — are now getting infected despite high levels of vaccination.
Hospitals are again under strain, both from patients with the virus and huge numbers of staff off sick, said National Health Service medical director Stephen Powis.
“Blinding ourselves to this level of harm does not constitute living with a virus infection — quite the opposite,” said Stephen Griffin, a professor in medicine at the University of Leeds. “Without sufficient vaccination, ventilation, masking, isolation and testing, we will continue to ‘live with’ disruption, disease and sadly, death, as a result.”
Others, like Paul Hunter, a medicine professor at the University of East Anglia, are more supportive of the government’s policies.
“We’re still not at the point where (COVID-19) is going to be least harmful … but we’re over the worst,” he said. Once a high vaccination rate is achieved there is little value in maintaining restrictions such as social distancing because “they never ultimately prevent infections, only delay them,” he argued.
Britain’s official statistics agency estimated that almost 5 million U.K. residents, or 1 in 13, had the virus in late March, the most it had reported. Separately, the REACT study from London’s Imperial College said its data showed that the country’s infection levels in March were 40% higher than the first omicron peak in January.
Infection rates are so high that airlines had to cancel flightsduring the busy two-week Easter break because too many workers were calling in sick.
France and Germany have seen similar surges as restrictions eased in most European countries. More than 100,000 people in France were testing positive every day despite a sharp dropoff in testing, and the number of virus patients in intensive care rose 22% over the past week.
President Emmanuel Macron’s government, keen to encourage voter turnout in April elections, is not talking about any new restrictions.
In Germany, infection levels have drifted down from a recent peak. But Health Minister Karl Lauterbach backed off a decision to end mandatory self-isolation for infected people just two days after it was announced. He said the plan would send a “completely wrong” signal that “either the pandemic is over or the virus has become significantly more harmless than was assumed in the past.”
In the U.S., outbreaks at Georgetown University and Johns Hopkins University are bringing back mask requirements to those campuses as officials seek out quarantine space.
Across Europe, only Spain and Switzerland have joined the U.K. in lifting self-isolation requirements for at least some infected people.
But many European countries have eased mass testing, which will make it much harder to know how prevalent the virus is. Britain stopped distributing free rapid home tests this month.
Julian Tang, a flu virologist at the University of Leicester, said that while it’s important to have a surveillance program to monitor for new variants and update the vaccine, countries cope with flu without mandatory restrictions or mass testing.
“Eventually, COVID-19 will settle down to become more endemic and seasonal, like flu,” Tang said. “Living with COVID, to me, should mimic living with flu.”
Cambridge University virologist Ravindra Gupta is more cautious. Mortality rates for COVID-19 are still far higher than seasonal flu and the virus causes more severe disease, he warned. He would have preferred “more gentle easing of restrictions.”
“There’s no reason to believe that a new variant would not be more transmissible or severe,” he added.
___
Geir Moulson and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, Angela Charlton in Paris, Barry Hatton in Lisbon and other AP journalists around Europe contributed to this report.
___
Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic | https://www.wwlp.com/news/ap-international-news/living-with-covid-experts-divided-on-uk-plan-as-cases-soar/ | 2022-04-10T17:35:34Z | wwlp.com | control | https://www.wwlp.com/news/ap-international-news/living-with-covid-experts-divided-on-uk-plan-as-cases-soar/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexicans voted Sunday on whether their popular president should end his six-year term barely midway through or continue to the end.
Strangely, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was the one who pushed for the first-ever referendum of its kind in Mexico.
It was considered a safe bet. The referendum is only binding if at least 40% of the country’s electorate votes — something experts believe unlikely — and López Obrador has maintained approval ratings around 60%.
With that in mind critics have decried the exercise as a waste of money — almost $80 million — and just a way for López Obrador to rally his base midway through his time in office. For someone known as an eternal campaigner the expected reaffirmation of support makes sense, but for a president outspoken about austerity it raised questions.
López Obrador voted early Sunday in downtown Mexico City, urging others to vote.
“There always has to be democracy in the family, in school, in work, in the unions, of course in public life and you have to participate,” the president said.
Some in the opposition have called for voters to boycott. López Obrador’s Morena party has been active in encouraging the president’s base to vote. The president has faced criticism that government officials and resources have promoted the referendum.
How many voters will turn out has been the overriding question.
Patricio Morales, an analyst at Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, said the lack of awareness about the referendum and potential disinterest among voters could weigh on turnout.
He noted that only 7% of voters participated in another referendum last year asking whether former presidents should be prosecuted.
The referendum fueled a feud between López Obrador and Mexico’s respected elections authority. Lawmakers from his party cut the National Electoral Institute’s budget and the institute said it didn’t have the money to pull off the referendum originally estimated to cost estimate more than $191 million. It refused to move ahead until the Supreme Court ruled that it must. Adjustments lowered expected the cost to $78.2 million. | https://www.wwlp.com/news/ap-international-news/mexicans-vote-on-whether-president-stays-or-goes/ | 2022-04-10T17:35:41Z | wwlp.com | control | https://www.wwlp.com/news/ap-international-news/mexicans-vote-on-whether-president-stays-or-goes/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Kenyan Dominic Korir wins Horsetooth Half Marathon in record time
Two of the fastest runners ever to finish the Horsetooth Half Marathon pushed each other to go even faster Sunday, leading to a new record on the scenic 13.1-mile course.
Dominic Korir, a 28-year-old Kenyan who lives and trains in Colorado Springs, broke Gebrekidan Abadi’s course record while holding off defending champion Tyler McCandless, 35, to win in 1 hour, 6 minutes and 51 seconds – just eight seconds ahead of McCandless. Lawl Lalang, 30, another Kenyan on the same Colorado Springs-based training team at Korir, was third in 1:07:40.
Elizabeth Lagoy, 25, of Salt Lake City was the women’s winner, finishing 22nd overall in 1:20:02. Fort Collins’ Sophie Anders, 29, was second in 1:20:32, and Sophie Seward, 25, a member of the same Front Range Elite running team as Anders, was third in 1:23:37.
Gebrekidan had set the previous record of 1:07:28 while winning the 2018 race. Korir, the 2019 winner and McCandless, the 2021 champion, had the next-fastest times on the current course coming in the race of 1:07:34 and 1:07:52, respectively.
About 1,500 runners out of a registered 1,750 participants were expected to complete the 49th running of the race on a course that begins below Horsetooth Reservoir’s Dixon Dam, near the site of the former Hughes Stadium, and climbs up to the east side of the reservoir. The course runs alongside the reservoir, on Centennial Drive, past the main dam, into Bellvue, then up and over Bingham Hill Road to the Poudre River Trail, and along the trail to the finish line just north of Old Town at the New Belgium Brewery.
This story will be updated. Return to Coloradoan.com for additional information.
Kelly Lyell reports on CSU, high school and other local sports and topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@coloradoan.com, follow him on Twitter @KellyLyell and find him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/KellyLyell.news. If you 're a subscriber, thank you for your support. If not, please consider purchasing a digital subscription today. | https://www.coloradoan.com/story/sports/running/2022/04/10/kenyan-dominic-korir-wins-fort-collins-horsetooth-half-marathon-record-time/9500274002/ | 2022-04-10T17:37:34Z | coloradoan.com | control | https://www.coloradoan.com/story/sports/running/2022/04/10/kenyan-dominic-korir-wins-fort-collins-horsetooth-half-marathon-record-time/9500274002/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Which Halloween game is best?
As Halloween approaches, you may be looking for a fun way to get into the holiday spirit. Luckily, there are numerous Halloween-themed games that are great for parties, families or even just hanging out by yourself. For example, the Ravensburger Horrified: Universal Monsters Strategy Board Game is fun for children 10 and up and supports up to five players at a time.
What to consider before you buy a Halloween game
Types of Halloween games
Halloween is a holiday many people look forward to all year. Due to its popularity, there are Halloween-themed games in nearly every format you could think of. Some of the most popular Halloween games come in the form of Halloween board games that allow you to strategize and play with multiple players using spooky pieces and themes. Halloween trivia games are another favorite for those who love to learn about all things Halloween, and console and PC gamers alike will be excited to learn there is no shortage of Halloween video games available as well.
Age range
Halloween is a great time for getting scared, but many kids may not want to be scared in the same way as adults. For this reason, it’s a good idea to look at a game’s recommended age range before purchasing so you don’t accidentally buy something too scary for younger audiences.
Halloween games for teens
Scavenger hunts, mystery boxes and bobbing for apples can all be tons of fun, but many teens may feel like they’re too old for these types of games. Many teenagers prefer playing video games and role-playing games that they can play with their friends. Luckily, spooky games like “Luigi’s Mansion 3” feature fun, two-player co-op modes that teens are sure to enjoy.
What to look for in a quality Halloween game
Replay value
When buying any game, one of the first things you should consider is whether or not it will be a fun, replayable game. Some Halloween-themed games, such as pin the tail on the donkey style games, will likely lose their appeal after only one or two play sessions. On the other hand, fun Halloween video games, board games and trivia games are likely to be enjoyable for quite some time after Halloween is over.
Spooky thematic elements
Thematic elements are essential when it comes to Halloween games. You’ll often get the most bang for your buck if you buy a game that is undoubtedly Halloween-themed without being so on the nose that it isn’t fun outside of Halloween. Some good examples of spooky thematic elements include ghosts, monsters, murder mysteries, fear of the dark and witchcraft.
Interesting design
Because Halloween is a holiday aimed at all ages, there are numerous design styles to represent the various ghouls, ghosts and other creatures commonly associated with Halloween. If you’re buying a Halloween game for teens, they aren’t likely to be impressed by cartoonish takes on ghosts and monsters. On the other hand, some teens and even adults prefer games that don’t take themselves too seriously or try too hard to be scary.
How much you can expect to spend on a Halloween game
Many Halloween board games will run you about $10-$25, whereas Halloween-themed video games tend to cost around $50-$60.
Halloween game FAQ
Are there any Halloween games I can make myself?
A. There are several fun Halloween games you can make yourself, such as bobbing for apples, haunted scavenger hunts and number guessing jars that use candy corn.
How can I incorporate Halloween games into my Halloween party?
A. One of the best ways to incorporate Halloween games into your party is by having a contest where the players with the highest scores receive fun, Halloween-themed prizes or candy for winning.
What’s the best Halloween game to buy?
Top Halloween board game
Ravensburger Horrified: Universal Monsters Strategy Board Game
What you need to know: This Halloween board game has players work together to defend the town against monsters such as Dracula, a mummy and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
What you’ll love: This cooperative board game is a nice break from the usual competitive play that most games are built around. Fans of classic monster movies will get a kick out of the many references to vintage horror films.
What you should consider: Some of the pieces are flimsy and may bend after a few uses.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top Halloween video game
What you need to know: This Nintendo Switch title puts players in control of a frightened Luigi as he solves puzzles and catches ghosts to save his friends.
What you’ll love: “Luigi’s Mansion 3” features top-notch graphics, and the puzzles and gameplay are fun for players of all ages. Once players beat the first set of missions, they unlock a Luigi-clone named Gooigi and a 2-player co-op mode that makes the game even more fun.
What you should consider: “Luigi’s Mansion 3” doesn’t feature Y-axis inversion, which is essential for many players.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Kohl’s
Top Halloween trivia game
What you need to know: This in-depth horror trivia game features tons of questions from both mainstream and obscure horror films.
What you’ll love: This trivia game can be played either one-on-one or with teams. The Horror Trivia Card Game has 150 different cards with 300 trivia questions. A wide range of cards are featured and even include questions about lesser-known horror movies.
What you should consider: If you aren’t a horror movie buff, you may find this game to be too challenging.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Cody Stewart writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wwlp.com/reviews/br/toys-games-br/holiday-costumes-br/the-best-halloween-game/ | 2022-04-10T17:39:39Z | wwlp.com | control | https://www.wwlp.com/reviews/br/toys-games-br/holiday-costumes-br/the-best-halloween-game/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Video shows man saving goose from python's coils
A man in South Africa rescued a goose from the coils of a python, and it was all caught on camera.
Video filmed by Petrus Johannes Stoltz shows the scary encounter on his farm, where he raises zebra, ostriches, antelopes and more, Storyful reports.
It happened April 6 on Stolz's birthday,
"Every morning I throw food out for the animals we have here including the goose that was caught by the python," Stolz told Storyful. "I could only see a wing and leg above the water so we went to investigate and found the python wrapped around the goose."
RELATED: Rainbow python goes viral on social media: ‘Stunning’
Stolz said his son has been a professional guide at one of the Big 5 safari reserves in South Africa for 11 years. He's the one who rescued the poor goose.
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Not only did Stolz's son save the goose, he also safely relocated the python to a nature reserve nearby. | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/video-shows-man-saving-goose-from-pythons-coils | 2022-04-10T17:46:48Z | fox32chicago.com | control | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/video-shows-man-saving-goose-from-pythons-coils | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Retired Army Col. Miguel Monteverde spent an intense year in combat in Vietnam. As a 25-year-old artillery captain in the A Shau Valley during 1969, he commanded 100 men and a battery of six guns.
“We were attacked very heavily on the ground one night, mid-June 1969. And we fought just like the Civil War artillery,” said Monteverde, from Los Angeles. “Despite all our capability for firing long distance, we were firing right up close, and we successfully defeated that attack, with no fatalities of our own. The enemy suffered very heavy casualties, and they never attacked us on the ground again.”
Monteverde was among a dozen Vietnam veteran volunteers who shared relics and memories of the conflict at the National Museum of the U.S. Army at Fort Belvoir as part of Vietnam Veterans Day on March 29.
Well south of the A Shau Valley, near Saigon, Army Spc. 4 Bob Dunn of Milwaukee, Wisc., was an Army policeman and was “volun-told” that he would be a K-9 handler.
After training in Korea, he and his partner Duke, a German Shepherd sentry, spent most of a year with the 212th Military Police Company, on solitary night patrols guarding the Long Binh Ammunitions Depot, which Dunn called the “largest ammunitions depot in the world at that time.” (Coincidentally, the 212th MP Company is now assigned at Fort Belvoir.)
“We worked at night, by ourselves,” Dunn said. “We were the only friendlies at the perimeter as the first line of defense should something happen to the ammunition dump.”
After a year without injury to him or his partner, Dunn said it was one of his saddest days to finish his tour and leave Duke behind.
“I was with him more than I was with any other of the troops that I was assigned,” he added. “We played together; I worked with him on patrol by ourselves at night so he was my partner for that whole year – that was a very sad moment.”
Tammy Call, museum director, whose father was a Vietnam veteran, welcomed visitors to the daylong exhibition and said the war happened at a time of great social change in the country.
“The focus wasn't the same and the support wasn't the same. In previous wars, our veterans come home, and they come home to a hero’s welcome as they should,” she said. “Our Vietnam veterans deserve that same recognition. And they didn't get it at that time.”
Call added that she is pleased that the day of commemoration was formally established in 2017.
Monteverde, who said that his life on Army bases insulated him from much of the social protests, sadly noted how Vietnam-era veterans were not seen as heroes, as had been the case in prior conflicts, even though it wasn’t through their own doing.
“Soldiers go where their country sends them. And so I’m very glad now that we are beginning to recognize the contribution of the sons and daughters of America who fought in Vietnam,” Monteverde said.
Monteverde said he is proud to volunteer as part of Vietnam Veterans Day commemoration at the museum, which he said does a splendid job of telling the personal stories of soldiers and the collective sacrifices they made for the country.
“We think of the Army writ large as a monolithic organization. And when people are upset with national policy, they tend to throw rocks at the Army,” he added. “And those rocks end up hitting the young men and the women who are doing their best to defend the country. And … they’re not at fault.” | https://www.insidenova.com/headlines/vietnam-vets-share-stories-at-army-museum-event/article_16af830a-b8ec-11ec-9f44-cfb21a237730.html | 2022-04-10T17:48:56Z | insidenova.com | control | https://www.insidenova.com/headlines/vietnam-vets-share-stories-at-army-museum-event/article_16af830a-b8ec-11ec-9f44-cfb21a237730.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Middle school students from across Prince William County Public Schools participated in Math Quest last fall at Lake Ridge Middle School.
The event challenged students to solve algebraic, geometric, statistical and probability questions. Math Quest also encompasses critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration and citizenship.
“The Math Quest benefits students by providing opportunities to collaborate and communicate as a team from different schools,” said Kristin Rojas, the school system’s professional development specialist for secondary mathematics.
Students from Gar-Field and Potomac high schools supported the event by teaching middle school students problem-solving strategies and serving as coaches to encourage students. Congratulations to the following Math Quest winners.
Green Level Individual:
First place: Eliana Bower, Gainesville Middle School
Second place: Alexander Willmet, Gainesville Middle School
Third place: Jannat Amjad, Porter Traditional School
Green Level Team:
First place: Team Blaise Pascal (Norah Biggins, Parkside Middle School; Azadeh Hill, Pennington Traditional School; Erin Jansen, The Nokesville School; Marcus Leon, Saunders Middle School)
Second place: Team Henri Poincare (Samone Howell, Porter Traditional School; Lucas Ngo, Pennington Traditional School; Kayam Sedhai, The Nokesville School; Annie Talkington, Lake Ridge Middle School)
Third place: Team Mary Jackson (Isabella Medeiros, Benton Middle School; Ivan Poma, Saunders Middle; Hamere Tamirat, Pennington Traditional School; Alexander Wilmert, Gainesville Middle)
Blue Level Individual:
First place: John Barker, Lake Ridge Middle
Second place: Muhammad Ibrahim, Gainesville Middle
Third place: Gaelle Sikali, Lake Ridge Middle
Blue Level Team:
First place: Team Isaac Newton (John Barker, Lake Ridge Middle; Ryan Chau, Rippon Middle School; Gabriela Mulugeta, Porter Traditional School; Andy Truong, Woodbridge Middle School)
Second place: Team Katherine Johnson (Anthony Bonilla, The Nokesville School; Kayam Dhungana, Porter Traditional School; Gaelle Sikali, Lake Ridge Middle)
Third place: Team Fibonacci (Henry Bloomrose, Lake Ridge Middle; Rafael Guadron, Potomac Shores Middle School; Adam Qazei, Potomac Shores Middle; Andre Villalta, Gainesville Middle)
Purple Level Individual:
First place: Jayden Yang, Gainesville Middle
Second place: Ram Mylavarapu, Pennington Traditional School
Third place: Tan Ho, Rippon Middle
Purple Level Team:
First place: Team Euler (Coco Izumi, Benton Middle; Kaleb Mekonnen, Lake Ridge Middle; Ricardo Urias Parras, Saunders Middle; Jayden Yang, Gainesville Middle)
Second place: Team Jacob Bernoulli (Belva Fianko, Gainesville Middle; Mercedes Mais, Potomac Shores Middle; Ram Mylavarapu, Pennington Traditional School; Ryan Pao, The Nokesville School)
Third place: Team Benjamin Banneker (Alyssa Delasbour, Potomac Middle; Tan Ho, Rippon Middle; Abigail Nketsia-Tabiri, Potomac Middle; Gavin Ohler, Rippon Middle) | https://www.insidenova.com/news/education/prince-william-county-middle-schoolers-compete-in-math-quest/article_02d5a28a-b8ef-11ec-8ed0-2715209becbc.html | 2022-04-10T17:49:09Z | insidenova.com | control | https://www.insidenova.com/news/education/prince-william-county-middle-schoolers-compete-in-math-quest/article_02d5a28a-b8ef-11ec-8ed0-2715209becbc.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Ian Brewer of Manassas Park, Jack Reiter of Haymarket and Andrew Shy of Woodbridge were named to the Dean’s List for the fall quarter at Palmer College of Chiropractic’s Florida campus in Port Orange, Fla.
Shelby Mejia of Manassas has been named to the Dean’s List for the fall semester at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa.
Hannah McKay of Woodbridge has been named to the Dean’s List for the fall semester at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.
Lillian Luong of Bristow and Maddie Melice of Manassas were named to the Dean’s List for the fall semester at the University of Rhode Island.
Efhril Devlin of Woodbridge and Elisia Lewis of Haymarket were named to the Dean’s List for the fall semester at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.
Kyle Kunzer of Manassas has been recognized with Highest Honors and Ezerae Ham of Dale City has been recognized with High Honors on the Dean’s List for the fall semester at McDaniel College in Westminster, Md.
Donovan Breeding of Manassas and Drake Marshall of Gainesville were named to the Dean’s List for the fall semester at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Kelly Krotzer of Manassas was named to the dean’s list for the fall semester at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa.
Joshua Boisvert of Woodbridge and Emma Johnson of Woodbridge earned Faculty Honors for the fall semester at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
Megan Dass of Woodbridge has been named to the Dean’s List for the fall semester at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
Bailey Smith of Nokesville and Christopher Timothy of Nokesville were named to the honor roll for the fall semester at Dixie State University in St. George, Utah.
Elena Mourad of Montclair was named to the Dean’s List for the fall semester at Albion (Mich.) College.
Asaad Mohamedtaha of Woodbridge graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in December with a Master’s of Business Administration degree.
Two local students graduated from the University of Tampa (Fla.) in December:
Brandi Hart of Manassas earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Education-Elementary.
Kei Riley of Quantico earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics with Computer Science.
Nina Lanier of Manassas Park has earned a $19,000 annual Presidential Scholarship to Albright College in Reading, Pa. Currently attending Manassas Park High School, Lanier is interested in studying fashion and/or digital studio art in college.
Christian Gardner of Woodbridge has been named to the Dean’s List for the fall semester at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J.
Evan Bauer of Haymarket has been named to the Dean’s List for the fall semester at Alvernia University, in Reading, Pa.
Jemma Alumbaugh of Woodbridge, Lydia Kang of Catharpin and Daniel Rendall of Bristow were named to the dean’s list for the fall semester at Wheaton (Ill.) College.
Karsyn Bredenkamp of Nokesville has been named to the honors list for the fall semester at Concordia University in Seward, Neb.
Mackenzie Dierberg of Manassas was inducted into the Omicron Delta Kappa national honor society at Shenandoah University in Winchester.
Kana March of Woodbridge and M Minton of Woodbridge were named to the Dean’s List for the fall semester at Ithaca (N.Y.) College.
Joseph Boros of Nokesville and Graham Walker of Haymarket were named to the Dean’s List for the fall semester at Frostburg State University (Md.).
Caroline Petty-Kane of Haymarket was named to the dean’s list for the fall semester at the University of Tampa (Fla.).
The following local students graduated with honors from James Madison University in Harrisonburg in December:
- Gianna Casolara of Manassas, Cum Laude with degrees in computer science and dance.
- Katherine Sandstrum of Bristow, Cum Laude with a degree in English.
- Peov Nhek of Gainesville, Cum Laude with a degree interdisciplinary liberal studies.
- Janelle Carter of Haymarket, Summa Cum Laude with a degree interdisciplinary liberal studies.
- Catherine Bonta of Woodbridge, Cum Laude with a degree in nursing.
- Madison Weaver of Woodbridge, Cum Laude with a degree in nursing.
- Kyrie Bassett of Wooodbridge, Distinction in Nursing with a degree in nursing.
- Victoria Cerniglia of Gainesville, Summa Cum Laude with a degree in psychology.
- Christopher Zerby of Woodbridge, Cum Laude with a degree in public policy and administration.
The following local students graduated from James Madison University in Harrisonburg in December:
- Emmalyn Barlow of Haymarket, a degree in biology.
- Amanda Boyer of Bristow, a degree in business administration executive leadership.
- Darby Roltsch of Woodbridge, a degree in business administration information security.
- Laura Bloomfield of Bristow, a degree in business administration information security.
- Robert Rixmann of Manassas, a degree in business administration information security.
- Jordi Silva of Woodbridge, a degree in communication studies.
- Michael Mansour of Haymarket, a degree in communication studies.
- Nicholas Wills of Bristow, a degree in computer information systems.
- Theodore Mott of Haymarket, a degree in computer information systems.
- Tumur Sukhee of Haymarket, a degree in computer information systems.
- Jared Bhatti of Woodbridge, a degree in computer science.
- Maria Menjivar of Manassas, a degree in dietetics.
- Jennifer Cooper of Manassas, a degree in education.
- Bernadette Zapiain of Woodbridge, a degree in English.
- Jacob Drew of Manassas, a degree in finance.
- Adlh Mazrawi of Woodbridge, a degree in health sciences.
- Kaitlin Leigh of Woodbridge, a degree in health sciences.
- Queenberly Escalante Costilla of Manassas, a degree in health sciences.
- Elam Perry of Woodbridge, a degree in history.
- Kayla Decker of Manassas, a degree in hospitality management.
- Kyra Schumacher of Bristow, a degree in individualized study.
- Anthony Arrigo of Manassas, a degree in integrated science and technology.
- Axel Cabrera Castillo of Woodbridge, a degree in management.
- Lean Attipoe of Woodbridge, a degree in management.
- Teko Folli of Woodbridge, a degree in management.
- Gavin Tomchick of Woodbridge, a degree in mathematics.
- Alana Donaldson of Woodbridge, a degree in media arts and design.
- Amanda Rice of Woodbridge, a degree in nursing.
- Sydney Braden of Bristow, a degree in nursing.
- Mishalini Suresh of Manassas, a degree in physician assistant studies.
- Seth Vann of Manassas, a degree in physician assistant studies.
- Susannah Jackson of Manassas, a degree in physician assistant studies.
- Caroline Lindsay of Montclair, a degree in psychology.
- John Hayes of Manassas, a degree in sport and recreation management.
- Alexis Helsley Lincoln of Manassas, a degree in theater.
Joshua Lowther of Woodbridge was named to the Trustees’ List for the fall semester at Champlain College in Burlington, Vt.
Adam Devine of Nokesville was named to the President’s List for the fall semester at Champlain College in Burlington, Vt.
Tracy Gore of Triangle and Shawn Ramsey of Woodbridge have been named to the Dean’s List for the fall semester at Champlain College in Burlington, Vt.
Bremen Black of Woodbridge, Nia Brooks of Bristow and Jordan Brooks of Bristow were named to the Dean’s List for the fall semester at the University of Utah.
D'andre Weeden of Manassas graduated from the University of Mississippi in December with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science.
Amara Smith Speights of Woodbridge was named to the Deans’ List for the fall semester at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The following local students were named to the Dean’s List for the fall semester at Hollins University in Roanoke:
- Tayah Frye of Woodbridge
- Margaret Gildersleeve of Woodbridge
- Cassidy Sheehan of Woodbridge
- Yareli Sosa Antunez of Woodbridge
- Alycia Jones of Woodbridge
- Samantha Faulk of Manassas
- Jasmine Jones of Woodbridge
- Isabel Lucas of Manassas
- Shakirra Payne-Felder of Woodbridge
- Ella Pearson of Manassas
Campbell Pagel of Dumfries has been named to the President’s Honors List and the Dean’s list for the fall semester at the University of Hartford (Conn.). | https://www.insidenova.com/news/education/prince-william-county-student-news/article_45585a3a-b8ef-11ec-86e5-131e62618b72.html | 2022-04-10T17:49:15Z | insidenova.com | control | https://www.insidenova.com/news/education/prince-william-county-student-news/article_45585a3a-b8ef-11ec-86e5-131e62618b72.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
LAHAINA, Maui (KITV4) - A local restaurant on Maui has been reimagined. Pacific'o On The Beach is under new leadership with a familiar name at the helm in the kitchen.
Maui boy, chef Isaac Bancaco, is back on the scene. KITV4's Malika Dudley caught up with him for details on the menu and how it all came about.
More information:
Pacific’o On The Beach, renowned for its romantic beachfront dining experience on Maui since 1993, announces the unfolding of a re-energized restaurant concept. Poised to evolve into a landmark dining destination, the revitalized restaurant introduces a refreshed brand, a powerhouse team, imaginative food and beverage offerings, plus a contemporary-fashioned space , while maintaining its dedicated service and unparalleled dining experience that guests have come to enjoy since 1993.
Pacific’o’s new leadership team is headed by original partner Louis Coulombe and managing partners Michele and Qiana Di Bari of the famous Sale Pepe Pizzeria e Cucina in Lahaina. Though fruitful collaboration, they bring to life Coulombe’s transformation vision and uphold his commitment to meet changing customer expectations and upcoming trends. Restauranteur Michele Di Bari lends his expertise in food and beverage operations while his wife Qiana, a former music business executive, handles marketing relations and brand communication.
“Pacific’o has become an iconic part of Maui history where people come to celebrate their most special moments. We would love for that legacy to live on with future generations choosing to create memories here,” said Qiana Di Bari, Managing Partner of Pacific’o On The Beach.
Maui’s own Isaac Bancaco was handpicked to take the culinary reins as Executive Chef. Widely recognized for his innovative style, contributions to the local Hawaiian food community, and his distinctive credo rooted in deep love for his land, Chef Isaac was the management’s unanimous choice for executing the gastronomic facet of the new restaurant concept. He adds an unprecedented twist to his signature style of highlighting farm-fresh ingredients and traditional flavors, telling the story behind every dish.
“It’s fun to work with a group of forward thinkers who support free-flowing creativity,” said Isaac Bancaco, Executive Chef of Pacific’o On The Beach. “Guests will discover unexpected twists to classics like Southern Fried Chicken but cooked the traditional Hawaiian way and served with malasadas (popular donut-like Hawaiian dessert) or the Mahi-Mahi Wellington paired with Lobster Tail wrapped like Lau Lau (a Hawaiian steamed dish typically with pork and butterfish wrapped in luau leaves).
Coulombe refers to Bancaco as a dynamo who breathes renewed energy to the team. Working alongside him is Executive Sous Chef McKenna Shea who brings her forte in savory and sweet dishes while Bar Manager Mari Howe creates lively libations including her “grass to glass” concoctions.
Sharing a deep reverence for their land and community, the entire team demonstrates respect and care for the environment in everything they do at Pacific’o. As Maui’s only restaurant with its own farm now growing up to 150 different crops, Pacific’o enjoys a steady supply of local fresh produce for their farm-to-table menu. In the revamped restaurant, every detail— from the light fixtures to the dining tables and chairs— expresses sentimental significance. The restaurant doors have been replaced with cypress wood from Haleakala. The bar’s countertop, handmade by Coulombe himself, is repurposed eucalyptus from O’o Farm. The remnants have been ingeniously converted into bread and cheese boards for dining use.
Being West Maui’s only restaurant on the beach with the best view in town, the space redesign infuses color schemes that offer a semblance of the glamorous Côte d’Azur. The bright hues representing Lahaina’s sunny skies are also depicted in the refreshed logo. Relaxed but trendy, the overall atmosphere is stylish yet timeless, offering a charming coastal venue for that inimitable celebration whether a candle-lit dinner, a social night out, or a large party event.
Pacific‘o On The Beach is open Tuesday-Saturday from 5-9pm. For more information, visit www.pacificomaui.com or call (808) 667-4341.
About Pacific’o On The Beach:
Pacific’o On The Beach, reputed to have “The Best View in Town,” is West Maui’s only restaurant on the beach, offering an invigorating and elevated dining experience. Establish in 1993, the restaurant is located on the famous Front Street in Lahaina. Open solely for dinner, they have set a new dining standard delivering a contemporary menu inspired by the finest local ingredients from both land and sea. Pacific’o On The Beach is open Tuesday-Saturday from 5-9pm. For more information, visit www.pacificomaui.com or call (808) 667-4341. | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/maui-s-pacific-o-on-the-beach-unfolds-with-revitalized-restaurant-concept/article_c85d862a-b8f0-11ec-9ff1-877e27fc5f6c.html | 2022-04-10T17:53:36Z | kitv.com | control | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/maui-s-pacific-o-on-the-beach-unfolds-with-revitalized-restaurant-concept/article_c85d862a-b8f0-11ec-9ff1-877e27fc5f6c.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
PUKALANI, Maui (KITV4) -- Instability near the islands could help fire off some enhanced showers for windward areas this weekend. Some of those could be heavy at times, with the possibility of isolated thunderstorms for the Kona side of the island of Hawaii. Sunday, as that area moves away from the islands, the likelihood has decreased but the possibility remains.
Fortunately, winds are expected to be breezy enough to push clouds and showers along rather quickly which reduces the threat for flooding should those heavier pockets of showers develop over the state.
Average wind speeds across the state Sunday are forecasted in the 15-20 mph range out of the east primarily. Our winds have a southeasterly element to them from time to time. This evening, winds may drop to moderate levels.
Looking ahead, drier and more stable weather is on the horizon for next week as we return to more typical trade wind type weather.
Small today for north and west shores. A new WNW could bring a small boost on Monday and Tuesday. A new NW is expected to fill in Friday through the weekend.
East shores remain elevated through Tuesday.
Overlapping south swells keep heights elevated through Tuesday with another pulse on tap for next weekend.
SURF:
North: flat-2'
West: 2-3'
South: 3-5'
East: 5-7'
Do you have a story idea? Email news tips to news@kitv.com
Weekend Meteorologist and Maui County correspondent
Malika has been at KITV since July 2020. She graduated from the University of Hawaii and attended Mississippi State University for her certification in Broadcast Meteorology. Malika started her career in the Hawaii news industry in 2007. | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/sunday-weather-breezy-winds-leeward-sunshine-small-surf/article_15f068f8-b8ec-11ec-865f-d3090f1dbc9e.html | 2022-04-10T17:53:42Z | kitv.com | control | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/sunday-weather-breezy-winds-leeward-sunshine-small-surf/article_15f068f8-b8ec-11ec-865f-d3090f1dbc9e.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Talk about a new acting vehicle!
Brie Larson, the Oscar-winning actress and interstellar component of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, will join the Fast and Furious franchise, according to the property’s chief driver Vin Diesel. The actor and producer made the announcement via Instagram late Saturday night.
His caption read: “Yeah yeah yeah… you see this angel over my shoulder cracking me up, you say to your self ‘that’s captain Marvel’ Clearly there is love and laughter in this image. What you don’t see however, is the character you will be introduced to in Fast10. You have no idea how timeless and amazing she will be in our mythology. Beyond her beauty, her intellect… her Oscar, haha is this profound soul who will add something you might not have expected but yearned for.
Welcome to the FAMILY Brie.”
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The upcoming movie, which Variety calls Fast and Furious 10 (the official title may change before release, or at least get an ampersand), is, of course, the 11th feature film in the franchise. We would sooner inject liquid NO2 into our veins than disrespect Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. Justin Lin will direct the new entry, making it his sixth time behind the wheel.
Larson will join the longstanding Fast and Furious company of Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, and Sung Kang, as well as relative newcomer Charlize Theron.
In addition to Larson, Daniela Melchior and Jason Momoa will make their debuts in the series with this newest film.
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— Sign up for the “HWD Daily” newsletter for must-read industry and awards coverage—plus a special weekly edition of “Awards Insider.” | https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/04/the-fast-and-furious-family-gains-a-new-member-in-brie-larson | 2022-04-10T18:06:33Z | vanityfair.com | control | https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/04/the-fast-and-furious-family-gains-a-new-member-in-brie-larson | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
By The Associated Press
KYIV, Ukraine — The mayor of Kyiv and his brother said the visit of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to their capital shows who Ukraine’s real friends are at this critical time. But they understand if security concerns keep U.S. President Joe Biden from visiting for now.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko and his brother Wladimir have been professional boxers and now outspoken defenders of Ukraine. Interviewed Sunday on ABC News “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” they said they expect Russia’s military to return and target Kyiv again. And when they do, they said they can’t defend Ukraine with their fists — they need weapons.
Wladimir Klitschko also pleaded for the world to isolate Russia economically, saying “every cent that Russia is getting, they’re using for weapons to kill us.”
Vitali Klitschko said everyone was shocked when the Russians who pushed on Kyiv retreated after killing hundreds of civilians during their occupation. He called it genocide to kill women, children, old people and teenagers for no reason.
To defend Ukraine now, the mayor said, is to defend democracy and peace in Europe.
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KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
— US: Russia’s new battlefield commander has history of brutality
— Ukraine digs in to fight Russia’s looming eastern offensive
— Analysis: War, economy could weaken Putin’s place as leader
— Biden, Modi to speak as India avoids hard line on Russia
— Zelenskyy, in AP interview, says he seeks peace despite atrocities
— Poland-Ukraine ties seen as target of Russian disinformation
— Go to https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine for more coverage
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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
WILMINGTON, Del. — The White House said President Joe Biden will press Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take a hard line against Russia’s Ukraine invasion. Press Secretary Jen Psaki says the leaders plan a virtual meeting on Monday.
India’s neutral stance in the war has raised concerns in Washington and earned praise from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who lauded India this month for judging “the situation in its entirety, not just in a one-sided way.”
India abstained when the U.N. General Assembly voted Thursday to suspend Russia from its seat on the 47-member Human Rights Council over allegations of war crimes. India continues to purchase Russian energy despite Western pressure to avoid buying Russian oil and gas. And the U.S. has considered sanctions on India for its recent purchase of advanced Russian air defense systems.
Psaki’s statement says Biden will discuss how Russia’s war against Ukraine is destabilizing the global food supply and commodity markets, and the need to strengthen the global economy while ”upholding a free, open, rules-based international order to bolster security, democracy, and prosperity.”
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BERLIN — Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday.
The Austria Press Agency reported that Nehammer told reporters in Vienna on Sunday that he plans to make the journey. It follows a trip on Saturday to Kyiv, where he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
APA reported that Nehammer aims to encourage dialogue between Ukraine and Russia and also address “war crimes” in his meeting with Putin.
Austria is a member of the European Union and has backed the 27-nation bloc’s sanctions against Russia, though it so far has opposed cutting off deliveries of Russian gas. The country is militarily neutral and is not a member of NATO.
Nehammer said he was taking the trip on his own initiative, and that he had consulted with the European Union’s top officials. He said that he also informed Zelenskyy and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
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BERLIN — The U.N. nuclear watchdog said Ukraine said the staff at the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear plant has been rotated for the first time in three weeks after Russian troops left the area.
The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency has expressed concern about the well-being of the workers since the Russian military took control of the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster at the beginning of the war.
The agency said Ukraine informed it on Sunday that it has now rotated the staff, but the situation remains far from normal. They had to be transported to and from the site by water, with the Pripyat River being the only way for people living in the city of Slavutych to currently reach the plant.
The IAEA said Ukraine has informed it that analytical laboratories for radiation monitoring at the site were destroyed, with analytical instruments “stolen, broken or otherwise disabled.” The automated transmission of radiation monitoring data has been disabled.
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KYIV, Ukraine — The governor of the region that includes Ukraine’s fourth-largest city, Dnipro, says the airport was hit twice by missile attacks on Sunday. The Ukrainian military command said Russian forces also keep shelling Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, and have kept up their siege of Mariupol, the key southern port city that has been under attack for nearly six weeks.
The Russian Defense Ministry says it’s air-launched missiles hit Ukraine’s S-300 air defense missile systems in two locations, while sea-launched cruise missiles destroyed a Ukrainian unit’s headquarters in the Dnipro region. Neither side’s military claims could be independently verified.
The Pentagon said Russia has a clear advantage in armored forces for its next phase in its war on Ukraine. Press secretary John Kirby said Friday that the Russians spread themselves too thin to take the capital, but now they’re more focused on a smaller region, and still have the vast majority of their combat power. A major effort by Ukrainian defenses and more Western assistance will be needed to push them back.
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WASHINGTON — A senior U.S. official said Russia has appointed a new commander to oversee its war on Ukraine.
The official speaking on condition of anonymity said Russia has turned to one of its most experienced military officers, Gen. Alexander Dvornikov. U.S. officials say the 60-year-old general has a record of brutality against civilians in Syria and other theaters of war.
The White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told CNN on Sunday that “this general will just be another author of crimes and brutality against Ukrainian civilians.” And he said “no appointment of any general can erase the fact that Russia has already faced a strategic failure in Ukraine.”
The new battlefield leadership comes as Russia gears up for what is expected to be a large and more focused push to expand Russian control in the Donbas after failing to conquer the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. Sullivan reiterated support for the Ukrainian government, saying the United States is determined to do all it can to help Ukrainians resist this general and the forces he commands.
— Robert Burns and Hope Yen
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s border guard agency says that about 2,200 Ukrainian men of fighting age have been detained so far while trying to leave the country in violation of martial law.
The agency said Sunday that some of them have used forged documents and others tried to bribe border guards to get out of the country.
It said some have been found dead while trying to cross the Carpathian mountains in adverse weather, without specifying the number.
Under martial law, Ukrainian men between 18 and 60 are barred from leaving the country so that they can be called up to fight.
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WARSAW, Poland — Sirens have sounded in some Polish cities to mark the anniversary of a 2010 plane crash that killed the country’s president, despite protests that their sound would be unnecessarily traumatic for refugees from the war in Ukraine.
The sirens early Sunday were intended to add to the significance and the plaintive character of observances honoring the late President Lech Kaczynski, the first lady and 94 other prominent Poles killed 12 years ago in the crash of the presidential plane in Russia. Kaczynski was the twin of Jaroslaw Kaczynski — the leader of the main governing Law and Justice party.
Provincial governors ignored calls not to use the sirens out of concern for refugees from neighboring Ukraine, traumatized by air raid alarms. Authorities sent text messages to refugees’ phones that the sirens would mean no danger.
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KYIV, Ukraine — The Ukrainian military says Russia has been beefing up its forces and trying to probe Ukrainian defenses.
The Ukrainian military command said Sunday that the Russian troops have continued attempts to break Ukrainian defenses near Izyum, southeast of Kharkiv. It reported that Russia was sending reinforcements to Izyum while continuing the shelling of Kharkiv.
The military added that the Russians also continued their attempts to take control of Mariupol, the Sea of Azov port that has been besieged by Russian forces for nearly 1 ½ months.
After Russia’s attempt to capture Kyiv and other big cities in northeastern Ukraine quickly failed, Ukrainian and Western officials expect Moscow to launch a new offensive in eastern Ukraine, where Russia-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian forces for eight years.
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he focused on the need to track down perpetrators of war crimes in a phone call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Zelenskyy said on Twitter that in Sunday’s call “we emphasized that all perpetrators of war crimes must be identified and punished.”
Ukraine has accused Russia of atrocities against civilians in Bucha and other places near Kyiv, where hundreds of slaughtered civilians, many with their hands bound and signs of torture, were found after Russian troops retreated.
Zelenskyy also said he and Scholz “discussed anti-Russian sanctions, defense and financial support for Ukraine.”
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VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has opened Holy Week with a call for an Easter truce in Ukraine to make room for a negotiated peace, highlighting the need for leaders to “make some sacrifices for the good of the people.”
Celebrating Palm Sunday Mass before crowds in St. Peter’s Square for the first time since the pandemic, Pope Francis called for “weapons to be laid down to begin an Easter truce, not to reload weapons and resume fighting, no! A truce to reach peace through real negotiations.”
Francis did not refer directly to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the reference was clear. He has repeatedly denounced the war and the suffering brought to innocent civilians.
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HELSINKI — Finland says that a shipment of art works from Russian museums has been returned to Russia after it was seized under European Union sanctions against Moscow.
Finland’s customs service said late Saturday that the Foreign Ministry granted a special permit to return the consignment with a total insured value of around 42 million euros ($46 million). It said that trucks carrying the art works from the Hermitage Museum and the Pavlovsk State Museum in St. Petersburg, among others, left Finnish territory on Saturday afternoon.
The shipment was seized at the Vaalimaa border crossing at the beginning of April. The works were en route to Russia after loan to museums in Europe and Japan. Experts say that art works loaned from Russia typically travel overland via Finland.
Russia has demanded the return of all works on loan to “unfriendly” nations that imposed sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine.
___
MOSCOW — The Russian military says it has struck Ukrainian air defense batteries in the country’s south and east.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Sunday that the military used air-launched missiles to hit Ukraine’s S-300 air defense missile systems in Starobohdanivka in the southern Mykolaiv region and at an air base in Chuhuiv in the eastern Kharkiv region.
Konashenkov also said that sea-launched cruise missiles destroyed the headquarters of a Ukrainian military unit near Zvonetske in the Dnipro region.
The Russian military claims couldn’t be independently verified.
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk says more civilians are expected to leave Mariupol Sunday in their personal vehicles.
Evacuations are also planned from Berdyansk, Tokmak and Enerhodar in the south and Sieverierodonetsk, Lysychansk, Popasna and Rubizhne in the east.
Mariupol, a strategic port city on the Sea of Azov, has been besieged by Russian forces for nearly 1 ½ months, cut from food, water and power supplies and pummeled by relentless bombardment that has killed at least 5,000, according to local officials.
Ukrainian authorities have urged civilians in the east to evacuate in the face of an imminent Russian offensive. They accused Russia of killing 52 people on Friday at the train station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk as they were preparing to evacuate.
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GENEVA — The U.N. refugee agency says the number of people who have left Ukraine since the beginning of the war has reached 4.5 million.
A regular update Sunday of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees’ online portal on numbers of refugees fleeing Ukraine since Feb. 24 brought the total to some 4.504 million.
About 2.6 million of those fled at least initially to Poland and more than 686,000 to Romania. However, UNHCR notes that there are very few border controls within the European Union and it believes “a large number of people” have moved on from the first country they arrived in.
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LONDON — Britain’s Ministry of Defense says that Russia’s armed forces are seeking to respond to mounting losses by boosting troop numbers with personnel who had been discharged from military service since 2012.
In an intelligence update on Twitter, the ministry also said Sunday that the Russian military’s efforts to “generate more fighting power” also include trying to recruit from Trans-Dniester, a breakaway region in Moldova that borders Ukraine.
Russia maintains some 1,500 troops in the region, which is not internationally recognized.
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told The Associated Press on Saturday that he is committed to seeking peace despite Russian attacks on civilians that have stunned the world.
He said no one wants to negotiate with people who tortured their nation — “as a man, as a father, I understand this very well.” But he said “we don’t want to lose opportunities, if we have them, for a diplomatic solution.”
Zelenskyy said he’s confident Ukrainians would accept peace despite the horrors they have witnessed in the war. But meanwhile, Russian troops are regrouping for an expected surge in fighting in eastern Ukraine, including the besieged port city of Mariupol that Ukrainian defenders are battling to retain.
So Zelenskyy renewed his plea for countries to send more weapons. He says they have to fight for life — not “for dust when there is nothing and no people. That’s why it is important to stop this war.”
___
KYIV, Ukraine — U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, promising so much support that his nation might never be bullied again.
Johnson’s surprise visit included a pledge of 120 armored vehicles and new anti-ship missile systems, part of another 100 million pounds ($130 million) of high-grade military equipment. Johnson also confirmed an additional $500 million in World Bank lending, taking Britain’s total loan guarantee up to $1 billion.
Johnson said Ukraine defied the odds pushing Russian forces “from the gates of Kyiv, achieving the greatest feat of arms of the 21st century.″
The prime minister credits “Zelenskyy’s resolute leadership and the invincible heroism and courage of the Ukrainian people” for thwarting what he calls the “monstrous aims” of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Johnson says Britain and its partners “are going to ratchet up the economic pressure … not just freezing assets in banks and sanctioning oligarchs but moving away from use of Russian hydrocarbons.”
Johnson also described a vision for a future Ukraine so fortified and protected by the equipment, technology and know-how of Britain and its partners that it can never be threatened in the same way again. In the meantime, Johnson said, “there is a huge amount to do to make sure that Ukraine is successful, that Ukraine wins and that Putin must fail.” | https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2022/04/10/live-updates-mayor-brother-russians-will-hit-kyiv-again/ | 2022-04-10T18:06:39Z | pasadenastarnews.com | control | https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2022/04/10/live-updates-mayor-brother-russians-will-hit-kyiv-again/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Montsorrel, the $75 million Palm Beach estate belonging to billionaire investor Nelson Peltz, was the place to be on Saturday, as his 27-year-old daughter Nicola Peltz (you may remember her as Mark Wahlberg’s daughter in Transformers: Age of Extinction) wed Brooklyn Beckham, the 23-year-old son of soccer star David Beckham and singer-designer Victoria Beckham.
Photos from the event show that Serena Williams and Venus Williams were there to witness the happy nuptials, as were Gordon Ramsay and Eva Longoria. Page Six reported earlier that Gigi Hadid, Nicole Richie, Elizabeth Hurley, Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen were all on the guest list. Perhaps more likely to warm the hearts of ‘90s kids was news that the gathering served as a near-Spice Girls reunion, as Victoria’s old pals Mel B., Mel C., and Emma Bunton were said to be in attendance. Alas, Geri Horner was invited, but reportedly was headed to the Australian Grand Prix with her husband Christian Horner, who leads the Red Bull Formula One team.
Snoop Dogg was reportedly set to DJ the after-ceremony party. Thierry Isambert was believed to be catering the event. (His truck was seen at the Peltz compound.)
Peltz travelled to Rome with Hollywood stylist Leslie Fremar to visit designer Pierpaolo Piccioli of Valentino, who created her dress, according to the Daily Mail. Thus far, only paparazzi pics of Peltz wearing the gown are online.
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The happy couple started dating in October 2019 and got engaged less than one year into their relationship.
The Times of Israel has reported that it was a Jewish ceremony, with the groom stomping on a glass as is part of that tradition. Considering his father’s roots as a soccer champ, we suspect he was well prepared.
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— Sign up for “The Buyline” to receive a curated list of fashion, books, and beauty buys in one weekly newsletter. | https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/04/brooklyn-beckham-and-nicola-peltzs-opulent-wedding-ceremony-brings-out-the-celebs | 2022-04-10T18:06:39Z | vanityfair.com | control | https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/04/brooklyn-beckham-and-nicola-peltzs-opulent-wedding-ceremony-brings-out-the-celebs | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Jada Pinkett Smith, seemingly putting her husband’s nonsense behind her, made her first public appearance since Oscars night on Saturday evening. The actress and wife of Will Smith, who took it upon himself to stroll up to Chris Rock and whop him across the face during the Oscars telecast, appeared for red carpet pics with Shonda Rhimes, Debbie Allen, Samuel L. Jackson, and LaTanya Richardson Jackson for the opening of the Rhimes Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles.
The Rhimes Center is the new home of the Debbie Allen Dance Academy. The organization is over two decades old and its mission statement boasts that “[w]ith a focus on disenfranchised Black and Latino communities, the world class faculty and staff members of the Debbie Allen Dance Academy use dance, theater, and performance to enrich, inspire and transform the lives of their students.”
The groundbreaking ceremony for the Rhimes Center was on July 1, 2020. One of the facilities at the Rhimes, a “fly aerial studio,” will be named for Will and Jada, according to Broadway World.
While Jada was all smiles on the red carpet, l’affaire du Slap continues to resonate throughout Hollywood and the entire known universe. (It’s all anyone can talk about at the water coolers on Ganymede.) She has remained quiet about the incident, which began when Rock made a comment about her appearance (and a dated reference to G.I. Jane.) It remains unclear if Rock was aware that the actress has alopecia, a condition that causes hair loss. Beyond a vague comment about healing uploaded to her Instagram, she has not officially spoken on the matter.
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Also on Saturday, actor Harry Lennix published an op-ed in Variety in which he argued that the 10-year banishment the Academy handed out to Smith is not enough. He called the punishment “little more than an extended time out for a playground bully,” and argued that the King Richard actor must voluntarily return his Oscar to restore honor to the ceremony.
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— Sign up for the “HWD Daily” newsletter for must-read industry and awards coverage—plus a special weekly edition of “Awards Insider.” | https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/04/jada-pinkett-smith-not-letting-slap-fallout-get-in-the-way-of-supporting-her-friends | 2022-04-10T18:06:45Z | vanityfair.com | control | https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/04/jada-pinkett-smith-not-letting-slap-fallout-get-in-the-way-of-supporting-her-friends | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo issued a public apology on social media on Sunday after an unsavoury incident following his side's 0-1 loss to Everton in a Premier League game on Saturday.
The 37-year-old Portuguese striker smashed the phone of a young Everton fan as he made his way through the tunnel after the match at Goodison Park. A video of the incident has since gone viral showing the five-time Ballon d'Or Award winner smashing an object with his right hand, while carrying a shin pad in his left hand.
The Manchester United players were reportedly being booed at the time of the incident.
The Ralf Rangnick-coached Manchester United are currently seventh on the Premier League table with 51 points, with Pep Guardiola's Manchester City on top with 73 points, followed by Liverpool on 72.
Writing on Instagram, Ronaldo said, "It's never easy to deal with emotions in difficult moments such as the one we are facing. Nevertheless, we always have to be respectful, patient and set the example for all the youngsters who love the beautiful game.
"I would like to apologise for my outburst and, if possible, I would like to invite this supporter to watch a game at Old Trafford as a sign of fair-play and sportsmanship," said Ronaldo.
Merseyside police said on Sunday they were reviewing CCTV footage to establish if Ronaldo committed an offence by knockingthe mobile phone out of the supporter's hand.
A spokesperson for Merseyside Police said the force was liaising with both clubs after reports of an alleged assault.
"As players were leaving the pitch at 2.30pm, it was reported that a boy was assaulted by one of the away team as they left the pitch," the spokesperson said.
"Inquiries are under way and officers are currently working with Everton Football Club to review CCTV footage and are carrying out extensive witness enquiries to establish if an offence has taken place." | https://www.onmanorama.com/sports/football/2022/04/10/ronaldo-apologises-after-smashing-youngster-phone.amp.html | 2022-04-10T18:10:11Z | onmanorama.com | control | https://www.onmanorama.com/sports/football/2022/04/10/ronaldo-apologises-after-smashing-youngster-phone.amp.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo issued a public apology on social media on Sunday after an unsavoury incident following his side's 0-1 loss to Everton in a Premier League game on Saturday.
The 37-year-old Portuguese striker smashed the phone of a young Everton fan as he made his way through the tunnel after the match at Goodison Park. A video of the incident has since gone viral showing the five-time Ballon d'Or Award winner smashing an object with his right hand, while carrying a shin pad in his left hand.
The Manchester United players were reportedly being booed at the time of the incident.
The Ralf Rangnick-coached Manchester United are currently seventh on the Premier League table with 51 points, with Pep Guardiola's Manchester City on top with 73 points, followed by Liverpool on 72.
Writing on Instagram, Ronaldo said, "It's never easy to deal with emotions in difficult moments such as the one we are facing. Nevertheless, we always have to be respectful, patient and set the example for all the youngsters who love the beautiful game.
"I would like to apologise for my outburst and, if possible, I would like to invite this supporter to watch a game at Old Trafford as a sign of fair-play and sportsmanship," said Ronaldo.
Merseyside police said on Sunday they were reviewing CCTV footage to establish if Ronaldo committed an offence by knockingthe mobile phone out of the supporter's hand.
A spokesperson for Merseyside Police said the force was liaising with both clubs after reports of an alleged assault.
"As players were leaving the pitch at 2.30pm, it was reported that a boy was assaulted by one of the away team as they left the pitch," the spokesperson said.
"Inquiries are under way and officers are currently working with Everton Football Club to review CCTV footage and are carrying out extensive witness enquiries to establish if an offence has taken place." | https://www.onmanorama.com/sports/football/2022/04/10/ronaldo-apologises-after-smashing-youngster-phone.html | 2022-04-10T18:10:17Z | onmanorama.com | control | https://www.onmanorama.com/sports/football/2022/04/10/ronaldo-apologises-after-smashing-youngster-phone.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Editor's note: The above video originally aired March 11, 2022.
Several deaths now attributed to COVID-19 occurred days before Feb. 28, 2020, the day health officials originally reported the first death took place in Washington state and the U.S., according to the Washington State Department of Health.
The first death attributed to COVID-19 in the state actually happened on Feb. 24, 2020, according to the department, four days before the originally reported date of Feb. 28.
The death first reported on Feb. 29 was a King County man in his 50s who had an underlying health condition. The death was also the first reported death in the U.S., weeks before the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. But now it's reported the death wasn't the first in the state or the country.
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In a statement Wednesday, the state Department of Health reported five people, all tested post mortem, died from COVID-19 by Feb. 28, 2020. The department said there was one death on Feb. 24, two deaths on Feb. 26, two on Feb. 28 and one death on Feb. 29, 2020.
Due to testing capabilities early on in the pandemic, the deaths weren't reported until March and May 2020, according to the department.
The department clarified that the man, originally reported as the first death in the state, had tested positive for COVID-19 on Feb. 28, which is why it was reported first.
"COVID-19 testing was extremely limited across the United States during the early months of the pandemic. It is likely that health departments nationwide undercounted deaths from COVID-19 infection during this time," said COVID-19 Public Information Officer Jess Nelson with the Washington State Department of Health.
The first recorded death in the U.S. has now been attributed to a 78-year-old Kansas woman, Lovell "Cookie" Brown, who died on Jan. 9, 2020, The Mercury News reported in 2021.
As of April 8, 2022, 6,172,307 people worldwide have died from COVID-19, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine. | https://www.krem.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/deaths-covid-19-washington-us/281-d4119572-14e6-4cd0-8099-2b1b0a6c62b0 | 2022-04-10T18:22:39Z | krem.com | control | https://www.krem.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/deaths-covid-19-washington-us/281-d4119572-14e6-4cd0-8099-2b1b0a6c62b0 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
BOISE, Idaho — A 12-year-old boy caught what many are calling a fish of a lifetime late last month on the Snake River.
Tyler Grimshaw tied the Idaho sturgeon catch and release record after he reeled in a 9-foot, 11-inch monster fish while fishing with his father, Lance, and Jones Sport Fishing guide Joe Weisner.
"A fish of this caliber, I mean, it doesn't come around very often," Weisner said. "I have caught and seen hundreds of these fish. It's what I do for a living and this one was truly special … It's an absolute giant."
According to Weisner, Tyler was determined to reel in the massive sturgeon once he had the fish hooked. The 12-year-old boy stayed with the fish by himself for 50 minutes.
"He was not giving up on it," Weisner said. "He took the rod between his legs and he basically was squatting on the rod, just using his own body weight for leverage."
The record-tying catch was 12 years in the making. Tyler said he has been fishing his entire life, but the 9-foot, 11-inch sturgeon outweighed any previous experience with a fishing rod.
"I was excited," Tyler said. "This fish was far bigger than anything I had seen before. I was at a loss for words."
Weisner and the crew involved with Tyler's catch measured the sturgeon three times to confirm it tied the Idaho catch and release record.
"It's just one of those moments, though, that it was truly, truly incredible," Weisner said.
The 12-year-old fisherman got a real taste of what it means to catch a fish of a lifetime, as seen in the photo below. Although Tyler did not eat the fish and released it back in the water, KTVB asked him how the sturgeon tasted in the photo.
Tyler said it tasted "good," and said "my dad just wants to get photos of me for memories."
Now, Tyler is aiming to beat his record catch by reeling in another massive sturgeon.
Watch more Local News:
See the latest news from around the Treasure Valley and the Gem State in our YouTube playlist: | https://www.krem.com/article/news/local/12-year-old-boy-ties-idaho-sturgeon-record/277-ac266413-f08c-4ab4-b268-a753cbcb5740 | 2022-04-10T18:22:45Z | krem.com | control | https://www.krem.com/article/news/local/12-year-old-boy-ties-idaho-sturgeon-record/277-ac266413-f08c-4ab4-b268-a753cbcb5740 | 0 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | 13 |
BOISE, Idaho — A 12-year-old boy caught what many are calling a fish of a lifetime late last month on the Snake River.
Tyler Grimshaw tied the Idaho sturgeon catch and release record after he reeled in a 9-foot, 11-inch monster fish while fishing with his father, Lance, and Jones Sport Fishing guide Joe Weisner.
"A fish of this caliber, I mean, it doesn't come around very often," Weisner said. "I have caught and seen hundreds of these fish. It's what I do for a living and this one was truly special … It's an absolute giant."
According to Weisner, Tyler was determined to reel in the massive sturgeon once he had the fish hooked. The 12-year-old boy stayed with the fish by himself for 50 minutes.
"He was not giving up on it," Weisner said. "He took the rod between his legs and he basically was squatting on the rod, just using his own body weight for leverage."
The record-tying catch was 12 years in the making. Tyler said he has been fishing his entire life, but the 9-foot, 11-inch sturgeon outweighed any previous experience with a fishing rod.
"I was excited," Tyler said. "This fish was far bigger than anything I had seen before. I was at a loss for words."
Weisner and the crew involved with Tyler's catch measured the sturgeon three times to confirm it tied the Idaho catch and release record.
"It's just one of those moments, though, that it was truly, truly incredible," Weisner said.
The 12-year-old fisherman got a real taste of what it means to catch a fish of a lifetime, as seen in the photo below. Although Tyler did not eat the fish and released it back in the water, KTVB asked him how the sturgeon tasted in the photo.
Tyler said it tasted "good," and said "my dad just wants to get photos of me for memories."
Now, Tyler is aiming to beat his record catch by reeling in another massive sturgeon.
Watch more Local News:
See the latest news from around the Treasure Valley and the Gem State in our YouTube playlist: | https://www.krem.com/article/news/local/12-year-old-boy-ties-idaho-sturgeon-record/277-ac266413-f08c-4ab4-b268-a753cbcb5740 | 2022-04-10T18:22:45Z | krem.com | control | https://www.krem.com/article/news/local/12-year-old-boy-ties-idaho-sturgeon-record/277-ac266413-f08c-4ab4-b268-a753cbcb5740 | 1 | 0 | green-iguana-35 | 13 |
SPOKANE, Wash. — Washington’s wolf population grew in 2021 for the 13th consecutive year, showing a 16% increase from the previous year, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife said Saturday.
As of Dec. 31, 2021, the department said there were 206 wolves in 33 packs in Washington. Nineteen of these were successful breeding pairs. This is up from 178 wolves in 29 packs and 16 breeding pairs in the 2020 count.
“Washington’s wolves continue to progress toward recovery, with four new packs documented in four different counties of the state in 2021,” Fish and Wildlife Director Kelly Susewind said in a news release.
This is a minimum count, so the actual number of wolves in Washington is higher, the agency said. Since the department's first wolf survey in 2008, the state’s wolf population has grown by an average of 25% per year.
Four new packs formed in 2021, including the Columbia Pack in Columbia County, the Keller Ridge Pack in Ferry County, the Dominion Pack in Stevens County, and the Shady Pass Pack in Chelan County. The Naneum Pack was not located during the survey and was removed from the tally, the agency said.
Wolves were wiped out in Washington in the early decades of the last century. But the animals began to move back into the state earlier this century from Canada and Idaho. The return of the animals has sparked numerous conflicts with ranchers, especially in northeastern Washington state where most of the wolves live.
Eight of the wolf packs were involved in known livestock depredations last year, the agency said. Six of the eight were involved in two or fewer events each.
As a result of depredations, two wolves from the Columbia Pack were killed in 2021, one by the department and one by a landowner with a permit to lethally remove a wolf, the agency said.
“Although wolf-livestock interactions have remained consistent, we recorded the lowest number of livestock depredation incidents in the state since 2017 and removed the fewest wolves in response to conflict since 2015,” said the department's wolf policy lead, Julia Smith.
“We’re committed to promoting the proactive use of non-lethal deterrents to minimize wolf-livestock conflict," Smith said.
Since 1980, gray wolves have been listed under state law as endangered throughout Washington.
In January 2021, wolves were delisted from federal Endangered Species Act protection and the department resumed statewide management of the species. But this February, wolves were federally relisted in the western two-thirds of the state and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service once again took the lead role in their recovery in those areas. | https://www.krem.com/article/news/local/washington-state-gray-wolf-population-grew-16-percent/283-63e11bae-c813-4f82-add8-074bc9f40b7d | 2022-04-10T18:23:03Z | krem.com | control | https://www.krem.com/article/news/local/washington-state-gray-wolf-population-grew-16-percent/283-63e11bae-c813-4f82-add8-074bc9f40b7d | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
NEW YORK — “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” sped to the top of the charts in its opening weekend, earning an impressive $71 million according to studio estimates Sunday. Paramount’s PG-rated sequel easily bested the weekend’s other major newcomer, Michael Bay's “Ambulance,” which faltered in theaters.
“Sonic 2,” which brings back the first film’s director, writers and cast, including James Marsden, Jim Carrey and Ben Schwartz, who voices the blue video game character, opened in 4,234 locations and actually surpassed its predecessor’s opening weekend. The first “Sonic the Hedgehog” opened over the Presidents Day holiday weekend in February 2020, earning $58 million in its first three days.
“The normal pattern domestically is that sequels slide a little bit," said Chris Aronson, the president of domestic distribution for Paramount. “But we certainly bucked that trend.”
For a sequel to open 22% above the first, Aronson added, is “quite remarkable.”
“Sonic 2” got mixed to positive reviews from critics and audiences were even more enthusiastic. They gave the CG/live-action hybrid a strong “A” CinemaScore.
“The filmmakers did a great job of being in service of not only the general audience but Sonic fans themselves,” Aronson said. “Many feel it's a bigger, better film than the first one.”
Big weekend for family films, Paramount
It's an important weekend not just for the “Sonic” franchise, but for PG-rated family films too. Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian said that one of the big questions of the pandemic was whether families would return to movie theaters with seemingly limitless viewing options available at home. According to exit polls, families made up 58% of the “Sonic 2” audience.
“There’s been some indication that they wanted to go back with movies like 'Sing 2,' but it's moved in fits and starts," said Dergarabedian. “This says once and for all that families want to go back. It's a really good indicator of things to come for family films in 2022 with ‘Lightyear’ and the next ‘Minions’ movie.”
“Sonic 2” is also the latest in a string of theatrical hits for Paramount in 2022, including “Scream,” “Jackass Forever” and “The Lost City,” which is still in the top five.
“A lot of credit goes to our marketing and distribution teams," Aronson said. “We’ve been judicious about picking our dates and knowing who our audience was for each.”
And their next release could be their biggest yet. “Top Gun: Maverick” opens on May 27.
Slow start for 'Ambulance'
Meanwhile, “Ambulance” got off to a bumpy start in its first weekend. With an estimated $8.7 million in grosses, it opened behind Sony’s “Morbius" and “The Lost City.” Bay’s nail-biter about a botched bank robbery was released by Universal and stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Eiza González.
Its tepid launch proved a head-scratcher for many. Reviews weren’t terrible (it’s at a 69% on Rotten Tomatoes versus “Sonic 2’s” 67%) and on paper “Ambulance” appears to be the kind of throwback, big screen blockbuster spectacle that would draw significant crowds to the theaters.
“This is a filmmaker who will forever be looked at as a blockbuster director, whether you like his movies or not. The bar is always raised for someone like that,” Dergarabedian said. “But this is a different kind of movie and I think that’s why we’re seeing these numbers. It’s not trying to be ‘Transformers.’ If Bay’s name wasn’t on it, expectations wouldn’t be as high.”
“Sonic 2” wasn’t the only success of the weekend. A24’s critical darling “Everything Everywhere All At Once” expanded nationwide in its third weekend in theaters and earned $6.1 million from only 1,250 screens.
“A24 has done a spectacular job of rolling it out on a platform release and building buzz,” Dergarabedian said.
The film, directed by the Daniels and starring Michelle Yeoh, will expand to more theaters in the coming weeks. | https://www.krem.com/article/news/nation-world/sonic-the-hedgehog-box-office/507-3e80311d-92d0-410d-ab6e-d1da44925abf | 2022-04-10T18:23:16Z | krem.com | control | https://www.krem.com/article/news/nation-world/sonic-the-hedgehog-box-office/507-3e80311d-92d0-410d-ab6e-d1da44925abf | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
MADRID, Spain — Spain’s Civil Guard says it is investigating a businessman in the eastern Valencia region who owned a private taxidermy collection with more than 1,000 stuffed animals, including just over 400 from protected species and at least one specimen of a North African oryx, already extinct.
The collection would fetch 29 million euros ($31.5 million) on the black market, the Civil Guard said Sunday in a statement, adding that its owner could be charged with trafficking and other crimes against the environment.
It said the finding was the largest of protected stuffed specimens in Spain.
Investigating agents found the stuffed animals in two warehouses extending over 50,000 square meters on the outskirts of Bétera, a small town north of the eastern coastal city of Valencia.
Of the 1,090 stuffed animals found, 405 belonged to specimens protected by the CITES convention on wildlife protection.
They included the scimitar oryx, also known as the Sahara oryx, which the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, declared extinct in the wild in 2000, and at least two more species nearly extinct: the addax, or white antelope, originally from the Sahara desert and the Bengal tiger.
The agents also recorded stuffed specimens of cheetah, leopard, lion, lynx, polar bear, snow panther and white rhinoceros, among others, as well as 198 large ivory tusks from elephants.
The Civil Guard said it would investigate whether any documents exist justifying the ownership of the collection. According to Reuters, the investigation began in November 2021 when authorities first learned of a possible private collection. The collection's owner has not been arrested.
Val Lick contributed to this report. | https://www.krem.com/article/news/nation-world/spain-investigates-mans-taxidermy-collection/507-6d67b100-1606-4075-98a4-25e00c3ae899 | 2022-04-10T18:23:22Z | krem.com | control | https://www.krem.com/article/news/nation-world/spain-investigates-mans-taxidermy-collection/507-6d67b100-1606-4075-98a4-25e00c3ae899 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
TWIN FALLS, Idaho — An Idaho man arrived back to the Gem State on Friday after spending the past few weeks in Ukraine.
Images circulating around the United States of Russia's invasion of Ukraine are what Jerry Jacques saw on a daily basis while in the country.
"I guess the hardest thing is, it's hard to believe that the Russians are targeting civilian infrastructure and civilians," Jacques said. "That's what's just mind boggling."
Jacques splits his time between living in Twin Falls and Alaska, but he recently traveled to Ukraine to help teach a class that ended up getting canceled.
After the class was canceled, Jacques discovered Salomon Smith, an American collecting supplies such as food, bullet proof vests and medical equipment in Poland to take to Ukraine.
"Then [Soloman] would pick up refugees and get them back to Poland, on the way back out," Jacques said.
After learning about the work being done to support Ukrainians, Jacques joined Soloman's mission.
"I felt a real calling to see what I could do to help the Ukrainian people," Jacques said. "Some of my ancestors came from Ukraine and Poland that settled in Canada."
While lending a helping hand was an admirable and rewarding decision, Jacques said seeing the war up close was an emotional experience.
"Probably one of the most emotional nights of my life -- at 2-2:15 in the morning last Saturday -- the air raid sirens went off and we wound up finding our way down into the bomb shelters or World War II bomb shelters," Jacques said. "I got to interact with quite a few of the Ukrainians that were stuck in the bomb shelter with us basically all night. We didn't get out till about 6:15 in the morning … Even the Ukrainians are shocked that the Russians are basically attacking their brothers and sisters -- as they call them -- from just across the border."
Jacques is heartbroken with what is happening in Ukraine, but said it was one of the most-rewarding things he has ever done.
"The Ukrainian people are so incredible," Jacques said. "Here these people have, some of them have, lost everything and they were more concerned with my comfort than their own needs. "They're just a hearty, strong, stubborn, incredible people.
"I don't believe they're ever going to let Russia conquer them. Russia might occupy their country, but these people will never be conquered."
Jacques said he is physically exhausted from his 52 hours of travel, but is even more exhausted mentally from what he witnessed.
He added Smith -- who Jacques teamed up with -- has been in Ukraine for five weeks collecting supplies and moving them into orphanages and hospitals.
Watch more Local News:
See the latest news from around the Treasure Valley and the Gem State in our YouTube playlist: | https://www.krem.com/article/news/nation-world/ukraine/idaho-man-home-after-distributing-supplies-in-ukraine/277-88d9a721-1508-479c-9b00-243793c4e631 | 2022-04-10T18:23:28Z | krem.com | control | https://www.krem.com/article/news/nation-world/ukraine/idaho-man-home-after-distributing-supplies-in-ukraine/277-88d9a721-1508-479c-9b00-243793c4e631 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
COWPENS, S.C. (WSPA) – A Cowpens man died Saturday after being hit by a car.
According to the Cowpens Police Department, the incident happened at the intersection of South Main Street and Old Pacolet Road around 9:52 p.m.
Officers said 35-year-old Dustin Nicholas Weeks was walking along South Main Street when he was struck by a vehicle.
The police department said Weeks died at the scene. | https://www.wspa.com/news/local-news/cowpens-man-dies-after-being-hit-by-car/ | 2022-04-10T18:23:57Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/local-news/cowpens-man-dies-after-being-hit-by-car/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The rebranding of Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line into the upbeat, tropically-vibed Margaritaville at Sea has been delayed, with multiple cruises canceled as the line has pushed back the inaugural sailing of its rebranded flagship, Margaritaville Paradise. The new line is now scheduled to debut on May 14, 2022.
Rebranding Delayed
The anticipated launch of Margaritaville at Sea has been pushed back two weeks, with multiple sailings canceled because of the delay. The new cruise line was scheduled to debut on April 30, 2022, but the first voyage of the updated and renovated Margaritaville Paradise will now be May 14, according to the cruise line’s booking website and postings on social media.
Guests booked on the impacted sailings received an email with the news, citing that the delay is a result of supply chain issues. As the ship is being completely renovated, with new décor, theming, and onboard features, it is entirely possible that materials have not arrived in time to complete the work in order to deliver the signature Margaritaville experience adequately.
“We need to make sure the first cruise is perfect,” a company representative said in responding to Facebook comments.
Impacted guests have reached out to the cruise line’s customer service about the canceled sailings, and have reported that refunds will be offered or cabins can be rebooked to later sailings. Details of those options were not immediately available, and guests should contact the cruise line’s customer service or their travel agent, if they used one, to confirm and make appropriate arrangements.
Cruise Line Transformation
The Florida-based Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line, which offers 2-night sailings from the Port of Palm Beach to Freeport on Grand Bahama Island, announced in December 2021 that the cruise line was to be rebranded to Margaritaville at Sea. That rebranding is including a complete update to the line’s single cruise ship, transforming from Grand Classica of Bahamas Paradise to Margaritaville Paradise of Margaritaville at Sea.
Updates to the ship will include new onboard features familiar to the Margaritaville brand, such as JWB Prime Steak & Seafood, Frank and Lola’s Pizzeria, Port of Indecision Buffet, LandShark Sports Bar, and Margaritaville Coffee & Pastry Shop as well as the Euphoria Lounge, Sunset Bar, and 5 o’Clock Somewhere Bar. Additional decorative elements and stateroom details are sure to be updated to reflect the ship’s new brand as well.
The rebranding timeline, however, is a tight one indeed. The last sailing of Grand Classica under the Bahamas Paradise name and brand is departing the Port of Palm Beach on Saturday, April 16. The cruise will return and debark its last passengers on April 18.
The initial April 30 debut of Margaritaville Paradise meant the ship’s renovation and rebranding would take place in just 12 days, a very short period for such intensive work, even if most of the work may be decoration and styling details.
With a further two weeks now available because of the inaugural sailing pushback, the cruise line can ensure more attention to detail and thorough completion of the work. This will permit more time to update the ship in order to truly deliver the quality of the Margaritaville experience to passengers once the ship sets sail.
Delays Not Uncommon
While the news of the delay comes just three weeks before the ship’s initially planned debut, delays of new or renovated cruise ships are not uncommon. This has been especially true in the past two years as pandemic-related staffing shortages and supply chain issues have had strong impacts throughout the cruise industry.
Carnival Cruise Line’s new flagship, Mardi Gras, was delayed multiple times from her initial expected debut in August 2020, until she finally set sail in July 2021.
The world’s largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean International’s Wonder of the Seas, was delayed from spring of 2021 to March 2022 because of pandemic issues.
Disney Wish, the first new ship for Disney Cruise Line in over 10 years, was initially planned to debut in June 2022, but had 12 sailings canceled when the ship was delayed, and will now debut in July instead. | https://www.cruisehive.com/margaritaville-at-sea-delayed-two-weeks-cruises-canceled/69660 | 2022-04-10T18:23:57Z | cruisehive.com | control | https://www.cruisehive.com/margaritaville-at-sea-delayed-two-weeks-cruises-canceled/69660 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
HUNTINGTON, WV (WOWK) – A middle school principal in West Virginia is under investigation after being accused of telling female students not to report unwanted sexual conduct if they dress suggestively.
Two students and others at the Cabell County Schools Board Meeting on April 5 made allegations that the principal at Huntington East Middle School, De Morrow-Perry, took girls into the cafeteria of Huntington East Middle School on April 1 to talk to them about the dress code.
The students went on to say that Morrow-Perry told them not to wear pajamas, crop tops and ripped jeans, and not to show their shoulders because “boys are going to touch [them] and joke about touching [them].”
They say she told them that if they did get touched inappropriately as a result of wearing a certain item of clothing, to not tell school officials because the school will “do nothing about it.”
Jedd Flowers, the director of communications with Cabell County Schools, said the school district is aware of the allegations and launched an investigation on April 4.
He said that the school board takes all allegations seriously.
Flowers said Morrow-Perry has been put on a three-day unpaid suspension, but claimed it was not related to these allegations. | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/news/national-news/middle-school-principal-investigated-for-allegedly-telling-students-not-to-report-sexual-assaults/ | 2022-04-10T18:36:41Z | siouxlandproud.com | control | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/news/national-news/middle-school-principal-investigated-for-allegedly-telling-students-not-to-report-sexual-assaults/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The Tennessee Valley is still feeling the effects of the tornadoes that ran through several of our cities just two years ago.
Between Sunday, Apr. 12, and Monday, Apr. 13, 2020, a widespread tornado outbreak impacted the Southeastern United States - which included our side of town.
Not only was it Easter Sunday and a Monday, but it was also during the earlier days of the coronavirus pandemic.
During the 37-hour and 24-minute outbreak, there were 140 confirmed tornadoes across 10 states.
TN Governor Bill Lee declared a state of emergency, but aid was complicated due to the social distancing requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The National Weather Service determined that seven tornadoes touched down in the Tennessee Valley on Sunday, April 12, killing 10 people and causing significant damage.
The first tornado touched down shortly after 8 p.m. The last touched down nearly four hours later.
Walker County, Georgia (1 tornado)
8:15 p.m.
An EF-2 tornado with estimated wind speeds up to 120-125 mph was on the ground for 17 minutes, traveling from Northwest of Summerville in Chattooga County to Southeast Lafayette. It was approximately 800 yards wide. No injuries were reported.
Murray County, Georgia (1 tornado)
9:45 p.m.
An EF-2 tornado with estimated wind speeds up to 130-135 mph was on the ground for 10 minutes, traveling 4.3 miles from Northwest Chatsworth to Cisco. It was approximately ½ a mile wide. This tornado killed seven.
READ MORE | Murray County mom says daughter died shielding twin sister from tornado
Dade County, Georgia (1 tornado)
10:54 p.m.
An EF-1 tornado with estimated wind speeds up to 100 mph was on the ground for 11 minutes, traveling 5.6 miles from Southwest Trenton to Southeast Trenton. It was approximately 350 yards wide. No injuries or deaths were reported, but 100 homes were damaged.
READ MORE | Dade County residents share their stories from Sunday night's tornado
Hamilton County, Tennessee (1 tornado)
11:19 p.m.
An EF-3 tornado with estimated wind speeds up to 145 mph was on the ground for 14 minutes and traveled 14.5 miles from Southeast Chattanooga to Ooltewah. It was approximately 1,500 yards wide. This tornado killed three and injured 19. This same tornado then entered Bradley County.
READ MORE | Family friends remember Ooltewah man killed in tornado
Bradley County, Tennessee (3 tornadoes)
11:45 p.m.
An EF-2 tornado with estimated wind speeds up to 115 mph was on the ground for five minutes and traveled 3 miles from Cleveland to Tasso. It was approximately 500 yards wide. This tornado injured six.
11:50 p.m.
An EF-1 tornado with estimated wind speeds up to 105 mph was on the ground for five minutes and traveled 5 miles from East Cleveland to East Tasso. It was approximately 500 yards wide. No injuries were reported.
11:55 p.m.
An EF-1 tornado with estimated wind speeds up to 105 mph was on the ground for five minutes and traveled nearly 5 miles from East Tasso to Northwest Benton. It was approximately 500 yards wide. No injuries were reported.
READ MORE | Vietnam Veteran & wife lose home of over 40 years in Sunday's tornado outbreak | https://www.local3news.com/local-news/recalling-the-2020-easter-tornado-outbreak-in-the-tennessee-valley/article_74336f16-b8ef-11ec-8809-73d5b1ca0ec7.html | 2022-04-10T18:40:04Z | local3news.com | control | https://www.local3news.com/local-news/recalling-the-2020-easter-tornado-outbreak-in-the-tennessee-valley/article_74336f16-b8ef-11ec-8809-73d5b1ca0ec7.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Hamilton County residents got their hands dirty this weekend, during the Master Your Garden Expo.
The Master Gardeners of Hamilton County is a volunteer organization that helps homeowners and the community with any and all aspects of gardening. Carol Matthews said for almost a decade, the organization has hosted the Master Your Garden Expo at Camp Jordan.
"We bring a lot of very qualified vendors with just natural related and garden plants and other things and we bring that to the Chattanooga people," said organization member Carol Matthews.
The expo brings together a wide-range of exhibits, demonstrations and education activities. As you walk through, it feels like you're in a mystical garden. From hanging plants to Bonsai trees and even stone statues of animals.
"We have a lady here with chickens to tell you if you live where you can have chickens, we have compost gardening, we have lady who does strawberry, she's a certified straw bell garden teacher," said Matthews.
The 2-day expo draws in crowds every year. On Saturday they had over a thousand people walk through. Matthews said people come as far as a hundred miles away.
The expo isn't just for the experienced gardeners. It's for anyone who has an interest in nature and to even create future gardeners. Money raised from the ticket sales will fund student scholarships and local community garden projects.
"It goes to a student that is a junior or a senior in a university or college in Tennessee that has an agricultural program and we've been able to give up to 2-thousand dollars a piece."
Matthews says it might not seem like it, but gardening plays an important role in our community.
"Without gardening, you're not going to eat, for one thing. If you make a little bit of a difference in your yard and your neighbor does, eventually we have the beautiful Chattanooga that we have." | https://www.local3news.com/master-your-garden-expo-back-for-another-year/article_efbe5ebe-b8f1-11ec-8f32-8f15af3ab66e.html | 2022-04-10T18:40:10Z | local3news.com | control | https://www.local3news.com/master-your-garden-expo-back-for-another-year/article_efbe5ebe-b8f1-11ec-8f32-8f15af3ab66e.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
A tractor trailer coming into the US from Mexico was caught Friday carrying 427 pounds of alleged cocaine, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said Sunday.
An officer stationed at the World Trade Bridge in Laredo, Texas, encountered a truck hauling papier-mâché handicrafts and sent it for a secondary examination, according to a CBP news release.
Officials used nonintrusive inspection equipment and found 101 packages containing 427 pounds of alleged cocaine with an estimated street value of $3.2 million.
The Office of Field Operations seized the drugs, and special agents with US Homeland Security Investigations are investigating, according to CBP.
"Our frontline officers continue to maintain strict vigilance in the commercial truck environment," said Albert Flores, Port Director at the Laredo Port of Entry. "Their effective utilization of training, inspections experience and technology successfully prevented a significant load of cocaine from ever reaching US streets."
In January, the CPB warned of a significant uptick in cocaine and fentanyl being seized at ports across south Texas.
During fiscal year 2021, the CPB said it seized 87,652 pounds of narcotics at ports comprising the Laredo Field Office with a street value of around $786 million, including 8,592 pounds of cocaine, up 98% from fiscal year 2020.
They seized 588 pounds of fentanyl, up 1,066% from FY 2020, according to CPB.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.local3news.com/regional-national/3-2-million-in-alleged-cocaine-seized-at-texas-border/article_14395c67-28dc-5ee0-9476-89cdc176d154.html | 2022-04-10T18:40:16Z | local3news.com | control | https://www.local3news.com/regional-national/3-2-million-in-alleged-cocaine-seized-at-texas-border/article_14395c67-28dc-5ee0-9476-89cdc176d154.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Four people, including two teens, were shot near Nationals Park in Washington, DC, on Saturday night, police said.
The shootings happened less than an hour after an MLB game between the Washington Nationals and the New York Mets ended.
Just before 11 p.m., police responded to a report of a shooting and discovered a 16-year-old female suffering from a non-life-threatening gunshot wound, police spokesperson Kristen Metzger said.
An adult male was then found on another street nearby, south of the stadium, with a wound of similar severity.
Another adult male and a 17-year-old male were found with gunshot wounds at the Navy Yard Metro Station, which is just north of the stadium, according to Metzger.
None of the victims' injuries appear to be life-threatening, Metzger told CNN in an email Sunday.
In a tweet late Saturday night, police said they were looking for two people potentially connected to the shooting, but as of Sunday morning, there were no suspects in custody.
The Metropolitan Police Department said it was looking for a man in a black sweatshirt and light jeans carrying a silver handgun and a woman wearing a blue hoodie or jacket with white writing, CNN affiliate WJLA reported.
Saturday night's shootings happened near the site of another shooting in 2021, in which three people were injured while a game was still going on.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.local3news.com/regional-national/4-people-shot-following-washington-nationals-game/article_3854a499-dca4-53c6-ac6b-a88ad1c88bf0.html | 2022-04-10T18:40:22Z | local3news.com | control | https://www.local3news.com/regional-national/4-people-shot-following-washington-nationals-game/article_3854a499-dca4-53c6-ac6b-a88ad1c88bf0.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming on Sunday said Russia's missile strike on an eastern Ukraine railway station last week that killed dozens of civilians "clearly is genocide."
"I think that Europe needs to understand and grapple with the fact that you've got a genocidal campaign, the first kind of horrific genocidal campaign that we have seen, certainly in recent decades," she told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union."
Cheney added that European countries need to "understand that they're funding that genocidal campaign" through the purchase of oil and gas from Russia, and should place an embargo on Russian oil and gas.
At least 50 people, including five children, were killed and nearly 100 more were wounded on Friday from a Russian missile strike on a train station in Kramatorsk where they were waiting to evacuate, Ukrainian officials said Friday.
World leaders condemned the attack and the US State Department called it "yet another example of the Russian government's unjustified brutal war sowing senseless death and destruction in Ukraine."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russian forces of committing genocide in his country, pointing to the bombing of a maternity and children's hospital and apparent brutal executions of civilians in Bucha, Ukraine.
The Biden administration has accused Russia of war crimes and is supporting investigations into Russia's actions in Ukraine by helping document atrocities, but has stopped short of calling the killings a "genocide."
The United Nations defines genocide as "acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group," including "killing members of the group," "causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group," and "deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part."
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Sunday downplayed the significance of "the label" of genocide in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union."
"In my opinion, the label is less important than the fact that these acts are cruel and criminal and wrong and evil, and need to be responded to decisively, and that is what we are doing," Sullivan said when pressed by Tapper on the Russian killing of civilians in Ukraine.
In a separate interview with ABC's "This Week," Sullivan said the administration views the attribution as a legal distinction.
"That is a determination that we work through systematically," he said. "There is a unit at the State Department that gathers evidence and then makes a legal analysis, because genocide is actually a legal determination."
Appearing on "State of the Union," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told CNN that "it is clear that Putin is systematically targeting civilians," saying that's why Canada has supported an International Criminal Court investigation into war crimes.
Asked by Tapper if Russia's actions in Ukraine constitutes genocide, Trudeau said, "Those are the things that will be determined."
"Obviously, the messages we're seeing, the stories of what Russian soldiers are doing, not just the murder of civilians, but the systematic use of sexual violence and rape, to destabilize and have the greatest negative impact on Ukrainian people as possible is absolutely unforgivable and unacceptable," he added.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.local3news.com/regional-national/liz-cheney-says-russian-strike-on-ukraine-train-station-that-killed-civilians-clearly-is-genocide/article_edb07f40-13a4-5b38-bff9-fe12f75b72dd.html | 2022-04-10T18:41:18Z | local3news.com | control | https://www.local3news.com/regional-national/liz-cheney-says-russian-strike-on-ukraine-train-station-that-killed-civilians-clearly-is-genocide/article_edb07f40-13a4-5b38-bff9-fe12f75b72dd.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Q. Joey Logano comes up one spot short. Joey, you rallied there, had you run for it at the end, but with so many unknowns coming into this race, your perspective on what it was like with this car?
JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, it was a good race down to the end. Really hard to pass. I feel like if I had a better restart the restart before that -- I think I chose the wrong lane and got the 3 in front of me and just got stuck behind him, couldn't pass him. Maybe I could have had something for the 4 in that long haul if not.
But just that final restart there, had a front row. That's what you can ask for. Got cleared to second, and Willy kind of messed up off of 4 and let me get to him, and he did a really good job of brake checking into third, right, which is a good job. He did what he was supposed to do, and kind of got me all stuffed up behind him and I couldn't accelerate off the corner and be as close as I needed to be down into 3 to execute the ol' bump-and-run. Couldn't get quite to him, but his corner entry was really strong, too, which I think allowed him to get in there pretty strong.
Overall the Shell-Pennzoil Mustang had a solid run. Just hate being that close to winning and not making it happen. But big points today, and it just stings. Second just sucks sometimes, that's all.
NASCAR PR | https://www.speedwaydigest.com/index.php/news/nascar-cup-series-news/68615-joey-logano-frontstretch-interview-martinsville-speedway | 2022-04-10T18:56:34Z | speedwaydigest.com | control | https://www.speedwaydigest.com/index.php/news/nascar-cup-series-news/68615-joey-logano-frontstretch-interview-martinsville-speedway | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Q. Best career finish here at Martinsville, Austin. We didn't have to wait until the end about you coming home. We talked about you all race long. Are you excited where you finished or bummed because you were so close?
AUSTIN DILLON: I'm a little bummed. I like to pride myself in when we get in those situations being clutch, and that was anything but that on that last restart. I spun the tires pretty good through the gears. Once I got back in line there I had some grip, and I feel like we had good forward drive all night long and I just felt like if we got to the gears we were going to have a shot at him.
But our Get Bioethanol Chevy was really fast. We've been working our tails off. I'm not going to say we haven't because we've been in a simulator, we've been working really hard to make this car as good as possible. We want to get RCR a win, and that's what we're here racing for. I want to shout out to my wife and Ace back at home and thank the good Lord for bringing us a good run. That was a lot of fun.
NASCAR PR | https://www.speedwaydigest.com/index.php/news/nascar-cup-series-news/68616-austin-dillon-frontstretch-interview-martinsville-speedway | 2022-04-10T18:56:40Z | speedwaydigest.com | control | https://www.speedwaydigest.com/index.php/news/nascar-cup-series-news/68616-austin-dillon-frontstretch-interview-martinsville-speedway | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The first night race for the NASCAR Cup Series at Martinsville Speedway was a cakewalk for Hendrick Motorsports—until a late caution sent the race to overtime, that is.
But William Byron survived a final restart and a mistake on the white-flag lap to win Saturday night’s Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 at the .526-mile short track.
Byron led 212 of the 403 laps. Teammate and pole winner Chase Elliott led the first 185 circuits, as Hendrick Motorsports surpassed 10,000 laps led at Martinsville, becoming the first Cup organization to hit that prodigious number at a single track.
At the end of the two-lap overtime, Byron crossed the finish line .303 seconds ahead of runner-up Joey Logano, who couldn’t get close enough to Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet in the final corner to make a move for the win.
Byron, who also won Thursday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, is the first driver to win two events this season. Saturday night’s Cup victory was his first at Martinsville and the fourth of his career.
With his parents on his pit box for the entire race, Byron dedicated the win to his mother.
“When that last caution came out (for Todd Gilliland’s brush with the Turn 4 wall on Lap 393), I thought everyone behind us would pit,” Byron said. “Luckily, we stayed out—we were aggressive. We felt like we could refire on the tires and be OK.
“You’ve got one of the most aggressive guys behind you with Logano. I chattered the tires in (Turns) 3 and 4 (on the white-flag lap) and left the bottom open, but I was able to kind of block my exit to get a good drive off (the corner).
“This one’s for my mom. This same weekend last year, she had kind of a mini-stroke and was diagnosed with brain cancer. It means a lot to have her here, and it's been a crazy year, but she's doing great, and thanks, everybody, for the support. I kind of felt like she was riding in there with me. It's cool to have her here, and I'm definitely going to enjoy this one.”
Logano had mixed emotions after the race. The strong second-place run was gratifying, but it was second place, not first, and it extended his winless streak to 37 races.
“That final restart there, had a front row,” Logano said. “That's what you can ask for. Got cleared to second, and Willy kind of messed up off of (Turn) 4 and let me get to him, and he did a really good job of brake-checking... He did what he was supposed to do, and kind of got me all stuffed up behind him, and I couldn't accelerate off the corner and be as close as I needed to be down into 3 to execute the ol' bump-and-run.
“Couldn't get quite to him, but his corner entry was really strong, too, which I think allowed him to get in there pretty strong. Overall, the Shell-Pennzoil Mustang had a solid run. Just hate being that close to winning and not making it happen. But big points today, and it just stings. Second just sucks sometimes, that's all.”
Austin Dillon ran a strong third behind Logano, with Ryan Blaney and Ross Chastain claiming the fourth and fifth positions, respectively.
Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Aric Almirola, Chase Briscoe and Elliott completed the top 10. Elliott leads the series standings by three points over second-place Blaney. Byron is third, 12 points back.
Leading the first 185 laps, Elliott won the first two stages in the process. But Byron won the race off pit road under caution at the second stage break and remained out front for 118 laps until he came to pit road during a cycle of green-flag stops midway through the final stage.
Blaney held the top spot for five laps before making his final stop, and Byron regained the lead when Blaney came to pit road on Lap 308.
After completion of the green-flag cycle, NASCAR called the third caution of the race when Denny Hamlin’s ill-handling car stopped on pit road. Byron retained control of the race after the subsequent Lap 325 restart, with Austin Dillon moving past Joey Logano into the second position.
That was the last yellow flag until the final caution on Lap 393. The four cautions total—with two for stage breaks—were the fewest in a Cup race at Martinsville since 1997. Then again, Saturday night’s race was shortened from 500 to 400 laps. | https://www.speedwaydigest.com/index.php/news/nascar-cup-series-news/68627-william-byron-is-nascar-cup-s-first-double-winner-with-victory-at-martinsville | 2022-04-10T18:57:52Z | speedwaydigest.com | control | https://www.speedwaydigest.com/index.php/news/nascar-cup-series-news/68627-william-byron-is-nascar-cup-s-first-double-winner-with-victory-at-martinsville | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 RAPTORTOUGH.COM CAMARO ZL1
3rd AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 GET BIOETHANOL CAMARO ZL1
5th ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 GOPRO CAMARO ZL1
10th CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 LLUMAR CAMARO ZL1
TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st William Byron (Chevrolet)
2nd Joey Logano (Ford)
3rd Austin Dillon (Chevrolet)
4th Ryan Blaney (Ford)
5th Ross Chastain (Chevrolet)
The NASCAR Cup Series season continues next weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway with the Food City Dirt Race on Sunday, April 17 at 7:00 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 RAPTORTOUGH.COM CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 1st
Your crew got you the lead at the end of Stage 2. You did the rest all night long. You had to fend off a late-race restart; didn't place a wheel wrong all night long. How good does it feel to win at Martinsville?
“It feels awesome. When that last caution came out, I thought everyone behind us would pit and luckily we stayed out. We were aggressive. We felt like we could re-fire on the tires and be okay; and you've got one of the most aggressive guys behind you in (Joey) Logano. I knew I chattered the tires in (turns) 3 and 4 and kind of left the bottom open, but was able to block my exits and get a good drive off.
This one is for my mom. This same weekend last year she had kind of a mini-stroke and was diagnosed with brain cancer. It means a lot to have her here and it's been a crazy year. But she's doing great. And thanks, everybody, for the support. I kind of felt like she was riding in there with me. It's cool to have her here and I'm definitely going to enjoy this one.”
She was definitely riding with you on the pit box all night long. A lot of smiles. What do you think that moment is going to be like when you see her in a minute?
“It's going to be awesome. I love my parents. They've been so supportive, but also kind of let me grow up as I get older. Yeah, I've got a great support system. Thanks to all the fans for coming out. Great crowd. I’ve always wanted to win at Martinsville (Speedway). Got two clocks this weekend, so I'll enjoy that.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 GET BIOETHANOL CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 3rd
Best career finish here at Martinsville, Austin. We didn't have to wait until the end about you coming home. We talked about you all race long. Are you excited where you finished or bummed because you were so close?
“I'm a little bummed. I like to pride myself in when we get in those situations being clutch, and that was anything but that on that last restart. I spun the tires pretty good through the gears. Once I got back in line there, I had some grip, and I feel like we had good forward drive all night long and I just felt like if we got to the gears we were going to have a shot at him.
But our Get Bioethanol Chevy was really fast. We've been working our tails off. I'm not going to say we haven't because we've been in a simulator, we've been working really hard to make this car as good as possible. We want to get RCR a win, and that's what we're here racing for. I want to shout out to my wife and Ace back at home and thank the good Lord for bringing us a good run. That was a lot of fun.”
ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 GOPRO CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 5th
“It took 300-something laps just to where I could see the leaders. I don’t even know if we made any adjustments tonight. I don’t think we did, which was incredible because yesterday we needed a lot. For once I wish one of these Cup races went the full 500. That’s odd, I never think that. Proud of the effort. Proud of the rebound from yesterday for Trackhouse.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 16 ACTION INDUSTRIES CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 24th
“We didn’t start the night off great with a pass-through penalty that cost us a lap, but we fought hard. Our No. 16 Action Industries Camaro struggled on the long runs, so I think that hurt us the most. I think we learned quite a bit and got the most out of our day. It’s something small to build on, and we will keep pushing forward.”
JUSTIN HALEY, NO. 31 LEAFFILTER GUTTER PROTECTION CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 31st
“It wasn’t the day we were looking for at Martinsville. We had some good short-run speed, but we just struggled on the long runs. Trying to get the dynamic of the car to work throughout the whole run is key for our short-track program. I’m looking forward to Bristol, which I think will be good for us.”
GM PR | https://www.speedwaydigest.com/index.php/news/nascar-cup-series-news/68628-chevy-ncs-at-martinsville-post-race-notes-and-quotes | 2022-04-10T18:57:58Z | speedwaydigest.com | control | https://www.speedwaydigest.com/index.php/news/nascar-cup-series-news/68628-chevy-ncs-at-martinsville-post-race-notes-and-quotes | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
To help race fans enjoy next weekend’s Food City Dirt Race and Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway, whether they are enjoying the race at the track or watching from the comfort of their homes, track officials are making the 52-page commemorative souvenir program available for free in both printed and digital formats.
The souvenir program has been reformatted in a Broadway Play “Playbill” style size that is more convenient for fans to carry the program with them while they are at the track. The programs will be available to guests at a variety of locations on property during the event, including at BMS Guest Services locations, BMS souvenir stands, BMS operated camp grounds and BMS ticket booths.
The program, which features an intense race action shot from last year’s historic Food City Dirt Race includes a cover feature story about dirt racing at Bristol, the weekend schedule, information about the BMS Fan Zone and the BMS Easter Celebration (Sunday, 4 p.m. in the Fan Midway), driver rosters and hero pages for both the Cup and Camping World Truck Series teams, a story about upcoming events at BMS in 2022, track history, track stats and a track map.
To access the free digital version, please visit the Bristol Motor Speedway website or be on the lookout for email messages from Speedway team members as well as invitations to download the program on any one of the BMS social media channels.
The 2022 commemorative Food City Dirt Race souvenir program was designed by Learfield-IMG College Publishing in Lexington, Ky.
The Food City Dirt Race weekend starts on Good Friday with Bush’s Beans Practice Day that will have both the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series machines on track for two 50-minute practice sessions during the afternoon.
On Saturday, Bush’s Beans Qualifying will be held for both Cup and Truck competitors with each series participating in four blind-draw 15-lap qualifying heat races to set the fields for the main races. The Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt will follow Bush’s Beans Qualifying with an 8 p.m. (ET) start (FS1, MRN Radio, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio).
The green flag for the Food City Dirt Race is scheduled to drop at 7 p.m. (FOX, PRN Radio and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio) on Easter Sunday evening.
Fans will want to take advantage of all of the fun activities taking place during the weekend. The BMS Fan Zone has plenty of action going on, highlighted by driver appearances, music, games and prizes at the Food City Fan Zone Stage. On Saturday night, country music artist Tim Dugger will perform during the post-race concert at the Food City Fan Zone Stage. On Sunday at 4 p.m., BMS will host a very special Easter Celebration in the Fan Midway, which will be headlined by Chris Tomlin, Max Lucado and former Rascal Flatts lead singer Gary LeVox.
For additional information or to purchase tickets, please visit www.bristolmotorspeedway.com. If you prefer to make your ticket purchases over the phone, you can also call the BMS Ticket Office at (866) 415-4158.
BMS PR | https://www.speedwaydigest.com/index.php/news/speedway-news/68621-official-commemorative-souvenir-program-for-food-city-dirt-race-available-for-free-in-both-print-and-digital-formats | 2022-04-10T18:58:37Z | speedwaydigest.com | control | https://www.speedwaydigest.com/index.php/news/speedway-news/68621-official-commemorative-souvenir-program-for-food-city-dirt-race-available-for-free-in-both-print-and-digital-formats | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
RICHMOND, Va. — A shopping spree in Beverly Hills, a luxury vacation in Mexico, a bank account that jumped from $299.77 to $1.4 million overnight.
From the outside, it looked like Moe and Kateryna Abourched had won the lottery.
But this big payday didn't come from lucky numbers. Rather, a public school district in Michigan was tricked into wiring its monthly health insurance payment to the bank account of a California nail salon the Abourcheds owned, according to a search warrant application filed by a Secret Service agent in federal court.
The district — and taxpayers — fell victim to an online scam called Business Email Compromise, or BEC for short, police say. The couple deny any wrongdoing and have not been charged with any crimes.
BEC scams are a type of crime where criminals hack into email accounts, pretend to be someone they’re not and fool victims into sending money where it doesn't belong. These crimes get far less attention than the massive ransomware attacks that have triggered a powerful government response, but BEC scams have been by far the costliest type of cybercrime in the U.S. for years, according to the FBI — siphoning untold billions from the economy as authorities struggle to keep up.
The huge payoffs and low risks associated with BEC scams have attracted criminals worldwide. Some flaunt their ill-gotten riches on social media, posing in pictures next to Ferraris, Bentleys and stacks of cash.
“The scammers are extremely well organized and law enforcement is not,” said Sherry Williams, a director of a San Francisco nonprofit recently hit by a BEC scam.
Losses in the U.S. to BEC scams in 2021 were nearly $2.4 billion, according to a new report by the FBI. That’s a 33% increase from 2020 and more than a tenfold increase from just seven years ago.
And experts say many victims never come forward and the FBI’s numbers only show a small fraction of how much money is stolen.
“It’s one of the most lucrative things out there,” said Shalabh Mohan, chief product officer at Area 1 Security.
In the nail salon case involving Grand Rapids, police say $2.8 million was stolen. Banks were able to recall about half that amount once the scam was discovered, court records show.
A Secret Service agent said in an affidavit as part of a search warrant application that someone hacked into the email account of one of the school district’s human resource employees and sent emails that persuaded a colleague in the finance department to change the bank account where the health insurance payments were sent.
The emails were brief and unfailingly polite. “Please kindly update” the records, one of them said — words the real HR employee would later tell police she never uses, according to the affidavit.
Police tracked the money to the salon’s bank account owned by the Abourcheds, the affidavit says. After the theft was detected, Moe Abourched contacted a Grand Rapids police detective and said he’d been fooled by a European woman named “Dora” into accepting the funds and forwarding them to other accounts, according to the affidavit.
The Secret Service agent said Abourched’s claims were false and he’d used a similar ruse with police after he received money from a BEC scam targeting a Florida storage company.
Police put the couple under surveillance and in October searched their apartment, offices and BMW, court records show. Police said earlier this year they needed more time to examine the data in the couple's phones and computers.
The Abourcheds’ lawyer, Kevin Gres, said his clients have done nothing wrong and no charges should be filed.
“My clients were unwitting victims in this scheme,” he said.
BEC scammers use a variety of techniques to hack into legitimate business email accounts and trick employees to send wire payments or make purchases they shouldn’t. Targeted phishing emails are a common type of attack, but experts say the scammers have been quick to adopt new technologies, like “deep fake” audio generated by artificial intelligence to pretend to be executives at a company and fool subordinates into sending money.
In the case of Williams, the San Francisco nonprofit director, thieves hacked the email account of the organization's bookkeeper, then inserted themselves into a long email thread, sent messages asking to change the wire payment instructions for a grant recipient, and made off with $650,000.
After she discovered what happened, Williams said, her calls to law enforcement went nowhere.
The FBI told her the local U.S. attorney’s office won’t take her case. She flew to Odessa, Texas, where the bank that initially received the stolen money was located. The money by then was long gone and the local detective was powerless to help. Williams asked her U.S. senators for help and later learned the Secret Service was investigating, but said it hasn't given her any updates.
Crane Hassold, an expert on BEC scams and former cyber analyst with the FBI, has heard of federal prosecutors declining to take BEC cases unless several million dollars were stolen, a minimum threshold that speaks to how out of control the problem is.
“There’s so many of them they can’t possibly work them all,” said Hassold, now director of threat intelligence at Abnormal Security.
Almost every enterprise is vulnerable to BEC scams, from Fortune 500 companies to small towns. Even the State Department got duped into sending BEC scammers more than $200,000 in grant money meant to help Tunisian farmers, court records show.
The Justice Department has launched months-long operations in recent years that have netted hundreds of arrests worldwide.
“Our message to criminals involved in these types of BEC schemes will remain clear: The FBI’s memory and reach is long and wide-ranging, we will relentlessly pursue you no matter where you may be located,” said Brian Turner, executive assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch.
But security experts say the wave of arrests has had little impact, and the FBI’s own numbers show that BEC scams continue to grow at a rapid clip.
“You can arrest 100 of the guys and there’s no ripple effect,” said Hassold.
Many of those arrested by U.S. authorities are lower-level “money mules,” who move stolen money around the banking system until it’s out of reach to authorities.
“Mules” don’t need hacking skills and come from a variety of backgrounds. A South Florida man, Alfredo Veloso, pleaded guilty in 2019 after prosecutors say he recruited women he met through his business making “kink pornography” videos to be money mules for BEC and other cyber scams.
Sophisticated BEC scams targeting businesses and other organizations started taking off in the mid-2010s. It was also around that time when ransomware attacks — in which hackers break into networks and encrypt data — started to grow in frequency and severity.
For years both BEC scams and ransomware attacks were treated largely as a law enforcement problem. That’s still true for BEC attacks, but ransomware is now a key national security concern after a series of disruptive attacks on critical infrastructure like the one last year against the biggest fuels pipeline in the U.S. that led to gas shortages along the East Coast.
The National Security Agency’s hackers have taken action to disrupt ransomware operators’ networks. The Justice Department set up a ransomware task force to better organize the law enforcement response. And U.S. President Joe Biden has pressed the issue directly with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, where many ransomware operators are located.
Nothing close to those efforts has been deployed against BEC fraud despite the huge financial losses.
“It’s a bunch of tiny little silos, and they still haven’t figured out a way to have just a single source that goes after these things,” said John Wilson, a threat researcher at the cybersecurity firm Agari.
If the U.S. were to launch a whole-of-government response to BEC fraud, it almost certainly would focus heavily on Nigeria.
Nowhere are BEC fraudsters more active than in Africa’s most populous nation, where scammers have able to operate almost unchecked for decades. The well-worn Nigerian Prince scam may now be a global punchline, but a new generation is making fortunes through sophisticated BEC fraud.
BEC scammers from Nigeria are glorified in pop songs and show off their wealth on Instagram and Facebook, posing with expensive cars or piles of money.
Ramon Abbas, a well-known Nigerian social media influencer who went by Ray Hushpuppi, had more than 2 million followers on Instagram before he was arrested in Dubai. Abbas’ social media posts showed him living a life of total luxury, complete with private jets, ultra-expensive cars and high-end clothes and watches.
“I hope someday I will be inspiring more young people to join me on this path,” read one Instagram post by Abbas, who pleaded guilty in the U.S. to international money laundering related to BEC and other cybercrimes last year. His sentencing is currently set for July.
Pete Renals, a threat researcher at Palo Alto’s Unit 42, said tech-savvy Nigerian criminals started learning how to use available malware to steal victims’ credentials around 2014. As the software changed, the scammers changed too. In 2018, he said, researchers started seeing Nigerian malware being developed in-country by the BEC scammers themselves.
“It does not seem like there’s a whole lot slowing them down," he said. They see “no reason to stop.”
Obinwanne Okeke was one of Nigeria’s best known young entrepreneurs when he was a featured panelist at an event hosted by the prestigious London School of Economics.
“If it’s not born in you to take up challenges, you cannot do it,” Okeke said at the 2018 event when discussing his entrepreneurial drive.
But just days before he made those comments, Okeke had been busy sending fake invoices and defrauding the British sales office of the heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar out of $11 million through a BEC scam, according to the FBI. He was arrested at Dulles Airport outside Washington in 2019, pleaded guilty to wire fraud a year later and is now serving a 10-year prison sentence.
BEC scammers arrested by police in Nigeria often have better luck and win back their freedom by paying fines or bribes, experts say. Adedeji Oyenuga, a sociology professor at Lagos State University who has studied cybercrime culture, said there’s little fear by BEC scammers of being punished if caught.
“The person will walk around the streets freely knowing nobody is going to say anything about what he or she is doing,” Oyenuga said.
In the Hushpuppi case, U.S. prosecutors have also charged Abba Kyari, a top Nigerian law enforcement official who prosecutors say falsely imprisoned one of Abbas’ criminal rivals. Kyari remains in Nigeria, where media reports say he’s been arrested on a separate charges related to alleged drug smuggling.
Doug Witschi, an assistant director at the global police organization Interpol, said tech companies that help facilitate BEC crimes need to be more active in stopping such behavior.
“We can’t arrest our way out of this challenge,” he said.
Unlike ransomware operators who try to keep their communications private, BEC scammers often openly exchange services, share tips or show off their wealth on social media platforms like Facebook and Telegram.
A Facebook group called Wire Wire.com, which was until recently available to anyone with a Facebook account, acted as a message board for people to offer BEC-related services and other cybercrimes.
The page, which had a profile picture of a duffle bag filled with cash, was created in 2015 and had more than 1,400 members. It was taken down shortly after The Associated Press asked Facebook about it last month. The company declined comment.
In the case of the stolen Grand Rapids money, it was social media that helped law enforcement when seeking a federal judge’s approval for a search warrant.
Included in the application was a vacation Instagram post by Kateryna Abourched, which linked the timing of her trip with a $3,503 payment to a luxury resort in Mexico made from the bank account that had received the stolen Grand Rapids money.
“Vacation is always inspiring,” she wrote in her Instagram post. | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/accounts-deceivable-email-scam-costliest-type-of-cybercrime/article_60e4d173-807c-50fe-8d9f-f173231b1af7.html | 2022-04-10T19:06:15Z | lockportjournal.com | control | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/accounts-deceivable-email-scam-costliest-type-of-cybercrime/article_60e4d173-807c-50fe-8d9f-f173231b1af7.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Haymarket residents might get a lesser blow than anticipated on their real estate taxes this year.
At its meeting April 4, the Town Council received the first draft of the proposed $2.99 million budget for fiscal 2023, which starts July 1. The spending plan would keep the town’s real estate tax bill level for the average homeowner.
The proposal is an increase of $252,964, or 9.23%, over the current fiscal year budget.
Most area residents have seen the value of their property jump under Prince William County’s annual reassessment. Countywide, residential residential real estate increased in value by an average of 11.5% in 2021, the fastest pace since 2005. Commercial real estate values increased an average of 13%.
Because of increased assessments, local governments would have to reduce their real estate tax rates to avoid an effective tax increase.
Haymarket’s spending plan would equalize the town’s real estate tax rate, which is charged on top of the county’s levy, by reducing it from 12.9 cents per $100 of assessed value to 11.7 cents. The equalized rate is that which keeps the average homeowner’s tax bill steady after assessments are factored in.
Town Treasurer Roberto Gonzalez said he will provide the council information at a future work session about different revenue projections with various tax rates.
The county is proposing a decrease in its residential real estate tax rate from $1.115 per $100 of assessed value to $1.05. Although the county rate is dropping, it would have to be $1 per $100 of value to avoid the effective tax increase.
The average residential tax bill charged by the county would increase $233, or 4.9%, on a home valued at $466,739.
The Haymarket budget includes a 4.75% salary increase for town employees and has funding for a full-time town manager, although the position currently sits vacant.
The budget will see the first full year of its 7% transient occupancy tax revenue from the recently completed Hilton Garden Inn hotel, which is estimated to generate $210,000.
As part of an agreement with the hotel, the town returns a portion of tax revenue to the hotel for advertising and keeps the rest of money for economic development projects.
In the proposed budget, $90,000 would be returned to the hotel, $60,000 would be used to promote town tourism and $22,000 is set for general advertising. An additional $60,000 would go into the town’s general fund.
The Town Council plans to hold a budget work session at 7 p.m. April 19. A public hearing is expected on June 6, with final adoption by June 27. | https://www.insidenova.com/headlines/haymarket-proposes-level-town-taxes-in-first-budget-draft/article_6de0508a-b8ee-11ec-8f06-cfae8f55c9ae.html | 2022-04-10T19:07:32Z | insidenova.com | control | https://www.insidenova.com/headlines/haymarket-proposes-level-town-taxes-in-first-budget-draft/article_6de0508a-b8ee-11ec-8f06-cfae8f55c9ae.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
KENEWICK, WASH. - Shortly after 3:00p.m. fire crews from Kennewick, Richland and Benton County Fire District #1 were dispatched to a fire involving Arborvitaes next to a home at 4514 W Klamath Ave. in Kennewick.
While crews were in route, they were told the fire was threatening several homes.
The first KFD crew arrived within 5 minutes of being dispatched. The crew saw multiple Arborvitae Trees were on fire threatening two homes and a shop on three properties.
The first firefighters were extinguishing the arborvitaes and preventing the fire from spreading. When more crews arrived, they were directed to protect the shop and extinguish multiple vehicles that had caught on fire near the shop.
Kennewick Police Officers began working to evacuate residents of the endangered structures.
The fire was under control within 22 minutes of the first crew arriving. The damages were kept to the exterior of two homes and one shop.
Several vehicles located on the property were a complete loss.
Chief Chad Michael with the Kennewick Fire Department says one person is being treated for heavy smoke inhalation from attempting to fight the fire before crews arrived.
The cause of fire was unintentional. The occupants of one home on W Klamath Ave. had been burning in a fire pit on the property earlier in the day. They believed the fire was extinguished, however, embers from the fire pit caught the trees on fire.
The Kennewick Police Department and Fire Departments want to remind everyone to consider when and where you start burns based on the current weather conditions.
KFD suggests consulting with the rules listed by the Benton Clean Air Agency before burning. It would like to remind everyone that fire pits should not be used on high wind days due to the risk of unintentional fire spread. | https://www.nbcrightnow.com/news/multiple-fire-crews-dispatched-to-a-fire-in-kennewick-saturday-afternoon/article_4aff26bc-b85e-11ec-9157-8786dce3e526.html | 2022-04-10T19:11:53Z | nbcrightnow.com | control | https://www.nbcrightnow.com/news/multiple-fire-crews-dispatched-to-a-fire-in-kennewick-saturday-afternoon/article_4aff26bc-b85e-11ec-9157-8786dce3e526.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
McConnell: Biden needs to "take the shackles" off U.S. energy production
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the U.S. must return to a state of energy independence during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday," saying the Biden administration must "take the shackles off of domestic production."
Why it matters: During an interview with Axios’ Jonathan Swan earlier this week, McConnell highlighted domestic energy production as a key policy priority in 2023.
- "We’re going to do everything we can do to push this administration into domestic energy production," McConnell told Swan.
What they're saying: "It's really ridiculous. I mean, the administration wants everybody else to produce more except us. They want us to be green and so they're going after our allies in the Middle East asking them to up production," McConnell said Sunday.
- "We were energy independent as late as 2019. We can be energy independent again," he added.
- "The administration needs to take the shackles off of domestic production. We can meet our own needs and we can export, and help the Europeans as they wean themselves away from Russian oil and gas, which I think clearly now, they realize is the best and safest path forward."
Worth noting: Energy independence alludes to the goal of producing enough fuels to avoid relying on the rest of the world to fill up gas tanks and keep electricity flowing, writes Axios' Neil Irwin.
- But the U.S. did produce more petroleum than it consumed in 2020, and the numbers were essentially in balance in 2021, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Go deeper: The U.S. is now energy independent | https://www.axios.com/mcconnell-domestic-energy-production-32037bc6-28e1-4958-870c-bcb284f12441.html | 2022-04-10T19:16:22Z | axios.com | control | https://www.axios.com/mcconnell-domestic-energy-production-32037bc6-28e1-4958-870c-bcb284f12441.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
By The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Russia’s newly appointed battlefield commander in Ukraine made his reputation crushing resistance to Syrian President Bashar Assad during that country’s devastating civil war.
Russian forces led by Gen. Alexander Dvornikov destroyed whole cities while dropping barrel bombs that targeted civilians. With Moscow supporting Assad, the war in Syria has killed more than 350,000 people.
Lt. Col. Fares al-Bayoush, a Syrian army defector, said Sunday he expects a similar “scorched-earth” strategy under the commander in Ukraine. Speaking by telephone from Turkey, al-Bayoush said he believes the aim of naming Dvornikov as Ukraine war commander is to cause widespread destruction in many places at once.
“He has very good experience in this policy,” al-Bayoush said. “This commander is a war criminal.”
___
KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
— US: Russia’s new battlefield commander has history of brutality
— Ukraine digs in to fight Russia’s looming eastern offensive
— Analysis: War, economy could weaken Putin’s place as leader
— Biden, Modi to speak as India avoids hard line on Russia
— Zelenskyy, in AP interview, says he seeks peace despite atrocities
— Poland-Ukraine ties seen as target of Russian disinformation
— Go to https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine for more coverage
___
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
KYIV, Ukraine — The mayor of Kyiv and his brother said the visit of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to their capital shows who Ukraine’s real friends are at this critical time. But they understand if security concerns keep U.S. President Joe Biden from visiting for now.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko and his brother Wladimir have been professional boxers and now outspoken defenders of Ukraine. Interviewed Sunday on ABC News “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” they said they expect Russia’s military to return and target Kyiv again. And when they do, they said they can’t defend Ukraine with their fists — they need weapons.
Wladimir Klitschko also pleaded for the world to isolate Russia economically, saying “every cent that Russia is getting, they’re using for weapons to kill us.”
Vitali Klitschko said everyone was shocked when the Russians who pushed on Kyiv retreated after killing hundreds of civilians during their occupation. He called it genocide to kill women, children, old people and teenagers for no reason.
To defend Ukraine now, the mayor said, is to defend democracy and peace in Europe.
___
WILMINGTON, Del. — The White House said President Joe Biden will press Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take a hard line against Russia’s Ukraine invasion. Press Secretary Jen Psaki says the leaders plan a virtual meeting on Monday.
India’s neutral stance in the war has raised concerns in Washington and earned praise from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who lauded India this month for judging “the situation in its entirety, not just in a one-sided way.”
India abstained when the U.N. General Assembly voted Thursday to suspend Russia from its seat on the 47-member Human Rights Council over allegations of war crimes. India continues to purchase Russian energy despite Western pressure to avoid buying Russian oil and gas. And the U.S. has considered sanctions on India for its recent purchase of advanced Russian air defense systems.
Psaki’s statement says Biden will discuss how Russia’s war against Ukraine is destabilizing the global food supply and commodity markets, and the need to strengthen the global economy while ”upholding a free, open, rules-based international order to bolster security, democracy, and prosperity.”
___
BERLIN — Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday.
The Austria Press Agency reported that Nehammer told reporters in Vienna on Sunday that he plans to make the journey. It follows a trip on Saturday to Kyiv, where he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
APA reported that Nehammer aims to encourage dialogue between Ukraine and Russia and also address “war crimes” in his meeting with Putin.
Austria is a member of the European Union and has backed the 27-nation bloc’s sanctions against Russia, though it so far has opposed cutting off deliveries of Russian gas. The country is militarily neutral and is not a member of NATO.
Nehammer said he was taking the trip on his own initiative, and that he had consulted with the European Union’s top officials. He said that he also informed Zelenskyy and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
___
BERLIN — The U.N. nuclear watchdog said Ukraine said the staff at the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear plant has been rotated for the first time in three weeks after Russian troops left the area.
The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency has expressed concern about the well-being of the workers since the Russian military took control of the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster at the beginning of the war.
The agency said Ukraine informed it on Sunday that it has now rotated the staff, but the situation remains far from normal. They had to be transported to and from the site by water, with the Pripyat River being the only way for people living in the city of Slavutych to currently reach the plant.
The IAEA said Ukraine has informed it that analytical laboratories for radiation monitoring at the site were destroyed, with analytical instruments “stolen, broken or otherwise disabled.” The automated transmission of radiation monitoring data has been disabled.
___
KYIV, Ukraine — The governor of the region that includes Ukraine’s fourth-largest city, Dnipro, says the airport was hit twice by missile attacks on Sunday. The Ukrainian military command said Russian forces also keep shelling Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, and have kept up their siege of Mariupol, the key southern port city that has been under attack for nearly six weeks.
The Russian Defense Ministry says it’s air-launched missiles hit Ukraine’s S-300 air defense missile systems in two locations, while sea-launched cruise missiles destroyed a Ukrainian unit’s headquarters in the Dnipro region. Neither side’s military claims could be independently verified.
The Pentagon said Russia has a clear advantage in armored forces for its next phase in its war on Ukraine. Press secretary John Kirby said Friday that the Russians spread themselves too thin to take the capital, but now they’re more focused on a smaller region, and still have the vast majority of their combat power. A major effort by Ukrainian defenses and more Western assistance will be needed to push them back.
___
WASHINGTON — A senior U.S. official said Russia has appointed a new commander to oversee its war on Ukraine.
The official speaking on condition of anonymity said Russia has turned to one of its most experienced military officers, Gen. Alexander Dvornikov. U.S. officials say the 60-year-old general has a record of brutality against civilians in Syria and other theaters of war.
The White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told CNN on Sunday that “this general will just be another author of crimes and brutality against Ukrainian civilians.” And he said “no appointment of any general can erase the fact that Russia has already faced a strategic failure in Ukraine.”
The new battlefield leadership comes as Russia gears up for what is expected to be a large and more focused push to expand Russian control in the Donbas after failing to conquer the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. Sullivan reiterated support for the Ukrainian government, saying the United States is determined to do all it can to help Ukrainians resist this general and the forces he commands.
— Robert Burns and Hope Yen
___
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s border guard agency says that about 2,200 Ukrainian men of fighting age have been detained so far while trying to leave the country in violation of martial law.
The agency said Sunday that some of them have used forged documents and others tried to bribe border guards to get out of the country.
It said some have been found dead while trying to cross the Carpathian mountains in adverse weather, without specifying the number.
Under martial law, Ukrainian men between 18 and 60 are barred from leaving the country so that they can be called up to fight.
___
WARSAW, Poland — Sirens have sounded in some Polish cities to mark the anniversary of a 2010 plane crash that killed the country’s president, despite protests that their sound would be unnecessarily traumatic for refugees from the war in Ukraine.
The sirens early Sunday were intended to add to the significance and the plaintive character of observances honoring the late President Lech Kaczynski, the first lady and 94 other prominent Poles killed 12 years ago in the crash of the presidential plane in Russia. Kaczynski was the twin of Jaroslaw Kaczynski — the leader of the main governing Law and Justice party.
Provincial governors ignored calls not to use the sirens out of concern for refugees from neighboring Ukraine, traumatized by air raid alarms. Authorities sent text messages to refugees’ phones that the sirens would mean no danger.
___
KYIV, Ukraine — The Ukrainian military says Russia has been beefing up its forces and trying to probe Ukrainian defenses.
The Ukrainian military command said Sunday that the Russian troops have continued attempts to break Ukrainian defenses near Izyum, southeast of Kharkiv. It reported that Russia was sending reinforcements to Izyum while continuing the shelling of Kharkiv.
The military added that the Russians also continued their attempts to take control of Mariupol, the Sea of Azov port that has been besieged by Russian forces for nearly 1 ½ months.
After Russia’s attempt to capture Kyiv and other big cities in northeastern Ukraine quickly failed, Ukrainian and Western officials expect Moscow to launch a new offensive in eastern Ukraine, where Russia-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian forces for eight years.
___
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he focused on the need to track down perpetrators of war crimes in a phone call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Zelenskyy said on Twitter that in Sunday’s call “we emphasized that all perpetrators of war crimes must be identified and punished.”
Ukraine has accused Russia of atrocities against civilians in Bucha and other places near Kyiv, where hundreds of slaughtered civilians, many with their hands bound and signs of torture, were found after Russian troops retreated.
Zelenskyy also said he and Scholz “discussed anti-Russian sanctions, defense and financial support for Ukraine.”
___
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has opened Holy Week with a call for an Easter truce in Ukraine to make room for a negotiated peace, highlighting the need for leaders to “make some sacrifices for the good of the people.”
Celebrating Palm Sunday Mass before crowds in St. Peter’s Square for the first time since the pandemic, Pope Francis called for “weapons to be laid down to begin an Easter truce, not to reload weapons and resume fighting, no! A truce to reach peace through real negotiations.”
Francis did not refer directly to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the reference was clear. He has repeatedly denounced the war and the suffering brought to innocent civilians.
___
HELSINKI — Finland says that a shipment of art works from Russian museums has been returned to Russia after it was seized under European Union sanctions against Moscow.
Finland’s customs service said late Saturday that the Foreign Ministry granted a special permit to return the consignment with a total insured value of around 42 million euros ($46 million). It said that trucks carrying the art works from the Hermitage Museum and the Pavlovsk State Museum in St. Petersburg, among others, left Finnish territory on Saturday afternoon.
The shipment was seized at the Vaalimaa border crossing at the beginning of April. The works were en route to Russia after loan to museums in Europe and Japan. Experts say that art works loaned from Russia typically travel overland via Finland.
Russia has demanded the return of all works on loan to “unfriendly” nations that imposed sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine.
___
MOSCOW — The Russian military says it has struck Ukrainian air defense batteries in the country’s south and east.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Sunday that the military used air-launched missiles to hit Ukraine’s S-300 air defense missile systems in Starobohdanivka in the southern Mykolaiv region and at an air base in Chuhuiv in the eastern Kharkiv region.
Konashenkov also said that sea-launched cruise missiles destroyed the headquarters of a Ukrainian military unit near Zvonetske in the Dnipro region.
The Russian military claims couldn’t be independently verified.
___
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk says more civilians are expected to leave Mariupol Sunday in their personal vehicles.
Evacuations are also planned from Berdyansk, Tokmak and Enerhodar in the south and Sieverierodonetsk, Lysychansk, Popasna and Rubizhne in the east.
Mariupol, a strategic port city on the Sea of Azov, has been besieged by Russian forces for nearly 1 ½ months, cut from food, water and power supplies and pummeled by relentless bombardment that has killed at least 5,000, according to local officials.
Ukrainian authorities have urged civilians in the east to evacuate in the face of an imminent Russian offensive. They accused Russia of killing 52 people on Friday at the train station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk as they were preparing to evacuate.
___
GENEVA — The U.N. refugee agency says the number of people who have left Ukraine since the beginning of the war has reached 4.5 million.
A regular update Sunday of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees’ online portal on numbers of refugees fleeing Ukraine since Feb. 24 brought the total to some 4.504 million.
About 2.6 million of those fled at least initially to Poland and more than 686,000 to Romania. However, UNHCR notes that there are very few border controls within the European Union and it believes “a large number of people” have moved on from the first country they arrived in.
___
LONDON — Britain’s Ministry of Defense says that Russia’s armed forces are seeking to respond to mounting losses by boosting troop numbers with personnel who had been discharged from military service since 2012.
In an intelligence update on Twitter, the ministry also said Sunday that the Russian military’s efforts to “generate more fighting power” also include trying to recruit from Trans-Dniester, a breakaway region in Moldova that borders Ukraine.
Russia maintains some 1,500 troops in the region, which is not internationally recognized.
___
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told The Associated Press on Saturday that he is committed to seeking peace despite Russian attacks on civilians that have stunned the world.
He said no one wants to negotiate with people who tortured their nation — “as a man, as a father, I understand this very well.” But he said “we don’t want to lose opportunities, if we have them, for a diplomatic solution.”
Zelenskyy said he’s confident Ukrainians would accept peace despite the horrors they have witnessed in the war. But meanwhile, Russian troops are regrouping for an expected surge in fighting in eastern Ukraine, including the besieged port city of Mariupol that Ukrainian defenders are battling to retain.
So Zelenskyy renewed his plea for countries to send more weapons. He says they have to fight for life — not “for dust when there is nothing and no people. That’s why it is important to stop this war.”
___
KYIV, Ukraine — U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, promising so much support that his nation might never be bullied again.
Johnson’s surprise visit included a pledge of 120 armored vehicles and new anti-ship missile systems, part of another 100 million pounds ($130 million) of high-grade military equipment. Johnson also confirmed an additional $500 million in World Bank lending, taking Britain’s total loan guarantee up to $1 billion.
Johnson said Ukraine defied the odds pushing Russian forces “from the gates of Kyiv, achieving the greatest feat of arms of the 21st century.″
The prime minister credits “Zelenskyy’s resolute leadership and the invincible heroism and courage of the Ukrainian people” for thwarting what he calls the “monstrous aims” of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Johnson says Britain and its partners “are going to ratchet up the economic pressure … not just freezing assets in banks and sanctioning oligarchs but moving away from use of Russian hydrocarbons.”
Johnson also described a vision for a future Ukraine so fortified and protected by the equipment, technology and know-how of Britain and its partners that it can never be threatened in the same way again. In the meantime, Johnson said, “there is a huge amount to do to make sure that Ukraine is successful, that Ukraine wins and that Putin must fail.” | https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2022/04/10/live-updates-syrian-russian-general-is-a-war-criminal/ | 2022-04-10T19:16:23Z | pasadenastarnews.com | control | https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2022/04/10/live-updates-syrian-russian-general-is-a-war-criminal/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
New York mayor Eric Adams tests positive for COVID-19
New York City Mayor Eric Adams tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday, according to a statement from his office.
Driving the news: New York is one of a number of states that has seen COVID-19 case numbers rise again amid the spread of the Omicron subvariant BA.2.
- A slew of public figures in Congress and the White House have tested positive in recent weeks.
What they're saying: “This morning, Mayor Adams woke up with a raspy voice and, out of an abundance of caution, took a PCR test that has now come back positive,” the statement read.
- "At this time, the mayor has no other symptoms, but he is already isolating and will be canceling all public events for the remainder of the week,” the statement added, noting that Adams will continue working remotely.
Go deeper: COVID cases rise again in half the states | https://www.axios.com/nyc-mayor-covid-positive-19aac67e-8a09-493f-a575-2a648ca7d3d3.html | 2022-04-10T19:16:28Z | axios.com | control | https://www.axios.com/nyc-mayor-covid-positive-19aac67e-8a09-493f-a575-2a648ca7d3d3.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Shanghai discharges thousands of recovered COVID patients amid lockdown
Shanghai discharged more than 11,000 recovered COVID-19 patients Sunday, the AP reports.
Driving the news: Health authorities said the people must be allowed to return home despite the city's strict lockdown, according to the AP.
The big picture: The city of 26 million has been under lockdown since March 28.
- Authorities said Saturday that they will begin lifting the lockdown in areas with no new cases in the last 14 days after another round of testing, Time reported.
- Residents have been facing food shortages and disruptions in medical care amid the lockdown. | https://www.axios.com/shanghai-covid-discharge-874f9593-89e7-4185-9c9e-a0eb4dc25488.html | 2022-04-10T19:16:34Z | axios.com | control | https://www.axios.com/shanghai-covid-discharge-874f9593-89e7-4185-9c9e-a0eb4dc25488.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Why does striped toothpaste always come out striped?
The answer does not lie with clever engineering, but with carefully designed pastes.
Coloured pastes are loaded into the tube separately but are not stored in compartments. The pastes are designed to have just the right viscosity or thickness so that they don’t mix, acting like solids inside the tube but flowing smoothly when you squeeze or pump it.
They have similar flow characteristics to ketchup, which only gets moving with a good shake or a squeeze. In some toothpastes, a nozzle at the top of the tube has separate holes for different colours, ensuring they emerge as neat stripes.
Read more:
- How is caffeine removed from decaffeinated coffee?
- Does an apple a day keep the doctor away?
- How to make the perfect cup of tea
Asked by: Tina Chapman, Colchester
To submit your questions email us at questions@sciencefocus.com (don't forget to include your name and location)
- This article first appeared in issue 374 of BBC Science Focus Magazine – find out how to subscribe here
Subscription offer
Subscribe and get 6 issues for just £9.99. After your first 6 issues, your subscription will continue at £22.99 every 6 issues by Direct Debit. Receive every issue delivered direct to your door with FREE UK delivery. | https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/striped-toothpaste/ | 2022-04-10T19:23:06Z | sciencefocus.com | control | https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/striped-toothpaste/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Updated April 10, 2022 at 2:30 PM ET
French President Emmanuel Macron and the far right's Marine Le Pen have won the first round of the country's presidential election.
It's a repeat of the results five years ago, but this time, Le Pen has a much higher percentage with 23.3% of the vote, according to exit polls. Macron has 28.1%.
The runoff will take place April 24.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.klcc.org/npr-news/2022-04-09/macron-and-le-pen-head-to-a-runoff-in-frances-presidential-election | 2022-04-10T19:53:38Z | klcc.org | control | https://www.klcc.org/npr-news/2022-04-09/macron-and-le-pen-head-to-a-runoff-in-frances-presidential-election | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
'Four'ging friendships: Jillian Duffy bonds with high school seniors
The phrase 'to take someone under your wing' and its true meaning is clearly evident at Airport High School.
This concept of being a mentor, a friend, someone watching out for another person, is a wonderful sight to see and something I admire.
Four Airport seniors: Avery Palmer, Chloe Scott, Lauren Pitock and Julia Mills took sophomore Jillian Duffy under their wing when Duffy started at the school as a freshman in January 2021.
Duffy, 16, has a rare, congenital brain malformation known as Schizencephaly.
Characterized by abnormal slits or clefs in the brain, Schizencephaly can cause developmental delays and seizures due to a disruption of the communication between the individual's brain and spinal cord.
Fortunately, Jillian does not suffer from seizures. But the daughter of Jim and Danielle Duffy does have developmental delays.
The Duffys made the switch to Airport from Monroe in January 2021 at the request of Jillian, who wished to be in an in-person classroom at a time when Monroe was all virtual due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“She saw her sisters, Brityn, 11, and Elliot, 7, going to school ‘normally’ for their first half of the 2020-'21 school year at Sterling Elementary,” Danielle Duffy said. “Jillian is a creature of habit, and likes to be able to know when she will see friends and teachers. She likes to know her routine of the day, and she communicates through her iPad, which gives her independence.”
As soon as Jillian became an “Airport Jet” she was welcomed.
“I reached out to Jillian when she first started, Palmer said. “She didn’t really have that many friends. Coming from a different school and transitioning is probably one of the hardest things to do. I wanted Jillian to feel welcome at Airport and I wanted her to make a lot of friends."
Danielle Duffy said the four Airport seniors immediately bonded with her daughter.
“She loves that they don’t treat her differently," Danielle said. “She is one of the girls and has felt included with not only her friends, but the community from day one.”
The four seniors have made a big difference in Jillian's life, but also enriched their own as their friendships with her and each other have prospered. You can see the excitement when her friends are around, whether in the school store, at a game, in the hallway and of course, going to dances.
Jillian has a beautifully vibrant smile and she lights up when she is with her friends.
"(My friendship with Jillian) has come a long way," Palmer said. "I’ve been lucky enough to watch her progress and become more talkative with others. She has become awesome with her iPad and has things on there I didn’t even know about. I've loved being right by her side through my last couple of years at Airport.”
"I really enjoy going on walks together, especially when we are both having a rough day," added Scott. "I love her sense of humor. She is so spunky and I love that about her. She never ever fails to crack a joke and put a smile on my face. Jillian and I like to talk about life and make each other laugh. We always make plans and sometimes those plans involve some sneakiness and humor.”
Pitock's boyfriend, Shade Daniels, introduced her to Jillian after the two had a class together last year.
"I love that Jillian is always smiling or laughing, and it always lights up the room and is contagious," Pitock said. "She is a very sweet and caring person.”
Mills and Jillian first met when they worked together in the school store, and they became fast friends.
"I like hanging with Jillian because she always brightens up everyone’s day and is just in general a fun person to talk to," Mills said. "She also has a good sense of humor and never fails to make me laugh throughout the day."
After spending some time with these seniors and Jillian, it’s evident that they are all special and caring young women. As the four have navigated through their busy senior year, they make sure to stay connected with Jillian. I feel that says a lot about their character.
The school's recent coming home dance was a bittersweet experience for Jillian and her friends. Jillian loves attending school dances, but this one was the last she'll share with the four seniors.
“This past dance was special, but sad at the same time," Danielle Duffy said. "...But the memories she has created with this group are definitely ones she will never forget.”
Readers can contact Tom Hawley at thawley@gannett.com. | https://www.monroenews.com/story/lifestyle/2022/04/10/fourging-friendships-jillian-duffy-bonds-high-school-seniors/7272655001/ | 2022-04-10T19:59:36Z | monroenews.com | control | https://www.monroenews.com/story/lifestyle/2022/04/10/fourging-friendships-jillian-duffy-bonds-high-school-seniors/7272655001/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Labor shortage persists as Monroe jobless rate grows
Two years after the COVID-19 pandemic began creating ripple effects through the economy, data shows the U.S. is close to recovering the 22 million jobs lost at the onset of the public health crisis.
But while analysts expect the country to hit that achievement by July, where those jobs are springing up vary greatly from where they were prior to the massive spikes in unemployment and lost wages that appeared in early 2020.
While some states have largely recovered and stand to make gains, others states and communities — like Michigan at large and Monroe County — have fewer payroll positions while demand for labor remains on the rise.
The conflicting trends highlight an oddity felt in some regions: data shows a decline in jobs and an uptick in unemployment, but businesses are clamoring to attract workers. And those labor shortages continue to have ripple effects.
Barry Kinsey, director of Workforce Development at Monroe County Community College, said local businesses are actively looking to fill positions.
“We are receiving calls daily from employers looking for employees,” Kinsey said. “They are often asking to speak with our students and to post their opportunities to our online job board. The job sectors are all encompassing; part-time, full-time, skilled and un-skilled.”
Local businesses still short on workers
For the better part of a year and a half, signs emblazoned with “Help Wanted” and “Now Hiring” have dotted businesses across Monroe County.
Enterprises such as eateries, retailers and manufacturers have advertised wages well above the minimum, flexible schedules and benefits. And as they scramble to find workers, shorter hours and fewer services have been the result for some of them.
The circumstances are arguably peculiar given Monroe’s recent unemployment report: data from the state’s Department of Technology, Management and Budget places the local jobless rate at 6.3% in February, up from 4.8% in January.
The jumped earned Monroe the designation of having the largest month-over-month jobless rate increase among Michigan’s major labor markets.
Kinsey said it’s hard to determine why there remains such a demand for workers.
“You would think with the rise in inflation that the workforce would be looking to gain new or extra employment to assist with the extra cost of living, but we are not experiencing this,” he added.
Kinsey notes many businesses have had to adopt modified schedules in light of the ongoing shortages. The situation also impacts workers at understaffed enterprises.
“It is a stressor to those who are working in organizations that are short staffed,” Kinsey said. “Employees are being asked to do more and to work extended hours.”
Tim Lake, president and CEO of the Monroe County Business Development Corp., said local manufacturers and warehouses operations are continuing to see the fallout of labor shortages.
Such enterprises are seeking to fill vacancies for positions considered skilled and unskilled.
The reason such jobs go so long without being filled vary depending on their functions and needed training, Lake added.
“As it relates to the unskilled workforce, it is my opinion that they may have adjusted their lifestyle and are not in need of steady employment,” he said. “As for skilled workers, there are more workers retiring than those seeking training for the skilled positions.”
Lake echoed Kinsey's sentiments, saying businesses have largely adapted to shortages while continuing to advertise open job postings.
“For the most part, businesses have adapted to the lack of workforce and supply chain issues,” Lake added. “As the Monroe County manufacturing community is largely involved in the auto parts business, many saw slowdowns due to supply chain and chip shortages, which lessened the impact of lack of employees.”
Exploring data trends
As of February, the metric of jobs recovered hovers at about 20.4 million nationally, according to a USA Today analysis. The recovery is fueled largely by job gains in the South and West regions.
It’s a different story in the Northeast and Midwest, though.
Monroe and Michigan at large are no exception.
In February, DTMB data showed about 4.56 million payroll jobs existed in Michigan.
That’s down from the approximately 4.7 million recorded in March 2020, as closures, regulations and shifting consumer trends dawned in light of the virus.
Payroll jobs and unemployment rates have largely dipped and recovered, though the largest spikes were recorded in the early days of the pandemic.
Last month, Monroe County’s labor market was comprised of about 73,800 individuals, a slight increase from January’s count of 72,700.
That increase of 1,100 people was marked entirely of Monroe residents receiving economic aid from the state’s unemployment benefit program.
In total, about 4,600 Monroe County residents received unemployment last month. In January, that count was 3,500 a month.
About 62,900 people were considered employed in February . That was stagnant compared to the previous month.
Lake said the increase is likely attributable to those who reside in Monroe County but commute to adjacent metro areas for work. Lake said about 50% of local residents are employed by companies outside of the county.
That’s in line with DTMB statements. In a statement to press, the agency said Monroe County’s unemployment spikes were largely wrought by seasonal layoffs related to the auto industry, which has long been engrained in Southeast Michigan.
“As auto manufacturing plants have slow downs and temporary layoffs, it will impact Monroe County’s unemployment,” Lake said. “We many not notice it our directly in the county as our smaller employers are less likely to layoff and just work though slow downs in orders. I would suggest most of that unemployment number came for employers not located within Monroe County.”
Kinsey agreed with Lake and state officials.
“(The Monroe market) is experiencing seasonal layoffs, coupled with auto layoffs associated with supply chain issues,” he said.
Local experts remain optimistic about the future of the local economy.
Lake said he believes there will be moderate employment growth in the county in the future. That growth will occur slowly over time, he added.
“We are adding jobs to the county, but at the same time automation is eliminating jobs,” Lake said. “Net effect is a slow and steady job growth.”
Kinsey also said the outlook for Monroe is likely to trend to growth.
“Monroe County communities are working with the Monroe County BDC to position themselves to be the place of choice for logistic operations as the completion of the Gordie Howe International Bridge is completed,” Kinsey added.
Lake said there are many things employers can do to attract and retain employees, including flexible work schedules, increased benefits and even childcare options.
“We are advocating the employers develop pipelines for employees to grow within a company,” Lake added. “Support that with paid training and consider covering apprenticeships when it makes sense for the company.” | https://www.monroenews.com/story/news/2022/04/10/labor-shortage-persists-monroe-jobless-rate-grows/9515511002/ | 2022-04-10T19:59:42Z | monroenews.com | control | https://www.monroenews.com/story/news/2022/04/10/labor-shortage-persists-monroe-jobless-rate-grows/9515511002/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Milan history: Milan families pull off stock scam in New York in 1880’s
In 1881, Olive Burnham left her hometown of Milan to visit her mother in Chicago, Ill.
Olive was not planning to make waves in the international financial market. She didn’t intend to pull off a giant stock scandal. She just wanted to visit her mother, Emily Burnham. Emily was living in Chicago with a Civil War veteran and preacher, William E. Howard.
Emily might not have known Howard hadn’t been kind to his previous family. He had walked away from a wife and child in Rhode Island.
But Howard was much more interesting to hang around with, compared to the farmers around Milan. Howard was spending time with an inventor named Henry Friend, who was working in a Chicago carriage shop.
“Professor” Friend, as he called himself, had recently promised some Chicago business investors he could turn grapes into sugar with a secret process. Friend had enjoyed a grand lifestyle in Chicago for over a year, spending money from grape and sugar investors. But this lifestyle ended abruptly when the investors grew suspicious after seeing no results from their investments and they called the police on him.
Friend did not face any jail time for the scam. No one had pulled off a racket quite like this before in Chicago, so there was no law against it.
After the grapes-to-sugar con, Friend was working in the carriage shop, looking for another gig.
Howard realized Friend was a two-bit swindler. But under Howard’s careful eye, Friend could improve his skills and become a really great crook.
On Feb. 3, 1883, Henry Friend and Olive tied the knot in Niles, Michigan. It was easy at that time to leave Chicago by electric train and enjoy the vacation wonderland along Michigan’s lake shore, so the couple went to Niles for a lovely wedding.
The Friend marriage produced one son, William H. Friend, who was born in New York in April 1885, right in the middle of the sugar scandal.
A few months after Olive’s wedding, her mother married Howard. She had been living with Howard for 13 years. They made it official Sept. 3, 1883, in Joliet, Illinois. The marriage license says he was 47, a preacher, and Emily was 49.
Soon after the wedding bells rang, Friend heard back from an attorney, William H. Cotterill, of New York, about Friend’s new electric sugar refining invention.
Cotterill met “Professor” Friend and Olive in New York in late December. Cotterill realized that this invention would revolutionize the sugar refining industry.
Friend explained his need for machinery to get his process into operation. Friend could set up the manufacturing for only $30,000, he said. He could churn out 4,000 barrels of refined sugar every 24 hours for only 24 cents a ton.
Cotterill’s mouth was watering. Friend’s invention could result in an $8 profit for every barrel of refined sugar. At that time, the normal profit for refined sugar was only 75 cents a ton.
Here’s the kicker: Friend insisted his process be kept secret. “It must remain a secret in my sole possession," he said. "For if I should get it patented, some of the great refinery companies would steal it, and the only remedy I would have would be a tedious and costly lawsuit.”
Cotterill was so excited by the prospects of huge profits from Friend’s wonderful invention, he didn’t mind the secrecy. He agreed to set up a company, and pay Friend and his family to make it all happen.
Demonstrations of the “wonderful machine”
To jump-start the stock sales, Howard arranged for a demonstration of Friend’s “wonderful machine” as they called it. The event took place in February 1884 at Friend’s home on E. 108th St. in New York.
The machine was kept secret, covered with a cloth in the middle of a small room in the house, completely bare. A barrel of raw sugar was brought in.
Prospective stock-buyers and some company officials came, but all they could do was walk through the bare room and look around. Prof. Friend said very little; Howard did all the talking. Then the onlookers were herded out to wait.
It took almost two hours because Friend had to scoop all the raw sugar out of the barrel and pour it down a pipe into the sewer. A clean empty barrel sat ready for the newly-refined sugar. Friend just had to fill the new barrel with the pure white sugar he had bought, which his wife poured down to him from upstairs, through a hole in the ceiling.
When the fresh barrel was filled with beautiful white sugar, Friend proudly rolled it out to the audience and showed them how well his process worked. Some stock promoters were sprinkled in with the audience, to express their enthusiasm for the results and ensure the success of the demonstration.
The people attending this type of demonstration were hoping the new invention would work. They were eager to invest in stock that would make them rich. They wanted to believe. Surrounded by others who apparently felt the same way, the wonderful feeling of success was infectious.
Soon, the Electric Sugar Refining Company was selling stock like crazy in the United States and even more in England. Olive took a sea voyage to Liverpool and Manchester in 1885 with her husband, her baby boy, and her mother, to promote sugar stock. The English investors were thrilled with the electric sugar idea; they outnumbered the US investors by more than 2 to 1.
Olive and Emily brought in more Milan people to work on the sugar scam.
Emily brought in her brother, Lyman Burnham, former owner of the Babcock Hotel in Milan, along with Lyman’s son-in-law, Oren “Gus” Halstead, and Gus’ younger brother George Halstead, for heavy lifting.
They all gladly left their homes in Milan for the prospects of high pay and to experience New York City.
The adventure was exciting, until March 10, 1888, when Prof Henry Friend died of alcoholism. Coterill was anxious to keep the death a secret from the public, since the news would lower stock prices. It seems Friend was buried in an unmarked grave with no death certificate, to avoid alarming investors and reducing stock prices.
Two days later, New York was hit by a snow storm of historic proportions.
Olive quickly sold her husband’s 20 race horses, except one that she shipped to Milan. She also built a fabulous Victorian style home in Milan, now called the “Hack House,” hoping the electric sugar investors from New York would not chase her to a small town like Milan.
Olive’s mother immediately built an identical home, with the same blueprints and the same building contractor, on property north of Milan, along Arkona Road at Platt Road.
Both women built their homes to hide in, knowing the sugar investors in New York would eventually figure out there was no electric sugar refining process. And the investors would not be happy.
Howard stayed in New York while the rest of their group headed for safety in Milan. The Electric Sugar Refining Company officers were ready to start production. They wanted sugar. Howard kept promising them a sweet reward.
In late November, 1888, Howard pretended to start production, then stopped because he said the crank shaft was weak.
The crank shaft bought him about a week. Then he had to start up the machinery. He quickly stopped production, telling company officers the bearings were too hot. A few days later, Howard churned out almost 70 barrels of sugar, so everyone was happy. At least, he looked like he was refining sugar. In fact, he was just going to the store and buying it.
Howard continued to keep up appearances at the refinery in Brooklyn, until, in December, 1888, he quietly skipped town. Corporate officers suddenly realized that all the Milan people were gone.
Milan sugar gang arrested, jailed
Soon after the new year, Attorney Cotterill found Olive Friend at her lawyer’s office in Ann Arbor. He insisted on paying her $75,000 for the secret to her late husband’s sugar refining process.
Mrs. Friend declined his cash offer. Instead, she offered to sell Cotterill a secret process to turn grapes into sugar.
Sugar company officials realized they were in trouble.
Soon Cotterill was working with the prosecutor in New York to have the Milan gang handcuffed and put on a train to New York to face justice.
Howard, Olive Friend, and Olive’s relatives Oren and Gus Halstead, were all arrested by Washtenaw County deputies, put in jail, and placed on a train to New York in handcuffs.
The fun was over. The Milan sugar scammers were taken to a notorious jail in New York, known as “The Tombs.” It was a disgusting place, built on a polluted lake. The architect designed the building to look like an Egyptian tomb, hence the name. An underground spring kept it damp year-round.
In June 1889, Howard’s trial began. He was charged with stealing money from stock investors on two continents.
Howard was a master at turning the trial into a circus. For example, during a lunch break, he sat down with his wife and sang hymns within earshot of the jury. Not normal religious songs; battle hymns, including a popular one at the time called “Dare to be a Daniel.” Written in 1873, it was a fighting song.
Obviously, Howard was not sorry for anything He knew a New York Times reporter was nearby. Sure enough, his fight song turned into a news story.
Howard wanted the jury to think of him as a feisty clergyman singing hymns in the church choir, not as a cold-blooded swindler stealing the life savings of innocent stock investors.
The prosecutor, Col. Fellows, got in his licks against Howard. He forced Howard to admit he had left his first wife in Rhode Island, along with a baby, without a divorce. Howard also couldn’t remember the name of the man who later married him to Emily in Illinois. And finally, Howard admitted he didn’t know if Emily already had a husband when he married her.
The prosecutor called Henry C. Weidemeyer to the witness stand, a worker for a wholesale grocery store in Brooklyn. Weidemeyer told the jury how odd it was to see a strange man pull up with a huge wagon and purchase so many barrels of refined sugar, with cash.
Eventually, Weidemeyer couldn’t stand it anymore. He confronted the mystery customer and asked his name, since he was buying such huge quantities of sugar and it seemed rather strange. The man replied “My name is William Eaton.”
As it turned out, Eaton is Howard’s middle name.
A clerk at the grocery, George W. Kreger, testified that he once asked that same man what he was doing with all that sugar. Howard had snapped back “You got your money, don’t you! That’s enough for you to know.”
The day watchman at the sugar factory, Jeremiah Callahan, testified he worked for Prof. Friend and took his orders from Howard.
Callahan told the jury that he often helped out in the secret room, banging on clumped sugar with a mallet, or shoving bags of raw sugar into hiding places. Callahan sometimes brought in his wife to help. Howard and his wife Emily also crushed sugar.
Besides mallets, they had a crushing machine to take the lumps out of the sugar, Callahan testified. Once the sugar was in perfect condition, they’d drop it into copper chutes and it fell beautifully into barrels below.
“This was a show for the investors,” Callahan told the court.
The jury returned its verdict the evening of June 19, 1889. William Eaton Howard was found guilty of grand larceny. In reporting this fact, one newspaper at the time commented it took Howard just four months to receive $50,000 in cold cash by scamming the sugar company. As a clergyman, he got only $1 a week.
The sentence came just two days later. The judge gave Howard a stern lecture. “You have been on this stand for days, and have sworn to things you must have known were not true,” the judge declared. “You have shown that perjury is not below you, and I am firmly convinced of your sanctimonious hypocrisy.”
Then he sentenced Howard to 9 years and 8 months of hard labor in Sing Sing prison.
Life after prison
Howard was released from prison in 1895, after serving only six years. He came home to Milan, but his grand house on Arkona Road was sold.
Howard had a few years to spend with his wife, Emily; then she died in 1898, and was buried in Judd Cemetery near her father, Allen Burnham.
The next year, Howard married his third wife, the former Alice Longworthy. She was the widow of Andrew Leonard, shopkeeper of a grocery store in Milan on Wabash by the railroad.
Olive Friend remarried. She picked one of the New York conspirators, George Halstead, to be her husband.
Olive and George traveled to Essex County, Ontario, for their wedding. She probably had sugar money deposited nearby in a Canadian bank. The marriage took place May 14, 1899; she was 47, he was 38, and his occupation on the marriage license was “saloon keeper.”
Olive hated small town life, but she couldn’t go back to New York. So the two found a home on Fort Street in Detroit.
Olive was 49 on April 29, 1902 when she died of heart disease. She was buried in the Halstead family plot at Evergreen Cemetery in Hillsdale County, with no gravestone.
Henry Hack and his wife, Olive’s aunt Mary, lived at the Hack House after Olive left town. Henry died in 1907. Mary continued living in Olive’s former home with her son, Jim, and her daughter-in-law, Daisy Hack.
They say Daisy Hack often served sugar cookies to guests in her home, which later became known as the “Hack House.”
Martha A. Churchill is a contributor to The Monroe News. | https://www.monroenews.com/story/news/2022/04/10/milan-history-milan-families-pull-off-stock-scam-new-york-1880-s/9502297002/ | 2022-04-10T19:59:48Z | monroenews.com | control | https://www.monroenews.com/story/news/2022/04/10/milan-history-milan-families-pull-off-stock-scam-new-york-1880-s/9502297002/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Underrated items to grill
This week, I am inclined to focus on some of the most forgotten, less considered, or most underrated items to cook on the grill.
Along these lines, I have included a list of equipment that will increase your use of the grill and help in your variety with grill cooking.
· Steel Skewers for chicken & meat
· Spray bottle of water for misting meats
· Twine for tying meats such as a roast
· A heat resistant apron for flame protection and
· A silicon mat for cooking tools and can also double as an oven mitt
The following recipes are particular ones I felt would be enjoyable for the home cook to feature for family and friends. I find it enjoyable to think and create recipes outside my comfort zone, which helps to increase my flexibility in my outdoor cooking space.
I am of the opinion there are no rules on grilling from savory to sweet the combinations are limitless. Experiment this Spring and Summer season for the “different” you can create.
Chef Curtis Stone says this:
“I love grilling. Grilling is an incredible way to keep healthy. And you can marinate both with a dry rub and also wet marinades. You can marinate juniper berries with a little bit of olive oil and some citrus and fresh herbs - all of that sort of stuff.”
And as always, I could not agree more!
Jacqueline Iannazzo-Corser is a contributing writer to The Monroe News, writing about food and recipes. She is a chef, co-owner of Public House and an adjunct professor of culinary arts at Monroe County Community College. She can be reached at jcorser@monroeccc.edu.
Grilled Asparagus and Ricotta Pizza
Ingredients:
· 1/4 cup ricotta · Olive Oil or Herb Oil
· 1 Lemon (zested)
· 1/2 bunch asparagus, grilled
· Coarse salt and ground pepper to taste
· Basic grilled pizza dough recipe, grocery store dough, or premade flat breads.
Directions:
· Set up a coal or gas grill with heat source using the medium to high setting.
· Clean and lightly oil the grill grates.
· First, place asparagus on grill plate or use foil to cook until Al Dente.
· On a lightly floured work surface use one of the following, a Basic Grilled Pizza Dough, a four ounces store-bought dough, or a grocery store premade flat bread. You can stretch and shape the dough in any desired shape.
· Brush one side lightly with either Herb Oil or Olive Oil and then add salt and pepper to taste.
· Using your hands, place dough, oiled side down, directly over heat source.
· When underside is lightly charred and starts to bubble flip the dough with tongs and cook until other side is also bubbly approximately 2 minutes.
· Move cooked dough to the cooler side of grill, or into a covered pan.
· Top the cooked dough with ricotta cheese, lemon zest and asparagus
· Cover the grill then Cook until cheese melts and toppings are heated throughout approximately 3 to 5 minutes.
· Drizzle with herb oil before serving.
Note: Look up Zesting if needed and you can purchase a zester at all grocery or any cooking store.
The Homemade Dough Recipe (if making from scratch):
· 1 teaspoon sugar
· 1 packet (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
· 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for bowl and brushing
· 2 1/4 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
Directions:
· Pour 1 cup warm water into a medium bowl; add sugar and sprinkle with yeast. Let stand until foamy, 5 minutes.
· Whisk oil and 1 teaspoon salt into yeast mixture.
· Add flour and stir with a wooden spoon until liquid is incorporated (dough will appear dry).
· Turn out onto a floured work surface. Knead until dough comes together in an elastic ball, 2 minutes.
· Transfer to an oiled medium bowl; brush lightly with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; set in a warm, draft-free place until dough has doubled in size- approximately 45 minutes.
· Then punch down dough and cover; let rise an additional 30 minutes.
· Turn dough onto a lightly floured work surface.
· Divide into 4 equal pieces.
· Let rest 15 minutes before using.
Note: To store the dough refrigerate the product covered, for up to 2 days, or freeze for up to 1 month. Again remember any flat breads or dough you use will be good. Change toppings and cheese to sit your taste or add a sauce.
Grilled Avocado with Cherry Tomato’s & Spices
3 Avocados
Ingredients:
· 3 avocados (6 half’s)
· Olive oil · Kosher salt
· 1 Basket Cherry Tomato’s
· 1 Small bunch of Fresh Cilantro
· 1 Small Diced Red Onion
· 1 bag of Mozzarella Cheese or choice of cheeses
Directions:
· Cut cherry tomatoes in half or quarters and set aside.
· Dice Onion and cut cilantro into small pieces and set aside.
· Preheat a grill to medium high heat. · Slice the avocados in half and remove the pits.
· Season the cut sides of the avocado halves lightly with kosher salt and lightly drizzle with olive oil.
· Grill the avocado halves cut sides down for 4 to 6 minutes total or until grill marks form.
· You may flip the Avocado to heat the skin portion for approximately 1 to 1 ½ minutes.
· Place on serving platter.
· Fill with tomatoes, cilantro, red onion, and top with mozzarella cheese or cheese of your choice.
· Finish with a drizzle of olive oil
Note: ½ avocado per person this recipe is for 6 people add or subtract according to your guest count. I enjoy adding black olives and a crunchy sesame sticks for extra flavor.
Grilled Peaches, Blue Berries, & Raspberries
Ingredients:
· 3 Peaches
· 1 Basket of Blueberries
· 1 Basket of Raspberries
· Cooking oil
· 1 ½ of Cinnamon Sugar
· 4 tbsp. of soft butter
Directions:
· Slice peaches in half lengthwise and remove the pits.
· Set aside
· Place brown sugar in a bowl, add butter and mix until combined.
· Set aside.
· Heat outdoor grill to medium-high heat.
· Brush peaches with cooking oil and grill cut-side-down until slightly softened and charred 1 to 2 minutes and have grill marks.
· Flip to rounded side and grill for an additional 1 minute.
· In a grill pan place ½ basket of blueberries & raspberries together with a sprinkle of cooking oil, continue stirring for 5 minutes or less.
· Place the peach in a desert dish, with berries, then top with the cinnamon-sugar & butter combination.
· For additional flavor add a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Note: Add a variety of fruits and make different fruit and topping combinations. Fruit on the grill is flavorful and brings out hidden flavors.! | https://www.monroenews.com/story/opinion/2022/04/10/underrated-items-grill/9497811002/ | 2022-04-10T19:59:54Z | monroenews.com | control | https://www.monroenews.com/story/opinion/2022/04/10/underrated-items-grill/9497811002/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
On kindness and making a difference
April is Celebrate Diversity Month. I want to share with my readers excerpts of a talk I gave a couple of years ago. I was honored and privileged to have been invited again that year to speak at the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Day Celebration event at La-Z-Boy Inc. headquarters. I was the speaker the year before and focused on Dr. King and community service. This particular talk was focused on kindness and making a difference.
I quote and paraphrase parts of my talk below:
"As we observe Dr. King’s birthday as a holiday, I encourage all of us to observe it as a day of reflection and a day of service, i.e. 'a day on, not a day off.' At Monroe County Community College (MCCC) it is ‘a day off, for a week on.'"
Dr. King once said, "Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?"
How can you make your corner of the world just a little brighter for other people?
Be kind, care and caring. Here are few quotes about kindness and making a difference. These were not part of my talk. I provide them here for us to reflect during these challenging times on what we all can do to help others. By the way, I have found Monroe to be one of the most generous and kind places that I have ever lived.
"Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see." — Mark Twain
"Be kind to unkind people – they need it the most." — Ashleigh Brilliant
"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." — Leo F. Buscaglia
"Kindness is never wasted. If it has no effect on the recipient, at least it benefits the bestower." — S.H. Simmons
"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well." — Ralph Waldo Emerson
"The purpose of life is to contribute in some way to making things better." — Robert F. Kennedy
“What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world is and remains immortal.” — Albert Pine
"You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result." — Mahatma Gandhi
"I have one life and one chance to make it count for something. My faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference." — Jimmy Carter
"We can do no great things; only small things with great love." — Mother Theresa
"Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth." — Muhammed Ali
At the talk, I provided them with the following suggestions:
• Think beyond just you and yours.
• Find a cause that you so believe in that you are willing to dedicate hands-on time to it.
• Find organizations that you are willing to support financially and just give.
• If you have a special talent, share it with others.
I told several stories about kindness and making a difference. Most of the stories were personal and involved kindness that others had shown toward me. I then asked them to write down how they were making a difference for others and how they could do more for others. Several individuals reported out to the group. I encourage you, the reader, to write down a few things that you can do to make a difference in the lives of others and begin implementing them.
I conclude this article with a story with which I have recently become familiar. I first heard this story several weeks ago at church from Pastor Adam Davis of Elevate Church of Monroe. It involves a simple one-word quote. As Gen. William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army neared the end of his life, he could not attend the annual convention. It was suggested that he send a telegram to encourage the individuals in attendance at the convention. To ensure that funds went to the needy instead of to pay for the expensive telegram, Booth sent a one-word telegram. The moderator started the convention, stood in front of the delegates, opened the telegram and read the one word: “others!”
I try to live my life that way in all that I do. My background and experiences have shaped that. For those of us who are more fortunate than others, it is time for us to think about those “others.”
Kojo A. Quartey is president of Monroe County Community College and a former professor of economics. | https://www.monroenews.com/story/opinion/columns/2022/04/10/kojo-quartey-kindness-making-difference/9506319002/ | 2022-04-10T20:00:00Z | monroenews.com | control | https://www.monroenews.com/story/opinion/columns/2022/04/10/kojo-quartey-kindness-making-difference/9506319002/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
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Few souls know better than Travis Mills that life can change in an instant.
While on his third tour of duty in Afghanistan, the United States Army Staff Sergeant was having a “normal day at work” when, while at a resting stop, an improvised explosive device detonated. Six seconds later he came to and found all of his limbs had been blown off.
“My baby girl — am I ever going to see her again?” he asked as a medic tied tourniquets on both of his arms and legs.
Four days later, he woke up in the hospital: He’d become one of five soldiers from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars to survive a quadruple amputation. Despite all odds, Mills was still alive, but he was now missing his left arm below the elbow, his right arm below the shoulder and both legs above the knee.
He was unsure if he could still be a good husband and father. “I told my wife she should leave me,” he recalled to The Post. “But she stayed.”
Mills informed his doctors he’d be out of the hospital in 10 months — he needed to get back to his family, he explained.
“It was one task at a time. Someone had to feed me, and then I got my own arm to feed myself, and then I was able to start walking again, and get my life back,” he said. He and his infant daughter ended up learning to walk at the same time.
“Now she’s 10, and she doesn’t remember me with my limbs,” said Mills.
A decade has now passed since April 10, 2012, when Mills miraculously survived the IED blast: This weekend, the now 34-year-old celebrated his tenth annual Alive Day.
“For me it’s a day of reflection on what’s happened and how far we’ve come since my wife got that phone call not knowing if I was going to live or die,” said the now-retired Mills, who has since become a motivational speaker, author and business owner. “I used to hate this day, but I realized how grateful I am to celebrate, because those injuries should’ve ended my life.”
In the years since nearly dying, Mills has committed himself to sharing his experience as a testament to the incredible human ability to survive even the most horrific ordeals.
“I tell people the two life lessons I’ve lived by are: Don’t dwell on the past, but reminisce it, and you can’t always control your situation but you can always control your attitude,” he said.
In addition to telling his tale through his 60-odd annual speaking gigs across the globe, Mills has also written a book and starred in a documentary about it. As well, he started the Travis Mills Foundation, a non-profit which, among other resources and programs, offers an all-expenses paid healing retreat to veterans injured in active duty or as a result of their service to the nation. He also owns a restaurant in central Maine, not far from the custom smart home he shares with his wife, daughter and four-year-old son.
He was even the inspiration for local Maine beer-maker Baxter Brewing Co.’s Limb-It-Less blonde ale.
Fate did not deal Travis Mills an easy hand and yet, in the 10 years since he stood at death’s door, he has not just reclaimed his life but turned it into a beacon of resilience for anyone and everyone who hears his story.
“At some point you figure they’re not growing back, so you can mope about it or get better — I try to live my life as if it’s nothing different to not have legs. I don’t dwell on it,” he told The Post. “My whole job is to get people to look past the injuries and see me for me.” | https://nypost.com/2022/04/10/veteran-celebrates-10th-alive-day-i-used-to-hate-this-day/ | 2022-04-10T20:09:57Z | nypost.com | control | https://nypost.com/2022/04/10/veteran-celebrates-10th-alive-day-i-used-to-hate-this-day/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative Board of Directors has tapped a new president and CEO.
David E. Schleicher, who was formerly the organization’s chief operating officer, took over the top post April 2. Schleicher has more than 40 years of experience in electric utilities, according to a news release.
"The board is confident Dave will provide the vision, expertise and leadership to successfully guide NOVEC through the issues facing the electric industry, while building upon the cooperative's long history of service reliability, financial soundness, and customer satisfaction," Wade C. House, chairman of the NOVEC Board of Directors, said in a prepared statement.
In previous positions at NOVEC, Schleicher was responsible for system planning, distribution design, substation design and maintenance, as well as fiber optic network and corporate administration functions, including purchasing, warehousing, facilities management and transportation.
Schleicher holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Drexel University and an MBA in operations management from the University of Scranton. He is a registered professional engineer in Virginia and Pennsylvania. | https://www.insidenova.com/headlines/novec-names-new-president-ceo/article_cce4333e-b8ef-11ec-9885-d35d78813e70.html | 2022-04-10T20:19:07Z | insidenova.com | control | https://www.insidenova.com/headlines/novec-names-new-president-ceo/article_cce4333e-b8ef-11ec-9885-d35d78813e70.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis opened Holy Week Sunday with a call for an Easter truce in Ukraine to make room for a negotiated peace, highlighting the need for leaders to “make some sacrifices for the good of the people.”
Celebrating Palm Sunday Mass before crowds in St. Peter’s Square for the first time since the pandemic, Pope Francis called for “weapons to be laid down to begin an Easter truce, not to reload weapons and resume fighting, no! A truce to reach peace through real negotiations.”
Francis did not refer directly to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the reference was clear, and he has repeatedly denounced the war and the suffering brought to innocent civilians.
During the traditional Sunday blessing following Palm Sunday Mass, the pontiff said leaders should be “willing to make some sacrifices for the good of the people.”
“In fact, what a victory would that be, who plants a flag under a pile of rubble?”
During his Palm Sunday homily, the pontiff denounced “the folly of war” that leads people to commit “senseless acts of cruelty.”
“When we resort to violence … we lose sight of why we are in the world and even end up committing senseless acts of cruelty. We see this in the folly of war, where Christ is crucified yet another time,” he said.
Francis lamented “the unjust death of husbands and sons” … “refugees fleeing bombs” … “young people deprived of a future” … and “soldiers sent to kill their brothers and sisters.”
After two years of celebrating Palm Sunday Mass inside St. Peter’s Basilica without a crowd due to pandemic distancing measures, the solemn celebration returned to the square outside. Tens of thousands of pilgrims and tourists clutched olive branches and braided palms emblematic of the ceremony that recalls Jesus’ return to Jerusalem.
Traditionally, the pope leads a Palm Sunday procession through St. Peter’s Square before celebrating Mass. Francis has been suffering from a strained ligament in his right knee that has caused him to limp, and he was driven in a black car to the altar, which he then reached with the help of an aide. He left the Mass on the open-top popemobile, waving to the faithful in the piazza and along part of the via della Conciliazione.
Palm Sunday opens Holy Week leading up to Easter, which this year falls on April 17, and features the Good Friday Way of the Cross Procession. | https://www.wwlp.com/news/pope-francis-calls-for-an-easter-truce-in-ukraine/ | 2022-04-10T20:20:18Z | wwlp.com | control | https://www.wwlp.com/news/pope-francis-calls-for-an-easter-truce-in-ukraine/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) – Many residents across western Massachusetts saw thunderstorms Saturday and some even saw hail, raising the question: how does hail form?
Usually on days when thunderstorms are forecasted, if you look at the clouds that contain thunderstorms, you can see that they are very tall and go high up into the atmosphere. These clouds contain updrafts, which is rising air within the cloud that carries water moisture and droplets from the surface.
Once these water droplets get lifted into the cloud, they rise above a freezing point at which the air within the cloud is below 32 degrees allowing the water droplets to freeze into ice.
As they are in the cloud they continue to accumulate moisture onto them until they get too heavy for the updraft to support the ice crystals and they fall to the surface as what we know as hail. | https://www.wwlp.com/weather/weather-news/explainer-how-does-hail-form/ | 2022-04-10T20:20:24Z | wwlp.com | control | https://www.wwlp.com/weather/weather-news/explainer-how-does-hail-form/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
There is basically zero surprise that this date was chosen. The Australian Prime Minister had to call the election by this date and had left it so late that there were only two reasonable dates available, the 14th or the 21st.
The incumbent party is behind in the polls. Whoever wins the election will be greeted with a rate hike from the Reserve Bank of Australia perhaps as early as June (the 7th is the date of the June meeting). A May rate hike would make the election more interesting but May (3rd is the meeting) is not the consensus at present.
RBA Governor Lowe: | https://www.forexlive.com/news/aud-traders-heads-up-australian-federal-election-will-be-held-on-may-21-20220410/ | 2022-04-10T20:24:37Z | forexlive.com | control | https://www.forexlive.com/news/aud-traders-heads-up-australian-federal-election-will-be-held-on-may-21-20220410/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
A University of Kansas Crime Alert was issued in response to an armed robbery that took place on West Campus Road Sunday morning.
According to the crime alert, which was sent to all University students, faculty and staff, the suspect was described as a Hispanic male, approximately 25-30 years old, wearing a goatee or scruff beard and a black hoodie, 5-foot-9 and 250 pounds. The suspect hopped in a car post-robbery and headed west on Stratford Road off campus.
The KU Public Safety Office is encouraging anyone with information about this crime to contact them at 785-864-5900 or Crime Stoppers at 785-843-8477. | https://www.kansan.com/news/armed-robbery-reported-on-west-campus-road/article_33f4e744-b8f5-11ec-8111-1fb293caf946.html | 2022-04-10T20:36:02Z | kansan.com | control | https://www.kansan.com/news/armed-robbery-reported-on-west-campus-road/article_33f4e744-b8f5-11ec-8111-1fb293caf946.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Chilean Air Force groundcrew members watch as an an F-22 from the F-22 Raptor Demonstration Team taxis toward the runway to takeoff and perform its high-flying routine at Feria Internacional del Aire y del Espacio (FIDAE), Latin America’s largest aerospace, defense and security exhibition, in Santiago, Chile, April 8, 2022. The F-22 Demonstration Team represents the U.S. Air Force at airshows across the world, and are selected based on skill, military barring, and personal and professional merit. (Air Force Photo by Master Sgt. Michael Davis)
This work, FIDAE 2022 wraps up in Santiago, Chile [Image 7 of 7], by MSgt Michael Davis, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright. | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7135898/fidae-2022-wraps-up-santiago-chile | 2022-04-10T20:37:50Z | dvidshub.net | control | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7135898/fidae-2022-wraps-up-santiago-chile | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa Commanding General Maj. Gen. Andrew Rohling stands with Navy Rear Adm. Paul Spedero, Jr., in the Mission Training Center on Caserma Ederle, in Vicenza, Italy, April 9, 2022. Spedero, commander, Joint Enabling Capabilities Command, U.S. Transportation Command, visited Rohling's SETAF-AF headquarters as JECC service members supported a U.S. Africa Command joint task force command post exercise. On short notice, the JECC provides planners, public affairs specialists, and communications capabilities to Combatant Commanders in order to enable the rapid establishment of a Joint Force Headquarters or in support of other missions, exercises, or planning efforts. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Solomon Abanda)
This work, JECC commander visits SETAF-AF during command post exercise [Image 2 of 2], by MAJ Cain Claxton, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright. | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7135906/jecc-commander-visits-setaf-af-during-command-post-exercise | 2022-04-10T20:38:13Z | dvidshub.net | control | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7135906/jecc-commander-visits-setaf-af-during-command-post-exercise | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
220410-N-CY569-1147 IONIAN SEA (April 10, 2022) Aviation Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class Kelton Tanner, from Lafayette, Louisiana, assigned to the "Dragonslayers" of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 11, attaches a tail rotor to an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter in the hangar bay of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), April 10, 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 Seaman Anthony Robledo)
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 10 of 10], by SN Anthony Robledo, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright. | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7135985/harry-s-truman-carrier-strike-group-scheduled-deployment-us-sixth-fleet-area-operations | 2022-04-10T20:39:03Z | dvidshub.net | control | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7135985/harry-s-truman-carrier-strike-group-scheduled-deployment-us-sixth-fleet-area-operations | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
220410-N-PG226-1008 IONIAN SEA (April 10, 2022) Sailors pose for a photo to raise awareness for Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR) awareness month on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), April 10, 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 10 of 10], 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/7135987/harry-s-truman-carrier-strike-group-scheduled-deployment-us-sixth-fleet-area-operations | 2022-04-10T20:39:15Z | dvidshub.net | control | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7135987/harry-s-truman-carrier-strike-group-scheduled-deployment-us-sixth-fleet-area-operations | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
HONOLULU, O'ahu (KITV4) -- For the first time, the Sales and Marketing Executives Honolulu (SME Honolulu) announced they will be recognizing two Salespersons of the Year (SPOY) for their annual award event.
The 2019 and 2021 SPOY recipients are President and CEO of the Hawai’i Lodging & Tourism Association, Mufi Hannemann, and founder of Tihati Productions, Charlene “Cha” Thompson, respectively.
This is the 65th year that SME Honolulu has awarded this honor, which recognizes a member of the community who greatly enhances the image and quality of life in Hawaii.
2019 Salesperson of the Year: Mufi Hannemann
Hannemann is Honolulu-born and of Samoan/German/English ancestry. He has served the community of Hawai'i in various influential roles and organizations in the public and private sectors and non-profit world. The 'Iolani and Harvard honors graduate was elected mayor of the City and County of Honolulu in 2004 and was re-elected to a second term in 2008. While on the Honolulu City Council he served as Chair. He has also been the director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism and was a corporate executive with C Brewer & Co. In his role as CEO and President of Hawai‘i Lodging & Tourism Association, the state’s largest private sector tourism organization, Hannemann has been an effective and articulate champion of the state’s number one industry. He espouses the need for a balanced approach of a healthy community coupled with a robust economic recovery during this pandemic period.
Having been appointed to serve five U.S. Presidents and two Hawaii Governors, and a former Fulbright Scholar in New Zealand, Hannemann’s views and opinions are highly sought and respected in the Pacific region. Throughout his career, he has compiled an impressive record of accomplishments in business, government, education, sports, culture and arts, as well as community service.
“My parents Gustav and Faiaso raised me and my siblings to follow the admonition of the Good Book - “to whom much is given much is required.” As I have been blessed with so many wonderful and choice opportunities to grow and develop, I have always kept that in mind which is why I have always believed in educating and mentoring the next generation. I’m grateful to those individuals who have helped to shape and guide my life and to the countless others who have been generous with their counsel and experience through the years,” stated Hannemann.
Hannemann’s philanthropic accomplishments include leading one of Hawaii’s most successful fundraising events - the Visitor Industry Charity Walk, which raised a record $2.7-million in 2019 and in a virtual format $2.1-million in 2021 to help nonprofit organizations throughout the state. He is the founder of the Pacific Century Fellows, modeled after the White House Fellows, of which he was one, which mentors future generations of local leaders in Hawai‘i and the Pacific. Thus far they have had 17 cohorts of Fellows in Hawai'i and 7 classes of Fellows in Micronesia, many of whom have risen to levels of prominence in business, government, labor, law, the military, media, and non-profit arena.
A much sought-after public speaker, he awards thousands of dollars in scholarships each year to deserving local high school students throughout the state. Hannemann’s positive influence is affecting the present and shaping the future of Hawaii.
2021 Salesperson of the Year: Charlene “Cha” Thompson
Thompson has been a leader at the forefront of the visitor industry in Hawaii, providing the highest caliber of Hawaiian and Polynesian entertainment across the state of Hawaii and throughout the Pacific and Asia, for over 50 years.
Alongside her husband Jack “Tihati” Thompson, they became founders of Tihati Productions in 1969. Tihati has since grown to be the largest, longest-running entertainment company in the state of Hawaii, producing lū’au shows locally at dozens of Hawaii’s leading resorts and hotels, but also nationally and internationally. The company has performed for three sitting U.S. presidents, with a landmark performance at the White House in 2009.
One of Thompson's most memorable experiences was bringing Hawaiian and Polynesian performing arts to Thailand where the Tihati troupe spent six years playing a 5,000-seat theater, the largest in the world.
Papali’itele Jack “Tihati” Thompson holds diplomatic and cultural titles and serves currently as the Honorary Consul of the Independent State of Samoa. As a result, Tihati Productions has performed for many diplomats and royals from Polynesia including their dear friend, His Majesty King of Tonga, the late Taufaahau Tupou IV, as well as the head of state of Samoa, His Highness, the late Malietoa Tanumafili II.
Tihati Productions continues its incredible legacy employing over 1,000 local performing artists, dancers, and choreographers. The couple was selected as Hawaii’s Small Business Persons of the Year in 1986 and Thompson was honored as an inductee to the Hawaii Business Hall of Fame in 1990.
Thompson is a proud graduate of Farrington High School, attended Kapi'olani Community College, and has received her Bachelor of Science degree in Judicial Administration from Hawai'i Pacific University. She has served the community of Hawai'i in various roles, including her work for Palama Settlement, empowering members of the Kalihi and Palama neighborhoods through education and health programs.
She was also the Vice President of the Institute of Human Services Board of Directors, the Executive Board of Aloha United Way, Hawai'i Council on Economic Education, President of the Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association, Board member for the Hawai'i Tourism Authority, Commissioner with the Honolulu Police Commission for over eight years and served as the Secretary and Treasurer of the South Seas Christian Ministry for over 25 years. It is her deep faith in Christ through whom she believes all blessings flow, that she attributes over five decades of professional and philanthropic work.
Thompson’s incredible work for the local community continues to support young artists today, after having established and funded various scholarships for students who excel in the field of performing arts. Her lifetime of contributions continues to positively impact today’s artists and communities of Hawai'i, and well into the future generations. Today, she continues to be involved in the entertainment industry in Hawaii as a talent buyer for the legendary club Blue Note.
SME Annual Event
The Salesperson of the Year (SPOY) event will be held on April 28, 2022, from 6 p.m. -10 p.m. at the Sheraton Waikiki, and will feature a dinner, and some very special entertainment.
Since the 1957 inception of the award, when Daniel S. C. Liu first accepted the title, SME Honolulu has recognized over 65 leaders who have served to better the education and promotion of business in Hawaii.
Reservations for the 2022 SPOY Dinner Event at the Waikiki Resort on April 28, 2022, honoring Mufi Hannemann and Charlene “Cha” Thompson may be made at www.smehonolulu.org or by contacting info@smehonolulu.org. Individual seats are $150.00. Sponsorship tables of ten are available for: Silver $2,500 – Gold $5,000 – Platinum $10,000. Presenting Sponsor -- $15,00 | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/mufi-hannemann-charlene-cha-thompson-named-salespersons-of-the-year/article_13d302ee-b903-11ec-a82b-97ffdbc28f68.html | 2022-04-10T20:40:18Z | kitv.com | control | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/mufi-hannemann-charlene-cha-thompson-named-salespersons-of-the-year/article_13d302ee-b903-11ec-a82b-97ffdbc28f68.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
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(The Hill) – Governors and legislators in several states are racing to throw hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks, rebates and straight up cash at some of the richest people in the nation, hoping to secure commitments from NFL franchises in search of massive new stadiums.
Three states are considering or offering incentive packages to keep teams that already play inside their borders, while officials in two neighboring states are putting together their own bids to steal away nearby teams. Together, the deals amount to some of the most expensive packages states have ever offered to private businesses.
On Thursday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said she and legislative leaders had agreed on a $220 billion budget framework that would include $850 million in state and local taxpayer money to fund most of a new $1.4 billion stadium for her hometown team, the Buffalo Bills.
Virginia lawmakers are debating $350 million in bonds for a proposed economic development project that would be located either in Prince William or Loudoun counties to host the Washington Commanders, who currently play across the Potomac River in Landover, Md.
Maryland lawmakers have proposed $400 million in economic development along the Blue Line corridor near the Commanders’ current stadium, though none of that money would be used to fund the team’s wishes for a new home.
In the Kansas City metropolitan area, both Kansas and Missouri lawmakers are in the initial phases of outlining incentive packages to woo the Chiefs. The team has a lease for Arrowhead Stadium, on the Missouri side of the border, until 2031. But chief executive Clark Hunt said last week they have invested $500,000 in studying whether to renovate, build a new stadium in Missouri or move across the border to Kansas.
The owners of all three teams are regular fixtures on lists of America’s ultra-wealthy. Terry and Kim Pegula, who own the Bills and the Buffalo Sabres, are worth a combined $5.8 billion, according to Forbes. The Hunt family that owns the Chiefs counts a net worth of $15.5 billion. Dan Snyder, who recently purchased a $48 million estate that was once part of George Washington’s Mount Vernon, is worth a reported $4 billion.
Legislators who back the massive incentive packages aimed at billionaire owners say the investments pay off in economic activity and civic pride.
“The Buffalo Bills are a part of the fabric of our community in Western New York. Losing our team to another part of the country would be devastating to the psyche of our community and the fabric of who we are, not to mention the economy that has been on the rebound and has been building momentum,” said New York state Sen. Tim Kennedy (D), who represents Buffalo. He pointed to stadiums that host the Yankees, Mets and Knicks, all of which received taxpayer funding. “The last thing we need is for an NFL team to pull up shop.”
Economists tell a very different tale. Stadiums for any professional sports team lie dormant more often than they host games, and studies of economic impact unanimously show the stadiums do not deliver what the teams promise they will.
“Economists don’t always agree on everything, but this is one where we’re pretty well aligned,” said Paul Oyer, a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and author of the book An Economist Goes to the Game. “They don’t generally bring other benefits to the area like they always talk about. There tends to be a lot of promises and none of those benefits come other than to the stadium. It’s not like they’re producing a large set of full-time, high-quality jobs.”
The new stadium for the Bills is likely to play a role as Hochul seeks a full term in office this November. Hochul’s two main challengers, Reps. Lee Zeldin (R) and Tom Suozzi (D), were critical of the deal struck with taxpayer money.
“On behalf of New York taxpayers, Kathy Hochul should have taken a stronger negotiating position and driven a harder bargain to successfully keep the Bills in Buffalo without their loyal fans and the rest of the state’s taxpayers having to pay a $850 million public cost,” Zeldin said in a statement.
In Virginia, the push to woo the Commanders has used stadium deals in Atlanta and Phoenix as models. Legislators have proposed floating bonds to build an economic development area that would include a stadium and other facilities to attract visitors, like The Battery in Atlanta, an entertainment district that hosts the Braves.
The bills under consideration, sponsored by state Sen. Richard Saslaw (D), the majority leader, and Delegate Barry Knight (R), who heads the House Appropriations Committee, would allow the team to recapture some of the sales tax generated by a new stadium to help defray the estimated $1 billion construction cost, similar to a measure Arizona lawmakers approved to build a new stadium for the NFL’s Cardinals in Glendale.
Lawmakers in both Virginia and Maryland are acutely aware of Snyder’s own recent move from Maryland to Virginia. Some Maryland lawmakers say they are unwilling to commit to money for Snyder’s team, which dropped its racist name in 2020 and adopted the Commanders moniker earlier this year.
“Initially, they were a really good partner to the community. Then over the years they essentially went MIA,” said state Delegate Jazz Lewis (D), whose district includes the stadium, pointing to investments the late former owner Jack Kent Cooke made in a major sports complex in Prince George’s County. “Candidly, there are a number of folks who would be fine to see them go.”
Lewis said his $400 million proposal would build an entertainment district similar to the one under discussion in Virginia, though none of the money could be used to fund a stadium. Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said Thursday he backs the proposal, which would make investments in the area even if the team leaves.
“This is money that could entice them to stay because they know we are making investments around them,” Lewis said of the Commanders. He said that the General Assembly is also considering money to improve M&T Stadium, home of the Baltimore Ravens, and Camden Yards, home of the Orioles — two teams, he noted, that have not threatened to leave the state.
“If [the Commanders] leave, we can use the money to help level the stadium if that were to happen,” Lewis said. “I was very concerned that like RFK [Stadium in Washington] my constituents would have this towering structure that would depress home values for years to come.”
The fight over the Chiefs has reignited the so-called border war in the Kansas City metro area. For years, lawmakers on the Kansas side and the Missouri side offered millions in subsidies and tax breaks to businesses that would cross state lines, moving as little as a few blocks to shift jobs into one state or the other, at significant cost to taxpayers.
A truce established between the two cities three years ago is now at risk of unraveling. After Hunt’s comments last week, made at the annual meeting of NFL owners, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) said his state would not let the Chiefs leave without a fight.
“After my conversation with [Chiefs President] Mark Donovan, I assured him that Missouri will compete with any state trying to move the Chiefs from Missouri,” Parson said in a statement. “My administration and I have a great working relationship with the Chiefs organization, and this will not change.”
The fights over NFL teams come at a time when state budgets are suddenly flush with cash, infused by federal government aid to handle the coronavirus pandemic and the associated economic downturn and recovery as well as unexpectedly strong tax receipts.
But those good times will not last forever, and economists warn stadium deals rarely, if ever, deliver their promised returns. Oyer said a state would be wise to spend excess cash to pay down pension debts and obligations, something that pays defined financial benefits in the longer run.
“Football stadiums are especially egregious because they’re used so few days a year,” Oyer said in an interview. “These stadiums cost billions of dollars, but the people who get the benefits from it are a) already billionaires and b) managing businesses that are already bringing in billions of dollars.” | https://www.wwlp.com/sports/stadium-politics-rile-states-fighting-over-nfl-teams/ | 2022-04-10T20:46:29Z | wwlp.com | control | https://www.wwlp.com/sports/stadium-politics-rile-states-fighting-over-nfl-teams/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Actor Harry Lennix, whom many urbanites might remember from the Wayans’ Bros. hit comedy Mo’ Money, demands that Will Smith surrender his Oscar trophy expeditiously.
Lennix, who currently stars on NBC’s “Blacklist,” wrote that the “10 years as discipline for slapping Chris Rock is little more than an extended time out for a playground bully,” and “that it is a toothless penalty that lays bare the shallowness of Hollywood morals,” he wrote for Variety magazine.
To reiterate what Lennix deems was a heinous act by Smith, there is no other way to reconcile how Smith contaminated the Oscars proceedings but to relinquish the Oscar he won. Smith took home his first Academy Award for Best Actor after brilliantly portraying Venus and Serena Williams’ father in the film King Richard.
In fact, Lennix also penned that Smith should “express mail” the trophy back to Hollywood and even suggested what Smith should say: “Out of respect for the 94 years of honor conferred upon this award, I do not in good conscience feel worthy of being its custodian.”
The actor added that the only thing more galling than what Smith did was referencing a Higher Power during Smith’s “surreal” acceptance speech as well as the Academy’s failure to eject Smith from Dolby Theater after smacking Chris Rock.
Black Twitter, including actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, climbed all over Lennix for his lack of compassion for a man who is, for the time being, “ruined.” Others bombarded Lennix for his flagrant hypocrisy since he did not demand that rapists and pedophiles like Harvey Weinstein and Roman Polanski return their Oscars.
Are we trying to kill him? This was very bad but it certainly is not the worst thing to happen at the Oscars! What happened to compassion and empathy? He is ruined. Will Smith Must Return His Oscar: Guest Column – Variety https://t.co/oBevLeRcpJ
— sheryl lee ralph (@thesherylralph) April 9, 2022
So many black celebs out here Shoe Shufflin for Massa approval. Where was this energy for all the white oscar winners who are known rapists, pedophiles, and racists? #DoubleStandards #HarryLennix #WillSmith https://t.co/hzOCHng8nv
— corey scott-johnson (@cj_218) April 9, 2022
Ima tell everyone that this is Harry Lennix#HarryLennix pic.twitter.com/Zv27Q4PM6Z
— Jennifer Reynolds (@LocketsByJen) April 9, 2022
#HarryLennix Needs to stop it! I just got mad all over again. Why would he return something he earned?!? Then, you said to RESTORE THE AWARDS HONOR! Have you lost your damn mind?!? What honor? You have rapist that have the award. But Will is destroying its Honor?!? 🤦🏾♀️🤦🏾♀️🤦🏾♀️
— Amber Cook (@MissAmberC) April 10, 2022
Shut-up @HarryLennix #HarryLennix. Until @TheAcademy recalls the #Oscars given to:
– Woody Allen
– Roman Polanski
– Kirk Douglas
– Harvey Weinstein
ALL other sexual predators, traffickers, proven abusers, NO. #LeaveWillSmithAlone#WillSmith #FreeWillSmith #SupportWillSmith 🌹 https://t.co/M1QV1qkkI8— Resting Doll Face 👑 (@RestDollfaceJMT) April 9, 2022 | https://rollingout.com/2022/04/10/actor-ripped-apart-for-saying-will-smith-must-return-the-best-actor-oscar/ | 2022-04-10T20:53:54Z | rollingout.com | control | https://rollingout.com/2022/04/10/actor-ripped-apart-for-saying-will-smith-must-return-the-best-actor-oscar/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The Black electorate is disquieted after learning that former Georgia football legend Herschel Walker is leading junior Sen. Raphael Warnock in the polls.
Walker, a right-wing conservative who adores former President Donald Trump, is enjoying a slight advantage over Warnock in the Georgia Senate race, according to a The Hill/Emerson College poll. The organizers reportedly surveyed 1,013 Georgia registered voters from April 1-3, according to The Hill.
Herschel Walker has opened up a four point lead over Senator Warnock in Georgia with seven months to go until the 2022 midterms. https://t.co/SlRn4YdKiq
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) April 6, 2022
Walker has enjoyed increased gravitas since being endorsed by the likes of Trump and U.S. Supreme Court jurist Clarence Thomas.
Some GOP legislators have openly articulated concerns that Democrats will pummel Walker regarding his unsavory business history and for the accusations of physical abuse by his ex-wife and a string of other women.
It could be a mean election year for Black candidates in November as two-time gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who barely lost in 2018, is trailing incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp 51-44 percent, The Hill reports. Abrams also trails Republican candidate David Purdue, 49-44 percent, who is slated to challenge Kemp in the GOP primaries. Not surprisingly, the publication stated that race determined who is supporting each candidate.
Meanwhile, Black Twitter is alerting the public to the reasons behind their repugnance of Walker.
Multiple women have accused Herschel Walker of threatening to kill them. Yet Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell want Walker to become a U.S. senator.
— Mark Jacob (@MarkJacob16) April 9, 2022
Typical Republican
Here we have Clarence Thomas doubling down and publicly appearing with GA Senate candidate Herschel Walker
Don't tell me he wasn't aware of Ginni's actions
He's involved https://t.co/NRPgwTcVNs— Mona (@Monaheart1229) April 9, 2022
Herschel Walker says he has played Russian roulette “over six times” in his life.
Georgia, please don't play Russian roulette with democracy.
Re-elect your great Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock!— Janice Hough (@leftcoastbabe) April 10, 2022
I cannot wait to see Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock defeat Herschel Walker in the 2022 midterm election. Warnock is seeking to win a full 6 year term in the U.S. Senate. It’s imperative that he succeeds. Who’s going to help us make that happen? @SenatorWarnock @ReverendWarnock
— Stephanie Kennedy (@WordswithSteph) April 9, 2022
Herschel Walker is a great American
He's gonna win in a red wave landslide in November— Vince Langman (@LangmanVince) April 10, 2022
Say no to crazy my beloved Georgia. No to Herschel Walker. Re-elect the better candidate that really cares about you. @SenatorWarnock. I will see you in October my friends. 💗
— Christa Johnson (@txchristabelle) April 10, 2022
Herschel Walker played for Georgia, now he is playing Georgia.
Clarence Thomas is his new coach.
Georgia, We won’t be played. #VoteBlue2022 #ClarenceThomasResign
Pass the #SupremeCourtEthicsAct pic.twitter.com/UqTf3ZdB5X
— SisterhoodTribe555🌈⚖️ (@SisterhoodTribe) April 9, 2022 | https://rollingout.com/2022/04/10/black-twitter-alarmed-as-herschel-walker-leads-sen-raphael-warnock-in-polls/ | 2022-04-10T20:54:04Z | rollingout.com | control | https://rollingout.com/2022/04/10/black-twitter-alarmed-as-herschel-walker-leads-sen-raphael-warnock-in-polls/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Remaining stoic after Will Smith delivered the smackdown has paid handsome dividends for Chris Rock.
The acerbic comedian has experienced a substantial financial windfall after being humiliated at the 2022 Oscars. His career has been resuscitated as he’s suddenly been performing before a steady succession of sold-out shows nationwide since the Academy Awards, including Palm Springs, California.
Chris Rock performed to a sold-out room in Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, where he received a standing ovation.
https://t.co/638x4Ykhms— The Desert Sun (@MyDesert) April 9, 2022
Enhanced fan interest in Rock is due in large part to the fact they could hear what Rock may say about Will Smith, his wife and the debacle at the Academy Awards on March 27, 2022.
Smith has been exiled from Hollywood and maligned nationwide since storming the stage in a fury to get at Rock. Smith has since resigned from the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences which summarily banished him from the Oscar awards for 10 years.
Rock, however, is not ready to share his story with the world – just yet. “I’m OK, I have a whole show, and I’m not talking about that until I get paid. Life is good. I got my hearing back,” Smith joked to a crowd according to the Desert Sun,
Pop culture observers theorize that Rock’s statement means one of two things: He is either awaiting a network’s blockbuster offer for sharing his thoughts and feelings about being smacked in front of millions of people; or Rock could also retain counsel to file a civil lawsuit against Smith, though he declined to press charges against the Men in Black star.
The newspaper said the famously caustic comedian served up his usual menu of biting jokes about the likes of Meghan Markle, Hillary Clinton, the Kardashian-Jenner clan and others, after which he received a standing ovation. | https://rollingout.com/2022/04/10/chris-rock-wont-tell-his-story-until-this-happens/ | 2022-04-10T20:54:14Z | rollingout.com | control | https://rollingout.com/2022/04/10/chris-rock-wont-tell-his-story-until-this-happens/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Rapper King ISO recently spoke with rolling out and shared the inspirational story of how he overcame his battles with mental health and transformed into the successful musician he is today. The story behind the name is sure to inspire.
Can you give me a rundown first of who you are and how you got started?
My alias is King ISO, I am a recording artist currently signed with Strange Music, which is spearheaded by Tech N9ne. I’m from Omaha, Nebraska, and my target audience is everybody that’s been through or currently going things, like my whole thing has always been about mental health. I grew up battling and I was in and out of mental institutions since my youth . I was able to come out of a lot of that and actually do something positive like getting put on a big platform like Strange Music and touching a lot of lives with what I do musically.
You said you were in and out of mental institutions? How did you really pull yourself out of that darkness?
I was homeless, I was going through a lot of legal troubles, and I was an addict back then. I was going through a really rough patch. I got to a point where I got committed under the board of mental health, and they didn’t let me go home because it was court-ordered. I did all of my group therapy, I did my safety packets and all that other stuff. They believed that I was ready to go home. It was tough because I had pending charges from living out of a stolen truck right before I was admitted and put under the board of mental health. Upon getting released from the mental hospital, I was walking out and there were sheriff’s waiting with shackles and cuffs for me.
What was that experience like?
I wasn’t able to be in general population. They ended up putting me in an isolation chamber, which was solitary confinement for three or four months on 23-hour lockdown. The name of the chamber was ISO, they didn’t call it solitary confinement. Every time they took me to court, they would knock on my door like “ISO, let’s go.” The three letters were on the door. I started doing mental exercises because I needed to have positive reinforcement. I needed to change this experience into something that I viewed in a different perspective, otherwise, I’m going to go back down into a dark hole. So I started saying, I shall overcome every time I’ve seen those letters. I could look at them and say I’m going to overcome this. When I got out, I took the name with me. I shall overcome anything, any bit of adversity, any obstacle, anything bad. And then I’ll put King in front of it. And that’s how my name was born, King ISO. | https://rollingout.com/2022/04/10/hip-hop-artist-king-iso-shares-the-inspiring-story-behind-his-name/ | 2022-04-10T20:54:24Z | rollingout.com | control | https://rollingout.com/2022/04/10/hip-hop-artist-king-iso-shares-the-inspiring-story-behind-his-name/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Disgraced actor Jussie Smollett has appropriated his get-out-of-jail-free card to pen a song detailing aspects of his career-stunting and sensationalized felony case.
The former “Empire” star released the single, “Thank You God,” which included some lyrics that directly address his conviction for orchestrating a faux beatdown in January 2019. He shared his new song with his 4.4 million Instagram followers on early Saturday morning:
“Some people chasing that clout / Just remember this … this ain’t that situation / You think I’m stupid enough to kill my reputation?”
Smollett, who was released from Chicago’s Cook County Jail approximately three weeks ago pending an appeal, seemingly went straight from the jail to the studio as he finished the song within that time frame.
The singer-actor was convicted on five of six felony disorderly conduct charges related to lying to Chicago cops about faking a racist and homophobic attack. The judge harangued Smollett after his conviction before sentencing him to 150 days in jail, 30 months of probation, $25K fine and $120K in restitution to the city of Chicago.
Smollett believes the men who perpetrated this crime are still at large, but that no one is interested in finding them.
“It’s like they’re hell-bent on not solving the crime / Taking out the elements of race and trans and homophobia that’s straight taking lives / But turn around and act like I’m the one that killed the strides.”
Smollett said he was dedicating the song to “the people who kept it real, who kept it true.” He also indicated that 100 percent of the proceeds will be donated to the Rainbow Push Coalition, Secure the Bag Safety and the Illinois Innocence Project. | https://rollingout.com/2022/04/10/jussie-smollett-drops-new-song-about-his-case/ | 2022-04-10T20:54:34Z | rollingout.com | control | https://rollingout.com/2022/04/10/jussie-smollett-drops-new-song-about-his-case/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Lianne Dillsworth is the author of the novel Theatre of Marvels, which blends a gripping crime story with an exploration of racial identity as it probes the hidden history of Victorian London. Unfolding in the world of nineteenth-century variety shows, the novel centers on an ambitious young Black actress who has risen above her origins.
What is this book about?
The Theatre of Marvels is set in the 19th century, which is the Victorian period. It talks about Zillah, and she’s the star of the show at a variety theatre, and she’s clawing her way up to society one performance at a time, and no one can know her deception because she’s playing the role of an African warrior. Really, she was born and raised in London, and none of the crowd can know of her deception. So, another act at the variety theatre goes missing and she goes on a search for answers to find this woman all over London. She’s running with people in high society, in Mayfair, but then she’s also down by the docks and speaking to the criminal gangs there. The question is, will she find this woman and be the maker of her own fate?
What inspired you to write this book?
I did a master’s in Victorian studies a few years back, and I got into Victorian popular culture. It’s a time that a lot of people write about, but you never really get to see Black heroines in these sorts of stories, so that was important to me. That period was a long time ago, but we’re dealing with some of the same issues. It feels like, at that time, there was a sort of big push with the Industrial Revolution, and we’ve had a massive tech push in our century. It’s just trying to find the parallels in that, so it’s a time that’s quite far out but still feels familiar.
What are some personal experiences you had that relate to this book?
With my lead character, she is desperate to make a better life for herself and it’s all about the challenges that you would go through to do that, but also the compromises you’re prepared to make for yourself and how you come to terms with that. Some of those things where you’re not sure if is it worth it, or should you be doing this. I think that’s something that I related to, but also, the idea that you have so many changes in the role of women at that time. I just really wanted something that showed someone brash, and quite gutsy, and just being able to showcase the variety of types of people at that time, which we don’t get to see much of at all. | https://rollingout.com/2022/04/10/lianne-dillsworth-discusses-victorian-london-in-novel-theatre-of-marvels/ | 2022-04-10T20:54:44Z | rollingout.com | control | https://rollingout.com/2022/04/10/lianne-dillsworth-discusses-victorian-london-in-novel-theatre-of-marvels/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Two thousand twenty-two marks the Centennial of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority incorporated. Rolling out had the privilege of speaking with the 25th Grand Basileus, Rasheeda S. Liberty, about her multi-career leadership, the 100 years of impact for women, service, scholarship, and plans for the next 100 years.
What do you guys have planned for your centennial?
We are taking over Indianapolis, but we’re also taking over the world. So, we will light up the city. At that event, we are coming to the table with one million service hours committed, $2.2 million in philanthropic gifts in the community, and unveiling the seven schools we have been quietly building over the last seven years. We’re excited to showcase that programmatic work. Still, we will have a homecoming celebration with an HBCU band. We’re going to have a traditional homecoming on the campus of Butler University, our public meeting, and of course, we’re going to have several concerts.
Talk to us about the mission for the next 100 years and what it encompasses?
We talked about our founders thinking about a flywheel. That means a community that keeps on giving. They knew that if women are empowered, they inspire, and if women are inspired, they become mothers, they become teachers, they work in courtrooms, boardrooms classrooms. Hence, they become powerful to younger people, which enables the youth. And so, when we enable the youth, the legacy keeps going. So, when we think of a greater world, a greater impact, greater women, and that word “greater,” we know that the communities will be more powerful if we build ourselves and become a sowing girl organization. That’s what Sigma Gamma Rho is about, and that’s what our 100 years are about and what our next hundred years will be.
What are your goals for the organization under your leadership?
I want to plant seeds in the ground, and when I say seed in the ground, that is an indication of what we’re doing with our schools. Our founders stood for education, and I know their life was a dash because they’re no longer here, but my life is also a dash, and my life as Grand Basileus is just a dash. I want to make sure I do as much as possible to fulfill our founders’ purpose, so schools are very important to me, and scholarship is very important to me. I want to make sure that young people can continue to go to school, be educated, and fund them, but … we have to give them the money to do that.
Standing up for a student loan debt will be a legacy to families for years to come. If we can eliminate that [student loan debt], that will be a game-changer for this economy and Black culture overall. | https://rollingout.com/2022/04/10/sigma-gamma-rho-grand-basileus-rasheeda-s-liberty-talks-about-whats-ahead/ | 2022-04-10T20:54:54Z | rollingout.com | control | https://rollingout.com/2022/04/10/sigma-gamma-rho-grand-basileus-rasheeda-s-liberty-talks-about-whats-ahead/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
He struggled “to catch on with Washington and Pittsburgh in the NFL.”
Those were the words ESPN’s Adam Schefter used when breaking the news of Dwayne Haskins’ tragic death weeks before his 25th birthday in south Florida on April 9.
It wasn’t what he said in a follow-up column, or commentary on the on-field impact his untimely passing will have on the Steelers or other NFL teams in the following days, it came in his very first public announcement of his death. The tweet has since been deleted.
Schefter reportedly recently agreed to a five-year extension with ESPN, worth “at least” $9 million a year.
Haskins represented a lot in the sport of football for Black quarterbacks as someone who had a top-25 season for most passing yards ever in a single college football season with 4,831 yards in 2018 for Ohio State, according to Sports Reference. He was a Heisman candidate for his performance but fell short to Kyler Murray.
Haskins was one of the Black quarterbacks who continued to disintegrate the racist stereotype Black men couldn’t throw accurately enough to be successful quarterbacks at a high level, and could only prosper if they relied on their running and athletic abilities.
The quarterback position relies more on an athlete’s mind more than a lot of roles in sports because you have to remember entire playbooks and recognize opposing defenses in real-time. One CBS reporter, Jim “The Greek” Snyder, infamously stated in 1988 how Black people were bred to be better athletes. He was fired after making those remarks.
Rewarded for his college performance, Haskins defied enormous odds as the Washington Commanders selected him with the No. 15 pick of the 2019 NFL Draft. According to the NCAA, only 7.3 percent of the 1 million+ high school football players will play NCAA football and only 1.6 percent of NCAA players will make a major pro league from the NCAA.
Haskins beat out a 1.6 percent chance to make the NFL and signed to earn $17,806,612 on the field in his career.
With the team that drafted him, he threw for 1,365 and 1,439 yards in his first two pro seasons. The team cut him in December 2020 after he appeared in the club maskless, receiving a fine and having his team captain title revoked.
“I take full responsibility for not meeting the standards of an NFL QB and will become a better man and player because of this experience.”
He wasn’t the only NFL player to have an off-week on the field before he turned 25, believe it or not.
Haskins lived the full human experience. He had highs and lows, but most of all, he was a successful Black man who defied the odds and celebrated Black love with his wife, Kalabrya Haskins. Those are the things that matter the most when looking back on his life, not that he had a tough time in his three seasons in the NFL.
Schefter’s comments are a reminder of why Kwame Brown, the 2001 NBA No. 1 draft pick, has been so adamant about denouncing White media members and Stephen A. Smith for making fun of him not becoming a star after getting drafted as a 19-year-old.
At the end of the day, athletes are humans. If they made it to the professional ranks, they have gone further in their youthful aspirations than most. This is not to say celebrities should be only worshipped and excluded from any criticism, but to remind professionals to have some integrity when reporting on sensitive stories.
Baltimore Ravens superstar quarterback Lamar Jackson agrees, tweeting, “@AdamSchefter you lame asf all around grown a– man and can look in the mirror and smile at yourself.” | https://rollingout.com/2022/04/10/why-lamar-jackson-called-white-reporter-lame-for-dwayne-haskins-tweet/ | 2022-04-10T20:55:05Z | rollingout.com | control | https://rollingout.com/2022/04/10/why-lamar-jackson-called-white-reporter-lame-for-dwayne-haskins-tweet/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
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