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Mild, Fall-like weather continues, but a big warm-up isn’t far off
High temps will be in the 70s through tomorrow, mid and upper 80s expected next week
ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – All week long we’ve been experiencing some incredibly mild and comfortable weather in the area and that trend continues today. In fact, today may prove to be the coolest, most fall-like day in this stretch of what is essentially mid-September weather. We’re getting a reinforcing shot of cool, dry air in the entire Upper Mississippi Valley today on the heels of a cold front that swept through the region last night, triggering thunderstorms in parts of the area. Expect mostly sunny skies for most of the day with a few fair weather cumulus clouds in the early afternoon and a moderate northwest breeze that will reach 20 miles per hour at times. High temperatures will be in the mid-70s this afternoon which is several degrees cooler than the seasonal average for late July.
Temperatures will fall into the low 50s tonight as high pressure settles into the region, bringing clear, tranquil weather to the area.
Friday is looking gorgeous across the region as that high pressure will stick around, providing us with plenty of sunshine and a slight northwest breeze. High temperatures will be in the mid and upper 70s, but humidity once again won’t be an issue.
Slightly warmer air will build northward for the weekend on the backside of that area of high pressure. We’ll have sunny skies and a light southwest breeze Saturday and high temperatures will be in the low 80s. Sunday will feature abundant sunshine with a few isolated evening thunderstorms and high temperatures will be in the low to mid-80s.
We’ll have warm sunshine and high temperature in the mid-80s next Monday and Tuesday before much warmer air builds in for Wednesday when temperatures will flirt with the 90s. A few thunderstorms will be possible Wednesday evening ahead of an approaching cold front.
The latter part of the week and the following weekend look sunny and dry with high temperatures in the mid-80s.
Copyright 2022 KTTC. All rights reserved. | https://www.kttc.com/2022/07/28/mild-fall-like-weather-continues-big-warm-up-isnt-far-off/ | 2022-07-28T19:02:52Z | https://www.kttc.com/2022/07/28/mild-fall-like-weather-continues-big-warm-up-isnt-far-off/ | true |
WASHINGTON, July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Paralyzed Veterans of America Executive Director Carl Blake issued a statement today in reaction to the Senate's failure to pass the PACT Act.
"We are extremely disappointed and dismayed that the Senate failed yesterday to allow the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022 or PACT Act to move immediately to final passage. Veterans from all eras exposed to toxic substances can't wait any longer for health care and benefits. The time for delays is over. Veterans are dying today. We call on all Senators to ensure that the PACT Act is passed now."
Paralyzed Veterans of America is a 501(c)(3) non-profit. The organization ensures veterans receive the benefits earned through service to our nation; monitors their care in VA spinal cord injury and disorder units, and funds research and education in the search for a cure and improved care for individuals with paralysis.
As a life-long partner and advocate for veterans and all people with disabilities, PVA also provides training and career services, works to ensure accessibility in public buildings and other spaces, and provides health and rehabilitation opportunities through sports and recreation. With more than 70 offices and 33 chapters, Paralyzed Veterans of America serves veterans, their families, and their caregivers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Learn more at PVA.org.
Contact:
Oname Thompson
OnameT@pva.org
Cell: (703) 864-5980
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SOURCE Paralyzed Veterans of America | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/paralyzed-veterans-america-issues-statement-senates-failure-move-forward-passage-pact-act/ | 2022-07-28T19:06:06Z | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/paralyzed-veterans-america-issues-statement-senates-failure-move-forward-passage-pact-act/ | true |
NEWFANE, N.Y. (WIVB) — There’s beef between farmers and a local animal sanctuary in Niagara County, New York.
Earlier this month, two cows found their way to Asha’s Farm Sanctuary in Newfane, according to owner Tracy Murphy.
Scott Gregson, who owns McKee Farms just down the road, said the cows are his, but the sanctuary does not want to give the cows back.
“How could anyone expect that we would hand over the animals when we feel we’re in our legal right, right now, to hang on to these animals?” Murphy told WIVB. “And we’re a sanctuary. We don’t want to hand over these animals that are going to go into slaughter.”
The dispute is upsetting local farmers who are demanding Asha’s Farm Sanctuary release the beef.
“It should’ve been given back to the owner,” said Nancy Fawcett, who owns a nearby farm. “Other people have had cows or horses get loose and people make sure they get back where they belong and stuff, and why she kept them, beyond me. That just didn’t make any sense; that’s not what you do.”
“I hope it teaches people a lesson not to mess with farmers,” Ed Petitt said while holding a sign in front of the sanctuary. “I’ll tell you that much. This is ridiculous. This is people’s livelihood, it’s food on the table. It’s food to feed their families. This isn’t right.”
“Nothing against her, what she does, her business, and what she chooses to do for the good of injured and helping other animals. But in this case, she’s stolen two cows and she needs to give them back to the rightful owner,” said Laurie Andrews-Skinner, who lives in the neighborhood.
Gregson said he could not comment on the case while police investigate but said he is thankful for people’s support.
“It really means a lot to us. This is a very stressful time for our family right now with what we’re going through, and I just can’t thank them enough,” Gregson said. | https://phl17.com/nmw/beefing-animal-sanctuary-wont-return-2-stray-cows-to-farm/ | 2022-07-28T19:06:48Z | https://phl17.com/nmw/beefing-animal-sanctuary-wont-return-2-stray-cows-to-farm/ | true |
(The Hill) — The Commerce Department released data on Thursday showing that the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) shrunk for a second consecutive quarter.
The data prompted media headlines warning about the increased possibility of a recession and outcry from Republicans, quick to slam President Joe Biden for his economic policies.
For its part, the Biden administration tamped down recession fears that a decline in GDP for the first and second quarters of this year was only natural following a year of growth after the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Still, amid the cacophony of voices on the topic of economic downturn, is the U.S. in a recession? The answer: It depends on who you ask.
The White House: GDP shrinking is ‘No surprise’
The two-quarters of shrinkage is a common unofficial marker of a recession, but one that might have little meaning in examining the post-pandemic U.S. economy that has a sizzling labor market. More employers are having trouble finding workers than laying them off, and the second quarter shrink in GDP was minimal — 0.9 percent.
It’s also certain to be revised, meaning that later this fall better measurements could show the economy actually grew in the second quarter, writing off this first-draft metric as null and void.
But the debate is more than just semantics.
The GDP will weigh heavily on politics as Democrats seek to hold on to the House and Senate majorities this fall. The White House preemptively argued against the idea two-quarters of non-growth would equal a recession.
“While some maintain that two consecutive quarters of falling real GDP constitute a recession, that is neither the official definition nor the way economists evaluate the state of the business cycle,” the White House said in a July 21 statement.
“It is unlikely that the decline in GDP in the first quarter of this year—even if followed by another GDP decline in the second quarter—indicates a recession,” the statement went on.
On Thursday, the White House continued playing defense on the economic data, saying that “coming off of last year’s historic economic growth – and regaining all the private sector jobs lost during the pandemic crisis – it’s no surprise that the economy is slowing down as the Federal Reserve acts to bring down inflation.”
Republicans bang the recession drum
Meanwhile, Republicans pounced on the numbers, using the opportunity to criticize Democratic economic policies and make the case that the U.S. is now experiencing a recession ahead of the midterm elections this fall.
“America is in a recession because of President Biden’s inflation crisis,” House Ways and Means Committee member Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) said in a Thursday statement. “This news is not a surprise to the American people – they have spent the last 18 months living in a dysfunctional economy marked by a decline in their real wages, skyrocketing prices, empty shelves, and Help Wanted signs up and down Main Street.”
Other Republicans struck a more reserved tone on the recession designation, while also pointing to the pain Americans are feeling from everything being so expensive.
“Splitting hairs on technical definitions about what is or is not a ‘recession’ is a distraction from the pain that Americans continue to feel at the pump, in the grocery aisles and, now, from threats of a declining economy,” Senate Finance Committee ranking member Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) said in a statement on Thursday.
Experts say defining a recession is more complicated than a single metric
Both parties are right to point out the strange conditions that persist overall in the economy right now, which is rife with contradictions.
Despite a blazing economic recovery from the pandemic that set records for corporate profits, a threat of recession has been looming since the Federal Reserve started raising interest rates in March to bring down inflation, which is at the highest level in decades.
And despite those interest rate hikes, which are designed to cool off an overheating economy and make it more expensive for companies to do business, the job market shows no signs of tapering off.
“Unemployment rates were lower in June in 10 states and the District of Columbia, higher in 2 states, and stable in 38 states,” the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last week. “All 50 states and the District had jobless rate decreases from a year earlier. The national unemployment rate remained at 3.6 percent but was 2.3 percentage points lower than in June 2021.”
Adding to the current confusion is the fact that the unofficial designation of recession may simply be incorrect. The drop of 0.9 percent reported by the BEA on Thursday is within the margin of error that normal revisions to the quarterly GDP estimate can correct.
According to a 2021 BEA paper, “the revision between the advance and second estimates” in quarterly GDP “is in the interval (-0.94, 1.14).” This means that for an initial measurement of a drop of 0.9 percent in quarterly GDP, the second measurement could be as low as a 1.84-percent drop or as high as a 0.24-percent increase.
Harvard University economist Mark Furman pointed on Twitter to a real-world example of this in June 2019 when the BEA reported that GDP growth had slowed to a disappointing 2.1 percent before being revised up to 3.1 percent. That’s a difference of an entire percentage point, bigger in magnitude than the measurement of the current quarterly drop.
Applying historical trends to first-draft data from the BEA is the “wrong way to think about it,” Furman wrote in a Twitter thread on Thursday, responding to an economist at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative D.C. think tank. “You’re looking at the latest estimates which have been heavily revised from what was first published.”
There’s “well over a 50 percent chance that Q1 and/or Q2 gets revised to positive. That’s part of why NBER doesn’t rely on advance GDP to call recessions,” he said, referring to the National Bureau of Economic Research, which is the official designator of recessions.
Economists say that while consecutive quarters of economic shrinkage are significant, a more accurate classification of recession, informed by a richer array of measurements, is still a few months away.
“There’s this perception, and people are not wrong to have it – it’s probably even in my economics textbook from college – that it’s two negative quarters of GDP that NBER uses to determine if there’s a recession. That’s actually not completely true. It actually looks at a wide variety of economic indicators to make that designation,” Alex Durante, an economist with the Washington think tank The Tax Foundation, said in an interview.
“They’ll look at employment, personal income, durable goods, housing permits, so the GDP is certainly part of it, but they’re looking at other indicators, as well.” | https://www.kron4.com/news/national/is-the-us-in-a-recession/ | 2022-07-28T19:07:45Z | https://www.kron4.com/news/national/is-the-us-in-a-recession/ | false |
Alabama execution set despite opposition from victim’s family
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama is set to execute a man Thursday evening who was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend nearly three decades ago, despite a request from the victim’s family to spare his life.
Joe Nathan James Jr. is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at 6 p.m. CDT at a south Alabama prison. James was convicted and sentenced to death in the 1994 shooting death of Faith Hall, 26, in Birmingham. Hall’s daughters have said they would rather James serve life in prison. But Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said Wednesday she planned to let the execution proceed.
Prosecutors said James briefly dated Hall and that he became obsessed after she rejected him, stalking and harassing her for months before killing her. On Aug. 15, 1994, after Hall had been out shopping with a friend, James forced his way inside the friend’s apartment, pulled a gun from his waistband and shot Hall three times, according to court documents.
A Jefferson County jury first convicted James of capital murder in 1996 and voted to recommend the death penalty, which a judge imposed. The conviction was overturned when a state appeals court ruled a judge had wrongly admitted some police reports into evidence. James was retried and again sentenced to death in 1999, when jurors rejected defense claims that he was under emotional duress at the time of the shooting.
Hall’s two daughters, who were 3 and 6 when their mother was killed, had said recently they would rather James serve life in prison.
“I just feel like we can’t play God. We can’t take a life. And it’s not going to bring my mom back,” one of the daughters, Terryln Hall, told The Associated Press in a recent telephone interview.
“We thought about it and prayed about it, and we found it in ourselves to forgive him for what he did. We really wish there was something that we could do to stop it,” Hall had said, adding the road to forgiveness was long.
“I did hate him. I did. And I know hate is such a strong feeling word, but I really did have hate in my heart. As I got older and realized, you can’t walk around with hate in your heart. You still got to live. And once I had kids of my own, you know, I can’t pass it down to my kids and have them walk around with hate in their hearts,” she said.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall had urged Ivey to let the execution go forward, writing that “it is our obligation to ensure that justice is done for the people of Alabama.”
“The jury in James’s case unanimously decided that his brutal murder of Faith Hall warranted a sentence of death,” Marshall said.
In response to a reporter’s question, Ivey said Wednesday she would not intervene.
“My staff and I have researched all the records and all the facts and there’s no reason to change the procedure or modify the outcome. The execution will go forward,” she said.
James argued that Ivey’s refusal violates religious freedom laws because the Koran and the Bible “place the concept of forgiveness paramount in this situation.”
James has acted as his own attorney in his bid to stop his execution, mailing handwritten lawsuits and appeal notices to the courts from death row. A lawyer on Wednesday filed the latest appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court on his behalf.
James asked justices for a stay, noting the opposition of Hall’s family and arguing that Alabama did not give inmates adequate notice of their right to select an alternate execution method.
He argued that Alabama officials, after lawmakers approved nitrogen hypoxia as a new execution method, gave inmates only a brief window of time to select the new method and inmates did not know what was at stake when they were handed a selection form without any explanation. Alabama is not scheduling executions for inmates who selected nitrogen. The state has not developed a system for using nitrogen to carry out death sentences.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.newschannel6now.com/2022/07/28/alabama-execution-set-despite-opposition-victims-family/ | 2022-07-28T19:08:22Z | https://www.newschannel6now.com/2022/07/28/alabama-execution-set-despite-opposition-victims-family/ | true |
W. Mediterranean hit by ‘exceptional’ heatwave: experts
An “exceptional” heat wave at sea is gripping the western Mediterranean with surface temperatures up to five degrees Celsius (41 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter than average, according to experts contacted AFP.
While the record-breaking heat wave that has devastated northern Europe and Britain this month has eased, experts said continued hotter-than-normal temperatures in the Mediterranean were threatening the entire marine ecosystem.
“This massive offshore heatwave started in May in the Ligurian Sea” between Corsica and Italy, says Karina von Schuckmann, oceanographer at the nonprofit research group Mercator Ocean International.
It then spread to the Gulf of Taranto in the Ionian Sea, she said.
By July, the heat wave had engulfed the Balearic Islands, Sardinia and the Tyrrhenian Sea.
“The surface temperature anomaly map shows higher than normal values, on the order of +4 to +5C from eastern Balearic Islands to eastern Corsica,” Mercator said in a statement.
While people may find the warmer water temperatures enjoyable in the tourist hot spots of the western Mediterranean, the group warned that “ocean warming is affecting the entire ecosystem.”
“It is important to be aware of the potential impacts on the local fauna and flora, as well as the occurrence of extreme weather events that could lead to natural disasters,” it said.
Von Schuckmann said unusually warm temperatures could cause irreversible migration for some species and “mass die-offs” for others.
She noted knock-on effects for industries such as tourism and fishing, which depend on favorable water conditions.
According to the UN climate science body, the frequency of marine heat waves has already doubled worldwide since 1980.
Die-off, invasive species
Although the Mediterranean Sea accounts for only one percent of the Earth’s ocean surface, it contains nearly 20 percent of all known marine species.
A study published this month in the journal Global Change Biology found that the Mediterranean had experienced five consecutive years of mass deaths between 2015-2019.
The French CNRS research center has noted that the marine heatwaves in 1999, 2003 and 2006 caused mass die-offs for some species, most notably the posidonia, a genus of flowering plants.
“We can predict that the biggest impact will be on solid organisms such as plants or corals,” said Charles-Francois Boudouresque, a marine ecologist at the University of Aix-Marseille.
However, some species of fish, such as the barracuda, may become more abundant in the warming northern waters of the Mediterranean.
Boudouresque said some species coming through the Suez Canal from the Red Sea could become problematic “within five to 10 years.”
These include the rhopilema – a herbivorous jellyfish – and the rabbit fish, which Boudouresque described as “extremely greedy”.
Its appearance in western waters, already abundant in the eastern Mediterranean, is said to threaten the algal forests that serve as nurseries for numerous fish species.
Rhopilema can also sting swimmers with enough severity to require hospital treatment.
Because there is little government can do once a heat wave hits the sea, Von Schuckmann said the best course of action is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to warming.
“Even if we stopped emitting today, the oceans, which contain 90 percent of the Earth’s heat, will continue to warm,” she said.
“Since at least 2003 (marine heat waves) they have become more common and in the future they will last longer, cover more seas and be more intense and severe,” said von Schuckmann.
Mass deaths related to heatwaves at sea could become the new norm in the Mediterranean
© 2022 AFP
Quote: W. Mediterranean hit by ‘exceptional’ heatwave: experts (2022, July 28) retrieved July 28, 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-07-mediterranean-exceptional-heatwave-experts.html
This document is copyrighted. Other than fair dealing for personal study or research, nothing may be reproduced without written permission. The content is provided for informational purposes only. | https://whatsnew2day.com/w-mediterranean-hit-by-exceptional-heatwave-experts/ | 2022-07-28T19:08:31Z | https://whatsnew2day.com/w-mediterranean-hit-by-exceptional-heatwave-experts/ | false |
JACKSONVILLE, Fla, July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- LandSouth Construction, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based, award-winning general contractor, has broken ground and started construction on Waterleaf at Salt Creek, an upscale multifamily development in Savannah, GA. The project is part of the Berwick master planned community along US Highway 17.
The developer for Waterleaf at Salt Creek is Graycliff Capital. Waterleaf at Salt Creek is scheduled for completion in Spring 2024.
"Savannah is a beautiful area that continues to grow and attract new residents," shared James Pyle, LandSouth President and CEO. "LandSouth is thrilled to work with Graycliff Capital on Waterleaf at Salt Creek to bring high-end, luxury multifamily living to the Savannah area."
Robert Kovacs will serve as the LandSouth project manager for Waterleaf at Salt Creek. Matt Wellman is the superintendent for the project. SGA Narmour Wright Design is the architecture firm for Waterleaf at Salt Creek.
Waterleaf at Salt Creek will be a garden-style development and will have 14 buildings, with a mixture of one, two, three, and four stories. Two buildings will have elevators, and the development will have a total of 252 units. Residents will be able to choose from ten different floor plans, ranging from one to three bedrooms. The units range from 833 square feet to 1,624 square feet. Waterleaf at Salt Creek will also offer several amenities to future residents, including a 5,748 square-foot clubhouse, a pool with a cabana, carwash, and dog wash areas. Waterleaf at Salt Creek is close to downtown Savannah, as well as Forsyth Park, Wormslow historic site, the Savannah Ogeechee Museum, Hunter Army Field, and Old Fort Jackson.
"We're excited to get started on Waterleaf at Salt Creek," stated Robert Kovacs, the LandSouth project manager. "This new development will offer the best that LandSouth and Graycliff Capital provides in luxury, multifamily living to the fast-growing Savannah area."
LandSouth will employ its unique integrated construction approach to build Waterleaf at Salt Creek. Service components work together to provide seamless delivery through proven procedures, systems, and technology.
LandSouth Construction, the Southeast's premier general contractor, specializing in multifamily, senior living, and mixed-use development, was named one of Engineering News Record's Top 400. Since 1998 LandSouth has transformed ideas into best–in–class communities. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla. LandSouth has completed more than 25,000 multifamily units. For more information, call LandSouth's Kaley Robinson, (904) 760-3188, or visit www.landsouth.com.
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SOURCE LandSouth Construction | https://www.wagmtv.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/landsouth-breaks-ground-waterleaf-salt-creek/ | 2022-07-28T19:11:14Z | https://www.wagmtv.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/landsouth-breaks-ground-waterleaf-salt-creek/ | false |
Medical Home Network was recognized for a unique approach to data interoperability in health care that provides important patient information at the right time in the right place
CHICAGO, July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Medical Home Network was honored in the 2022 Digital Health Awards, which recognize the world's best digital health resources. MHN received a Gold Award in the Connected Digital Health division for its cross-platform interoperable data solution, the MHN Baseball Card.
The MHN Baseball Card summarizes high-level patient health information and leverages technology for better care management. In 2022, MHN started integrating the at-a-glance data integration across different electronic medical record systems (EMRs) for 13 providers and more than 160,000 Medicaid safety net patients in the Chicago area.
For the spring 2022 Digital Health Awards, the Health Information Resource Center organized a judging panel of 57 experts in digital health media to select gold, silver, bronze and merit winners from among nearly 700 entries. The Connected Digital Health award evaluated resources aimed at health professionals.
"MHN is helping healthcare providers have more informed conversations with patients by enabling easy access to patient data in one place," said MHN Senior Director of eSolutions Laura Merrick. "With a timely and comprehensive view of patient information, providers can make more informed decisions and ultimately deliver better care."
Predictive Analytics Improve Care Management
MHN's gold award recognizes an interoperability technology solution that organizes and integrates disparate sources of data within the provider EMR workflows. The MHN Baseball Card gives providers a real-time view of hospital admissions and visits to emergency rooms, outpatient or skilled nursing facilities and home health visits, as well as predictive risk scores that help providers respond to their patients' needs.
"The MHN Baseball Card allows care managers to be more efficient," said MHN Vice President of Clinical Integration and Innovation Tina Spector. "They can instantly access the most up-to-date stats that are essential to their work with patients."
In Chicago, the MHN Baseball Card organizes hospitalization and emergency room visits for more than 30 area hospitals, plus pharmacy refill records that give providers a window into whether patients are taking medicines. Information is organized to guide more meaningful exam-room discussions with patients.
"I can get information in real time about medication adherence as well as any recent ER visits or in-patient hospitalizations," said Mary Dudek, a physician assistant at Heartland Health Centers in Chicago. "That's very valuable, as sometimes our patients don't always have the needed information to provide at their visit. I'm so glad that we have been able to move forward with this interoperability project so that all of the providers will have access to this valuable resource. It will really improve patient care."
Using artificial intelligence, MHN calculates a Risk Management Score to prioritize timely and critical cases. Frequent updates to the MHN Baseball Card allow care teams to monitor patient progress between appointments. Providers share patient history and treatment records through the secure MHNConnect care management platform. The technology-enabled care management model has helped provider partners reduce inpatient utilization by 36% and hospital admissions for its managed Medicaid patients.
"We use digital tools and real time information to enable connectivity, and data liquidity to support seamless and intelligent communication and coordination of patient care across all venues," said MHN President and CEO Cheryl Lulias. "We're honored that our peers have recognized our work to enable care management without boundaries."
About Medical Home Network
Medical Home Network (MHN) is a nationally recognized not-for-profit focused on transforming care in the safety net and building healthier communities. Based in Chicago, MHN powers the future of healthcare delivery by creating clinically integrated, digitally connected and community-based systems of care that focus on the whole person. MHN's innovative approach consistently delivers leading health outcomes, savings, and quality results under value-based arrangements. For the second year in a row, Modern Healthcare named MHN one of the Best Places to Work in Healthcare. Learn more at medicalhomenetwork.org and on LinkedIn.
Media Contact:
Christina Coons
Purpose Brand
224-307-5583
ccoons@purposebrand.com
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SOURCE Medical Home Network | https://www.cleveland19.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/medical-home-network-honored-patient-baseball-card-emr-integration/ | 2022-07-28T19:15:03Z | https://www.cleveland19.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/medical-home-network-honored-patient-baseball-card-emr-integration/ | false |
MEXICO CITY (AP) — U.S. consumers will finally get the chance to try avocados from Jalisco after 25 years in which neighboring Michoacan has been the only Mexican state authorized to send the green fruit to the U.S. market.
That just may help with prices, which have soared this year to over $2 per fruit amid a dip in production in Michoacan.
Growers and packers in Jalisco, just northwest of Michoacan, expressed hope that their state can provide more consistent production levels and stability for prices for avocados, which have fluctuated widely amid seasonal supply shortages.
Eleven trucks bearing nearly 20 tons of avocados from Jalisco lined up Thursday in the mountain town of Zapotlan El Grande to set out for the United States.
“When we were talking about very high prices a month ago, it was because the market wasn’t getting enough supply,” said Javier Medina Villanueva, president of the Jalisco Avocado Export Association. “So we believe that the entry of Jalisco will close that supply shortage. … I think prices will stabilize.”
Consumers in the United States won’t immediately recognize the difference: Jalisco avocados won’t bear any special tag, and will be labelled simply as “avocados from Mexico” — a phrase promoted for years by producers in Michoacan.
The head of the Michoacan-based Association of Mexican Avocado Growers and Packers, Jose Luis Gallardo, said he doesn’t see Jalisco, or any of the other Mexican states now clamoring for U.S. export certification, as competition.
“Today is a day of joy for everyone, knowing that Jalisco is here, but it is going to be happier when the State of Mexico comes, when Nayarit, Colima, Puebla, Morelos come,” Gallardo said of the other states, noting there was room for more exports; last season’s production in Michoacan was down by about 200,000 tons.
Mexico currently supplies about 92% of U.S. imports of the fruit, and Mexico’s agriculture department says it is working to get more states certified. About a half dozen states grow significant quantities of the fruit, which prefers higher altitudes and cooler climates in Mexico.
Medina Villanueva noted that meeting U.S. sanitary requirements wasn’t easy. “It took 10 years,” he said. “It took patience.”
U.S. agricultural inspectors have to certify that Mexican avocados don’t carry diseases or pests that would harm U.S. orchards. The Mexican harvest is January through March, while U.S production runs from April to September.
The inspections were halted in February for about 10 days after one of the U.S. inspectors was threatened in Michoacan, where growers are routinely subject to extortion by drug cartels. Some packers in Michoacan were reportedly buying avocados from other, non-certified states and trying to pass them off as being from Michoacan, and were angry the U.S. inspector wouldn’t go along with that.
Exports resumed after Mexico and the United States agreed “to enact the measures that ensure the safety” of the inspectors.
Francisco Trujillo, the head of Mexico’s plant and animal safety agency, noted that the Michoacan export ban should be a lesson for Jalisco producers.
“Caution should be part of this day of festivity,” Trujillo said, noting that avocados certified for export were worth four or five times as much as those destined for domestic markets, creating “temptations” to pass off non-certified fruit. “We could run the risk that this festive day becomes a tragedy” if the U.S. were to ban exports again, he said.
Jalisco Gov. Enrique Alfaro acknowledged that his state will have to avoid problems that have plagued the reputation of avocados in Michoacan, where some growers have cut down native pine forests to plant avocado trees and dried up local water supplies to irrigate them. Drug cartels have also extorted protection payments from avocado growers and packers.
Alfaro said Jalisco has plans “to develop a security program … so that this product can be produced in the orchards, be shipped through Jalisco and reach its final destination safely.”
Alfaro also said he would push to certify Jalisco avocados as free from deforestation, something Michoacan has been slow to do.
“The idea of pushing a plan to certify avocados as free from deforestation shouldn’t just be an issue for some growers. We want to establish that as an obligation for the good of the whole industry,” Alfaro said.
At this point, Jalisco has only about 20,000 acres (8,420 hectares) of avocado orchards certified as pest free, a small amount compared to over nearly 300,000 acres (120,000 hectares) in Michoacan. But Alfaro said another 65,000 acres (26,000 hectares) in Jalisco were in line to be certified.
But it is unclear whether exporting more avocados would hurt Mexican consumers, many of whom have been unable to afford their traditional guacamole — and the avocado slices that accompany many foods in Mexico — after domestic prices reached almost $3 per pound in recent weeks.
Recipes for pseudo-guacamole made largely with green tomatoes or zucchini have been circulating on social media sites in Mexico amid the price spike. Together with higher costs for limes, that has contributed to increased prices for tacos at street stands. | https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/2nd-state-in-Mexico-begins-avocado-exports-to-17335694.php | 2022-07-28T19:15:46Z | https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/2nd-state-in-Mexico-begins-avocado-exports-to-17335694.php | false |
Lifestyle contributor Limor Suss shares her Summer Must Haves with the Tampa Bay's Morning Blend.
Nourish, restore and balance your body’s canvas with three hydrating body washes from the Olay Body Fearless Artist Series.
The iconic lip care brand ChapStick has all your summer beauty and wellness essentials including their classic ChapStick Green Apple and the new ChapStick Vanilla and Superfood Collections. Featuring delicious flavors reminiscent of the season including Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, Blueberry and Clover Honey, these ChapStick lip balms help lips feel soft and moisturized for smooth, silky lips every day! Head to Chapstick.com to get yours!
The LeapStart® Learning Success Bundle is an interactive learning system that gets kids ages 2-7 excited about learning! Visit leapfrog.com for more information.
JCPenney has all the dorm essentials you need for this back to school season. From bedding to bath, kitchen appliances and decor, JCPenney is your one-stop-shop for affordable and on-trend pieces. Available at JCPenney and JCP.com .
Sponsored by Limor Media. | https://www.abcactionnews.com/morning-blend/the-latest-back-to-school-essentials | 2022-07-28T19:15:53Z | https://www.abcactionnews.com/morning-blend/the-latest-back-to-school-essentials | false |
Biden’s on a mission! He’s working the phones, twisting arms, giving speeches, and otherwise campaigning for a cause. Only it’s not abortion rights or climate survival, stopping gun violence, or protecting voter rights. Rather, he’s busy creating a Cold War–like network of alliances to defend the “rules-based world order” against rogue states like Russia and China.
For Biden, creating this network is the paramount task of our time. It’s as if he’s channeling Dean Acheson, George Kennan, Paul Nitze, and other architects of America’s Cold War strategies. Mobilized by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he declared in Poland on March 26, “we emerged anew in the great battle for freedom: a battle between democracy and autocracy, between liberty and repression”—language that sounds all too reminiscent of those early Cold War endeavors. But as in that earlier epoch, Biden’s efforts are likely to increase the pace of global militarization while providing diplomatic cover for “our” autocracies, like Hungary and Saudi Arabia. And, at home, critical concerns that affect most Americans will go unattended as Biden travels the world in search of partners.
Consider this: Since January 1, Biden has traveled to Belgium and Poland (March 23–26), South Korea and Japan (May 24–28), Germany and Spain (June 25–30), and Israel and Saudi Arabia (July 13–16) as part of this effort. He has also met with the leaders of those and other friendly nations at the White House and spoken with many of them by phone. In all of these meetings and in all of these conversations, the message has been the same: Join me in constructing a global web of democratic and rules-abiding nations to isolate autocratic and rules-defying states like Russia and China.
“That’s why I came to Europe again this week with a clear and determined message for NATO [and] for all freedom-loving nations,” he declared in Warsaw, Poland, on March 26. “We must commit now to be in this fight for the long haul. We must remain unified today and tomorrow and the day after and for the years and decades to come.”
During his first trip to Europe, in March, Biden devoted most of his oratory to rallying the Europeans behind US efforts to blunt the Russian advance in Ukraine through arms deliveries and economic sanctions. But he made it clear that his plans for an invigorated defense of the “rules-based world order” applied as much to Asia as to Europe. To accentuate this point, he flew across the Pacific in late May and devoted four days to beefing up US alliances in what is now termed the “Indo-Pacific.”
Walking and Chewing Gum at the Same Time
Questioned about the urgency of such a demanding trip at a time when the war in Ukraine still demanded Biden’s daily attention and the country was experiencing a rash of mass shootings (the Buffalo market shooting occurred on May 14, the Uvalde school massacre 10 days later), White House officials insisted it was necessary to demonstrate that Biden could “walk and chew gum at the same time”—that is, rally Europe against Russia while simultaneously surrounding China with pro-US alliances.
While in Asia, Biden met with Kishida Fumio, the recently chosen, conservative prime minister of Japan, and Yoon Suk Yeol, the recently elected, conservative president of South Korea. In both of those meetings, Biden reaffirmed America’s long-standing defense ties with each country and praised their leaders’ invigorated commitment to a “regional rules-based order”—a grandiose strategic concept incorporating not just their immediate areas but Taiwan and the South China Sea as well.
In a joint declaration issued on May 21, for example, Presidents Biden and Yoon “reaffirm[ed] their commitment” to “lawful unimpeded commerce” and “lawful use of the seas” in “the South China Sea and beyond.” They further “reiterate[d] the importance of preserving peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait as an essential element in security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.”
Although China is not mentioned by name in this statement or in comments made by Biden and Prime Minister Kishida after their talks in Tokyo, the language employed—hinting at joint efforts to defend Taiwan and open passage through the South China Sea—suggest concurrence with Biden’s goal of encircling China with hostile military alliances.
In a further manifestation of this drive, Biden used his visit to Tokyo to convene a summit of leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (or “Quad”)—a loose military alliance of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States, largely designed to curb China’s geopolitical reach. Here, too, Biden emphasized his goal of uniting like-minded countries in a global drive to isolate Russia and China. In a press conference following the summit, he excoriated Russia for its brutal invasion of Ukraine and intimated that the same destabilizing forces were lurking in Asia, requiring renewed effort by the Quad.
Walking, Chewing Gum, and Juggling Too!
Biden was back in Washington for just four weeks before he left on another alliance-building venture, to Germany and Spain (on June 24) and then for barely two weeks after that before leaving for the Middle East (on July 12).
While in Europe, Biden joined a meeting of the G7 group of advanced economies at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria, and attended a summit meeting of NATO leaders in Madrid. At the first of these, Biden secured a joint $600 billion commitment to the Partnership on Global Infrastructure and Investment, a half-baked alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative; at the second, he helped facilitate Finland and Sweden’s membership in NATO, by persuading Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to overcome his objections to the move. (As decisions in NATO are made by consensus, Erdogan can veto any proposed membership agreements.) Biden also presided over another major White House objective: the adoption by NATO of a new strategic concept that identifies China as well as Russia as major threats to alliance security.
Having firmed up his plans for a concerted European and Asian drive to isolate Russia and China, Biden then turned his attention to the Middle East. From the media’s perspective, Biden’s top priority in making the trip was to persuade the Saudis to pump more oil, thereby helping to lower gasoline prices in the United States and bolster the Democrats—who are seen as vulnerable on the inflation issue—in the midterm elections. But those able to read between the lines saw another key motive: to counter Chinese influence in the region and create a Middle Eastern equivalent of the US-led networks being constructed in Europe and Asia to isolate Russia and China. You might call this trying to walk, chew gum, and juggle at the same time.
To counter growing Beijing’s growing influence in the region, Biden promised to share advanced US telecom technology with the Saudis and to anoint the kingdom as a legitimate member of the rule-abiding international order—all this despite the fact that its de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (known as MBS), has been accused by human rights leaders and the Central Intelligence Agency of masterminding the October 2018 murder in Turkey of Jamal Khashoggi, the US-based Saudi dissident and journalist.
“This trip is about once again positioning America in this region for the future,” Biden announced at the end of his meetings with the Saudis and other Middle Eastern potentates. “We are not going to leave a vacuum in the Middle East for Russia or China to fill.”
The Wrong Crusade at the Wrong Time
For someone who has been widely portrayed as lethargic and clumsy, Biden has demonstrated vigor and leadership in his drive to construct a new, Cold War–like web of pro-US alliances. But this has come at a devastating price at home. At a moment when the United States has been wracked by successive crises over abortion, gun rights, extreme storms and heat waves, soaring inflation, and threats to our democracy, Biden has mostly been AWOL. If only he had devoted as much attention to any one of these perils as he has to building global alliances, perhaps our domestic political environment would not be as forbidding as it now appears.
On the other side of the coin are legitimate concerns over Biden’s foreign policy endeavors. Yes, Russia poses a significant military threat to Europe’s security, and the United States does bear a legal obligation under the NATO treaty to assist its European allies if they come under armed attack. But should the US president, rather than European leaders, be shouldering primary responsibility for organizing Europe’s defense? And yes, China poses a variety of challenges to the US and its allies. But is it really in our best interests to be increasing tensions with China and at a time when its cooperation is essential in overcoming such mutual concerns as climate change, supply chain disruptions, and global pandemics?
Any close assessment of Biden’s stated intentions, moreover, would reveal enormous contradictions. He has claimed, in each of his foreign endeavors, that his primary objective is to defend the sphere of democratic and law-abiding countries against autocratic, rules-defying states. But this claim falls apart on even the most glancing inspection. Hungary, one of NATO’s so-called “frontline” states, is ruled by the autocratic regime of Viktor Orbán and maintains close ties with Moscow. India, a key member of the Quad, is led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been accused of consistently violating the rights of the country’s large Muslim minority. And to include Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern dictatorships in a network of “free” and “democratic” states is an insult to all of us.
Surely, any prudent calculation of America’s national interests at this time would call for a presidential team that is laser-focused on the troubles and dangers that face ordinary Americans, along with the mounting threats to our own democracy. If Biden truly cares about the things he says he does—democracy and human rights above all—he should be at the White House day and night leading the fight to defend those very values here at home. | https://www.thenation.com/article/world/bidens-misguided-international-crusade/ | 2022-07-28T19:17:39Z | https://www.thenation.com/article/world/bidens-misguided-international-crusade/ | true |
Each player in this trio addresses the beat in a spontaneous way, without constant chaos. A casual romp like this session makes for breezy listening.
Copyright 2022 Fresh Air
Each player in this trio addresses the beat in a spontaneous way, without constant chaos. A casual romp like this session makes for breezy listening.
Copyright 2022 Fresh Air | https://www.wlrn.org/2022-07-28/tyshawn-soreys-mesmerism-celebrates-the-everyday-miracle-of-the-jazz-rhythm-trio | 2022-07-28T19:17:42Z | https://www.wlrn.org/2022-07-28/tyshawn-soreys-mesmerism-celebrates-the-everyday-miracle-of-the-jazz-rhythm-trio | true |
Google trends in July
Published: Jul. 28, 2022 at 3:09 PM EDT|Updated: 8 minutes ago
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -
A Google search trends expert joins Susan and Taylor to share what the trending topics online were for the month of July.
Copyright 2022 WSAZ. All rights reserved. | https://www.wsaz.com/2022/07/28/google-trends-july/ | 2022-07-28T19:17:48Z | https://www.wsaz.com/2022/07/28/google-trends-july/ | false |
At least 3 dead in Kentucky as flooding hits Appalachia, officials say
(WKYT/WSAZ/Gray News) - Officials in Kentucky on Thursday reported three deaths related to the severe flooding, with concerns the toll will continue to rise.
Gov. Andy Beshear called it one of the “worst and most devastating flooding events” in the state’s history, saying hundreds of homes had been damaged or destroyed so far, per WKYT.
“The situation is dynamic and ongoing,” Beshear said. “In most places, we are not seeing receding water. In fact, in most places, it is not crested yet.”
The governor said during a news conference there had been two deaths in Perry County, including an 81-year-old woman, but the county coroner later clarified only one confirmed death.
In Knott County, the coroner confirmed two deaths in the region with multiple people still missing, WSAZ reported.
Beshear also said there are a number of people unaccounted for, declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard. He said he expected there will be more loss of lives.
“Hundreds will lose their homes, and this is going to be yet another event that it’s going to take not months but likely years for many families to rebuild and recover from,” the governor said.
Poweroutage.us reported more than 31,000 customers without electricity in eastern Kentucky, as well as affected areas in West Virginia and Virginia dealing with flash flooding and mudslides. Thunderstorms dumped several inches of water over the past few days.
Water service has been disrupted as well in some areas. Beshear said Kentucky has already ordered truckloads of water to assist.
Floyd County Sheriff John Hunt said many in his area are trapped by floodwaters and urged people in areas that may see more flooding to get out now.
“We had to rescue some on floating debris – a house door. We had to put a lady on a house door that would float,” Hunt said. “We are using all resources, anything that we have available to rescue these people.”
Rescue workers worked through the night and have plucked people off rooftops amid fast-rising water. Perry County Emergency Management Director Jerry Stacy described the situation as “catastrophic” as crews searched for stranded people.
“There are a lot of people in eastern Kentucky on top of roofs waiting to be rescued,” the governor added.
The storms hit an Appalachian mountain region where communities and homes are built on steep hillsides or down in the hollows between them, where the only flat land often shoulders creeks and streams that can rise in a hurry.
Roads in many areas weren’t passable after as much as 6 inches of rain had fallen in some areas by Thursday, and 1-3 more inches could fall, the National Weather Service said.
Three parks in the region were opened as shelters for displaced people.
In Kentucky’s Perry, Leslie and Clay counties, people in low areas were urged to seek higher ground after multiple swift water rescues. Breathitt County’s courthouse was opened overnight, and Emergency Management Director Chris Friley said the Old Montessori School would provide more permanent shelter once crews can staff it.
“It’s the worst we’ve had in quite a while,” Friley said. “It’s county-wide again. There’s several spots that are still not accessible to rescue crews.”
Perry County dispatchers said floodwaters washed out roads and bridges and knocked homes off foundations. The city of Hazard said rescue crews were out all night, urging people on Facebook to stay off roads and “pray for a break in the rain.”
Rescues were being done in West Virginia, and communities in southwest Virginia also were flooding. The National Weather Service office in Blacksburg, Virginia, warned of more showers and storms on Thursday.
In Buchanan County, which was hit by severe flooding two weeks ago, preliminary assessments of the previous flooding were postponed for safety amid the latest high water, according to Virginia Department of Emergency Management spokesperson Lauren Opett. Officials were determining whether its feasible to conduct the assessments virtually, she said.
And in Wise County, the Office of Emergency Management warned of imminent flooding and road closures in the Pound Bottom area on Thursday morning. Officials advised residents to shelter in place until floodwaters recede or evacuate to a shelter in an elementary school.
Copyright 2022 WKYT and WSAZ via Gray Media Group, Inc. The Associated Press contributed to the report. All rights reserved. | https://www.kold.com/2022/07/28/least-4-dead-kentucky-flooding-hits-appalachia-officials-say/ | 2022-07-28T19:18:06Z | https://www.kold.com/2022/07/28/least-4-dead-kentucky-flooding-hits-appalachia-officials-say/ | false |
WFO ALBANY Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Thursday, July 28, 2022
_____
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Albany NY
142 PM EDT Thu Jul 28 2022
...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of northeastern Albany
and west central Rensselaer Counties through 215 PM EDT...
At 141 PM EDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm over
Loudonville, or over Albany, moving northeast at 20 mph.
HAZARD...Winds in excess of 30 mph and heavy rain.
SOURCE...Radar indicated.
IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around
unsecured objects. Heavy rains could cause flooding. This
storm may lead to isolated ponding of water on roadways.
Locations impacted include...
Albany, Troy, Cohoes, Watervliet, Rensselaer, Colonie, Latham,
Menands, Green Island, Waterford, Wyantskill, Loudonville, Center
Brunswick, Wynantskill, North Greenbush, Brunswick, Poestenkill,
South Troy, Lansingburgh and Bleecker Stadium.
This includes the following highways...
Interstate 90 between exits 8 and 24.
Interstate 87 between exits 23 and 7.
Interstate 787 between exits 1 and 9.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.
A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 800 PM EDT for
east central New York.
LAT...LON 4271 7351 4262 7379 4269 7387 4285 7364
4273 7351
TIME...MOT...LOC 1741Z 236DEG 17KT 4269 7378
MAX HAIL SIZE...0.00 IN
MAX WIND GUST...30 MPH
NY
. NEW YORK COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE
ALBANY BROOME CAYUGA
CHEMUNG CHENANGO CLINTON
COLUMBIA CORTLAND DELAWARE
DUTCHESS ESSEX FRANKLIN
FULTON GREENE HAMILTON
HERKIMER JEFFERSON LEWIS
MADISON MONTGOMERY ONEIDA
ONONDAGA OSWEGO OTSEGO
RENSSELAER ST. LAWRENCE SARATOGA
SCHENECTADY SCHOHARIE SCHUYLER
SENECA SULLIVAN TIOGA
TOMPKINS ULSTER WARREN
WASHINGTON WAYNE
...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR SOUTHEASTERN CAYUGA AND
NORTHEASTERN TOMPKINS COUNTIES IS CANCELLED...
The severe thunderstorm which prompted the warning has moved out of
the warned area. Therefore, the warning has been cancelled.
central New York.
...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 200 PM EDT
FOR NORTHERN CORTLAND AND SOUTHEASTERN ONONDAGA COUNTIES...
At 145 PM EDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over East Homer, or
near Cortland, moving east at 40 mph.
HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts.
SOURCE...Law enforcement has reported damage to a building along
with downed trees and wires.
IMPACT...Expect damage to roofs, siding, and trees.
Cortland, Homer, Preble, Scott, Truxton, Solon, McGraw, Cuyler, Tully
and Taylor.
For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a
building.
To report severe weather contact your nearest law enforcement agency.
They will send your report to the National Weather Service office in
Binghamton.
_____
Copyright 2022 AccuWeather | https://www.seattlepi.com/weather/article/NY-WFO-ALBANY-Warnings-Watches-and-Advisories-17335614.php | 2022-07-28T19:19:54Z | https://www.seattlepi.com/weather/article/NY-WFO-ALBANY-Warnings-Watches-and-Advisories-17335614.php | false |
SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY— New research is underway to better understand and treat ALS, a difficult disease to diagnose with no known cure. ALS patient Paul Miller of Scranton is one of the participants.
A patient-focused organization named EverythingALS is the driving force behind the new research.
The non-profit is currently using artificial intelligence to track and record Miller’s speech and hundreds of other ALS patients.
For more on this story, watch Eyewitness News tonight at 5 p.m. | https://www.pahomepage.com/lifestyle/healthbeat/healthbeat-new-als-research-driven-by-patient-focused-non-profit/ | 2022-07-28T19:22:26Z | https://www.pahomepage.com/lifestyle/healthbeat/healthbeat-new-als-research-driven-by-patient-focused-non-profit/ | false |
ELYSBURG, COLUMBIA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU)— The Locust Township Police Department is looking for a pair who according to witnesses, intentionally hit a Knoebels worker that was directing traffic on July 23 around 8:40 p.m.
Officials said a man in a red Dodge Ram truck was trying to leave the Knoebel’s Amusement Resort Parking Lot when a parking attendant tried to inform the driver he needed to drive towards another exit.
The male driver ignored the attendant’s directions and, “hit the gas,” running into the employee with his vehicle and driving through a wooden barricade, according to police.
Investigators said the suspect turned right onto Pine Swamp Road towards Middle Road near the Numidia and Bear gap areas.
Witnesses described the male driver as having darker skin, possibly Hispanic, dark hair, and a dark beard. The driver’s female companion was described as a white female in a white top.
Anyone in the area of Pine Swamp Road, Bethel Road, or Middle Road who has surveillance cameras that may have seen the suspects is asked to contact the Locust Township Police Department at (570)799-5806. | https://www.pahomepage.com/news/knoebels-worker-hit-by-car-police-search-for-suspects/ | 2022-07-28T19:22:50Z | https://www.pahomepage.com/news/knoebels-worker-hit-by-car-police-search-for-suspects/ | true |
NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana has dropped its case against a Black man whose severe beating before his arrest in 2019 led to criminal charges and lawsuits against a state trooper.
Former state trooper Jacob Brown faces a federal charge of violating Bowman’s civil rights in connection with the beating in May 2019. He has pleaded not guilty. A trial date of March 20 was set Tuesday.
The federal indictment accuses Brown of beating Bowman with a flashlight that had a “tactical cap” designed to break glass.
Video and police records show Bowman was struck 18 times with a flashlight in 24 seconds. Records show it happened when he pulled into the driveway of his home in Monroe after police tried to pull him over for improper lane usage. He was not immediately taken into custody after the beating, but was arrested on a warrant issued a few days later.
The Attorney General’s Office took over prosecution of the charges against Bowman after his attorneys asked a court to recuse the local prosecutor, 4th Judicial District Attorney Robert Tew.
Bowman is suing state police and multiple Ouachita Parish agencies in civil court.
In the federal criminal case, Brown is charged with “deprivation of rights under color of law.”
Bowman’s case came to light as scrutiny of the Louisiana State Police intensified amid allegations of use of excessive force and racism.
The U.S. Justice Department last month announced a sweeping civil rights investigation of the agency amid mounting evidence of a pattern of looking away from beatings of mostly Black men, including the 2019 arrest of Ronald Greene, who died in custody after being beaten following a chase.
The announcement followed an Associated Press investigation that found at least a dozen cases over the past decade in which state police troopers or their bosses ignored or concealed evidence of beatings, deflected blame and impeded efforts to root out misconduct. Dozens of current and former troopers said the beatings were countenanced by a culture of impunity, nepotism and, in some cases, outright racism. | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/beating-victim-cleared-as-louisiana-trooper-awaits-trial/2022/07/28/11db1c66-0e9d-11ed-88e8-c58dc3dbaee2_story.html | 2022-07-28T19:25:36Z | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/beating-victim-cleared-as-louisiana-trooper-awaits-trial/2022/07/28/11db1c66-0e9d-11ed-88e8-c58dc3dbaee2_story.html | true |
South Dakota man heals with support of community
BISON, S.D. – Moving to a new place can be scary, and sometimes, moving to a small town can be a little extra intimidating. It can be difficult to fit in to those small, tight-knit communities.
But one small South Dakota town has welcomed the new guy with open arms, and even helped him during what was one of the most difficult times of his life.
Chad Barnes feels right at home here, even though he’s new to the community of Bison.
He grew up in nearby Lemmon, but never thought he’d move here or that he’d own the local grocery store. But when opportunity knocks, Barnes knows it’s best to answer the door. He purchased the Bison Food Store in March 2017 – a birthday gift to himself.
The single dad and his now 13-year-old daughter got right to work, remodeling the store.
“We’ve moved everything,” Barnes said.
They’ve added a new office and check-out lanes. They’re in the process of replacing the flooring and hope to add a deli.
“I knew it was a big job, but it’s been a mountain,” he said with a laugh.
A mountain he’s been able to climb, thanks to support from his new community.
“These guys have just obviously opened to us with open arms, and they’ve supported us,” he said.
“He’s just a good friendly guy and very accommodating. And he’s the first guy to jump in and help,” said Bison resident Colette Johnson.
Barnes never expected he’d be the one who needed help, but last winter, an infection and a battle with COVID put Chad in the hospital for several months. He ended up getting his leg amputated at the knee.
“I made the decision,” he said about amputation.
Barnes is feeling better now, as he waits for his doctors to give him the green light for a prosthetic.
Barnes says losing his leg is ironic. His whole life, he’s gone by the nickname “Stumpy.”
“People who have known me my whole life don’t even know my real name. Obviously, it was meant to be,” he said with a grin.
In much the same way, the man known as “Stumpy” says this unexpected dream of running a small-town grocery store was also meant to be.
Barnes has been diabetic since he was 18. He says that’s always made him a little more susceptible to developing infections.
Amputating his leg at the knee was his decision. He says it was the best way he could guarantee he’d heal and be around to see his daughter grow up.
Copyright 2022 KFYR. All rights reserved. | https://www.kfyrtv.com/2022/07/28/south-dakota-man-heals-with-support-community/ | 2022-07-28T19:25:49Z | https://www.kfyrtv.com/2022/07/28/south-dakota-man-heals-with-support-community/ | false |
Saints’ Jameis Winston ‘blessed and grateful’ to be back on the field
New Orleans held its first training camp practice Wednesday
New Orleans Saints quarterback Jameis Winston is back on the field after missing the final 10 games of the 2021 NFL season with a torn ACL.
The Saints held their first practice of training camp on Wednesday and the seven-year pro was simply happy to be back on the field.
"Blessed and grateful," Winston said, according to the Saints website. "Grateful to be back out here with this team, grateful for another opportunity to come out here and play some football.
"It's still going to be a progression, but I worked my tail off and I'm going to continue to do that."
In his first year as the starter for New Orleans, Winston got off to a great start, throwing for 14 touchdowns and just three interceptions in the first seven games of the year. However, a devastating knee injury during the Saints' Week 8 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ended his season.
STEELERS’ MIKE TOMLIN ON QUARTERBACK RACE: ‘WE’RE NOT GOING TO MICROMANAGE’
"Jameis, he's a competitor," wide receiver Michael Thomas said. "He's the ultimate competitor. He always shows up ready to work. It's like, you're not gonna outwork him. You're not going to deny him. He brings that energy and passion and you just feed off that. I'm excited to play with him and I'm excited to help him move the chains."
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
First-year head coach Dennis Allen was pleased with how Winston looked on Wednesday, and the former first-overall pick of the 2015 NFL Draft told reporters that he felt stronger than he did during the Saints’ minicamp.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
"I would say I got more explosive (since minicamp)," Winston said, according to the Saints website. "I was good, I was ready to go right then. But it's a progression. The healing process really never stops. I feel stronger right now, but with practice increasing, I know I've got to harp on a couple of things and continue to build."
New Orleans went 9-8 in 2021, missing out on the playoffs for the first time since 2016. | https://www.foxnews.com/sports/saints-jameis-winston-blessed-grateful-back-field | 2022-07-28T19:26:52Z | https://www.foxnews.com/sports/saints-jameis-winston-blessed-grateful-back-field | false |
Planning ahead is key to covering costs for school trips
Involve your child to teach financial responsibility
InvestigateTV - Whether it’s a class trip to the museum or a road trip with the team, school trips can be a big added expense for parents, with fees ranging from a few dollars into the thousands.
However, Virginia Credit Union financial expert Cherry Dale said planning ahead will give you time to save.
Dale also said it’s good to have conversations now with both school officials and your kids about what trips are planned this spring and how they will be paid for.
“I would encourage parents not to just pay for everything but have the conversation about what you are paying and what the expectation is for the youth as well to pay along the way,” Dale said.
She said asking your children to contribute helps to teach them financial responsibility budgeting.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wflx.com/2022/07/28/planning-ahead-is-key-covering-costs-school-trips/ | 2022-07-28T19:31:25Z | https://www.wflx.com/2022/07/28/planning-ahead-is-key-covering-costs-school-trips/ | false |
LOS ANGELES, July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara should reject the Interinsurance Exchange of the Automobile Club's ("Auto Club") proposed $202 million auto insurance rate hike and its job- and education-based discriminatory rating system under which working-class Californians pay up to 9% higher premiums, wrote Consumer Watchdog in a petition filed with the California Department of Insurance (CDI) today.
Under Auto Club's proposed overall 6.9% rate increase, 1.44 million policyholders, who collectively own 2.68 million vehicles insured by the company, face an average annual premium increase of $75 per insured vehicle ($140 per policy). Because the Insurance Commissioner has failed to act on a regulation to curb job- and education-based rate discrimination, the worst of that rate increase will fall on low-income drivers who don't have one of the professional occupations for which Auto Club gives a premium discount, said Consumer Watchdog.
These grocery clerks, hotel workers, janitors, home healthcare aides, and other drivers without white-collar jobs will be surcharged, paying up to $167 more in annual premiums per policy than drivers in one of Auto Club's preferred occupation groups.
"This economy is tough as it is—Californians shouldn't have to add price gouging by insurance companies to their growing list of financial concerns," said Consumer Watchdog staff attorney Benjamin Powell. "These discounts for high-paying professional jobs leave low-income drivers to pick up the slack, simply because of their job titles."
A 2019 investigation by the Department of Insurance found that Auto Club's and other companies' practice of charging some drivers more based on education and occupation results in low-income drivers and communities of color paying more. But three years later, Commissioner Lara has yet to adopt a regulation to stop the practice. The last draft of a potential regulation was issued by the Department of Insurance nearly a year and a half ago—no action has been taken since.
Consumer Watchdog called on Commissioner Lara to reject Auto Club's use of occupation and education factors to overcharge working-class Californians in this rate filing, and to move a regulation forward to make all insurance companies rate Californians fairly, regardless of their job or education level.
Auto Club's request comes as soaring gas and food prices have low-wage workers struggling now more than ever to make ends meet. Most policyholders—from waiters to cashiers, construction workers to call center operators—will see their auto insurance rates increase by up to about 9% more than drivers with professional occupations and advanced degrees, such as engineers, doctors, and accountants, or members of a college alumni association.
"The Commissioner needs to protect working families and end these occupation-based overcharges that can cost Auto Club customers more than $160 a year. His own 2019 investigation found they create 'wide socioeconomic disparities.' It is past time to take action and put a stop to them once and for all," said Powell.
The Commissioner last approved Auto Club's discriminatory occupation-based rating system, and a 6.9% overall rate increase for Auto Club policyholders, effective May 2018.
Occupation has never been approved by regulation as a lawful rating factor under voter-enacted Proposition 103. Auto Club's unfairly discriminatory occupation-based rating system means lower income and less-educated drivers continue to pay the highest premiums based solely on their job titles.
Consumer Watchdog's petition also alleges that Auto Club overcharged policyholders during the COVID-19 lockdowns, when accident claims were down, and may owe hundreds of millions in additional refunds.
Read Consumer Watchdog's Petition for Hearing and Petition to Intervene: https://consumerwatchdog.org/sites/default/files/2022-07/2022-07-28%20Interinsurance%20Auto%20PFH.pdf
Consumer Watchdog, along with ten community and civil rights organizations, challenged auto insurers' illegal and discriminatory use of job and education to set rates in February 2019. In September 2019, a Department of Insurance investigation confirmed those concerns, finding "wide socioeconomic disparities" created by insurance companies surcharging California drivers based on nothing more than their occupation or educational status. In December 2019, the Department proposed regulations to address this unfair discrimination. However, almost three years later, those rules have not yet been implemented.
Read the community and civil rights groups' petition: https://consumerwatchdog.org/sites/default/files/2019-02/Job%26EducationPetition.pdf
The Department's analysis of industry data shows that drivers in the highest per capita income ZIP codes are more than twice as likely to receive occupational-based discounts than drivers in the lowest per capita income ZIP codes, with only 29% of drivers in predominately minority ZIP codes receiving such discounts as compared with 47% of drivers living in ZIP codes with a predominately white population. In addition, 75% of drivers in Underserved Communities (as defined by Department of Insurance regulations) do not receive these discounts.
Voter-approved Proposition 103 requires auto insurance premiums be based primarily on three mandatory factors—driving safety record, annual mileage, and years driving experience—and prohibits unfairly discriminatory rates. Proposition 103 prohibits this kind of unfair rate discrimination based on occupation, education, income, or race.
Consumer Watchdog is a non-profit public interest organization. Visit us on the web at www.ConsumerWatchdog.org
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SOURCE Consumer Watchdog | https://www.wlbt.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/consumer-watchdog-challenges-202-million-auto-club-insurance-rate-increase-amp-job-based-insurance-rate-discrimination/ | 2022-07-28T19:33:42Z | https://www.wlbt.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/consumer-watchdog-challenges-202-million-auto-club-insurance-rate-increase-amp-job-based-insurance-rate-discrimination/ | true |
myGemma, A Leader in Pre-Authenticated Luxury Brands Presents on MARKET.LIVE
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. and LEHI, Utah, July 28, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verb Technology Company, Inc. ( VERB) ("VERB" or the "Company"), the leader in interactive video-based sales-enablement applications, including shoppable livestream video, has been hosting Shopfest, a 3-day livestream shopping event taking place July 26, 27 and 28 to mark the launch of MARKET.live, VERB’s new 24/7 social shopping and livestream commerce platform where shoppers can explore hundreds of livestream shoppable stores, with more added every day. Noted Rory J. Cutaia, CEO and Founder of Verb, “The event is exceeding expectations. With over 50 streams in three days, Shopfest is on track to be the largest livestream event that’s happened to date in the U.S.” Shopfest has been going coast to coast, with shows streaming from studios in Los Angeles and New York, simultaneous productions simulcast over social media networks, with the ability for viewers to flip between 3 or 4 other events.
Yesterday’s Shopfest lineup included myGemma, a resale storefront focused on pre-authentication. Among the inventory of Gucci, Prada and other luxury brands, on offer is a crocodile Birkin bag valued at $100,000. Observed Cutaia, “Livestreaming and the luxury resale make a heady mix. The combination of a product’s scarcity and the aspect of it being there for just a limited time opens up new possibilities for resale platforms that have prized, unique, pre-owned items in their inventory. Along with this, is our hope to see a further convergence of resale and celebrity influencers in the future.”
Now in its third and final day, Shopfest is a 3-day social shopping marathon, streamed live on MARKET.live and simulcast on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook Live, and other major social media outlets from studios on the east and west coasts, as well as from other locations all around the country. This fast-paced event is conducted in a show format, featuring emcees based in Los Angeles and New York City, who direct viewers to one of three simultaneous channels to engage with their favorite vendors, brands, hosts, and influencers. Notes Cutaia, “Showcasing the multidimensional capabilities of livestreaming, MARKET.live is more than just a cool, new way to shop. It’s the new place to meet, greet, and engage with your favorite brands, influencers, creators and artists, as well as with other shoppers through a unique, fun, shoppable livestream experience.”
The Shopfest 3-day festival features an impressive lineup of some of America's hottest brands set to participate. Shoppers can still continue shopping previous livestreams, and get Shopfest deals, such as the Total Gym offering their unit at $799 with free shipping, marked down from $1699.95. This deal ends today at 11:59 pm EST. The current lineup of brands and vendors featured in Shopfest include:
Participant list is subject to change given the live show format and as the Company tries to accommodate ongoing last-minute demand for brand participation.
Brands and content creators interested in viewing Shopfest can watch it at MARKET.live.
About VERB
Verb Technology Company, Inc. ( VERB), the market leader in interactive video-based sales applications, transforms how businesses attract and engage customers. The Company's Software-as-a-Service, or SaaS, platform is based on its proprietary interactive video technology and is comprised of a suite of sales enablement business software products offered on a subscription basis. Its software applications are used by hundreds of thousands of people in over 100 countries and in more than 48 languages. VERB's clients include large sales-based enterprises as well as small business sales teams, including the sales and marketing departments of professional sports teams. Of special note is its new MARKET.live platform, a 24/7, multi-vendor, livestream shopping platform designed to host simultaneous livestream shopping sessions by consumer brands, big-box stores, boutiques, celebrities, content creators, and influencers selling products and services across numerous categories at the forefront of the convergence of ecommerce and entertainment. With approximately 170 employees, the Company is headquartered in Lehi, Utah, and also maintains offices in Newport Beach, California.
Follow VERB here:
VERB on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VerbTechCo/
VERB on Twitter: https://twitter.com/VerbTech_Co
VERB on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/verb-tech/
VERB on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0eCb_fwQlwEG3ywHDJ4_KQ
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This communication contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and include, without limitation, any statement that may predict, forecast, indicate or imply future results, performance or achievements, and may contain words such as "anticipate," "expect," "project," "plan," or words or phrases with similar meaning. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release relate to, among other things, the Company's projected financial performance and operating results, including its MARKET.live platform and SHOPFEST events, as well as statements regarding the Company's progress towards achieving its strategic objectives, including the successful integration and future performance of acquisitions. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to the COVID-19 pandemic and related public health measures on our business, customers, markets and the worldwide economy; our plans to attract new customers, retain existing customers and increase our annual revenue; the development and delivery of new products, including verbLIVE; our plans and expectations regarding software-as-a-service offerings; our ability to execute on, integrate, and realize the benefits of any acquisitions; fluctuations in our quarterly results of operations and other operating measures; increasing competition; general economic, market and business conditions. If any of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if any of our assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results could differ materially from the results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Investors are referred to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Reports on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, for additional information regarding the risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statement. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we do not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements provided to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made, except as required by law.
Investor Relations:
888.504.9929
[email protected]
Media Contacts:
855.250.2300, ext.125
[email protected]
Or
Meir Kahtan
Meir Kahtan Public Relations, LLC
[email protected]
+1 917-864-0800
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. and LEHI, Utah, July 28, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verb Technology Company, Inc. ( VERB) ("VERB" or the "Company"), the leader in interactive video-based sales-enablement applications, including shoppable livestream video, has been hosting Shopfest, a 3-day livestream shopping event taking place July 26, 27 and 28 to mark the launch of MARKET.live, VERB’s new 24/7 social shopping and livestream commerce platform where shoppers can explore hundreds of livestream shoppable stores, with more added every day. Noted Rory J. Cutaia, CEO and Founder of Verb, “The event is exceeding expectations. With over 50 streams in three days, Shopfest is on track to be the largest livestream event that’s happened to date in the U.S.” Shopfest has been going coast to coast, with shows streaming from studios in Los Angeles and New York, simultaneous productions simulcast over social media networks, with the ability for viewers to flip between 3 or 4 other events.
Yesterday’s Shopfest lineup included myGemma, a resale storefront focused on pre-authentication. Among the inventory of Gucci, Prada and other luxury brands, on offer is a crocodile Birkin bag valued at $100,000. Observed Cutaia, “Livestreaming and the luxury resale make a heady mix. The combination of a product’s scarcity and the aspect of it being there for just a limited time opens up new possibilities for resale platforms that have prized, unique, pre-owned items in their inventory. Along with this, is our hope to see a further convergence of resale and celebrity influencers in the future.”
Now in its third and final day, Shopfest is a 3-day social shopping marathon, streamed live on MARKET.live and simulcast on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook Live, and other major social media outlets from studios on the east and west coasts, as well as from other locations all around the country. This fast-paced event is conducted in a show format, featuring emcees based in Los Angeles and New York City, who direct viewers to one of three simultaneous channels to engage with their favorite vendors, brands, hosts, and influencers. Notes Cutaia, “Showcasing the multidimensional capabilities of livestreaming, MARKET.live is more than just a cool, new way to shop. It’s the new place to meet, greet, and engage with your favorite brands, influencers, creators and artists, as well as with other shoppers through a unique, fun, shoppable livestream experience.”
The Shopfest 3-day festival features an impressive lineup of some of America's hottest brands set to participate. Shoppers can still continue shopping previous livestreams, and get Shopfest deals, such as the Total Gym offering their unit at $799 with free shipping, marked down from $1699.95. This deal ends today at 11:59 pm EST. The current lineup of brands and vendors featured in Shopfest include:
Participant list is subject to change given the live show format and as the Company tries to accommodate ongoing last-minute demand for brand participation.
Brands and content creators interested in viewing Shopfest can watch it at MARKET.live.
About VERB
Verb Technology Company, Inc. ( VERB), the market leader in interactive video-based sales applications, transforms how businesses attract and engage customers. The Company's Software-as-a-Service, or SaaS, platform is based on its proprietary interactive video technology and is comprised of a suite of sales enablement business software products offered on a subscription basis. Its software applications are used by hundreds of thousands of people in over 100 countries and in more than 48 languages. VERB's clients include large sales-based enterprises as well as small business sales teams, including the sales and marketing departments of professional sports teams. Of special note is its new MARKET.live platform, a 24/7, multi-vendor, livestream shopping platform designed to host simultaneous livestream shopping sessions by consumer brands, big-box stores, boutiques, celebrities, content creators, and influencers selling products and services across numerous categories at the forefront of the convergence of ecommerce and entertainment. With approximately 170 employees, the Company is headquartered in Lehi, Utah, and also maintains offices in Newport Beach, California.
Follow VERB here:
VERB on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VerbTechCo/
VERB on Twitter: https://twitter.com/VerbTech_Co
VERB on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/verb-tech/
VERB on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0eCb_fwQlwEG3ywHDJ4_KQ
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This communication contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and include, without limitation, any statement that may predict, forecast, indicate or imply future results, performance or achievements, and may contain words such as "anticipate," "expect," "project," "plan," or words or phrases with similar meaning. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release relate to, among other things, the Company's projected financial performance and operating results, including its MARKET.live platform and SHOPFEST events, as well as statements regarding the Company's progress towards achieving its strategic objectives, including the successful integration and future performance of acquisitions. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to the COVID-19 pandemic and related public health measures on our business, customers, markets and the worldwide economy; our plans to attract new customers, retain existing customers and increase our annual revenue; the development and delivery of new products, including verbLIVE; our plans and expectations regarding software-as-a-service offerings; our ability to execute on, integrate, and realize the benefits of any acquisitions; fluctuations in our quarterly results of operations and other operating measures; increasing competition; general economic, market and business conditions. If any of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if any of our assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results could differ materially from the results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Investors are referred to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Reports on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, for additional information regarding the risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statement. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we do not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements provided to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made, except as required by law.
Investor Relations:
888.504.9929
[email protected]
Media Contacts:
855.250.2300, ext.125
[email protected]
Or
Meir Kahtan
Meir Kahtan Public Relations, LLC
[email protected]
+1 917-864-0800 | https://www.gurufocus.com/news/1837838/luxury-resale-rocks-verbs-3day-market-livestream-shopfest-on-track-to-be-the-biggest-ever-livestream-event-inventory-includes-rare-birkin-bag-valued-at-100000 | 2022-07-28T19:35:15Z | https://www.gurufocus.com/news/1837838/luxury-resale-rocks-verbs-3day-market-livestream-shopfest-on-track-to-be-the-biggest-ever-livestream-event-inventory-includes-rare-birkin-bag-valued-at-100000 | true |
The family of a Naval Academy midshipman who died in an overseas hiking accident nearly two weeks ago is still waiting to bury him, even as tributes and condolences have poured in for the young man.
Twenty-one-year-old Luke Bird passed away July 17 while spending a semester abroad in Chile. He fell over the Salto El Agua waterfall while hiking with a fellow student.
His father, Chad Bird, a pastor and author who is affiliated with the Lutheran 1517 organization, wrote in a Facebook post Wednesday:
"Today is the eleventh day since his death. Our Texas senators, Navy officers, and the United States Naval Academy have been working tirelessly with the Chilean government to get Luke’s body home to us. Unfortunately, this is a very slow process, due to stringent regulations in the Chilean bureaucracy. This means that, as of now, no date has yet been set for his funeral. We will have a service here in New Braunfels, TX, and another one at the United States Naval Academy, in Annapolis, Maryland, where Luke’s body will be interred. As soon as a time and date have been chosen for these services, I will notify everyone. Please continue to pray for all of us. We hold tight to the mercy of our Lord Jesus, who is the Resurrection and the Life, and in whose presence Luke now rests in peace."
Luke Bird's death has prompted condolences from around the armed forces and from the Texas community. State Sen. Ted Cruz said he and his wife continue to pray for the midshipman's family, adding: "May his family find peace during this heartbreaking tragedy."
Heidi and I are continuing to pray for the family and loved ones of Naval Academy Midshipman Luke Bird.
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) July 21, 2022
May his family find peace during this heartbreaking tragedy.
https://t.co/iF3q85VkxA
The Naval Academy Marines dedicated a recent 8-mile hike to Luke Bird's memory. | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/tributes-pour-in-for-naval-academy-midshipman-who-died-in-chile | 2022-07-28T19:35:52Z | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/tributes-pour-in-for-naval-academy-midshipman-who-died-in-chile | false |
ARLINGTON, Va., July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Boeing Company [NYSE:BA] today named Brian Besanceney as the company's senior vice president and chief communications officer effective September 6, 2022. A corporate affairs leader with more than 25 years of strategic communications and government relations experience, including senior roles at Walmart and Disney, Besanceney will oversee all aspects of Boeing's communications, such as communications at its commercial airplanes, defense and services businesses, media relations, external affairs, employee engagement, and company branding.
Besanceney will report to Boeing President and CEO David Calhoun and serve on the company's Executive Council.
"Brian is an outstanding communications executive with a proven record of leading global teams and helping several of the world's well-known companies and organizations tell their stories, in addition to managing complex issues in the private sector and at the highest levels of government," said Calhoun. "I am confident Brian will help us build on our ongoing commitment to engaging our employees and stakeholders transparently as we continue to navigate a challenging global environment and work to position Boeing for the long term."
Most recently, Besanceney has served as senior vice president and chief communications officer at Walmart, where he has been highly regarded for his strategic communications counsel and his effective leadership of the company's comprehensive global communications, including media, social and digital, stakeholder engagement, and events for the world's largest company.
Prior to Walmart, Besanceney served as senior vice president of public affairs at Walt Disney World where he led external and internal communications and corporate citizenship, as well as worldwide government and industry relations for Disney's Parks & Resorts division.
Before Disney, Besanceney served the U.S. government in key roles, including as deputy chief of staff to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the U.S. State Department, and assistant secretary for Public Affairs at the U.S. Homeland Security Department. In the early 2000's, Besanceney served in the White House under President George W. Bush, including two years as Special Assistant to the President and Deputy White House Communications Director for Planning. Previously, he served as communications director for then-U.S. Rep. Rob Portman and as a public relations and government relations consultant.
Outside work, Besanceney serves on the board of Orlando Health, a not-for-profit healthcare system in the southeastern U.S. with $8 billion of assets under management, as well as the Institute for Public Relations. He previously served on the boards of the Trust for the National Mall and the Florida Chapter of The Nature Conservancy.
Besanceney succeeds Ed Dandridge who departed Boeing in June. He will be based at the company's global headquarters in Arlington, Va.
As a leading global aerospace company, Boeing develops, manufactures and services commercial airplanes, defense products and space systems for customers in more than 150 countries. As a top U.S. exporter, the company leverages the talents of a global supplier base to advance economic opportunity, sustainability and community impact. Boeing's diverse team is committed to innovating for the future, leading with sustainability, and cultivating a culture based on the company's core values of safety, quality and integrity. Join our team and find your purpose at boeing.com/careers.
Contact: media@boeing.com
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SOURCE Boeing | https://www.wcjb.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/boeing-names-brian-besanceney-new-communications-chief/ | 2022-07-28T19:42:41Z | https://www.wcjb.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/boeing-names-brian-besanceney-new-communications-chief/ | false |
AUSTIN (KXAN) — On December 14, 2012, Alex Jones was broadcasting live on his show Infowars. A gunman had entered Sandy Hook Elementary school, ultimately shooting and killing 20 children and six adults.
“It’s more than these dead, poor children. You got to go with your gut,” the Austin-based talk show host told his audience.
Jones speculated about whether the gunman was a “patsy” in a government cover-up or just a “prozac head,” which is a term he and his team at Infowars used to describe someone taking psychiatric medication. He said he worried the “mainstream media” or government was going to “exploit this tragedy…in the name of taking our guns away.”
The entire, 50-minute show was played before the jury, which is tasked with deciding how much Jones’ owes Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis. They are the parents of Jesse Lewis, who was killed in the shooting that day. They sued Jones and his company for defamation and inflicting emotional damages.
Throughout the trial, the family’s attorneys have played other Infowars videos from the years following the shooting, where Jones claimed “the whole thing was fake,” as well as speculating the parents of victims were “crisis actors” being paid to participate in a cover-up.
On Thursday morning, Helsin and Lewis sat in the courtroom and watched the full 50 minutes of coverage from the day they lost Jesse.
“It’s difficult for them,” their attorney Mark Bankston told KXAN News earlier in the week, when asked about how his clients were feeling. “But they knew this was coming. They have been sort of been emotionally preparing themselves to go through all of this. But it’s not easy.”
Bankston said Helsin and Scarlett know “this case is bigger than them.”
Alex Jones’ attorney, Andino Reynal, has said this case is a fight for the First Amendment. An Infowars producer called to testify, Daria Karpova, has repeatedly insisted Jones was “genuine” in his beliefs and only ever spoke about his own “opinion.”
However, in his opening statements to the jury on Tuesday, Bankston argued there was a clear distinction between protected free speech and defamation. He also reminded the jury that a judge has already found Jones liable for defamation.
“We do not protect defamation, false speech. Speech is free, but lies you have to pay for,” he said.
Bankston told KXAN it was important for Heslin and Lewis to attend these proceedings, while pointing out that Alex Jones has been seen walking “in and out” of the courtroom.
“We’re busy. We’re up in the courthouse. We’re there to have a trial. We’re there to have a day in court,” Bankston said. “He can do all the circus he wants. We’re doing justice inside.”
He ended the conversation by saying, “One of the things I have learned in this case, is these parents are the bravest people you will ever meet. They have lived in this media spotlight for years, and they know they need to finish this saga and finish it the right way.”
Video clip conflict in the courtroom
Before the jury arrived in the courtroom Thursday morning, Judge Maya Guerra Gamble directed attorneys to take any future fights outside the courtroom.
She gave the charge after Wednesday’s court proceedings ended in a public, heated argument between the lead attorneys in the case over which videos from Jones’ show can be admitted as evidence before the jury.
The parents of Jesse Lewis, a child who was killed during the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, have sued the Austin-based conspiracy theorist and talk show host over comments he made on his show claiming the shooting was a hoax. A jury has been tasked with deciding how much Jones owes the family in damages for defamation and inflicting mental anguish, which Jones has already been found liable for by the court.
Judge Gamble told attorneys for both parties if they want to get any more videos admitted as evidence, “Now is your chance.”
The attorneys disagreed about what portions of these videos had already or could be admitted under the rules of discovery.
Reynal said he intended to play longer versions of some of the video clips that are featured on a long list of videos submitted as evidence by the plaintiffs. He said he believed it was important for the jury to see “what kind of atmosphere” his client created with his coverage of the shooting.
Bankston said he worried the content of certain videos Jones’ team was proposing to admit could contain hearsay. He also said he could not verify their authenticity or find their source.
“I don’t know what was done to them,” he said, adding he could not say that “Mr. Jones hasn’t gone back into the editing room and edited these videos.”
The judge asked Reynal, “Were they disclosed properly? At the proper time and the proper way?”
She went on to ask whether this was “another instance” of his team trying to subvert the legal process and ignore the rules of evidence.
In her default ruling against Jones last fall, which found Jones liable in this case, Gamble cited Jones’ “flagrant bad faith and callous disregard” of court orders to turn over documents to the opposing attorneys.
On Thursday morning, Judge Gamble called for a break to review 18 minutes of video Jones’ attorney was attempting to get admitted during the trial. She denied that motion, but the court did watch the 50 minute live broadcast from December 14 and another “special report” produced by Jones and his team. | https://www.conchovalleyhomepage.com/news/texas/debate-over-whether-infowars-videos-were-disclosed-properly-as-evidence-in-alex-jones-trial/ | 2022-07-28T19:43:03Z | https://www.conchovalleyhomepage.com/news/texas/debate-over-whether-infowars-videos-were-disclosed-properly-as-evidence-in-alex-jones-trial/ | true |
MADISON, Wis., July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Elephas Biosciences Corporation (Elephas), a company developing novel cancer diagnostic solutions, announced today the appointment of Steven Galson, M.D., M.P.H., as a member of the Board of Directors.
Dr. Galson is a consultant to Amgen and serves on the Board of Directors of Insilico Medicine and Biocryst Pharmaceuticals. Until June 2020 he was a Senior Vice President of Research and Development at Amgen. He joined the company in 2010 as Vice President of Global Regulatory Affairs.
"I chose to join Elephas because they are developing a platform that will increase access to effective cancer therapies. I am excited to help a team focused on making a positive difference in cancer patients' lives," stated Dr. Galson.
Galson spent more than 20 years in government service, including two years as acting Surgeon General of the United States. Previously, he served as Director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), where he provided leadership for the center's broad national and international programs in pharmaceutical regulation.
"The mission of Elephas is to improve treatment outcomes for cancer patients and provide hope during the difficult battle they face," said Maneesh Arora, Elephas Founder and CEO. "Adding Dr. Galson's perspective, driven by his deep knowledge of the pharmaceutical, regulatory, and medical industries, will drive that pursuit forward. We are honored to have him join our board."
Dr. Galson is the recipient of the Surgeon General's Medallion and the Secretary of Energy Gold Award. He holds a B.S. from Stony Brook University, an M.D. from Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, and an M.P.H. from the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Galson is a Trustee of the Keck Graduate Institute and a founding Governor of the KGI School of Community Medicine. In 2008, he received an Honorary Doctor of Public Service degree from Drexel University School of Public Health. In 2015 he received the Jacobi Medallion Award from Icahn Mount Sinai School of Medicine. In 2018, he was named Health Leader of the Year by the Commissioned Officers Association of the United States Public Health Service. Dr. Galson is on the Executive Committee of the Clinical Trial Transformation Initiative and is a Member of the Forum on Drug Discovery, Development, and Translation at the National Academy of Medicine.
Disruption in healthcare is being accelerated by the need for improved diagnostics, novel pharmaceutical therapies, and the shift to patient-centric solutions. With the mission to tackle the massive oncology dilemma, Elephas is leading the way to change how clinicians treat cancer patients. By harnessing the latest advances in cancer biology, multimodal microscopy, and artificial intelligence, the Elephas platform has the ability to empower clinical decision making and accelerate drug development. We plan to use the power of our platform to deliver a global solution that can revolutionize cancer treatment for every individual. To learn more, visit us at www.elephas.com or follow us on LinkedIn.
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SOURCE Elephas | https://www.kold.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/former-director-center-drug-evaluation-research-fda-steven-galson-joins-elephas-independent-director/ | 2022-07-28T19:49:05Z | https://www.kold.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/former-director-center-drug-evaluation-research-fda-steven-galson-joins-elephas-independent-director/ | false |
Congress OKs bill to aid computer chip firms, counter China
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Thursday passed a $280 billion package to boost the semiconductor industry and scientific research in a bid to create more high-tech jobs in the United States and help it better compete with international rivals, namely China.
The House approved the bill by a solid margin of 243-187, sending the measure to President Joe Biden to be signed into law and providing the White House with a major domestic policy victory. About two-dozen Republicans voted for the legislation.
“My plea is put politics aside. Get it done,” Biden said before the vote, adding it would give the U.S. “the ability not only to compete with China for the future, but to lead the world and win the economic competition of the 21st century.”
Republicans argued the government should not spend billions to subsidize the semiconductor industry and GOP leadership in the House recommended a vote against the bill, telling members the plan would provide enormous subsidies and tax credits “to a specific industry that does not need additional government handouts.”
Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., said the way to help the industry would be through tax cuts and easing federal regulations, “not by picking winners and losers” with subsidies — an approach that Rep. Joseph Morelle, D-N.Y., said was too narrow.
“This affects every industry in the United States,” Morelle said. “Take, for example, General Motors announcing they have 95,000 automobiles awaiting chips. So, you want to increase the supply of goods to people and help bring down inflation? This is about increasing the supply of goods all over the United States in every single industry.”
Some Republicans viewed passing the legislation as important for national security. Rep. Mike McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said it was critical to protect semiconductor capacity in the U.S., which he said was too reliant on Taiwan for the most advanced chips. That could prove to be a major vulnerability should China try to take over the self-governing island that Beijing views as a breakaway province
“I’ve got a unique insight in this. I get the classified briefing. Not all these members do,” McCaul said. “This is vitally important for our national security.”
The bill provides more than $52 billion in grants and other incentives for the semiconductor industry as well as a 25% tax credit for those companies that invest in chip plants in the U.S. It calls for increased spending on various research programs that would total about $200 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
A late development in the Senate — progress announced by Wednesday night by Democrats on a $739 billion health and climate change package — threatened to make it harder for supporters to get the semiconductor bill over the finish line, based on concerns about government spending.
Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla., said he was “disgusted” by the turn of events on Capitol Hill.
Despite bipartisan support for the research initiatives, “regrettably, and it’s more regrettably than you can possibly imagine, I will not be casting my vote for the chips and science act today.”
___
Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed to this report.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.valleynewslive.com/2022/07/28/congress-oks-bill-aid-computer-chip-firms-counter-china/ | 2022-07-28T19:50:27Z | https://www.valleynewslive.com/2022/07/28/congress-oks-bill-aid-computer-chip-firms-counter-china/ | false |
'I can't die, I have two kids': 22-year-old mother shares story of surviving stroke
A 22-year-old woman from Florida is thankful to be alive after suffering from a stroke weeks after giving birth to her second child, Luna.
Nathalie Perez suffered a massive stroke, a blood clot in one of the large brain vessels, blocking oxygen flow to her brain, in February. She is prone to blood clots from a condition called antiphospholipid syndrome.
"I went to place something on the floor, and right away, I felt like I was going to faint. And I yelled it out. I was like, 'I'm going to faint' and I just went backward," Perez said.
Perez says her mom started screaming and immediately called 911. She's thankful her mom instantly noticed the signs of a stroke.
"My face dropped down, my eyes turned backward. It was hard for me to speak. My tongue was very heavy. And when I got to the hospital, I couldn't move my left side," she said.
EMS took Perez to HCA Florida Osceola Hospital. They have the county's only Certified Comprehensive Stroke Center.
Doctors saw the blood clot in one of the large brain vessels, blocking oxygen flow to her brain, and went right to work. One of those doctors was Dr. Jayson Lavie. He talked about saving her life.
"Nathalie's outcome is our goal for every patient coming into the hospital with a stroke and that's what we're trying to prevent; permanent disability. When we see someone walking, talking, doing everything that they love to do, enjoying their life, that's what we're here for," Lavie said.
Perez is now healthy and fully functional. She's sharing her story to let others know the warning signs of a stroke while reminding people to pay attention to their bodies.
"It's very important for you to get checked out because we never know. You would never think that a 22-year-old will have a stroke. Never in my life," Perez said.
The Florida Department of Health says an easy way to remember the signs of a stroke is with the F.A.S.T test:
-F means Face—If one side of the face droops, it’s a sign of a possible stroke.
-A means Arms—If the person cannot raise both arms out, it’s another possible stroke sign.
-S means Speech—Slurring words and poor understanding of simple sentences is another possible stroke sign.
-T means Time—If you see any of these signs, it’s time to call 911 immediately. | https://www.wtae.com/article/stroke-survival-story-twenty-two-year-old-mother-shares-story-signs-to-watch-for/40735434 | 2022-07-28T19:50:58Z | https://www.wtae.com/article/stroke-survival-story-twenty-two-year-old-mother-shares-story-signs-to-watch-for/40735434 | true |
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
© 2022 Good Karma Brands Milwaukee, LLC. | https://wtmj.com/ap-news/2022/07/28/ap-top-business-news-at-1257-p-m-edt-21/ | 2022-07-28T19:52:27Z | https://wtmj.com/ap-news/2022/07/28/ap-top-business-news-at-1257-p-m-edt-21/ | false |
Planning ahead is key to covering costs for school trips
Involve your child to teach financial responsibility
InvestigateTV - Whether it’s a class trip to the museum or a road trip with the team, school trips can be a big added expense for parents, with fees ranging from a few dollars into the thousands.
However, Virginia Credit Union financial expert Cherry Dale said planning ahead will give you time to save.
Dale also said it’s good to have conversations now with both school officials and your kids about what trips are planned this spring and how they will be paid for.
“I would encourage parents not to just pay for everything but have the conversation about what you are paying and what the expectation is for the youth as well to pay along the way,” Dale said.
She said asking your children to contribute helps to teach them financial responsibility budgeting.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wistv.com/2022/07/28/planning-ahead-is-key-covering-costs-school-trips/ | 2022-07-28T19:52:54Z | https://www.wistv.com/2022/07/28/planning-ahead-is-key-covering-costs-school-trips/ | true |
A 45-year-old Orlando man pled guilty on Thursday to coercing a 12-year-old child into creating sexually explicit pictures and videos, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
According to a press release by the U.S. Department of Justice, Thomas Zayas spent the past month communicating with a 12-year-old over a messaging app, which Zayas used to ask and threaten the child for nude pictures and videos of sexual acts.
Initially, Zayas posed as a teenage boy and tried to use romantic advances to gain the child’s attention, which the child eventually ignored, according to the DOJ. Zayas then posed as the teenage boy’s sister and threatened physical harm for ending the fictitious relationship.
Zayas also sent the child a picture of the apartment complex where the child lives and the child’s middle school yearbook picture to intimidate the child into fulfilling his requests, the report says.
After revealing he knew the child’s whereabouts, Zayas asked the child to send him nude pictures and videos doing sexual acts, with Zayas instructing the child on what to do in the pictures and videos. According to the DOJ release, the child initially refused, but the complied after Zayas promised not to use the material for harm.
When the child tried later to stop sending the material, prosecutors say Zayas “became hostile” and threatened using the material the child had sent to expose them.
Officials were made aware of Zayas’ actions when a parent received a text with a collage containing sexually explicit images of the 12-year-old According to the release, the parent contacted a school resource officer, who then reached out to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
OCSO officials found that Zayas had used his work-issued laptop to send flowers to the child’s middle school.
Zayas faces a minimum of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years for production of child sexual abuse material, and he faces up to 10 years for possession of child sexual abuse material.
Zayas sentencing date was set for Oct. 26.
ahasebroock@orlandosentinel.com | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/crime/os-ne-orlando-man-child-sex-abuse-20220728-23g2ylo52bgmrkt46ags5uxgkq-story.html | 2022-07-28T19:54:38Z | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/crime/os-ne-orlando-man-child-sex-abuse-20220728-23g2ylo52bgmrkt46ags5uxgkq-story.html | false |
By TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The parents of a teenager who was one of three people killed by a former Wisconsin police officer over a five-year span have filed a federal lawsuit alleging that he used excessive force and that the department he worked for “embraces and promotes” racism. In their lawsuit filed Thursday, Alvin Cole’s parents, Tracy and Albert Cole, are seeking unspecified damages from former Wauwatosa Officer Joseph Mensah, the city’s former police chief and its insurance company in connection with their son’s February 2020 death. Mensah shot the 17-year-old during a foot chase outside a mall and said the teen fired first. He resigned under pressure in 2020 and joined the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. | https://wtmj.com/ap-news/2022/07/28/dead-teens-family-files-lawsuit-against-wisconsin-deputy-2/ | 2022-07-28T19:54:39Z | https://wtmj.com/ap-news/2022/07/28/dead-teens-family-files-lawsuit-against-wisconsin-deputy-2/ | true |
(The Hill) – The number of homicides and gun assaults in major U.S. cities ticked downward in the first half of 2022, according to new data.
A midyear report released Thursday by the Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ) found a drop in murder rates by 2% and gun assaults by 6%. Drug-related offenses also dropped by 7%.
But despite the slight dip in murder rates, the CCJ reports, the U.S. is still seeing 39% higher rates in 2022 than it did in the first half of 2019.
Murder rates jumped 30% between 2019 and 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, marking the largest single-year increase on U.S. record.
Data shows that violent crime has been on the rise throughout the U.S. since the start of the pandemic. The 2% decrease this year equates to 54 fewer homicides, according to the CCJ.
“It is heartening to see the homicide numbers fall, even slightly, but American cities continue to lose too many of their residents to bloodshed,” said study co-author Richard Rosenfeld, professor emeritus at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, in a press release issued Thursday. “As we’ve said before, these elevated levels of violence require an urgent response from elected leaders. We must put evidence-backed strategies in place now to make communities safer.”
The researchers noted the 6% decrease in gun assaults “should be viewed with caution,” as the number was based on data collected from just 12 cities.
Robberies, on the other hand, rose 19% after dropping during the pandemic. Residential burglaries jumped 6%, and larcenies increased by 20%. | https://www.localsyr.com/news/national/murders-gun-assaults-fall-slightly-in-major-us-cities-analysis/ | 2022-07-28T19:54:52Z | https://www.localsyr.com/news/national/murders-gun-assaults-fall-slightly-in-major-us-cities-analysis/ | true |
GRAND RAPIDS, MI – State, local and federal primaries, tax proposals and more are on the Aug. 2 ballot in West Michigan.
In one of the most closely watched primaries of the night, U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer, R-Grand Rapids, will defend his seat against challenger and fellow Republican John Gibbs, who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
Polls are open Tuesday, Aug. 2, from 7 a.m. - 8 p.m. Voters can go to Michigan.gov/vote to find their sample ballot and polling location.
While the deadline to register online or by other means to vote in the primary has passed, people can still do so in-person at their local city or township clerk’s office.
In-person registration is available from now through when polls close at 8 p.m. Aug. 2. People must bring proof of eligibility and residency. A list of what can be brought to prove eligibility and residency can be found at this link.
Here are the competitive races on the Aug. 2 ballot in Kent and Ottawa counties.
U.S. Congress
U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar is being challenged by Thomas J. Norton, a former village president and member of the Army National Guard, in the Republican primary for Michigan’s 2nd U.S. Congressional district.
The 2nd District seat includes portions of Barry, Claire, Eaton, Gladwin, Gratiot, Ionia, Isabella, Kent, Lake, Manistee, Mason, Mecosta, Midland, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newaygo, Oceana, Osceola, Ottawa, and Wexford counties.
Related: Moolenaar faces Norton in GOP primary battle for Michigan seat in Congress
U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer, R-Grand Rapids, is being challenged by Trump-backed John Gibbs in the Republican primary for Michigan’s 2rd U.S. Congressional district.
The 3rd district includes the city of Grand Rapids, as well as the surrounding suburbs as far north as Rockford and as far south as Byron Center. It also includes northern Ottawa County and the southern portion of Muskegon County.
State Senate
State Rep. Thomas A. Albert, R-Lowell, and Ryan P. Mancinelli are competing in the Republican nomination for the state Senate’s 18th district.
The district includes Caledonia, Alto and Lowell in Kent County and covers portions of Allegan and Barry counties as well as Battle Creek.
Related: Two Republicans square off in primary for Michigan Senate District 18
Sen. Aric Nesbitt, R-Lawton, the Rev. Austin Kreutz and Kaleb M. Hudson are squaring off in the Republican primary for the state Senate’s 20th district.
The district encompasses the southwest corner of Kent County below highway M-6 and areas south along the shoreline through Allegan, Van Buren and Berrien counties, ending around Benton Harbor.
Related: Three Republicans compete for state Senate’s 20th District
Incumbent state Sen. Mark Huizenga, R-Walker, is fending off a challenge from business and computer systems consultant Keith Hinkle in the Republican primary for the state Senate’s 30th district.
The district includes Ada, Cascade, Grand Rapids, Plainfield and Allendale townships as well as Rockford, Walker, Coopersville, Grand Rapids’ West Side and Grand Rapids north of Fulton Street.
Related: Incumbent Mark Huizenga faces challenger in Republican state Senate primary
Incumbent state Sen. Roger Victory, R-Hudsonville, is fending off a challenge from tradesman Brian VanDussen in the Republican primary for the state Senate’s 31st district.
The seat encompasses all of Ottawa County except for the northeastern portion. It also covers the portion of Allegan County that includes Holland and a few adjacent townships. The district includes Georgetown Township, West Olive, Zeeland, Grand Haven, Holland and Hudsonville.
Related: Tradesman looks to unseat Ottawa County senator in Republican primary
State House
Four people are competing in the Republican primary for the state House’s 43rd district. The Republican candidates competing are Nevin P. Cooper-Keel, Phillip Joseph, Lindsay Kronemeyer and Rachelle M. Smit.
The district includes the southeastern corner of Ottawa County as well as portions of Allegan, Barry and Eaton counties.
Related: 4 Republicans compete in Aug. 2 primary for state House seat in West Michigan
Three Republicans will face off Aug. 2 in the primary for the state House’s 78th District.
The Republicans vying in the primary are Christine Barnes, Ben Geiger and Gina Johnsen.
The 78th State House District includes Alto and Lowell in Kent County as well as portions of neighboring Ionia and Barry counties, including the cities of Portland, Lake Odessa, Ionia, Saranac and more.
Related: 3 Republicans vying Aug. 2 for chance at Ionia-area state House seat
Three candidates are facing off in the Republican primary for the state House’s 79th district.
Small Business owner Angela Rigas, truck rental company manager Jeremiah Keeler and teacher Ryan Gallogly are competing in the Republican primary.
The district represents Kent County south of M-6 and west of Alto as well as some nearby portions of Allegan and Barry counties.
Related: 3 Republicans face off in Aug. 2 primary for state House’s 79th District
A disability rights advocate and a Kent County Commissioner are competing Aug. 2 in the Democratic primary for the state House’s 80th district.
Disability A-Team of West Michigan President Lily Cheng-Schulting will face Kent County Commissioner Phil Skaggs in the Democratic primary for the state House seat representing East Grand Rapids, Kentwood, Cascade Township and some of Grand Rapids Township.
Three Democrats are facing off to represent their party in the November election for the 82nd State House district.
The three Democrats competing in the primary are Salim Mohammed Al-Shatel, Kristian Grant and Robert Womack.
The 82nd state House district includes Grand Rapids’ Southeast Side and the southern portion of downtown as well as a sliver of Wyoming.
Related: 3 Democrats vying Aug. 2 for chance at Grand Rapids state House seat
Freelance graphic designer and artist William Alexander faces fellow Republican Ryan Malinoski in the Republican primary for the state House’s 82nd district.
The 82nd state House district includes Grand Rapids’ Southeast Side and the southern portion of downtown as well as a sliver of Wyoming.
Related: 2 Republicans vying Aug. 2 for chance at Grand Rapids state House seat
A Wyoming city councilmember and a Grand Rapids school board member are squaring off Aug. 2 in the Democratic primary for the state House’s 83rd District.
First-term Wyoming City Councilmember John Fitzgerald will face second-term Grand Rapids Board of Education member Jose Flores in the Democratic primary for the state House district that includes the majority of Wyoming as well as Grand Rapids’ Southwest Side and a portion of Cutlerville.
Related: City councilmember, Grand Rapids school board member face off in state House primary
Three Republicans are vying to represent their party in the November election for the state House district encompassing Walker, Grandville, Grand Rapids’ West Side and a northern portion of the city’s downtown.
Mike Milanowski Jr., Robert Regan and John Wetzel are the three Republicans competing in the Aug. 2 primary for the state House’s 84th District.
Related: 3 Republicans compete in primary for chance to challenge Democratic state representative
The former mayor of Holland and a business owner are competing Aug. 2 in the Republican primary for the state House’s 86th District.
Former Holland Mayor Nancy DeBoer will face marketing agency owner Seth Getz in the Republican primary for the state House seat representing Holland as well as Park, Laketown and Holland townships.
Related: Former Holland mayor, business owner square off Aug. 2 in Republican primary for state House
A retired police officer is challenging a same-party incumbent in the Aug. 2 primary for the state House’s 90th District.
Retired Grand Rapids police officer Kathy Clark is challenging state Rep. Bryan Posthumus, R-Cannon Township, in the race for the district that includes Plainfield Township north of the Grand River, Rockford, Sparta, Cannon and Grattan townships and a portion of Alpine and Vergennes townships.
Related: Retired police officer, incumbent compete in Republican primary for state House 90th district
Two candidates are competing in the Democratic primary for the state House’s 91st district.
Retired carpenter Frank J. LaFata will face Tammy L. DeVries in the primary for the state House seat representing the northern portion of Kent County that includes Cedar Springs and the northeastern corner of the county. It also includes portions of Montcalm and Ionia counties.
Related: 2 Democrats compete in Aug. 2 primary for state House’s 91st District
Kent County Board of Commissioners
A software architect and developer is looking to unseat an incumbent Kent County commissioner in the Aug. 2 Republican primary for the county board’s 1st District.
Mark Jordan is taking on fellow Republican and Kent County Commissioner Ben Greene in the primary for the county seat representing all of Algoma Township and portions of Plainfield Township.
Related: Software developer, incumbent face off Aug. 2 in Republican primary for Kent County’s 1st District
A deputy policy director and planning commissioner are facing off in the Republican primary to represent the party in November for the 3rd District on the Kent County Board of Commissioners.
Jennifer Merchant, a deputy policy director for the House Republican Policy Office, faces Mark Laws, a Cedar Springs Planning Commissioner, in the primary.
Kent County’s 3rd District represents Cedar Springs and Nelson, Solon, Spencer, Oakfield, Grattan and Vergennes townships.
Related: Policy director, planning commissioner face off in Republican primary for Kent County’s 3rd District
A Republican is challenging a same-party incumbent in the Republican primary for the Kent County Commission seat representing Rockford and some surrounding townships.
Cannon Township Trustee Katie DeBoer is challenging Kent County Commissioner Diane Jones for the county commission’s 4th District seat. In addition to Rockford, the district includes Cannon and Courtland townships as well as the southern third of Nelson Township, not including Cedar Springs.
Related: Republican incumbent faces same-party challenger for Kent County board seat
A former state lawmaker and a dental office manager are vying to represent the Republican Party in the November election for the county commission’s 5th District.
Republicans Dave Hildenbrand and Stefanie Boone will face off in the Republican primary for a chance at the Kent County commission seat representing Lowell, Lowell Township, Ada Township and a portion of Cascade Township.
Related: 2 Republicans compete in Aug. 2 primary for Kent County commission seat
A Republican is challenging a same-party incumbent in the Republican primary for the Kent County Commission seat representing Gaines Township and a tiny portion of southwestern Kentwood.
Incumbent Emily Post Brieve will face challenger Bill Hirsch in the Republican primary to represent their party in the November election for Kent County’s 10th District.
Related: Incumbent, challenger face off for commissioner seat in Kent County’s 10th District
An incumbent county commissioner is being challenged in the Aug. 2 Republican primary for the county commission’s 11th District.
Kent County Commissioner Lindsey Thiel faces sales development manager AJ Hoff in the Republican primary for the Kent County board seat representing Grand Rapids Township and the eastern half of Plainfield Township.
Related: Commissioner faces challenger in primary for county board seat representing Grand Rapids Township
Two Republicans are facing off in the Republican primary to represent the party in November for the 12th District on the Kent County Board of Commissioners.
Lee White, a CNC operator, faces Adam R. Palasek in the Aug. 2 primary. Kent County’s 12th District covers parts of Kentwood and Wyoming.
Related: 2 Republican challengers square off in primary for Kent County’s 12th District
Two Republican challengers are facing off in the Aug. 2 primary to represent the party in November for the 13th District on the Kent County Board of Commissioners.
Nick Prill, an IT analyst, faces Tom McKelvey, a former Kentwood city commissioner, in the Republican primary.
Kent County’s 13th District covers the majority of Kentwood, excluding its western portion.
Related: Two Republicans running in the primary for Kent County board’s 13th District seat
A longtime former Kent County Commissioner in the Aug. 2 Democratic primary election will have a rematch with the current incumbent, who ousted him from the board two years ago.
Jim Talen, who had served on the Kent County Board of Commissioners for 20 years before losing the 2020 primary to fellow Democrat Melissa LaGrand, will face LaGrand once more in the primary for the county board’s 16th District.
The county’s 16th District is situated in the center of Grand Rapids, encompassing downtown and adjacent portions east of the Grand River between Wealthy Street at the south and Knapp Street at the north. It also includes a small portion of the city’s West Side between Leonard and Knapp streets near the Grand River.
A sociology professor and Grand Rapids business owner are facing off in the Aug. 2 Democratic primary to represent the party in November for the 17th District on the Kent County Board of Commissioners.
Tony Baker, a sociology professor at Ferris State University, faces Victor Williams, the CEO of GrandStand Pictures in Grand Rapids, in the primary.
Kent County’s 17th District represents parts of Grand Rapids’ Southeast Side.
Related: 2 Democrats face off in primary for Kent County’s 17th District commissioner seat
Two Republicans are facing off in the Aug. 2 primary to become their party’s nominee in November for the 18th District seat on the Kent County Board of Commissioners.
Tim Allen and Josie Kornev are the two candidates competing in the Republican primary for the seat representing a large chunk of Grand Rapids’ Northeast Side.
Related: Flight instructor, GRPS retiree battle for Kent County’s 18th District in Republican primary
An East Grand Rapids city commissioner and a longtime Kent County commissioner are squaring off to represent the Democratic Party in the November election for the county commission’s 19th District.
The two Democrats, Kris Pachla and incumbent Dave Bulkowski, will face off Aug. 2 for a chance at the county commission seat representing East Grand Rapids and a portion of adjacent Grand Rapids.
Related: Incumbent, challenger square off Aug. 2 in Democratic primary for Kent County’s 19th District
Two Republican challengers are facing off in the Aug. 2 primary to represent the party in November for the 19th District on the Kent County Board of Commissioners.
Jeremiah Bannister, a Navy veteran, faces Samuel R. Carstens, a construction worker, in the Republican primary.
The county commission seat represents East Grand Rapids and a portion of adjacent Grand Rapids.
Related: Navy veteran, construction worker face off Aug. 2 in primary for Kent County’s 19th District
Two Republicans are facing off in the primary to represent their party this fall in the general election for the 21st District seat on the Kent County Board of Commissioners.
Alan Bolter, a mental health advocate, and Walter Bujak, a GE aviation software configuration manager, are facing off in the Republican primary.
Kent County’s 21st District represents Caledonia and Bowne townships as well as the western half of Cascade Township.
Ottawa County Board of Commissioners
A political newcomer is challenging an incumbent Ottawa County commissioner in the Aug. 2 Republican primary for the county board seat representing Olive and Port Sheldon townships and the majority of Park Township.
Gretchen Cosby is looking to unseat fellow Republican and incumbent Ottawa County Commissioner Frank Garcia in the primary for the county’s 1st District.
Related: Political newcomer challenges incumbent in Republican primary for Ottawa County board’s 1st District
Incumbent Republican Joe Baumann is facing fellow Republican Lucy Ebel in their party’s primary for the county board’s District 2 seat.
The district includes eight precincts in Holland Charter Township and one precinct in Park Township.
Related: Republicans facing off in Aug. 2 primary for District 2 commission seat on Ottawa County board
A Republican is challenging a same-party incumbent on Aug. 2 for the Ottawa County Commission seat representing Zeeland and portions of Holland and Zeeland townships.
Commercial insurance agent Jacob D. Bonnema is challenging real estate agent and incumbent county commissioner Allen Dannenberg for the county commission’s 4th District seat.
Related: Republican incumbent faces same-party challenger for Ottawa County board seat
A technology entrepreneur is challenging an incumbent Ottawa County commissioner in the Aug. 2 Republican primary to represent the 5th District.
Joe Moss, of Hudsonville, is trying to unseat incumbent businessman Randy Mappelink, of Zeeland, for the two-year seat on the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners.
The district includes Jamestown and Blendon townships, Hudsonville and part of Zeeland Township.
Related: Incumbent will face entrepreneur in Republican primary for Ottawa County board’s 5th District
A small business owner and retired undersheriff are facing off in the Aug. 2 Republican primary for the District 7 seat on the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners.
Rebekah A. Curran will square off against Gregory Steigenga for the two-year board seat. James Holtvluwer, who has long represented District 7, is not seeking reelection.
The district represents parts of Georgetown Township.
Related: Business owner, retired undersheriff face off in Republican primary for Ottawa County’s 7th District
A parental rights advocate is challenging a longtime Ottawa County commissioner in the Aug. 2 Republican primary for the board’s two-year, District 8 seat.
Sylvia Rhodea is looking to unseat longtime incumbent Greg DeJong in the Republican primary. District 8 represents Allendale Township.
Related: Incumbent faces parent rights advocate in Republican primary for District 8 on Ottawa County board
Incumbent Ottawa County Commissioner Philip Kuyers is facing a same-party challenger in the Republican primary for the county’s 9th District.
Challenger Roger Belknap is looking to unseat Kuyers in the primary. The 9th district includes Grand Haven and Robinson townships as well as part of Spring Lake Township.
Related: Longtime incumbent faces challenger for District 9 in Republican primary for Ottawa County board
Longtime Ottawa County Commissioner Roger Bergman will face two challengers in the Aug. 2 Republican primary to represent the county’s 10th District.
Jenni Shepherd-Kelley and Thomas Elhart are running against the incumbent. The district includes Ferrysburg, Grand Haven and part of Spring Lake Township.
Related: 2 challengers facing incumbent in primary race for Ottawa County board’s District 10 seat
Incumbent Ottawa County Commissioner and Board Chair Matt Fenske is facing a preschool teacher in the Republican primary for the county’s 11th District seat.
Fellow Republican Allison Miedema is challenging Fenske. The district includes the city of Coopersville along with Chester, Crockery, Polkton, Tallmadge and Wright townships.
Related: Ottawa County board chair battling teacher to represent 11th District in Aug. 2 election
Kent County ballot measures
Kent County voters are being asked to renew the property tax that has provided seniors with additional services for the past 24 years.
Voters will decide on renewing the Kent County Senior Millage for eight years, from 2023 to 2030, at the current millage rate of 0.50 mills.
Using the county’s median property value of $201,500, Kent County Senior Millage Committee officials say the tax translates to a little less than $8.40 a month, or about $100.75 a year, for the average homeowner.
Officials with the committee say more than 22,000 Kent County residents ages 60 and older received support last year through 51 different services.
Services include home delivered meals, transportation, personal care,home repairs, healthy aging classes, dental, hearing and vision services, adaptive equipment and more.
Related: Kent County voters to decide Aug. 2 on renewing senior millage
Kent County voters on Aug. 2 are asked to consider an eight-year renewal of the county’s dedicated Veterans Millage.
If the renewal is approved, Kent County residents would continue to pay a .05-mill tax through 2029 supporting veteran services and resources in the county.
The tax renewal is expected to generate about $1.32 million in the first full calendar year. For a homeowner with a home valued at $200,000, the annual tax equates to about $5 a year, according to county officials.
The millage dollars afford increased veteran outreach and emergency services in the county through the Kent County Veterans Services Office. The dollars are also used to hire more staff at the Veterans Services Office to help county veterans and their dependents find veteran-related benefits and shorten the time it takes to be approved or denied for them.
Related: Voters to decide Aug. 2 on renewing dedicated veterans millage for Kent County
Kentwood residents will vote on a permanent parks millage that city officials say will support the city’s parks, trails and recreational facilities and programming.
Among the improvements planned with the permanent, dedicated millage of 1 mill on the Aug. 2 ballot are the construction of a new, multigenerational community recreation center and a community gathering space and park amenities in the area around Kentwood City Hall.
Related: Kentwood voters to decide on parks millage. If approved, these improvements would be considered
Ada Township voters will decide on a five-year millage increase and renewal to fund police services and maintenance, equipment and operations of the township’s fire department.
The measure would renew the current public safety millage of .9322 mills and increase it by .4678 mills for a new total tax of 1.4 mills.
Grand Rapids Township voters will decide on a public safety millage renewal of .9179 mills.
The millage provides funds for public safety purposes, according to the ballot language.
Lowell Township voters will decide on a proposal to increase a rollbacked millage that provides funds for fire protection and emergency services.
The millage of 1.1 mills was reduced to .7360 mills, and voters will decide if the millage should be increased to 1 mill for eight years.
Tyrone Township voters will decide on renewing a .9526 mill millage for four years that will raise funds for fire department operations.
Tyrone Township voters will also decide on allowing an increase of up to 1 mill for four years on that fire operations millage.
Grant Public Schools is asking voters to renew a non-homestead operating millage on Aug. 2 that represents 5.5% of the district’s annual operating budget.
Public schools periodically ask voters to approve an 18-mill levy on non-homestead property to receive their full foundation allowance from the state.
The tax only applies to properties such as second homes, businesses, commercial and rental property, not primary residences.
The funding goes toward the district’s operating budget and is used to pay for day-to-day classroom operations, Superintendent Brett Zuver said.
Related: Grant Public Schools has an operating millage renewal on the Aug. 2 election ballot
Tri County Area Schools is asking voters to renew an operating millage that helps fund the district’s day-to-day operations.
The district of 1,750 students has an operating millage renewal request on the Tuesday, Aug. 2 ballot. The Tri County Area School District serves children from the panhandle of Montcalm, eastern Newaygo, and northern Kent counties.
The proposal is for the district to continue to levy 18 mills on non-homestead property for two years, 2023-2024, for operating purposes, according to ballot language on the Kent County Clerk’s Office website.
Related: Tri County Area Schools asking voters to renew operating millage on Aug. 2 ballot
Wayland Union School District is asking voters to consider a 25-year, $48.5 million bond proposal in the Aug. 2 election that would fund the construction of a new pool and fine arts space at the high school.
The bond proposal would not raise taxes, rather extend the district’s current 8.4-mill tax rate, said Patricia Velie, assistant superintendent of finance and operations.
The estimated millage that will be levied for the proposed bonds in 2022, under current law, is 0.0 mill for a 0.0 mill net increase over the prior year’s levy, according to the ballot language.
Related: Wayland schools asking voters for $48.5M bond for new pool, fine arts space at high school
Other Kent County elections
Wyoming voters will decide which of three candidates for mayor will advance to the November general election.
The choices are Kent Vanderwood, Sam Bolt and Cliff Tompkins. The two candidates who earn the most votes Aug. 2 will go on to the general election.
Republicans Dave Ignasiak and Dennis Kaminski are competing in the primary for Tyrone Township supervisor.
Republicans David Loew and Douglas R. Tawney are competing in the primary for Tyrone Township trustee.
Other Ottawa County elections
In Georgetown Township, three Republicans are competing in the primary for an at-large township trustee seat. The candidates are Amy Grasman, Caden Hembrough and Kirsten Manthei.
In Holland Township, two Republicans are competing in the primary for an at-large township trustee seat. The candidates are David K. DeYoung and Bob Harmsen.
Ottawa County ballot measures
Voters in the city of Holland will be deciding whether to greenlight a proposed citywide high-speed internet network that would be funded by taxpayer dollars in the upcoming August election.
The city of Holland has a $30 million bond proposal on the Aug. 2 ballot that would be used to fund the installation of a municipal fiber optic internet network that would provide fast and affordable internet across the city, and would be paid for and maintained through public funds.
Related: Holland voters to decide on proposal to install citywide internet network funded by taxes
Blendon Township voters will decide on a seven-year millage renewal and increase to support the operation and maitenance of the township’s fire department. The millage would be renewed at 1.6482 mills and then increased by .1518 mills to offset previous millage reductions.
Chester Township voters will decide on a three-year millage renewal and increase to support the operations and provisions of fire protection and emergency services. The millage would be renewed at 1.7232 mills and then increased by .0268 mills to offset previous millage reductions.
Crockery Township voters will decide on millage renewal to support public library services. The .5 mill millage renewal would be in effect for nine years.
Holland Township voters will decide on a three-year renewal and increase of an expiring police services and emergency medical response millage. The millage would be renewed at 1 mill and then increased by .5 mills.
Jamestown Township voters will decide on a three-year renewal of the millage fund supporting township fire department operations. The millage would be renewed at 0.9759 mills.
Jamestown Township voters will also decide on a three-year renewal of a millage supporting road improvements. The millage would be renewed at 1.4638 mills.
The last item for Jamestown Township voters is a nine-year millage renewal and increase for supporting operations, maitenance and repair of the township’s library. The millage would be renewed at .4186 mills and then increased by .0814 mills to offset previous millage reductions.
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Spectrum Health to shutter drive-through COVID-19 testing site in Grand Rapids | https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2022/07/your-guide-to-whats-on-the-aug-2-primary-election-ballot-in-kent-ottawa-counties.html | 2022-07-28T19:55:09Z | https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2022/07/your-guide-to-whats-on-the-aug-2-primary-election-ballot-in-kent-ottawa-counties.html | true |
Congress OKs bill to aid computer chip firms, counter China
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Thursday passed a $280 billion package to boost the semiconductor industry and scientific research in a bid to create more high-tech jobs in the United States and help it better compete with international rivals, namely China.
The House approved the bill by a solid margin of 243-187, sending the measure to President Joe Biden to be signed into law and providing the White House with a major domestic policy victory. About two-dozen Republicans voted for the legislation.
“My plea is put politics aside. Get it done,” Biden said before the vote, adding it would give the U.S. “the ability not only to compete with China for the future, but to lead the world and win the economic competition of the 21st century.”
Republicans argued the government should not spend billions to subsidize the semiconductor industry and GOP leadership in the House recommended a vote against the bill, telling members the plan would provide enormous subsidies and tax credits “to a specific industry that does not need additional government handouts.”
Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., said the way to help the industry would be through tax cuts and easing federal regulations, “not by picking winners and losers” with subsidies — an approach that Rep. Joseph Morelle, D-N.Y., said was too narrow.
“This affects every industry in the United States,” Morelle said. “Take, for example, General Motors announcing they have 95,000 automobiles awaiting chips. So, you want to increase the supply of goods to people and help bring down inflation? This is about increasing the supply of goods all over the United States in every single industry.”
Some Republicans viewed passing the legislation as important for national security. Rep. Mike McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said it was critical to protect semiconductor capacity in the U.S., which he said was too reliant on Taiwan for the most advanced chips. That could prove to be a major vulnerability should China try to take over the self-governing island that Beijing views as a breakaway province
“I’ve got a unique insight in this. I get the classified briefing. Not all these members do,” McCaul said. “This is vitally important for our national security.”
The bill provides more than $52 billion in grants and other incentives for the semiconductor industry as well as a 25% tax credit for those companies that invest in chip plants in the U.S. It calls for increased spending on various research programs that would total about $200 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
A late development in the Senate — progress announced by Wednesday night by Democrats on a $739 billion health and climate change package — threatened to make it harder for supporters to get the semiconductor bill over the finish line, based on concerns about government spending.
Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla., said he was “disgusted” by the turn of events on Capitol Hill.
Despite bipartisan support for the research initiatives, “regrettably, and it’s more regrettably than you can possibly imagine, I will not be casting my vote for the chips and science act today.”
___
Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed to this report.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wafb.com/2022/07/28/congress-oks-bill-aid-computer-chip-firms-counter-china/ | 2022-07-28T19:57:11Z | https://www.wafb.com/2022/07/28/congress-oks-bill-aid-computer-chip-firms-counter-china/ | true |
ALBUQUERQUE, N,M. (AP) — It made drivers on Route 66 and Interstate 40 in New Mexico do double takes.
A newly upgraded state Department of Transportation sign erected last week that pointed drivers toward Albuquerque misspelled the city's name, losing the “R.”
People called and emailed the department to point out the mistake on the sign visible to drivers on the parallel highways, said Kimberly Gallegos, a department spokesperson.
A corrected sign went up this week, she said.
“I do not recall this happening before,” Gallegos said. “But I honestly think this was just a simple mistake.”
Albuquerque used to have another “R” in its name. According to the city’s website, colonists were granted permission in 1706 by King Philip of Spain to establish a new community on the banks of the Rio Grande.
The colony’s governor, Francisco Cuervo y Valdés, wrote a letter to Spain's Duke of Alburquerque to report that it had been named La Villa de Alburquerque in his honor.
The first “R” was dropped later, leaving Albuquerque with its current spelling, the city website said. | https://www.mrt.com/news/article/Highway-double-take-Albuquerque-sign-spelled-17335796.php | 2022-07-28T19:57:16Z | https://www.mrt.com/news/article/Highway-double-take-Albuquerque-sign-spelled-17335796.php | false |
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Jan. 6 committee has interviewed former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and is in negotiations to talk to several other former members of Donald Trump's Cabinet as it scrutinizes the days after the Capitol insurrection and discussions about whether to try and remove the then-president from office.
The negotiations come as the committee was interviewing Trump's onetime chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, on Thursday. The former South Carolina congressman held that job until 2020 and later was special envoy for Northern Ireland, a post he resigned immediately after the riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
The interviews and negotiations were confirmed by three people familiar with the committee’s work who were not authorized to discuss the developments publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The committee asked Mnuchin about discussions among Cabinet secretaries to possibly invoke the constitutional process in the 25th Amendment to remove Trump after the attack on the Capitol, according to one of the people, and is in active talks to interview former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Pompeo is likely to appear in the coming days, the person said.
The committee had already interviewed former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, former Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia and former acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller as it focuses on Trump and what he was doing in the days before, during and after the riot.
Lawmakers also are in discussions with John Ratcliffe, former director of national intelligence, according to two of the people, and are seeking interviews with several senior intelligence officials who had contact with the White House around that time.
Ratcliffe delivered a classified briefing on election security in late December 2020 at the request of Jeffrey Clark, a Justice Department official who promoted Trump’s false claims of election fraud.
A person familiar with the matter said Ratcliffe summarized the findings of an election security report that said intelligence agencies had “no indications that any foreign actors attempted to alter any technical aspect of the voting process in the 2020 U.S. elections, including voter registration, casting ballots, vote tabulation, or reporting results.”
Trump and outside advisers who were pushing the false fraud claims had suggested that Venezuela had somehow tried to alter the count through voting machines.
The focus on the Cabinet is one of several threads the committee is pursuing after laying out much of its evidence in eight hearings this summer. After a yearlong investigation and more than 1,000 interviews, committee members say there is much more they want to learn.
The committee is expected to convene additional hearings in September.
Investigators have also reached out to former Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, who resigned in the days after the riot, and lawmakers could call in other Trump Cabinet officials.
Betsy DeVos, Trump's education secretary at the time, previously told USA Today that she raised with Vice President Mike Pence the question of whether the Cabinet should consider invoking the 25th Amendment, which would have required the vice president and the majority of the Cabinet to agree that the president could no longer fulfill his duties.
DeVos resigned the day after the attack, blaming Trump for inciting the mob.
"There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it is the inflection point for me,” she wrote.
At a rally on the morning of Jan. 6, Trump had told a crowd of his supporters to “fight like hell” as Congress met to certify Joe Biden's election victory, and the rioters were repeating Trump's false claims as they broke into the Capitol and violently pushed past police.
Elaine Chao also quit as transportation secretary on Jan. 7. Chao, who is married to Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said the attack had “deeply troubled me in a way that I simply cannot set aside.”
Pompeo, who is now considering a 2024 presidential run, and Mnuchin were reported to have discussed the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment, according to Jonathan Karl of ABC News in his book “Betrayal.”
___
For full coverage of the Jan. 6 hearings, go to https://www.apnews.com/capitol-siege | https://www.mrt.com/news/article/House-Jan-6-panel-interviews-Mnuchin-pursues-17335707.php | 2022-07-28T19:57:22Z | https://www.mrt.com/news/article/House-Jan-6-panel-interviews-Mnuchin-pursues-17335707.php | false |
By MARK STEVENSON
Associated Press
MEXICO CITY (AP) — U.S. consumers will finally get the chance to try avocados from Jalisco after 25 years in which neighboring Michoacan has been the only Mexican state authorized to send the green fruit to the U.S. market.
That just may help with prices, which have soared this year to over $2 per fruit amid a dip in production in Michoacan.
Growers and packers in Jalisco, just northwest of Michoacan, expressed hope that their state can provide more consistent production levels and stability for prices for avocados, which have fluctuated widely amid seasonal supply shortages.
Eleven trucks bearing nearly 20 tons of avocados from Jalisco lined up Thursday in the mountain town of Zapotlan El Grande to set out for the United States.
“When we were talking about very high prices a month ago, it was because the market wasn’t getting enough supply,” said Javier Medina Villanueva, president of the Jalisco Avocado Export Association. “So we believe that the entry of Jalisco will close that supply shortage. … I think prices will stabilize.”
Consumers in the United States won’t immediately recognize the difference: Jalisco avocados won’t bear any special tag, and will be labelled simply as “avocados from Mexico” — a phrase promoted for years by producers in Michoacan.
The head of the Michoacan-based Association of Mexican Avocado Growers and Packers, Jose Luis Gallardo, said he doesn’t see Jalisco, or any of the other Mexican states now clamoring for U.S. export certification, as competition.
“Today is a day of joy for everyone, knowing that Jalisco is here, but it is going to be happier when the State of Mexico comes, when Nayarit, Colima, Puebla, Morelos come,” Gallardo said of the other states, noting there was room for more exports; last season’s production in Michoacan was down by about 200,000 tons.
Mexico currently supplies about 92% of U.S. imports of the fruit, and Mexico’s agriculture department says it is working to get more states certified. About a half dozen states grow significant quantities of the fruit, which prefers higher altitudes and cooler climates in Mexico.
Medina Villanueva noted that meeting U.S. sanitary requirements wasn’t easy. “It took 10 years,” he said. “It took patience.”
U.S. agricultural inspectors have to certify that Mexican avocados don’t carry diseases or pests that would harm U.S. orchards. The Mexican harvest is January through March, while U.S production runs from April to September.
The inspections were halted in February for about 10 days after one of the U.S. inspectors was threatened in Michoacan, where growers are routinely subject to extortion by drug cartels. Some packers in Michoacan were reportedly buying avocados from other, non-certified states and trying to pass them off as being from Michoacan, and were angry the U.S. inspector wouldn’t go along with that.
Exports resumed after Mexico and the United States agreed “to enact the measures that ensure the safety” of the inspectors.
Francisco Trujillo, the head of Mexico’s plant and animal safety agency, noted that the Michoacan export ban should be a lesson for Jalisco producers.
“Caution should be part of this day of festivity,” Trujillo said, noting that avocados certified for export were worth four or five times as much as those destined for domestic markets, creating “temptations” to pass off non-certified fruit. “We could run the risk that this festive day becomes a tragedy” if the U.S. were to ban exports again, he said.
Jalisco Gov. Enrique Alfaro acknowledged that his state will have to avoid problems that have plagued the reputation of avocados in Michoacan, where some growers have cut down native pine forests to plant avocado trees and dried up local water supplies to irrigate them. Drug cartels have also extorted protection payments from avocado growers and packers.
Alfaro said Jalisco has plans “to develop a security program … so that this product can be produced in the orchards, be shipped through Jalisco and reach its final destination safely.”
Alfaro also said he would push to certify Jalisco avocados as free from deforestation, something Michoacan has been slow to do.
“The idea of pushing a plan to certify avocados as free from deforestation shouldn’t just be an issue for some growers. We want to establish that as an obligation for the good of the whole industry,” Alfaro said.
At this point, Jalisco has only about 20,000 acres (8,420 hectares) of avocado orchards certified as pest free, a small amount compared to over nearly 300,000 acres (120,000 hectares) in Michoacan. But Alfaro said another 65,000 acres (26,000 hectares) in Jalisco were in line to be certified.
But it is unclear whether exporting more avocados would hurt Mexican consumers, many of whom have been unable to afford their traditional guacamole — and the avocado slices that accompany many foods in Mexico — after domestic prices reached almost $3 per pound in recent weeks.
Recipes for pseudo-guacamole made largely with green tomatoes or zucchini have been circulating on social media sites in Mexico amid the price spike. Together with higher costs for limes, that has contributed to increased prices for tacos at street stands.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. | https://wtmj.com/national/2022/07/28/2nd-state-in-mexico-begins-avocado-exports-to-u-s-market/ | 2022-07-28T19:58:39Z | https://wtmj.com/national/2022/07/28/2nd-state-in-mexico-begins-avocado-exports-to-u-s-market/ | true |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has backed out of teaching a seminar at George Washington University’s law school in the nation’s capital, following student protests and the university’s statement of support for the conservative justice’s role on campus.
“Justice Thomas informed GW Law that he is unavailable to co-teach a Constitutional Law Seminar this fall,” university spokesperson Josh Grossman said in an emailed statement Wednesday.
Thomas, 74, has taught at the private school since 2011. He was supposed to lead the seminar with Judge Gregory Maggs of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. Maggs once served as a Supreme Court clerk to Thomas.
Thomas was part of the conservative majority that in late June overturned the Roe v. Wade decision that guaranteed the constitutional right to abortion.
In the following days, thousands of students signed a petition calling for the school to sever its relationship with Thomas. But university officials refused.
Maggs will continue to offer the class, Grossman said.
Thomas’ withdrawal was first reported by the GW Hatchet, the campus newspaper, which obtained an email from Maggs to students, telling them of the “sad news” that Thomas would not be co-teaching the class.
Thomas did not respond to a request for comment made to the court’s Public Information Office. | https://www.conchovalleyhomepage.com/news/political-news/ap-politics/justice-thomas-cancels-plans-to-teach-at-dc-law-school/ | 2022-07-28T20:01:14Z | https://www.conchovalleyhomepage.com/news/political-news/ap-politics/justice-thomas-cancels-plans-to-teach-at-dc-law-school/ | false |
Placer County District Attorney, sheriff's office battle against release of Justine Vanderschoot’s murderers
The two men convicted in the murder of 17-year-old Justine Vanderschoot are now up for parole.
Daniel Bezemer, and his accomplice, Brandon Fernandez, were sentenced to 25 and 15 years to life, respectively.
In 2003, both men were charged in the brutal murder of Justine Vanderschoot, a 17-year-old Placer County teen.
Vanderschoot went missing on Sept. 2, 2003.
Weeks later, Vanderschoot’s body was found by Placer County Sheriff’s deputies in a remote grave on a property in Applegate. Officials explained Vanderschoot’s body exhibited signs of torture and that she was buried alive.
Brandon Fernandez pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced in 2005 along with his roommate and Vanderschoot's boyfriend, Danny Bezemer, who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.
Now Fernandez has been granted a parole hearing scheduled for Thursday and Bezemer's is scheduled for Aug. 10, 2022.
According to the Placer County District Attorney’s Office, the two parole hearings are not only concerning to the Vanderschoot family but both the Placer County District Attorney's Office as well at the sheriff's office, as they explain they feel it's alarming to think of these two men back in the community.
Fernandez has previously been denied parole.
In 2017, the Vanderschoot family came face to face with Fernandez for the first time since his sentencing. Vanderschoot's family held a Justice for Justine vigil in Auburn at the time to fight against Fernandez's early release. They even created a petition to gain community support.
Now another petition with over 22,000 signatures is circulating in the hope to deny Vanderschoot’s murderer their requests to be released from prison. | https://www.kcra.com/article/justine-vanderschoots-murderers-parole-hearing/40745653 | 2022-07-28T20:01:24Z | https://www.kcra.com/article/justine-vanderschoots-murderers-parole-hearing/40745653 | false |
What a weekend! I am still floating on cloud nine after the best weekend of my life! My best friend became my Husband when we stood before our friends and family and tied the knot.
Many of you know that my Father, a 26-year US Navy Veteran, passed years ago. His dear friend Rear Admiral US Navy Retired, Scott Jerabek officiated our wedding at the WW1 Memorial in Kansas City. We were surrounded by our family and friends and so much love. We are forever grateful for all of our loved ones who have poured loved and support into our relationship.
My husband, Brian, and I are so grateful for all of your kind words and well wishes. Thank you so much for your support. | https://www.ksn.com/gooddaykansas/weekend-wedding/ | 2022-07-28T20:01:50Z | https://www.ksn.com/gooddaykansas/weekend-wedding/ | true |
Black female jockey Ashleigh Wicheard takes the knee in Goodwood paddock before charity race and tells how she wants to 'promote diversity' and become a 'role model' for black women
- Wicheard stormed to victory in the all-female horseracing event at Goodwood
- She took the knee before her race and her fellow riders joined her in solidarity
- Wicheard said the move was to mark her out as a role model and encourage more black women to get into the sport
- The 36-year-old jockey has been involved in the sport for more than 15 years
Charity-race jockey Ashleigh Wicheard took a knee in the Goodwood paddock on Thursday to promote diversity and boost the profile of black women in the sport, moments before she claimed a resounding victory in the Markel Magnolia Cup.
The 36-year-old, who has been involved in the sport for 15 years, rode Scott Dixen's Dark Shot over the line to win the race sponsored by Markel, which aims to raise fund for women's charities.
A thrilled Wicheard said after the race: This is a sport that I'm invested in and I've been trying hard to promote diversity within the sport, really just by being a face in the paddock.
'If I can act as a role model for black women and get more of them into the sport, then I'll be over the moon.'
The all-female horseracing event has raised more than £1.8 million for charity so far since it began in 2011, according to Sky Sports, and sees 12 riders with varying degrees of experience paired with a horse and trainer and put through a rigorous training programme ahead of the race.
Jockey Ashleigh Wicheard take the knee as jockeys are introduced for the Markel Magnolia Cup
Ashleigh Wicheard riding Dark Shot win The Markel Magnolia Cup during day three of the Qatar Goodwood Festival at Goodwood Racecourse on July 28, 2022 in Chichester, England
Ashleigh Wicheard celebrates after winning the Markel Magnolia Cup on day three of the Qatar Goodwood Festival 2022
Joan Armatrading presents the Markel Magnolia Cup to winner Ashleigh Wicheard on Ladies Day at the 2022 Qatar Goodwood Festival at Goodwood Racecourse in West Sussex
Though the race aims to raise money for female-focused charities, it has also become an event to champion diversity across the board.
In 2019, Khadijah Mellah became the first jockey to race in Britain wearing a hijab at the event.
Wicheard meanwhile told Sky Sports that her decision to take the knee was taken well in advance, and that she was pleased to find the rest of her fellow competitors wanted to follow her lead and kneel in solidarity.
'I didn't want to put pressure on any of the girls... It wouldn't have been a problem as it's their choice, but they were so supportive.
'I know that those kind of statements can be met with negativity as well as positivity - I just hope that it is a positive message that is portrayed from this.'
The jockey said her race win was 'unbelievable', but added she had put a great deal of work in and given up spare time and holidays to achieve a good result.
Jockey Ashleigh Wicheard blows a kiss to the camera after her winning ride on Dark Shot in the Market Magnolia Cup on day three of the Qatar Goodwood Festival 2022 at Goodwood Racecourse, Chichester
Jockey Ashleigh Wicheard is congratulated after her winning ride on Thursday
Dark Shot, ridden by jockey Ashleigh Wicheard on the way to winning the Markel Magnolia Cup on day three of the Qatar Goodwood Festival 2022
The act of taking the knee in British sport began in the summer of 2020 in the wake of the murder of George Floyd as an anti-racism gesture.
The move was quickly adopted across various sports but over time became associated with different causes and is now observed with varying degrees of gusto.
For her part, Wicheard said the gesture was designed to mark her out as a role model and encourage more black women into horseracing, while making people more aware of the current inequalities in the sport.
'It's not going to happen overnight and I'm fully aware of that, but I'd like to think me taking the knee will make more people aware and improve things as a result,' she said. | https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11059155/Black-female-jockey-Ashleigh-Wicheard-takes-knee-Goodwood-paddock.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490 | 2022-07-28T20:02:03Z | https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11059155/Black-female-jockey-Ashleigh-Wicheard-takes-knee-Goodwood-paddock.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490 | true |
(The Hill) – Former President Trump defended the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tournament planned for his National Golf Club Bedminster against calls from families of 9/11 terror attack victims to back out.
“Nobody’s gotten to the bottom of 9/11, unfortunately,” Trump told ESPN Thursday.
“They should have, as to the maniacs that did that horrible thing, to our city, to our country, to the world. So nobody’s really been there. But I can tell you that there are a lot of really great people that are out here today. And we’re gonna have a lot of fun and we’re going to celebrate.”
Families of victims who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks condemned Trump for hosting the tournament, slated for July 29-31 at Trump’s club in New Jersey, due to Saudi ties to the tragedy. The tournament will take place about an hour’s drive from Ground Zero.
“The evidence, Mr. Trump, is more clear than ever. The Saudi nation is largely responsible for the death of our loved ones and for this horrific attack on America. And you know it,” the grassroots group 9/11 Justice wrote in a letter to Trump earlier this month.
The families implored the former president to “cease further business with the regime that was complicit in the murder of our loved ones.”
9/11 Justice also accused golfers of taking “blood money” by participating.
But Trump called the tournament a “great thing” for Saudi Arabia.
He said on ESPN Thursday that “I’ve known these people for a long time, in Saudi Arabia, and they’ve been friends of mine for a long time. They’ve invested in many American companies… and frankly, what they’re doing for golf is so great.” | https://www.ksn.com/news/national-world/trump-defends-hosting-saudi-golf-tournament-nobodys-gotten-to-the-bottom-of-9-11/ | 2022-07-28T20:02:36Z | https://www.ksn.com/news/national-world/trump-defends-hosting-saudi-golf-tournament-nobodys-gotten-to-the-bottom-of-9-11/ | true |
Julia Stewart, Founder & CEO, shares her vision
PASADENA, Calif., July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Start-ups are by nature the most dynamic types of business and embrace cultural and societal changes faster than the establishment. DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) is the catalyst of such changes and the cornerstone of Julia Stewart's entrepreneurial venture, the wellness brand, Alurx.
During her forty years in the hospitality industry, she encountered many roadblocks when driving meaningful change. Ultimately, she realized that creating her own business embedded in DEI and adding "wellness for all" to her company's mission were the only way to ensure transformational change. As a female founder, Julia Stewart chose DEI as the fundamental principle and collective mission for her business, and added another essential component, Wellness. At Alurx, it means working with other female founders, partnering with minority businesses and creating opportunities for everyone who joins Alurx. Each team member's development and engagement in the brand is vital. Alurx's mission is to create proactive wellness plans, vetted by its medical council, and to help everyone who ultimately engages with the brand, to live healthier and longer lives. She insists that, "DEI&W is not a slogan—it is a mindset. We breathe it, live it, and work at it together, every day."
She also calls on the healthcare industry to rethink their DEI approach, focus on wellness for team members and customers alike, and to address structural inequalities head on. She explains that committing to DEI&W should go well beyond implementing new HR policies to the standardized list of corporate do's and don'ts with the aim of improving team members' retention and appealing to ethically conscious consumers. DEI&W is about "walking the walk" and working together with other local and national companies to drive change faster.
Julia Stewart and her team are building an all-in-one wellness hub and will launch the Alurx App in early 2023. This powerful new tool will guide people on their personalized wellness journey across all major need states, such as sleep health, skin health and mental health, with the support of the Alurx Medical & Expert Council.
Julia Stewart, Founder and CEO of Alurx is on a mission to enable health-conscious people to achieve what is most valuable to them--their wellness. As a member of Fortune magazine's list of Top 50 Most Powerful Women in the U.S., Julia's successful career spans more than 40 years at some of America's most iconic and beloved Brands. Her leadership accounts for the rejuvenation and continued success of companies such as IHOP, Applebee's, and Taco Bell. Now, she brings her CEO wisdom, experience and drive to the world of wellness. Julia also serves as an independent director for Avery Dennison (NYSE: AVY), Fogo de Chao Restaurants, and Bite Acquisition, Corp. (NYSE: BITE). She is an active philanthropist and sought-after speaker.
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SOURCE Alurx Wellness | https://www.wkyt.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/alurx-establishes-w-wellness-deiampw/ | 2022-07-28T20:03:01Z | https://www.wkyt.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/alurx-establishes-w-wellness-deiampw/ | true |
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BAGHDAD (AP) — The followers of the influential populist Shiite cleric came by the thousands to storm Iraq's parliament. Just as quickly, the protesters dispersed at his command.
Mass mobilization and control is a well-worn strategy of Muqtada al-Sadr, a mercurial figure who has emerged as a powerful force in Iraq’s cutthroat political scene with a nationalist, anti-Iran agenda.
Wednesday's storming of parliament came after al-Sadr's Tehran-backed political rival, former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, nominated a pro-Iran politician to be Iraq's new leader.
A look at how Iraq got to this point:
WHAT LED TO THE POLITICAL PARALYSIS?
Nearly 10 months after national elections were held, Iraq has been unable to form a new government. That's the longest period since the 2003 U.S. invasion that reset the political order.
The lingering impasse has immobilized the already-fragile state, with no clear path out. Iran, meanwhile, is working behind the scenes to stitch together a fragmented Shiite Muslim elite, with the potential to disturb the delicate political balance with the U.S. and usher in a new era of inter-sectarian violence.
That paralysis — driven largely by the personal vendettas of elites — has converted Iraq’s political system into a high-stakes chess game with destabilizing consequences. Ordinary Iraqis have no choice but to watch.
Wednesday's protest was meant as a cautionary message to al-Sadr's adversaries that he cannot be ignored while they try to form a government without him.
WHAT MOVES HAVE THESE POWERFUL PLAYERS MADE?
Both al-Sadr and al-Maliki are powerful in their own right.
Although al-Sadr’s alliance won the most seats in October’s parliamentary election, squabbling political parties failed to reach the two-thirds majority needed to pick a president -- an important step before the prime minister can be selected.
After the negotiations bogged down, al-Sadr withdrew his bloc from parliament and announced he was exiting talks on forming a government.
Able to summon his followers seemingly at the flick of a finger, al-Sadr can bring the country to a standstill. Expectations of street protests swirled in the capital of Baghdad since he quit the talks.
Al-Maliki heads the Coordination Framework alliance, a group led by Shiite Iran-backed parties. With their chief impediment gone, the Framework replaced al-Sadr’s resigned MPs. Although the move was legal, it was also provocative, giving the Framework the majority needed in parliament.
On Monday, the alliance announced Mohammed al-Sudani, Iraq’s former labor and social affairs minister, as its candidate for prime minister. He is seen by al-Sadr loyalists as a figure through whom al-Maliki can exert control.
Al-Maliki had wanted the premier post himself, but audio recordings were leaked in which he purportedly cursed and criticized al-Sadr and even his own Shiite allies. That effectively sank his candidacy.
WHAT ROLE DOES RELIGIOUS FERVOR PLAY?
In galvanizing his followers, al-Sadr harnessed the anger over al-Sudani's nomination as well as rising religious fervor ahead of the important Muslim holiday of Ashura. It marks the killing of the Prophet Muhammed’s grandson, Imam Hussein, and Shiites typically march by the thousands to commemorate the holiday, with emotions running high in the days leading up to it.
Wednesday's protest in parliament was unique for another reason: Riot police did not intervene, and there was little violence.
Toby Dodge, an associate fellow at Chatham House, saw this as a sign that neither side wants any escalating bloodshed.
“There were three big messages: This is theater, there was no violence yesterday and that is deliberate on both sides," Dodge said. "This is a fight within the elite; it has nothing to do with the rest of society. This elite lost its legitimacy across society.”
Even if the al-Maliki and al-Sadr camps are able to sort out their differences, there's a third big player in Iraqi politics: the Kurds.
The two main Kurdish parties — the KDP and the PUK — also are deeply divided. They would first need to agree on a candidate for Iraq’s presidency. The KDP had previously allied with al-Sadr, while the PUK belongs to al-Maliki's Framework faction.
HOW MIGHT THE BATTLES CONTINUE OUTSIDE PARLIAMENT?
Neither the al-Sadr nor the al-Maliki factions can afford to be excluded from the political process, because both have much to lose.
Both sides have civil servants entrenched in Iraq’s state institutions, deployed to do their bidding when circumstances require by halting decision-making and creating bureaucratic obstructions.
By the time his eight-year tenure as prime minister ended in 2014, al-Maliki built an omnipresent deep state by installing civil servants in key institutions, including the judiciary. Meanwhile, al-Sadr planted a parallel deep state with key appointments that peaked in 2018.
Because of this. the Framework knows that even without a presence in parliament, al-Sadr will wield significant power within the state, as well as on the street, if al-Maliki's supporters choose to move forward without the cleric's agreement.
Both sides have also lost some popular support following massive protests in 2019 against the government that were put down by security forces that left 600 dead and thousands wounded.
That impact was clear in the October 2021 election. Despite winning the largest share of seats, al-Sadr’s vote totals were several thousand fewer than previous balloting. Turnout was only 43%.
WHAT IS THE IRANIAN ROLE?
Despite the consequences, the Framework has signaled its readiness to move ahead with the formation of a government. Lawmaker Mohammed Sadoun, a member of the Framework, described Wednesday’s protest as an attempted coup but said it wouldn't deter the alliance's efforts.
“We will not allow it. We are involved in the process of forming a government and we have sufficient numbers to elect the president and vote for the next government,” he said.
Communication and messaging from the alliance shows it is preparing for instability.
“They don’t expect the streets to be quiet, and they are preparing for that,” said Hamdi al-Malik, an Associate Fellow with the Washington Institute.
The fairly quick nomination of al-Sudani is a testament to Iran's efforts to bring together the Shiite parties in the alliance. It marked a dramatic turnaround since the election, when Iranian-backed parties lost two-thirds of their seats.
Esmail Ghaani, commander of Iran's paramilitary Quds Force, which is part of the Revolutionary Guard and answerable only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has made numerous trips to Baghdad in recent months.
His mission has been to help the parties stay united and agree on a premier candidate, according to officials close to the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity to talk about the discussions.
Ghaani was in the capital during Wednesday's protests and urged faction leaders not to provoke al-Sadr, according to one of the officials. | https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/EXPLAINER-What-s-behind-the-storming-of-Iraq-s-17335771.php | 2022-07-28T20:07:15Z | https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/EXPLAINER-What-s-behind-the-storming-of-Iraq-s-17335771.php | true |
The US House of Representatives passed sweeping legislation on Thursday to subsidize the domestic semiconductor industry as it competes with Chinese and other foreign manufacturers, sending the bill to the White House for President Joe Biden to sign into law.
Here are some highlights of the current version of the 1,054-page, "CHIPS Act of 2022," which also includes funding authorizations for the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy's Office of Science.
The first version of the bill passed the Senate more than a year ago but stalled in the House of Representatives.
(Text: Reuters) | https://www.wionews.com/photos/us-congress-poised-to-pass-long-awaited-china-semiconductor-bill-501580 | 2022-07-28T20:10:37Z | https://www.wionews.com/photos/us-congress-poised-to-pass-long-awaited-china-semiconductor-bill-501580 | false |
Universal reveals explosive teaser to Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’
Posted/updated on: July 28, 2022 at 12:37 pmIn an ongoing live loop of the teaser, Universal Pictures revealed on Thursday the first footage of Christopher Nolan's star-studded historical drama Oppenheimer.
Frequent Nolan player Cillian Murphy plays J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb.
As an atomic fire swirls through the frame, a voice-over says, "The force from which the sun gets its power has been loosed."
A countdown timer spins at the bottom of the frame, and we see Oppenheimer staring out a window, crisply putting on his hat.
"He gave them the power to destroy themselves," another man warns in the voice-over. "It made him the most powerful man who ever lived."
As the timer runs down to zero, a title card reads: "The world forever changes," and we see Murphy in full for the first time, ignoring press photographers tailing him down a hallway.
"The man who moved the earth," the voice-over concludes.
Oppenheimer, which also stars Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Matthew Modine, Jack Quaid, Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, and Emily Blunt, was based on the Pulitzer-winning 2005 book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer.
The film debuts in theaters September 21, 2023.
Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. | https://ktbb.com/post/?p=1148512 | 2022-07-28T20:13:34Z | https://ktbb.com/post/?p=1148512 | false |
QUEBEC CITY (AP) — The Canadian government made clear Wednesday that Pope Francis’ apology to Indigenous peoples for abuses in the country’s church-run residential schools didn’t go far enough, suggesting that reconciliation over the fraught history is still very much a work in progress.
The official government reaction came as Francis arrived in Quebec City for meetings with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Governor General Mary Simon at her Quebec residence, the hilltop Citadelle fortress, on the second leg of Francis’ week-long visit to Canada.
The government’s criticisms echo those of some survivors and concern Francis’ omission of any reference to the sexual abuse suffered by Indigenous children in the schools, as well as his original reluctance to name the Catholic Church as an institution bearing responsibility.
Francis has said he is on a “penitential pilgrimage” to atone for the church’s role in the residential school system, in which generations of Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their homes and forced to attend church-run, government-funded boarding schools t o assimilate them into Christian, Canadian society. The Canadian government has said physical and sexual abuse were rampant at the schools, with students beaten for speaking their native languages.
Francis on Monday apologized for the “evil” of church personnel who worked in the schools and the “catastrophic” effect of the school system on Indigenous families. In a speech before government authorities Wednesday, Francis apologized anew and blasted the school system as “deplorable.”
Francis noted that the school system was “promoted by the governmental authorities at the time” as part of a policy of assimilation and enfranchisement. But responding to criticism, he added that “local Catholic institutions had a part” in implementing that policy.
Indigenous peoples have long demanded that the pope assume responsibility not just for abuses committed by individual Catholic priests and religious orders, but for the Catholic Church’s institutional support of the assimilation policy and the papacy’s 15th century religious justification for European colonial expansion to spread Christianity.
More than 150,000 Native children in Canada were taken from their homes from the 19th century until the 1970s and placed in the schools in an effort to isolate them from the influence of their families and culture.
Trudeau, a Catholic whose father, Pierre Trudeau, was prime minister while the last residential schools were in operation, insisted that the Catholic Church as an institution bore blame and needed to do more to atone.
Speaking before Francis, he noted that Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015 had called for a papal apology to be delivered on Canadian soil, but that Francis’ visit “would not have been possible without the courage and perseverance” of survivors of First Nations, Inuit and Metis who travelled to the Vatican last spring to press their case for an apology.
“Apologies for the role that the Roman Catholic Church, as an institution, played in the mistreatment on the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical and sexual abuse that Indigenous children suffered in residential schools run by the church,” Trudeau said.
The Canadian government has apologized for its role in the school legacy. Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a formal apology over the residential schools in Parliament in 2008, calling them a sad chapter in Canadian history and saying the policy of forced assimilation caused great harm.
As part of a settlement of a lawsuit involving the government, churches and the approximately 90,000 surviving students, Canada paid reparations that amounted to billions of dollars being transferred to Indigenous communities. The Catholic Church, for its part, has paid over $50 million and intends to add $30 million more over the next five years.
Trudeau implied that much more needed to be done by the church, and that while Francis’ visit had “an enormous impact” on survivors, it was but a first step.
Aside from the content of his speech, Trudeau’s remarks broke customary protocol for papal trips. According to diplomatic protocol, only Simon was supposed to address the pope in her capacity as the representative head of state. Simon, an Inuk who is the first Indigenous person to hold the largely ceremonial position governor general, did address Francis.
But the Vatican said Trudeau’s office requested the prime minister be allowed to offer some introductory remarks, a request that arrived in the days before Francis left Rome but after the pope’s itinerary had been finalized and printed.
A senior Canadian government official said Trudeau typically delivers remarks during visits by foreign leaders and that it was important for him to address Canadians during Francis’ visit “particularly given the importance of the matter.” It was, however, added in at the last minute.
Before Francis arrived in Quebec City, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller said the “gaps” in Francis’ apology could not be ignored.
Echoing criticism from some school survivors, Miller noted that Francis didn’t mention sexual abuse in his list of abuses endured by Indigenous children in the schools. Francis on Monday listed instead physical, verbal, psychological and spiritual abuse. In addition, Miller noted that Francis on Monday spoke of “evil” committed by individual Christians “but not the Catholic Church as an institution.”
Phil Fontaine, a survivor of sexual abuse at the schools and former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said the additional reference Wednesday to “local Catholic institutions” went beyond Francis’ original apology and was significant and the closest he could get to apologizing for the entire Church in Canada.
“It reflects the reality that the Catholic Church in Canada is not one institution. It is made up of about 73 different legal institutions, all of which were defendants in the lawsuits,” Fontaine said in a statement.
Francis’ visit has stirred mixed emotions among survivors and their relatives, as well as Indigenous leaders and community members. Some have welcomed his apology as genuine and useful in helping them heal. Others have said it was merely the first step in a long process of reconciliation. Still others have said it didn’t go far enough in assuming responsibility for institutional wrongs dating back centuries.
Francis himself has acknowledged that the wounds will take time to heal and that his visit and apology were but first steps. On Wednesday he committed himself and the local Canadian church to “move forward on a fraternal and patient journey with all Canadians, in accordance with truth and justice, working for healing and reconciliation, and constantly inspired by hope.”
“It is our desire to renew the relationship between the Church and the indigenous peoples of Canada, a relationship marked both by a love that has borne outstanding fruit and, tragically, deep wounds that we are committed to understanding and healing,” he said.
But he didn’t list any specific actions the Holy See was prepared to take.
Trudeau, too, said the visit was a beginning and that reconciliation was the duty of everyone. “It’s our responsibility to see our differences not as an obstacle but as an occasion to learn, to better understand one another and to move to action.”
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. | https://www.wfla.com/news/international/ap-international/canada-says-popes-apology-to-indigenous-not-enough/ | 2022-07-28T20:14:55Z | https://www.wfla.com/news/international/ap-international/canada-says-popes-apology-to-indigenous-not-enough/ | false |
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, posted its first revenue decline in history Thursday, dragged down by a drop in ad spending as the economy falters — and as competition from rival TikTok intensifies.
The results largely followed a broader decline in the digital advertising market that is dinging Meta rivals such as Google, Twitter — which also posted a revenue decline — and Snap. Google’s parent company Alphabet reported its slowest quarterly growth in two years on Tuesday.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Meta is slowing its pace of investments and plans to “steadily reduce” employee growth after a hiring blitz earlier this year.
“This is a period that demands more intensity,” he said in a conference call with analysts. “Expect us to get more done with fewer resources.”
Beyond the economic downturn, Meta faces some unique challenges, including the looming departure of its chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, the chief architect of the company’s massive advertising business.
In addition to TikTok, the decline in ad spending among the downturn and Apple’s privacy changes, “questions about Meta’s leadership” — including Sandberg’s exit and negative sentiment about the company as a whole — also contributed to the decline, said Raj Shah, a managing partner at digital consultancy Publicis Sapient.
Meta earned profits of $6.69 billion, or $2.46 per share, in the April-June period. That’s down 36% from $10.39 billion, or $3.61 per share, in the same period a year ago.
Revenue was $28.82 billion, down 1% from $29.08 billion a year earlier.
Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $2.54 per share on revenue of $28.91 billion, according to a poll by FactSet.
“The year-over-year drop in quarterly revenue signifies just how quickly Meta’s business has deteriorated,” said Insider Intelligence analyst Debra Aho Williamson in an email. “Prior to these results, we had forecasted that Meta’s worldwide ad revenue would increase 12.4% this year, to nearly $130 billion. Now, it’s unlikely to reach that figure.”
She added that the good news — if it could be called that — is that Meta’s competitors are also experiencing slowdowns.
Meta is in the midst of a corporate transformation that it says will take years to complete. It wants to evolve from a provider of social platforms to a dominant power in a nascent virtual reality construct it calls the “metaverse” — sort of like the internet brought to life, or at least rendered in 3D. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has described it as an immersive virtual environment, a place people can virtually “enter” rather than just staring at a screen. The company is investing billions in its metaverse plans that will likely take years to pay off — and as part of its plan renamed itself Meta last fall.
“Expect Meta’s decline to continue until Meta can monetize the metaverse, and begin another Meta-reverse,” Shah said.
Meta forecasts revenue of $26 billion to $28.5 billion for the current quarter, which is below Wall Street’s expectations.
“This outlook reflects a continuation of the weak advertising demand environment we experienced throughout the second quarter, which we believe is being driven by broader macroeconomic uncertainty,” finance chief David Wehner said in a statement. Meta said Wehner is being promoted to chief strategy officer, where he will oversee the company’s strategy and corporate development. Susan Li, currently vice president of finance, will replace him as CFO.
Shares of Meta Platforms Inc. fell $6.88, or 4.1%. to $162.70 in after-hours trading. The stock had closed up $10.43, or 6.6%. at $169.58 on Wednesday in the regular trading session. Meta’s stock has lost more than half its value since the start of this year. | https://www.kron4.com/news/business/ap-business/facebook-parent-meta-posts-first-revenue-decline-in-history/ | 2022-07-28T20:16:32Z | https://www.kron4.com/news/business/ap-business/facebook-parent-meta-posts-first-revenue-decline-in-history/ | true |
Cold snap for Western Australia's south as four cold fronts roll over state bringing much-needed rain
By Tyne LoganA series of cold fronts is set to bring a wintry blast to Western Australia over the next week, with the possibility of a light dusting of snow on Bluff Knoll on Saturday.
Key points:
- The first cold front is forecast for Friday morning
- Forecasts suggest a series of strong cold fronts early next week
- A cold pool of air will see temperatures plunge in southern Western Australia
The first front will sweep across the south-west corner of the state on Friday morning, pushing through Perth around sunrise and extending into the remainder of the South West Land Division throughout the day.
Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Luke Huntington said that front was fairly typical for winter.
However, he said, cold and gusty winds moving in behind it on Saturday would send temperatures plummeting.
"Some locations through the south are struggling to reach 10 and 12 degrees [Celsius]," he said.
"So, especially through the Great Southern and even into the south-west district, and down on the coast near Albany."
He said there was also a slight chance of snow falling on Bluff Knoll.
"It is potentially cold enough for a light dusting of snow on Saturday morning," he said.
"It's really only a light chance at this stage, and it will be more of a sleet or snow flurry scenario."
Forecasts of snow on Bluff Knoll often attract hikers, but Mr Huntington urged anyone considering that to be cautious of adverse weather conditions.
Mount Barker, near the Stirling Ranges, looks to be one of the coldest locations in the state, with a maximum temperature of only 10 degrees Celsius on Saturday, and a minimum of 4C.
Perth is forecast to reach 16C on Saturday, with a minimum of 9C.
Likely severe weather from Monday to Wednesday
Mr Huntington said the current forecast showed an easing of showers from Saturday afternoon into Sunday.
However, he said, that was expected to be short lived.
He said current models were showing another three back-to-back strong cold fronts would move over the region on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
"Next week is looking pretty interesting," he said.
"There's a high chance of a severe weather warning being issued, with the main risk damaging winds around the southern half of the state."
He said anywhere from Geraldton to parts of the Goldfields and Eucla regions could have severe weather warnings issued.
"It is looking like bigger areas than we would normal see in terms of severe weather," he said.
If that eventuates, it would be the first severe weather warnings of the season, which is later than usual.
He said there was also likely to be a dangerous swell anywhere from Exmouth to Esperance, which may lead to erosion.
The burst of wintry weather will bring much needed rain to the state.
Perth is currently on track to finish July with average rainfall, after experiencing its second-driest June on record.
Forecasts are currently tipping between 50 and 80 millimetres of rain over the course of the next week.
Grain-growing regions across the South West Land Division are also faring reasonably well this July, with most on track to finish the month with normal rainfall.
Albany is one of the exceptions, currently sitting at about half its usual rainfall for the month, with the coming days likely to bring it closer to 70 per cent. | https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-29/cold-snap-as-four-cold-fronts-roll-over-wa/101277906 | 2022-07-28T20:21:37Z | https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-29/cold-snap-as-four-cold-fronts-roll-over-wa/101277906 | true |
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — James Harden decided to grow his beard and shear his annual salary in Philadelphia.
Harden signed a deal worth slightly over $68 million, paying him about $33 million this season with a $35 million player option for the 2023-24 season. Harden, though, will make about $14.5 million less this coming season than he could have earned under his previous deal. Harden had a $47.4 million option for this coming season that he declined last month, saying he wanted to give the 76ers flexibility to improve their roster and compete for a championship.
“This is where I want to be. This is where I want to win, and I think we have the pieces to accomplish that goal,” Harden said Wednesday. “From my first day with the 76ers organization, the team and the fans have helped me feel at home here in Philadelphia. I’m excited to build off of last season and I can’t wait to get out on the court with the guys and start this journey.”
Daryl Morey, team president of basketball operations, posted a photo on Instagram of him posing alongside Harden as the 10-time All-Star guard known as “The Beard” signed his contract.
“Now this looks like a job for we, ” Morey wrote.
Harden’s plans have been clear since Philadelphia’s season ended: He was committed to staying with the 76ers and committed to help them get better.
“Taking less money this year to sign as many players as we needed to help us contend and be the last team standing was very, very important to me,” Harden said in an interview this month with The Associated Press. “I wanted to show the organization, the Sixers fans and everybody else who supports what we’re trying to accomplish, what I’m trying to accomplish individually, that this is what I’m about.”
Harden vowed to return to for after battling a lingering hamstring injury that cut his production with the Brooklyn Nets, and later the Sixers, after he was acquired in a trade-deadline deal.
“Over the last two years we have taken major steps toward our ultimate goal of becoming champions,” said coach Doc Rivers. “James shares our drive to win a title, and he believes being a 76er gives him the best opportunity to do that. Together, we will work tirelessly to achieve our goal.”
A member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team, Harden averaged 22 points this season for Brooklyn and Philadelphia, his lowest since he became a starter in the 2012-13 season. He turns 33 in August.
Harden, a three-time scoring champion, told the AP he was nonplussed about taking “less” money to return and chase a championship in Philly.
“For any other players, that’s a max contract,” he said of his lower numbers, “but it’s like, for me, I was not the same James Harden.
The 76ers lost to top-seeded Miami in the second round of the playoffs. Harden had four turnovers, four baskets and did not score in the second half in the decisive Game 6 loss. They haven’t advanced past the second round since 2001. Their last NBA championship came in 1983.
“Coming back and being the aggressor, the scorer first and then the playmaker, is something that I need for myself,” he said.
Harden has appeared in 942 games (728 starts) with Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Houston and Oklahoma City and holds averages of 24.9 points, 5.6 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 1.5 steals.
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.fox16.com/sports/harden-76ers-make-it-official-on-2-year-68-million-deal/ | 2022-07-28T20:21:54Z | https://www.fox16.com/sports/harden-76ers-make-it-official-on-2-year-68-million-deal/ | false |
'People in trees': Historic Kentucky flooding turns deadly as homes swept away by raging waters
HAZARD, Ky. - A line of slow-moving thunderstorms that dumped torrential rain across eastern Kentucky early Thursday is now being blamed for at least three deaths as rising floodwaters swept away homes and vehicles and rivers and creeks rose out of their banks.
In addition to the fatality previously confirmed by the Perry County Sheriff's Office, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said at a news conference Thursday afternoon that two other people were also killed in the catastrophic flooding.
"Let me say that, unfortunately, I expect double-digit deaths in this flooding," the governor said. "It’s something that we rarely see."
‘HOUSES ARE FLOATING AWAY’: FAMILIES TRAPPED AS FLOODWATERS TEAR THROUGH EASTERN KENTUCKY
One of the additional confirmed deaths was also in Perry County while the other was in Knott County. According to the governor, the first Perry County fatality was an 81-year-old woman.
Beshear described the flooding as reaching "extreme, historic levels" in Perry and Breathitt counties.
Three separate Flash Flood Emergencies were in effect early Thursday morning for areas around Hazard, Buckhorn and McRoberts, but the National Weather Service has allowed them all to expire as the heaviest rain has exited the region.
"Flash Flood Emergencies are issued only for exceedingly rare situations when we have life-threatening or catastrophic flooding ongoing within these communities," FOX Weather meteorologist Jane Minar explained. "We're talking feet of water on roadways – we've seen reports of that – we have homes that are flooded out, and we've had a number of water rescues as well."
The governor has declared a state of emergency and activated the Kentucky National Guard, which has responded with four helicopters. Two more helicopters are also en route from West Virginia.
"They see a number of people in Breathitt County alone on the roof, even we have some people in trees waiting for rescue," Beshear said Thursday afternoon in reference to what National Guard troops are encountering in the county some 70 miles southwest of Lexington. "This isn’t just a disaster. It is an ongoing natural disaster and we are in the midst of it."
According to reports relayed by the National Weather Service, multiple homes were severely flooded and cars were washed away by floodwaters.
"There are a lot of people on top of roofs in eastern Kentucky waiting to be rescued," Beshear said. "There are a number of people that are unaccounted for, and I’m nearly certain this is a situation where we’re going to lose some of them."
A photo from Buckhorn shared on social media Thursday morning showed the elementary school was almost completely underwater.
Many roads in this portion of eastern Kentucky were impassable because of high water. Water rescues were reported in several areas.
HERE'S WHAT TO DO AFTER YOUR CAR FLOODS
Video from Whick showed floodwaters carrying debris down a residential road.
Between 7 and 10 inches of rain has fallen in parts of eastern Kentucky since Wednesday, most of which fell in just a few hours early Thursday morning. The cities of Hazard and Jackson have both received nearly 8 inches.
Buckhorn Lake has seen the highest rain total so far, with a report of 10.40 inches of rain falling on Thursday.
"We're seeing one of the worst, most devastating flooding events in Kentucky’s history," Beshear said during an earlier news conference Thursday morning.
Rainfall totals in Kentucky over the past 24 hours. (FOX Weather)
The North Fork of the Kentucky River at Whitesburg has risen to an all-time record crest of 20.91 feet, obliterating the previous record of 14.7 feet from Jan. 29, 1957. The river level rose nearly 18 feet in about 10 hours early Thursday morning. Earlier this week, the river level was a measly 1.6 feet.
At the current level, homes and businesses along the river are flooded and the Kentucky Route 15 bridge in Whitesburg is flooded, according to the National Weather Service.
WHAT DOES THE TERM ‘100-YEAR FLOOD’ MEAN?
The Kentucky River near Ravenna is forecast to rise to moderate flood stage. (FOX Weather)
More than 24,000 people in Kentucky are without power as of Thursday afternoon. Most of the outages are in the eastern part of the state, where the serious flash flooding has been reported.
HOW TO WATCH FOX WEATHER ON TV
Current power outages in Kentucky. (FOX Weather)
This catastrophic flooding in Kentucky came just two days after a historic flood in St. Louis killed one person on Tuesday when more than 9 inches of rain fell.
ST. LOUIS AND KENTUCKY FLOODING: 2 DIFFERENT 1-IN-1,000-YEAR FLOOD EVENTS IN SAME WEEK
"I wish I could tell you why we keep getting hit here in Kentucky. I wish I could tell you why areas, where people may not have that much, continue to get it and lose everything," Beshear said. "I can't give you the why, but I know what we do in response to it. The answer is everything we can."
The Kentucky Red Cross has opened a shelter for anyone impacted by Thursday's flash flood at 160 Broadway Street in the city of Hazard.
Flash flood forecast
The same weather pattern responsible for Tuesday's historic St. Louis flood – a stalled front interacting with rich atmospheric moisture – is the culprit for Thursday's flash flooding in Kentucky.
Additional areas of flash flooding are possible through the end of the week as several rounds of showers and thunderstorms threaten a west-to-east corridor extending from the Front Range of the Rockies to the Appalachians.
OVER 9 INCHES IN 24 HOURS: HOW THE ST. LOUIS RECORD RAINFALL CAME TO BE
A process called orographic lift will likely contribute to an enhanced flash flood threat in the Appalachians, including Kentucky. Orographic lift occurs when air is forced up a mountainside and cools to the point of water vapor forming. The increased moisture can cause extensive cloud cover and heavy rainfall.
The flash flood threat will likely be enhanced in the Appalachians due to a process called orographic lift. (FOX Weather)
"The air is lifted over that mountain chain, and as it does so, that air cools and condenses, forming the clouds that we see at the top of the mountain chain," Minar explained. "What tends to happen, too, is the air becomes very moisture-rich, leading to some very, very heavy rain, and that has the concern of bringing in some flash flooding."
In the three-hour radar loop below, you can see where the heaviest rain is currently falling from portions of the Central Plains to the Appalachians.
Flood Watches have been issued by the National Weather Service for parts of Kentucky, West Virginia, southwestern Virginia and southern Ohio. A watch means that flooding is possible in the indicated areas.
EXPLAINING FLOOD ALERTS ISSUED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
Flood Watches are indicated in green. (FOX Weather)
Thursday
The highest threat of flash flooding on Thursday and Thursday night will extend from Kentucky into parts of West Virginia. This includes the cities of Lexington, Kentucky, and Charleston, West Virginia.
There could also be scattered areas of flash flooding in many other areas from the Front Range of the Rockies eastward to the mid-Mississippi and Ohio valleys and the central Appalachians.
7 FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT FLASH FLOODS
Flash flood threat on Thursday, July 28, 2022. (FOX Weather)
Friday
The flash flood threat will remain high on Friday and Friday night for parts of eastern Kentucky and West Virginia.
However, heavy rain could also trigger scattered flash flooding from southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma eastward into the Ozarks, Tennessee and the central Appalachians.
Flash flood threat on Friday, July 29, 2022. (FOX Weather)
Many of the locations at risk of flash flooding through the end of the week could receive at least an additional 1 to 3 inches of rain.
However, locally higher amounts upward of 3 to 8 inches are likely where any showers and storms stall or track over the same areas.
Rainfall forecast over the next several days. (FOX Weather)
Be sure to take this week's flash flood threat seriously. You should have a way of receiving potentially life-saving Flash Flood Warnings issued by the National Weather Service, including the rare Flash Flood Emergency.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX WEATHER UPDATE PODCAST
The FOX Weather app is a great resource that can be used to alert you of any watches or warnings issued for your area. The free FOX Weather livestream is also available 24/7 on the website and app and on your favorite streaming platform. The FOX Weather Update podcast also provides weather information for the entire country. | https://www.fox29.com/news/people-in-trees-historic-kentucky-flooding-turns-deadly-as-homes-swept-away-by-raging-waters | 2022-07-28T20:25:19Z | https://www.fox29.com/news/people-in-trees-historic-kentucky-flooding-turns-deadly-as-homes-swept-away-by-raging-waters | false |
Woman facing animal torture charges after dogs found dead in her garage, authorities say
WILKIN COUNTY, Minn. (KVLY/Gray News) - Authorities in Minnesota say a woman is facing several charges stemming from the disturbing treatment of animals at her home.
According to the Wilkin County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were called June 18 for a report of two dogs found deceased at a residence.
KVLY reports the caller told dispatchers they dropped off their dog with Michelle Karch, 40, four months ago, and when they returned, they found the dead dogs in Karch’s garage.
According to court documents, deputies found one malnourished dog alive in Karch’s garage and two deceased animals. The surviving dog was taken to a veterinarian who told authorities the dog had no muscles on its hip bones.
The sheriff’s office reports Karch is facing charges that include two felony counts of animal torture resulting in death and two gross misdemeanors of animal torture.
Karch allegedly told investigators the dogs were on medication and died of disease. However, she could not provide vet paperwork confirming those claims.
According to the sheriff’s office, deputies were also called to Karch’s home regarding a dog tied up outside the property without food or water for nearly 12 hours.
A search warrant was executed at the property. Court documents stated that deputies found several cats without food or water at the home, along with a pony and horse without food.
Deputies said Karch had appalling conditions at her home while the dogs and other animals were in her care.
Karch is scheduled to be in court Aug. 2.
Copyright 2022 KVLY via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wkyt.com/2022/07/28/woman-facing-animal-torture-charges-after-dogs-found-dead-her-garage-authorities-say/ | 2022-07-28T20:28:13Z | https://www.wkyt.com/2022/07/28/woman-facing-animal-torture-charges-after-dogs-found-dead-her-garage-authorities-say/ | false |
Boasting resort-style amenities and trail access, apartments are anticipated to open in the second half of 2023
GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo., July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Century Communities, Inc. (NYSE: CCS), a top 10 national homebuilder and industry leader in online sales, announced that Century Living—the Company's fast-growing national multifamily division—has broken ground on its 227-unit Verona Apartments project in Highlands Ranch, CO.
Steps from the Highline Canal Trail network and adjacent to major arterial roadways—allowing easy access to Denver's largest employment hubs and the broader metro—the project will feature lavish amenities, thoughtful apartment interiors with smart home features, balconies on all units, plus select units with scenic views of the mountains. The multifamily development is anticipated to open and begin lease-up in the second half of 2023.
Learn more about Century Living at www.LiveCentury.com.
"With this project, we're continuing to build on our mission of delivering high-quality multi-family developments with exceptional livability," said Jim Francescon, President of Century Living. "Verona's prime location and resort-style amenities reflect our commitment to a best-in-class, full-lifestyle experience for renters in the Denver Metro area."
UNITS:
- 120 1BR units
- 78 2BR units
- 29 3BR units
- Average unit size: 1,033 square feet
AMENITIES:
- 71-mile trail network
- 25-yard lap pool and spa
- Resort-style fitness center
- Private work pods
- Outdoor kitchen
- Rooftop deck
- Expansive 4,500-square-foot dog park
- Managed Wi-Fi
About Century Communities
Century Communities, Inc. (NYSE: CCS) is a top 10 national homebuilder, offering new homes under the Century Communities and Century Complete brands. Century is engaged in all aspects of homebuilding — including the acquisition, entitlement and development of land, along with the construction, innovative marketing and sale of quality homes designed to appeal to a wide range of homebuyers. The Colorado-based company operates in 17 states and over 45 markets across the U.S., and also offers title, insurance and lending services in select markets through its Parkway Title, IHL Home Insurance Agency, and Inspire Home Loans subsidiaries. To learn more about Century Communities, please visit www.centurycommunities.com.
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SOURCE Century Communities, Inc. | https://www.wbay.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/century-living-announces-227-unit-verona-apartment-project-highlands-ranch-co/ | 2022-07-28T20:28:58Z | https://www.wbay.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/century-living-announces-227-unit-verona-apartment-project-highlands-ranch-co/ | false |
A flying Spanish wing-back from Man United, a Liverpool defender with a point to prove to Jurgen Klopp and a striker Spurs hope will follow in Harry Kane's footsteps... the Premier League youngsters heading to Championship clubs on loan this season
- Plenty of rising stars have benefitted from a season on loan in the second-tier
- This season will be no exception with dozens heading out for more game time
- Manchester United tyro Alvaro Fernandez will enhance Preston's side
- Tino Anjorin of Chelsea is returning to Huddersfield Town for the second time
- Liverpool defender Rhys Williams is heading to Blackpool for the season
The new Championship season is upon us this weekend and it promises the thrills and spills we have come to expect from such a competitive division.
It has long been an excellent proving ground for young talent at Premier League clubs, whose careers come on in leaps and bounds from a Championship loan spell.
Manchester United's James Garner and Liverpool duo Neco Williams and Nathaniel Phillips all played a part in promotion-winning campaigns last season at Nottingham Forest, Fulham and Bournemouth respectively.
James Garner (left), on loan from Manchester United, helped Nottingham Forest win promotion last season, while Liverpool's Neco Williams (right) shone at Fulham
And once again, the Championship clubs have raided top-flight academies to offer young talents the opportunity to play more regularly and show what they can do.
We take a look at 10 players hoping to light up the second tier having been borrowed from leading clubs.
Alvaro Fernandez (Manchester United to Preston North End)
It is a sign of how highly Spanish left-back Fernandez is rated at Old Trafford that he extended his contract with Manchester United until 2024 before being let out on loan to Deepdale.
United saw off competition from Barcelona and Manchester City to sign Fernandez from Real Madrid's academy two years ago and the 19-year-old has proved his worth.
He was named United's Player of the Year at Under-23 level last season and was an unused substitute in their final four Premier League fixtures of the season under Ralf Rangnick.
Fernandez will now be immersed in the rigours of senior football at Championship level, with Preston manager Ryan Lowe describing him as a 'fantastic asset' who 'will be a fantastic football player for Manchester United.'
Manchester United's Alvaro Fernandez in action during an under-19 UEFA Youth League game
The Spanish left-back has signed on loan at Preston North End for the season ahead
Tino Anjorin (Chelsea to Huddersfield Town)
Chelsea are never short of players to send out on loan and 20-year-old Anjorin has decided to make a return to familiar surroundings.
The versatile midfielder, 20, is due at Huddersfield Town for a second spell after the Terriers lost out to Nottingham Forest in the Championship play-off final last season.
Anjorin will be hoping to make more of an impact than his first stint having seen only 132 minutes of Championship action.
He arrived in Yorkshire having just come back from a fractured metatarsal suffered while on loan at Lokomotiv Moscow and he was restricted to cameos off the bench at Huddersfield with Carlos Corberan reluctant to break up a winning side.
But Anjorin obviously made a good impression and he should see more action under new head coach Danny Schofield.
Chelsea's Tino Anjorin will be hoping to make a greater impression at Huddersfield Town
Anjorin in action against Dele Alli, then a Tottenham player, during a friendly 12 months ago
Lewis Fiorini (Manchester City to Blackpool)
Midfielder Fiorini, 20, is preparing to make a step up in standard having spent last season on loan with League One club Lincoln City.
Prior to his time at Sincil Bank, the Scotland under-21 international signed a new contract at the Etihad Stadium through until 2026, showing how highly he is regarded there.
His season with the Imps was productive, with Fiorini scoring six goals and setting up a further five in 44 appearances.
Blackpool are looking to improve on last season's 16th-place finish on their return to the Championship standard and Fiorini could play an integral role.
Lewis Fiorini (left) pictured during a Man City training session ahead of his loan at Blackpool
Rhys Williams (Liverpool to Blackpool)
Blackpool have also moved to strengthen their defence with the loan signing of Liverpool's towering centre-half Williams.
The youngster was drafted in by Jurgen Klopp and played pretty regularly when Liverpool suffered their defensive injury crisis during the 2020-21 season but last season was more frustrating.
He barely even made the bench at Anfield, even after they'd recalled him early from a loan spell at Swansea.
Even there, he was more often out of the team than in it and he'll hope to drastically increase his game time at Bloomfield Road to remind Klopp of what he can do.
Liverpool defender Rhys Williams is set for a loan spell at Championship club Blackpool
The youngster stepped up impressively for Jurgen Klopp during their injury crisis of 2020-21
Taylor Harwood-Bellis (Manchester City to Burnley)
It's a new era for Burnley with Vincent Kompany now in charge after they dropped out of the Premier League after six seasons in the big time.
As a man with strong City connections, it comes as little surprise that Kompany has returned to his old club to take centre-back Harwood-Bellis on a season-long loan.
He also worked under Kompany at Belgian club Anderlecht in the first half of last season and the manager, who surely knows a good defender when he sees one, was obviously taken by him.
This will be the 20-year-old's third stint at a Championship club having previously spent time at Blackburn and Stoke.
Taylor Harwood-Bellis playing for Manchester City - he is set to spend the season at Burnley
Troy Parrott (Tottenham to Preston North End)
Early career loan spells certainly didn't do Harry Kane any harm and Tottenham will no doubt hope for the same with 20-year-old Troy Parrott.
The Republic of Ireland international is set for his fourth spell away having previously played for Millwall, Ipswich and MK Dons.
Parrott scored eight league goals to help MK finish third in League One last season before they lost to Wycombe in the play-off semi-final.
Preston will hope for a good return as they aim to push up the Championship and challenge for a top six finish in the year ahead.
Troy Parrott in action in South Korea on Tottenham's pre-season tour before going to Preston
Tommy Doyle (Manchester City to Sheffield United)
Having earned regular Championship football during a loan spell at Cardiff in the second half of last season, 20-year-old midfielder Doyle is heading to Sheffield United for the season ahead.
The Blades reached the play-offs last time, losing to Forest, and are expected to be in the conversation for promotion once again.
However, there was early frustration for Doyle when he suffered a thigh muscle tear in training within days of arriving on their pre-season tour.
He is running again and United will hope he can return to action a few weeks into the season.
Tommy Doyle in action for Manchester City in a Premier League game with Newcastle in 2020
Will Smallbone (Southampton to Stoke City)
Central midfielder Smallbone, 22, has featured in a handful of first-team games for Southampton with his early career affected by an ACL injury suffered in January 2021.
He returned in October last year but was restricted to just seven outings for the Saints in the remainder of the campaign amid stiff competition.
Perhaps seeing little prospect of more game time, Ralph Hasenhuttl has sanctioned a loan move to Stoke City, which could prove useful to his career progression.
Midfielder Will Smallbone has left Southampton for a Championship loan spell at Stoke City
Taylor Richards (Brighton to Queens Park Rangers)
Born in Hammersmith, Richards watched his first football game at Loftus Road, so his loan from Brighton feels like something of a homecoming.
The 21-year-old midfielder was sent out to Birmingham on loan in January but suffered a freak injury performing a jumping test during his medical.
That delayed his debut until March and Richards would only make five more appearances.
He'll hope for better luck in Michael Beale's team as QPR look to improve on last season's 11th-place finish.
Taylor Richards has signed for Queens Park Rangers on loan from Brighton for the season
Charlie Cresswell (Leeds United to Millwall)
Cresswell enjoyed a bit of a breakthrough in 2021-22 as he featured in five Premier League games for Leeds, albeit just a few minutes from the bench in three of them.
He'd caught the eye as captain of the under-23 team and Marcelo Bielsa was keen to see what he could produce at the higher level.
Jesse Marsch played him once but has decided a loan spell would be beneficial with the 19-year-old defender at a crucial stage of his development.
Millwall will be the England under-21 international's club for the season and he's sure to learn a great deal.
Charlie Cresswell in action for Millwall during a pre-season friendly against Dartford | https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-11053405/Premier-League-youngsters-heading-loan-Championship-clubs-season.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490 | 2022-07-28T20:30:34Z | https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-11053405/Premier-League-youngsters-heading-loan-Championship-clubs-season.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490 | false |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The country’s monkeypox outbreak can still be stopped, U.S. health officials said Thursday, despite rising case numbers and so-far limited vaccine supplies.
The Biden administration’s top health official pushed back against criticism about the pace of the response and worries that the U.S. has missed the window to contain the virus, which has been declared a global emergency.
“We believe we have done everything we can at the federal level to work with our state and local partners and communities affected to make sure we can stay ahead of this and end this outbreak,” Xavier Becerra, head of the Department of Health and Human Services, told reporters on a call.
But he added that local health officials “must do their part. ... We don't have the authority to tell them what to do.”
The pushback from federal leaders came as they announced distribution plans for 780,000 shots of the two-dose Jynneos vaccine. The doses will be allocated to states, cities and other localities based on their case numbers and the size of their populations that are considered high-risk for the disease.
Health departments in San Francisco; New York; Washington, D.C.; and elsewhere say they still don’t have enough shots to meet demand and have stopped scheduling appointments for second vaccine doses to stretch supplies.
“We’ve made vaccines, tests and treatments well beyond the numbers that are currently needed available to all jurisdictions,” Becerra said.
There were more than 4,600 reported monkeypox cases in the U.S. as of late Wednesday, according to the CDC, and federal officials expect those numbers to rise.
More than 99% of reported cases are in men and the vast majority of those are among men who reported sexual contact with other men, though health officials have stressed that anyone can catch the virus.
The U.S. is now capable of testing 60,000 to 80,000 people per day, though Becerra said daily testing numbers are well below that.
The monkeypox virus mainly spreads through skin-on-skin contact, but it can also transmit through touching linens used by someone with the infection. People with monkeypox may experience fever, body aches, chills and fatigue. Many in the outbreak have developed sometimes-painful zit-like bumps.
The U.S. has ordered 5.5 million more vaccine doses for delivery by mid-2023 and has rights to raw ingredients that could make 11.1 million more doses. U.S. officials said a massive vaccination campaign could still be avoided if communities and individuals take measures to avoid spread.
In San Francisco, Tom Temprano had an appointment to get his second dose next week but was recently notified that it was canceled due to limited supplies. Temprano, who is the political director of San Francisco-based Equality California, said he's frustrated that health authorities have taken so long to respond.
“Especially coming out of, still, two-and-a-half years into a pandemic, it’s just a very disappointing response for the first larger-scale public health crisis we’re facing coming out of that,” he said.
He also sees parallels to the slow government response to AIDS in the 1980s.
“I’ve heard from many folks ... that this feels similar in the lack of real concern and urgency to a disease that is right now disproportionately impacting the LGBTQ+ community,” said Temprano, who is 36.
The CDC estimates about 1.5 million Americans currently meet suggested criteria for vaccination, primarily men who have sex with men.
But officials on Thursday declined to set a figure for how many vaccine doses would be needed to stop the outbreak. Nearly 340,000 vaccine doses have been distributed, but a CDC official acknowledged the federal government doesn't know how many have been administered.
The additional 780,000 shots being sent to states this week were delayed by shipping and regulatory hurdles. They sat for weeks in storage in Denmark as U.S. regulators finished inspecting and certifying the facility where they were manufactured.
California state Sen. Scott Wiener, who belongs to the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, called the additional vaccines “significant.” But he added: “Of course, it’s not enough, and we know that we’re going to be getting millions more doses over the remainder of this year and into next year, which is not soon enough in terms of actually containing this outbreak.”
Georgia’s health department hasn’t had to postpone any second doses, but spokeswoman Nancy Nydam said: “Demand is still very high. Every time a health department or other provider opens appointments or slots at an event, they are taken up in a matter of minutes.”
___
Associated Press writer Andrew Selsky in Salem, Oregon, and Mike Stobbe in New York contributed to this story. | https://www.wrtv.com/news/national/under-fire-us-officials-say-monkeypox-can-still-be-stopped | 2022-07-28T20:31:20Z | https://www.wrtv.com/news/national/under-fire-us-officials-say-monkeypox-can-still-be-stopped | false |
Unlike most other states, Illinois doesn’t have to find a unique solution to its energy challenges—it already has one: The historic Climate & Equitable Jobs Act, or CEJA.
CEJA gives Illinois reason for optimism, despite our nation’s energy struggles. The bipartisan law passed by the General Assembly in 2021 makes the state a national leader on forward-thinking clean energy policy, and that provides Illinois with an important competitive advantage. More and more companies are seeking to have a presence in states that promote clean energy. Just look at how many Fortune 500 companies tout their decarbonization goals.
Plus, our history of reasonable electric bills just adds to Illinois’ attractiveness. Don’t forget that in the 1990s, Illinois had the highest power bills in the Midwest, but for nearly the last decade we’ve had the lowest in the region and among the lowest in the entire country. Affordable, carbon-free electricity is a major selling point.
Which brings us to today: Coal plant closures have prompted the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, or MISO, the grid manager for central and southern Illinois and about a dozen other states, to raise the distant possibility of controlled outages if they can’t keep up with demand.
Some fossil fuel interests have tried to blame CEJA for these problems in an attempt to push state lawmakers to revisit (and weaken) Illinois’ landmark clean energy legislation. But recent history leaves their coal arguments up in smoke.
Coal plants have been closing for years, long before CEJA. Eighteen facilities announced their closing in the 11 years before passage of the law because they couldn’t compete in the market with cheaper renewables and natural gas plants. MISO officials had ample opportunity to prepare for these developments, but they fell short in planning. And things worsened exponentially thanks to the whims of the market, volatile climate change-induced weather and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Blaming a law passed less than a year ago for problems that have been years in the making is just a smokescreen by lobbyists looking to prop up old, inefficient gas and coal plants—which are the very reason for the crisis Illinois consumers now face. Those who argue that building more natural gas plants is the solution haven’t spoken to the consumers who have been paying outrageous gas bills for more than a year now. “I have not used any more service, but the bill gets bigger and bigger,” one gas customer told us this year. “This is outrageous and unacceptable.”
On the other hand, CEJA is already providing relief for many energy customers in Illinois. A consumer protection provision in the nuclear power part of the law has secured a significant credit for ComEd customers in the event of skyrocketing energy prices, like we’re experiencing now. This summer, ComEd customers are seeing an $18 average monthly credit on bills, lowering total electricity costs by about $1 billion over the next year.
Just as important, CEJA expands the state’s long-term infrastructure to generate affordable, reliable, consistent electricity service, focusing on cheaper, cleaner fuels like wind, solar and nuclear to fill the void left behind by fossil fuels. In MISO territory alone, there are currently 6,000 megawatts of untapped renewable energy capacity awaiting approval from Ameren and/or MISO for integration into the grid. It’s high time those projects get approved.
These are challenging times for energy customers, but times like this are exactly why we pushed for CEJA. Reopening the law and messing with its provisions would be a huge step backward. This is no time to pull back from CEJA. It’s time to implement it as fast as possible. Illinois faces a crisis sparked by dirty energy, and CEJA offers the solution by providing affordable options for Illinois consumers. | https://www.chicagobusiness.com/crains-forum-energy/dirty-energy-sparked-crisis-illinois-now-faces-opinion | 2022-07-28T20:31:28Z | https://www.chicagobusiness.com/crains-forum-energy/dirty-energy-sparked-crisis-illinois-now-faces-opinion | true |
The Momentus Capital family of companies is a founding member of the new coalition dedicated to addressing economic disparities and accelerating economic opportunities.
ARLINGTON, Va. and SAN DIEGO, July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Momentus Capital is honored to serve as one of the founding members of newly created Economic Opportunity Coalition (EOC).
Vice President Kamala Harris announced today historic efforts to catalyze and align both public and private investments — including formation of the new EOC — to address economic disparities and accelerate economic opportunity in communities of color and other underserved communities.
The EOC is made up of 23 companies and foundations, including 14 companies ranked in the Fortune 500. Their goal is to focus commitments in a few areas that will move the needle — aligning their major investments in communities of color with investments made by the Biden-Harris Administration.
"Momentus Capital is uniquely positioned to serve a significant role representing mission-driven financial institutions on the Economic Opportunity Coalition," said Ellis Carr, president and CEO of the Momentus Capital family of companies, which includes Capital Impact Partners, CDC Small Business Finance, and Ventures Lending Technologies. "Our team has extensive experience with small business and community development, and the ability to offer a continuum of capital at every growth stage to support economic mobility and wealth creation."
"We are thankful to the Biden-Harris Administration for its support of the Economic Opportunity Coalition. Working together in this public-private partnership will help create social and economic justice in disinvested communities," Mr. Carr added. "This coalition will bolster the work that Momentus Capital is doing to provide communities with the opportunities they deserve to succeed and thrive. We can accomplish much more, and much faster, by combining our efforts strategically than we would by acting separately."
The founding members of the EOC include Ariel Investments, Bank of America, BNY Mellon, Capital One, Citi, Discover, Ford Foundation, Goldman Sachs, Google, Key Bank, Kresge Foundation, Mastercard, McDonald's, McKinsey & Company, Micron, Momentus Capital, Moody's, Netflix, PayPal, PNC, The Rockefeller Foundation, TIAA, and Upstart.
The EOC will coordinate across public, private and social sector organizations. It will develop and deploy products that solve challenges in getting resources where they are needed most, and it will drive toward outcomes for meaningful action.
The coalition members have made significant commitments across each of the four focus areas, including a number of investments since the group formed earlier this year:
- Investing in community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and minority depository institutions (MDIs)
- Supporting entrepreneurship and minority-owned businesses
- Expanding inclusive and equitable access to credit and other financial services facilitating financial health
- Making infrastructure investments that create more community wealth
These commitments, which represent only a small fraction of total commitments from the EOC, show the immense resources these founding members bring to the table, but they acknowledge they must do more.
Over the coming months, the EOC will build on investments the Biden-Harris Administration has made and develop new solutions that reimagine how capital, technology, and talent are deployed in underserved communities. They will be built with and for the community, leveraging existing strengths and assets to address the root causes of economic inequality.
The Momentus Capital family of companies is already working to transform how investments and capital flow into communities. This includes:
- Financial capital: a range of flexible debt and equity products to meet Momentus Capital's partners' needs, as well as access to new markets and potential investors
- Knowledge capital: business advising, assistance, and training to develop the skills and insights that can help partners advance their enterprises
- Social capital: connections to networks and people that can help Momentus Capital's partners succeed
Among the recent programs and initiatives from the Momentus Capital family of companies:
- Launching an Impact Investing group to jumpstart growth-stage businesses that will impact their communities. Equity investments make up less than 2% of CDFI portfolios in the United States. This will fill a crucial gap for companies like this that need more than traditional debt products.
- Coming Soon! Momentus Capital is developing a first-of-its kind mission-driven investment bank to better connect investors with community organizations through community-centric securities offerings.
- Activate Detroit, a new loan product that is empowering Black entrepreneurs by focusing on character-based evaluations, rather than credit scores.
- Impower, which helps business owners who have been denied a commercial real estate loan, assisting them with the opportunity to build wealth, create jobs and stay in the communities they serve.
- The Equitable Development Initiative, Housing Equity Accelerator Fellowship, and Growing Diverse Housing Developers, all of which provide training, mentorship, connections, and pathways to financing for developers of color, helping them overcome racial barriers and systemic issues.
- Expanding access to Ventures+, a proprietary loan processing and portfolio management tool that has become one of the top resources for small business and community lenders. This has helped other local lenders create an impact in their communities by providing access to high-level services they would otherwise be unlikely to manage on their own.
Leveraging 80 years of combined experience, a portfolio of nearly $3 billion, and strong community engagement, the Momentus Capital family of companies has delivered more than $23 billion in financing, created and preserved 250,000 jobs, and served 12,000 small businesses and five million people across their history.
More information is available on the Momentus Capital fact sheet (PDF).
Momentus Capital is transforming how capital and investments flow into communities to provide people access to the capital and opportunities they deserve.
Through our family of mission-driven organizations including Capital Impact Partners, CDC Small Business Finance, and Ventures Lending Technologies, we are working to reinvent traditional financial systems that have failed to address systemic issues of inequality, economic empowerment, and the widening racial wealth gap.
Each organization under the Momentus Capital brand will continue operating as a separate entity committed to serving its key market and clients, albeit with additional resources and product offerings.
We offer a continuum of financial, knowledge, and social capital to help local leaders build inclusive and equitable communities and create generational wealth. This includes a comprehensive package of loan products, impact investment opportunities, training and business advising programs, and technology services that advance locally-led solutions.
Leveraging 80 years of combined experience, a portfolio of nearly $3 billion, and strong community engagement, the family of companies has delivered more than $23 billion in financing, created and preserved 250,000 jobs, and served 12,000 small businesses and five million people across their history.
With headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, and San Diego, California, Momentus Capital operates nationally with a focus on larger urban areas and cities in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Texas, and Washington, D.C.
Learn more at momentuscap.org.
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SOURCE Momentus Capital | https://www.wbay.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/momentus-capital-commends-biden-harris-administration-supporting-economic-opportunity-coalition-committing-address-economic-disparities-communities-color/ | 2022-07-28T20:32:10Z | https://www.wbay.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/momentus-capital-commends-biden-harris-administration-supporting-economic-opportunity-coalition-committing-address-economic-disparities-communities-color/ | false |
July 29, 2022
BY STEVE DANIELS
When Gov. J.B. Pritzker, state lawmakers and other supporters gathered on Chicago's lakefront on a beautiful September day last year to sign the landmark Climate & Equitable Jobs Act, the wholesale price of electricity the previous summer had averaged a nicely affordable $45.50 per megawatt-hour.
As they made speeches on their achievement, the gathering had no idea that just a few months later, everything in the power markets would change, thanks to an unexpected war in Ukraine and surging natural gas prices. This summer, peak power prices averaged $113—2.5 times more—through mid-July with no relief in sight, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Along with many other assumptions that guided Pritzker and state lawmakers in 2021 as they negotiated a path to a carbon-free power-generation industry in Illinois, the belief that natural gas prices would remain low—and thus power prices tied to gas costs also would stay affordable—proved illusory. Add to that the warnings since then of future summer brownouts in central and southern Illinois due to coal-fired power plants that are shutting faster than grid managers expected, and Illinois no longer can snicker at archrival Texas and its continuing struggle to keep the lights on as weather gets more extreme.
Associated Press
Gov. J.B. Pritzker signs the Climate & Equitable Jobs Act on Sept. 15, 2021, in Chicago.
Energy costs and reliability that once were the envy of other states are no longer a bragging point for Illinois. For decades, central and southern Illinois was awash in electricity generated by coal-fired plants. Likewise, in the Chicago area, the greatest concentration of nuclear power anywhere in the country ensured more than enough juice.
The new reality is creating headaches for the architects of CEJA. The law is aimed at transforming the state's energy sources, shifting to an economy powered by nuclear plants, wind farms and solar installations coupled with batteries that can store energy when the weather isn't cooperating, and, in the future, hydrogen-fueled plants that don't emit the carbon natural gas does.
How can you support journalism projects like this one? Subscribe to Crain's Chicago Business here.
But the act sets strict rules to reduce greenhouse emissions—caused in large measure by burning fossil fuels and tied directly to climate change that scientists say threatens many populated parts of the world—en route to a carbon-free power industry. With fears growing that parts of Illinois could get caught short on supply during this interim period, important actors in the state's energy industry are calling on Pritzker to reopen parts of CEJA to provide more flexibility. | https://www.chicagobusiness.com/crains-forum-energy/illinois-landmark-climate-act-energy-prices-coal | 2022-07-28T20:32:19Z | https://www.chicagobusiness.com/crains-forum-energy/illinois-landmark-climate-act-energy-prices-coal | false |
(WDAF/NEXSTAR) – Choco Taco fans were devastated earlier this week when Klondike announced it planned to stop selling the novelty ice cream product.
While some are scrambling to get their hands on just one more frozen summer treat, others are hoping to make some money off Klondike’s decision to discontinue the ice cream truck mainstay.
One woman, from Kansas City, Missouri, posted an ad on Airtasker. She said she would pay $150 for one of the final boxes of Choco Tacos around. They must be unopened and unmelted, and she’d also like “a box of tissues so we can cry” over the demise of the Choco Taco.
If you haven’t heard of Airtasker, it’s a website that allows people to post everyday tasks or chores. Other members then bid to complete the task and are paid for the job.
Bids have already been made on the job, with one person vowing to secure a box, “even if it takes running around the city. If there’s any left in KC, I’ll find them.”
Meantime, on auction sites like eBay, prices of Choco Tacos have reached dizzying highs.
As of Thursday, there were multiple listings of $1,000 or more for between two and 6 Choco Tacos, none of which were in their original box. For the lofty price, dry ice will be included to keep them frozen, the sellers advertised.
One listing hoped to excite the imagination with the description: “Sealed Klondike Choco Taco Shipped with Dry Ice – frozen GOLD.”
While there didn’t appear to be much interest at those valuations, a box of 22 garnered multiple bids and was already at $232.50 with seven days remaining in the auction.
While some held out hope that the loss of the Choco Taco might just be a mean-spirited publicity stunt, Klondike appears to be holding firm despite outside efforts to intervene.
The multi-millionaire co-founder of Reddit offered to buy the rights to Choco Taco, while Democratic Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy suggested using the Defense Production Act to ensure the frozen treat’s survival.
On Thursday, Klondike tweeted:
I want to address the rumors: I’m really being discontinued, it’s not a PR stunt. I knew you loved me, but not THIS much. While I reflect on this outpouring of support, we are discussing next steps, including what to do with the last 912 (we counted) tacos at HQ. Stay tuned… | https://www.binghamtonhomepage.com/news/national-news/frozen-gold-choco-taco-prices-soar-on-resale-market/ | 2022-07-28T20:33:42Z | https://www.binghamtonhomepage.com/news/national-news/frozen-gold-choco-taco-prices-soar-on-resale-market/ | false |
More heavy rain possible, Flood Watch continues through Friday night
HAZARD, Ky. (WYMT) - After last night, we continue to stay on high alert for the possibility for more heavy rain which could lead to more flooding. Continue to stay weather aware.
Tonight
We continue to stay under a moderate risk (3 out of 4) for excessive rainfall, so continue to be vigilant. It would not take much more in areas that were hard hit last night to call more issues. Scattered chances for showers and storms will be around throughout the night. Rain could be heavy at times and we could even see some storms. Have a way to get weather alerts fast, like the WYMT weather app. Lows drop to around 70.
Extended Forecast
More heavy rain is on the table for Friday, but that should be the last day. The stalled out front will start to move out and give us some much-needed relief, not only from the rain, but from the heat. Temperatures will only top out around 80 and it will gradually feel cooler. The Flood Watch continues across the region until 8 p.m. Skies will gradually clear from the rain and some clouds by late Friday night as lows drop into the mid-60s.
Saturday looks drier, cooler and we might even see some late-day sunshine. Highs will again top out around 80.
Copyright 2022 WYMT. All rights reserved. | https://www.wymt.com/2022/07/28/more-heavy-rain-possible-flood-watch-continues-through-friday-night/ | 2022-07-28T20:34:04Z | https://www.wymt.com/2022/07/28/more-heavy-rain-possible-flood-watch-continues-through-friday-night/ | false |
Boasting resort-style amenities and trail access, apartments are anticipated to open in the second half of 2023
GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo., July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Century Communities, Inc. (NYSE: CCS), a top 10 national homebuilder and industry leader in online sales, announced that Century Living—the Company's fast-growing national multifamily division—has broken ground on its 227-unit Verona Apartments project in Highlands Ranch, CO.
Steps from the Highline Canal Trail network and adjacent to major arterial roadways—allowing easy access to Denver's largest employment hubs and the broader metro—the project will feature lavish amenities, thoughtful apartment interiors with smart home features, balconies on all units, plus select units with scenic views of the mountains. The multifamily development is anticipated to open and begin lease-up in the second half of 2023.
Learn more about Century Living at www.LiveCentury.com.
"With this project, we're continuing to build on our mission of delivering high-quality multi-family developments with exceptional livability," said Jim Francescon, President of Century Living. "Verona's prime location and resort-style amenities reflect our commitment to a best-in-class, full-lifestyle experience for renters in the Denver Metro area."
UNITS:
- 120 1BR units
- 78 2BR units
- 29 3BR units
- Average unit size: 1,033 square feet
AMENITIES:
- 71-mile trail network
- 25-yard lap pool and spa
- Resort-style fitness center
- Private work pods
- Outdoor kitchen
- Rooftop deck
- Expansive 4,500-square-foot dog park
- Managed Wi-Fi
About Century Communities
Century Communities, Inc. (NYSE: CCS) is a top 10 national homebuilder, offering new homes under the Century Communities and Century Complete brands. Century is engaged in all aspects of homebuilding — including the acquisition, entitlement and development of land, along with the construction, innovative marketing and sale of quality homes designed to appeal to a wide range of homebuyers. The Colorado-based company operates in 17 states and over 45 markets across the U.S., and also offers title, insurance and lending services in select markets through its Parkway Title, IHL Home Insurance Agency, and Inspire Home Loans subsidiaries. To learn more about Century Communities, please visit www.centurycommunities.com.
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SOURCE Century Communities, Inc. | https://www.dakotanewsnow.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/century-living-announces-227-unit-verona-apartment-project-highlands-ranch-co/ | 2022-07-28T20:36:47Z | https://www.dakotanewsnow.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/century-living-announces-227-unit-verona-apartment-project-highlands-ranch-co/ | false |
WFO LUBBOCK Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Thursday, July 28, 2022
_____
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Lubbock TX
246 PM CDT Thu Jul 28 2022
...SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT FOR LANDSPOUTS REPORTED IN THE
VICINITY OF LUBBOCK...
At 241 PM...the National Weather Service in Lubbock received
reports of visible dust whirls under towering cumulus clouds
several miles south and southwest of Lubbock. On occasion, these
dust whirls may extend upward from the ground into a tube and
connect with the cloud to form a landspout. A landspout is a
tornado of short duration and winds generally less than 60 mph
which can cause minor damage and injuries in the direct path of
its circulation...akin to a strong dust devil. If you observe a
landspout, take shelter in a sturdy building. Additional
landspouts can be expected through the remainder of the afternoon
across much of the South Plains region.
_____
Copyright 2022 AccuWeather | https://www.darientimes.com/weather/article/TX-WFO-LUBBOCK-Warnings-Watches-and-Advisories-17336060.php | 2022-07-28T20:37:37Z | https://www.darientimes.com/weather/article/TX-WFO-LUBBOCK-Warnings-Watches-and-Advisories-17336060.php | false |
BREA, Calif., July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Envista Holdings Corporation ("Envista") announced today an extension and expansion of their commercial partnership with dentalcorp Holdings Ltd., Canada's largest DSO, network of dental practices.
Since dentalcorp's founding in 2011, Nobel Biocare, an Envista company, and dentalcorp have invested resources to expand implant treatment capabilities to each of dentalcorp's 500+ supported practices. Together, Nobel Biocare and dentalcorp have trained hundreds of clinicians and created a network that offers the latest tooth replacement solutions from Nobel Biocare. This partnership extension further strengthens dentalcorp's ability to provide the highest quality of care to its patients.
Amir Aghdaei, CEO Envista, said, "We are thrilled to be dentalcorp's preferred dental implant provider. Implants are one of the fastest growing segments in dentistry and dentalcorp is a well-respected and growing provider of dental implant treatments. We look forward to strengthening our partnership with this leading DSO. dentalcorp's focus on supporting clinicians at every step in their professional career aligns well with Envista's purpose of partnering with dental professionals to improve lives. This partnership further accelerates our journey to digitize, personalize, and democratize the dental industry.
"Patients are looking for more specialized care from their trusted oral health care provider and Nobel Biocare is a leading innovator of implant-based dental restorations," says Guy Amini, President, dentalcorp. "Our teams work every day to advance every aspect of our patients' oral health and well-being and when looking at implant partners, Nobel Biocare stood out for its delivery of next-level support with an unmatched commitment to our success."
Through this partnership, Nobel Biocare will offer unparalleled support to dentalcorp's network of over 1,500 dentists, will help enable dentalcorp's fast-paced expansion, and will improve access to best-in-class dental implant treatment services for Canadians.
Envista is a global family of more than 30 trusted dental brands, including Nobel Biocare, Ormco, DEXIS, and Kerr united by a shared purpose: to partner with professionals to improve lives. Envista helps its customers deliver the best possible patient care through industry-leading dental consumables, solutions, technology, and services. Our comprehensive portfolio, including dental implants and treatment options, orthodontics, and digital imaging technologies, covers a wide range of dentists' clinical needs for diagnosing, treating, and preventing dental conditions as well as improving the aesthetics of the human smile. With a foundation comprised of the proven Envista Business System (EBS) methodology, an experienced leadership team, and a strong culture grounded in continuous improvement, commitment to innovation, and deep customer focus, Envista is well equipped to meet the end-to-end needs of dental professionals worldwide. Envista is one of the largest global dental products companies, with significant market positions in some of the most attractive segments of the dental products industry. For more information, please visit www.envistaco.com.
About Nobel Biocare
Part of the Envista family, Nobel Biocare is a world leader in the field of innovative implant-based dental restorations. Our goal is to empower dental professionals to give quality of life back to their patients.
This philosophy is built on over 65 years of continuous innovation, all stemming from Per-Ingvar Brånemark's ground-breaking discovery of osseointegration in 1952. Since then, we've helped our customers treat millions of patients with our science-backed and forward-looking solutions. Nobel Biocare supports its customers through all phases of professional development, offering world-class training and education along with practice support and patient information materials. The company is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. Production takes place at four sites located in the United States, Sweden and Japan. Products and services are available in over 80 countries through subsidiaries and distributors.
Our company's portfolio offers solutions from single tooth to fully edentulous indications with dental implant systems (including key brands NobelActive and NobelParallel and ceramic implant NobelPearl*) a comprehensive range of high-precision individualized prosthetics and CAD/CAM systems (NobelProcera), digital solutions for treatment planning and guided surgery (NobelClinician and DTX Studio suite) as well as biomaterials.
About dentalcorp
dentalcorp is Canada's largest and one of North America's fastest-growing network of dental practices, committed to advancing the overall well-being of Canadians by delivering the best clinical outcomes and unforgettable experiences. dentalcorp acquires leading dental practices, uniting its network in a common goal: to be Canada's most trusted healthcare network. Leveraging its industry-leading technology, know-how and scale, dentalcorp offers professionals the unique opportunity to retain their clinical autonomy while unlocking their potential for future growth. To learn more, visit dentalcorp.ca
Contact
Stephen Keller
Vice President, Investor Relations
Envista Holdings Corporation
200 S. Kraemer Blvd., Building E
Brea, CA 92821
Telephone: (714) 817-7000
Fax: (714) 817-5450
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SOURCE Envista Holdings Corporation | https://www.wibw.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/envista-dentalcorp-announce-strategic-implant-partnership/ | 2022-07-28T20:38:11Z | https://www.wibw.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/envista-dentalcorp-announce-strategic-implant-partnership/ | false |
Like a mob hit – the passing of a generation of movie gangsters
Like a mob hit – the passing of a generation of movie gangsters
At the outset of The Godfather, in a room shrouded in shadow, a stricken Sicilian undertaker whose daughter has been brutalized, kisses the hand of Marlon Brando's Don Corleone, asking for justice in a way the Don has indicated he must.
In the background of the shot, not yet in focus either as a character or as an actor, but listening intently to Brando, is James Caan playing Sonny, the Corleone family's heir apparent.
"Someday," says Brando's don to the undertaker." And that day might never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me."
Many months later, Sonny — having long since come into focus as hot-headed, impulsive and violent — lies shredded by bullets on a mortuary slab, and "someday" has come.
"I want you to use all your powers and all your skills," the Don tells the undertaker, seeking one last comfort for his son. "I don't want his mother to see him this way."
Then his voice breaks. "Look how they massacred my boy."
In the gangster flicks of an earlier era, nearly always told from the moralistic viewpoint of the authorities, this scene wouldn't exist. In 1972, The Godfather changed the formula. It asked us to identify not with the law, but with the Mafiosi.
A new template: realistic gangsters
Actually, it went further: It asked us to feel for the Mafiosi. And we did. When mobsters died in The Godfather, audiences wept.
And the actors who played those mobsters became identified with them in ways that earlier actors — say, Jimmy Cagney, who played tough guys in The Public Enemy, The Roaring Twenties, White Heat, Angels with Dirty Faces and a dozen other films — never did.
Of course, given the artificiality of gangster flicks in the 1930s and '40s, it made sense that no one would confuse Cagney with the tough guys he played, any more than he'd be confused with Broadway showman George M. Cohan when he played him in Yankee Doodle Dandy.
But shortly after The Godfather made him a bankable star, James Caan got turned down when he tried to join a country club because its members so believed his performance, they thought that like Sonny, he was a "made man."
"I'm not even Italian," he told them, "I'm Jewish." Didn't matter. And with The Godfather ushering in a new realism in mob movies, Caan wasn't alone.
Ray Liotta, who exploded to stardom when he played the young lead in Martin Scorsese's GoodFellas, also struggled to avoid typecasting, going so far as to refuse a major role in The Sopranos (though he relented many years later, taking a part in last year's Sopranos movie prequel The Many Saints of Newark).
Paul Sorvino, who played Paulie, Liotta's quietly thuggish mentor in GoodFellas, faced a similar struggle. Though he was an opera singer, a poet, and a deft comic actor, he got stuck in the public mind as a tough guy. He ended up playing mob bosses repeatedly over the next three decades, including as recently as last year in television's Godfather of Harlem.
And the once-a-gangster-always-a-gangster problem didn't just apply to featured players. Quite a few of Sorvino's GoodFellas henchmen found steady employment with suburban mafioso Tony Soprano a decade later, including Paul Herman who played Beansie Gaeta, and Tony Sirico who played Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri.
As the Mafia recedes, so must its interpreters
Still, this wave of modern mafia epics was just that — a wave. And it crested with the six seasons of The Sopranos almost two decades ago. There are still occasional mob stories with Italian faces being produced. But in recent years, a more egalitarian Hollywood has turned its attention to African-American anti-heroes, Asian cyber-criminals and drug cartels from Latin America. And as the Mafia recedes, so, eventually, must its interpreters.
All five of these actors – Caan, Liotta, Sorvino, Herman, and Sirico — were still robust and working at the start of this year. Now, in the space of just a few months, they're gone — which is perhaps unsurprising in actuarial terms, but still comes as a shock. We tend to freeze actors in the roles we best remember. Caan, for instance, was in his early 30s — young and vital — when he made The Godfather.
But it's now a half-century later. Liotta was in his 30s, Sorvino, Sirico and Herman were in their 40s and 50s when GoodFellas premiered and that's 32 years ago. We remember them all at their peak, which makes their loss feel like the passing of a generation.
It happens to every genre — the great silent comedians, the tap-dancing musical stars of the 1930s and '40s, the cowpokes and lawmen who rode a Cinemascope range in the 1950s. There will come a time — one hopes, many decades from now — when audiences will mourn the passing of a generation of superheroes.
But this crowd is the one we're losing now: the mobsters we unexpectedly — and against all our better instincts — came to care about. | https://www.npr.org/2022/07/28/1114209264/like-a-mob-hit-the-passing-of-a-generation-of-movie-gangsters | 2022-07-28T20:39:46Z | https://www.npr.org/2022/07/28/1114209264/like-a-mob-hit-the-passing-of-a-generation-of-movie-gangsters | false |
High school football player dies during team outing; family hires attorney for answers
AKRON, Ohio (WOIO/Gray News) - The family of a 14-year-old boy who drowned during a football team outing wants answers about what happened.
WOIO reports Toshaye Pope was a player on the Ellet High School football team when the group went swimming at Melanie Lake on July 21.
Authorities said the 14-year-old’s body was pulled from the lake. He later died at the Akron Children’s Hospital on July 23.
Toshaye’s family said they have since hired attorney Allen Tittle to investigate whether the safety rules were followed by all involved in the incident.
Tittle said the school did not inform Toshaye’s parents about the swimming outing at the lake until they received a call from law enforcement as he was being rushed to the hospital.
Tittle released the following statement on behalf of the family: “The family is heartbroken and in grief because of the loss of their son. This young man was the kind of son every parent would hope for; he was a scholar-athlete with a positive personality that could light up the room. The family is devastated.”
According to school officials, Toshaye was an incoming freshman at the Akron Early College High School and was allowed to play for Ellet High School because the early college school did not have a football team.
“The Akron Public Schools family is saddened by the news of the passing of this young man, and there has begun an inquiry into just what happened. We are offering grief counseling and ask for prayers for the family,” Akron Public Schools Superintendent Christine Fowler Mack said.
Copyright 2022 WOIO via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.kswo.com/2022/07/28/high-school-football-player-dies-during-team-outing-family-hires-attorney-answers/ | 2022-07-28T20:40:20Z | https://www.kswo.com/2022/07/28/high-school-football-player-dies-during-team-outing-family-hires-attorney-answers/ | true |
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A Charlotte woman has pleaded guilty to charges that she sold unapproved drugs on her website that claimed to be remedies and treatments for COVID-19, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
U.S. Attorney Jane E. Young said in a news release that Diana Daffin, 69, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to selling unapproved drugs with the intent to defraud or mislead the Food and Drug Administration.
Court documents and statements made in court showed that in March 2020, the FDA learned that she was selling unapproved drugs on her website. In April and August of that year, the FDA sent Daffin warnings asking her to correct the violation.
Although she told the FDA that she removed the products from her website and would stop distributing them, she continued to do so and took steps to defraud and mislead the agency, a news release said.
In February 2021, Daffin sold an undercover law enforcement officer a product advertised as a drug that could cure, mitigate, treat, and prevent COVID-19 in humans. Daffin later sold and shipped that drug and other unapproved drugs to the undercover agent, according to prosecutors.
Daffin is scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 2. | https://abc11.com/woman-pleads-guilty-selling-unapproved-drugs-charlotte-fake-covid-remedy/12079555/ | 2022-07-28T20:41:05Z | https://abc11.com/woman-pleads-guilty-selling-unapproved-drugs-charlotte-fake-covid-remedy/12079555/ | true |
W.Va. House passes income tax bill
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - The West Virginia House of Delegates on Thursday passed a bill that would reduce income taxes by 10% for state residents.
House Bill 301 passed by a 78-7 vote with 15 members absent, according to a spokeswoman with the House.
The measure now goes to the state Senate for consideration.
Lawmakers have met in a special session this week to consider both the income tax bill and a measure to update abortion laws, which is also in the Senate’s hands after the House passed that bill Wednesday.
Gov. Jim Justice had called for the special session to consider both issues.
Keep checking the WSAZ app for the latest.
For previous coverage:
Abortion, income tax bills pass committees in W.Va. Legislature’s special session
Copyright 2022 WSAZ. All rights reserved. | https://www.wsaz.com/2022/07/28/wva-house-passes-income-tax-bill/ | 2022-07-28T20:41:39Z | https://www.wsaz.com/2022/07/28/wva-house-passes-income-tax-bill/ | false |
All media inquiries should be directed to legal counsel
PITTSBURGH, July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Brandon Fink, the father of 5-year old Khaleesi Fink who was tragically killed in a motor vehicle collision that occurred in Ashland, Wisconsin on July 22, 2022 involving a vehicle operated by Senator Janet Bewley, has authorized the following statement to be released by his attorneys from the law firms of Edgar Snyder & Associates, LLC, based in Pennsylvania, and Gruber Law Offices, based in Wisconsin:
"We are deeply saddened by the death of our beloved Khali, who was only 5-years old. She had a smile that could light up even the darkest of rooms, and a laugh that was contagious. She was even awarded 'Most Infectious Laugh' from her Pre-School Class. We want to thank everyone for the support we've received during this period of grief, and for remembering her for the joy that she brought the world. However, we are requesting privacy during this difficult time to allow our family to grieve."
The family has asked that all media inquiries be directed to Attorney Christine Zaremski-Young of Edgar Snyder & Associates, LLC.
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SOURCE Edgar Snyder | https://www.weau.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/family-accident-victim-requests-privacy/ | 2022-07-28T20:42:38Z | https://www.weau.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/family-accident-victim-requests-privacy/ | true |
Several female inmates in Indiana have filed a federal lawsuit alleging they were attacked by male prisoners after a Clark County jail guard sold a key to their jail cells.
The Washington Post reports that at least 28 women are suing Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel and then-corrections officer David Lowe for allegedly allowing male inmates to attack them on Oct. 24.
According to the lawsuit, the male prisoners allegedly raped, exposed their genitals, yelled obscenities, and groped the women.
The lawsuit alleges that two male inmates paid Lowe $1,000 in exchange for access the women's cells, Newsweek reported.
The Post and WDRB reported that Lowe was fired and charged days after the alleged attacks.
According to the news outlets, Lowe was charged with felony official misconduct, helping an inmate escape, and trafficking with an inmate.
His trial is slated to begin sometime in September, WDRB reported. | https://www.kbzk.com/news/national/several-indiana-female-inmates-attacked-after-guard-sold-keys-to-their-cells-lawsuit-alleges | 2022-07-28T20:44:22Z | https://www.kbzk.com/news/national/several-indiana-female-inmates-attacked-after-guard-sold-keys-to-their-cells-lawsuit-alleges | true |
BOZEMAN – A very hot and mostly dry pattern is setting up Friday through Monday over most of Montana and across the entire region. Temperatures could reach the low to mid 90’s with a few upper 90’s locally.
Please be extremely careful with all outdoor activities this weekend with the extreme heat and try not to overexert yourself during the hottest times of the day.
The other minor issue that we are watching is for isolated mostly dry thunderstorms to develop Friday afternoon over SW Montana mostly over surrounding mountain ranges. This could prompt a red flag warning Friday afternoon, look for updates Friday morning with Matt Elwell.
A Red Flag Warning has been issued for the Salmon, ID area with the possibility for isolated dry thunderstorms over central Idaho through 10 pm Thursday night.
Most of the Pacific NW is dealing with triple digit heat again today and there are widespread heat advisories and excessive heat warnings for that region through Saturday evening.
Far western and NW counties of Montana area also now under a Heat Advisory through midnight Sunday with temperatures forecast to reach the 95 to 105 degree range.
Thursday fire update starting with the largest fire in our region the Moose Fire north of Salmon, ID. This fire is now burned over 40,000 acres and is only 15% contained. The Hog Trough Fire report has not changed in days, so the latest information is the same as yesterday at 587 acres. The Clover Fire burning in the Gravelly Range south of Ennis has grown to almost 800 acres and is 13% contained. | https://www.kbzk.com/weather/extreme-heat-in-the-forecast-through-monday | 2022-07-28T20:44:40Z | https://www.kbzk.com/weather/extreme-heat-in-the-forecast-through-monday | true |
LEXINGTON, Mass., July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Curis, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRIS), a biotechnology company focused on the development of innovative therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, today announced that the Company will release its second quarter 2022 financial results on Thursday, August 4, 2022, after the close of U.S. markets. Management will host a conference call on the same day at 4:30 pm ET.
To access the live conference call, please dial (888) 346-6389 from the United States or (412) 317-5252 from other locations, shortly before 4:30 pm ET. The conference call can also be accessed on the Curis website at www.curis.com in the 'Investors' section. A replay of the financial results conference call will be available on the Curis website shortly after completion of the call.
Curis is a biotechnology company focused on the development of innovative therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. In 2015, Curis entered into a collaboration with Aurigene in the areas of immuno-oncology and precision oncology. As part of this collaboration, Curis has exclusive licenses to oral small molecule antagonists of immune checkpoints including the VISTA/PDL1 antagonist CA-170, and the TIM3/PDL1 antagonist CA-327, as well as the IRAK4 kinase inhibitor, emavusertib (CA-4948). Emavusertib is currently undergoing testing in the Phase 1/2 TakeAim Lymphoma trial, in patients with hematologic malignancies, such as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and other B cell malignancies, both as a monotherapy and in combination with BTK inhibitor ibrutinib, and the Phase 1/2 TakeAim Leukemia trial in patients with acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome, for which it has received Orphan Drug Designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA has placed a partial clinical hold on the TakeAim Leukemia and TakeAim Lymphoma trials during which no new patients will be enrolled, and current study participants benefiting from treatment may continue to be treated with emavusertib at doses of 300mg BID or lower. In addition, Curis is engaged in a collaboration with ImmuNext for development of CI-8993, a monoclonal anti-VISTA antibody, which is currently undergoing testing in a Phase 1 trial in patients with solid tumors. Curis is also party to a collaboration with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, under which Genentech and Roche are commercializing Erivedge® for the treatment of advanced basal cell carcinoma.
For more information, visit Curis's website at www.curis.com.
For further information:
Craig West
VP, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
Curis, Inc.
617-503-6507
cwest@curis.com
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SOURCE Curis, Inc. | https://www.wagmtv.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/curis-release-second-quarter-2022-financial-results-hold-conference-call-august-4-2022/ | 2022-07-28T20:45:50Z | https://www.wagmtv.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/curis-release-second-quarter-2022-financial-results-hold-conference-call-august-4-2022/ | true |
JAVA, N.Y. (WIVB) – An EF-2 tornado with wind speeds up to 115 mph touched down Thursday morning in Wyoming County, the National Weather Service said in its preliminary report. No injures were reported.
The NWS believes the tornado was on the ground for 15 minutes after touching down in Java, just south of the intersection of Route 78 and Chaffee Road. It had a maximum estimated width of 200 yards and a track length of 10 miles, running on an east-north path to just north of Gainesville.
The tornado touched down at approximately 10:40 a.m. A tornado warning issued for the area expired at 11:15 a.m.
“To repeat, a tornado is on the ground,” the NWS said in an alert at 10:53 a.m. “TAKE COVER NOW!”
The storm collapsed a barn in Java, with the NWS stating that a portion of the structure was thrown 20 to 30 yards away.
Route 78 remained closed between Chaffee Road and Route 36 for much of the day due to downed trees.
Tornados are graded on a scale between EF-0 and EF-5, with 5 being the most severe.
An EF-2 tornado is rare in Western New York. According to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle’s database of New York state tornados, the last EF-2 tornado in the area was the 2017 tornado near the Hamburg Fairgrounds. Before that, there hadn’t been one since 2011.
Thursday’s tornado was the second of the year in Western New York. An EF-0 twister was recorded in Genesee County in April.
If you are able to safely share photos or videos with us, please email reportit@wivb.com. | https://pix11.com/news/ef-2-tornado-touched-down-in-wyoming-county-nws-says/ | 2022-07-28T20:47:40Z | https://pix11.com/news/ef-2-tornado-touched-down-in-wyoming-county-nws-says/ | true |
Our afternoon is about to get loud, rainy and windy as thunderstorms are moving through.
The National Weather Service says strong thunderstorms will impact portions of the Lehigh Valley, including central Lehigh and central Northampton counties, through 4:30 p.m.
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And after that round, we stand a good chance of storms until 7 p.m., according to the forecast. Friday is looking stormy too, mostly after 5 p.m. and through the evening.
This story will be updated. | https://www.mcall.com/news/weather/mc-nws-stormy-weather-coming-20220728-4qzxfd2rkjcrpjcx6kvbwc5abq-story.html | 2022-07-28T20:47:49Z | https://www.mcall.com/news/weather/mc-nws-stormy-weather-coming-20220728-4qzxfd2rkjcrpjcx6kvbwc5abq-story.html | false |
GUADALAJARA, Mexico, July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Betterware de Mexico S.A.P.I. de C.V. (NASDAQ: BWMX), ("Betterware" or the "Company"), announced today its consolidated financial results for the second quarter fiscal year 2022. The figures presented in this report are expressed in nominal Mexican Pesos (Ps.) unless otherwise noted, presented and approved by the Board of Directors, prepared in accordance with IFRS, and may include minor differences due to rounding. The Company will host a conference call at 9:00 am (Eastern Time) on July 29, 2022, to discuss its results for the second quarter of 2022.
Key Highlights of Q2 2022
- Betterware is positioned to continue its history of growth in the future and maintain its hallmarks of high profitability, strong balance sheet and cash flow generation.
- JAFRA acquisition contributes to the Group's revenue growth, profitability and cashflow generation.
- Company introduces guidance inclusive of the acquisition of JAFRA, noting that due to a tougher external environment than anticipated, it expects 2022 net revenues and EBITDA for Betterware de Mexico to be lower than its previous guidance. A revised consolidated guidance for the year, including JAFRA, is released.
Luis G. Campos, Executive Chairman of the Board, stated, "The completion of the acquisition of Jafra on April 7th is instrumental to our future growth plans, as we are now a multi-channel group with unique brands in different product segments, targeting similar consumer profiles and distribution channels in Mexico and the U.S. We are excited about our growth prospects as a group and are confident on our talented team´s ability and defined action plans to capitalize on the opportunities that lie ahead, even in uncertain periods.
The first half of 2022 has presented relevant challenges, with a tougher than expected external environment and increased uncertainty, which negatively impacted our consumers and our associates and distributors. In this context, we continued to advance our key priorities. We stabilized Betterware´s associate and distributor base at approximately 880 thousand and 44 thousand respectively for the last eight weeks, while showing signs of recovery in the last two weeks and maintaining the activity levels, resulting in average weekly sales of more than double of our pre-pandemic comparable period, and we capitalized on opportunities to expand our reach with the successful completion of the JAFRA acquisition. We are confident that this stabilization period, after the extraordinary growth experienced since the pandemic began, is setting the base for future revenue and EBITDA growth in the years to come.
We maintain our focus on our long-term growth opportunities which will allow us to maximize value for all Betterware's stakeholders in the long term."
Luis G. Campos
Executive Chairman of the Board
JAFRA Acquisition
On April 7, 2022, the Company announced the successful completion of the acquisition of 100% of JAFRA's operations in Mexico and the United States, along with JAFRA´s trademark rights worldwide.
JAFRA, a leading company in the beauty and personal care products industry, is a strong and well positioned international brand with access to millions of households in Mexico and in the U.S. through its direct selling business model.
The acquisition provides a unique opportunity for us to enter an attractive and complementary new industry for Betterware, with estimated annual revenues in Mexico and the U.S. of approximately US$100 billion, with the proven experience of JAFRA´s management team.
The transaction, which is expected to be highly accretive for Betterware since its first year adding approximately Ps. 550M to EBITDA in 2022*, was funded primarily by debt, on a debt-free, cash-free basis with a purchase price of US$246M, an attractive valuation even without considering any of the identified cost synergies of between US$10M and US$15M per year.
We are confident in our ability to accelerate JAFRA´s profitable growth by leveraging our scale and infrastructure, by replicating Betterware´s three strategic pillars into JAFRA´s day to day operations.
Consolidated Group
The incorporation of JAFRA allows us to create a multi-channel group with unique brands in different product segments, targeting similar consumer profiles and distribution channels in Mexico and the U.S.
JAFRA and Betterware share the key features that will allow us for continued success going forward:
- Asset-light business models with low CAPEX requirements
- High profitability and high free cash flow generation
- Flexibility to promptly adapt to different market conditions and consumption trends.
Our action plans for each company, described below, have been defined to regain growth and successfully expand our business towards additional international markets, such as the United States in the case of Betterware, and Colombia and Peru in future years in the case of the consolidated group.
All of this will be possible thanks to JAFRA´s and Betterware´s outstanding and experienced management teams, which will remain focused on their respective business, operating as independent companies, supported by the new corporate structure announced in February 2022, which will be overseeing both companies.
Q2 2022 Operating Metrics and Consolidated Results
- Net Revenues
Net revenues for Q2 2022 increased 25% to Ps. 3,242.9M from Ps. 2,594.5M in Q2 2021, mainly explained the inclusion of JAFRA´s net revenues since the acquisition was completed on April 7th, 2022.
Betterware's net revenues reflect the following three factors:
- Back to normal consumption: Shifts in consumption of product categories
- Back to normal activities: Effects of spring vacation, Labor Day, Mother´s Day and Teacher´s Day, which have always temporarily affected sales
- Inflation: impact in the consumers´ disposable income
These three factors resulted in higher-than-average weekly churn rates in our associates and distributors base in Betterware. For the period, on average we had 44.4 thousand distributors, 32% lower than in Q2 2021, and 908.0 thousand associates, 25% lower than in Q2 2021.
These factors also impacted performance in JAFRA, where on average we had 22.4 thousand leaders, 7% lower than in Q2 2021, and 409.7 thousand consultants, 10% lower than in Q2 2021.
- Gross Margin
Gross margin expanded 1,230 bps to 69.1% in Q2 2022 from 56.8% in Q2 2021, mainly due to the incorporation of JAFRA´s operations to our business, reflecting its higher gross margin profile.
Betterware´s Gross margin expanded 41 bps to 57.2% in Q2 2022 from 56.8% in Q2 2021, due to the increase in our product prices of 12% previously announced, efficient cost management and the stabilization of supply chains, which allowed us to offset cost pressures and discounted sales to reduce inventory levels for the quarter.
- EBITDA
For the second quarter of 2022, consolidated EBITDA decreased 20% Year-on-Year to Ps. 595.3M, compared to Ps. 746.0M in Q2 2021, of which Betterware represented Ps. 383.3M of consolidated EBITDA and JAFRA, in turn, Ps. 212.1M.
For Betterware, EBITDA decreased due to the lower revenue and operating leverage relative to the prior year period, as SG&A expenses represented 34.9% of net revenues for Q2 2022, compared to 28.8% of Q2 2021.
Consolidated EBITDA margin contracted 1,039 bps to 18.4% in Q2 2022 compared to 28.8% in Q2 2021, reflecting the incorporation of Jafra into the results, which historically has had a lower EBITDA margin than Betterware, which opens the opportunity for us to improve JAFRA´s cost structure and increase margins in the future.
During the quarter, we cut fixed costs in Betterware to adjust to the new level of revenues going forward which led us to incur in one-time expenses of approximately Ps. 15M related to the restructuring of our workforce, which should positively reflect on EBITDA margins in the future.
- Net Income
For the second quarter of 2022, consolidated Net Income decreased 45% Year-on-Year to Ps. 252.0M, compared to Ps. 460.9M in 1H 2021, which only considers JAFRA results since the acquisition was completed on April 7th, 2022.
Adjusted consolidated Net Income, which excludes non-cash income of Ps. 28.3M related to the unrealized gain in mark-to-market valuation of financial derivative instruments, which do not affect the Company´s cash flows or operating income, decreased 48%. Adjusted Earnings per Share were Ps. 5.99.
1H 2022 Operating Metrics and Consolidated Results
- Net Revenues
Net revenues for 1H 2022 decreased 7% to Ps. 5,112.1M from Ps. 5,496.1M in 1H 2021, which only considers JAFRA´s results since the acquisition was completed.
The lower level of consolidated net revenue resulted mainly from the effects of the return to normality and high inflation rates previously described in the Q2 2022 Results section, deriving in a lower average distributor and associates' base in Betterware and lower level of consultants and leaders in JAFRA.
- Gross Margin
Consolidated gross margin expanded 991 bps to 67.1% in 1H 2022 from 57.1% in Q1 2021, mostly explained by the inclusion of JAFRA´s operations to the business during the second quarter, reflecting its higher gross margin profile.
Betterware´s gross margin expanded 348 bps, mainly driven by the product price increase of 12% announced at the beginning of the year, efficient cost management and planning for freight expenses.
- EBITDA
For the first half of 2022, consolidated EBITDA decreased 32% Year-on-Year to Ps. 1,143.1M, compared to Ps. 1,669.6M in 1H 2021, which only considers JAFRA´s results since the acquisition was completed. Betterware represented approximately 81% of consolidated EBITDA for the period.
Consolidated EBITDA margin contracted 802 bps to 22.4% in 1H 2022 compared to 30.4% in 1H 2021, reflecting JAFRAs inclusion to the results.
For Betterware, EBITDA margin contracted 356 bps to 26.8% in 1H 2022 compared to 30.4% in 1H 2021, reflecting the extremely tough comparison base, a lower operating leverage in line with the current level of sales, and higher operating expenses due to surging inflation.
- Net Income
For the first half of 2022, consolidated Net Income decreased 53% Year-on-Year to Ps. 519.3M, compared to Ps. 1,099.4M in 1H 2021, which only considers JAFRA´s results since the acquisition was completed.
Adjusted consolidated Net Income, which excludes non-cash expense of Ps. 71.1M related to the unrealized loss in mark-to-market valuation of financial derivative instruments, which do not affect the Company´s cash flows or operating income, decreased 37%, explained by a lower EBITDA and higher interest expense due to the acquisition of JAFRA. Adjusted Earnings per Share were Ps. 15.82.
Strong Balance Sheet
As of the end of Q2 2022, the Company's financial position remains strong, reflecting the main attributes of our differentiated business model, namely high cash flow generation and asset light business model.
The mainly debt funded acquisition of JAFRA, which resulted in a cash outflow of Ps. 574M from our balance sheet, increased our leverage ratio to 2.2x Net Debt to EBITDA in Q2 2022, considering Betterware´s last twelve months EBITDA and JAFRA´s 1H 2022 Annualized Adjusted EBITDA. While our position remains strong and conservative, we are confident that Betterware´s and JAFRA´s high cash flow generation nature will allow us to gradually deleverage going forward.
As of Q2 2022, our Balance Sheet includes approximately Ps. 482M in additional inventory proactively acquired at the beginning of the year in response to supply chain disruptions and to a lesser extent the ending inventory also reflects lower-than-expected sales. As we expect the global supply chain situation to normalize, our inventory levels are expected to be gradually reduced during Q3 2022 and going forward, which will improve our cash conversion cycle, without impacting our gross margins.
Outlined Action Plan
- Betterware
From the start of the second half of 2021 to date, Betterware and the home solutions market experienced a downturn due to the return to normality, following the extraordinary growth during the COVID period, namely from Q1 2020 to Q1 2021, which resulted in a 211% growth in our average weekly gross revenues and a 183% growth in our average associate and distributor base.
The effects of the return to normality have been amplified by a softer-than-expected economic environment and a weaker consumer spending, which has been impacted by the highest inflation rate in Mexico since 2001, which has decreased spending on discretionary products. In fact, according to the market study we entrusted to one of the most prestigious companies in its field in Mexico, the market size for household products temporarily expanded from approximately Ps. 82 billion in 2019 to approximately Ps. 134 billion in 2020, and in 2021 it normalized back to its pre-pandemic level. In turn, we managed to expand our average weekly gross revenues from Ps. 119M in Q2 2019 to Ps. 240M weekly gross revenues in 2Q 2022, representing a 26% CAGR. This resulted in an increase in market share to 7.7% in 2021, up from 5.0% in 2020, due to our successful business model.
During this uncertain and unusual period, we have remained focused on maintaining profitability while taking internal action to stabilize and improve our business trend. During the first quarter of 2022 we recovered our profitability levels thanks to the flexibility and resiliency of our business model, while during the second quarter, we stabilized our network of associates and distributors, maintaining our base at approximately 880 thousand and 44 thousand respectively, for the last eight weeks of the quarter and showing signs of recovery in the last two. While the churn rates for associates and distributors for the quarter remained at higher than usual weekly rates, at 3.6% and 2.1% respectively, we have seen this trending back to normal levels during the last eight weeks of the period, which has us optimistic that our network will start to experience growth prior to year-end and continuing going forward. It is important to mention that we have experienced an associate growth month-to-date in July 2022, being the first month since February 2021 that we grow our salesforce.
In this market downturn, both associates and distributors have remained active, with weekly rates of 28.2% and 78.3% respectively for the quarter, resulting in average weekly sales today more than double of our pre-pandemic comparable period (Q2 2019), expanding our market share to 7.7% and our household penetration to 29%, attaining a stronger brand positioning and market dominance. This proves the resiliency of our business model, where we´ve been able to retain Associates and Distributors, despite a normalization in demand.
The home solutions market pre-pandemic secular trends remain valid and stronger than ever. To seize the opportunity that these trends bring and return to growth, we are deploying several initiatives based on our three strategic pillars:
- Grow the core: reinforce our position in core categories (e.g. Home Organization, Space Optimization, and Cooking, and Commuting Solutions, which lost share in our sales during the downturn and are ready to regain relevance).
- Expand our portfolio into promising Concepts, such as: Bedding, Home Entertainment, Kids, Pets, Tabletop, and Drinkware. Additionally, we are developing an innovative "cleaning products" line, which could disrupt the market, and increase the frequency of purchase from our customers. More to come soon.
- Upgrading our e-commerce website, which should increase our penetration, attracting customers we don´t reach with our traditional model. It is important to stand out that (1) we will keep a model in which our Associates and Distributors are benefited from these customers, and (2) since our launch in December 2020, we´ve learned many details that we are adapting to make this platform successful in the medium term.
- The recent rollout of our new Betterware Plus app should yield more retention and activity, as our Associates and Distributors enjoy the new and improved benefits of this new platform.
- Undergoing a process of evaluation of data analysis capabilities at JAFRA and Betterware, to replicate best practices in both companies.
As mentioned before, we have two main avenues for organic growth: expanding household penetration and increasing share of wallet.
Our household penetration in Mexico expanded from 24% in 2020 to 29% in 2021, according to the latest market study concluded in March 2022. Relevant opportunities to further expand our household penetration and reach our target 40% include:
- Refocused rewards program to incentivize associate and distributor growth and reactivation.
- Hybrid model between personal contact and technology. Relaunched person-to-person companion program, which allows distributors to support their associates in developing their business leveraging on technological tools.
- Revamping of the physical and digital catalogues. Enabled first dual strategy through QR codes on the physical catalogue, strengthening our digital catalogue design.
- Social selling and social influencing. Currently working on this front, the progress will be shared in the coming quarters.
As for increasing our share of wallet, the results of the market study referred above, clearly identify the existing market size opportunity in various categories and concepts we participate in. With this new knowledge, we are ready to ride the curve back to growth as the Home and Life Solutions market stabilizes:
- Innovation. Continue increasing market penetration in core categories as we mentioned above.
- Expand to new categories, as we also mentioned above in the Product Innovation pillar.
- Pricing Strategy. Revised pricing strategy will focus on delivering great value packages to fuel consumer´s desire to buy as disposable income remains pressured. Furthermore, we are adjusting prices to reflect the recent decline in container costs, which will further incentive consumers to purchase our products.
In terms of our international expansion plans to support our long-term growth:
- We started our initial assessment and are in the process of finding the right team to lead the expansion of Betterware to the United States with the aim of starting operations in Q4 2023.
- For the longer term, we target further international expansion to South America, namely Colombia and Peru, between 2025 and 2026.
- JAFRA
Having completed the acquisition of JAFRA in 2022, we are focused on reaccelerating its growth to high single-digit or low double-digit in the near term beginning in 2023, as well as improving its profitability and cash flow generation. We are confident we can achieve our objectives by replicating Betterware´s three strategic pillars into JAFRA´s day to day operations, and we have been intensively working to set up the conditions to achieve our growth and profitability objectives:
- Product Innovation: implementing our best practices to achieve a successful and enhanced innovation pipeline in JAFRA´s product line.
- Technology: focusing our digital efforts through a comprehensive strategy to provide a better experience for consumers.
- Business Intelligence: replicating Betterware´s big data capabilities to improve JAFRA´s understanding of the market and accelerate its market penetration.
- Finance: As for efficiencies and synergies, for 2023 are expected to be in the range of Ps. 200M and Ps. 300M million. These include:
For the rest of 2022 and going forward, we will continue the integration process and the evaluation of efficiency and growth opportunities.
Growth Expectations for 2022
Given our consolidated results for the first half of the year, we expect our consolidated net revenues to be in the range of Ps. 12,800M and Ps. 14,200M, and our consolidated EBITDA to be in the range of Ps. 2,400 and Ps. 2,700M, which include JAFRA's full year 2022 results. Our full year expectations per company, including JAFRA´s full year results, are as follows:
In the longer term, we are fully confident of our growth opportunities in the years to come.
For Betterware, we remain confident we will reach our target of 40% household penetration in Mexico, as well as expand our geographic reach, starting with expansion to the United States, which we have already started the initial evaluation process, and expect to start operations by Q4 2023.
And for JAFRA, we are confident that based on our three strategic pillars of product innovation, technology and business intelligence, and executing on the efficiency strategies we have already identified, we will reignite its revenue growth while improving its EBITDA margins in the short and long term.
Dividend
The prevailing macroeconomic outlook is characterized by low growth, high inflation and increasing interest rates for the coming months and, furthermore, supply chain disruptions remain at present and can potentially prevail in the future. In this context, we remain focused on Jafra's efficient integration and consolidation in the short-term.
Based on the above and considering the revenue decline year-to-date, our Board of Directors has proposed to adjust the dividend payment to Ps. 200M for the quarter, a sustainable level even in this uncertain environment, prioritizing company's financial strength after the temporary cash reduction in our balance sheet due to the initial cash investment of Ps. 574M related to the acquisition of Jafra, as well as other investments aimed at unleashing JAFRA's full potential and enhancing its value through investments in venues like Business Intelligence and further IT capabilities, coupled with severance payments due to workforce restructuring, a temporary increase in inventories aimed at preserving an adequate service level to our customers, and anticipating higher interest payments due to rising interest rates.
The dividend is subject to approval at the Ordinary General Shareholders' Meeting of August 19th, 2022.
In the longer term, we remain fully confident in our ability to generate strong cash flows and continue to return value to our shareholders through constant and growing dividend payments as our businesses continue to grow. As the situation stabilizes and our strategies begin to show results in JAFRA, the board will analyze the long-term sustainable dividend policy.
Share Repurchase Program
During the second quarter, we paused the execution of our share repurchase program due to the completion of the JAFRA acquisition. We will continue to conservatively analyze the appropriate execution of the repurchase program, as we remain focused on maximizing long-term shareholder´s value while maintaining a strong balance sheet.
Use of Non-IFRS Financial Measures
This announcement includes certain references to EBITDA, EBITDA Margin, Net Debt:
EBITDA: defined as profit for the year adding back the depreciation of property, plant and equipment and right of use assets, amortization of intangible assets, financing cost, net and total income taxes
EBITDA Margin: is calculated by dividing EBITDA by net revenues
EBITDA and EBITDA Margin are not measures recognized under IFRS and should not be considered as an alternative to, or more meaningful than, consolidated net income for the year as determined in accordance with IFRS or as indicators of our operating performance from continuing operations. Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this information and should note that these measures as calculated by the Company, may differ materially from similarly titled measures reported by other companies.
Betterware believes that these non-IFRS financial measures are useful to investors because (i) Betterware uses these measures to analyze its financial results internally and believes they represent a measure of operating profitability and (ii) these measures will serve investors to understand and evaluate Betterware's EBITDA and provide more tools for their analysis as it makes Betterware's results comparable to industry peers that also prepare these measures.
About Betterware de México, S.A.P.I. de C.V.
Founded in 1995, Betterware de Mexico is the leading direct-to-consumer company in Mexico focused on creating innovative products that solve specific needs regarding organization, practicality, space saving and hygiene within the household. Betterware's wide product portfolio includes home organization, kitchen, commuting, laundry and cleaning, as well as other categories that include products and solutions for every corner of the household.
The Company has a differentiated two-tier network of distributors and associates that sell their products through twelve catalogues per year. All products are designed by the Company and under the Betterware brand name through its different sources of product innovation. The Company's state-of-the-art infrastructure allows it to safely and timely deliver its products to every part of the country, backed by the strategic location of its national distribution center. Today, the Company distributes its products in Mexico and Guatemala, and has plans of additional international expansion.
Supported by its asset light business model and its three strategic pillars of Product Innovation, Business Intelligence and Technology, Betterware has been able to achieve sustainable double-digit growth rates by successfully expanding its household penetration and share of wallet.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes certain statements that are not historical facts but are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as "believe," "may," "will", "estimate", "continue", "anticipate", "intend", "expect", "should", "would", "plan", "predict", "potential", "seem", "seek," "future," "outlook", and similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. The reader should understand that the results obtained may differ from the projections contained in this document and that many factors could cause our actual activities or results to differ materially from the activities and results anticipated in forward looking statements. For this reason, the Company assumes no responsibility for any indirect factors or elements beyond its control that might occur inside Mexico or abroad and which might affect the outcome of these projections and encourages you to review the 'Cautionary Statement' and the 'Risk Factor' sections of our annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2020 and any of the Company's other applicable filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for additional information concerning factors that could cause those differences
The Company undertakes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date hereof. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Further information on risks and uncertainties that may affect the Company's operations and financial performance, and the forward statements contained herein, is available in the Company's filings with the SEC. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.
Q2 2022 Conference Call
Management will hold a conference call with investors on July 29, 2022 at 8:00 am Central Standard Time (CST)/ 9:00am Eastern Time (EST). For anyone who wishes to join live, the dial-in information is:
Toll Free: 1-877-451-6152
Toll/International: 1-201-389-0879
Conference ID: 13731394
If you wish to listen to the replay of the conference call, please see instructions below:
Toll Free: 1-844-512-2921
Toll/International: 1-412-317-6671
Replay Pin Number: 13731394
* JAFRA´s 2022 estimated EBITDA after the closing of the acquisition, which excludes adjusted EBITDA of Ps. 158.4M pertaining to January 1st to April 6th,2022.
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SOURCE Betterware de México, S.A.B. de C.V. | https://www.cleveland19.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/betterware-reports-second-quarter-fiscal-year-2022-results/ | 2022-07-28T20:48:28Z | https://www.cleveland19.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/betterware-reports-second-quarter-fiscal-year-2022-results/ | false |
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- Earnings to be released before market opens on Monday, August 1, 2022
XIAN, China, July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bon Natural Life Limited (Nasdaq: BON) ("BON" or the "Company"), one of the leading bio-ingredient solutions providers in the natural, health and personal care industries, will issue its half-year earnings release for the reporting period ended March 31, 2022 before the market open on Monday, August 1, 2022.
BON will also host an investor conference call and webcast on the same date, beginning at 9:00 a.m. EST. Management on the call will include CEO Mr. Richard (Yongwei) Hu, CFO Mr. Zhenchao Li, COO Ms. Yingchun Xue and CMO Wenjuan Chen. A replay of the call will also be archived on the Company's website and will be available until the next earnings call.
The call and webcast will be available via:
Pre-registration: https://dpregister.com/sreg/10169993/f3e46b2118
Callers who pre-register will be given a conference passcode and unique PIN to gain immediate access to the call and bypass the operator. Participants may pre-register at any time, up to and including after the time that the call has started.
Those without internet access or unable to pre-register may dial in by calling:
U.S. Toll Free: 1-866-777-2509
International Toll: 1-412-317-5413
To listen to the live webcast or to view the accompanying slides, go to the company's investor website at https://ir.bnlus.com/events-presentations. The webcast also can be accessed by using the direct link: https://event.choruscall.com/mediaframe/webcast.html?webcastid=1sM1QUxQ
If you are unable to participate during the live webcast, the call will be recorded and later made available on the Company's website.
About Bon Natural Life Limited
The Company focuses on the manufacturing of personal care ingredients, such as plant extracted fragrance compounds for perfume and fragrance manufacturers, natural health supplements such as powder drinks and bioactive food ingredient products mostly used as food additives and nutritional supplements by their customers. For additional information, please visit the Company's website at www.bnlus.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements that are other than statements of historical facts. When the Company uses words such as "may, "will, "intend," "should," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "project," "estimate" or similar expressions that do not relate solely to historical matters, it is making forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations discussed in the forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to uncertainties and risks including, but not limited to, the following: the Company's goals and strategies; the Company's future business development; product and service demand and acceptance; changes in technology; economic conditions; the growth of the natural, health and personal care market in China and the other international markets the Company plans to serve; reputation and brand; the impact of competition and pricing; government regulations; fluctuations in general economic and business conditions in China and the international markets the Company plans to serve and assumptions underlying or related to any of the foregoing and other risks contained in reports filed by the Company with the SEC. For these reasons, among others, investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements in this press release. Additional factors are discussed in the Company's filings with the SEC, which are available for review at www.sec.gov. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly revise these forward–looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date hereof.
For more information, please contact:
In the United States
Maggie Zhang | Impact IR Sophie Zhang | Impact IR
Phone: (646) 893-8916 Phone: (786) 953-2513
Email: maggie.zhang@irimpact.com Email: sophie.zhang@irimpact.com
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SOURCE Bon Natural Life Limited | https://www.kalb.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/bon-natural-life-limited-announces-2022-half-year-earnings-release-date-webcast/ | 2022-07-28T20:50:32Z | https://www.kalb.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/bon-natural-life-limited-announces-2022-half-year-earnings-release-date-webcast/ | false |
- Q2 2022 earnings per diluted share of $0.64
- Board declares $0.27 per share quarterly dividend
PITTSBURGH, July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Federated Hermes, Inc. (NYSE: FHI), a global leader in active, responsible investing, today reported earnings per diluted share (EPS) of $0.64 for Q2 2022, compared to $0.56 for the same quarter last year, on net income of $57.7 million for Q2 2022, compared to $55.9 million for Q2 2021. Federated Hermes reported YTD 2022 EPS of $1.24, compared to $1.31 for the same period in 2021, on YTD 2022 net income of $113.5 million, compared to $130.4 million for the same period in 2021. The results for Q2 2022 and YTD 2022 include net realized and unrealized losses on investments of $20.9 million ($0.10 per diluted share) and $32.6 million ($0.19 per diluted share), respectively, as a result of the reduction in the market value of equity and fixed-income investments.
Federated Hermes' total managed assets were $631.9 billion at June 30, 2022, down $13.9 billion or 2% from $645.8 billion at June 30, 2021 and up $0.8 billion or less than 1% from $631.1 billion at March 31, 2022. Total average managed assets for Q2 2022 were $617.9 billion, down $21.8 billion or 3% from $639.7 billion reported for Q2 2021 and down $29.3 billion or 5% from $647.2 billion for Q1 2022.
"In the first half of 2022, Federated Hermes saw strong sales in dividend-income equity strategies, led by Federated Hermes Strategic Value Dividend Fund," said J. Christopher Donahue, president and chief executive officer. "As investors negotiated high inflation, rising interest rates and volatile markets across asset classes, they also sought haven in Federated Hermes' liquidity products."
Federated Hermes' board of directors declared a dividend of $0.27 per share. The dividend is payable on Aug. 15, 2022 to shareholders of record as of Aug. 8, 2022. During Q2 2022, Federated Hermes purchased 2,877,691 shares of Federated Hermes class B common stock for $89.5 million.
Equity assets were $81.0 billion at June 30, 2022, down $19.5 billion or 19% from $100.5 billion at June 30, 2021 and down $10.7 billion or 12% from $91.7 billion at March 31, 2022. Top-selling equity funds during Q2 2022 on a net basis were Federated Hermes Strategic Value Dividend Fund, Federated Hermes International Strategic Value Dividend Fund, Federated Hermes Asia ex-Japan Equity Fund, Federated Hermes International Equity Fund and Federated Hermes SDG Engagement Equity Fund (UCITS).
Fixed-income assets were $86.3 billion at June 30, 2022, down $4.5 billion or 5% from $90.8 billion at June 30, 2021 and down $5.8 billion or 6% from $92.1 billion at March 31, 2022. Top-selling fixed-income funds during Q2 2022 on a net basis were Federated Hermes Capital Preservation Fund, Federated Hermes Adjustable Rate Fund, Federated Hermes Conservative Municipal Microshort Fund, Federated Hermes Climate Change High Yield Credit Fund and Federated Hermes Intermediate Municipal Fund.
Alternative/private markets assets were $21.8 billion at June 30, 2022, up $0.8 billion or 4% from $21.0 billion at June 30, 2021 and down $1.3 billion or 6% from $23.1 billion at March 31, 2022.
Money market assets were $439.7 billion at June 30, 2022, up $9.9 billion or 2% from $429.8 billion at June 30, 2021 and up $19.1 billion or 5% from $420.6 billion at March 31, 2022. Money market fund assets were $298.0 billion at June 30, 2022, down $4.0 billion or 1% from $302.0 billion at June 30, 2021 and up $18.5 billion or 7% from $279.5 billion at March 31, 2022.
Financial Summary
Q2 2022 vs. Q2 2021
Revenue increased $55.0 million or 18% primarily due to a decrease in voluntary fee waivers related to certain money market funds in order for those funds to maintain positive or zero net yields (voluntary yield-related fee waivers). For further information on the waivers, see "Impact of voluntary yield-related fee waivers" below. This increase was partially offset by a decrease in revenue due to lower average equity and money market assets, as well as a change in the mix of average fixed-income assets.
During Q2 2022, Federated Hermes derived 59% of its revenue from long-term assets (36% from equity, 14% from fixed-income and 9% from alternative/private markets and multi-asset), 40% from money market assets, and 1% from sources other than managed assets.
Operating expenses increased $44.5 million or 19% due to increased distribution expenses resulting primarily from lower voluntary yield-related fee waivers. This increase was partially offset by a decrease in distribution expense due to lower average managed fund assets.
Nonoperating income (expenses), net decreased $29.5 million primarily due to a decrease in the market value of investments in Q2 2022 compared to an increase in the market value of investments in Q2 2021.
Income tax provision decreased $16.3 million primarily due to legislation enacted in the U.K. in Q2 2021, increasing the U.K. corporate income tax rate from 19% to 25% effective April 1, 2023, resulting in the revaluation of certain net deferred tax liabilities in Q2 2021 (2021 U.K. Tax Legislation).
Q2 2022 vs. Q1 2022
Revenue increased $41.2 million or 13% primarily due to a decrease in voluntary yield-related fee waivers. This increase was partially offset by a decrease in revenue due to lower average long-term and money market assets.
Operating expenses increased $32.9 million or 14% primarily due to increased distribution expenses predominantly resulting from lower voluntary yield-related fee waivers partially offset by decreased distribution expenses due to lower average managed fund assets.
Nonoperating income (expenses), net decreased $10.9 million or 93% primarily due to a decrease in the market value of investments.
YTD 2022 vs. YTD 2021
Revenue increased $38.6 million or 6% primarily due to a decrease in voluntary yield-related fee waivers. This increase was partially offset by a decrease in revenue due to lower average equity assets, a decrease in carried interest and performance fees, and a decrease in revenue due to a change in the mix of average money market and fixed-income assets.
For the first half of 2022, Federated Hermes derived 65% of its revenue from long-term assets (40% from equity, 16% from fixed-income and 9% from alternative/private markets and multi-asset), 34% from money market assets and 1% from sources other than managed assets.
Operating expenses increased $41.6 million or 9% primarily due to increased distribution expenses predominantly resulting from lower voluntary yield-related fee waivers partially offset by lower average managed fund assets and a decrease in compensation and related expense.
Nonoperating income (expenses), net decreased $43.1 million primarily due to a decrease in the market value of investments in the first six months of 2022 compared to an increase in the market value of investments for the same period in 2021.
Income tax provision decreased $23.7 million primarily due to the 2021 U.K. Tax Legislation and lower income before income taxes.
Impact of voluntary yield-related fee waivers
During the three and six months ended June 30, 2022, voluntary yield-related fee waivers totaled $9.5 million and $85.3 million, respectively. These fee waivers were partially offset by related reductions in distribution expenses of $9.0 million and $66.5 million, respectively, such that the net negative pre-tax impact to Federated Hermes was $0.5 million and $18.8 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2022, respectively. During the three and six months ended June 30, 2021, voluntary yield-related fee waivers totaled $117.8 million and $200.9 million, respectively. These fee waivers were partially offset by related reductions in distribution expenses of $71.0 million and $132.5 million, respectively, such that the net negative pre-tax impact to Federated Hermes was $46.8 million and $68.4 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2021, respectively.
Due to recent increases in the yields of securities held by money market portfolios, the net negative pre-tax impact of the voluntary yield-related fee waivers has been nearly eliminated. The amount of voluntary yield-related fee waivers can vary based on a number of factors, including, among others, interest rates, yields, asset levels, asset flows and the ability of distributors to share in waivers. Any change in these factors can impact the amount and level of voluntary yield-related fee waivers, including in a material way.
Federated Hermes' level of business activity and financial results are dependent upon many factors, including market conditions, investment performance and investor behavior. These factors and others, including asset levels and mix, product sales and redemptions, market appreciation or depreciation, revenues, fee waivers, expenses and regulatory changes, can significantly impact Federated Hermes' business activity levels and financial results. Risk factors and uncertainties that can influence Federated Hermes' financial results are discussed in the company's annual and quarterly reports as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Federated Hermes will host an earnings conference call at 9 a.m. Eastern on July 29, 2022. Investors are invited to listen to the earnings teleconference by calling 877-545-0523 (domestic) or 973-528-0016 (international) prior to the 9 a.m. start time. To listen online, go to the Investor Relations section and the Analyst Information tab of FederatedHermes.com at least 15 minutes prior to register and join the call. A replay will be available at approximately 12:30 p.m. Eastern on July 29, 2022. To access the telephone replay, dial 877-481-4010 (domestic) or 919-882-2331 (international) and enter access code 45935. The online replay will be available via FederatedHermes.com for one year.
Federated Hermes, Inc. is a global leader in active, responsible investment management, with $631.9 billion in assets under management1. We deliver investment solutions that help investors target a broad range of outcomes and provide equity, fixed-income, alternative/private markets, multi-asset and liquidity management strategies to more than 11,000 institutions and intermediaries worldwide. Our clients include corporations, government entities, insurance companies, foundations and endowments, banks and broker/dealers. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Federated Hermes has nearly 2,000 employees in London, New York and offices worldwide.
Federated Hermes ranks in the top 7% of equity fund managers in the industry, the top 10% of fixed-income fund managers and the top 11% of money market fund managers2. Federated Hermes also ranks as the 9th-largest manager of model-delivered SMAs3. For more information, including an analyst presentation, visit FederatedHermes.com.
###
1) As of June 30, 2022.
2) ISS Market Intelligence (SIMFUND), June 30, 2022. Based on assets under management in open-end funds.
3) Money Management Institute/Cerulli,Q1 2022.
Federated Securities Corp. is distributor of the Federated Hermes funds.
Separately managed accounts are made available through Federated Global Investment Management Corp., Federated Investment Counseling, Federated MDTA LLC, Hermes Fund Managers Ireland Limited, Hermes Investment Management Limited, and Hermes GPE LLP, each a registered investment advisor in one or more of the U.S., U.K. or Ireland.
Certain statements in this press release, such as those related to performance, investor preferences and demand, asset flows, asset mix, interest rates and fee waivers constitute or may constitute forward-looking statements, which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements of the company, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Other risks and uncertainties include the ability of the company to predict the level of fee waivers and expenses in future quarters, predict whether performance fees or carried interest will be earned and retained, and sustain product demand, asset flows and mix, which could vary significantly depending on various factors, such as market conditions, investment performance and investor behavior. Other risks and uncertainties include the risk factors discussed in the company's annual and quarterly reports as filed with the SEC. As a result, no assurance can be given as to future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements, and neither the company nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness, or updating, of such statements in the future.
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SOURCE Federated Hermes, Inc. | https://www.cleveland19.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/federated-hermes-inc-reports-second-quarter-2022-earnings/ | 2022-07-28T20:50:58Z | https://www.cleveland19.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/federated-hermes-inc-reports-second-quarter-2022-earnings/ | false |
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — President Joe Biden’s approval rating in Virginia is 39%, according to a new poll that shows a wide gap between Republicans and Democrats on his job performance.
The poll released Thursday by the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University shows that Biden’s approval among Virginians is similar to his numbers in national surveys.
His low poll numbers — a 55% disapproval rating in the VCU poll — have been a point of concern for Democrats ahead of this year’s congressional midterms.
The president’s approval rating among Democrats in Virginia is 78.8% and 35.2% among those surveyed who identified themselves as independents, according to the poll. The poll shows that Biden has a 91.8% disapproval rating among Republicans in Virginia.
Half of those surveyed said they think Virginia’s abortion laws should stay intact, with 18% saying they are too restrictive and a quarter believing they are too lenient, according to the poll.
Currently, Virginia allows abortions during the second trimester and only after the second trimester in circumstances when three doctors conclude “the continuation of the pregnancy is likely to result in the death of the woman or substantially and irremediably impair the mental or physical health of the woman.”
After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to an abortion in June, Gov. Glenn Youngkin and other Republicans signaled their intentions to push for abortion restrictions in Virginia.
“The issues — the pandemic, increasing cost of living, gasoline prices and pervasive crime — are best measured by the most affected areas: the people,” former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder said in a statement. “The lack of support for this administration demonstrates that they are missing the mark.”
When asked about gun laws, 43% of respondents said they back tighter restrictions and 40% said they think more focus needs to be put on mental health services “to help prevent mass shootings,” according to the poll.
On Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, 46% support the U.S.’s approach and 42% oppose it. According to the survey, 49.8% of those 34 and younger do not support how the U.S. is handling the invasion and 56.3% of those 55 and older back the country’s response.
The poll surveyed 813 Virginia adults through landline and mobile phone interviews from June 30 through July 9. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 5.81 percentage points. | https://www.wric.com/news/virginia-news/poll-shows-bidens-approval-at-39-in-virginia/ | 2022-07-28T20:51:25Z | https://www.wric.com/news/virginia-news/poll-shows-bidens-approval-at-39-in-virginia/ | false |
SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) _ Five9 Inc. (FIVN) on Thursday reported a loss of $23.7 million in its second quarter.
On a per-share basis, the San Ramon, California-based company said it had a loss of 34 cents. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to 34 cents per share.
The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 18 cents per share.
The provider of cloud-based software to call centers posted revenue of $189.4 million in the period, also surpassing Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $179.7 million.
For the current quarter ending in October, Five9 expects its per-share earnings to range from 31 cents to 33 cents.
The company said it expects revenue in the range of $192 million to $193.5 million for the fiscal third quarter.
Five9 expects full-year earnings in the range of $1.38 to $1.40 per share, with revenue ranging from $780.5 million to $782.5 million.
_____
This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on FIVN at https://www.zacks.com/ap/FIVN | https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Five9-Q2-Earnings-Snapshot-17336207.php | 2022-07-28T20:51:42Z | https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Five9-Q2-Earnings-Snapshot-17336207.php | false |
CATCHES OF THE WEEK
Josue Macias of Las Cruces caught a 17-inch, 2.5-pound largemouth bass at Alumni Pond using a purple plastic worm July 22.
At Bluewater Lake, Sally Lopez of Las Vegas caught and released a 36-inch tiger muskie using a hot dog July 20. … Anthony and Elizabeth Pacheco of Grants caught 11 tiger muskie, ranging in size from 35-42 inches, using cut bait and crankbaits July 16-17.
At Cochiti Lake, Darrell Smith, 14, of Church Rock caught a 31-inch, 3-pound catfish using a hot dog July 22. … Nate Gallegos of Santa Fe caught a 14-inch smallmouth bass using a white spinner July 22.
Ethan Rudd, 6, of Silver City caught an 18-inch catfish on the Gila River using a worm near the Gila River headwaters July 14.
Al Maldonado, 87, of Quemado caught a 13-inch rainbow trout at Quemado Lake using worms July 15.
Rachel Pineda, from Alexander, Arkansas, caught a 24-inch brown trout and her husband John caught a 22-inch rainbow trout on the San Juan River using a DK special fly and a red larva fly July 19.
At the Seven Springs Brood Pond, Jovette N. Phillips, 4, of Phelan, California, caught a 14.5-inch rainbow trout using green garlic PowerBait July 19. … Luke Chavez, 8, of Albuquerque caught a 17-inch rainbow trout using chartreuse PowerBait on July 16.
Nathan Randall of Albuquerque caught and released a 36-inch pike at Springer Lake using a chatterbait with a Roboworm trailer July 20.
If you have a catch of the week story, send it to funfishingnm@gmail.com.
NOTES from GAME & FISH
Fishing for trout at Cabresto Lake was good using gold Mepps spinners.
Fishing for trout at Charette Lakes was good using salmon eggs, worms and PowerBait.
Cimarron River had no reports from anglers this week.
Fishing for catfish at Clayton Lake was fair to good using chicken liver and homemade dough baits.
Fishing for walleye at Conchas Lake was good using 3-inch Lunker Grubs tipped with worm.
At Costilla Creek, the department is implementing the final phase of a project to expand Rio Grande cutthroat trout in 120 miles of the Costilla watershed in northern New Mexico. The final phase involves the removal of fish within a designated area (Rio Costilla from Costilla Dam downstream to the Valle Vidal Boundary, including all tributaries and Comanche Creek from the road culvert crossing on Forest Road 1950 downstream to its confluence with Rio Costilla and all tributaries). Tentative stocking of Rio Grande cutthroat trout is set for spring 2023. Places to fish nearby include Costilla Creek below the fish barrier, Upper Comanche Creek, Shuree Ponds, Upper Powderhouse Creek, Little Costilla Creek, Vidal Creek and McCrystal Creek. National forest closures have been in place restricting fishing access. Visit the Carson National Forest webpage or call the Carson National Forest office at 505-758-6200 for the latest closure information.
National forest closures have been in place restricting fishing access including Cowles Ponds. Visit the Santa Fe National Forest webpage or call the Santa Fe National Forest office at 505-438-5300 for the latest closure information.
Coyote Creek had no reports from anglers this week.
Fishing for rainbow trout at Eagle Nest Lake was good trolling with skirt lures or using nightcrawler worms and rainbow PowerBait; for pike was fair to good using rainbow trout-pattern Rapala lures.
Fishing for trout at Eagle Rock Lake was fair to good using orange PowerBait.
National forest closures have been in place restricting fishing access including Gallinas River. Visit the Santa Fe National Forest webpage or call the Santa Fe National Forest office at 505-438-5300 for the latest closure information.
Fishing for trout at Hopewell Lake was good using various flies. National forest closures have been in place restricting fishing access. Visit the Carson National Forest webpage or call the Carson National Forest office at 505-758-6200 for the latest closure information.
Lake Alice had no reports from anglers this week.
Fishing for trout at Lake Maloya was good using salmon eggs, and pink and green PowerBait.
National forest closures have been in place restricting fishing access including Los Pinos River. Visit the Carson National Forest webpage or call the Carson National Forest office at 505-758-6200 for the latest closure information.
Maxwell Lake 13 had no reports from anglers this week.
Monastery Lake is currently closed due to wildfire rehabilitation efforts and is set to reopen on Aug. 1. For more information, visit the Open Gate webpage.
Morphy Lake State Park closures have been in place restricting fishing access. Visit Morphy Lake State Park’s webpage or call 575-387-2328 for the latest closure information.
Fishing for trout on the Pecos River was good using worms. National forest and state park closures are in place restricting fishing access to much of the Pecos River. Visit the Santa Fe National Forest webpage or call the Santa Fe National Forest office at 505-438-5300 for the latest forest closure information. Visit Pecos Canyon State Park’s webpage or call 505-670-8196 for the latest park closure information.
Streamflow on the Red River below the Red River Hatchery on Monday morning was 64.3 cfs. Fishing for trout was good using salmon eggs.
Fishing for trout on the Rio Grande was good using worms and black and gold Panther Martin spinners near Pilar.
National forest closures have been in place restricting fishing access including the Rio Hondo. Visit the Carson National Forest webpage or call the Carson National Forest office at 505-758-6200 for the latest closure information.
Streamflow on the Rio Mora near Terrero on Monday morning was 76.6 cfs. National forest and state park closures have been in place restricting fishing access to the Rio Mora. Visit the Santa Fe National Forest webpage or call the Santa Fe National Forest office at 505-438-5300 for the latest forest closure information. Visit Pecos Canyon State Park’s webpage or call 505-670-8196 for the latest park closure information.
Streamflow on the Rio Pueblo near Pe ñ asco on Monday morning was 69 cfs. National forest closures have been in place restricting fishing access. Visit the Carson National Forest webpage or call the Carson National Forest office at 505-758-6200 for the latest closure information.
Fishing for trout at Santa Cruz Reservoir was fair using green PowerBait.
Fishing for trout at Shuree Ponds was good using dry flies.
Fishing for pike at Springer Lake was good using chatterbaits with plastic Roboworm trailers; for catfish was fair to good using nightcrawler worms.
Fishing for trout at Storrie Lake was good using pink and orange PowerBait; for crappie was fair to good using gold Panther Martin spinners.
Stubblefield Lake had no reports from anglers this week.
Fishing for walleye at Ute Lake was fair to good using Wally Diver lures, Flicker Shad lures and trolling lures in 15-20 feet of water near brush lines; for white bass was fair using Flicker shad lures and Model A Bombers; for smallmouth bass and largemouth bass was good using drop shot rigs, Whopper Plopper lures, walking baits and Pop R’s in 10-16 feet of water; for crappie was slow to fair using live minnows at night under artificial lights at night near brush; for catfish was good using punch bait, cut bait and chicken liver; for bluegill was good using nightcrawler worms. The main lake water surface temperature was in the upper 70s and the water was clear.
Northwest fishing report
Fishing for walleye at Abiquiú Lake was fair using nightcrawler worms and crankbaits; for catfish was fair to good using shrimp.
Animas River had no reports from anglers this week.
Albuquerque Area Drains had no reports from anglers this week.
Fishing for tiger muskie at Bluewater Lake was good using cut bait, crankbaits, Whopper Plopper lures and hot dogs.
Fishing for trout at Brazos River was good using worms.
Fishing for trout at Canjilon Lakes was good using rainbow PowerBait and orange PowerBait. National forest closures have been in place restricting fishing access. Visit the Carson National Forest webpage or call the Carson National Forest office at 505-758-6200 for the latest closure information.
Fishing for trout on the Chama River below El Vado Lake was fair using worms and PowerBait. Please remember, from the river-crossing bridge on U.S. Highway 84 at Abiquiú upstream 7 miles to the base of Abiquiú Dam is special trout waters with a bag limit of two trout only.
Fishing for pike at Cochiti Lake was fair to good using spinnerbaits and crankbaits; for white bass was fair to good using white spinners. Fishing for catfish was good using hot dogs.
El Vado Lake can be accessed at Hargroves Day Use Area off State Road 322 and the main park area off State Road 112. The Rio Chama can be accessed at the North El Vado Day Use Area on State Road 95, 10 miles west of U.S. Highway 84. Lake levels are steady but expected to drop as crews work on El Vado Dam. The Dam Day Use Area is closed due to the ongoing construction. State Road 112 over the dam will experience periodic closures. For more information, visit El Vado Lake State Park’s webpage or call 575-588-7247.
Fishing for trout at Fenton Lake was very good using beadhead prince nymph flies and Thomas spoons.
Grants Riverwalk Pond has dried up due to pump failure. The city is planning to repair the pumps but is taking this opportunity to dredge the pond. They expect the pond to be offline for at least two to three months. Fish stocking will be discontinued until all work is done.
Heron Lake had no reports from anglers this week.
At the Jemez Waters, fishing for trout was good using worms and grasshopper dry flies. National forest closures have been in place restricting fishing access. Visit the Santa Fe National Forest webpage or call the Santa Fe National Forest office at 505-438-5300 for the latest closure information.
Fishing for trout at Laguna del Campo was good using PowerBait and Pistol Pete spinner flies.
National forest closures have been in place restricting fishing access including Lagunitas Lakes. Visit the Carson National Forest webpage or call the Carson National Forest office at 505-758-6200 for the latest closure information.
Lake Farmington had no reports from anglers this week.
Stocking efforts have been suspended at McGaffey Lake due to extremely low water levels and unstable ground conditions. Lake conditions will be monitored and stocking will resume once conditions improve.
Fishing for pike at Navajo Lake was fair to good using 4-inch green grubs and swimbaits. Fishing for smallmouth bass was good using plastic worms and Ned rigs in 20 feet of water. Fishing for trout was slow to fair using spinners. Fishing for kokanee salmon was fair to good using orange and pink spinners tipped with corn.
Fishing for catfish on the Rio Grande near Albuquerque was fair to good using chicken liver and cut bait.
Riverside Park Pond (Aztec Pond #1) had no reports from anglers this week.
Fishing for trout at San Gregorio Lake was fair to good using PowerBait. National forest closures have been in place restricting fishing access. Visit the Santa Fe National Forest webpage or call the Santa Fe National Forest office at 505-438-5300 for the latest closure information.
Fishing for trout on the San Juan River in the quality waters was fair to good using size-22 green larva flies. Fishing for trout in the bait waters was good using worms and PowerBait.
Fishing for trout at Seven Springs Brood Pond was good using garlic chartreuse PowerBait and green garlic PowerBait.
Tiger Park Reservoir had no reports from anglers this week.
Fishing for catfish at Tingley Beach was slow using cut bait.
Fishing for trout at Trout Lakes was good using chartreuse PowerBait and flies. National forest closures have been in place restricting fishing access. Visit the Carson National Forest webpage or call the Carson National Forest office at 505-758-6200 for the latest closure information.
Southwest fishing report
Fishing for bass at Alumni Pond was fair using blue and gold Blue Fox spinners and purple plastic worms. Fishing for catfish was slow.
Bear Canyon Lake had no reports from anglers this week.
Fishing for bass at Bill Evans Lake was fair using worms and crankbaits. Fishing for trout was slow. Fishing for bluegill was good using red wiggler worms.
Fishing for crappie at Caballo Lake was good using white grubs and live minnows; for walleye was good using yellow and red Panther Martin spinners; for white bass was fair to good using crankbaits and yellow and red Panther Martin spinners.
Fishing for catfish at Elephant Butte Lake was good using cut carp bait; for largemouth and smallmouth bass was fair to good using white Ned rigs; for white bass was good using live minnows; for crappie was fair to good using green grubs and live minnows; for walleye was fair bottom bouncing nightcrawler worms.
Fishing for catfish at Escondida Lake was fair to good using shrimp and chicken liver.
Fishing for catfish on the Gila River was good using worms.
Glenwood Pond had no reports from anglers this week.
Fishing for trout at Lake Roberts was slow using streamers and black Woolly Bugger flies; for catfish was good using worms and chicken liver.
Fishing for catfish at Percha Dam was fair using chicken liver.
Fishing for trout at Quemado Lake was good using worms and light-colored dry flies.
Rancho Grande Ponds had no reports from anglers this week.
Fishing for catfish on the Rio Grande was fair to good using cut bait and homemade dough bait.
Snow Lake had no reports from anglers this week.
Fishing for bass at Trees Lake was slow; for catfish was good using chicken liver and stink bait; for bluegill was good using live worms and flies.
Fishing for catfish at Young Pond was slow.
Southeast fishing report
Fishing for catfish at Alto Lake was fair to good using PowerBait and garlic-scented nightcrawler worms.
Fishing for catfish at Bataan Lake was fair using chicken liver.
Berrendo Creek had no reports from anglers this week. Please visit the Open Gate webpage for more information on this property.
Black River had no reports from anglers this week.
Blue Hole Park Pond had no reports from anglers this week.
Bonito Lake is closed until further notice by the city of Alamogordo due to fire damage. It appears that the lake will be out of commission until later this year.
Bosque Redondo Lake had no reports from anglers this week.
Bottomless Lakes had no reports from anglers this week.
Fishing for gar at Brantley Lake was fair using cut bait; for largemouth bass was fair using live worms and wacky-rigged Senko worms; for catfish was fair to good using cut bait and nightcrawler worms.
Fishing for catfish at Carlsbad Municipal Lake was fair to good using shrimp.
Chaparral Park Lake had no reports from anglers this week.
Corona Pond had no reports from anglers this week.
Fishing for bass at Eunice Lake was good using dark-blue, soft-plastic Texas rigged worms; for catfish was slow using worms.
Fishing for catfish at Green Meadow Lake was good using worms.
Fishing for catfish at Greene Acres Lake was good using worms and cut shad bait.
Fishing for trout at Grindstone Reservoir was fair to good using Panther Martin spinners; for catfish was fair to good using worms. Fishing for bluegill was fair using worms.
Fishing for catfish at Jal Lake was fair to good using worms.
Lake Van had no reports from anglers this week.
Fishing for catfish at Oasis Park Lake was fair to good using hot dogs and worms.
Pecos River had no reports from anglers this week.
Perch Lake had no reports from anglers this week.
Fishing for rainbow trout at Rio Bonito was good using worms.
Rock Lake Hatchery Kids’ Pond had no reports from anglers this week.
Ruidoso River had no reports from anglers this week.
The Santa Rosa Lake boat ramp temporarily closed due to low water level. Fishing for walleye from the shore was fair to good using minnows.
Fishing for walleye and white bass at Sumner Lake was fair using redheaded Buck Perry spoon plugs trolling in 8 feet of water. The main lake water surface temperature was in the upper 70s.
Timberon Ponds had no reports from anglers this week. | https://www.abqjournal.com/2519994/fishing-line-for-july-28-2022.html | 2022-07-28T20:51:51Z | https://www.abqjournal.com/2519994/fishing-line-for-july-28-2022.html | false |
CHICAGO (AP) _ Huron Consulting Group Inc. (HURN) on Thursday reported second-quarter earnings of $13.9 million.
On a per-share basis, the Chicago-based company said it had profit of 66 cents. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were 83 cents per share.
The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 77 cents per share.
The consulting company posted revenue of $280.8 million in the period. Its adjusted revenue was $273.3 million, which also beat Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $251.4 million.
Huron Consulting expects full-year earnings in the range of $3.15 to $3.45 per share, with revenue in the range of $1.04 billion to $1.08 billion.
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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on HURN at https://www.zacks.com/ap/HURN | https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Huron-Consulting-Q2-Earnings-Snapshot-17336266.php | 2022-07-28T20:52:12Z | https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Huron-Consulting-Q2-Earnings-Snapshot-17336266.php | true |
After Biden’s COVID recovery, administration launches new booster push
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration is launching a renewed push for COVID-19 booster shots for those eligible, pointing to the enhanced protections they offer against severe illness as the highly transmissible BA.5 variant spreads across the country.
The initiatives include direct outreach to high-risk groups, especially seniors, encouraging them to get “up to date” on their vaccinations, with phone calls, emails and new public service announcements.
All Americans age 5 and over should get a booster five months after their initial primary series, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It also says those age 50 and over — or those who are immunocompromised — should get a second booster four months after their first. According to the CDC, tens of millions of eligible Americans haven’t received their first booster, and of those over 50 who got their first booster, only about 30% have received their second.
CDC has released a “booster calculator” to help people determine when to get a booster shot.
Biden, who received his second booster shot in March, tested positive for the virus last week and recovered after experiencing mild symptoms for five days.
“Given the rise of the Omicron BA.5 variant, it is essential that Americans stay up to date on their COVID-19 vaccinations — with booster shots — to achieve the highest level of protection possible,” the White House said. COVID-19 is killing about 366 people in the U.S. each day, the vast majority of whom are not up-to-date on their vaccinations. The administration says those deaths are largely preventable.
In May, according to the CDC, prior to the dominance of the BA.5 variant in the U.S., people over 50 with only a single booster shot were four times more likely to die of COVID-19 than those with two or more booster doses.
“Currently, many Americans are under-vaccinated, meaning they are not up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said earlier this month. “Staying up to date on your COVID-19 vaccines provides the best protection against severe outcomes.”
As part of the new booster push, the White House says pharmacies in the federal pharmacy program will step up outreach to those eligible for another booster dose. It says Walgreens will make more than 600,000 phone calls, and Rite Aid will send nearly 9 million emails to people encouraging them to get shots.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will also reach out to 600 nursing homes that have reported booster uptake rates under 80% to offer additional federal support, including on-site clinics and sending medical providers and infectious disease experts to educate people about the benefits of the shots. CMS will also email booster reminders to the 16 million people who receive their Medicare emails and added a booster reminder message to its 1-800-MEDICARE call-in line.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will also continue to run PSAs encouraging boosters during commercial breaks on shows with significant viewership among seniors, like “NCIS Hawaii,” “Good Morning America,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and “48 Hours.”
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2022/07/28/after-bidens-covid-recovery-administration-launches-new-booster-push/ | 2022-07-28T20:52:56Z | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2022/07/28/after-bidens-covid-recovery-administration-launches-new-booster-push/ | true |
UK rivals for PM hold first clash in front of Tory members
Leeds – British Conservatives Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss Thursday began their first grilling in front of party members as they wage a bitter duel to succeed Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The hustings in Leeds, northern England, was the opening bout of 12 nationwide grassroots events as the members elect a new leader, after a cabinet revolt forced scandal-hit Johnson to quit.
The result will be announced on September 5, and Truss has built up a strong lead in surveys of Tory members after vowing immediate tax cuts as Britain confronts a slump in living standards.
Former finance minister Sunak has denounced Truss’s “fairy tale economics”, vowing to tame surging inflation first, but has admitted that he is the “underdog” against the foreign secretary.
On foreign policy, both rivals have vowed to extend Johnson’s staunch support for Ukraine, and to resist China’s increasingly authoritarian rise, while profiting from vaguely defined “Brexit opportunities”.
Their two televised head-to-head debates so far were fractious — although the second on Tuesday was abruptly halted when the TalkTV moderator fainted live on air.
In Leeds, the candidates were allocated seats close together for the two-hour hustings, rather than squaring off at lecterns from opposite ends of a TV studio.
The Tory members in attendance applauded co-chairman Andrew Stephenson when he observed that their party is poised to appoint Britain’s third woman prime minister, or its first one of colour.
Sunak joked that he had got a “great tan” after criss-crossing the Leeds region in rare sunny weather this week.
– ‘Groupthink’ –
Truss went to high school in an affluent suburb of Leeds, while Sunak’s Westminster seat lies about an hour’s drive north in the same county of Yorkshire.
Truss said her Yorkshire upbringing had given her “grit, determination and straight-talking”.
“And that, my friends, is what I think we need now in Downing Street,” she told the hustings audience.
Truss, however, has also accused her Leeds school of fostering “low expectations” among its students, prompting anger from teachers and contemporaries.
Despite the school’s apparent failings, she went on to the University of Oxford, like Sunak.
Both the candidates have vowed support for Johnson’s “levelling up” agenda of revitalising growth in neglected regions of the UK including around Leeds.
Ahead of the hustings, Truss backed a railways investment project to help “turbocharge investment” in northern England, after Johnson and Sunak’s Treasury scaled it back on grounds of cost.
“The thing about me is I’m prepared to take on the Whitehall orthodoxy, I’m prepared to challenge the groupthink that has, over decades, not put enough investment into this part of the country,” she said.
But Truss declined to commit to restoring a separate high-speed link to Leeds, which has been scrapped under a mammoth project currently under construction to build new express lines out of London.
Addressing Britain’s cost-of-living crisis, Sunak has reversed course on his previous opposition to increasing tax relief on household energy bills, which are set to rocket anew in October.
“I will grip inflation and get it back down,” he said at the hustings, vowing tax cuts in future. | https://www.iraqinews.com/world/uk-rivals-for-pm-hold-first-clash-in-front-of-tory-members/ | 2022-07-28T20:53:37Z | https://www.iraqinews.com/world/uk-rivals-for-pm-hold-first-clash-in-front-of-tory-members/ | false |
The ball sailed into right field, carrying but not quite deep enough. Tampa Bay Rays right fielder Josh Lowe camped under it, prepared to catch what could prove be the last drive at Camden Yards of Trey Mancini’s Orioles tenure.
Then, the sun peeked out from the clouds in the Baltimore sky, and Lowe lost sight of the ball. It caromed off his left cheek toward the first-base line, and off Mancini went. On base in front of Baltimore’s longest-tenured player, Austin Hays wheeled his arm, begging Mancini to continue onward. He did, racing home for the first inside-the-park home run at Oriole Park in nearly 11 years.
Mancini’s hustle gave the Orioles a 3-0 lead they held onto to take three of four games from Tampa Bay in a key series before Tuesday’s trade deadline. Mancini, in the final guaranteed year of his contract, is a candidate to be dealt, even with the victory keeping the Orioles (50-49) in playoff contention.
An announced crowd of 16,784 began to chant his name, recognizing a player who has endured so much during his time with Baltimore. The lone holdover from their most recent playoff team, Mancini missed the 2020 season undergoing treatment for stage 3 colon cancer.
During that time, he saw how Orioles teenage superfan Mo Gaba handled his lifelong cancer battle with such positivity. Thursday marked the second straight year the Orioles honored Mo on the anniversary of his death. Mancini homered in both games.
This story will be updated.
ORIOLES@REDS
Friday, 6:40 p.m.
TV: MASN2
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
() | https://www.twincities.com/2022/07/28/trey-mancini-hits-inside-the-park-home-run-in-potential-last-camden-yards-at-bat-with-orioles-in-3-0-win-over-rays/ | 2022-07-28T20:53:47Z | https://www.twincities.com/2022/07/28/trey-mancini-hits-inside-the-park-home-run-in-potential-last-camden-yards-at-bat-with-orioles-in-3-0-win-over-rays/ | false |
- For the quarter, total revenues were $2.49 billion, GAAP diluted EPS attributable to KLA was $5.40 and non-GAAP diluted EPS attributable to KLA was $5.81, each finishing above the mid-point of guidance ranges;
- Cash flow from operations for the quarter and fiscal year was $819.2 million and $3.31 billion and free cash flow was $746.1 million and $3.01 billion, respectively; and
- Capital returns for the quarter and fiscal year were $3.63 billion and $5.51 billion, respectively.
MILPITAS, Calif., July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- KLA Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) today announced operating results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended June 30, 2022. KLA reported GAAP net income attributable to KLA of $805.4 million and GAAP diluted earnings per share ("EPS") attributable to KLA of $5.40 on total revenues of $2.49 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2022. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2022, KLA reported GAAP net income attributable to KLA of $3.32 billion and GAAP diluted EPS attributable to KLA of $21.92 on total revenues of $9.21 billion.
"KLA's June quarter results and September quarter outlook once again demonstrate sustainable outperformance, highlighting the critical nature of KLA's products and services in enabling digital transformation in how we live and work," commented Rick Wallace, president and chief executive officer of KLA Corporation. "Our consistent, strong execution against various challenges in the marketplace, both in terms of macro-economic uncertainty and in addressing persistent supply chain issues, highlights the resiliency of the KLA Operating Model, the dedication of our global teams, and our commitment to delivering long-term value to our stakeholders."
A reconciliation between GAAP operating results and non-GAAP operating results is provided following the financial statements included in this release. KLA will discuss the results for its fiscal year 2022 fourth quarter and full year, along with its outlook, on a conference call today beginning at 2 p.m. PT. A webcast of the call will be available at: www.kla.com.
First Quarter Fiscal 2023 Guidance
The following details our guidance for the first quarter of fiscal 2023 ending in September:
- Total revenues is expected to be in a range of $2,475 million to $2,725 million
- GAAP gross margin is expected to be in a range of 60.2% to 62.3%
- Non-GAAP gross margin is expected to be in a range of 62.0% to 64.0%
- GAAP diluted EPS attributable to KLA is expected to be in a range of $5.28 to $6.38
- Non-GAAP diluted EPS attributable to KLA is expected to be in a range of $5.70 to $6.80
For additional details and assumptions underlying our guidance metrics, please see the company's published Letter to Shareholders and Earnings Slide Presentation on the KLA investor relations website. Such Letter to Shareholders and Earnings Slide Presentation are not incorporated by reference into this earnings release.
About KLA:
KLA Corporation ("KLA") develops industry-leading equipment and services that enable innovation throughout the electronics industry. We provide advanced process control and process-enabling solutions for manufacturing wafers and reticles, integrated circuits, packaging, printed circuit boards and flat panel displays. In close collaboration with leading customers across the globe, our expert teams of physicists, engineers, data scientists and problem-solvers design solutions that move the world forward. Investors and others should note that KLA announces material financial information including SEC filings, press releases, public earnings calls and conference webcasts using an investor relations website (ir.kla.com). Additional information may be found at: www.kla.com.
Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:
Statements in this press release other than historical facts, such as statements pertaining to total revenues, GAAP and non-GAAP gross margin and GAAP and non-GAAP diluted EPS attributable to KLA for the quarter ending Sept. 30, 2022 are forward-looking statements and subject to the Safe Harbor provisions created by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on current information and expectations and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in such statements due to various factors, including but not limited to: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy and on our business, financial condition and results of operations, including the supply chain constraints we are experiencing as a result of the pandemic; economic, political and social conditions in the countries in which we, our customers and our suppliers operate, including rising inflation and interest rates, Russia's invasion of Ukraine and global trade policies; disruption to our manufacturing facilities or other operations, or the operations of our customers, due to natural catastrophic events, health epidemics or terrorism; ongoing changes in the technology industry, and the semiconductor industry in particular, including future growth rates, pricing trends in end-markets, or changes in customer capital spending patterns; our ability to timely develop new technologies and products that successfully anticipate or address changes in the semiconductor industry; our ability to maintain our technology advantage and protect our proprietary rights; our ability to compete with new products introduced by our competitors; our ability to attract, onboard and retain key personnel; cybersecurity threats, cyber incidents affecting our and our customers, suppliers and other service providers' systems and networks and our and their ability to access critical information systems for daily business operations; liability to our customers under indemnification provisions if our products fail to operate properly or contain defects or our customers are sued by third parties due to our products; exposure to a highly concentrated customer base; availability and cost of the wide range of materials used in the production of our products; our ability to operate our business in accordance with our business plan; legal, regulatory and tax environments in which we perform our operations and conduct our business and our ability to comply with relevant laws and regulations; our ability to pay interest and repay the principal of our current indebtedness is dependent upon our ability to manage our business operations, our credit rating and the ongoing interest rate environment, among other factors; instability in the global credit and financial markets; our exposure to currency exchange rate fluctuations, or declining economic conditions in those countries where we conduct our business; changes in our effective tax rate resulting from changes in the tax rates imposed by jurisdictions where our profits are determined to be earned and taxed, expiration of tax holidays in certain jurisdictions, resolution of issues arising from tax audits with various authorities or changes in tax laws or the interpretation of such tax laws; and our ability to identify suitable acquisition targets and successfully integrate and manage acquired businesses. For other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected and anticipated in forward-looking statements in this press release, please refer to KLA Corporation's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2021, and other subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (including, but not limited to, the risk factors described therein). KLA Corporation assumes no obligation to, and does not currently intend to, update these forward-looking statements.
The non-GAAP and supplemental information provided in this press release is a supplement to, and not a substitute for, KLA's financial results presented in accordance with United States GAAP.
To supplement our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements presented in accordance with GAAP, we provide certain non-GAAP financial information, which is adjusted from results based on GAAP to exclude certain costs and expenses, as well as other supplemental information. The non-GAAP and supplemental information is provided to enhance the user's overall understanding of our operating performance and our prospects in the future. Specifically, we believe that the non-GAAP information, including non-GAAP net income attributable to KLA, non-GAAP net income per diluted share attributable to KLA, non-GAAP gross margin and Free Cash Flow, provides useful measures to both management and investors regarding financial and business trends relating to our financial performance by excluding certain costs and expenses that we believe are not indicative of our core operating results to help investors compare our operating performances with our results in prior periods as well as with the performance of other companies. The non-GAAP information is among the budgeting and planning tools that management uses for future forecasting. However, because there are no standardized or generally accepted definitions for most non-GAAP financial metrics, definitions of non-GAAP financial metrics are inherently subject to significant discretion (for example, determining which costs and expenses to exclude when calculating such a metric). As a result, non-GAAP financial metrics may be defined very differently from company to company, or even from period to period within the same company, which can potentially limit the usefulness of such information to an investor. The presentation of non-GAAP and supplemental information is not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared and presented in accordance with United States GAAP. The following are descriptions of the adjustments made to reconcile GAAP net income attributable to KLA to non-GAAP net income attributable to KLA:
a. Acquisition-related charges primarily include amortization of intangible assets and other acquisition-related adjustments including adjustments for the fair valuation of inventory and backlog, and transaction costs associated with our acquisitions.
b. Restructuring, severance and other charges primarily include costs associated with employee severance, acceleration of certain stock-based compensation arrangements, interest expense on unrecognized tax benefits, charges related to liquidation of legal entities and other exit costs.
c. Income tax effect of non-GAAP adjustments includes the income tax effects of the excluded items noted above.
d. Discrete tax items in the three months ended June 30, 2022 include an increase in unrecognized tax benefits related to the transition tax on accumulated foreign earnings from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Discrete tax items in the three months ended Mar. 31, 2022 include a tax impact relating to the amortization of certain intellectual property as a result of an internal restructuring of ownership rights to align with how our business operates. Discrete tax items in the twelve months ended June 30, 2022 primarily include the aforementioned items as well as a one-time tax benefit of $394.5 million resulting from changes made to our international structure to better align ownership of certain intellectual property rights with how our business operates and a net benefit of $69.2 million from an internal restructuring, partially offset by a tax expense of $163.7 million from an increase in deferred tax liabilities on unremitted foreign earnings due to a change in tax law. Discrete tax items in the three and twelve months ended June 30, 2021 include tax expense from an increase in deferred tax liability on purchased intangibles relating to an increase in the United Kingdom statutory income tax rate, partially offset by a net tax benefit from an internal restructuring and a reduction in unrecognized tax benefits.
View original content:
SOURCE KLA Corporation | https://www.kalb.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/kla-corporation-reports-fiscal-2022-fourth-quarter-full-year-results/ | 2022-07-28T20:54:16Z | https://www.kalb.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/kla-corporation-reports-fiscal-2022-fourth-quarter-full-year-results/ | false |
WFO PORTLAND Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Friday, July 29, 2022
_____
AIR QUALITY ALERT
Air Quality Alert Message
Southwest Clean Air Agency
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality
Lane Regional Air Protection Agency
Relayed by National Weather Service Portland OR
1210 PM PDT Thu Jul 28 2022
...AIR QUALITY ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM PDT SATURDAY...
The Southwest Clean Air Agency, the Oregon Department of
Environmental Quality, and the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency
have issued an Air Quality Advisory, which is in effect until 9 PM
PDT Saturday.
An Air Quality Advisory for ozone has been issued. High levels of
ozone in the lower atmosphere in the region combined with forecasted
conditions will cause air quality to reach unhealthy levels for
sensitive groups at times through Saturday evening. This includes
children, people over 65, pregnant women, and people with heart
disease or respiratory conditions. Health officials recommend
sensitive groups limit outdoor activity when pollution levels are
high.
DEQ urges residents to protect their health and limit activities
that cause pollution during the heat wave. Recommendations include:
1. Limit driving by using public transit, carpooling and other
alternative transportation.
2. Avoid unnecessary engine idling.
3. Refuel vehicles during cooler evening hours.
4. Postpone mowing the lawn or using leaf blowers.
5. Postpone painting and aerosol spray projects.
Smog irritates the eyes, nose and lungs and contributes to breathing
problems. Consult your health care provider if these symptoms
worsen.
Ozone forms when hot temperatures and low winds combine with
pollution from cars, gas-powered engines and chemicals in paints and
aerosols. These air pollutants react with sunlight and heat to
produce ozone and haze.
Ozone pollution increases throughout the day with exposure to
sunlight so pollution levels tend to be highest during the afternoon
and early evening hours. Air quality monitors may show good air
quality in the morning, then quickly jump to unhealthy levels later
in the day.
More information about air quality can be found at:
_____
Copyright 2022 AccuWeather | https://www.sfchronicle.com/weather/article/WA-WFO-PORTLAND-Warnings-Watches-and-Advisories-17335902.php | 2022-07-28T20:55:55Z | https://www.sfchronicle.com/weather/article/WA-WFO-PORTLAND-Warnings-Watches-and-Advisories-17335902.php | false |
Merchants Bancorp Reports Second Quarter 2022 Results
Published: Jul. 28, 2022 at 4:05 PM EDT|Updated: 52 minutes ago
Second quarter 2022 net income of $53.9 million increased 5% compared to the second quarter of 2021 and increased 8% compared to the first quarter of 2022
Second quarter 2022 diluted earnings per common share of $1.11 increased 5% compared to the second quarter of 2021 and increased 9% compared to the first quarter of 2022
Total assets of $11.1 billion increased 15%, compared to March 31, 2022, and decreased 2% compared to December 31, 2021
Return on average assets was 2.20% in the second quarter of 2022 compared to 2.14% in the second quarter of 2021 and 1.92% in the first quarter of 2022
Net interest margin was 3.03% in the second quarter of 2022 compared to 2.75% in the second quarter of 2021 and 2.62% in the first quarter of 2022
Tangible book value per common share of $19.70 increased 25% compared to $15.73 in the second quarter of 2021 and increased 5% compared to $18.70 in the first quarter of 2022
Credit quality remained strong, as nonperforming loans represented 0.07% of loans receivable compared to 0.08% at March 31, 2022 and 0.01% at December 31, 2021
During the second quarter 2022, the Company repurchased $3.9 million of its common shares
On May 5, 2022, the Company completed a $214 million Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities (CMBS) securitization of 14 multifamily mortgage loans secured by 24 mortgaged properties through a Freddie Mac-sponsored Q-Series transaction
CARMEL, Ind., July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Merchants Bancorp (the "Company" or "Merchants") (Nasdaq: MBIN), parent company of Merchants Bank of Indiana, today reported second quarter 2022 net income of $53.9 million, or diluted earnings per common share of $1.11. This compared to $51.4 million, or diluted earnings per common share of $1.06 in the second quarter of 2021, and compared to $50.1 million, or diluted earnings per common share of $1.02 in the first quarter of 2022.
"We have continued to successfully manage our capital, liquidity, and resources to maximize returns in the second quarter as we expanded the reach of our products and services, while also minimizing our credit risk. With a tangible book value of $19.70 per share, an industry-leading return on average assets of 2.20% and efficiency ratio of 29.6% in the quarter, we have established significant momentum and anticipate continued strength in the second half of 2022 and beyond," said Michael F. Petrie, Chairman and CEO of Merchants.
Michael J. Dunlap, President and Chief Operating Officer of Merchants, added, "Achieving these superior results can be attributable to the tremendous efforts of our employees who operate with an entrepreneurial spirit and focus on continuous improvement. Their successes have led to an expansion of our business platforms in a unique and powerful way that has benefited all our customers. We also believe that we are still in the early stages of reaping all the revenue opportunities from our investments."
Net income of $53.9 million for the second quarter 2022 increased by $2.5 million, or 5%, compared to the second quarter of 2021, primarily driven by a $16.8 million, or 23%, increase in interest income and a $7.0 million higher fair market value adjustment to mortgage servicing rights. These increases were partially offset by a $9.2 million increase in interest expense, a $6.5 million increase in the provision for credit losses, a $4.8 million increase in noninterest expense, and a $3.6 million decrease in gain on sale of loans.
Net income for the second quarter 2022 increased by $3.8 million, or 8%, compared to the first quarter of 2022, primarily driven by a $13.2 million, or 17%, increase in interest income and a $3.6 million increase in gain on sale of loans. These increases were partially offset by a $7.0 million increase in interest expense, a $3.8 million increase in the provision for credit losses, and a $1.9 million increase in noninterest expense.
Total Assets
Total assets of $11.1 billion at June 30, 2022 increased 15%, compared to March 31, 2022, and decreased 2%, compared to December 31, 2021. Both periods reflected significant increases in loans, primarily from growth in the multi-family and healthcare financing portfolio.
Return on average assets was 2.20% for the second quarter of 2022 compared to 1.92% for the first quarter of 2022 and 2.14% for the second quarter of 2021.
Asset Quality
The allowance for credit losses on loans of $37.5 million at June 30, 2022 increased $5.3 million compared to March 31, 2022 and increased $6.1 million compared to December 31, 2021. The increases compared to both periods were primarily from growth in the multi-family and healthcare loan portfolios and also reflected a contingent reserve related to a Freddie Mac-sponsored Q-Series securitization transaction. As of June 30, 2022, the Company had one loan remaining in a COVID-19 payment deferral arrangement, with an unpaid balance of $36.8 million.
Non-performing loans were $4.8 million, or 0.07%, of loans receivable at June 30, 2022, compared to compared to 0.08% at March 31, 2022 and 0.01% at December 31, 2021.
Total Deposits
Total deposits of $8.3 billion at June 30, 2022 increased $823.9 million, or 11%, compared to March 31, 2022, and decreased $682.9 million, or 8%, compared to December 31, 2021. The increase compared to March 31, 2022 was primarily due to an increase in brokered certificates of deposits.
Total brokered deposits of $1.2 billion at June 30, 2022 increased $844.8 million, or 222%, from March 31, 2022 and decreased $935.1 million, or 43%, from December 31, 2021. Brokered deposits represented 15% of total deposits at June 30, 2022 compared to 5% of total deposits at March 31, 2022 and 24% of total deposits at December 31, 2021.
The Company continues to offer new products, such as adjustable-rate certificates of deposits, to minimize interest rate risks by aligning the rate and duration characteristics of its deposit and loan portfolios.
Liquidity
Cash balances of $258.1 million at June 30, 2022 decreased by $153.4 million compared to March 31, 2022 and decreased by $774.5 million compared to December 31, 2021. The Company continues to have significant borrowing capacity, with unused lines of credit totaling $1.7 billion at June 30, 2022 compared to $2.2 billion at March 31, 2022 and $2.4 billion at December 31, 2021. This liquidity enhances the ability to effectively manage interest expense and asset levels in the future. Additionally, the Company's business model is designed to continuously sell a significant portion of its loans, which provides flexibility in managing its liquidity.
Comparison of Operating Results for the Three Months Ended June 30, 2022 and 2021
Net Interest Income of $72.0 million increased $7.6 million, or 12% compared to $64.4 million, reflecting higher yields and average balances on loans and loans held for sale that were partially offset by higher interest rates and average balances of deposits and borrowings.
Interest rate spread of 2.90% increased 22 basis points compared to 2.68%.
Net interest margin of 3.03% increased 28 basis points compared to 2.75%.
Interest Income of $89.3 million increased 23% compared to $72.4 million, reflecting an increase in both yields and average balances of loans and loans held for sale, driven by increases in the multi-family and healthcare portfolios.
Average balances of $8.6 billion for loans and loans held for sale increased $737.5 million, or 9%, compared to $7.9 billion.
Average yield on loans and loans held for sale of 3.99% increased 53 basis points compared to 3.46%.
Interest Expense of $17.2 million increased $9.2 million, or 115%, compared to $8.0 million. Interest expense on deposits of $14.8 million increased $8.1 million, or 121%, compared $6.7 million, reflecting higher rates on interest bearing checking and money market accounts.
Average balances of $7.4 billion for interest-bearing deposits decreased $33.9 million, essentially unchanged compared to $7.4 billion.
Average interest rates of 0.81% for interest-bearing deposits increased 45 basis points compared to 0.36%.
Noninterest Income of $39.2 million increased $6.3 million, or 19%, compared to $32.9 million, primarily due to a $7.9 million increase in loan servicing fees, partially offset by a $3.6 million decrease in gain on sale of loans.
Loan servicing fees included a $7.7 million positive fair market value adjustment to mortgage servicing rights, of which $1.1 million was in the Banking segment and $6.6 million was in the Multi-family Mortgage Banking segment. This compared to a $0.7 million positive fair market value adjustment to mortgage servicing rights, of which $0.6 million was in the Banking segment and $0.1 million was in the Multi-family Mortgage Banking segment.
Syndication and asset management fees of $1.6 million more than tripled and are becoming a meaningful source of noninterest income growth.
Noninterest Expense of $33.0 million increased $4.8 million, or 17%, compared to $28.2 million, primarily due to increases in salaries and employee benefits to support business growth.
The efficiency ratio of 29.6% increased 66 basis points compared to 29.0%.
Comparison of Operating Results for the Three Months Ended June 30, 2022 and March 31, 2022
Net Interest Income of $72.0 million increased $6.3 million, or 10% compared to $65.7 million, reflecting higher yields and average balances on loans and loans held for sale that were partially offset by higher interest rates on deposits and borrowings.
Interest rate spread of 2.90% increased 35 basis points compared to 2.55%.
Net interest margin of 3.03% increased 41 basis points compared to 2.62%.
Interest Income of $89.3 million increased $13.3 million, or 17%, compared to $76.0 million, reflecting an increase in yields and average balances of loans and loans held for sale, driven by increases in the multi-family and healthcare portfolios.
Average balances of $8.6 billion for loans and loans held for sale increased $593.4 million, or 7%, compared to $8.0 billion.
Average yield on loans and loans held for sale of 3.99% increased 35 basis points compared to 3.64%.
Interest Expense of $17.2 million increased 68% compared to $10.3 million. Interest expense on deposits of $14.8 million increased $6.0 million, or 68%, compared to $8.8 million, reflecting higher interest rates on interest bearing checking and money market accounts.
Average balances of $7.4 billion for interest-bearing deposits decreased $682.5 million, or 8%, compared to $8.0 billion.
Average interest rates of 0.81% for interest-bearing deposits increased 37 basis points compared to 0.44%.
Noninterest Income of $39.2 million increased $4.6 million, or 13%, compared $34.6 million, primarily due to a $3.6 million, or 20%, increase in gain on sale of loans.
Loan servicing fees included a $7.7 million positive fair market value adjustment to servicing rights, of which $1.1 million was in the Banking segment and $6.6 million was in the Multi-family Mortgage Banking segment. This compared to a $7.6 million positive fair market value adjustment to servicing rights, of which $4.3 million was in the Banking segment and $3.3 million was in the Multi-family Mortgage Banking segment.
Syndication and asset management fees of $1.6 million more than tripled and are becoming a meaningful source of noninterest income growth.
Noninterest Expense of $33.0 million increased 6% compared to $31.0 million, primarily due to increases in salaries and employee benefits to support business growth.
The efficiency ratio of 29.6% decreased 129 basis points compared to 30.9%.
About Merchants Bancorp
Ranked as a top performing U.S. public bank by S&P Global Market Intelligence, Merchants Bancorp is a diversified bank holding company headquartered in Carmel, Indiana operating multiple lines of business, including multi-family housing and healthcare facility financing and servicing; mortgage warehouse financing; retail and correspondent residential mortgage banking; agricultural lending; and traditional community banking. Merchants Bancorp, with $11.1 billion in assets and $8.3 billion in deposits as of June 30, 2022, conducts its business primarily through its direct and indirect subsidiaries, Merchants Bank of Indiana, Merchants Capital Corp., Farmers-Merchants Bank of Illinois, Merchants Capital Servicing, LLC, and Merchants Mortgage, a division of Merchants Bank of Indiana. For more information and financial data, please visit Merchants' Investor Relations page at investors.merchantsbancorp.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements which reflect management's current views with respect to, among other things, future events and financial performance. These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as "may," "might," "should," "could," "predict," "potential," "believe," "expect," "continue," "will," "anticipate," "seek," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "projection," "goal," "target," "outlook," "aim," "would," "annualized" and "outlook," or the negative version of those words or other comparable words or phrases of a future or forward-looking nature. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts, and are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the industry, management's beliefs and certain assumptions made by management, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and beyond our control, such as the potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, management cautions that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, assumptions, estimates and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the date made, actual results may prove to be materially different from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. A number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in these forward-looking statements, including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as the severity, magnitude, duration and businesses' and governments' responses thereto, on the Company's operations and personnel, and on activity and demand across its businesses, and other factors identified in "Risk Factors" or "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and other periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statements presented herein are made only as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect changes in assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events, or otherwise.
The above press release was provided courtesy of PRNewswire. The views, opinions and statements in the press release are not endorsed by Gray Media Group nor do they necessarily state or reflect those of Gray Media Group, Inc. | https://www.wymt.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/merchants-bancorp-reports-second-quarter-2022-results/ | 2022-07-28T20:57:11Z | https://www.wymt.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/merchants-bancorp-reports-second-quarter-2022-results/ | false |
‘The View’ apologizes: Five times the ABC News program was forced to say sorry on the air
Whoopi Golberg, Joy Behar often find themselves apologizing on ‘The View’
ABC News’ "The View" continued its long tradition of issuing on-air apologies on Thursday when co-host Whoopi Goldberg declared she was "sorry" for linking a promient conservative group to neo-Nazis.
Apologies and on-air disclaimers have become common on the ABC News daytime gabfest over the years, with ABC legal correspondent and co-host Sunny Hostin typically reading statements to keep the show out of legal trouble.
But Goldberg and fellow co-host Joy Behar have a long history of making comments that eventually require an on-air apology. Here are five of the most memorable recent examples:
Repeated apologies after linking Turning Point USA to Nazis
"The View" has issued at least four public corrections or apologizes this week after linking the conservative organization Turning Point USA to neo-Nazis. It started Monday when "The View" co-hosts mocked the group’s Student Action Summit, and co-host joy Behar criticized TPUSA because neo-Nazi protesters were present outside the venue.
"Neo-Nazis were out there in the front of the conference with anti-Semitic slurs and, you know, the Nazi swastika and a picture of a so-called Jewish person with exaggerated features, just like [Joseph] Goebbels did during the Third Reich. It’s the same thing, right out of that same playbook," Behar said.
Later on the program, "The View" read an on-air legal disclaimer to inform viewers that Turning Point USA condemned the neo-Nazis protesters who had "nothing to do" with the organization.
"But you let them in, and you knew what they were," Goldberg said before the panelists were forced to read another disclaimer and explain the neo-Nazis were "outside protesters," not ones allowed in. "My point was metaphorical," Goldberg claimed.
Fox News Digital later reported on a letter from TPUSA that told "The View" to retract the comments or face legal action. The show obliged in the form of co-host Sara Haines reading a note to viewers on Wednesday, but TPUSA was still bothered that Haines, not Goldberg, issued the apology.
On Thursday, Goldberg finally addressed the situation herself.
"In Monday's conversation about Turning Point USA, I put the young people at the conference in the same category as the protesters outside, and I don't like it when people make assumptions about me," Goldberg said. "And it's not any better when I make assumptions about other people, which I did. So, my bad, I'm sorry."
TURNING POINT USA ISSUES CEASE AND DESIST TO ABC NEWS OVER ‘DEFAMATORY STATEMENTS’ ON ‘THE VIEW’
Whoopi Goldberg issues apology for Holocaust comments that got her suspended
Earlier this year, Goldberg issued an apology after facing intense backlash for arguing that the Holocaust "isn't about race," which even stunned her colleagues at the table.
"What is it about?" co-host Joy Behar asked.
"It’s about man’s inhumanity to man, that’s what it’s about," Goldberg said.
"But it’s about a White supremacist going after Jews and Gypsies," guest co-host Ana Navarro said as Goldberg attempted to speak over her.
"But these are two White groups of people," Goldberg said as her colleagues disagreed.
Multiple Jewish groups, including the ADL, condemned Goldberg's remarks and the Auschwitz Memorial even suggested that she take an online course on the history of the Holocaust. "The View" co-host eventually apologized.
"On today's show, I said the Holocaust ‘is not about race, but about man’s inhumanity to man.' I should have said it is about both," Goldberg wrote in a statement that evening. "As Jonathan Greenblatt from the Anti-Defamation League shared, ‘The Holocaust was about the Nazi's systematic annihilation of the Jewish people - who they deemed to be an inferior race.' I stand corrected."
Goldberg later reiterated the sentiment on-air and Greenblatt joined the program to educate Goldberg about the Holocaust. Despite the apologizes, ABC News suspended Goldberg for two weeks for making "wrong and hurtful comments."
Joy Behar ‘didn’t get enough sleep’ when she misgendered Caitlyn Jenner
Behar, an outspoken liberal who typically defends the LGBTQ+ community, misgendered Caitlyn Jenner during a 2021 episode in a segment where she repeatedly used the incorrect pronouns for Jenner, a conservative formerly known as Bruce Jenner who came out as a transgender woman in 2015.
Jenner, now a Fox News contributor, was running for governor of California at the time and her campaign was being discussed on "The View" when Behar made the pronoun gaffe.
"He's got this guy Brad Parscale running his campaign," Behar said. "What do you think about that? I mean, that guy was accused of using campaign funds to enrich himself. That's who is running his campaign — or her campaign, rather."
Behar caught herself making a similar mistake later in the segment.
"I think that he should — she, rather — should take a seat and let somebody with the credentials take over a major state like California," Behar said.
After a commercial break, Behar apologized and blamed the mix-up on a lack of sleep.
"So first of all, let me apologize for my pronoun mix-up. I think I just didn't get enough sleep last night," Behar said. "I had no intention of mixing them up and I tried to correct it immediately but, whatever, it just came out. So, I'm sorry if anybody was upset by that."
Joy Behar apologizes to Mike Pence after mocking his religious faith
In 2018, Behar criticized then-Vice President Mike Pence's Christian faith by saying that hearing from Jesus is actually called "mental illness."
The ordeal began when co-host Sunny Hostin said, "I don’t know that I want my vice president, um, speaking in tongues and having Jesus speak to him."
Behar chimed in, adding that hearing from Jesus is actually called "mental illness."
Everyone from religious groups to Pence himself were offended, and the vice president even spoke out on the situation.
"To have ABC maintain a broadcast forum that compared Christianity to mental illness is just wrong," Pence said during an appearance on C-SPAN following the controversial remarks. "It is simply wrong for ABC to have a television program that expresses that kind of religious intolerance."
Behar initially stayed silent on the backlash to her comment, but it was revealed during a Disney shareholder’s meeting that she privately called Pence to apologize. Once her private apology was revealed, Behar also discussed the incident on-air.
"I was raised to respect everyone’s religious faith and I fell short of that," Behar said. "I sincerely apologize for what I said."
Behar apologizes after upsetting nurses across the nation
Behar landed in hot water in 2015 during a discussion about Miss Colorado Kelley Johnson, a nurse, who wore scrubs and a stethoscope on stage during the pageant to perform a monologue about one of her patients and the importance of her career.
When discussing the emotional monologue, Behar bluntly asked, "Why does she have a doctor’s stethoscope on her neck?"
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Nurses across America were peeved and retaliated with a hashtag campaign #NursesUnite to support Johnson. National Nurses United, the largest U.S. organization of nurses, sad Behar "trivialized the profession of nursing" and also slammed "The View" for referring to medical scrubs as a "costume" during the same segment.
Behar initially downplayed the controversy but eventually apologized on-air.
"We apologize for our remarks, and we know how vitally important nurses are," Behar said.
The View has come under scrutiny numerous times during the show's time on the air. Such examples include a conversation in which Sunny Hostin suggested that a Black or Hispanic conservative was an "oxymoron," an instance where Goldberg attempted to defend filmmaker Roman Polanski after he was arrested on rape charges, and another time when Goldberg attempted to defend disgraced comic Bill Cosby.
Fox News’ David Rutz and Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report. | https://www.foxnews.com/media/the-view-apologizes-five-times-abc-news-program-forced-say-sorry-air | 2022-07-28T20:57:45Z | https://www.foxnews.com/media/the-view-apologizes-five-times-abc-news-program-forced-say-sorry-air | false |
Authorities in Texas said a couple was charged following an alleged road rage shooting in Houston that was caught on video.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said Benjamin Greene was charged with assault and Nazly Ortiz was charged with aggravated assault.
ABC News reported the couple appeared before a judge Wednesday.
Gonzalez said the alleged incident happened on Tuesday on I-45 near 1960 in Spring.
According to Gonzalez, a man and his 2-year-old son exited Parramatta Lane when Greene followed him in a pickup truck.
When both vehicles stopped, Greene got out of his vehicle, approached the victim's car, and assaulted him, Gonzalez said.
As the victim fled, Ortiz got out of the truck's passenger side and fired at the victim, striking the backseat passenger window, according to Gonzalez.
Gonzalez said a car at a nearby dealership was also struck.
According to Gonzalez, the victim was transported to a hospital with a possible graze wound, but he is in good condition.
No other injuries were reported, Gonzalez said.
This afternoon, two parties were involved in a road-rage incident while driving north on 45 near 1960. Victim was driving his car with his 2-yr-old son in tow. Victim exited 45 at Parramatta as suspect truck followed. Both vehicles came to a stop. Male driver/suspect in the 1/3 pic.twitter.com/ukmMHcN5vq
— Ed Gonzalez (@SheriffEd_HCSO) July 26, 2022
ABC News reported that it's unknown when the couple is expected back at court. | https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/national/sheriff-texas-couple-charged-after-road-rage-shooting | 2022-07-28T20:57:51Z | https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/national/sheriff-texas-couple-charged-after-road-rage-shooting | true |
PLEASANTON, Calif. , July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- 10x Genomics, Inc. (NASDAQ: TXG), a life sciences leader focused on mastering biology to advance human health, today announced the company will be participating in the upcoming UBS Genomics 2.0 and MedTech Innovations Summit in Dana Point, California.
10x Genomics' management is scheduled to participate in a fireside chat on Thursday, August 11, at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (12:00 p.m. Eastern Time). Interested parties may access a live and archived webcast of the presentation on the "Investors" section of the company's website at: https://investors.10xgenomics.com/.
10x Genomics is a life science technology company building products to interrogate, understand and master biology to advance human health. Our integrated solutions include instruments, consumables and software for analyzing biological systems at a resolution and scale that matches the complexity of biology. 10x Genomics products have been adopted by researchers around the world including in all of the top 100 global research institutions as ranked by Nature in 2020 based on publications and all of the top 20 global pharmaceutical companies by 2020 research and development spend and have been cited in over 3,800 research papers on discoveries ranging from oncology to immunology and neuroscience. Our patent portfolio comprises more than 1,500 issued patents and patent applications.
10x Genomics uses filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, its website (www.10xgenomics.com), press releases, public conference calls, public webcasts and its social media accounts as means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD.
Contacts
Investors: investors@10xgenomics.com
Media: media@10xgenomics.com
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE 10x Genomics, Inc. | https://www.kfyrtv.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/10x-genomics-present-ubs-genomics-20-medtech-innovations-summit/ | 2022-07-28T20:58:53Z | https://www.kfyrtv.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/10x-genomics-present-ubs-genomics-20-medtech-innovations-summit/ | false |
Kentucky flooding kills three, death toll expected to hit double digits, governor says
The flooding was expected to destroy hundreds of properties
Massive flooding in Kentucky Thursday has killed at least three people, and the death toll was expected to hit double digits, Gov. Andy Beshear said in announcing an emergency declaration.
"In a word, this event is devastating," the governor said Thursday, after declaring a state of emergency in six counties. "And I do believe it will end up being one of the most significant, deadly floods that we have had in Kentucky in at least a very long time.
The three deaths included two people in Perry County, one of whom was an 81-year-old woman. The third death was reported in Knott County.
The governor grimly predicted that many people would be displaced, and hundreds of properties would be destroyed, potentially taking years to repair.
ARIZONA WOMAN CLINGING TO STOP SIGN RESCUED FROM FLOODWATERS
Beshear said he had deployed National Guard soldiers to the hardest-hit areas, and three parks in the region were opened as shelters for displaced people.
Rescue crews worked throughout the night helping people stranded by the rising waters in eastern Kentucky's Perry County, where Emergency Management Director Jerry Stacy called it a "catastrophic event."
Flash flooding and mudslides were reported across the mountainous region of eastern Kentucky, western Virginia, and southern West Virginia, where thunderstorms have dumped several inches of rain in recent days.
In Breathitt County in eastern Kentucky, floodwaters covered roads and swamped homes and businesses. A volunteer fire department had to abandon its flooded-out station, authorities said.
ST. LOUIS FLOODING: AT LEAST 1 DEAD IN HISTORIC EVENT
The storms hit an Appalachian mountain region where communities and homes are built on steep hillsides or down in the hollows between them, where the only flat land often shoulders creeks and streams that can rise in a hurry.
Roads in many areas weren't passable after as much as 6 inches of rain had fallen in some areas by Thursday, and 1-3 more inches could fall, the National Weather Service said.
In Kentucky's Perry, Leslie and Clay counties, people in low areas were urged to seek higher ground after multiple swift water rescues. Breathitt County's courthouse was opened overnight, and Emergency Management Director Chris Friley said the Old Montessori School would provide more permanent shelter once crews can staff it.
DANGEROUS US HEAT IMPACTS MILLIONS OF AMERICANS
Perry County dispatchers told WKYT-TV that floodwaters washed out roads and bridges and knocked homes off foundations. The city of Hazard said rescue crews were out all night, urging people on Facebook to stay off roads and "pray for a break in the rain."
In West Virginia's Greenbrier County, firefighters pulled people from flooded homes, and five campers who were stranded by high water in Nicholas County were rescued by the Keslers Cross Lanes Volunteer Fire Department, WCHS-TV reported.
Communities in southwest Virginia also saw flooding, and the National Weather Service office in Blacksburg, Virginia, warned of more showers and storms on Thursday.
In Buchanan County, Virginia, which was hit by severe flooding two weeks ago, preliminary assessments of the previous flooding were postponed for safety amid the latest high water, according to Virginia Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman Lauren Opett.
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And in Wise County, the Office of Emergency Management warned of imminent flooding and road closures in the Pound Bottom area on Thursday morning. Officials advised residents to shelter in place until floodwaters recede or evacuate to a shelter in an elementary school.
Fox News’ Julia Musto and The Associated Press contributed to this report. | https://www.foxnews.com/us/kentucky-flooding-killsmultiple-people-death-toll-expected-double-digits | 2022-07-28T20:58:54Z | https://www.foxnews.com/us/kentucky-flooding-killsmultiple-people-death-toll-expected-double-digits | false |
Philadelphia wedding cut short as brawl ends with woman shot by another guest, police say
The victim, a 26-year-old woman, is expected to be OK
The cake was in tiers – but one guest left in tears, and the bride and groom had to cut their reception short hours early.
A Philadelphia wedding devolved into chaos Wednesday night when a group of female guests began brawling, according to authorities.
The fight spilled out onto the street outside a wedding venue, called The Venue, and a woman suffered a gunshot wound to the leg.
Police said the 26-year-old victim was part of a verbal and physical altercation with another woman when the suspect, a third woman, "intervened and shot the victim."
WILD VIDEO SHOWS WAVE CRASH BEACHSIDE HAWAII WEDDING
The suspect, described only as a Black woman, fled the scene.
The victim, whom police did not publicly identify, walked into a nearby police station around 9 p.m. and spoke with authorities. Medics transported her to Temple University Hospital where she was in stable condition with a non-life-threatening injury.
The fight took place despite the presence of young children at the wedding, FOX 29 Philadelphia reported, and although police have not yet made an arrest, the suspect left behind her car and identification.
MOUNTED NYPD OFFICER CHASES DOWN ROBBERY SUSPECT IN TIMES SQUARE, VIDEO SHOWS
"It’s a very unfortunate situation," Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small told the station. "It’s supposed to be a happy moment – a wedding."
He said police were confident they know who the suspect is and expected to make an arrest soon.
The bride and groom had planned to continue the reception until 11 p.m., he added, but the celebration died down early due to the violence.
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The investigation remained ongoing Thursday.
Anyone with information on the suspect’s whereabouts is asked to call police at 215-686-TIPS. | https://www.foxnews.com/us/philadelphia-wedding-cut-short-brawl-ends-woman-shot-another-guest-police-say | 2022-07-28T20:59:16Z | https://www.foxnews.com/us/philadelphia-wedding-cut-short-brawl-ends-woman-shot-another-guest-police-say | false |
Highlights
- Second quarter 2022 net income of $422.1 million, or $2.76 per diluted share
- Record quarterly adjusted EBITDA of $727.3 million
- Share repurchases of $426.5 million in second quarter 2022
- Expect 2022 adjusted EBITDA to be $2.5 billion to $2.7 billion
CLAYTON, Mo., July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Olin Corporation (NYSE: OLN) announced financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2022. Olin also announced that its Board of Directors approved a new $2.0 billion share repurchase program ("2022 Share Repurchase Program").
Second quarter 2022 reported net income was $422.1 million, or $2.76 per diluted share, which compares to second quarter 2021 reported net income of $355.8 million, or $2.17 per diluted share. Second quarter 2022 adjusted EBITDA of $727.3 million excludes depreciation and amortization expense of $148.8 million and restructuring charges of $3.6 million. Second quarter 2021 adjusted EBITDA was $559.2 million. Sales in the second quarter 2022 were $2,616.1 million compared to $2,221.3 million in the second quarter 2021.
Scott Sutton, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, said, "Our second quarter record adjusted EBITDA performance continued to prove how our model can adapt in real-time to emphasize 'value first' versus a volume maximization approach. Our Chemical businesses have been increasingly challenged by the weakening economic environment, in particular chlorine derivatives such as epoxy resin and ethylene dichloride. Our team reduced operating rates and increased product purchases; thereby, refraining from selling incremental volume into poor-quality markets.
"With a recessionary economic environment continuing to unfold in third quarter 2022, we look forward to demonstrating how our winning model should dampen the impact of deeply cyclical behaviors that have historically undermined our earnings. We expect our third quarter 2022 Chemicals businesses results to be lower than second quarter 2022, due to purposeful lower participation in chlorine derivative markets and operating at lower rates combined with sequentially higher raw material and operating costs, mainly increased natural gas and electrical power costs. We expect Winchester third quarter results to be lower than second quarter 2022 levels because of higher commodity and other materials costs. Overall, we expect Olin's third quarter 2022 adjusted EBITDA to decline approximately 15% from second quarter 2022 levels.
"During the first half of 2022, we repurchased approximately 8% of shares outstanding for $689.7 million from cash flow, while maintaining our net debt levels. Additionally, the new $2 billion share repurchase program reflects our Board of Directors' confidence in Olin's future earnings and cash flow generation. With our solid balance sheet and strong cash flow, we are well positioned to execute on this attractive opportunity to invest in Olin."
SEGMENT REPORTING
Olin defines segment earnings as income (loss) before interest expense, interest income, other operating income (expense), non-operating pension income, other income, and income taxes.
CHLOR ALKALI PRODUCTS AND VINYLS
Chlor Alkali Products and Vinyls sales for the second quarter 2022 were $1,403.5 million compared to $967.3 million in the second quarter 2021. The increase in Chlor Alkali Products and Vinyls sales was primarily due to higher pricing, partially offset by lower volumes. Second quarter 2022 segment earnings were $346.5 million compared to $168.9 million in the second quarter 2021. The $177.6 million increase in segment earnings was primarily due to higher pricing across all products. The segment earnings also reflected lower volumes and higher raw material and operating costs, mainly increased natural gas and electrical power costs. Chlor Alkali Products and Vinyls second quarter 2022 results included depreciation and amortization expense of $120.4 million compared to $114.5 million in the second quarter 2021.
EPOXY
Epoxy sales for the second quarter 2022 were $772.7 million compared to $850.0 million in the second quarter 2021. The decrease in Epoxy sales was primarily due to lower volumes, partially offset by higher pricing. Second quarter 2022 segment earnings were $139.9 million compared to $165.3 million in the second quarter 2021. The $25.4 million decrease in Epoxy segment earnings was primarily due to lower volumes and higher operating costs, mainly increased natural gas and electrical power costs, partially offset by higher product margins, as higher pricing was partially offset by higher benzene and propylene raw material costs. Epoxy second quarter 2022 results included depreciation and amortization expense of $20.4 million compared to $20.3 million in the second quarter 2021.
WINCHESTER
Winchester sales for the second quarter 2022 were $439.9 million compared to $404.0 million in the second quarter 2021. The increase in Winchester sales was primarily due to higher commercial ammunition pricing. Second quarter 2022 segment earnings were $119.3 million compared to $109.9 million in the second quarter 2021. The $9.4 million increase in segment earnings was primarily due to higher commercial ammunition pricing, which was partially offset by higher commodity and other materials costs. Winchester second quarter 2022 results included depreciation and amortization expense of $5.9 million compared to $5.5 million in the second quarter 2021.
CORPORATE AND OTHER COSTS
Other corporate and unallocated costs in the second quarter of 2022 increased $4.1 million compared to the second quarter 2021 primarily due to unfavorable foreign currency impacts and higher legal fees, partially offset by lower incentive costs, which includes mark-to-market adjustments on stock-based compensation.
LIQUIDITY AND SHARE REPURCHASES
The cash balance on June 30, 2022, was $304.6 million and we ended the quarter with net debt of approximately $2.5 billion and a net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio of 0.9 times.
Under the new $2 billion 2022 Share Repurchase Program, shares of the Company's common stock may be repurchased periodically, including in the open market or privately negotiated transactions. The actual timing, manner, number, and value of shares repurchased under the program will be determined by management at its discretion and will depend on a number of factors, including the market price of Olin's common stock, general market and economic conditions, applicable requirements, and other business considerations. The 2022 Share Repurchase Program has no time limit and does not obligate the Company to acquire any particular amount of shares of the Company's common stock.
During second quarter 2022, approximately 7.4 million shares of common stock were repurchased at a cost of $426.5 million. During first half 2022, approximately 12.6 million shares of common stock were repurchased at a cost of $689.7 million. For the full year 2021, Olin repurchased approximately 4.7 million shares of common stock at a cost of $251.9 million. On June 30, 2022, the Company had remaining authorization to repurchase approximately $362.5 million of the Company's common stock under its existing stock repurchase plan approved in November 2021 (the "2021 Share Repurchase Program"). The authorization remaining available under the 2021 Share Repurchase Program is not affected by the authorization of the 2022 Share Repurchase Program.
CONFERENCE CALL INFORMATION
Olin senior management will host a conference call to discuss second quarter 2022 financial results at 9:00 a.m. Eastern time on Friday, July 29, 2022. Remarks will be followed by a question and answer session. Associated slides, which will be available the evening before the call, and the conference call will be accessible via webcast through Olin's website, www.olin.com, under the second quarter conference call icon. An archived replay of the webcast will also be available in the Investor Relations section of Olin's website beginning at 12:00 p.m. Eastern time. A final transcript of the call will be posted the next business day.
COMPANY DESCRIPTION
Olin Corporation is a leading vertically-integrated global manufacturer and distributor of chemical products and a leading U.S. manufacturer of ammunition. The chemical products produced include chlorine and caustic soda, vinyls, epoxies, chlorinated organics, bleach, hydrogen, and hydrochloric acid. Winchester's principal manufacturing facilities produce and distribute sporting ammunition, law enforcement ammunition, reloading components, small caliber military ammunition and components, and industrial cartridges.
Visit www.olin.com for more information on Olin.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This communication includes forward-looking statements. These statements relate to analyses and other information that are based on management's beliefs, certain assumptions made by management, forecasts of future results, and current expectations, estimates and projections about the markets and economy in which we and our various segments operate. The statements contained in this communication that are not statements of historical fact may include forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties.
We have used the words "anticipate," "intend," "may," "expect," "believe," "should," "plan," "outlook," "project," "estimate," "forecast," "optimistic," "target," and variations of such words and similar expressions in this communication to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Company's intent to repurchase, from time to time, the Company's common stock. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from those matters expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of future events, new information or otherwise. The payment of cash dividends is subject to the discretion of our board of directors and will be determined in light of then-current conditions, including our earnings, our operations, our financial conditions, our capital requirements and other factors deemed relevant by our board of directors. In the future, our board of directors may change our dividend policy, including the frequency or amount of any dividend, in light of then-existing conditions.
The risks, uncertainties and assumptions involved in our forward-looking statements, many of which are discussed in more detail in our filings with the SEC, including without limitation the "Risk Factors" section of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other reports furnished or filed with the SEC, include, but are not limited to, the following:
Business, Industry and Operational Risks
- sensitivity to economic, business and market conditions in the United States and overseas, including economic instability or a downturn in the sectors served by us;
- declines in average selling prices for our products and the supply/demand balance for our products, including the impact of excess industry capacity or an imbalance in demand for our chlor alkali products;
- unsuccessful execution of our strategic operating model, which prioritizes Electrochemical Unit (ECU) margins over sales volumes;
- failure to control costs and inflation impacts or failure to achieve targeted cost reductions;
- our reliance on a limited number of suppliers for specified feedstock and services and our reliance on third-party transportation;
- higher-than-expected raw material, energy, transportation, and/or logistics costs;
- the occurrence of unexpected manufacturing interruptions and outages, including those occurring as a result of labor disruptions, production hazards and weather-related events;
- the failure or an interruption of our information technology systems;
- failure to identify, attract, develop, retain and motivate qualified employees throughout the organization;
- our inability to complete future acquisitions or successfully integrate them into our business;
- our substantial amount of indebtedness and significant debt service obligations;
- risks associated with our international sales and operations, including economic, political or regulatory changes;
- the negative impact from the COVID-19 pandemic and the global response to the pandemic, including without limitation adverse impacts in complying with governmental mandates;
- weak industry conditions affecting our ability to comply with the financial maintenance covenants in our senior credit facility;
- adverse conditions in the credit and capital markets, limiting or preventing our ability to borrow or raise capital;
- the effects of any declines in global equity markets on asset values and any declines in interest rates or other significant assumptions used to value the liabilities in, and funding of, our pension plans;
- our long-range plan assumptions not being realized causing a non-cash impairment charge of long-lived assets;
Legal, Environmental and Regulatory Risks
- changes in, or failure to comply with, legislation or government regulations or policies, including changes regarding our ability to manufacture or use certain products and changes within the international markets in which we operate;
- new regulations or public policy changes regarding the transportation of hazardous chemicals and the security of chemical manufacturing facilities;
- unexpected outcomes from legal or regulatory claims and proceedings;
- costs and other expenditures in excess of those projected for environmental investigation and remediation or other legal proceedings;
- various risks associated with our Lake City U.S. Army Ammunition Plant contract and performance under other governmental contracts; and
- failure to effectively manage environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues and related regulations, including climate change and sustainability.
All of our forward-looking statements should be considered in light of these factors. In addition, other risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we consider immaterial could affect the accuracy of our forward-looking statements.
2022-13
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-- Company to Appeal Expected Court Decision on Certain XIFAXAN® Patents –
LAVAL, Quebec, July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bausch Health Companies Inc. (NYSE/TSX: BHC), and its gastroenterology business Salix Pharmaceuticals, today announced the U.S. District Court of Delaware issued an Oral Order in the matter of Salix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. et al v. Norwich Pharmaceuticals, Inc. regarding the infringement and validity of certain U.S. Patents protecting the composition and use of XIFAXAN® (rifaximin) 550 mg tablets for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea (IBS-D) and reduction in risk of overt hepatic encephalopathy (HE) recurrence.
The Oral Order indicates that the Court will find certain U.S. Patents protecting the use of XIFAXAN® (rifaximin) 550 mg tablets for the reduction in risk of HE recurrence valid and infringed and U.S. Patents protecting the composition, and use of XIFAXAN® for treating IBS-D invalid. While the Court has not yet entered any final judgement, absent Norwich's removal of the HE indication and data from their Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA), it is expected that the Court will enjoin Norwich's pending ANDA until expiration of the XIFAXAN® HE Patents in 2029. The Company intends to vigorously oppose any attempt by Norwich to remove the HE safety data from its ANDA in an effort to avoid the XIFAXAN® HE Patents.
The FDA has stated that they plan to make a major revision to the rifaximin product specific guidance to add an in vivo bioequivalency study. Until an approval of a revised ANDA is granted by the FDA and the expected injunction modified by the Court, Norwich is not permitted to launch a generic equivalent of XIFAXAN®.
When the Court enters a final order, Bausch Health will consider all available options to vigorously defend the intellectual property protecting XIFAXAN® and will appeal the Court's decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
"We are disappointed with today's development. We strongly disagree with any conclusion that our patents are not valid and intend to file an appeal to any such order," Thomas J. Appio, CEO, Bausch Health, said. "As a leader in gastrointestinal health, protecting our intellectual property is essential to our ability to continue to develop innovative therapies. We intend to vigorously pursue all available options to challenge any final ruling, while also continuing to drive growth and innovation for our XIFAXAN® franchise."
Bausch Health has previously entered into settlement agreements with Teva, Sun Pharmaceuticals, and Sandoz to permit a generic rifaximin product entry in 2028 or upon an earlier approval and launch of a generic rifaximin product. Until, and if, Norwich secures FDA approval for its generic rifaximin product and subsequently launches a generic rifaximin product, Teva, Sun Pharmaceuticals, and Sandoz will not be permitted to launch a generic version of XIFAXAN® tablets before 2028.
The Company intends to file an appeal immediately after any final order is issued, assuming it is consistent with the Oral Order.
XIFAXAN® (rifaximin) 550 mg tablets are indicated for the reduction in risk of overt hepatic encephalopathy (HE) recurrence in adults and for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea (IBS-D) in adults.
Salix Pharmaceuticals is one of the largest specialty pharmaceutical companies in the world committed to the prevention and treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. For more than 30 years, Salix has licensed, developed and marketed innovative products to improve patients' lives and arm health care providers with life-changing solutions for many chronic and debilitating conditions. Salix currently markets its product line to U.S. health care providers through an expanded sales force that focuses on gastroenterology, hepatology, pain specialists and primary care. Salix is headquartered in Bridgewater, New Jersey. For more information about Salix, visit www.Salix.com and connect with us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Bausch Health Companies Inc. (NYSE/TSX: BHC) is a global diversified pharmaceutical company whose mission is to improve people's lives with our health care products. We develop, manufacture and market a range of products primarily in gastroenterology, hepatology, neurology, dermatology, international pharmaceuticals and eye health, through our approximately 90% ownership of Bausch + Lomb Corporation. With our leading durable brands, we are delivering on our commitments as we build an innovative company dedicated to advancing global health. For more information, visit www.bauschhealth.com and connect with us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
This news release may contain forward-looking statements about the future performance of Bausch Health, which may generally be identified by the use of the words "anticipates," "hopes," "expects," "intends," "plans," "should," "could," "would," "may," "believes," "subject to" and variations or similar expressions, including statements about the timing and details of the future plans for Solta and its future performance. These statements are based upon the current expectations and beliefs of management and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. In particular, Bausch Health can offer no assurance that the Court will issue a final judgment consistent with the Oral Order, as to the timing of any approval by the FDA of any ANDA or amended ANDA and as to the outcome of any appeal. Actual results are subject to other risks and uncertainties that relate more broadly to Bausch Health's overall business, including those more fully described in Bausch Health's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and detailed from time to time in Bausch Health's other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Canadian securities administrators, which factors are incorporated herein by reference.
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21-year-old wrong way driver charged with 3 counts of murder for fatal crash
LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. (WYMT/Gray News) – A driver has been charged in a fatal wrong-way crash that killed three people in Kentucky on Monday night.
Joshua Poore, 21, of Clovis, California, is charged with three counts of murder.
Police said they believe Poore was drunk at the time and was driving the wrong way on Interstate 75. He crashed into another vehicle, killing all three people inside.
The victims were from the Chicago area, identified as Deshawn Love, Iliya Dukes and Kevin Criglear. All three were in their mid-20s and pronounced dead at the scene.
Poore suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries. He was released from UK Medical Center in Lexington on Wednesday and taken back to Laurel County, where the crash occurred.
Police also released surveillance video from a nearby weigh station that caught Poore’s vehicle on camera driving the wrong way on I-75.
Copyright 2022 WYMT via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.1011now.com/2022/07/28/21-year-old-wrong-way-driver-charged-with-3-counts-murder-fatal-crash/ | 2022-07-28T21:00:05Z | https://www.1011now.com/2022/07/28/21-year-old-wrong-way-driver-charged-with-3-counts-murder-fatal-crash/ | true |
CHANDLER, Ariz., July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Zovio (Nasdaq: ZVO), an education technology services company, announced today that it will release its second quarter 2022 financial results before market open on Monday, August 1, 2022.
Zovio will host a conference call and webcast for investors and analysts to discuss these results at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern Time) / 5:30 a.m. (Pacific Time) the same day.
Call participants should dial (888) 330-3204 in the United States or (646) 960-0844 internationally and request the Zovio call. The access code for all callers is conference ID: 8039474.
A live broadcast of the call will also be available on the company's website at http://ir.zovio.com.
About Zovio
Zovio (Nasdaq: ZVO) is an education technology services company that partners with higher education institutions and employers to deliver innovative, personalized solutions to help learners and leaders achieve their aspirations. The Zovio network, including Fullstack Academy, leverages its core strengths to solve priority market needs through education technology services. Using proprietary advanced data analytics, Zovio identifies the most meaningful ways to enhance the learner experience and deliver strong outcomes for higher education institutions, employers, and learners. Zovio's purpose is to help everyone be in a class of their own. For more information, visit www.zovio.com.
Contact: Vickie Schray
vickie.schray@zovio.com
866 475 0317 x10003
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SOURCE Zovio | https://www.wymt.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/zovio-schedules-second-quarter-2022-earnings-conference-call-august-1-2022/ | 2022-07-28T21:01:23Z | https://www.wymt.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/zovio-schedules-second-quarter-2022-earnings-conference-call-august-1-2022/ | false |
DENVER, July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- RiverNorth Opportunities Fund, Inc. (NYSE: RIV) (the "Fund") is pleased to announce that at a meeting held on July 27, 2022, the Fund's Shareholders approved a new investment advisory agreement with RiverNorth Capital Management, LLC ("RiverNorth"). The new investment advisory agreement with RiverNorth will take effect on or about October 1, 2022.
The new investment advisory agreement will not affect the Fund's name, investment objective, investment strategy, portfolio management or ticker symbol. Since the Fund's inception, RiverNorth has been responsible for making day-to-day investment decisions, with the anticipated transition to adviser, no changes are expected.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy.
Investors should consider the investment objective, risks, fees and expenses of the Fund carefully before investing. To obtain a copy of the annual or semi-annual report, each of which contains this and other information about the Fund, visit www.rivernorthcef.com or call 855.830.1222. Please read them carefully before investing.
The investment objective of the Fund is total return consisting of capital appreciation and current income. The Fund had approximately $242 million of net assets and 18.2 million shares of common stock outstanding as of June 30, 2022.
The Fund is a closed-end fund and trades in the secondary market. Investors wishing to buy or sell shares need to place orders through an intermediary or broker. The share price of a closed-end fund is based on the market's value.
ALPS Advisors, Inc. is the investment adviser to the Fund.
RiverNorth Capital Management, LLC is the investment sub-adviser to the Fund. RiverNorth Capital Management, LLC is not affiliated with ALPS Advisors, Inc. or any of its affiliates.
ALPS Portfolio Solutions Distributor, Inc. is the FINRA Member firm.
NOT FDIC INSURED | May Lose Value | No Bank Guarantee
SS&C is a global provider of services and software for the financial services and healthcare industries. Founded in 1986, SS&C is headquartered in Windsor, Connecticut, and has offices around the world. Some 18,000 financial services and healthcare organizations, from the world's largest companies to small and mid-market firms, rely on SS&C for expertise, scale, and technology. Additional information about SS&C (Nasdaq: SSNC) is available at www.ssctech.com.
ALPS Advisors, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of SS&C Technologies, Inc., is a leading provider of investment products for advisors and institutions. With over $18.4 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2022, the firm provides access to asset classes and boutique asset managers in real assets, alternatives, thematic/factor and fixed income through both ETF and open-end mutual fund structures. For more information, visit www.alpsfunds.com.
RiverNorth Capital Management, LLC is an investment management firm founded in 2000. With $5.4 billion1 in assets under management as of June 30, 2022, RiverNorth specializes in opportunistic investment strategies in niche markets where the potential to exploit inefficiencies is greatest. RiverNorth is an institutional investment manager to registered funds, private funds and separately managed accounts.
1 Firm AUM reflects Managed Assets which includes the effects of leverage and investments in affiliated funds.
* Registered Representative of ALPS Distributors, Inc.
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SOURCE RiverNorth Opportunities Fund, Inc | https://www.kwch.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/rivernorth-opportunities-fund-inc-announces-shareholder-approval-investment-advisory-agreement-with-rivernorth-capital-management/ | 2022-07-28T21:01:24Z | https://www.kwch.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/rivernorth-opportunities-fund-inc-announces-shareholder-approval-investment-advisory-agreement-with-rivernorth-capital-management/ | false |
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) _ The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (HIG) on Thursday reported second-quarter profit of $442 million.
The Hartford, Connecticut-based company said it had net income of $1.32 per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were $2.15 per share.
The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.52 per share.
The insurance and financial services company posted revenue of $5.37 billion in the period. Its adjusted revenue was $3.77 billion.
_____
This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on HIG at https://www.zacks.com/ap/HIG | https://www.expressnews.com/business/article/The-Hartford-Q2-Earnings-Snapshot-17336267.php | 2022-07-28T21:02:24Z | https://www.expressnews.com/business/article/The-Hartford-Q2-Earnings-Snapshot-17336267.php | true |
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