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EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — A man has been fatally shot by police after apparently holding multiple children and a woman hostage inside an Evansville home.
The man called 911 dispatchers Friday, told them he was “losing his mind” and was preparing to shoot and kill his family, according to 911 audio obtained by the Evansville Courier & Press.
He also called other agencies and a local television station, according to the newspaper.
Police Sgt. Nick Winsett said officers arrived at the home and were able to remove “multiple” children before the man allegedly retreated into a back room while holding a female hostage with a knife.
The man was shot after attempts by officers to negotiate with him were not successful, Winsett said.
”(The female victim) was starting to yell in pain and from the knife being held against her,” Winsett said. “That’s when our officers were able to neutralize him and rescue her.”
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https://www.lakecountystar.com/news/article/Police-fatally-shoot-man-holding-woman-children-16832993.php
| 2022-02-04T23:26:36
|
en
| 0.993617
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BAYOU BLUE, La. (AP) — Police in Louisiana on Friday arrested a man accused of raping and killing his 5-year-old niece in North Carolina more than four years ago.
David Wesley Prevatte, 23, of Lumberton, North Carolina, was arrested Friday in Bayou Blue, Louisiana, Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre said in a news release.
He said North Carolina's Pender County Sheriff’s Office tracked Prevatte to the community 43 miles (69 kilometers) southwest of New Orleans after getting a warrant accusing him of first-degree murder and first-degree rape of Paitin Fields in November 2017.
Capt. Brennan Matherne, a spokeperson for Webre, said he did not know whether Prevatte has an attorney who could comment.
The little girl died Nov. 16, 2017, three days after her family brought her to a hospital, unresponsive.
North Carolina news outlets reported that she was Prevatte’s niece.
“An autopsy showed signs of sexual trauma and strangulation,” and detectives identified Prevatte as a suspect in June 2018, the news release said.
It said Prevatte pleaded guilty the following March to unrelated charges of intimidating a witness, breaking and entering, larceny, and burning a building, and spent about 10 months in prison. He was released in January 2020.
The warrant against him also accuses him of committing a sex offense against a child.
He will be extradited to Pender County, Webre said. He complimented “the tenacity and professionalism ... that led to the arrest.”
Pender County Sheriff Alan Cutler said, “This has been an ongoing investigation and I am extremely pleased and proud of the effort that has been put into this investigation by my personnel."
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https://www.lakecountystar.com/news/article/Sheriff-Uncle-of-slain-girl-tracked-down-4-years-16833033.php
| 2022-02-04T23:26:42
|
en
| 0.965063
|
ORLAND PARK, Ill. (AP) — A commuter train struck the front-end of a school bus that stalled on tracks in suburban Chicago.
The driver and the five students aboard the bus were able to exit before the 2:40 p.m. Friday crash in Orland Park, southwest of Chicago.
Orland Fire Protection District Chief Michael Schofield said an investigation shows “the driver stopped at the tracks as required to do so, but when she started the bus to cross, the bus stalled with the front end of the bus over the tracks.”
“The gate came down on top of the bus and the driver then quickly escorted the five children off of the bus to safety minutes before the Metra train hit the front of the bus,” he said.
Metra service near Orland Park temporarily was halted, according to the commuter service.
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https://www.lakecountystar.com/news/article/Stalled-school-bus-struck-by-Chicago-area-16833056.php
| 2022-02-04T23:26:48
|
en
| 0.965635
|
Instacart reveals list of top-scoring Super Bowl snacks for game day
LOS ANGELES - The Super Bowl is right around the corner, and chances are you’ll be grabbing some delicious bites for the big game.
According to a recent Instacart survey among over 2,000 U.S. adults, 70% of Americans planned to watch the event this year with football (65%) and snacks (60%) topping the list for what game day viewers favor the most during the festivities.
And, since food plays a major role in the fun, the food delivery service has revealed America’s top-scoring game day snacks.
Let’s kick it off...
Top Super Bowl snack is chips
It’s no surprise that chips dominate when it comes to game day snacking.
According to Instacart’s survey, a whopping 99% of Americans who plan to watch the big game eat chips while they are watching, while 1 in 3 customers reported making chip purchases leading up to last year’s event.
But which chips top the scoreboard?
According to chip preferences, survey participants largely favored classic chips such as tortilla chips (76%) and potato chips (70%) over bolder flavors such as nacho (44%), BBQ (43%) and hot and spicy (33%).
Instacart’s top 10 best-selling chips ahead of the Super Bowl (Credit: Instacart)
While classic chips top the leaderboard, one brand was the real MVP: Tostitos Scoops Tortilla Chips.
In fact, during the week leading up to the Big Game last year, Instacart sold 66,498 pounds of Tostitos Scoops Tortilla Chips.
"There’s a clear Big Game chip champion and it’s Tostitos Scoops Tortilla Chips," said Laurentia Romaniuk, Instacart’s trends expert. "These dip-worthy chips grow by more than 60% week over week leading up to the Big Game and are Instacart’s #1 selling chip during that time. It’s likely this chip takes the top spot for football watch parties because of its prime design for maximum dip scooping when you’re elbow to elbow with friends and family on a couch."
Salsa (64%), queso (50%), and guacamole (47%) topped the list of favorite dips or sauces to eat during the big game — making it even more evident why tortilla chips are so popular.
Wings also favored during the big game
Chicken wings and football also proved to be a winning combination.
Last year, the number of orders containing chicken wings doubled on Instacart’s platform during the week leading up to game day with 1 in 25 customers purchasing chicken wings.
But, flats or drumsticks? Let's take a timeout to discuss!
According to the company’s survey, those who planned to watch the big game and eat wings preferred fried (33%) over baked (23%), with 39% preferring a mix of both. Participants also chose drumsticks (44%) over flats (26%) and favored sauced (28%) over seasoned (20%), with 48% preferring a mix of both.
More surprisingly, boneless wings weren’t as popular as one may think.
In fact, 65% of those who planned to watch Feb. 13’s game strongly or somewhat agreed that boneless chicken wings were just "glorified chicken nuggets." (I feel offended).
Top states that buy the most and least wings by share of carts (Credit: Instacart)
States which had a strong affinity toward the popular snack included Maryland, which came out on top, followed by Mississippi, Connecticut, Georgia and New Jersey.
In addition, when it came to the dips that wings and other snacks are dunked into, ranch dressing (51%) topped the list of sauces.
Much of the south and west said they would prefer ranch dressing (55% and 54% vs. 44%), while those in the northeast were more likely than any other region to say they would prefer to dip their wings in blue cheese dressing (44% vs. 35% in the south, 32% in the midwest and 31% in the west).
Cheer for the beer
While we’re not sure beer constitutes a "snack," alcoholic drinks were another popular addition to a Super Bowl party, according to Instacart.
Varying types of beer took 8 out of the top 10 spots, with hard seltzers and canned cocktails also breaking through.
Top Alcohol Categories:
- Light Lager
- Mexican Style Lagers
- Hard Seltzers
- India Pale Ale
- Beer Variety Packs
- American Style Lager
- Pale Ale
- Pale Lager
- Wheat Ale
- Canned Cocktails
Other honorable mentions
While chips, dips, wings and beer reigned supreme, Instacart featured a few other items that deserve recognition.
In the week leading up to the big game, Instacart said it sells enough frozen pizza to create one massive pizza pie with a diameter the size of three football fields.
In this photo illustration a Instacart logo seen displayed on a smartphone with with fruits in a market in the background. (Photo Illustration by Thiago Prudencio/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
DiGiorno is bringing back its annual "Big Game promotion," offering fans a chance to win free pizza during Super Bowl LVI.
The "it’s not delivery" frozen pizza company said the contest centers on pie — both pizza and pi, the mathematical constant that is approximately equal to 3.14159.
If the score — at any point of the Super Bowl — is 3-14 (or 14-3), DiGiorno says it will give away free pizza to lucky fans who enter the contest online here. Individuals can enter between Feb. 6 and Feb. 13 for a chance to score the free pie.
Those who win will receive a coupon redeemable for free DiGiorno pizza.
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Finally, don’t be offended veggie lovers, but it’s also worth mentioning, that your veggie tray may not cut it this year. The Super Bowl is a day for indulgence, which is perhaps why hummus (33%) topped the list of worst snacks among those who plan to watch the Big Game, followed by veggie trays at 23%.
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https://www.fox29.com/news/instacart-reveals-top-scoring-super-bowl-snacks-for-game-day
| 2022-02-04T23:26:52
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| 0.942618
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A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Bengaluru Police on Friday filed a closure report before a magistrate’s court in Bengaluru regarding a sexual assault case filed against BJP MLA and former minister Ramesh Jarkiholi. Police sources said the SIT found no evidence to support the allegations raised by a woman against Jarkiholi.
A closure report, or a B report, is filed when the police find no proof of the alleged crime to finalise a charge sheet.
The move, if confirmed, may pave the way for Jarkiholi to return to the Karnataka cabinet, with a reshuffle expected soon.
Jarkiholi resigned as state water resources minister on March 3, 2021, after a video, purportedly involving him and containing explicit content, was broadcast on television channels. A woman then filed a police complaint, accusing him of sexual assault.
The former minister denied the accusation, saying the video was fake and filed an extortion complaint against unnamed persons over the video recording. Later he admitted that the recordings were genuine and that a gang, which included the woman, tried to extort from him over the video.
The SIT’s closure report – filed only in the sexual assault case – on Friday said it found no evidence to prosecute Jarkiholi, police sources said on the condition of anonymity. There is also no proof to establish the woman’s allegation that the minister offered her a government job to coerce her into a sexual relationship, the sources said. Instead, they said, the woman had approached the former water resources minister in 2021, saying she is part of a studio that wants to shoot videos of dams in the state. The SIT investigation’s findings also indicated that every time the woman met Jarkiholi, there were two other suspects in the vicinity to record their meetings, the sources added.
The SIT was constituted by the Karnataka government to investigation three FIRs — sexual assault case against Jarkiholi, counter complaint of extortion by the BJP MLA, and a third of abduction filed by the woman’s father. The SIT also filed a closure report in the abduction case on the basis of a statement given to a magistrate by the woman.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
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https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/bangalore/sit-files-closure-report-against-jarkiholi-7757724/
| 2022-02-04T23:26:52
|
en
| 0.974414
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MEXICO CITY (AP) — Student protesters from a notoriously combative teachers’ college in southern Mexico rolled a driverless semi-tractor truck at considerable speed down a slope toward a line of National Guard and police officers Friday.
The officers got out of the way of the out-of-control freight truck, which crashed into a structure near a toll booth. But the National Guard said 14 of its officers were injured by stones and bottle rockets launched by the students.
The guard was called in after the students blockaded the main highway between Mexico City and the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco.
Students from the rural teachers' college known as Ayotzinapa have a longstanding reputation for clashing with authorities, blocking the highway in the city of Chilpancingo and hijacking passing passenger buses and trucks.
In 2014, 43 students from the college were hijacking buses in the nearby city of Iguala when they were kidnapped and presumably killed by a drug gang.
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https://www.lakecountystar.com/news/article/Student-protesters-in-Mexico-aim-truck-at-16833032.php
| 2022-02-04T23:26:54
|
en
| 0.982387
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Man accused of shooting woman who bumped into him at store captured near West Chester University
WEST CHESTER, Pa. - Authorities arrested a man accused of following a woman home and shooting her after she bumped into him at a Coatesville grocery store last month.
Moenell Coleman, 25, was taken into custody Friday near the campus of West Chester University, according to authorities. It's believed that Coleman was hiding out with a friend who lives in a student apartment complex on the 100 block of Carey Drive.
According to investigators, Coleman became irate when a woman in her 20s accidentally bumped into him at Coatesville Market on East Lincoln Highway in late January. The woman apologized to Coleman, but police said he threatened to shoot her as she left the store.
It's believed that Coleman followed the woman to her home around the corner and opened fire as she stood in the doorway. She was grazed in the leg by gunfire and her brother, who was inside the home, suffered a non-fatal gunshot wound.
Coleman was immediately developed as a suspect through surveillance footage from the store. Officers went to his last known residence but did not find him, it was believed that Coleman could be in Wilmington, Delaware.
U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force received information that Coleman was hiding out with a "female associate" on the campus of West Chester University. Agents surveyed the Village Apartments, a student housing complex, and saw Coleman entering the building.
He was later arrested by federal and local authorities without incident, officials said.
"Moenell Coleman’s excessively violent proclivities were a clear danger to the community," U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Eric Gartner said.
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https://www.fox29.com/news/man-accused-of-shooting-woman-who-bumped-into-him-at-store-captured-at-west-chester-university
| 2022-02-04T23:26:58
|
en
| 0.983068
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Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide and about 10 million people die from cancer every year. According to projections by experts, cancer deaths will rise to 13 million by 2030.
‘Close the Care Gap’, the theme of World Cancer Day for 2022-2024 recognises the power of knowledge and challenges assumptions. The Year 2022 marks the first year of a new three-year campaign centred on the issue of equity. The first year of the campaign is about realising and recognising the inequities in cancer care around the globe. It also explains the barriers that exist for many people in accessing services and receiving the care they need. Inequity in cancer care costs lives.
In the Indian context, there are various structural, geographic, economic, cultural, and political factors that affect the extent to which India can provide affordable cancer care. This country spends less than Rs 600 per person on cancer care which is very low as compared to high-income countries spending more than Rs 75,000 per person. Low insurance coverage and high out-of-pocket expenditure push patients and their families into catastrophic poverty following a diagnosis of cancer.
According to a report of Population-Based Cancer Registries in Chandigarh and Punjab, which are being run as a joint collaboration of PGI, Chandigarh and TMC, Mumbai with cooperation from the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Punjab and Health Department, UT Chandigarh, the Age-Adjusted Incidence Rates (AAR) in Chandigarh for males and female are 96.6 and 100.9 per 100,000 population respectively. These rates are higher than the national average, which is 89.8 per 100,000 for males and 90 per 100,000 for females. The AARs for SAS Nagar are 87.3 and 96.2 for males and females respectively. Sangrur and Mansa cancer registry incidence rates are lower than the urban cancer registries; however, it is in comparison with other rural registries of the country. The main leading cancer incidence sites are lung and prostate in males whereas it is oesophagus and liver in Sangrur and Mansa PBCR. However, in women breast and cervix are the top leading cancer sites in all the four PBCRs.
In India, more than one-third of cancer cases are preventable, but there is little focus on prevention. The screening rates for common cancers are very low. In Punjab, only 4 per cent and 2 per cent of women aged 30–49 were ever screened for cervical and breast cancer respectively, whereas only 7.9 per cent population was ever screened for oral cancer. Similarly in Haryana, only 7.7 per cent and 8 per cent of women aged 30–49 were ever screened for cervical or breast cancer and 14.7 per cent of the eligible population was ever screened for oral cancer. There is a need to strengthen the population-based cancer screening under the NPCDCS program. Prof JS Thakur, from PGI, Principal Investigator for PBCR Chandigarh and Punjab emphasised the need of reducing the treatment gap and improved access to diagnostic and treatment facilities, especially in the rural areas.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
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https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/chandigarh-screening-rates-for-common-cancers-are-extremely-low-7757720/
| 2022-02-04T23:26:58
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en
| 0.95802
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(RNS) — Bruce Lindsay never expected to own a church. But when his mother died shortly before the pandemic, he wanted to use his inheritance to do something extraordinary.
“My mother, if she were alive today, I think would have a great chuckle at what I’ve purchased,” said Lindsay. “I found myself surrounded by a church when it was the last place on earth I wanted to go to as a kid.”
In August, after purchasing a 900-square-foot-Methodist church built in 1876, Lindsay and his business partner, Anna Cronin, opened Dirt Church Brewing Co. in East Haven, Vermont. It’s one of at least eight church breweries that have opened in the U.S. since 2020.
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This content is written and produced by Religion News Service and distributed by The Associated Press. RNS and AP partner on some religion news content. RNS is solely responsible for this story.
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Today, the U.S. has roughly 30 breweries based in once-vacant churches. Though some church breweries have faced pushback for offering suds in a once sacred space, the move has precedent. Monks have been brewing beer in monasteries for centuries, offering it to visitors and often imbibing it themselves at a time when it was safer to drink beer than water.
Dirt Church Brewing Co. originally intended to open a brewery inside the church, but Cronin and Lindsay found it lacked running water, a septic tank and heat. Rather than tearing open the building to add the required services, they built the taproom next door, where the town’s former meetinghouse once stood. The church, now used as an art gallery and event space, remains integral to the brewery’s identity.
The name “dirt church” is both a nod to the 19th-century building as well as lingo used by the cycling community that Lindsay and Cronin belong to. “It’s kind of our little cheeky nickname for the Sunday morning long ride that was usually on mountain bikes or gravel bikes,” said Cronin. “Instead of going to ‘church-church,’ we would say, ‘Hey, are you going to dirt church?’”
Today, the brewery hosts “dirt church” for its patrons once a month via Sunday bike rides, runs or hikes — followed by a few celebratory beers at the taproom, of course.
Across the country in San Diego, The Lost Abbey brewing company opened a new location in December inside the shell of a Mexican Presbyterian church built in 1906. The brewery added pews, chandeliers, tapestries and even stained-glass windows to accentuate its slightly irreverent brand.
“This building fell into massive disrepair and probably would have been demolished were it not for the developers that saved it,” said Tomme Arthur, co-founder of The Lost Abbey. This is the brewery’s first location in a former house of worship.
The Lost Abbey was founded in 2006 to offer beers inspired by Belgian monastic brewing traditions, as well as some “nondenominational” beers brewed in no particular style. Per the company’s slogan, it offers brews to “sinners and saints alike” — a motto it’s embraced wholeheartedly.
The new location, appropriately dubbed “The Church,” is split into two sides, one for sinners and one for saints. The sections are marked by corresponding décor: A St. Peter statue presides over the saints area, and Mary Magdalene — who is often misidentified as a prostitute — occupies the sinners side.
The Lost Abbey’s beers play off of similar tropes, with “saintly” names such as “10 Commandments” or “Gift of the Magi” juxtaposed with names like “Judgment Day” or “Serpent’s Stout.” The next addition will be a beer featuring Baby Moses, a wink at the popular “Mandalorian” character Baby Yoda.
“We’ve always taken our beers more seriously than a lot of other things,” said Arthur, who grew up attending Catholic school. “What’s great is that every time that we need some sort of inspiration, we’re able to open up the Bible.”
The Ministry of Brewing, located in what was once St. Michael the Archangel Church in Baltimore, makes it a point to avoid religious themes in its marketing.
“All of our names of our beers are typically Baltimore references or something about the neighborhood,” said Jon Holley, the brewery’s general manager. “As far as religious terms, imagery, things like that, we already know that being in a church is a sensitive thing for a lot of people, so we’re not trying to touch that at all.”
The church was built in 1857 and was home to a German Catholic congregation and, later, a Spanish-speaking congregation before closing due to the cost of upkeep. In 2018, the Ministry of Brewing began a full renovation to preserve and restore many of the original elements of the building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The church reopened to the public as a brewery in January 2020, featuring a dazzling interior with soaring columns and a mural-painted barrel ceiling. The brewery also hosts events, fundraisers and even local delegate debates.
Though Holley said he “half expected” pushback for residing in a historic church, the brewery has received overwhelming support. Most often, he said, patrons can be found enjoying the brewery’s bestselling hazy pale ale called “Wispy,” a reference to wispy stained glass.
Like the other two breweries, Dirt Church Brewing Co. in Vermont is intentional about its beer names. Its flagship beer? It’s named “Rejoice,” after Lindsay’s mother, Joyce.
“It’s our most popular beer,” said Lindsay. “Without my mother’s help, none of this would exist today.”
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https://www.lakecountystar.com/news/article/Suds-in-the-sanctuary-breweries-populate-vacant-16833007.php
| 2022-02-04T23:27:00
|
en
| 0.975862
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US COVID-19 death toll hits 900,000, sped by omicron
Propelled in part by the wildly contagious omicron variant, the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 hit 900,000 on Friday, less than two months after eclipsing 800,000.
The two-year total, as compiled by Johns Hopkins University, is greater than the population of Indianapolis, San Francisco, or Charlotte, North Carolina.
The milestone comes more than 13 months into a vaccination drive that has been beset by misinformation and political and legal strife, though the shots have proved safe and highly effective at preventing serious illness and death.
"It is an astronomically high number. If you had told most Americans two years ago as this pandemic was getting going that 900,000 Americans would die over the next few years, I think most people would not have believed it," said Dr. Ashish K. Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.
He noted that most of the deaths happened after the vaccine gained authorization.
"We got the medical science right. We failed on the social science. We failed on how to help people get vaccinated, to combat disinformation, to not politicize this," Jha said. "Those are the places where we have failed as America."
Just 64% of the population is fully vaccinated, or about 212 million Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"We have underestimated our enemy here, and we have under-prepared to protect ourselves," said Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, a public health professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "We’ve learned a tremendous amount of humility in the face of a lethal and contagious respiratory virus."
RELATED: COVID falling in 49 of 50 states as deaths near 900,000
Nor is COVID-19 finished with the United States. Dr. Andrew Noymer, a professor of public health at the University of California at Irvine, predicted the U.S. will hit 1 million deaths by March 1.
"I think it’s important for us not to be numbed. Each one of those numbers is someone," said the Rev. Gina Anderson-Cloud, senior pastor of Fredericksburg United Methodist Church in Virginia. "Those are mothers, fathers, children, our elders."
While omicron is loosening its grip on the U.S., with new cases plunging in recent weeks and the number of Americans in the hospital with COVID-19 turning downward, deaths are running at more than 2,400 per day on average, the highest level since last winter.
Healthcare workers treat a COVID-19 patient on the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) floor at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut, U.S., on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022. (Photographer: Allison Dinner/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Despite its wealth and its world-class medical institutions, the U.S. has the highest reported toll of any country, and even then, the real number of lives lost directly or indirectly to the coronavirus is thought to be significantly higher.
Experts believe some COVID-19 deaths have been misattributed to other conditions. And some Americans are thought to have died of chronic illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes because they were unable or unwilling to obtain treatment during the crisis.
Anderson-Cloud lost her dementia-stricken father after he was hospitalized for cancer surgery and then isolated in a COVID-19 ward. He went into cardiac arrest, was revived, but died about a week later.
She had planned to be by his bedside, but the rules barred her from going to the hospital. She wonders if his condition was made worse by his isolation. She wonders if he was scared. She wonders how many other cases like his there are.
"There are all these stories and all that pain," she said.
RELATED: COVID patients left with few treatment options after antibodies found ineffective against omicron
COVID-19 has become one of the top three causes of death in America, behind the big two — heart disease and cancer. Noymer said if the mortality rate from COVID-19 continues, it will shave up to two years off U.S. life expectancy.
Ja said he and other medical professionals are frustrated that policymakers are seemingly running out of ideas for getting people to roll up their sleeves.
"There aren’t a whole lot of tools left. We need to double down and come up with new ones," he said.
When the vaccine was rolled out in mid-December 2020, the death toll stood at about 300,000. It hit 600,000 in mid-June 2021 and 700,000 on Oct. 1. On Dec. 14, it reached 800,000.
It took just 51 more days to get to 900,000, the fastest 100,000-death jump since last winter.
The latest 100,000 deaths encompass those caused by both the delta variant and omicron, which began spreading rapidly in December and became the predominant version in the U.S. before the month was out.
While omicron has proved less likely to cause severe illness than delta, the sheer number of people who became infected with omicron contributed to the high number of deaths.
"We have been fighting among ourselves about tools that actually do save lives. Just the sheer amount of politics and misinformation around vaccines, which are remarkably effective and safe, is staggering," Sharfstein said.
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He added: "This is the consequence."
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https://www.fox29.com/news/us-covid-19-death-toll-hits-900000-sped-by-omicron
| 2022-02-04T23:27:04
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| 0.977406
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It is not just doctors who are overstaying in Chandigarh but there are a handful of officers too who came on deputation from Punjab and are enjoying their stay in Chandigarh. Some of them even got promoted in Chandigarh only. Coming on deputation and then overstaying till their retirement has become quite a routine in the City Beautiful.
On Thursday, the UT Health Secretary, in a first-ever crackdown, ordered repatriation of 112 doctors in phases who were overstaying in Chandigarh, some even for 20 years.
A similar clean-up is required in the administration as well.
According to rules, an officer coming on deputation from Punjab and Haryana can stay up to a maximum period of three years.
The Indian Express takes a look at some of such officers, the portfolios they hold, and the period of their stay in Chandigarh. All of them came from Punjab and have been in Chandigarh since then.
KULJIT PAL SINGH MAHI
He joined the Chandigarh Administration in 2016. He was appointed as Additional Secretary (Home) initially. At present, he is serving as the Additional Deputy Commissioner after replacing Sachin Rana.
Before coming to Chandigarh, Mahi was serving as Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) in Sri Muktsar Sahib.
NAVJOT KAUR
In 2015, she came from Punjab to Chandigarh on deputation. It is 2022 now, and she is still enjoying her deputation period. Before her stint in Chandigarh, Kaur was posted as Additional Chief Administrator of GMADA in Mohali in 2012. On April 17, 2014, she was transferred as the SDM, Sardulgarh, on the directions of the Election Commission. She was to replace PCS Rajdeep Singh Brar in Sardulgarh. However, in 2015, Kaur was back on deputation in Chandigarh.
She was then given the charge of CITCO general manager, director of public relations in Chandigarh. Being in the DPR, she was known not to be media-friendly. She was later shifted and given the charge of director of social welfare, women and child development.
RAKESH KUMAR POPLI
In March 2015, the Punjab government had posted Popli as SDM, Jagraon. In 2016, he joined the Chandigarh Administration on deputation. In August 2016, the Chandigarh Administration appointed Popli as the Excise and Taxation Commissioner. Since then he has remained the Additional Excise and Taxation Commissioner and has been given charge as the Chief General Manager, CITCO, in between.
Last year when new UT Adviser came, Popli’s department was changed. At present, he is Secretary (Housing Board) and Director (Hospitality).
RUBINDERJIT SINGH BRAR
An officer of Punjab Civil Services (PCS), he was sent on deputation to Chandigarh in August 2015. He was given the charge of Director of School Education and only last year his department was changed.
In July 2014, the Punjab government had transferred Brar as the SDM, Sultanpur Lodhi.
A year later, however, he was sent on deputation to Chandigarh. It was Brar’s almost seventh year serving as the Director of School Education when the new UT Adviser took charge last year and Brar was given
the charge of CGM (CITCO) and Additional Secretary (Health).
N P SHARMA
Nineteen years ago, Sharma came on deputation from Punjab to Chandigarh as Sub- Divisional Engineer and today he is Chief Engineer (Municipal Corporation).
He came on deputation to Chandigarh in 2003 from Punjab’s PWD department. He joined the Chandigarh Administration as sub-divisional engineer in October 2003 in the office of engineering department, Chandigarh.
He was promoted as executive engineer (civil) on a regular basis in March 2006 and was retained as such on a deputation basis with the Chandigarh Administration till October 2010.
After rendering about seven years’ service as SDE and executive engineer, he was repatriated on October 20, 2010, to his parent department in Punjab, PWD B and R branch in Patiala. But he did not go and joined as superintending engineer on deputation with Punjab Small Scale Industries Corporation Limited in Chandigarh itself and remained here from October 20, 2010, till October 17, 2012.
Sharma was appointed executive engineer (civil) on a deputation basis on November 16, 2013. Before this, he was also given the additional charge of superintending engineer, construction circle-I, on October 10, 2013, Chandigarh Administration. He continued here till September 2, 2014, and after a few days, Sharma went to another department in Chandigarh itself. He was then appointed against the post of SE (B and R) on a deputation basis in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation on August 27, 2014. He was also given the additional charge of superintending engineer (public health) by the Municipal Corporation against a vacant post on January 8, 2015.
Sharma was also given the charge of chief engineer (MC) in between when Mukesh Anand moved to the UT Administration. Sharma was also appointed as chief general manager of the Chandigarh Smart City Limited in December 2017. Last year, he was appointed as Chief Engineer (Municipal Corporation).
INDERJEET GULATI
He joined as executive engineer from Punjab and stayed here for almost nine years. Just after spending four months in his parent state last year, Gulati was back again to join as superintending engineer (B and R), Municipal Corporation.
He joined Chandigarh in 2012 after coming on deputation from Punjab. He enjoyed postings in Chandigarh Administration’s engineering wing and Municipal Corporation’s engineering wing.
In January 2021, he went back to Punjab. After four months, there were orders that he has been posted as SE (B and R), Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh.
TEJDEEP SINGH SAINI
It was in 2017 that Saini, PCS officer from Punjab, came to Chandigarh on deputation. Currently, he is SDM (Central) and Director (Sports). Before his Chandigarh stint, he was posted as SDM of Baba Bakala Sahib in Amritsar. He also served as the SDM of Ropar.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
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https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/officers-buck-deputation-norms-in-administrative-posts-as-well-7757713/
| 2022-02-04T23:27:05
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| 0.986723
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NEW YORK (AP) — Five players were suspended Friday for violations of the minor league drug program, raising this year’s total to nine.
Free agent pitcher Nick Belzer and pitcher Charles Hall of Oakland’s Class A Central Lansing farm team were suspended for 50 games each for a second positive test for a drug of abuse. Miami Double-A outfielder Tristan Pompey also was suspended for 50 games for a second positive test for a drug of abuse.
Detroit pitcher Hector Rodriguez and Arizona pitcher Jose Valdez were suspended for 60 games each following positive tests for the performing-enhancing substance Stanozolol. Both are on Dominican Summer League rosters.
Four players were given 60-day bans on Jan. 28 following positive tests for Stanozolol: Seattle pitcher Brayan Diaz, Chicago Cubs left-hander Carlos Garcia, Houston right-hander Jorge Geraldo and Texas right-hander Aron Vargas. All are on Dominican Summer League rosters.
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More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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https://www.lakecountystar.com/sports/article/5-minor-leaguers-suspended-for-violating-drug-16832873.php
| 2022-02-04T23:27:06
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| 0.944312
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VIDEO: Colorado deputy rescues dog from burning SUV
DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. - A quick-witted deputy rescued a distressed dog from a burning vehicle in Douglas County, Colorado.
Body-cam footage released by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office shows Deputy Michael Gregorek breaking the SUV’s windows with a retractable baton before pulling the distressed dog to safety from the back window on Jan. 22.
"What a phenomenal ending to a scary situation for all," the department wrote in a Facebook post.
"I would’ve done, you know, the same thing whether it be baby, human, dog, cat," Gregorek said. "A life is a life and you kind of treat it as such in a situation like that."
Arizona Headlines
- Convicted California sex offender known as 'Mr. Rape Torture Kill' arrested by police in Arizona
- DEA seizes meth, fake pills, guns from Phoenix used car dealership; 3 men arrested
- Mesa family calls for change after boy with autism did not make it home as scheduled by school bus
Tune in to FOX 10 Phoenix for the latest news:
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https://www.fox29.com/news/video-colorado-deputy-rescues-dog-from-burning-suv
| 2022-02-04T23:27:10
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| 0.922979
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Sikh bodies and farmer organisations announced to hold protest against PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal during their visit to Punjab. It was decided that once their plan is made public, the Sikh groups will declare their protest. These organisations are demanding the release of Sikh prisoners who have completed their sentences. The Sikh organisations led by Dal Khalsa and Kisan organisations led by BKU (Doaba) also constituted a coordination committee.
In a meeting organised in Jalandhar on Friday, they said that the Union government has a double face on the issue. “On one hand they said that the Union home ministry issued the notification in 2019 recommending the release of Prof Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar and eight other detainees, but on the other hand, the Delhi police that comes under the Union home ministry opposed the release of Bhullar twice in the meeting of Sentence Review Board held on February 28, 2020 and December 11, 2020. The another member of SRB that opposed the release was Director Social Welfare,” they said.
Dal Khalsa leader Paramjit Singh Mand said that laws are unequal for prisoners in India. “By keeping them under detention, Narendra Modi-led BJP government and Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government are not only violating the principles of equality but is also violating human rights,” he said.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
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https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/sikh-bodies-farmer-groups-to-protest-against-kejriwal-modi-and-shah-7757704/
| 2022-02-04T23:27:11
|
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| 0.976622
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ZHANGJIAKOU, China (AP) — Ski jumping captivates viewers every four years, when they fearlessly fly the length of an American football field plus the end zones.
Casual fans, though, probably have no clue about the scoring system or skills and techniques necessary to win gold even though the sport has been a part of the Winter Olympics since the first one in 1924.
In the U.S., most people can't probably name a ski jumper other than “Eddie the Eagle,” from the 2016 film about Eddie Edwards’ unlikely bid to become a British Olympian.
The Associated Press is here to help. Here's a look at what to watch, starting Saturday when the women go for gold, from the moment ski jumpers sit on a bar about as high as a 40-story building until they glide over machine-made snow and wait to see how far they flew and how the judges scored their performance.
THE BAR IS VERY HIGH
Ski jumpers sit on a bar, calming their nerves with deep breaths, and wait for a green light to go. If there's too much of a gust, they have to slide back off the bar and onto a step to wait for wind to calm down. A focused mind, which ignores fears, is key.
FUN ON THE IN-RUN
With skis wider and longer than those in other disciplines, jumpers go down a steep incline referred to as the in-run. They try to avoid making contact with the sides of ice-filled channels go as fast as 100 kph (62 mph) to help them fly farther.
Jumpers lead with their helmet, throw their hands back and crouch low into a tuck with a flat back for aerodynamics. Balance and flexibility are critical.
CLEARED FOR TAKEOFF
Near the end of the in-run, men and women make an explosive jump without moving their upper body to create lift for flight. The timing and technique in the take-off is perhaps the most important part of the 15-second process from sitting on the bar to sliding to a stop in the snow.
COME FLY WITH ME
Jumpers lean forward with hands near hips, hovering their torso over skis that are in a “V" shape in a technique used since Swedish ski jumper Jan Bokloev started doing it in 1985 after they previously had them parallel.
COMING IN FOR A LANDING
When skis hit the snow, judges want one slightly ahead of the other and for the jumpers to gracefully glide on what's known as the outrun.
STYLE POINTS MATTER
Jumpers are aiming for the K-point of the hill, where it starts to flatten out, to earn 60 points and those who fly past it earn more points while points are deducted from coming up short. Five judges award scores of up to 20 points for style from start to finish, looking for jumpers who look keep their torso and limbs still while floating through the air and land gracefully among other things.
SIZE MATTERS
There's a dirty little secret in the sport, which is plagued by eating disorders. Fat don't fly is a phrase heard at least in the U.S., because physics prevent a heavier jumper from flying farther than a lighter one.
Norway's Maren Lundby decided not to defend her Olympic gold because she put on weight and chose to put her physical and mental health first, leading to her skipping the season.
IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS
If you're looking for a winner, maybe don't pick an American. The U.S. has won only one Olympic medal, and that happened nearly a century ago in what was quite a tale. Anders Haugen left the first Winter Olympics in 1924 without any hardware, but 50 years later was awarded a bronze medal after a scoring error was confirmed.
Norway, Austria and Germany are traditional powers. Poland and Japan are pretty good, too. Japanese jumper Ryoyu Kobayashi and Germany’s Karl Geiger are relatively safe bets to earn a spot on the podium.
On the women's side with Lundby taking time off and top-ranked Marita Kramer of Austria out after testing positive for COVID-19, Germany's Katharina Althaus and Sara Takanashi of Japan are the favorites.
HEY, WHAT’S NEW?
This year, for the first time at the Olympics, men and women will compete together in a mixed team event.
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Follow AP Sports Writer Larry Lage at https://twitter.com/larrylage
___
More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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https://www.lakecountystar.com/sports/article/EXPLAINER-Olympic-ski-jumpers-count-on-technique-16832907.php
| 2022-02-04T23:27:13
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| 0.964229
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UT Adviser Dharam Pal chaired a meeting of Standing Finance Committee in the presence of Debendra Dalai, Chief Conservator of Forests, Dr Vijay Namdeorao Zade, Finance Secretary, C B Ojha, Chief Engineer.
The Standing Finance Committee approved two major proposals of CREST for a cumulative capacity of 2.8 MWp.
Out of this, one project is for installation of two MWp floating power plant at raw water tanks of waterworks Sector 39, Chandigarh, which will generate 28 million units of electricity.
This project will also help in reduction in evaporation of up to 382 million litres of water annually and will also generate more power than other solar projects due to cooling effect of water.
Other project of 800kWp SPV power plant will be installed at Sector 42 Lake Parking, which will also serve the people of Chandigarh with dual functionality by providing shelter to the vehicles and also by generating electricity at the same time.
This project was approved under the chairmanship of Dr Vijay Namdeorao Zade, Finance Secretary.
Adviser Dharam Pal said that both these projects will save approximately eight acres of valuable land of Chandigarh.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
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https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/standing-finance-committee-okays-two-proposals-of-crest-7757730/
| 2022-02-04T23:27:17
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| 0.950519
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CINCINNATI (AP) — Cincinnati Bengals tight end C.J. Uzomah missed a second day of practice due to a knee injury suffered in the AFC championship game.
Offensive lineman Jackson Carman has a sore back and also sat out Friday as the Bengals practiced for a second day in the indoor bubble at the University of Cincinnati because of bad weather, according to a pool report.
Uzomah became a clutch receiver for quarterback Joe Burrow this season, and the Bengals hope to get him back for the Super Bowl on Feb. 13. He was carted off with a knee sprain in last Sunday's AFC championship win over Kansas City.
“I don’t anticipate him doing much work this week,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. “The goal really is to see where he’s at this weekend and see where he’s going to be on Monday.”
The Bengals will practice Saturday and Sunday, likely in the bubble with temperatures in the teens and 20s predicted. They'll arrive in Los Angeles on Tuesday, five days ahead of the Super Bowl.
Unlike Thursday, when icy conditions delayed one of the team buses, all the buses made it through the snowy streets of Cincinnati to the UC campus without issue on Friday.
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More AP NFL coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
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https://www.lakecountystar.com/sports/article/Sprained-knee-sidelines-Bengals-TE-C-J-Uzomah-16832968.php
| 2022-02-04T23:27:19
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| 0.959788
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The Tricity reported six deaths and 532 new Covid-19 cases on Friday. Currently, there are 5,141 active cases here.
Chandigarh
The city reported 184 new cases and three deaths on Friday, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 90,481 and the toll to 1,135.
On Friday, the total number of active cases was 2,099 and the positivity rate was 3.82 per cent. The total number of samples tested in the last 24 hours was 4,796 and total recoveries were 396. The total number of vaccinations was 980.
In PGI, out of 380 Covid beds with oxygen, 103 are occupied, and out of the 70 Covid ventilator beds, 23 are occupied. In GMCH 32, out of 165 Covid beds with oxygen, 32 are occupied, and out of 63 Covid ventilator beds, four are occupied. In GMSH-16, out of 230 Covid beds with oxygen, 28 are occupied and out of 20 Covid ventilator beds, three are occupied.
Panchkula
The district Friday reported one death and 118 new Covid-19 cases. Of the total cases reported, 106 were reported from the district while the rest were from outside.
The positivity rate was recorded at 11 per cent. Currently, there are 598 active cases in Panchkula, of which 564 are under home isolation while the rest have been hospitalised.
The one death reported was an 83-year-old man from Pinjore who had cancer.
A total of 57,227 cases have been reported from the district so far, of which 43,367 hail from Panchkula, while the rest have come from neighbouring districts.
The district has conducted 577,001 tests so far, with 967 samples collected on Thursday.
As many as 172 healthcare workers have yet to test positive in the third wave. At least 2 of them tested positive on Friday.
The recovery rate of the district, which was 93 per cent at the start of the third wave, has now risen to 97.4 per cent.
Mohali
Two more deaths were reported in the district due to Covid-19 on Friday, taking the total number of fatalities to 1,131. As many as 231 positive Covid-19 cases were also reported in the district, increasing the total tally of cases to 94,287 with 2,444 active cases.
A total of 2,076 samples were collected in the district. A total of 8621 people were vaccinated. The health officials said that 25 patients were admitted in the hospitals out of which 21 were admitted in L-2 hospitals, three in L-3 and one in L-1 hospitals.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
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https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/tricity-sees-6-deaths-532-new-covid-cases-7757723/
| 2022-02-04T23:27:23
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| 0.983441
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Union Minister Smriti Irani Friday targeted the Delhi government’s new excise policy and said it was “shocking that liquor vends were being opened near schools and religious places”.
Speaking at a virtual rally organised by the Delhi BJP, she claimed that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, “the leader who talked of Swaraj and wrote in his book about picketing liquor shops and shutting them down, was now exploring opportunities to open liquor shops in each ward”.
Months before the MCD elections in the capital, the Delhi BJP has been protesting against the new liquor policy.
Irani said that the BJP would continue its protest until the policy is withdrawn. “The Kejriwal government has given a message to the society, that it is ready to go to any lengths for profit. I want to ask the AAP government who will be answerable for families that will be destroyed in this quest… if money earned through liquor can ever help in development,” she said.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had earlier said that liquor shops have not increased in Delhi — in 2015 there were 850 liquor shops, and under the new excise policy, only 501 were opened.
Irani claimed liquor stores were opened close to gurdwaras in Tilak Nagar and that they jeopardised safety of women.
The new policy has seen the Delhi government exit from the business of selling liquor, redistribution of stores across the city, and upfront collection of excise revenue. The three MCDs, ruled by the BJP, have meanwhile closed down several liquor shops over alleged violations of the Master Plan and other norms in the past few months.
Hitting back, the AAP alleged that there was a “nexus” between the BJP and liquor mafia through which it used to earn Rs 3,500 crore. “The back of the liquor mafia has been broken due to the new policy and the illegal earning of BJP has stopped. Rattled by this, BJP leaders are pedalling lies…,” it said in a statement.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
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https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/its-shocking-will-protest-smriti-targets-cm-over-liquor-policy-7757702/
| 2022-02-04T23:27:29
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en
| 0.987514
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The Crime Branch’s probe into the alleged illegal cutting of trees at the Delhi Golf Club (DGC) appears to have hit a dead end, after the Forest Research Institute (FRI) in Dehradun said the number of trees that were cut down and their age can’t be determined based on the 3,005 logs found buried on the premises.
On July 19, 2019, police registered a case against the club for alleged tree felling, under sections 8, 23, 24 of the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, after receiving a complaint from range forest officer Satyender Prakash, who was posted with the South forest division in Tughlakabad. Then Delhi Police chief Amulya Patnaik transferred the case from Nizamuddin police station to the Inter-State Cell of the Crime Branch.
Over the past three and a half years, police have questioned the club’s president, captain, and secretary who, in their statements, told police they were not aware of where the logs came from.
“Police requested the forest department to seize and take custody of the recovered logs. They were told by the department that as per Section 17 of the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, they had directed the secretary (DGC) to execute an indemnity bond of Rs 1 crore with their department for safe custody of the recovered logs. However, the club refused to execute the bond,” an officer said.
Police then decided to approach the forest department. “The investigation officer (IO) sent a letter to the department, asking it to ascertain how many trees were cut and how old they were. But they said this cannot be determined based on the recovered logs as no such technology was available with them,” a senior police officer said.
Police also approached several dendrologists, but they too could not ascertain the age. “The IO later visited the FRI and sent a letter to its director to find out the age of the recovered logs and the time period during which they were felled. A few days ago, the FRI conveyed that this can’t be ascertained by them, but they can ascertain the species and the charge will be Rs 30,000 per log,” the officer said.
The case first came to light in 2016, when a complaint against the club for allegedly felling at least 100 trees had been forwarded to the forest department. According to sources, the club had applied for permission to cut trees to expand a golf course, which was turned down.
Government officials had said an inspection of the site was ordered after CM Arvind Kejriwal received a complaint from club members. Officials in the forest department said a final report was filed with the Delhi Environment Ministry by Tree Officer (South) S K Muan Guite after an inspection. He had said logs of different sizes were being dumped in pits and covered with soil.
As per the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994, no one can cut trees without permission from the forest department and paying for compensatory plantation.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
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https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/mystery-of-3005-logs-found-buried-at-delhi-golf-club-remains-unsolved-7757706/
| 2022-02-04T23:27:36
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en
| 0.986321
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Gurnam Singh Chaduni’s party, Sanyukt Sangrash Party (SSP), on Friday, released its election manifesto for the upcoming Assembly polls, in which it promised to legalise poppy husk farming in the state if voted to power. The SSP, in alliance with Sanyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM), will be contesting from ten seats in Punjab. While SSM’s registration as a political party will take place next month, the SSP was registered as a party on January 16 and was allotted cup and saucer as its poll symbol.
Gurnam Singh Chaduni, who is also the president of farmers’ body Bharatiya Kisan Union (Haryana), has touched upon the issue of legalising poppy husk farming previously too and has now put it in the poll manifesto of his party under the agriculture section. The SSP’s manifesto mentions that if they are voted to power, every farmer will be allowed to do poppy husk farming on one acre of land in a legal way which can help them in increasing their income. Poppy husk is considered as a narcotic in the state at present and its farming is punishable under the NDPS Act of Punjab.
“A Punjab Kisan Aayog will be formed and cooperative farming will be started if our party, in alliance with SSM, forms the next government in Punjab. MSP will be implemented on every crop and differential price, if any, will be paid for by the government. A compensation of Rs 75000 per acre will be given to farmers in case of crop damage and even government companies will be doing crop loan insurance Payment of sugarcane crop will be done within 14 days to farmers and sugar mills will be directed to pay interest in case of delayed payments to farmers. Ours is a farmers’ party and we will enhance the agriculture budget and focus on rainwater harvesting too.”
Another interesting highlight of SSP’s manifesto was to open government offices on all seven days, which will increase employment opportunities. The manifesto reads, “Employees will get off days as usual but on a rotational basis. Hence, the public’s work will be done on all seven days. Around 20% more staff will be hired which will result in more jobs creation. We will also end the contract system.”
Ironically, though the SSP wants to legalise poppy husk farming, it also said that it will aim to put an end to synthetic drugs, besides improving the health infrastructure in the state.
“There will be 20 years of jail time for people found guilty of sacrilege. The law will be strict in beadbi cases,” said Chaduni . He added that the kisan government will aim at putting an end to the mafia raj and mining will be taken under the government’s wings. The Lokpal will be strengthened and one MLA one pension scheme will be implemented. The SSP also mentioned the promotion of trade and industry in the state and focus on ways to end harassment of rehri wallahs at the hands of the police.
Poll symbols of SSM
Sanyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM) candidates will be contesting as Independents on 104 seats in Punjab. In the remaining seats, 75 SSM candidates will contest under the cot as its symbol, while the remaining will fight the elections under the symbol of a pitcher. The SSM had been approved by the ECI on the last day of filing nomination papers, Tuesday, but it will be registered after a month only. “All the candidates had filled the same three preferences in their nomination papers and nearly 75% of them got cot as a poll symbol while the rest got matka (pitcher), the next preferred poll symbol,” said Prem Singh Bhangu, screening committee member of SSM.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
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https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ludhiana/now-a-party-that-promises-to-legalise-poppy-husk-farming-if-elected-7757708/
| 2022-02-04T23:27:42
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| 0.964837
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The victim in the GMCH sexual harassment case has objected to the reinstatement of the accused, raising a question mark on the move as, according to her, the inquiry being conducted by the internal sexual harassment committee of the college is yet to be concluded.
She alleged “it has been months but the committee seems least bothered about completing the investigation. My molester has joined back my own department without my knowledge”.
However, Dr Jaswinder Kaur, Director Principal of GMCH 32, said: “Why should she be informed of the reinstatement? There is already a court case going on. The court itself has given him bail. We are not supposed to send any letter to the victim, I do not think that it is a requirement. He (accused technician) asked for the reinstatement, the matter was looked into and the committee felt that he should be reinstated, as submitted by them in the final report. Moreover, a court case is already going on. When the police have put him out of prison,
then naturally he can be reinstated as well.”
On the question of the probe by the internal sexual harassment committee, she said, “If an inquiry has been started, it has to end as well. The committee has to give the report within a stipulated time and they gave the report.”
It was on June 27 last year that the alleged sexual harassment had happened inside the OT store room.
Despite the filing of a complaint the same evening, an FIR into the matter was filed the following day only after the survivor approached the UT SSP.
Later, the victim submitted a complaint to the Director Principle of GMCH-32 early July last year, alleging the inquiry committee was harassing her. Hundreds of resident doctors of GMCH-32 had walked in protest against the lackadaisical attitude shown by the authorities and the police in arresting the accused, holding a token strike wherein only emergency wards and Covid care services were extended by the junior resident doctors. A day later, the accused had surrendered in a district court of Chandigarh.
The matter had then gone to court. On August 24, the accused was granted bail. The next hearing is in April.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
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https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/panchkula/gmch-harassment-case-victim-raises-objection-to-reinstatement-of-accused-authorities-say-not-wrong-7757715/
| 2022-02-04T23:27:48
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| 0.983036
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Election observers deputed by the Election Commission held a meeting with the representatives of political parties on Friday.
The election observers appealed to political parties to follow instructions and rules of the Election Commission so that the elections could be conducted in a free and fair manner. They asked the representatives of the political parties to get prior approval of the Media Certification and Media Monitoring Committee regarding advertisements / banners / pamphlets etc. They also interacted with the nodal officers of various committees and issued various instructions.
District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner Isha Kalia, Senior Superintendent of Police Harjeet Singh, Additional Deputy Commissioner Komal Mittal, Assistant Expenditure Supervisor and district level nodal officers of various election-related committees were also present.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
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https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/sas-nagar-mohali/follow-ec-rules-poll-observers-to-parties-7757727/
| 2022-02-04T23:27:55
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| 0.970278
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Mohali police on Friday registered five cases of property defacement after they found that the supporters of some political parties had pasted posters at some public properties.
Police said one case was registered at Phase VIII police station in Mohali, two cases were registered in Kurali and two cases were registered in Derabassi.
In Derabassi, the two cases were registered against unidentified persons who were pasting posters of political parties. While one case was registered against unknown people for pasting posters of the Congress at Ambala-Zirakpur road near the bridge, the other was filed against unknown people for pasting posters of the BJP near Central Bank. Both the cases were registered at Derabassi police station.
In Kurali, the cases were registered at Kurali (city) police station after it was found that some unidentified persons had pasted posters of various political parties at Market Committee and Railway Road and Community Health Center. In Phase VIII, police registered the case after it was found that some unidentified persons were pasting the posters at the primary school in Kumbra village.
The cases have been registered under Section 3 of Public Property Defacement Act.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
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https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/sas-nagar-mohali/mohali-police-file-five-cases-for-property-defacement-7757717/
| 2022-02-04T23:28:01
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| 0.987478
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February 5, 2022 3:30:46 am
SHOWING THE red signal to the Kerala government’s showpiece K-Rail project, the Railway Board Friday told Kerala High Court it is “advisable” that proceedings of land acquisition for the proposed high-speed line be “stopped at this stage” — and that feasibility of its current alignment “has not been agreed” to by the Ministry of Railways.
The proposed Rs 63,943-crore K-Rail, officially titled SilverLine, is being promoted by Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL), which is a joint venture of the state government and the Rail Ministry. The project has faced stiff opposition across the state.
The Railway Board’s submission was presented in an affidavit to the High Court in response to an appeal by the state challenging a single-bench directive on January 20 to stay survey and land acquisition proceedings for the CPM-led government’s ambitious project.
In the statement submitted by Assistant Solicitor General of India S Manu, the Railway Board’s Additional Member (Works) also raised concerns over how the project would affect the national transporter’s expansion plans for a third and fourth lines in areas where K-Rail would run parallel to existing tracks.
Questioning the viability of the project, the statement stated: “Since the Ministry of Railways is a joint venture partner in KRDCL, a debt component of Rs 33,700 crore will finally come on the Ministry of Railways as debt servicing, which is not possible with mainly passenger traffic. This will also be examined and firmed up after finalization of technical parameters. Even if the State Government is willing to provide debt repayment guarantee, Ministry of Railways has to examine whether the project is financially viable per se.’’
Speaking to The Indian Express, sources in the Rail Ministry said the statement “means the project is as good as dead in its present shape”.
Ministry officials said Rail Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had in his last meeting with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan raised questions about various aspects of the project. “One of the main points raised by the Minister was the projected profitability of SilverLine and the prospect of it becoming a financial liability for the Railways in the future,” said a top official.
On Friday, Konkan Railway and Delhi Metro pioneer E Sreedharan, who was a BJP candidate in the Kerala polls last year, met Vaishnaw with a delegation of party leaders and expressed reservations over the project.
Vaishnaw said in a tweet later that Sreedharan “explained serious technical issues in the SilverLine project. Without FLS (Final Location Survey), land plan and sanction, land acquisition cannot be done”.
Speaking to The Indian Express, former Railways official Alok Kumar Verma, who was initially hired by KRDCL as a consultant, welcomed the national transporter’s stand but questioned the in-principle approval given for the project’s feasibility report three years ago.
“This (the statement) means the project will be killed slowly because the Railways will also have to explain why they gave in-principle approval to the feasibility study in 2019 when it had such glaring loopholes. The feasibility study was flawed and the Detailed Project Report that followed was also short on due diligence and ground work. Once the Railways approves the feasibility study, the project is allowed to spend up to Rs 100 crore in pre-construction activities. That’s public money wasted,” Verma said.
The Railway Board’s statement Friday referred to the in-principle approval and said it only meant approval to go ahead with preparation of DPR (Detailed Project Report), etc. Once the details of the project, including financials, are determined, a decision is taken on whether to proceed, it said.
According to the statement, project expenditure is incurred only after the DPR is approved and the sanction is communicated. In the case of K-Rail, this approval has not been granted so far, it said.
The Railway Board also informed the court that the DPR has not yet been accepted by the Ministry and hence has not been sent to NITI Aayog for appraisal.
K-Rail aims to create a corridor for trains to clock speeds of 200 kmph between the state capital Thiruvananthapuram in the south to Kasaragod at the state’s northern tip, slashing the time taken to cover the 530-km distance from 12 hours to around four.
But the project has been opposed by the Opposition Congress, civil society outfits and even some sections within the ruling alliance, with questions raised primarily over its cost, ecological impact, rehabilitation of those who will be displaced, and lack of consultation.
The High Court stay last month came on a petition from a group of persons who sought directions to KRDCL to refrain from erecting or laying any concrete poles and taking possession of their properties for the project. At the time, the Centre had informed the court that it had not formally approved the project.
According to KRDCL’s plans, the corridor will run parallel to existing tracks for approximately 200 km, where 10-15 metres of Railway land — totalling about 185 hectares — will be utilised.
“As per proposal, in the patch where proposed line is parallel to existing line no space will remain available for any future expansion of Railways and to accommodate future 3rd/4th line. Sufficient details regarding technical feasibility are not available in the DPR submitted,” the Railway Board’s statement said.
“Therefore, KRDCL has been advised to provide detailed technical documents such as alignment plan, particulars of Railway land and private land, crossings over existing Railway network duly depicting affected Railway assets for detailed examination of the project and to arrive at conclusion about feasibility of project,” it said.
The statement stated that the Railways has not taken any decision on the proposed parallel track. It said permission to plant boundary stones was not agreed to in the absence of an approved DPR, and that this was conveyed to KRDCL on September 28, 2021.
“Permission is granted for conducting geotechnical investigations and hydrological investigations only and it is explicit in nature and subject to KRDCL’s adherence to the conditions laid down wherever the alignment is going parallel to the Railway land,” it said.
The statement also informed the court that the Rail Ministry has received several representations against the project on various issues, mainly that it will impact thousands of hectares of cultivable land, and about 20,000 thousand houses, shops and business establishments.
“It is also pointed out that Silver Line will be an obstacle for the expansion of Angamaly railway station, which operates Railway sidings for Food Corporation of India. It is also highlighted in the representations that the proposed alignment will also lead to demolishing of many religious structures. It is therefore advisable that the proceedings of land acquisition for this project shall be stopped at this stage, as even feasibility of the present alignment has not been agreed by the Ministry of Railways,” the statement said.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
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https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/thiruvananthapuram/setback-to-kerala-govt-rlys-rethinks-takes-stand-against-k-rail-in-court-7757628/
| 2022-02-04T23:28:08
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There were many expectations of the Union budget for the health sector. The big-ticket items — the digitally managed health ecosystem and provisions for mental health — veer away from the prevalent systems. They rely on the power of technology to bypass the need to undertake physical visits to doctors, carry prescriptions and wait in queues. The digital experience could be a game-changer, but only if the facility, doctors, patients, and systems work in tandem.
When it comes to Covid vaccinations, the digital platform has been a runaway success, primarily because the COWIN platform was simple and slick, and the citizen could choose between public and private facilities. Online medical consultations have started in metros and people are setting up appointments with doctors easily. But the management of hospital beds across the country is a different story. Of the 19 lakh beds in India, 62 per cent are in the private sector. Nearly 95 per cent of them are operated by small hospitals or nursing homes — the first port of call for most citizens seeking medical care. The setting up of a National Digital Ecosystem which “will maintain digital registries of health providers and health facilities,” is welcome, but one must be clear whether it will encompass both the public and private health sector and include smaller hospitals and nursing homes. And, what about consent, compliance and cost?
The other big-ticket announcement relates to the mental health sector. It serves one purpose straightaway — making society aware that such conditions can afflict anyone, but the disease can be treated, and patients should not be stigmatised. With IIT Bangalore and the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in the driver’s seat, we can expect professionalism and results. But the budget speech did not mention if the mental health strategy will focus on all psychological problems or only those that have arisen in the wake of Covid. Many mental health conditions encompass disorders that are not amenable to teleconsultation.
While the budget has provided some financial leg up to the National Health Mission and more to the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (under which AIIMS-type of hospitals and government medical colleges are being established or upgraded) these are programmes that have been in progress since 2005. Four announcements were expected but did not come.
First, the need to substantially raise the overall budgetary contribution to the health sector. It is currently pegged at 1.8 per cent of the GDP and the push in the budget appears very small.
Second, during the pandemic the unorganised middle class was caught without adequate (or even any) health insurance. After excluding insurance coverage for the organised sector (both government and private), and those covered by Ayushman Bharat and state-level health security schemes, a whopping 26 crore people had no health insurance when the pandemic started. They found hospitalisation costs staggering. One of the biggest expectations from the budget was that the lower end of the “missing middle” would get some handholding.
Third, there was an expectation that Ayushman Bharat would be expanded to cover the outpatient costs faced by the poor. The Economic Survey has recognised that such expenditure is huge.
Fourth, there was a need to address the crisis of non-communicable diseases — hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases largely caused by unhealthy lifestyles. During Covid, people with comorbidities constituted the largest segment that succumbed. Fiscal measures, incentives, and disincentives have reduced the incidences related to lethal consequences of smoking. A repetition of the prevention of smoking story was called for.
The health sector outlay leaves many expectations unfulfilled. People I spoke to said “not everything needs to be announced in the budget.” We live in hope.
(The writer is a former Health Secretary. Views are personal)
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
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https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/budget-disappoints-on-healthcare-covid-pandemic-7757571/
| 2022-02-04T23:28:14
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| 0.965525
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Success stories are those that have definitive, durable and widespread impact. Uttar Pradesh’s sugarcane industry qualifies as one, on all counts. The state has overtaken Maharashtra to be India’s top sugar producer in the last five seasons (October-September) from 2016-17. It has also become the largest ethanol producer and the only state to achieve 10 per cent blending in petrol in 2020-21, one year ahead of the target for all-India. These are not overnight accomplishments. Every regime over the last two decades has built on the work of its predecessor, generating a cumulative and durable impact.
Till 2003-04, UP’s sugar mills together could crush barely 4,00,000 tonnes of cane per day (tcd). The Samajwadi Party government’s Sugar Industry Promotion Policy of 2004 induced large investments, both in new mills and brownfield expansions. By 2006-07, aggregate crushing capacity had crossed 7,00,000 tcd. The state’s 120 sugar factories today have a combined crushing capacity of 7,87,275 tcd, much of it coming up during Mulayam Singh Yadav’s term from late-2003 to mid-2007.
What Mulayam’s SP did for sugar, the present BJP administration under Yogi Adityanath has done in ethanol. Between 2016-17 and 2020-21, UP’s ethanol output has more than doubled from 43.25 crore to 107.21 crore litres, and is projected at 160 crore litres this year. The number of distilleries, too, has risen from 44 to 75. Mayawati’s BSP government of 2007-12 can take credit for cumulatively hiking cane prices by Rs 120 per quintal — as against Rs 65 and Rs 35 by the succeeding Akhilesh Yadav-led SP and Adityanath dispensations — and also ensuring timely payment to farmers. In sum, UP’s sugarcane success story is a product of the effort of all three ruling regimes.
As for widespread impact, sugarcane is cultivated on about 2.5 million hectares in UP. The whole of northern UP is a ganna pradesh. That includes the districts in north-west (from Saharanpur to Moradabad down to Bulandshahr and Badaun), north-central (Rampur-Bareilly, Shahjahanpur-Hardoi right up to Lakhimpur Kheri-Sitapur) and north-east (Bahraich-Gonda-Ayodhya till Kushinagar-Deoria) UP. Cane is grown mostly in the Upper Doabs — the lands between the state’s south-flowing rivers. The north-west ganna belt (“West UP”) covers the riverine plains between the Yamuna, Ganga and Ramganga; the north-central Doab between the Ramganga, Gomti and Sharda-Ghaghara; and the north-east between Sharda-Ghaghara, Rapti and Gandak extending to Bihar.
The impact of sugarcane isn’t only geographic. Taking an average one-hectare landholding, UP would have 2.5 million cane farmer families. The state produces 200 million tonnes-plus of cane annually. A single labourer can harvest one tonne daily at best. Assuming 150 workdays during the crushing season from November to April, harvesting will engage nearly 1.5 million labourers. Another half-a-million would be employed in the mills, distilleries, gur-making and the transport of cane, sugar, molasses and alcohol.
All in all, some 4.5 million families in UP are directly dependent on sugarcane. Inclusive of their members, they add up to 20 million persons — one in every 12 of UP’s total estimated 240 million population!
The creation of new milling and distillery capacities isn’t the sole factor, though, for ganna pradesh’s transformation. No less important has been Co-0238, the blockbuster cane variety bred by Bakshi Ram. From virtually zero till 2012-13, it now accounts for over 85 per cent of UP’s cane area. Co-0238 has boosted both average ganna yields and sugar-to-cane recovery in the state — from 60 tonnes per hectare and 9.25 per cent to 80 tonnes and 11.5 per cent, respectively.
Yet, ganna has suffered bad press because of its apparently high water requirement — roughly twice that of paddy and four times of wheat. This analysis ignores the fact that sugarcane is grown over 11-12 months, compared to 4-5 months for the latter crops. Further, the worst ganna grower harvests 40 tonnes per hectare, whereas the best wheat and paddy farmers’ yields are 7-9 tonnes. Sugarcane consumes less water per day and even less for every unit of biomass produced. Its green top leaves, moreover, fill the fodder needs of animals through the winter and spring months.
Proponents of the “water-guzzler” theory may also not know that cane contains around 70 per cent water, 15 per cent sugar and 15 per cent fibre. Sugar mills require no supply of external power or water. The baggase fibre used as boiler fuel and the water that is heated to produce steam are both present in the cane itself. Also, hardly two-fifths of the resultant electricity generated is consumed by the mill; the rest is exportable power. A fifth of the water in cane is similarly rendered surplus, even after use for steam generation and processing in the mill.
While water-guzzling concerns are valid for sugarcane in Marathwada or Vidarbha, these do not apply to Uttar Pradesh. The lands between its confluent rivers have extremely fertile alluvial soils and no dearth of water, augmented by a network of canals: The Eastern Yamuna and Upper Ganga Canal irrigating the north-west districts, the Sharda Canal in north-central and the recently inaugurated Saryu Canal project of north-east UP. Mother Nature has already made ganna highly efficient at carbon sequestration and a prolific biomass producer. And with its abundant water resources, there is no state better poised to realise the full potential of this champion crop.
The next government in UP should look at how to make sugarcane part of a “circular economy” wherein it gives back to nature what it takes. For farmers, ganna is both a cash and fodder crop. For mills, it is an energy crop producing sugar, ethanol and power. Many of them are also treating their surplus water for irrigation purposes, besides supplying press mud — the residual cake after clarification and filtration of cane juice — for use as compost fertiliser. More recent initiatives involve use of press mud as a feedstock for producing bio-CNG and recovery of potash from distillery effluent after burning in incineration boilers. For a country importing the bulk of its natural gas and potassic fertiliser requirements, this isn’t a small thing.
There’s a lot that the government taking charge after March 10 can do for ganna. UP can take the lead in enforcing 12 per cent and 15 per cent ethanol blending in petrol, for which mass emission standards have already been notified. Mills should be paid on time for the renewable electricity they are supplying to the UP Power Corporation. Such dues now stand at over Rs 300 crore, even touching Rs 1,500 crore at times.
Last but not least is the need for transparent cane pricing. This should be formula-based, linked to mills’ realisations from sugar and all byproducts, and any price above that paid from the state budget. With forward-looking government policy, Uttar Pradesh can better Brazil!
(The writer is National Rural Affairs & Agriculture Editor of The Indian Express and Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi)
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
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https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/uttar-pradesh-is-ganna-pradesh-sugarcane-sugar-mills-7757547/
| 2022-02-04T23:28:21
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My father introduced me to chess when I was eight years old. Almost 40 years later, I know that many of the skills and qualities learnt from the game stand one in good stead in life and in litigation. Indians are believed to have invented the game in the 6th century CE, in the era of the Gupta Empire. It was known as “chaturanga” at the time. The word “chaturanga”, which in Sanskrit means four limbs, refers to the four arms of the army — infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots.
During the Gupta era, the game was played on an 8×8 grid, much like the modern chessboard of today. By the 11th century, it spread to Persia where it was known as “chatrang” or “shatranj”. From Persia, it went to China and Japan before arriving in Europe via North Africa. In Europe, by the 16th century, some cosmetic changes were brought to the game, including the renaming of the pieces after medieval European figures like knight, bishop and rook (or fort).
The rules of the game are simple, but playing it is a complex art, necessitating concentration, a calm mind and the ability to sit still and shut out the world. These are necessary qualities for any discipline or art form, especially advocacy in a courtroom. First, a little more on the rules for those who don’t play. Essentially, when your king is captured or checkmated, you lose. Perhaps in a reflection of real life, the female piece, or the queen, is the most powerful and hardworking piece, while the pawns are committed foot soldiers. Bishops move diagonally, rooks vertically and horizontally, while the horse-headed knights move in an L-shape.
Each piece has its own role, but all must work together to be utilised most effectively by the force that runs them — much like any army, bureaucracy or state institutions. The handling of any crisis — whether Covid or war — reflects how effectively the ruling regime deploys the limbs of the state. Each institution is but a piece on the larger board that is the state. Much like in chess, the constitution describes the role or function of each institution and sets the rules.
Chess has meant different things to me at different points in my life. As a bored teenager, the establishment of the school chess club was an outlet for my restless mind, which was not engaged by the curriculum taught in class. Soon this led to participating in state and national level competitions for junior players. This was in the late 1980s, when I heard of an exciting player named Viswanathan Anand from Chennai who became India’s first Grandmaster.
In my final years of school, I was invited to attend the Pioneer Artek camp in Yalta, Ukraine, then still part of the Soviet Union. Yalta, a resort town, was surrounded by the Black Sea and hosted a camp for young people from all over the world. There I would encounter talented and highly trained chess players who would dismantle my game quickly. At the time, a politician called Mikhail Gorbachev was talking about “glasnost” and “perestroika”. The Soviet Union would soon come undone in 1991.
I was excited to be in the mothership of chess — the Soviet Union. For long, chess had been used to settle ideological wars and issues of national pride. At the peak of the Cold War years, a challenger from the US, Bobby Fischer, and the defending champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union, played at the World Chess Championships in Reykjavik, Iceland. From July 11 to August 31, 1972, spanning 21 games, the two players competed for themselves and their countries. Symbolically, capitalism took on communism. Both Fischer and Spassky were under tremendous pressure to win.
The Soviets had dominated world chess till this point, winning the world championships for the past 24 years. The eccentric Fischer, critical of his government, brilliant and unpredictable, asked for the prize money to be increased, refused to attend the opening ceremony, threatened not to play and, finally, had to be persuaded by Henry Kissinger to compete. He would go on to win the championship and break Soviet domination.
I found chess again during this time of relative isolation, with the pandemic and the resultant lockdowns and curfews. In the land of its birth, chess has witnessed a renaissance over the past decade. Abhijit Nair writes in Bridge.in that as of 2021, India has 72 Grandmasters, having tripled the number in the last decade. In the last three years alone, from 2018 to 2021, India has produced an astonishing 22 Grandmasters.
During the pandemic, one could still play in the online world of chess sites. Rumour has it that the former world champion and Russian dissident Garry Kasparov often plays anonymously on these sites. If that’s not to one’s liking, then chess programmes on laptops are designed to entertain or destroy as per the level of proficiency selected. I played furiously during the loneliest of the lockdowns, used it to bury grief as friends and colleagues at the bar were felled by the brutal second wave of Covid. As migrant labourers starved or decided to walk to their far-off homes, I wondered what kind of “middle game” our rulers had in mind?
As Omicron entered India, I re-watched Satyajit Ray’s only Hindi language film, ‘Shatranj ke Khilari’. Set in 1856, shortly before the revolt of 1857, the movie revolves around two noblemen living in Awadh. Obsessed with the game, both spend all their time playing and neglecting their families and businesses, until they are completely ruined. Starring Amjad Khan, Sanjeev Kumar, Shabana Azmi and Richard Attenborough, the movie is based on a short story by Munshi Premchand. Both the short story and the film are intended to capture the selfishness and cowardice of India’s ruling classes at the time, who did not put up a fight against the small group of British soldiers who threatened the grand old kingdom of Awadh. In due course, Awadh would fall and India soon after.
How one lives life is a series of choices. Chess games are divided into opening, middle and end games. In life, the opening moves are determined by the values one decides to live by, the middle game entails honing the craft of one’s choice, contributing to one’s community, finding love, taking care of family, mentoring the young and speaking up against the powerful when demanded by circumstances. For the end game, you must look at the legacy you leave behind as you walk into the sunset. You may win or lose, but you have played the game by your rules.
The writer is a senior advocate at the Supreme Court
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
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https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/why-life-is-a-lot-like-chess-7757543/
| 2022-02-04T23:28:27
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The 39-day-old United Democratic Front Ministry, headed by Congress (I) leader K Karunakaran, survived its first trial of strength in the Assembly, defeating a no-confidence motion with the help of the casting vote of the Speaker and the vote of a nominated member. In the voting which followed 12 hours of acrimonious debate spread over two days, the ruling side and the opposition were tied at 70 each. A G Jose, who belonged to the Congress (S) until his election as Speaker on Wednesday, then exercised his casting vote against the no-confidence motion. Two members of the Janata Party voted against the government, while three others who were suspended from the party, voted for it. The lone independent member of the House, K K Nair, also voted for the government.
Kapil Dev’s 100
Kapil Dev scored a breezy 116 and added 169 runs with Yashpal Sharma (55 not out) in 178 minutes for a record 7th wicket stand at the Green Park stadium in Kanpur. India, 193/3 overnight, came within two runs of overhauling England’s 378/9 (declared) when the sixth and final Test ended in an insipid draw. With the draw — the fifth in a row — India regained the rubber against England 1-0 after losing in England in 1974. Kapil Dev was awarded the well-deserved man of the series award.
Kennedy Tapes
John Kennedy had a secret taping system to record his conversations with associates, friends and foes and visiting foreign leaders, The Washington Post reported. Kennedy’s secret, known only to Evelyn Lincoln, his personal White House secretary, and some secret service agents, is quite embarrassing to his admirers. Theodore Sorensen, who is regarded as among one of Kennedy’s closest aides, said: “I am dumb-founded.”
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
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https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/february-5-1982-forty-years-ago-speaker-saves-govt-7757578/
| 2022-02-04T23:28:33
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| 0.976363
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Where there’s a will, the politician will find a way. In Odisha, where pandemic restrictions have grounded large gatherings in the run-up to the elections to panchayat bodies, candidates are making the most of intimate, door-to-door campaigns. To help brand recall, they have also been lugging around real-life versions of their poll symbols. That might not create much of a ripple if the candidate’s symbol is a lantern or a book, humdrum enough objects. But what if the Election Commission, in all its wisdom, has decided to identify you with an LED TV? For a candidate in Koraput’s zilla parishad elections, who has been making a spectacular entry into villages, gleaming flat-screen in tow, this is just the kind of attention she was hoping for. In Nabarangpur district, Bhagavati Bhotra makes a different kind of splash — accompanying her on her campaign trail is a freshly-caught fish, expertly held in the crook of her hand. That’s not as easy as it looks. Ask Shashi Tharoor, whose composure was visibly ruffled when he was handed the big catch of the day during a campaign visit to a fish market in Thiruvananthapuram two years ago. Attempts to fish for sympathy on Twitter, when he described himself as a “squeamish vegetarian”, did not wash.
What would our elections be without poll symbols? Early on in the life of a democracy that had gambled on giving the right to vote to all, these minimalist ideograms became a way for a largely non-literate population to identify political candidates and parties. For that reason, they have always been drawn from the unremarkable objects of ordinary life — from bicycles to brooms and fruits and vegetables.
Technology has transformed, some would say distorted, the scale and speed at which parties now take their message to the voter. The Odisha campaign is, perhaps, a reminder of old-fashioned politics as persuasion and legwork. And of the voter’s choice — if she isn’t impressed with the candidate at her door, there are always plenty of other fish in the sea.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
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https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/vote-for-the-fish-panchayat-elections-odisha-7757544/
| 2022-02-04T23:28:39
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| 0.974727
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SENIOR CONGRESS leader Rahul Gandhi said on Friday that the electoral contest in Goa was between his party and the BJP and voters should not “waste” their vote on other parties.
Rahul arrived in Goa on Friday morning for a day-long visit ahead of the Assembly polls on February 14.
“The fight is between the BJP and the Congress, not between other parties. So don’t waste your vote. If you waste your vote, the loss will be yours. We want the Congress government to be formed with a full majority,” he said in a virtual rally he addressed from Sanquelim constituency.
With him in attendance, 37 candidates of the Congress party and three from its alliance partner Goa Forward Party swore loyalty to their parties and pledged not to defect after being elected. Thirty-six Congress candidates had already been administered an oath by priests in a temple, church and a dargah on January 22. While the first pledge was taken with God as witness, the pledge of loyalty taken on Friday was on an affidavit that Rahul would take to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The loyalty pledge was taken at the International Centre in Dona Paula, Panaji.
Rahul also released the party’s manifesto and announced that the Congress will introduce its NYAY scheme in Goa under which poor families will receive Rs 6,000 a month.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
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https://indianexpress.com/elections/fight-is-between-congress-and-bjp-dont-waste-votes-on-others-rahul-in-goa-7757719/
| 2022-02-04T23:28:45
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2022 Eddy County oil and gas tax collections reach milestone in December
Eddy county collect $31.9 million in oil and gas tax revenue at the end of its 2021 fiscal year.
More:Eddy County collects $5.5M in November oil and gas taxes, expects summer surplus
During the first six months of the 2021 fiscal year Eddy County collected $14 million in oil and gas taxes, according to County financial data. Fiscal years begin July 1 and end June 31.
The County collect $9.8 million in oil and gas revenue during the last six months of that fiscal year.
During the current fiscal year (2022) which began in July 2021, Eddy County expected to collect about $2 million per month in oil and gas tax revenue, according to County financial documents, with the exception of December for which they budgeted a $5.4 million revenue collection. It ended up collecting $23.1 million in oil and gas taxes between July and November. In December collections rose to $9.5 million.
More:Permian Basin oil and gas deals getting bigger as market recovers from COVID-19
Eddy County Finance Director Roberta Smith said during a Feb. 1 meeting of the Eddy County Board of County Commissioners, that rise in collections was likely due to a number of factors, including the price of crude oil — $69 a barrel in September 2021 — and the production of nearly 16 million barrels of oil from area oilfields.
The largest contributor, Smith said, was revenue from taxation of equipment used by the oil and gas industry.
More:Pioneer Natural Resources completes $3 billion exit from Delaware Basin
Eddy County by December had surpassed its budgeted oil and gas tax collections —$28 million — by $4 million.
Gross receipts tax exceed expectations
Eddy County collected $16.8 million in gross receipt taxes (GRT) when the 2021 fiscal year ended June 30, 2021.
More:Pending legislation could help Carlsbad recoup lost gross receipts revenue
GRTs collected the first six months of the new fiscal year have already exceeded the total of GRT collected in 2021, reaching $17.2 million in December. GRTs averaged $2.8 million between July and December.
As the oil and gas industry continued to boom in the Permian Basin, Eddy County optimistically budgeted $134 million in gross tax revenue for the year.
More:Carlsbad Mayor: Lawmakers working to protect local revenue
The County expended 40% of its $187 million budget expenses, read a memo authored by Smith to commissioners.
Mike Smith can be reached at 575-628-5546 or by email at MSmith@currentargus.com or @ArgusMichae on Twitter.
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https://www.currentargus.com/story/news/2022/02/04/eddy-county-hits-100-oil-and-gas-tax-collections-december/9291703002/
| 2022-02-04T23:28:52
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SENMC discusses plans for $4 million GO Bond for vocational center, college transition
The Southeast New Mexico College (SENMC) Board of Trustees held a meeting on Jan. 31 to discuss details on the transition to an independent college and the construction of a vocational training center.
College representatives said the center would offer vocational training in partnership with local industries to help meet the region's workforce needs.
New Mexico State University Carlsbad Interim President Dr. Andrew Nwanne said the college will need bond funding to make the project possible. He said the college requested a $4 million General Obligation Bond in the upcoming election, but the Legislative Finance Committee may reduce that requested amount to $2 million.
More:Top education bills to keep an eye on in the 2022 legislative session
Jay Jenkins, a member of Carlsbad mayor's Higher Education Task Force, told the Current-Argus the college would have access to a $40 million surplus after the transition is complete that the council would need to manage and decide how to spend the funding.
"All colleges and universities raise funds for institutional priorities. Southeast New Mexico College is not an exception," Nwanne stated in an email when asked why the bond is necessary, given the surplus.
Nwanne said the college had also promised to set aside $4 million and is planning to raise funds with the help of businesses and foundations.
The bond is expected to be voted on during the upcoming November election.
Transition to SENMC
The council also discussed various topics related to the transition from NMSU Carlsbad to SENMC. District 5 councilmember Ned Elkins announced plans to find a temporary college president until the college can officially hire a permanent one.
"I am convinced we need to be extremely judicious and careful in this process, given that what I am announcing is a process to request applications for the job," Elkins said.
Elkins said the board plans to make an appointment for a temporary interim president during its next regular meeting on Feb. 7.
More:CMS gives students and staff four-day weekends in response to substitute shortage
Nwanne also mentioned the importance of updating the college's website and ensuring it is mobile-friendly.
“Our current website is not smartphone friendly,” Nwanne said. “Most of the students access the institution’s website through a smartphone.”
The college will also explore hiring a branding consultant to aid with the transition, Nwanne said.
The board met on Feb. 4 for a work session to discuss a variety of topics related to the transition ranging from infrastructure needs to budgeting.
Claudia Silva is a reporter from the UNM Local Reporting Fellowship. She can be reached at csilva2@currentargus.com, by phone at 575-628-5506 or on Twitter @thewatchpup.
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https://www.currentargus.com/story/news/education/2022/02/04/senmc-discusses-plans-4-million-go-bond-and-college-transition/9298398002/
| 2022-02-04T23:28:58
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| 0.958184
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New Mexico to get $43 million to clean up abandoned oil wells. Is it enough?
Study showed abandoned wells create a $8 billion liability for New Mexico
New Mexico is eligible for about $43.7 million in federal funds to clean up abandoned oil wells, after the U.S. Department of Energy announced Monday it would help 26 states with the work.
The appropriation was included in the recently passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a signature piece of legislation for President Joe Biden, which included language from the Revive Economic Growth and Reclaim Orphaned Wells (REGROW) Act introduced last spring by Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM).
In total, the bill authorized about $4.7 billion to plug abandoned or orphaned wells, which officials feared could leak pollutants like methane into the air and water.
More:Funds to plug abandoned oil wells headed to to New Mexico via Biden's infrastructure bill
Funds recently announced were considered the first phase, about $1.2 billion, to allow states to begin planning and early work on well plugging, with every state included in the program offered $25 million and then an additional amount based on need determined by job loss since March 2020 – when the COVID-19 pandemic began – along with the amount of orphaned wells and remediation costs.
New Mexico has the ninth-highest available funds, with Texas receiving the most at about $107 million followed by Pennsylvania at $104 million.
Ohio was third with $84 million, Oklahoma was fourth at about $78 million and California had the fifth-highest offering at $61 million for the work.
More:Oil and gas expansions planned in Permian Basin as production forecast to rise this year
States that filed a notice of interest (NOI) last year to the Department will be able to apply for grants to receive the money, with the DOI planning to announce the grant formula in the coming weeks.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement following the announcement that plugging New Mexico’s abandoned oil and gas wells would protect the environment and create jobs among the state’s oil- and gas-skilled workforce.
New Mexico has an estimated 1,700 abandoned wells, per data from the State’s Oil Conservation Division (OCD), which can only plug about 50 year based on current funding.
More:Oil and gas mergers continue in 2022, focused on increased profits in the Permian Basin
“The investments in this program are a win-win, protecting the environment and public health while also providing good-paying jobs in our rural areas,” Lujan Grisham said. “I am grateful to our congressional delegation for getting this funding to the state.”
Sarah Cottrell Propst, cabinet secretary of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD), which oversees the OCD, said the funds will allow the state to plug more wells, limiting damage to nearby communities.
“The state’s successful and well-established plugging program will now reach more sites across the state,” Propst said. “These funds will allow us to move quickly to clean up a serious backlog of orphaned wells.”
More:Eddy County collects $5.5M in November oil and gas taxes, expects summer surplus
EMNRD and the OCD are New Mexico’s main compliance arm for the oil and gas industry, and recently updated required bonding amounts energy companies pay to fund well clean up should they be abandoned.
But some feared the increased bonding in 2018 and the federal grant funding still might not be enough to address New Mexico’s backlog of orphaned wells.
A study released last year by the New Mexico State Land Office, commissioned by the Center for Applied Research, found the state was short about $8 billion in financing for orphaned well clean up.
More:Federal protection from oil and gas exploitation sought for southeast New Mexico cave system
That number was devised based on about $201 million in financial assurances New Mexico currently has for the work, subtracted from the estimated cost to clean up the about 60,000 oil and gas wells throughout the state should they be abandoned, an about $8.3 billion price tag.
Upon the study’s release last spring, New Mexico State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard said it showed bonding requirements must be increased further to assure New Mexico does not see a large number of abandoned oil wells in the future.
“That’s $8.1 billion that we don’t have but will be needed to fill the gaps where existing financial assurances won’t cover the cost to fully clean up and remediate over 60,000 wells, 35,000 miles of pipeline, and other miscellaneous infrastructure,” she said.
More:Permian Basin oil and gas deals getting bigger as market recovers from COVID-19
A bill to raise bonding rates was introduced last year by U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM) and passed by the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee.,
Along with funding for well plugging, Leger Fernandez's bill would also increase rates a minimum of $150,000 for all of an operator's wells on an individual or $500,000 lease or in an entire state.
"It’s time we start holding oil and gas companies responsible for their mess," she said upon the bill's passage last May.
More:Permian Basin solar farm green-lit by State of New Mexico. Will power oil and gas operations
Lujan said that while the REGROW Act funding was not the end of efforts to clean up abandoned wells and repair environmental damage throughout the country, but it could establish programs to prevent orphaned wells in the future.
“This is an important investment an industry and create better behavior,” he said. “What you’re going to have now is a new workforce that will be deployable as we see different oil and gas wells, rather than them being abandoned this is going to be part of sealing them properly from the get-go.
“The workforce this is going to build will help prevent this from happening in the future.”
Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-618-7631, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.
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https://www.currentargus.com/story/news/local/2022/02/04/new-mexico-get-43-m-clean-up-abandoned-oil-wells-enough/9287222002/
| 2022-02-04T23:29:04
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| 0.963568
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New Mexico Senate passes 'clean fuel standard.' Lujan Grisham's climate agenda advances
A bill that would see less pollutive fuel for cars and trucks passed the New Mexico Senate Thursday and will now go before the State House of Representatives for consideration.
If Senate Bill 14, the Clean Fuel Standard Act, passes the House, its next stop will be Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s desk to be signed into law.
SB 14 previously passed the Senate Tax, Business and Transportation Committee Jan. 19, and then the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday.
More:Bills targeting air pollution see early success in 2022 New Mexico Legislative Session
Before the full Senate, the bill received a passing vote of 25-16.
Sponsored by Sen. Mimi Steward (D-17), the bill would require producers of transportation fuel like gasoline of diesel to decrease the carbon emissions each year.
It would not apply to fuel retailers like gas stations, but also incentivize the development of charging stations for electric vehicles throughout New Mexico.
More:Solar company collects donations for electric vehicle charging stations in southeast NM
More:'Clean fuel standard' sought again by lawmakers to reduce pollution from cars and trucks
The Clean Fuel Standard was a main environmental priority of Lujan Grisham’s during the ongoing 30-day Legislative Session that ends Feb. 17.
Her administration estimated the bill would reduce emissions by 18.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, equal to 570,000 cars, arguing it would not impact fuel prices for motorists.
“The Clean Fuel Standard Act will reduce the carbon intensity of transportation fuels, improving the health of our communities and quality of our air while increasing consumer fuel options and attracting new economic investments,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement.
“We will be the very first state in the southwest to implement a clean fuel standard, setting us ahead of the curve economically and environmentally."
More:Senator Martin Heinrich renews call for climate action in 2022 via Build Back Better Act
With targets of cutting emissions throughout the transportation fuel chain by 20 percent by 2030 and 30 percent by 2040, the Clean Fuel Standard enjoyed support from multiple environmental groups in New Mexico.
Camilla Feibelman, director of the Sierra Club’s Rio Grande Chapter said the standard was needed policy to shift New Mexico away from fossil fuels.
“This bill supports the transition away from fossil fuels towards electric vehicles, which will cut down on carbon pollution and fight climate change,” she said upon the Senate’s passage. “We've been pleased to see this bill evolve and improve, including doubling the aspirations for greenhouse-gas reductions and a 100% investment of utility credits in electrification and impacted communities.”
More:New Mexico partners with Los Alamos, Sandia national labs to develop 'clean' hydrogen power
Lujan Grisham’s environmental priority bills during the typically budget-focused 30-day session saw success during the session so far.
House Bill 6, the Clean Future Act, which would target greenhouse gas emission reductions statewide, advanced from the House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee last week with a “no recommendation” vote last week meaning the committee took no stance but allowed the bill to move on to the Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee.
The governor was dealt a blow when House Bill 4, the Hydrogen Hub Development Act, was tabled by House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee after Lujan Grisham and her cabinet promoted in heavily ahead of and during the session.
More:Environmental policy tops Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's 2023 budget recommendation
Supporters of the bill and Lujan Grisham vowed to seek bringing HB 4 off the table, and House Bill, the General Appropriations Act, included some funds aimed at leveraging for about $125 million in federal dollars for hydrogen development contingent on HB 4’s passage.
“Our budget aims to diversify our state’s economy and create good-paying sustainable jobs for New Mexicans, while also addressing the impacts of climate change and supporting our transition to a clean energy future,” said Rep. Nathan Small (D-36), a sponsor of HB 4.
Oil and gas groups were skeptical of the administration’s continued push for stricter environmental regulations, as Larry Behrens, Santa Fe-based spokesman for Power the Future said the Clean Fuel Standard amounted to a “tax” on energy in New Mexico that would impact consumers at the pump.
“The Governor’s proposal amounts to nothing more than a backdoor tax increase forced on New Mexico’s families. With inflation at a 40-year high and gas prices still soaring, now is the worst time to be sticking working-class families with yet another cost increase to advance a political agenda,” Behrens said.
“It’s long past time the Governor put our families before her environmental campaign donors.”
Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-618-7631, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.
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https://www.currentargus.com/story/news/local/2022/02/04/new-mexico-senate-passes-bill-reduce-fuel-pollution-headed-house/6656037001/
| 2022-02-04T23:29:10
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| 0.938036
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Boomers: Maximize your health for quality of life
The average U.S. life expectancy of 84 years means many Baby Boomers reaching age 65 have nearly two decades of life ahead. Advanced years bring more risks to your health that can impact quality of life as you age.
As an Internal Medicine physician, I see many patients in the “Boomer” age group, and I would like to remind you that although some factors like genetics are beyond your control, healthy lifestyle choices, timely identification and management of the following common, chronic conditions can increase your odds of living a long and healthy life.
Arthritis
Joint pain, stiffness and swelling in or around one or more joints can be signs of arthritis, the leading cause of disability in the US. Almost one in four adults develop the condition. Arthritis has many forms and your doctor can help diagnose and identify the best treatment. Management of arthritis can help you reduce or manage pain, minimize joint damage and improve or maintain functioning.
Type 2 Diabetes
More than 34 million Americans have diabetes, with approximately 90-95% having type 2 diabetes. The symptoms are hard to spot and the older you are, the more likely you are to have this condition. Left untreated, type 2 diabetes can cause other serious conditions like heart disease, kidney disease or vision loss. Regular check-ups can help identify the condition timely.
High blood pressure
In 2017, U.S. medical organizations lowered blood pressure numbers to 120/80 normal, 130-139/80-89 stage 1 hypertension. Left unchecked, this asymptomatic condition plays a big role in your chances for heart attacks, heart failure and strokes. Your doctor can help you develop a plan to lower your number, including diet, exercise or medication.
Heart disease
Several types of heart conditions are considered heart disease, including coronary artery disease, issues with valves in the heart or heart failure. Each of these conditions elevates the risk for heart attack and stroke. Symptoms vary, depending on the type of heart disease. Your doctor can perform diagnostic tests and if diagnosed, may advise you to make lifestyle changes or may prescribe medication for treatment.
Depression
Clinical depression is not a normal part of aging, but can be more common for people who also have other illnesses, such as heart disease or cancer. The condition is serious and can affect the way you feel, act and think. Counseling, medicine or other forms of treatment can help. If you are concerned about yourself or a loved one, talk with your doctor who can help put together a plan of treatment.
As a primary care provider, my goal is to help patients maintain their best life through preventive medicine, when possible. When conditions or issues arise, I’ll help them identify the most promising course of treatment and connect them with specialists, if needed.
Aging is a normal and cumulative process that extends across our lives. Sustaining healthy lifestyle choices and managing chronic conditions give you the best chance to remain healthy with high levels of independence and functionality as you age.
To find a physician for help with chronic conditions or learn more about healthy choices for you, visit www.PecosValleyDocs.com.
Carlsbad Medical Center is now offering a free e-newsletter with a monthly dose of health and wellness inspiration sent directly to your inbox from a trusted medical source. I encourage you to subscribe by visiting www.carlsbadmedicalcenter.com/enewsletter-sign-up.
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https://www.currentargus.com/story/opinion/columnists/2022/02/04/boomers-maximize-your-health-quality-life/6667348001/
| 2022-02-04T23:29:16
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| 0.9293
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These are some upcoming events in Carlsbad
Dale Janway
Mayor, City of Carlsbad
We believe we’ve moved past the worst of this week’s cold weather. There was an issue at a local apartment complex with a water line busting. The City was ready to help, but the complex itself also did an excellent job of taking care of the situation and keeping everyone safe.
Please continue to help direct people to the Community of Hope or Carlsbad Transitional Housing shelters through Saturday.
As it (hopefully) warms up over the weekend, here are a few things going on in our community:
- The Carlsbad Public Library has a new newsletter out. The monthly newsletter – “The Patron” comes out once a month. This edition features an article noting that the library isn’t charging fines for overdue materials. If you have overdue books, please bring them back, however, so that other people can enjoy these materials as well. There’s an excellent list of upcoming library events such as the teen art class on Feb. 9 and Mother Goose activities for children. You can be put on the distribution list for the newsletter by emailing: cplinfo@cityofcarlsbadnm.com. You can also view it by visiting https://cityofcarlsbadnm.com/departments/carlsbad-public-library/ and clicking on the “Library Events” button.
- Carlsbad Community Theatre has a play that begins Feb. 11. “Love Letters” a play by A.R. Gurney will open on Feb. 11 and 12 at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 13 at 2 p.m. Tickets are on sale at The Blue House, Angee’s Flowers, Treasured Moments, and at the door. The theater is located at 4713 National Parks Highway. The play is directed by Dianne Joop and Barbara Hodgson, and it stars D’Ann Read and Mark Schinnerer.
- Cal’s Shade Western is hosting a fundraiser Feb. 11 from 4-7 p.m. This is to raise money to buy a custom wheelchair for a local resident. The fundraiser will include a car show, calendars featuring local models, and a visit by the characters from Paw Patrol.
- The Chamber of Commerce’s Age Friendly Committee is hosting a 50+ Valentine’s Day Dance on Feb. 12 from 6-10 p.m. This will include a DJ, 50s and 60’s music with a light show, an excellent meal, cash bar and a crowning of the 2022 King and Queen. Tickets are $50 and are available at the Chamber and at both senior centers.
- If you are reading this on Friday - don’t forget that Carlsbad is playing Hobbs in a district basketball showdown on Friday night. The Cavemen and Cavegirls are both going into these games with perfect records in district. The Cavegirls play at Hobbs and the boys are at home. Also, due to changes in COVID-19 numbers, there is no longer a lowered capacity limit at the gym- so head up to the high school to enjoy a great basketball game.
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https://www.currentargus.com/story/opinion/columnists/2022/02/04/these-some-upcoming-events-carlsbad/6665226001/
| 2022-02-04T23:29:22
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| 0.950101
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SAN ANTONIO — Though Bexar County health authorities reported lower case totals to end the week – potentially a result of the arctic blast blowing through south Texas – the community on Friday surpassed 500,000 total COVID-19 diagnoses, a marker reached as the highly contagious omicron variant prolongs a pandemic which has dominated daily life for two years.
Metro Health tallied 1,642 new cases on Friday, bringing the total to 500,908. Nearly one in three cases affecting San Antonio-area residents have been reported in 2022.
The seven-day average for new cases has fallen to 3,081, the lowest that number has been since Jan. 5.
Hospitalizations, however, have fallen for four straight days, and the number of COVID-19 patients receiving treatment in local hospitals on Friday – 1,065 – is 180 fewer compared to last Friday. Of those 1,065 patients, 247 are in intensive care and 118 are using ventilators to help them breathe.
Here's where you can get free N95 masks from local pharmacies as part of the federal government's initiative to distribute millions of face coverings to Americans.
How Bexar County is trending
Vaccine Progress in Bexar County
The following numbers are provided by San Antonio Metro Health. A full breakdown can be found here.
- 1.732 million eligible Bexar County residents have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine as of Thursday, Feb. 3.
- 1.406 million eligible Bexar County residents are fully vaccinated as of Thursday, Feb. 3.
The CDC states that "when a high percentage of the community is immune to a disease (through vaccination and/or prior illness)," that community will have reached herd immunity, "making the spread of this disease from person to person unlikely."
The City of San Antonio breaks down the vaccination rates by zip code on Metro Health's Vaccination Statistics page.
Coronavirus in Texas
The total number of coronavirus cases in the state since the pandemic began grew by 21,769 on Friday, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. That total includes 16,495 new confirmed cases and 5,274 new probable cases. More details can be found on this page.
Friday's figures bring the total number of Texans diagnosed with COVID-19 to more than 6.33 million.
An additional 154 Texans have died from virus complications, meanwhile, raising the statewide death toll to 79,135.
Coronavirus symptoms
The symptoms of coronavirus can be similar to the flu or a bad cold. Symptoms include fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, and diarrhea, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Most healthy people will have mild symptoms. A study of more than 72,000 patients by the Centers for Disease Control in China showed 80 percent of the cases there were mild.
But infections can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure, and even death, according to the World Health Organization. Older people with underlying health conditions are most at risk.
Experts determined there was consistent evidence these conditions increase a person's risk, regardless of age:
- Chronic kidney disease
- COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
- Obesity (BMI of 30 or higher)
- Immunocompromised state (weakened immune system) from solid organ transplant
- Serious heart conditions, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, or cardiomyopathies
- Sickle cell disease
- Type 2 diabetes
- The CDC believes symptoms may appear anywhere from two to 14 days after being exposed.
Human coronaviruses are usually spread...
- Between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet).
- Through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks. These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs.
- Some recent studies have suggested that COVID-19 may be spread by people who are not showing symptoms.
Help stop the spread of coronavirus
- Stay home when you are sick.
- Eat and sleep separately from your family members
- Use different utensils and dishes
- Cover your cough or sneeze with your arm, not your hand.
- If you use a tissue, throw it in the trash.
Find a Testing Location
City officials recommend getting a COVID-19 test if you experience fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, or diarrhea.
Here's a Testing Sites Locator to help you find the testing location closest to you in San Antonio.
Latest Coronavirus Headlines
- No, a scientific study doesn't say you can smoke marijuana to prevent COVID-19
- Olympic athletes have new anxiety: testing negative for COVID
- Yes, the Army is working on a universal coronavirus vaccine
- Yes, Spikevax and the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine are the same
- Yes, there are ways to determine if a KN95 or N95 mask is counterfeit
- Long COVID: Why does it happen? Who does it normally effect?
- Pfizer starting trials to create a vaccine specific to omicron variant
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https://www.kens5.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/coronavirus-numbers/covid19-coronavirus-friday-san-antonio-texas-cases-metro-health/273-8a7b6eff-e532-4885-a029-e867aa1f64d3
| 2022-02-04T23:29:54
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| 0.928481
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FARGO, N.D. (AP) — The interior solicitor in the Biden administration said in an opinion released Friday that the mineral rights under the original Missouri River riverbed belong to a North Dakota tribal nation.
The 68-page memorandum posted by the U.S. Department of Interior is contrary to a May 2020 Trump administration opinion concluding that the state is legal owner of submerged lands beneath the river where it flows through the Fort Berthold Reservation. The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation had sued over that memo, which rolled back an Obama administration opinion favoring the nation, also known as the Three Affiliated Tribes.
“My decision today upholds decades of existing precedent holding that the Missouri riverbed belongs to the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara (MHA) Nation," Interior Solicitor Bob Anderson said in a statement. "Today’s action, based on extensive historical and legal review, underscores the Department’s commitment to upholding its trust and treaty obligations in accordance with the law.”
At stake is an estimated $100 million in unpaid royalties and future payments certain to come from oil drilling beneath the river, which was dammed by the federal government in the 1950s. That flooded more than a tenth of the 1,500-square-mile (3,885-square-kilometer) Fort Berthold Reservation to create Lake Sakakawea.
The state has argued it assumed ownership of the riverbed when North Dakota became a state in 1889, citing cases in which the U.S. Supreme Court has held that submerged lands were not reserved by the federal government. The Three Affiliated Tribes base their premise on three previous federal opinions dating back to the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie that confirms their ownership of the riverbed.
Tribal officials began their campaign in 2019 by taking to social media and writing op-eds asking state leaders to back the tribes’ ownership rights, much like they did in the 2019 legislative session regarding an oil and tax agreement with the tribes.
MHA Nation Chairman Mark Fox said the new opinion corrects “a grave injustice” and the tribes look forward to working with the government to protect the tribal nation's “historic rights to the Missouri riverbed.”
This is the fourth time the Interior Department has addressed the issue since January 2017, when Solicitor Hilary Tompkins, an appointee of President Barack Obama, affirmed tribal ownership. Solicitor Daniel Jorjani, President Donald Trump’s appointee, ruled in favor of the state in 2020. Jorjani's opinion was scrapped in March 2021, after President Joe Biden took office.
“This has been a long haul for my clients at MHA Nation," said attorney Timothy Q. Purdon, of Minneapolis-based Robins Kaplan. "But, since I was brought in to help represent the tribe over two and a half years ago, the MHA Nation and its leadership have never wavered in their commitment to righting this wrong and protecting their people’s historical connection to the Missouri River.”
A spokesman for Republican Gov. Doug Burgum said the governor does not comment on matters still active in court.
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https://www.myjournalcourier.com/business/article/Biden-solicitor-swings-mineral-rights-title-back-16832519.php
| 2022-02-04T23:29:54
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| 0.968197
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HOUSTON — "It's indescribable."
The words of a homeowner named Mike after his home of nearly four decades burned to the ground in southeast Houston Thursday night.
Firefighters got to the house on Bonner Street quickly because they were at a nearby fire, but the flames had already destroyed much of it.
They think a space heater caused the blaze. Mike said he set up the heater to keep his dogs warm in this bitter cold.
"I put a space heater in the back room for two of my old dogs and I went to bed at 9," the Vietnam veteran said.
By 10:45 p.m., flames were racing through the house. Thankfully, Mike and some of his pets made it out safely. Four dogs are still missing.
"When they get spooked sometimes, they go under the house cause it's an old house," Mike said.
He's lived in the house for 38 years and now the friends he's made along the way are stepping up.
"Emotional and physical support, and I'm not lacking. All my neighbors are showering me with plenty of support," Mike said.
Some classmates from Milby High School even showed up and surprised him.
"We put together a little bag like we used to do in school for the Red Cross, and this is some cash from all the neighbors around here," one of them said.
Mike got a little choked up when he thanked them.
"It's a nice neighborhood. That's why, you know, I moved here and why I stay here."
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https://www.kens5.com/article/news/houston-veteran-fire-space-heater/285-0bbe32bf-8b7b-4d34-9f10-fff88f2775f8
| 2022-02-04T23:29:54
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| 0.992232
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The Beijing Organizing Committee kicked off the 2022 Winter Olympics with the opening ceremony on Feb. 4. Athletes from around the world will compete on snow and ice in and around Beijing for the next two weeks.
But will the athletes actually compete on real snow? Headlines in the week leading up to the start of Beijing 2022 have suggested otherwise, claiming the event will rely almost entirely on artificial snow.
THE QUESTION
Are the Beijing Olympics relying almost entirely on artificial snow?
THE SOURCES
- Sport Ecology Group
- Beijing 2022 Pre-Games Sustainability Report
- Study from Department of Geography and Environmental Management at University of Waterloo in Canada
- Noah Molotch, associate professor of geography at the University of Colorado Boulder
THE ANSWER
Yes, the Beijing Olympics are relying almost entirely on artificial snow.
WHAT WE FOUND
According to a report from the Sport Ecology Group, the 2022 Beijing Olympics will make history as the first Olympics on “virtually 100% artificial snow.” Noah Molotch, associate professor of geography hydrology at the University of Colorado Boulder with expertise in snow hydrology and a doctorate in hydrology, said this will be the first Winter Olympics to rely almost entirely on artificial snow and to knowingly plan to do so from the beginning.
“Many Olympic Games will rely on natural snowfall, but then hedge with artificial snow as needed to augment the natural snow,” Molotch said. “But in these particular games, they knew going in that it's a place that gets very little natural snowfall, and that they would rely exclusively on artificial snow.”
The Olympics’ use of artificial snow for the 2022 Games is confirmed in the Beijing 2022 Pre-Games Sustainability Report. The report explains strategies the Beijing Organizing Committee is attempting to reduce water consumption in the creation of artificial snow, although the report doesn’t confirm the extent to which the Beijing Games will rely on artificial snow.
The Sport Ecology Group said artificial snow has been used in the Winter Olympics since the 1980 games in Lake Placid. Molotch said the snow in the 2014 Sochi Olympics, which were located in an unusually warm climate for the Winter Olympics, was 80% artificial.
“Artificial snow tends to be a lot more dense, a lot icier, a lot harder, more like concrete once it's formed on the ground; whereas natural snow can be more like powdery snow, lighter and fluffier,” Molotch said. “Natural snow can also become icy over time, but when it initially falls from the sky, it's quite light and fluffy.”
Artificial snow is good for keeping snow conditions consistent from the top to the bottom of a hill, making it good for downhill skiing and other competitions that rely on speed, Molotch said. For aerial events like the halfpipe, he said, artificial snow can be more hazardous to crashing athletes because of its firmness.
But there is no right formula of snow to eliminate hazards for the athletes. Molotch said that even a mixture of artificial snow and natural snow can become inconsistent on the surface and therefore unsafe as athletes scrape off and melt the top layer of natural snow over the course of a competitive day.
The athletes know the characteristics of the different snow mixtures and prepare appropriately to compete on the specific conditions they’ll face, Molotch said. And they likely have plenty of opportunities to practice on artificial snow.
“Ski resorts across the world rely heavily on artificial snow early in the snow season,” Molotch said. “And depending on where you are in the world, they may rely on it throughout the entire ski season.”
The Sport Ecology Group report estimates that 95% of ski resorts globally rely on snowmaking to some extent. The resorts use their artificial snow to ensure good quality conditions, prolong the ski season, or both.
One major issue with artificial snow is that it’s incredibly water-intensive to create. That’s why the Beijing Organizing Committee dedicated an entire section of their sustainability report to mitigating its impact on the local water supply. This includes its adoption of a “smart snowmaking system” that can be monitored in real-time with digital devices. The Beijing Organizing Committee believes it can save up to 20% of water in snowmaking by using this system.
The need for artificial snow might continue into future Winter Olympics because of climate change, according to the Sport Ecology Group report. A study published in Jan. 2022 led by researchers from the University of Waterloo in Canada predicted that in the event of high levels of fossil fuel emissions, only four of the past 21 Winter Olympic host cities, including Beijing, will make for reliable winter host locations by 2050 because of poor natural snow conditions. The researchers believe just one host city — Sapporo, Japan — will still be a reliable host of the Winter Olympics by the end of the century.
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| 2022-02-04T23:29:55
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US economy defies omicron and adds 467,000 jobs in January
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a surprising burst of hiring, America’s employers added 467,000 jobs in January in a sign of the economy’s resilience even in the face of a wave of omicron infections last month. The government’s report also drastically revised up its estimate of job gains for November and December by a combined 709,000. It also said the unemployment rate ticked up from 3.9% to a still-low 4%, mainly because more people began looking for work and not all of them found jobs right away. The strong hiring gain for January, which defied expectations for only a slight gain, demonstrates the eagerness of many employers to hire even as the pandemic raged.
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Amazon workers try new tactics to unionize in Alabama
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon workers and organizers in Bessemer, Alabama, are making door-to-door house calls, sporting pro-union T-shirts and challenging anti-union messaging by Amazon-hired consultants as they try to convince their peers for the second time to unionize their warehouse. The union election starts Friday by secret ballot. The new organizing tactics come two months after the National Labor Relations Board ordered a do-over election upon determining that Amazon unfairly influenced the first election last year. The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union estimates more than half of the 6,000 workers who voted last time around remain eligible this time. But the RWDSU still faces an uphill battle from Amazon, which doesn’t seem to have let up its aggressive anti-union stance.
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Stocks mixed, yields fly as jobs data raises rate outlook
NEW YORK (AP) — Stock indexes ended mixed and Treasury yields jumped Friday as Wall Street’s expectations rise that the Federal Reserve may soon start raising interest rates sharply. The Labor Department said employers added 467,000 jobs last month, triple economists’ expectations. The stronger-than-expected data seems to lock in the Fed’s pivot toward fighting inflation by making moves that would ultimately act as a drag on markets. The S&P 500 climbed 0.5%, even though more stocks fell than rose in the index. The index got a boost from Amazon, which leaped 13.5% following a strong earnings report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1%. ___
EU, US to resume trading oysters, mussels after long dispute
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union and the United States have agreed to resume trade in oysters, clams, mussels and scallops from the end of February. The deal announced Friday settles a 10-year trade dispute. Trade in live mollusks between the EU and the U.S. had stopped in 2011 due to a divide in regulatory standards. Under the deal, Spain and the Netherlands will be allowed to export mollusks to the U.S., while Massachusetts and Washington can now trade to the EU. Both sides praised the deal as another positive step in their trade relationship since U.S. President Joe Biden took over from Donald Trump.
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Kohl’s: Buyout offers undermine value of business
NEW YORK (AP) — Kohl’s says that recent offers to purchase the department store chain undervalue its business, and it is adopting a shareholder rights plan to head off any hostile takeovers. The shareholder rights plan is effective immediately and expires in a year. The move comes as Kohl’s has received multiple buyout offers in recent weeks. Private equity firm Sycamore Partners had reportedly approached Kohl’s about a potential deal last month. A group called Acacia Research, backed by activist hedge fund Starboard Value LP, bid $64 per share, or about $9 billion. At the time the Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin-based retailer said that its board was reviewing the offers.
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Treasury urges closer watch on money laundering in fine art
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fine art isn’t just nice to look at. It’s also attractive to criminals trying to launder money, finance terrorism and trade illegal drugs and arms. And the Treasury Department wants art dealers and financiers to do something about that. The agency issued a report Friday recommending that financial firms and art dealers set up an information-sharing database to track how sales of fine art are linked to bad actors who make anonymous purchases. The need to monitor art sales has become more complicated and necessary with the recent rise in sales of digital assets known as NFTs, or non-fungible tokens.
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News Corp. hacked, reporters targeted; believed China-linked
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Wall Street Journal’s publisher, News Corp., says it has been hacked, with data stolen from journalists and other employees. The cybersecurity firm investigating the intrusion, Mandiant, says Chinese intelligence-gathering is believed to be behind the operation. The Journal reported that people briefed on the intrusion said it appeared to date back to February 2020 and that scores of employees were impacted. It quoted them as saying the hackers were able to access reporters’ emails and Google Docs, including drafts of articles. News Corp. says customer and financial data were so far not affected, nor were company operations interrupted.
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Biden solicitor swings mineral rights title back to tribes
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — The interior solicitor in the Biden administration says the mineral rights under the original Missouri River riverbed belong to a North Dakota tribal nation. The 68-page memorandum posted Friday by the U.S. Department of Interior is contrary to a May 2020 Trump administration opinion concluding that the state is legal owner of submerged lands beneath the river where it flows through the Fort Berthold Reservation. That memo rolled back an Obama administration opinion favoring the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, also known as the Three Affiliated Tribes. At stake is an estimated $100 million in unpaid royalties and future payments certain to come from oil drilling beneath the river.
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The S&P 500 gained 23.09 points, or 0.5%, to 4,500.53. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 21.42 points, or 0.1%, to 35,089.74. The Nasdaq advanced 219.19 points, or 1.6%, to 14,098.01. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies gained 11.33 points, or 0.6%, to 2,002.36.
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| 2022-02-04T23:29:55
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WINNEMUCCA, Nev. (AP) _ Paramount Gold and Silver Corp. (PZG) on Friday reported a loss of $2.7 million in its fiscal second quarter.
The Winnemucca, Nevada-based company said it had a loss of 7 cents per share.
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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 PZG at https://www.zacks.com/ap/PZG
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| 2022-02-04T23:29:55
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SAN ANTONIO — According to NBA reporter, Marc Stein, the Bulls, and multiple teams are interested in Spurs' Jakob Poeltl ahead of the 2022 NBA Trade deadline.
What's interesting is that Stein is reporting the asking price for the Spurs center is high. San Antonio would want a future first-round pick and a quality player.
In addition, Stein's report reiterates that Toronto is still interested in Poeltl.
Currently, Poeltl is posting 13.1 points per game along with 9.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 60% shooting, and 4.0 offensive rebounds.
Poeltl has become an integral piece for the Spurs this season and among the best defensive centers in the league.
He's even received praise from 76ers' Joel Embiid who believes the Spurs center is underrated.
"He's great. He does the little things - rebounding," Embiid said. "Even offensively he doesn't have the skill to be shooting jumpers but he's a star in his role."
"Defensively, he's just being physical," he said. "He's definitely underrated."
It is no surprise the Spurs would want a haul back considering Poeltl's numbers, age, and team-friendly contract.
But will any team be willing to give the high asking price remains an open question?
What do you think about this rumor Spurs fans? Let us know on Twitter at @KENS5 and at @JeffGSpursKENS5.
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| 2022-02-04T23:29:56
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| 0.973816
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minneapolis mayor imposes immediate moratorium on no-knock warrants after police shooting of Amir Locke.
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| 2022-02-04T23:30:03
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Nashville Waffle House shooter is found guilty of 4 counts of first-degree murder; jury rejects insanity defense.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Nashville Waffle House shooter is found guilty of 4 counts of first-degree murder; jury rejects insanity defense.
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https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/article/Alert-Nashville-Waffle-House-shooter-is-found-16833053.php
| 2022-02-04T23:30:14
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DALLAS (AP) — The family of a Dallas man who died in police custody five years ago can proceed with their lawsuit against four officers, a federal appeals court ruled in an opinion filed Friday that overturned a lower court's ruling.
Qualified immunity shields conduct that “does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known," Circuit Judge Edith Brown Clement wrote for the three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in sending the case back to U.S. District Judge David Godbey in Dallas.
Godbey had thrown out the lawsuit brought by the family of tony Timpa, ruling that the officers were protected from liability in Timpa's 2016 death by the qualified immunity doctrine. The doctrine shields officers from liability for the legal performance of their duties.
The family accused Officer Dustin Dillard of using excessive force on Timpa by pressing his knee into Timpa's upper back for about 14 minutes. They also accused Sgt. Kevin Mansell, Senior Cpl. Raymond Dominquez and Officers Danny Vasquez and Domingo Rivera of failing to intervene to save Timpa, who was 32 when he died.
According to court documents, Timpa called 911 on Aug. 10, 2016, from a Dallas parking lot and said he was afraid and needed help, telling a dispatcher he suffered from schizophrenia and depression and was off his medication. Officers arrived to find him walking in traffic.
In police body camera videos, officers could be seen forcefully pinning Timpa to the ground for more than 14 minutes and cracking jokes even as the screaming, handcuffed man went still and fell silent. Shaking his limp body, the officers can be heard laughing and comparing Timpa to a child who doesn’t want to wake up for school. Not long after, a paramedic informed them he was dead.
Medical examiners ruled Timpa's death a homicide and said it was caused by cardiac arrest brought on by cocaine and the stress of physical restraint.
In 2017, a grand jury indicted Mansell, Vasquez and Dillard for misdemeanor deadly conduct in Timpa’s death, finding they had acted recklessly. Prosecutors dismissed the charges in March 2019 and the officers returned to active duty the next month.
Godbey threw out the family's lawsuit, which seeks almost $30 million in actual and exemplary damages.
But the three judges on the appeals court panel disagreed with Godbey's rationale and restored the lawsuit.
“Dillard’s continued use of force was not justified by a criminal investigatory function," Clement wrote. "The officers concede that Timpa’s criminal liability was ‘minor’ — no more than a traffic violation.” In fact, “the officers did not intend to charge him with any crimes.”
While overturning the summary judgment for Dillard, Hansell, Dominguez and Vasquez, the appeals court affirmed a summary judgment releasing Rivera from liability.
Dallas city officials do not comment on pending litigation, a city spokeswoman said. Attorneys for the family did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
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| 2022-02-04T23:30:20
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WASHINGTON (AP) — That bleak jobs report the White House had been bracing for never arrived Friday.
Instead, President Joe Biden got the pleasant surprise that the U.S. economy had powered through the omicron wave of the coronavirus and posted 467,000 new jobs in January — along with strong revisions to job gains in the two prior months. It showed just how much the pandemic's grip on the economy has faded, though the nation is still grappling with high inflation.
“Our country is taking everything that COVID has to throw at us, and we’ve come back stronger," Biden declared at the White House.
The jobs report suggested the United States has entered a new phase in its recovery from the pandemic. And it capped something of a comeback week for the president.
Also on Friday, the House passed a bill to jumpstart computer chip production and development, a key step for reconciling differences with an earlier measure approved by the Senate. And a day earlier, outside the economy, the administration announced that U.S. forces had raided the home of the Islamic State leader, leading Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi to blow himself up.
Harvard University economist Jason Furman, a former adviser in the Obama White House, said the jobs report showed that employers and workers had gotten over the havoc caused by the pandemic.
The virus “is now one factor among many and no longer the dominant factor it was,” said Furman. He pointed to broad strength across the report and the addition of 151,000 jobs in the leisure and hospitality sector — restaurants, hotels, entertainment and more in an area of the economy most prone to disruption from the pandemic.
Yet as the economy strengthens, a question for Biden personally — and his presidency — is whether he can stitch together the positives in a convincing way to revive his support that has declined in polls in the past year.
Who — and what — gets credit?
The infections caused by omicron had caused millions of Americans to miss work, leading to expectations that the economy lost jobs in January. Yet when the figures showed the virus had little impact, Republicans were quick to offer an alternative narrative — that the job gains reflected the expiration of unemployment benefits added with a push by Biden and his Democrats months earlier.
“Now that there is no longer a barrier to work in the form of Democrats’ unemployment bonuses and monthly stimulus checks, Americans are finally coming off the sidelines," said Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, the ranking Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee.
And, jobs aside, Biden acknowledged things aren't entirely rosy. Inflation remains a major challenge, with consumer prices increasing at 7% over the past year.
The strong jobs report, however, may give the Federal Reserve reason to raise interest rates and pull back on its support for the economy to reduce inflation. Average hourly earnings rose 5.7% in January from a year ago, suggesting that the demand for workers is leading to higher incomes and possibly more sources of inflation.
Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at the consultancy RSM, said the solid labor market should make it easier for the Fed to hike rates without disrupting growth very much. It's possible that workers will come out of the pandemic more productive than before, making it easier for growth to occur even as interest rates rise.
“Given the fact that corporate profits continued to rise at a strong clip even as wages quickly increased tends to imply that the American commercial sector and economy is in the midst of a productivity boom,” Brusuelas said. “That strongly implies that the economy will be able to absorb coming rate hikes in a better fashion than is currently acknowledged.”
Biden on Friday tried to make a play for the record books — touting the gains that have occurred under his stewardship. At 4% unemployment and 6.6 million jobs added during his first full year, he's making his case that his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package was a wise choice and that lawmakers should now support the rest of his agenda to prolong the growth.
“History has been made here,” Biden declared “It comes alongside the largest drop in unemployment rate in a single year on record, the largest reduction in childhood poverty ever recorded in a single year. And the strongest economic growth this country has seen in nearly 40 years.”
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| 2022-02-04T23:30:33
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SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) — A Los Angeles judge on Friday appeared strongly inclined to allow Bill Cosby to invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege and avoid giving a deposition in the lawsuit of a woman who alleges he sexually abused her when she was 15 in the mid-1970s.
At a hearing to argue the issue, Superior Court Judge Craig Karlan agreed with Cosby's attorney that the 84-year-old has a reasonable fear of again facing criminal charges for one or more of the many sexual assault allegations that have been publicly aired against him, and has a right to avoid saying anything under oath that might lead to such charges.
“It does appear he has a reasonable fear of prosecution, and if new information came out, that could cause a prosecutor to change their mind,” Karlan said. “I don’t see how one could find to the contrary, other than concluding that he has a reasonable fear.”
Attorneys for Judy Huth, who alleges Cosby forced her to perform a sex act on him at the Playboy Mansion around 1974, are seeking to compel Cosby to give a second deposition. Cosby's attorneys denied the allegation. He gave an initial deposition soon after the lawsuit was filed in 2014, before his two criminal trials and a later-overturned conviction in Pennsylvania.
Huth's attorney John Steven West argued that accusations against Cosby have been aired for years, and that all the alleged incidents date back decades. He said that any criminal charges would already have been filed.
“The facts that are known overwhelmingly show that Mr. Cosby does not have a realistic fear of prosecution,” West said. “Despite the fact that for 16 years his name has been at the forefront of accusations of sexual misconduct, there has been exactly one prosecution.”
West pointed out that Los Angeles police investigated Huth's allegations seven years ago, that the district attorney declined to file charges, and that other prosecutors have done the same with other Cosby accusers.
The judge didn't buy the argument.
“The fact that prosecutors decline to prosecute, doesn’t mean that a newly elected prosecutor won’t take a different view,” Karlan said, “nor would any future district attorney be bound by a decision not to prosecute.”
The judge planned to issue a written ruling later, but left little doubt that it would favor Cosby.
Cosby's lawyer Jennifer Bonjean argued, and the judge agreed, that the Pennsylvania case was a cautionary tale that applied here. Cosby, believing he had assurance from a prosecutor that he would not face charges, then was prosecuted after making damaging revelations in a 2005 civil lawsuit.
“They told him they weren’t going to prosecute him,” Bonjean said, "then 10 years later, they revoked it, after what? After he gave a deposition.”
That reversal is what led a Pennsylvania appeals court to throw out Cosby's conviction in June, after he had served nearly three years in prison.
Cosby had become the first celebrity convicted of sexual assault in the #MeToo era when the jury at his 2018 retrial found him guilty of drugging and molesting college sports administrator Andrea Constand in 2004.
Earlier this week, Bonjean asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a bid by prosecutors to revive the case.
Cosby was already a groundbreaking Black actor and standup comedian when he created the top-ranked “Cosby Show” in the 1980s. A barrage of sexual assault allegations later destroyed his image as “America’s Dad” and led to multimillion-dollar court settlements with at least eight women.
Huth's is among the few lawsuits that he is still facing.
Karlan agreed to one more postponement, from April to May, of trial in the long-delayed case, but said Friday that he was determined to see the May date stick and have the jury trial begin.
The Associated Press generally does not name alleged victims of sexual assault unless they speak publicly, as Huth and Constand have done.
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Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton
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| 2022-02-04T23:30:39
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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A bipartisan group of two dozen former South Carolina federal prosecutors are offering their “wholehearted support” for Judge Michelle Childs’ nomination to an appellate court, an elevation that's on hold due to Childs' consideration for an even higher post — the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Not only is Judge Childs fair to all lawyers, but she treats criminal defendants and victims with the utmost respect,” the attorneys wrote in a letter, obtained Friday by The Associated Press, to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin and Sen. Chuck Grassley, the panel's ranking Republican.
“Her professionalism and kindness have been a model for several recent federal judicial appointments in South Carolina, and she is admired throughout the state bar.”
President Joe Biden has nominated Childs, currently a judge on South Carolina's federal court, for a post on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, an appellate court often seen as a springboard to the U.S. Supreme Court.
She had been slated to appear before senators earlier this week, but the confirmation hearing was put off indefinitely following the White House’s confirmation that Childs was under consideration for a coming U.S. Supreme Court vacancy, due to the impending retirement of Justice Stephen Breyer.
Childs has been a federal judge in South Carolina for more than a decade. In December 2020, just a month after Biden's victory, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn recommended her for the D.C. appellate court. Last week, Clyburn told reporters the move had been an intentional one, so as to position Childs for the highest court.
The White House has said it intends to name a pick by the end of this month. Potential nominees are defined by Biden’s election-year pledge that he would nominate a Black woman, with early discussions centering on a handful of names. Those include California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger and Ketanji Brown Jackson, a former Breyer clerk now on the D.C. appellate court.
But there has been focus on Childs due to advocacy from Clyburn, the highest ranking Black leader in Congress. The top Biden ally suggested the then-candidate promise to nominate a Black woman as his campaign struggled heading into South Carolina’s 2020 primary. Biden made the pledge at a debate in Charleston, and Clyburn endorsed him shortly thereafter.
Childs also shown the potential for bipartisan appeal in a closely divided Senate. On Sunday, she drew praise from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a former Judiciary Committee chairman, who called her a “fair-minded, highly gifted jurist.”
The potential nomination has drawn criticism from the left, mainly over Childs' defense work on employment cases while in private practice before becoming a judge. Childs' defenders have rebutted that critique, saying Childs also represented plaintiffs against employers, doing that and defense work evenhandedly.
Signatories to the letter include Bart Daniel, who served as South Carolina’s top federal prosecutor during the George H.W. Bush administration, and Peter McCoy, who left the post last year after an appointment by Donald Trump. It was also signed by Pete Strom, a Bill Clinton appointee, as well as Bill Nettles, South Carolina’s U.S. Attorney under Barack Obama.
“What we have observed is an unflappable demeanor and a willingness to consider each party’s position fully and fairly before reaching a decision,” the attorneys wrote of Childs’ courtroom manner. “We sign this bipartisan letter because we know these qualities will be brought to bear as a member of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.”
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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.
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| 2022-02-04T23:30:45
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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The FBI is reviewing the death of a Black teenager who was restrained for more than 30 minutes at a Kansas juvenile detention center, a county official said Friday.
Sedgwick County Commission Chairman David Dennis said he was told by county Sheriff Jeff Easter that the FBI requested all information regarding the death of 17-year-old Cedric Lofton, The Wichita Eagle reported.
“Sedgwick County provided everything that they asked for and will continue to do that,” Dennis said.
Dennis made his comments at a commission meeting that was called after a community task force recommended Thursday that the U.S. Department of Justice be asked to review Lofton's death. The FBI is part of the Justice Department.
Lofton died two days after being taken to Sedgwick County Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center in Wichita on Sept. 24 after his foster father called authorities seeking help because the teenager was hallucinating.
Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said last month that the 5-foot-10, 135-pound Lofton assaulted at least one police officer before being taken to the intake center. Lofton walked out of a cell there and struggled with several staff members before he was shackled, put on his stomach and handcuffed, Bennett said.
Staff members eventually realized Lofton had no pulse. They attempted chest compressions and called for emergency personnel to take him to a hospital, where he died two days later.
An autopsy ruled that Lofton's death was a homicide.
Bennett has said the county employees involved in Lofton's death could not be prosecuted under Kansas' self-defense laws because they were protecting themselves. That decision has prompted some state lawmakers to consider revising the law.
County Counselor Mike Pepoon said Friday the federal investigation would not involve any discussion of the state law Bennett cited.
“The FBI and the DOJ could look into civil rights criminal violations, hate crimes, that sort of thing, like they’ve done in other cases,” Pepoon said. “They will not be looking at whether or not anybody violated any of the statues that Marc Bennett was looking at."
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| 2022-02-04T23:30:57
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BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem died from cardiac arrest and “associated effects,” his wife said Friday.
Stenehjem, a former legislator and the state’s longest-serving attorney general, died last week at age 68, just hours after he was found unresponsive taken to a hospital.
“I am deeply grateful for all those who worked tirelessly in Wayne’s time of need, supporting me and the rest of his family throughout the day,” his wife, Beth Bakke Stenehjem, said in a release.
Hundreds of people gathered at the Bismarck Event Center on Thursday to pay tribute to Stenehjem. He was eulogized as a man of integrity, honesty and strong moral principles.
“Wayne devoted his life in service to the State of North Dakota, and I am touched by the number of people who have let me know how much he meant to them,” Bakke Stenehjem said.
Stenehjem had announced last month that he would not seek another term, saying he wanted to spend more time traveling and with his family.
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| 2022-02-04T23:31:03
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FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A search committee has narrowed the field of candidates for North Dakota State University president to three, the state Board of Higher Education said Friday.
The finalists are David Cook, vice chancellor for public affairs on economic development at the University of Kansas; Hesham El-Rewini, provost and vice president of academic affairs at Marymount University; and Mary Holz-Clause, acting executive chancellor at the University of Minnesota in Morris and Crookston.
Higher ed board members will interview the candidates in Fargo on Feb. 23 before making their selection.
“The board is being presented with a strong slate of finalists and each offers unique leadership skills that will serve NDSU well into the future,” said higher ed board member Jill Louters, a co-chair of the search committee.
The search committee had selected five candidates from the 47 applicants who met qualifications for the job.
Current NDSU President Dean Bresciani is stepping down after a dozen years at the helm to become a tenured professor in health sciences and education. The new president is expected to assume office in June 2022.
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https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/article/Finalists-named-for-North-Dakota-State-University-16833071.php
| 2022-02-04T23:31:09
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ATLANTA (AP) — Tax collections continue to roll into Georgia's state coffers, supporting Gov. Brian Kemp's plan for a big boost in spending and a possible tax cut.
Figures released Friday show Georgia's general fund collected $17.8 billion through Jan. 31. That's $2.7 billion, or 18%, ahead of last year's pace. Through the first seven months of the 2022 budget year, the state is on pace to collect $30.5 billion, more than $3 billion above the $27.3 billion that lawmakers designated for spending.
Individual income taxes are running 16% ahead of last year through seven months, while corporate income taxes are running 32% ahead. Sales taxes are running 18% ahead. The state economist warned last month that big year-over-year increases are likely to abate in coming months, as revenue begins to be compared to months in which the state economy was more robust than in the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kemp has proposed boosting spending for the current budget year, which ends June 30, by more than $4 billion. That includes using $1.6 billion from last year's surplus to give state income tax rebates — $250 to every single person filing state income taxes, $375 to every single person heading a household and $500 to married people filing jointly. Kemp also wants to make one-time payments of $2,000 to teachers, $5,000 to state employees and $1,000 to other K-12 workers including school bus drivers, part-time employees and cafeteria workers. Finally, Kemp wants to restore full funding to the state's K-12 and university funding formulas.
The governor proposes converting those one-time payments to annual raises and continuing the funding restorations in the budget year beginning July 1, when he wants to spend more than $30 billion in state revenue.
Republicans are also eyeing plans to cut state taxes. Republican state senators contending for higher office have proposed eliminating Georgia's income tax entirely. Republican House Speaker David Ralston of Blue Ridge has rejected that plan, but has said he wants to make a more incremental tax cut. Kemp has said he wants to work with Ralston on a tax cut.
The state finished the 2021 budget year with a $2.35 billion surplus even after the state’s rainy day fund was filled to the legal limit of $4.3 billion.
Georgia’s budget pays to educate 1.7 million K-12 students and 435,000 college students, house 45,000 state prisoners, pave 18,000 miles (29,000 kilometers) of highways and care for more than 200,000 people who are mentally ill, developmentally disabled or addicted to drugs or alcohol.
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| 2022-02-04T23:31:15
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| 0.964954
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WHL
All Times Local
Western Conference
B.C. Division
U.S. Division
Eastern Conference
East Division
Central Division
Note: Two points for a team winning in overtime or shootout; the team losing in overtime or shootout receives one which is registered in the OTL or SOL columns.
Tuesday's results
Prince George 2 Tri-City 0
Wednesday's results
Edmonton 6 Medicine Hat 2
Spokane 3 Prince George 2 (OT)
Friday's results
Moose Jaw at Swift Current, 7 p.m.
Edmonton at Saskatoon, 7 p.m.
Red Deer at Prince Albert, 7 p.m.
Medicine Hat at Brandon, 7 p.m.
Regina at Lethbridge, 7 p.m.
Prince George at Seattle, 7:05 p.m.
Portland at Tri-City, 7:05 p.m.
Victoria at Everett, 7:05 p.m.
Kelowna at Spokane, 7:05 p.m.
Kamloops at Vancouver, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday's games
Red Deer at Saskatoon, 7 p.m.
Edmonton at Prince Albert, 7 p.m.
Lethbridge at Swift Current, 7 p.m.
Moose Jaw at Brandon, 7 p.m.
Medicine Hat at Winnipeg, 8 p.m.
Kelowna at Tri-City, 6:05 p.m.
Vancouver at Seattle, 6:05 p.m.
Prince George at Everett, 6:05 p.m.
Kamloops at Victoria, 7:05 p.m.
Portland at Spokane, 7:05 p.m.
Sunday's games
Regina at Calgary, 2 p.m.
Medicine Hat at Winnipeg, 5 p.m.
Seattle at Vancouver, 4 p.m.
Kamloops at Victoria, 4:05 p.m.
Tuesday's games
Regina at Edmonton, 11 a.m.
Calgary at Prince Albert, 7 p.m.
Wednesday's games
Calgary at Saskatoon, 7 p.m.
Lethbridge at Moose Jaw, 7 p.m.
Spokane at Portland, 7 p.m.
Tri-City at Kamloops, 7 p.m.
Vancouver at Kelowna, 7:05 p.m.
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https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/article/HKO-WHL-Standings-16832888.php
| 2022-02-04T23:31:28
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en
| 0.898098
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BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho has agreed to change its living will template so that pregnant people will not be kept on life support against their wishes.
The move is part of a legal settlement reached this week with four women who said the state's law governing advance health care directives discriminates based on gender and subjects pregnant people to different medical treatment than others.
The women, represented by legal groups including the women’s rights organization Legal Voice and the end-of-life patient rights organization Compassion & Choices, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in 2018 targeting the state's Medical Consent and Natural Death Act. The act says competent people have a fundamental right to control decisions on their medical care, including when to have life-saving care withdrawn. But it also included a template living will that said the directive would have no force during the course of a pregnancy.
State officials interpreted the rule to mean pregnant people must receive life-saving treatment regardless of their living wills, and the template with the pregnancy exclusion was promoted on a state website.
At least 47 states have adopted laws allowing living wills or advance medical directives, and 11 of them placed restrictions on advance directives for pregnant individuals. Besides Idaho, the others are Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin, according to Legal Voice.
Under the settlement, Idaho officials admit no wrongdoing but must make sure advance directives are followed regardless of whether the patient is pregnant. The state will create a new living will template, and notify everyone who has already filed a living will with the state's advance directive registry of the court's decision.
One of the women who brought the lawsuit, Chelsea Gaona-Lincoln, said the settlement was a welcome relief. She was pregnant when the case was first filed, and is now pregnant with her second child.
“My family and I can rest assured my rights and choices will be honored as we anticipate our family growing later this year,” Gaona-Lincoln said in a statement. “There is enough for expecting parents in Idaho to worry about; due to the previous pregnancy exclusion, I wasn’t granted that peace of mind with our first child.”
The Idaho Attorney General's office declined to comment on the settlement.
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https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/article/Idaho-settles-lawsuit-on-living-wills-for-16832985.php
| 2022-02-04T23:31:34
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en
| 0.967075
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PLEASANT HILL, Iowa (AP) — A couple accused of starving their teenage son, who has special needs, has agreed to plea deals, according to court documents.
Richard Joe Ryan and Jennifer Ryan, of Pleasant Hill, were charged in April of last year with first-degree kidnapping and neglecting a dependent person.
The teenager's condition came to light when a citizen reported seeing the teenager zip-tied to a chair while his mother worked an eight-hour shift at Smith Automotive in Pleasant Hill, KCCI-TV reported.
Doctors at Blank Children’s Hospital said the teenager suffered from severe malnutrition and was only 78 pounds when he arrived at the hospital.
Investigators found the boy was routinely confined to his room, which had an alarm on the door, and was not permitted to eat breakfast, according to court records.
New court documents show Richard Ryan has agreed to plead guilty to reduced charges of false imprisonment, neglect of a dependent person and two counts of child endangerment. He’s scheduled to be sentenced April 1.
Jennifer Ryan also will agree to a plea deal in court on April 1, according to court documents.
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https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/article/Iowa-couple-accused-of-starving-their-son-to-take-16832924.php
| 2022-02-04T23:31:40
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en
| 0.977846
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OTTAWA - Canada's chief public health officer says provinces are going to have to find a balance between containing the virus with public health measures and returning to a sense of normalcy as the Omicron wave continues to crest.
Several provinces have signalled their intention to do away with some, if not all, remaining COVID-19 health restrictions.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says his government will announce next week a date to end the province's COVID-19 vaccine passport, as well as a phased approach to ending almost all COVID-19 health restrictions by the end of the month, provided the pressure on hospitals continues to decline.
Meanwhile Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says he's committed to ending all COVID-19 restrictions soon, even while COVID-19-related hospitalizations are at their highest level since the pandemic began.
While health experts say vaccines greatly prevent severe illness, hospitalization and death, chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam said two doses offer little protection against infection from Omicron, and boosters work against transmission only for a period of time.
Two doses of an mRNA vaccine are 75 to 80 per cent effective against severe illness from Omicron, according to Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization. A third dose is at least 90 per cent effective at preventing hospitalization, including for the variant, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control has reported.
Tam said vaccine mandates should be re-evaluated over time, but they must be weighed against the potential effect on fragile health systems and how many serious cases they can handle.
“I do think that prior to vaccinations, prior to getting some more treatments, and of course some immunity afforded by Omicron, that balance was very, very difficult to achieve,” Tam said at a virtual briefing Friday.
“I am optimistic that it will become easier to achieve better balance.”
Even though the number of new infections is trending down, there are still a daily average of about 10,000 new reported cases across Canada, Tam said.It is difficult to get a full picture of how many cases there are in Canada, as many jurisdictions have limited access to molecular tests for essential and at-risk people only.
More than 10,000 people are also being treated in hospital for COVID-19 each day as of Wednesday, she said.
Even as measures are dropped, provinces need to find ways to optimize vaccination levels, she said.
More than 88 per cent of Canadians over the age of five have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, the latest data from the Public Health Agency of Canada shows.
There is no Health Canada-approved COVID-19 vaccine for young children under five years old.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization issued new guidance Friday about how long people who have been infected with the virus should wait to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
The advice varies based on how old the person is, whether or not they are immunocompromised and how many vaccine doses they received before they were infected.
Moe said in a video posted to social media that COVID-19 is not going away, but people are done with having to follow public health orders, so “normalizing” the virus and learning to live with it is the achievable option.
The Saskatchewan Medical Association, however, is warning that loosening health measures would strain the province's health-care system.
In Alberta, Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi urged the provincial government to “reconsider lifting restrictions too soon and too fast.”
“We must look out for our most vulnerable. We must protect our children under the age of five who still don't have the opportunity to get vaccinated,” Sohi wrote in a statement.
Sohi, a former federal Liberal cabinet minister, asked city administration to look into what options Edmonton has to institute its own restrictions if the provincial measures are lifted.
Kenney said a patchwork of COVID restrictions across the province would be confusing for people and, besides, it's not the city's job.
“Provinces are in clearly the best position to make difficult decisions about how to manage COVID-19, and I really don't think that is something municipal governments are responsible for or necessarily equipped to do,” Kenney said, speaking after a meeting with his fellow Canadian premiers.
Ontario and Quebec, which have seen a slight decline in COVID-19-related hospitalizations this week, have both eased some restrictions. However, scientists and health officials in the two provinces have warned that cases will likely rise again as partial reopenings progress.
Newfoundland and Labrador is set loosen restrictions on businesses and group sizes on Monday, though Premier Andrew Furey, who is also an orthopedic surgeon, said that any changes must be done with caution.
Vaccine mandates are not meant to be a punishment, federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said Friday at the briefing. Rather they are meant to protect people and incentivize them to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
The federal government has imposed mandates at international borders, on planes, passengers trains, cruise ships and within the public service. Duclos said discussions about vaccine mandates would be ongoing at the federal level.
Premiers who met today as part of the Council of the Federation did not specifically discuss international travel restrictions. Chair of the federation, British Columbia Premier John Horgan, said federal and provincial governments need to protect people while ensuring their liberties are intact.
“We need to reimagine the tools at our disposal as citizens and as provinces and as a federal government,” Horgan said.
Kenney was more emphatic. He said the travel restrictions are not effective given the prevalence of Omicron within Canada.
“The notion that we can interrupt or reduce community transmission through very rigid travel protocols, I think, is unrealistic,” he said.
Any changes to the testing and vaccine requirements for international travel would depend on the epidemiological situation in Canada and abroad, as well as health-care capacity, Tam said.
High-level discussions about health mandates are happening against the backdrop of several anti-mandate protests cropping up across Canada, including a demonstration in Ottawa that local politicians have taken to calling an “occupation.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2022.
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https://www.cp24.com/news/balance-between-normal-life-and-managing-covid-may-be-more-attainable-now-tam-1.5767622
| 2022-02-04T23:31:44
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en
| 0.972789
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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A judge on Friday temporarily halted an executive order by Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin that allowed parents to opt out of school mask mandates for their children.
The temporary restraining order means that mask mandates put in place by school boards may remain, at least for now.
Arlington Circuit Court Judge Louise DiMatteo ruled in favor of seven school boards that filed a lawsuit challenging the governor's order, one of the first actions Youngkin took after his inauguration Jan. 15.
The judge found that the single issue before the court was whether Youngkin, through his emergency powers, can override the decision of local school boards delegated to them under a 2021 state law that required boards to provide in-person instruction in a way that adheres to COVID-19 mitigation strategies “to the maximum extent practicable.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends universal masking, regardless of vaccination status.
“On this pivotal point, the Court concludes that the Governor cannot” override local school officials, the judge wrote in her ruling.
DiMatteo said that while the case is pending in court, there appears to be a benefit to keeping the current polices of universal mask mandates in place.
“Keeping rules in place that have been established over the school year helps children, families and staff understand how they may be impacted during the pandemic. Without a restraining order, children and staff would have to reassess certain health conditions they believe are impacted by a mask policy (any mask policy), having relied upon a universal mask mandate implemented by the School Boards,” DiMatteo wrote in her ruling.
A spokeswoman for Attorney General Jason Miyares said he will appeal the ruling.
Youngkin spokeswoman Macaulay Porter said in a statement that the decision was just the first step in the judicial process. “The governor will never stop fighting for parents’ ability to choose what is best for their children,” she said.
The school boards said in a joint statement that the judge’s order protects “the health and well-being of all students and staff and reaffirms the constitutional right of Virginia’s local school boards to enact policy at the local level.”
The school boards that sued were: Alexandria, Arlington County, Fairfax County, Falls Church, Hampton, Prince William County and Richmond. They collectively serve over 350,000 students.
Districts across the state took various approaches to the governor's order, with many including those that sued telling students masks were still required, despite the governor's order. Others dropped their mask mandates.
The lawsuit is one of several related to Youngkin’s executive order.
A group of Chesapeake parents challenged the order in front of the Virginia Supreme Court, and parents of children with disabilities have filed a federal lawsuit. Another case was filed in Loudoun County against the school board and in support of the governor’s order.
The Arlington case was the first to go before a judge.
Fairfax County Public Schools Board Chair Stella Pekarsky said in an interview that the uncertainty of the past couple of weeks have been difficult for families, the vast majority of whom opted to have their children follow the district’s masking policy.
“We are hopeful this will be permanent,” she said of the judge’s order.
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https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/article/Judge-rules-against-VA-governor-s-opt-out-school-16832914.php
| 2022-02-04T23:31:46
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en
| 0.971001
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OTTAWA - The government is poised to press ahead with a law combating racial and religious hatred, including online hate, according to Diversity Minister Ahmed Hussen.
In an interview, the minister condemned the flying of Nazi and Confederate flags by protesters outside Parliament as “disgusting” and “reprehensible,” saying such symbols have no place in Canadian society.
“Seeing symbols of hate right across the doorstep of our Parliament is unbelievable and should be condemned,” he said.
Hussen said the government will shortly reintroduce a new version of Bill C-36, an anti-hate law that died when the election was called.
The bill will include the creation of a peace bond to prevent people from continuing to make racist comments or from carrying out hateful threats. The court order would be designed to prevent a hate crime occurring and would include penalties if it is breached, including up to four years imprisonment.
Hussen said the anti-hate bill will be introduced “as soon as possible” and be fully fleshed out in committees and in debates.
Critics of its predecessor, C-36, said it was fraught with problems and risked hampering freedom of speech or couldbe difficult to enforce.
The bill was introduced last June, hours before the House of Commons rose for a summer break, fuelling speculation at the time that the Trudeau government was trying to pad its record ahead of an election.
Hussen said an anti-hate bill was a priority for the government, which wanted to tackle “head on” an upsurge in antisemitism, anti-Asian hatred, Islamophobia and racism toward Black people.
“We know too many people in Canada are victimized by hate speech and hate crimes and we have to make sure we are tackling this,” he said. “One of the ways we are doing this is to formally define hatred in the Criminal Code and also to improve the complaints process available for victims of hate speech.”
Bill-36, as introduced before the election, would have amended the Canadian Human Rights Act to reinstate a narrower version of a controversial section repealed in 2013 following criticism that it violated freedom of speech rights.
The repealed section defined hate speech as anything “likely to expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt” on the basis of their race, gender, religion or other prohibited ground of discrimination.
Bill C-36, on the other hand, would have defined hatred to mean “the emotion that involves detestation or vilification” that is “stronger than dislike or disdain.” And it would specify that a statement would not be considered hate speech “solely because it discredits, humiliates or offends.”
The bill would also have amended the Criminal Code and Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Hussen said the forthcoming bill would also bring in a new definition of hatred in the Criminal Code, Youth Criminal Justice Act and Canadian Human Rights Act, and that definition would be based on recent Supreme Court of Canada decisions.
The bill would “further protect people against hatred both online and off-line,” he said.
Between July and September last year the Canadian Heritage ministry consulted with various interested parties, including social media platforms, to explore how to develop new laws and regulations to tackle proliferation of harmful content online.
Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez and other ministers this week released a report on the consultations, which said “the overwhelming majority of respondents agree the government of Canada needs to take action to confront harmful content.”
But the consultations also found that there were concerns about “unintended consequences if a thoughtful approach is not taken.”
Mark Buell, regional vice-president for the North America chapter of the Internet Society, a global non-profit focused on keeping the internet open and secure, said the report sent a “strong message that the government of Canada got it wrong.”
“It's clear the legislation needs a complete reboot, and I hope that this time they work with experts who understand how the internet works if they want to get it right,” he said.
Canadian Heritage plans in the next few weeks to engage experts to advise the government on how to adjust the proposal, and swiftly propose a revised framework.
Advocates believe forthcoming legislation tackling hatred, including online hate, will be more far-reaching than Bill-36.
Richard Marceau, vice-president of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said any anti-hate bill should be broader than C-36 and include measures to force internet platforms to take action to remove racist and antisemitic posts.
The prime minister last year reappointed Irwin Cotler, a former justice minister, as special envoy combating antisemitism.
The federal government is planning to appoint a special representative to combat Islamophobia, Hussen said.
Hussen said the government was committed to a victims-of-hate support fund. It would provide financial help and other supports to victims of hate-motivated violence, including covering uninsured costs of damage to property or medical supplies.
The Parliamentary Black Caucus on Friday issued a statement condemning the flying of Nazi and Confederate flags by the protesters in Ottawa and called for action to prohibit the public display of these “symbols of hate and terror.”
Peter Julian, the NDP's heritage critic, introduced a private member's bill this week that would ban “symbols of hate” from being sold or displayed in Canada, including flags with swastikas, Nazi memorabilia and uniforms, Confederate flags and Ku Klux Klan costumes.
Julian said he tabled the bill “in response to the appalling, disgusting Nazi flag on Parliament Hill.” The NDP MP said there was a good deal of cross-party support for the measure and he hoped that it could pass unanimously.
“I'm getting a thumbs-up from MPs of all parties,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2022.
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https://www.cp24.com/news/feds-to-press-ahead-with-anti-hate-bill-including-online-abuse-minister-1.5768323
| 2022-02-04T23:31:50
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en
| 0.966179
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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Two white men were arrested earlier this week, days after a Black delivery van driver accused them of chasing him and shooting at him after he dropped off a package in a Mississippi city.
But driver Demonterrio Gibson, 24, on Friday said he doesn’t believe police took him seriously at first and his attorneys say both suspects have been “undercharged” and should face charges of attempted murder.
Nobody was injured but the chase and gunfire have sparked social media complaints of racism in Brookhaven, Mississippi, about 55 miles (89 kilometers) south of Jackson — and pushback in local media from the city’s Black police chief.
Gregory Case and his son Brandon Case were arrested and released on bond Tuesday in connection with the alleged Jan. 24 attack on Gibson, 24. Gregory Case faces a charge of conspiracy; Brandon Case, shooting into a motor vehicle.
Lawyers for Gibson say more serious charges, including hate crime charges, are warranted in what they believe was a racially motivated assault. “I want both of them charged with attempted murder,” attorney Carlos Moore said Friday.
Moore and attorney James Bryant compared the incident to the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was running empty-handed through a Georgia subdivision in 2020 when three white strangers chased him down and blasted him with a shotgun. The white men, including a father and son, were convicted of murder and sentenced to life. Defense lawyers said they suspected he had committed crimes in their neighborhood, but prosecutors said there was no evidence of that. The three still face a federal hate crime trial.
Brookhaven, with a population that is 68% Black, is in Lincoln County, where District Attorney Dee Bates said information will be presented to a grand jury for a decision on charges once police complete the investigation of the Gibson incident. Witnesses, including Gibson, will be able to testify.
Gibson told The Associated Press on Friday that he was in uniform when the incident happened. He said he was in a van rented by FedEx but that it did not have a FedEx logo on it. He pulled into a driveway and dropped off a package sometime after 7 p.m. on Jan. 24. Before he turned his van around in the driveway to exit, he said, he noticed a white pickup truck pulling away from another house on the same large lot.
He said the pickup driver tried to cut him off as he exited the driveway. Gibson swerved around him and then encountered a second man.
“I drive down about two or three houses and there's another guy standing in the middle of the street, with a gun pointed at my vehicle,” said Gibson. The man motioned for him to stop. “I'm looking at him, like shaking my head, because why would I stop for somebody with a gun?”
Gibson said the man fired as he drove away, damaging the van and packages inside. He said the white pickup chased him to the interstate highway near Brookhaven before ending the chase. Later, police told local news outlets that the elder Case was the suspected pickup driver, while Brandon Case was the man in the street. Gregory Case is 58, and his son is 35, according to The Daily Leader of Brookhaven.
Gibson said he called police and was told by one officer that police had received a call about a suspicious person at the same address at the same time. “I said, ‘Sir, I’m not a suspicious person. I'm a FedEx worker. I was just doing my job and they shot at me.'”
The Cases have not commented publicly on their arrests. The municipal clerk's office in Brookhaven said Friday morning it had not yet received paperwork on their arrests or information on their attorneys. Police chief Kenny Collins did not return calls from the AP seeking more information.
Early this week, Collins, who is Black, pushed back against allegations on social media of racism in Brookhaven. “We’re not going to have outsiders coming in trying to stir that up,” he told The Daily Leader. “Brookhaven is not a racist, prejudiced town. You can’t judge a town by the actions of two individuals.”
“People need to be careful what they post on social media,” Collins said. “If somebody is killed or hurt because of what you post on social media, you will be charged, too.”
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https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/article/Lawyers-demand-serious-charges-for-gunfire-at-16832913.php
| 2022-02-04T23:31:52
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en
| 0.985442
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TORONTO - Ontario should consider additional penalties for supervisors who break construction rules, jurors at an inquest recommended Friday after examining the circumstances of a scaffolding collapse that killed four men in Toronto more than a decade ago.
The recommendation was one of seven put forward for the Ministry of Labour to consider after the week-long inquest that found the four men died in a workplace accident due to their fall from a suspended work platform.
Jurors also recommended the ministry conduct scans of other jurisdictions' use of emerging technologies to proactively reduce workplace injuries and fatalities, and consider reviewing the frequency of refresher courses on suspended access equipment.
They further recommended requiring any supervisor of employees working at heights to take specific “Working at Heights” training.
Dr. John Carlisle, the presiding coroner, said he hoped the inquest helped the loved ones of those who died.
“We hope this process has given some measure of closure to them and that the improvements, which have been made and will be made, will serve as something of a memorial to their loss,” he said.
The Ministry of Labour said it would “immediately” begin reviewing the recommendations.
It also noted that steps have been taken to improve workplace safety, such the hiring of new inspectors for health and safety workplace visits, and the completion of a five-year review of the Working at Heights training standards, with revised standards slated to be released this spring.
The inquest examined the deaths of Fayzullo Fazilov, Alexsandrs Bondarevs, Vladimir Korostin and Aleksey Blumberg, who all worked for Metron Construction.
The men died after the swing stage they were on suddenly collapsed on Christmas Eve 2009, causing them to fall 13 storeys to the ground.
Another worker was seriously injured, and a sixth - who was tethered, as required under provincial law - was left hanging in mid-air but wasn't hurt.
The project manager, Vadim Kazenelson, survived the collapse by holding on to a balcony when the scaffolding fell.
Kazenelson was later convicted of four counts of criminal negligence causing death and one of causing bodily harm after an Ontario court found he was aware that protections against falls were not in place.
In convicting him, a judge found that Kazenelson knew only two tethers were available on the swing stage for the six workers on board but failed to rectify the situation.
He was sentenced to 3 1/2 years behind bars and his appeal was unsuccessful.
In dismissing his appeal, Ontario's top court agreed with the trial judge that Kazenelson had failed to take reasonable steps to prevent what was one of the province's worst workplace accidents.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2022.
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https://www.cp24.com/news/jury-issues-recommendations-for-ministry-of-labour-in-scaffolding-collapse-inquiry-1.5767615
| 2022-02-04T23:31:57
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en
| 0.981997
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CASTLE ROCK, Colo. (AP) — A sheriff's deputy is being praised for smashing the windows of a burning SUV and rescuing a frightened dog in a neighborhood south of Denver.
Douglas County Deputy Michael Gregorek's body camera video from Jan. 22, which was released Thursday, shows him arriving on the scene as smoke pours from the driver's side window of the SUV. The owner frantically yells that his dog Hank is somewhere inside the locked vehicle.
Gregorek uses his retractable baton to smash a side window and then the rear window before pulling Hank out and quickly carrying him to a nearby snowbank.
“I just went in there and grabbed on. And his body had already kind of started to tense up, so I knew he was really in a bad way. ... Nothing else really mattered at that point other than getting Hank out of the car,” Gregorek said in an interview released by the sheriff's department.
A neighbor told the deputy his wife was a veterinarian, but by the time she got home, Hank was already sprinting around and ready to play.
“I’m a dog parent. My only child is my dog, so I would have done the same thing, whether it be baby, human, dog, cat. A life is a life, and you kind of treat it as such in a situation like that," Gregorek said.
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https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/article/Lucky-dog-Colorado-deputy-rescues-pup-from-16832941.php
| 2022-02-04T23:31:59
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en
| 0.987636
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Ottawa police are putting more officers on the street and trying to seal off the downtown core in anticipation of another wave of protesters against COVID-19 measures pouring into the city this weekend.
Policy Chief Peter Sloly announced a “surge” of about 150 extra police officers to central areas of the city paralyzed by the protest that has been going on for a week, disrupting the lives of thousands of stressed-out residents.
Sloly said the patrolling officers will focus on mischief, hate, harassment, threats and other intimidating behaviour to send a clear message: “The lawlessness must end.”
The protest against vaccine mandates and other pandemic measures, which has immobilized the city's downtown with scores of large trucks, is an “increasingly volatile and increasingly dangerous demonstration,” Sloly told a news conference Friday.
“We're absolutely committed to bringing this demonstration to an end.”
However, Sloly warned that demonstrators near Parliament Hill remain highly organized, well-funded and extremely committed to resisting attempts to end the demonstration safely.
Police plan to contain the demonstration in the area immediately south of the Hill through concrete barriers and large machinery to control roadways throughout the downtown core.
They are also looking at closing bridges and highway off-ramps, while incoming protest trucks will be directed to designated parking zones outside the core, Sloly said. Illegal parking by demonstrators could result in bylaw enforcement, removal and impound.
Fencing has been placed around the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Hill. A woman was photographed jumping on the tomb last weekend, sparking a police probe.
Police expect as many as 400 more trucks and up to 2,000 people on foot will arrive this weekend for the protest. In addition, as many as 1,000 people could join counter-demonstrations downtown.
Plans for demonstrations to oppose the protesters were in flux Friday amid concerns such actions might not be safe.
Sloly had blunt words for anyone intent on causing trouble: “Do not bring weapons, do not bring firearms, do not come here to cause harm. Do not come here to break the law. You will be held to account.”
Downtown Ottawa residents have endured a week of blaring truck horns, blocked streets and racial taunts from aggressive participants. Many city-dwellers have expressed frustration with the fact little has changed days into the protest, branding it an occupation.
Residents were bewildered Thursday that demonstrators had constructed a wood building and fuel storage pen in Confederation Park, just southeast of Parliament Hill.
The National Capital Commission, responsible for the park, is working with Ottawa police on “addressing the next steps on site,” said commission spokeswoman Valerie Dufour, who could provide no details.
A few dozen people gathered Friday for a community safety walk, a daily event co-ordinated by concerned city councillors.
“For the last week, we've been held hostage, we haven't felt safe,” said resident Sarah Duff. “And there have been extremists that have been allowed to roam our streets. Enough is enough.”
Sloly acknowledged residents' concerns but said police had done “absolutely the best we can to keep this city safe.”
“We need to do better. We're committed to doing better. We now have more intelligence and allies to do better.”
The Ottawa chief said his empathy for citizens was rooted in personal experience, noting police were investigating death threats that he and other city officials had received this week.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said late Thursday the RCMP had approved Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson's request for Mounties to support city police.
The minister made it clear Friday that Ottawa police remain the force of jurisdiction and called Sloly's new plan reassuring.
“No one is above the law,” Mendicino said. “And I think that the many reports that we're hearing in Ottawa from people who live here, who work here, who are trying to raise their families, who are trying to get around, is that they can't enjoy those freedoms.”
Sloly said local, provincial and national intelligence personnel were working together to analyze information.
“We have increased ability to identify and target protesters, and supporters of protesters, who were funding and enabling unlawful and harmful activity,” he said.
Teams are gathering details including vehicle registration, driver identification, insurance status and other related evidence that will be used in prosecutions.
Every unlawful act, including traffic and insurance violations, “will be fully pursued,” Sloly said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been harshly critical of the protesters, calling on them to leave town and allow residents to resume their daily lives.
Tamara Lich, a protest organizer, told a Thursday news conference the departure of the demonstrators would “be based on the prime minister doing what is right: ending all mandates and restrictions on our freedoms.”
Many public health restrictions fall under the jurisdiction of provinces, rather than the federal government.
Interim Conservative Leader Candice Bergen called on Trudeau to provide a clear plan “to end the situation in Ottawa.”
Bergen urged the protesters to be peaceful, saying Canadians had heard them loud and clear.
“Regardless of political stripe, we all want an end to the demonstrations, and we all want an end to the restrictions,” she said in a statement Friday.
“Now, we must come together, as Canadians always do, and chart a peaceful way forward.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Friday that public health measures against COVID-19 were necessary.
“So all the protesters, people who are occupying Ottawa, folks, let's put an end to this. You know, we're so close. So, so close to getting back to normal. We have to be united.”
Protest organizers have raised more than $10 million through crowdfunding site GoFundMe, though it is unclear whether they will be granted full access to the money, given widespread concerns about the demonstration.
The Parliamentary Black Caucus is calling for information related to donations made through public fundraising sites to be disclosed to the federal anti-money laundering centre and police.
The caucus also wants a joint parliamentary study and review of the events surrounding the protest.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump, with customary hyperbolic flair, said the convoy in Ottawa was “peacefully protesting the harsh policies of far-left lunatic Justin Trudeau who has destroyed Canada with insane COVID mandates.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2022.
- With files from Laura Osman
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https://www.cp24.com/news/ottawa-police-brace-for-new-wave-of-protesters-with-barriers-more-officers-1.5767828
| 2022-02-04T23:32:03
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| 0.974214
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MIAMI (AP) — Prosecutors filed two murder charges Friday against a 25-year-old real estate agent accused in the deaths of two homeless men in Miami last year.
Willy Maceo was previously charged with attempted murder after his arrest in December, according to court records.
Investigators had previously identified Maceo as a suspect in the Dec. 21 death of Jerome Antonio Price, 56, who was fatally shot while sleeping on a sidewalk in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood, and the Oct. 16 fatal stabbing of Manuel Perez, 59, in downtown Miami. Maceo is also accused in the non-fatal shooting of a homeless man just a few hours before Price's death.
Detectives linked Maceo's Dodge Charger to the Wynwood shooting through surveillance video, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said during a news conference Friday. Investigators tracked down the car and found a Glock 9mm handgun, whose bullets matched casings found at both shooting scenes.
Surveillance video also led detectives to link Maceo to the Perez death. The man in that video shows a man who looks exactly like Maceo, officials said.
Investigators said they also were able to use video evidence and cellphone records to help them trace Maceo’s movements on the nights both men were killed.
Maceo has no criminal record but has a history of mental illness, authorities said.
The Miami Herald last month reported that Maceo had been sent to a hospital for a mental-health evaluation after he was acting erratically at his parents’ home in Kendall. Police officers seized his Glock but later returned it to him after the department’s legal bureau decided he was not enough of a risk for court intervention.
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https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/article/Man-faces-2-counts-of-murder-in-Miami-homeless-16832984.php
| 2022-02-04T23:32:05
|
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| 0.982737
|
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams apologized Friday after a 2019 video surfaced showing him using a racial slur for white people when talking about the New York Police Department.
The video, first reported by the New York Daily News, shows Adams, who is Black, speaking at a private event in December 2019, during the early stages of his mayoral run.
Adams is a former New York City police officer who rose to the rank of captain before leaving to serve in elected office. While in the New York Police Department, he became an outspoken critic of the department and co-founded an advocacy group called 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, which pushed for criminal justice reform and spoke out against police brutality.
Speaking to a Harlem business group, Adams said “Every day in the police department, I kicked those crackers' ass, man! I was unbelievable in the police department with 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement.” The line drew applause.
Adams was asked about the video at a news conference Friday and said he wanted to “definitely apologize” for his remarks and called them “inappropriate.”
“Inappropriate comments, should not have been used. Someone asked me a question using that comment and playing on that word. I responded in that comment. But clearly, it’s a comment that should not be used and I apologize not only to those who heard it but to New Yorkers because they should expect more from me, and that was inappropriate," Adams said.
The word has often been considered a derogatory term for poor Southern white people, but the origins of the term are not entirely clear.
A 2013 report from NPR found the term was used as an insult as far back as the 17th Century and was later used to refer to Scots-Irish immigrants settling in the Southern U.S.
The mayor, who has been in office a little over a month, said the comment referred to his efforts to combat racism in the department.
“My fight in the police department was fighting racism throughout my entire journey. And I was serious about fighting against that and that is what it was attached to, the question that was asked. And that, you got my response, based on what that question was," he said.
The head of the city's largest police union quickly put out a statement defending Adams.
“Whenever a controversial video of a police officer surfaces online, we ask for fairness instead of a rush to outrage. We will apply the same standard here," said Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch, who is white.
"We have spoken with Mayor Adams about this video. We have spent far too many hours together in hospital emergency rooms these past few weeks, and we’ve worked together for decades before that. A few seconds of video will not define our relationship. We have a lot of work to do together to support our members on the streets.”
Adams apology came a day after he hosted President Joe Biden in New York City and they met with top law enforcement officers to discuss plans to try to cut down gun violence in cities.
That presidential visit followed the deaths of two New York City police officers in a shooting in Harlem.
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Associated Press reporter Michael R. Sisak contributed to this report
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Follow Price on Twitter at twitter.com/michellelprice
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https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/article/NYC-Mayor-Eric-Adams-apologizes-for-using-racial-16832955.php
| 2022-02-04T23:32:17
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| 0.983638
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EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — A man has been fatally shot by police after apparently holding multiple children and a woman hostage inside an Evansville home.
The man called 911 dispatchers Friday, told them he was “losing his mind” and was preparing to shoot and kill his family, according to 911 audio obtained by the Evansville Courier & Press.
He also called other agencies and a local television station, according to the newspaper.
Police Sgt. Nick Winsett said officers arrived at the home and were able to remove “multiple” children before the man allegedly retreated into a back room while holding a female hostage with a knife.
The man was shot after attempts by officers to negotiate with him were not successful, Winsett said.
”(The female victim) was starting to yell in pain and from the knife being held against her,” Winsett said. “That’s when our officers were able to neutralize him and rescue her.”
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https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/article/Police-fatally-shoot-man-holding-woman-children-16832993.php
| 2022-02-04T23:32:29
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| 0.993617
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BAYOU BLUE, La. (AP) — Police in Louisiana on Friday arrested a man accused of raping and killing his 5-year-old niece in North Carolina more than four years ago.
David Wesley Prevatte, 23, of Lumberton, North Carolina, was arrested Friday in Bayou Blue, Louisiana, Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre said in a news release.
He said North Carolina's Pender County Sheriff’s Office tracked Prevatte to the community 43 miles (69 kilometers) southwest of New Orleans after getting a warrant accusing him of first-degree murder and first-degree rape of Paitin Fields in November 2017.
Capt. Brennan Matherne, a spokeperson for Webre, said he did not know whether Prevatte has an attorney who could comment.
The little girl died Nov. 16, 2017, three days after her family brought her to a hospital, unresponsive.
North Carolina news outlets reported that she was Prevatte’s niece.
“An autopsy showed signs of sexual trauma and strangulation,” and detectives identified Prevatte as a suspect in June 2018, the news release said.
It said Prevatte pleaded guilty the following March to unrelated charges of intimidating a witness, breaking and entering, larceny, and burning a building, and spent about 10 months in prison. He was released in January 2020.
The warrant against him also accuses him of committing a sex offense against a child.
He will be extradited to Pender County, Webre said. He complimented “the tenacity and professionalism ... that led to the arrest.”
Pender County Sheriff Alan Cutler said, “This has been an ongoing investigation and I am extremely pleased and proud of the effort that has been put into this investigation by my personnel."
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https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/article/Sheriff-Uncle-of-slain-girl-tracked-down-4-years-16833033.php
| 2022-02-04T23:32:35
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| 0.965063
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ORLAND PARK, Ill. (AP) — A commuter train struck the front-end of a school bus that stalled on tracks in suburban Chicago.
The driver and the five students aboard the bus were able to exit before the 2:40 p.m. Friday crash in Orland Park, southwest of Chicago.
Orland Fire Protection District Chief Michael Schofield said an investigation shows “the driver stopped at the tracks as required to do so, but when she started the bus to cross, the bus stalled with the front end of the bus over the tracks.”
“The gate came down on top of the bus and the driver then quickly escorted the five children off of the bus to safety minutes before the Metra train hit the front of the bus,” he said.
Metra service near Orland Park temporarily was halted, according to the commuter service.
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https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/article/Stalled-school-bus-struck-by-Chicago-area-16833056.php
| 2022-02-04T23:32:41
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| 0.965635
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MEXICO CITY (AP) — Student protesters from a notoriously combative teachers’ college in southern Mexico rolled a driverless semi-tractor truck at considerable speed down a slope toward a line of National Guard and police officers Friday.
The officers got out of the way of the out-of-control freight truck, which crashed into a structure near a toll booth. But the National Guard said 14 of its officers were injured by stones and bottle rockets launched by the students.
The guard was called in after the students blockaded the main highway between Mexico City and the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco.
Students from the rural teachers' college known as Ayotzinapa have a longstanding reputation for clashing with authorities, blocking the highway in the city of Chilpancingo and hijacking passing passenger buses and trucks.
In 2014, 43 students from the college were hijacking buses in the nearby city of Iguala when they were kidnapped and presumably killed by a drug gang.
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https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/article/Student-protesters-in-Mexico-aim-truck-at-16833032.php
| 2022-02-04T23:32:47
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| 0.982387
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(RNS) — Bruce Lindsay never expected to own a church. But when his mother died shortly before the pandemic, he wanted to use his inheritance to do something extraordinary.
“My mother, if she were alive today, I think would have a great chuckle at what I’ve purchased,” said Lindsay. “I found myself surrounded by a church when it was the last place on earth I wanted to go to as a kid.”
In August, after purchasing a 900-square-foot-Methodist church built in 1876, Lindsay and his business partner, Anna Cronin, opened Dirt Church Brewing Co. in East Haven, Vermont. It’s one of at least eight church breweries that have opened in the U.S. since 2020.
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This content is written and produced by Religion News Service and distributed by The Associated Press. RNS and AP partner on some religion news content. RNS is solely responsible for this story.
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Today, the U.S. has roughly 30 breweries based in once-vacant churches. Though some church breweries have faced pushback for offering suds in a once sacred space, the move has precedent. Monks have been brewing beer in monasteries for centuries, offering it to visitors and often imbibing it themselves at a time when it was safer to drink beer than water.
Dirt Church Brewing Co. originally intended to open a brewery inside the church, but Cronin and Lindsay found it lacked running water, a septic tank and heat. Rather than tearing open the building to add the required services, they built the taproom next door, where the town’s former meetinghouse once stood. The church, now used as an art gallery and event space, remains integral to the brewery’s identity.
The name “dirt church” is both a nod to the 19th-century building as well as lingo used by the cycling community that Lindsay and Cronin belong to. “It’s kind of our little cheeky nickname for the Sunday morning long ride that was usually on mountain bikes or gravel bikes,” said Cronin. “Instead of going to ‘church-church,’ we would say, ‘Hey, are you going to dirt church?’”
Today, the brewery hosts “dirt church” for its patrons once a month via Sunday bike rides, runs or hikes — followed by a few celebratory beers at the taproom, of course.
Across the country in San Diego, The Lost Abbey brewing company opened a new location in December inside the shell of a Mexican Presbyterian church built in 1906. The brewery added pews, chandeliers, tapestries and even stained-glass windows to accentuate its slightly irreverent brand.
“This building fell into massive disrepair and probably would have been demolished were it not for the developers that saved it,” said Tomme Arthur, co-founder of The Lost Abbey. This is the brewery’s first location in a former house of worship.
The Lost Abbey was founded in 2006 to offer beers inspired by Belgian monastic brewing traditions, as well as some “nondenominational” beers brewed in no particular style. Per the company’s slogan, it offers brews to “sinners and saints alike” — a motto it’s embraced wholeheartedly.
The new location, appropriately dubbed “The Church,” is split into two sides, one for sinners and one for saints. The sections are marked by corresponding décor: A St. Peter statue presides over the saints area, and Mary Magdalene — who is often misidentified as a prostitute — occupies the sinners side.
The Lost Abbey’s beers play off of similar tropes, with “saintly” names such as “10 Commandments” or “Gift of the Magi” juxtaposed with names like “Judgment Day” or “Serpent’s Stout.” The next addition will be a beer featuring Baby Moses, a wink at the popular “Mandalorian” character Baby Yoda.
“We’ve always taken our beers more seriously than a lot of other things,” said Arthur, who grew up attending Catholic school. “What’s great is that every time that we need some sort of inspiration, we’re able to open up the Bible.”
The Ministry of Brewing, located in what was once St. Michael the Archangel Church in Baltimore, makes it a point to avoid religious themes in its marketing.
“All of our names of our beers are typically Baltimore references or something about the neighborhood,” said Jon Holley, the brewery’s general manager. “As far as religious terms, imagery, things like that, we already know that being in a church is a sensitive thing for a lot of people, so we’re not trying to touch that at all.”
The church was built in 1857 and was home to a German Catholic congregation and, later, a Spanish-speaking congregation before closing due to the cost of upkeep. In 2018, the Ministry of Brewing began a full renovation to preserve and restore many of the original elements of the building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The church reopened to the public as a brewery in January 2020, featuring a dazzling interior with soaring columns and a mural-painted barrel ceiling. The brewery also hosts events, fundraisers and even local delegate debates.
Though Holley said he “half expected” pushback for residing in a historic church, the brewery has received overwhelming support. Most often, he said, patrons can be found enjoying the brewery’s bestselling hazy pale ale called “Wispy,” a reference to wispy stained glass.
Like the other two breweries, Dirt Church Brewing Co. in Vermont is intentional about its beer names. Its flagship beer? It’s named “Rejoice,” after Lindsay’s mother, Joyce.
“It’s our most popular beer,” said Lindsay. “Without my mother’s help, none of this would exist today.”
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https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/article/Suds-in-the-sanctuary-breweries-populate-vacant-16833007.php
| 2022-02-04T23:32:54
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| 0.975862
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NEW YORK (AP) — Five players were suspended Friday for violations of the minor league drug program, raising this year’s total to nine.
Free agent pitcher Nick Belzer and pitcher Charles Hall of Oakland’s Class A Central Lansing farm team were suspended for 50 games each for a second positive test for a drug of abuse. Miami Double-A outfielder Tristan Pompey also was suspended for 50 games for a second positive test for a drug of abuse.
Detroit pitcher Hector Rodriguez and Arizona pitcher Jose Valdez were suspended for 60 games each following positive tests for the performing-enhancing substance Stanozolol. Both are on Dominican Summer League rosters.
Four players were given 60-day bans on Jan. 28 following positive tests for Stanozolol: Seattle pitcher Brayan Diaz, Chicago Cubs left-hander Carlos Garcia, Houston right-hander Jorge Geraldo and Texas right-hander Aron Vargas. All are on Dominican Summer League rosters.
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More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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https://www.myjournalcourier.com/sports/article/5-minor-leaguers-suspended-for-violating-drug-16832873.php
| 2022-02-04T23:33:00
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| 0.944312
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ZHANGJIAKOU, China (AP) — Ski jumping captivates viewers every four years, when they fearlessly fly the length of an American football field plus the end zones.
Casual fans, though, probably have no clue about the scoring system or skills and techniques necessary to win gold even though the sport has been a part of the Winter Olympics since the first one in 1924.
In the U.S., most people can't probably name a ski jumper other than “Eddie the Eagle,” from the 2016 film about Eddie Edwards’ unlikely bid to become a British Olympian.
The Associated Press is here to help. Here's a look at what to watch, starting Saturday when the women go for gold, from the moment ski jumpers sit on a bar about as high as a 40-story building until they glide over machine-made snow and wait to see how far they flew and how the judges scored their performance.
THE BAR IS VERY HIGH
Ski jumpers sit on a bar, calming their nerves with deep breaths, and wait for a green light to go. If there's too much of a gust, they have to slide back off the bar and onto a step to wait for wind to calm down. A focused mind, which ignores fears, is key.
FUN ON THE IN-RUN
With skis wider and longer than those in other disciplines, jumpers go down a steep incline referred to as the in-run. They try to avoid making contact with the sides of ice-filled channels go as fast as 100 kph (62 mph) to help them fly farther.
Jumpers lead with their helmet, throw their hands back and crouch low into a tuck with a flat back for aerodynamics. Balance and flexibility are critical.
CLEARED FOR TAKEOFF
Near the end of the in-run, men and women make an explosive jump without moving their upper body to create lift for flight. The timing and technique in the take-off is perhaps the most important part of the 15-second process from sitting on the bar to sliding to a stop in the snow.
COME FLY WITH ME
Jumpers lean forward with hands near hips, hovering their torso over skis that are in a “V" shape in a technique used since Swedish ski jumper Jan Bokloev started doing it in 1985 after they previously had them parallel.
COMING IN FOR A LANDING
When skis hit the snow, judges want one slightly ahead of the other and for the jumpers to gracefully glide on what's known as the outrun.
STYLE POINTS MATTER
Jumpers are aiming for the K-point of the hill, where it starts to flatten out, to earn 60 points and those who fly past it earn more points while points are deducted from coming up short. Five judges award scores of up to 20 points for style from start to finish, looking for jumpers who look keep their torso and limbs still while floating through the air and land gracefully among other things.
SIZE MATTERS
There's a dirty little secret in the sport, which is plagued by eating disorders. Fat don't fly is a phrase heard at least in the U.S., because physics prevent a heavier jumper from flying farther than a lighter one.
Norway's Maren Lundby decided not to defend her Olympic gold because she put on weight and chose to put her physical and mental health first, leading to her skipping the season.
IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS
If you're looking for a winner, maybe don't pick an American. The U.S. has won only one Olympic medal, and that happened nearly a century ago in what was quite a tale. Anders Haugen left the first Winter Olympics in 1924 without any hardware, but 50 years later was awarded a bronze medal after a scoring error was confirmed.
Norway, Austria and Germany are traditional powers. Poland and Japan are pretty good, too. Japanese jumper Ryoyu Kobayashi and Germany’s Karl Geiger are relatively safe bets to earn a spot on the podium.
On the women's side with Lundby taking time off and top-ranked Marita Kramer of Austria out after testing positive for COVID-19, Germany's Katharina Althaus and Sara Takanashi of Japan are the favorites.
HEY, WHAT’S NEW?
This year, for the first time at the Olympics, men and women will compete together in a mixed team event.
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Follow AP Sports Writer Larry Lage at https://twitter.com/larrylage
___
More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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https://www.myjournalcourier.com/sports/article/EXPLAINER-Olympic-ski-jumpers-count-on-technique-16832907.php
| 2022-02-04T23:33:12
|
en
| 0.964229
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PARIS (AP) - Results from French football:
Lyon 2, Marseille 1
Marseille 5, Angers 2
Saint-Etienne vs. Montpellier, 11 a.m.
Monaco vs. Lyon, 3 p.m.
Lorient vs. Lens, 7 a.m.
Nice vs. Clermont Foot, 9 a.m.
Reims vs. Bordeaux, 9 a.m.
Strasbourg vs. Nantes, 9 a.m.
Troyes vs. Metz, 9 a.m.
Rennes vs. Brest, 11 a.m.
Lille vs. PSG, 2:45 p.m.
PSG vs. Rennes, 3 p.m.
Montpellier vs. Lille, 11 a.m.
Lyon vs. Nice, 3 p.m.
Monaco vs. Lorient, 7 a.m.
Angers vs. Strasbourg, 9 a.m.
Brest vs. Troyes, 9 a.m.
Clermont Foot vs. Saint-Etienne, 9 a.m.
Nantes vs. Reims, 9 a.m.
Lens vs. Bordeaux, 11:05 a.m.
Metz vs. Marseille, 2:45 p.m.
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https://www.myjournalcourier.com/sports/article/French-Results-16832990.php
| 2022-02-04T23:33:18
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| 0.722282
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___
Lyon 2, Marseille 1
Marseille 5, Angers 2
Saint-Etienne vs. Montpellier, 11 a.m.
Monaco vs. Lyon, 3 p.m.
Lorient vs. Lens, 7 a.m.
Nice vs. Clermont Foot, 9 a.m.
Reims vs. Bordeaux, 9 a.m.
Strasbourg vs. Nantes, 9 a.m.
Troyes vs. Metz, 9 a.m.
Rennes vs. Brest, 11 a.m.
Lille vs. PSG, 2:45 p.m.
PSG vs. Rennes, 3 p.m.
Montpellier vs. Lille, 11 a.m.
Lyon vs. Nice, 3 p.m.
Monaco vs. Lorient, 7 a.m.
Angers vs. Strasbourg, 9 a.m.
Brest vs. Troyes, 9 a.m.
Clermont Foot vs. Saint-Etienne, 9 a.m.
Nantes vs. Reims, 9 a.m.
Lens vs. Bordeaux, 11:05 a.m.
Metz vs. Marseille, 2:45 p.m.
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https://www.myjournalcourier.com/sports/article/French-Standings-16832989.php
| 2022-02-04T23:33:24
|
en
| 0.688472
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CINCINNATI (AP) — Cincinnati Bengals tight end C.J. Uzomah missed a second day of practice due to a knee injury suffered in the AFC championship game.
Offensive lineman Jackson Carman has a sore back and also sat out Friday as the Bengals practiced for a second day in the indoor bubble at the University of Cincinnati because of bad weather, according to a pool report.
Uzomah became a clutch receiver for quarterback Joe Burrow this season, and the Bengals hope to get him back for the Super Bowl on Feb. 13. He was carted off with a knee sprain in last Sunday's AFC championship win over Kansas City.
“I don’t anticipate him doing much work this week,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. “The goal really is to see where he’s at this weekend and see where he’s going to be on Monday.”
The Bengals will practice Saturday and Sunday, likely in the bubble with temperatures in the teens and 20s predicted. They'll arrive in Los Angeles on Tuesday, five days ahead of the Super Bowl.
Unlike Thursday, when icy conditions delayed one of the team buses, all the buses made it through the snowy streets of Cincinnati to the UC campus without issue on Friday.
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More AP NFL coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
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https://www.myjournalcourier.com/sports/article/Sprained-knee-sidelines-Bengals-TE-C-J-Uzomah-16832968.php
| 2022-02-04T23:33:55
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| 0.959788
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https://www.dnaindia.com/world/post-letter-to-the-editor-cry-for-help-by-indians-in-south-africa-s-durban-2900785
| 2024-09-22T02:29:59
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en
| 0.941298
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Originally posted on July 25, 2024 @ 9:53 am
Highlights From Dirty Pop: Boy Band Scam
Episode 1
The first episode of Dirty Pop delves into the boy band sensation. We see early clips from the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC, both of whom set the path for nineties and new millennium music. We also get to see footage of Lou Pearlman (with digital footage being digitally altered to generate his voice and synchronize his lips) talking about the pop sensation of this time….a lot of which was said in his book Bands, Brands and Billions.
Lou talks about discovering New Kids on The Block in 1989 and not realizing they were a real band. He was leasing planes at the time for major music act, which included NKOTB. Seeing their success inspired him to put together his own boy bands, thus giving us BSB, NSYNC and more.
AJ McLean recalls BSB’s first song Loverboy that they played at a talent show in 1993 and cringes. Howie Dorough also had the same reaction, but recalls how it was the band’s first experience with having fans.
They both remember how Lou helped them get their start and get their audition for BSB. Both of them saw it as a dream come true at the time. There is also a flashback of Nick Carter and Kevin Richardson, both of whom talk about their audition and how the band came together. Kevin’s cousin Brian Litterall remembers getting the call to join them for the audition, rounding out the band we now know and love.
There is more archive footage of their audition and performance. Howie talks about how Lou was a good salesman with an eye for talent. He also remembers how he would bond with the guys and become a father figure to them, especially Kevin, who had recently lost his own father to cancer in the band’s early days.
A team was put together to help manage the band, arranging tours at schools around the country. This allowed for them to get their names and music out.
Melissa Moylan, who worked for Lou at a TCBY franchise location, would soon become his artist rep. She would meet him and BSB in person on the same day and would soon be working for him for fourteen years, as well as for his transcontinental companies.
Along with BSB, other musicians were making it big, including Snoop Dogg and Nirvana. This meant that they had to put in many hours of hard work while still working around child labor laws that determined how long minors could work pre day.
There is more archive footage of the band practicing and Lou watching them.
Lou talks about his transcontinental company, as does his mother via archive footage. Lou’s friend Marc Piacenza also recalls knowing the Pearlmans and called Mrs. Pearlman ‘everyone’s mom.’ He said that him and Lou were like brothers and that they would often get into misadventures together….even one where Lou forged his driver’s license.
Marc also recalls Lou’s start in the transcontinental business, leading to archive footage of Lou’s career in that field. We also see how he combined his love of the field with the success of his acts, since he would fly them around. Marc also remembers giving up his career as a cop to work for Lou.
Julia Vazquez, Frankie Vazquez Jr’s mom, also shares her memories of Lou and how he helped out the family by investing their money.
More archive footage….including interviews with Lou and the early BSB success. AJ recalls their first single making it big in Germany and how surreal it was to have such success happen so fast. Howie remembers the fame and how they would need security guards even in their early days.
More archive footage and memories of the band’s early success.
We then get into the NSYNC archives and Chris Kirkpatrick offering his memories of starting his career in hopes of making it big. He remembers getting the call about Lou’s offer and knew it was an opportunity he didn’t want to miss.
There is more archive footage and memories of Lou’s first days with NSYNC, giving them ample opportunity to travel, perform and eventually build their band into a mega-success.
BSB also shares their success stories via archive footage while AJ remembers the band exploding into fame worldwide, which included tours, winning awards, meeting fans and the fame that wend along with it.
Chris shares similar memories of their humble beginnings and how they had to work harder than ever to reach the caliber of BSB. They were also touring the world and becoming superstars.
Both bands worked hard despite wanting time to regroup and rest. At the time, they all began considering Lou to be their father figure or ‘Poppa,’ not knowing what was really going on behind the scenes.
Lou talks about the success of the bands and makes a name for himself as the ‘sixth Backstreet Boy.’
Before long, it came to light that while Lou was making millions, the band members and people who worked for him were not. They finally realized what was up and decided to take action…..
Episode 2
Episode two gets into Lou Pearlman’s blimp business, how some crashed and the money he made after the fact.
The boy banders then talk about suing Lou and being conned by him. In the end, the bought Lou out for what AJ said was a decent amount of money. However, Lou would remain a sixth member.
Lou continues to talk about Transcontinental and then gets into his show Making The Band, which brings us O-Town.
Cue archive footage from the beginning of O-Town’s rise to fame, complete with a lot of tension between the guys and Lou.
Erik-Michael Estrada from O-Town recalls getting on the show and the band rising to fame.
More archive footage of the band…..as well as footage of people asking Lou to make them or their family members famous.
There are also several more acts featured, including B4-4, Innosense, Natural and Brooke Hogan….all of whom worked for Lou, all of whom hoped to reach the success of the bands before them.
Michael Johnson of Natural recalls working with Lou and how he claimed to make his dreams come true. He and his band signed with Lou, which worried their families because of his past issues with BSB and NSYNC. The band themselves saw other acts Lou worked with and thought they would reach the same level of success.
Natural began touring and believed that Lou would put them on the map.
Both bands recall meeting famous people through Lou and believed he was setting them up for success.
An interview with Lou regarding the Michael Jackson case is shown, as is some archive footage of MJ and his life.
The bands recall 9/11 and dealing with the aftermath. Lou had helped them travel.
There is discussion of Lou’s personal life….which leads to allegations of abuse. Erik-Michael claimed he never saw anything, but that if there are victims, he feels bad for them and what they went through.
Word soon got out about how Lou was mishandling money from the bands, insurance from the blimp crashes and more. He began facing lawsuits, which led to the discovery that he was using fake financial statements to get out of paying what he owed.
Frankie’s mom recalls her son withdrawing and losing weight during this time, suspecting that he knew more than he was sharing about Lou’s misdealings.
Frankie and Lou would end up fighting over what was going on with the financial dealings…..leading to Frankie dying by suicide. Family and friends blame Lou for his death.
Three months later, things would really take a turn for the worse, with people realizing how horrible Lou’s actions were.
Episode 3
The final episode of Dirty Pop opens with Art Garfunkel wishing Lou a happy 50th birthday. Archive footage is shown from the party, with acts like BSB and Aaron Carter sharing memories.
In the present day, Howie says he had no idea what was really going on behind the scenes.
Erik-Michael watches archive footage of Lou’s interviews and promises of fame. The two of them, along with Chris, talk about how music was changing.
In 2005, Lou made a show called Big In America, which featured a band trying to make it big in, you guessed it, America.
There is even more archive footage from the show, people who worked on it and how people he tried paying off were being written bad checks. People wanted their money and were upset that they weren’t getting what they were owed.
More people are interviewed about Lou’s finances and how he kept screwing people over…..including people who worked closely with him and the Vazquez family.
The nature of Frankie’s death is questioned and if Lou had more to do with it than people initially thought. Nothing was ever proven.
Before long, the FBI is brought in and Lou’s places of work and home were investigated and raided. However, it looked like Lou took everything in a hurry and skipped town. It is believed that someone at Transcontinental ratted him out for running a Ponzi-like scene.
Michael was traveling with Lou at the time and claims that he had no idea what was going on. He just thought they were working together.
Julia, Frankie’s mom, thinks that her son completely fell apart once he realized what was going on with the business and Lou’s shady dealings.
More people talk about being scammed by Lou and how they never got the money they were owed through investments or Lou’s promises.
Lou was running several scams using fake banks, seals, signatures and statements. He would also send fake letters from people, saying that everything was a misunderstanding….one of which was Harry Wilner, who had been dead for years before the scam began.
All the while, people who were close with Lou were either oblivious to his actions or slowly learning that he was a true scam artist.
Michael recalls seeing news about Lou’s scams online while in a business center in Bali, while Lou was right next to him, planning his next scam. At that moment, he knew he had to leave.
During that same visit, other people staying at the same place spotted Lou, leading to his capture and arrest. Michel found out that Lou was using his name and credit card, connecting him to the case.
We see more archive footage from the bands, other victims and the raid of Lou’s houses and places of business and people recall how Lou destroyed people’s lives.
Lou got 25 years in prison, but a month would be reduced for every million dollars he paid back.
People react to Lou’s sentencing, including Michael and Lou’s childhood friend Peter. Michael remembers getting calls from him, being upset that he never copped to what he did and acted like he had some sort of good life in prison.
Peter recalls Lou being taken to the hospital while in prison, where he would eventually die due to health issues. Michael recalls getting the news and how it all became a media circus trying to get his body back to New York.
Those who knew him remember Lou for his actions, but also for the way he put pop music on the map. Others remember him for the good person he was to them, despite his Ponzi-like actions.
Of the $500 million Lou stole, only $10 million has been recovered from his accounts and assets.
Nearly 2000 individuals and families invested with him over 30 years, making it the longest running Ponzi scheme in history.
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https://www.tvgrapevine.com/2024/09/highlights-from-dirty-pop-boy-band-scam/
| 2024-09-22T02:34:37
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| 0.990504
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Originally posted on June 26, 2024 @ 1:06 pm
Magnolia Network July 2024 Schedule
Magnolia Network today unveiled its lineup of cable and streaming premieres for the entire month of July, including a new season of Barnwood Builders (cable) and the streaming premiere of Beachfront Bargain Hunt Renovation eighth season.
The network also announced a new series, BBQ High, that will premiere later this summer. Produced by Hit + Run, this hour-long, six-episode series follows Texas teens during their senior year of high school as they compete in a series of regional BBQ competitions for a shot at winning the state championship and scholarship money. They work to perfect brisket, ribs, chicken and other BBQ dishes all while navigating their senior year and pivotal life decisions. Additionally, new seasons of Where We Call Home and Beachfront Bargain Hunt Renovation will premiere this summer.
New content premiering throughout the month of July is as follows. All information is subject to change:
Friday, July 5
- Beachfront Bargain Hunt Renovation –STREAMING PREMIERE – Buyers achieve the dream of purchasing an affordable vacation home and take on the task of remodeling their property. The family comes together with a little imagination and a lot of muscle to transform their property into the relaxing oasis they’ve always envisioned.
- Season 9 available to stream on Max and discovery+
Thursday, July 11
- Barnwood Builders – CABLE PREMIERE– Mark Bowe and his team of West Virginia skilled craftsmen salvage antique barns and cabins, repurposing the wood to create stunning, modern homes. While giving 200-year-old structures new life, they share the inspiring stories and histories behind them.
- Season 19 premieres on Magnolia Network at 8/7c with new episodes every Thursday
- Season 18 available to stream on Max and discovery+ on Wednesday, July 3
Wednesday, July 17
- A Home Away – STREAMING PREMIERE– Design duo Bryan and Catherine Williamson are taking on their most ambitious project yet by renovating and operating a Queen Anne bed and breakfast in Columbus, Ohio.
- Full season available to stream on Max and discovery+
With more than 700 hours of premium unscripted content from an ever-growing roster of creators spanning home, food, gardening, design, entrepreneurship and the arts, Magnolia Network’s robust programming slate of originals includes the complete Fixer Upper library in addition to Magnolia Table with Joanna Gaines, Fixer Upper: Welcome Home, Homegrown, Ranch to Table, Maine Cabin Masters, Restoration Road with Clint Harp, The Established Home, The Lost Kitchen and more.
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https://www.tvgrapevine.com/2024/09/magnolia-network-july-2024-schedule/
| 2024-09-22T02:34:43
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| 0.942497
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Interviews OMG Fashun Exit Interviews By Sammi Turano on Saturday, September 21, 2024 Originally posted on May 24, 2024 @ 8:02 am Table of Contents Toggle OMG Fashun Exit InterviewsRelated posts: OMG Fashun Exit Interviews GMT20240510-160154_RecordingGMT20240510-161016_Recording Click to rate this post! [Total: 0 Average: 0] Related posts: The Challenge USA Exit Interviews Race to Survive Exit Interviews Cash Cowboys Star Brent Huwa Brings Family Love Back To TV Ian Verdun Talks to TV Grapevine See also Celebrity Spotlight: Brett Cullen Exit Interviews interviews OMG Fashun OMG Fashun Exit Interviews Previous Post Next Post Related Posts Interviews Fashion Designer Kaila Methven talks to TVGrapevine Interviews TVGrapevine talks to Tina Alexis Allen Interviews Ian Verdun Talks to TV Grapevine
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https://www.tvgrapevine.com/2024/09/omg-fashun-exit-interviews/
| 2024-09-22T02:34:49
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Originally posted on January 16, 2024 @ 2:30 pm
OWN Spotlight Sneak Peek
OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network will premiere three all-new OWN Spotlight specials this January featuring the leading ladies from the newly reimagined film The Color Purple: Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks and Fantasia Barrino. In this intimate “OWN Spotlight” series, Oprah Winfrey sits down with the award-winning actresses for a candid conversation to discuss their extraordinary roles in the film as Shug Avery, Sofia and Celie. In each hour-long presentation, the women reflect on the making of the highly anticipated movie, how it changed their lives and what makes this bold new imagining of the timeless tale so powerful.
“OWN Spotlight: Oprah & Taraji P. Henson”
Premieres Saturday, January 6 at 10pm ET/PT
Oprah and Oscar-nominated, Emmy award-winning actress Taraji P. Henson sit down to discuss her role as the sultry Shug Avery in The Color Purple. Taraji shares how she revisited her gift of singing and how the role challenged her to face her fears. She reflects on the sisterhood formed amongst the cast, their deep appreciation to reimagine this iconic film and the lifelong bonds that were formed. She also explains one of her biggest takeaways from the film: forgiveness is always the place where healing lies.
Oprah Winfrey kicks off the three OWN Spotlight specials with Taraji P. Henson.
Photo credit: Harpo / Huy Doan
“OWN Spotlight: Oprah & Fantasia Barrino”
Premieres Saturday, January 13 at 10pm ET/PT
Oprah welcomes Grammy award-winning singer and Golden Globe nominee Fantasia Barrino to talk about her feature film debut as Celie in the reimagining of the classic story and the Broadway musical The Color Purple. In this emotional conversation, Fantasia shares the personal inspiration behind her portrayal and how her character empowered her to heal. Oprah and Fantasia celebrate the sisterhood of the women at the heart of the story and the new dimension to Shug and Celie’s relationship. Fantasia explains how she learned the power of forgiveness through her role and why she believes women, men and families will be healed by watching The Color Purple.
Oprah and actress Fantasia Barrino celebrate the sisterhood at the heart of
The Color Purple’s story. Photo credit: Harpo / Huy Doan
“OWN Spotlight: Oprah & Danielle Brooks”
Premieres Saturday, January 20 at 10pm ET/PT
Sofia, Sofia, Sofia! In the final episode of this three-part series, Oprah sits down with TV, Film, Tony-nominated Broadway star and Golden Globe nominee Danielle Brooks to talk about her role as Sofia in The Color Purple. In this captivating conversation, the pair discuss Danielle’s life-changing trip to Broadway as a teenager, how God prepared her for this role and how her rendition of the song “Hell No” helped her cast out fear and disbelief. In a “passing of the torch” moment, Oprah and Danielle also share what playing Sofia means to them and how it has transformed both of their lives forever.
Oprah and Danielle Brooks discuss their shared experiences playing Sofia from
The Color Purple. Photo credit: Harpo / Huy Doan
OWN Spotlight is produced for OWN by Harpo Productions. The Color Purple is a Harpo Production in association with Warner Bros. Pictures.
About OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network
OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network is the first and only network named for, and inspired by, a single iconic leader. Oprah Winfrey’s heart and creative instincts inform the brand and the magnetism of the channel. OWN is a leading destination for premium scripted and unscripted programming from today’s most innovative storytellers. OWN connects with its audience wherever they are, inspiring conversation among a global community of like-minded viewers on social media and beyond. Launched on January 1, 2011, OWN is a joint venture between Harpo, Inc. and Warner Bros. Discovery. The venture also includes the award-winning digital platform Oprah.com. Access OWN anytime on http://WatchOWN.tv or across mobile devices and connected TVs.
About The Color Purple Movie
Warner Bros. Pictures invites you to experience The Color Purple, a bold new take on the classic story of love and resilience. Directed by Blitz Bazawule, the film is produced by Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Scott Sanders and Quincy Jones. The screenplay is by Marcus Gardley, based on the novel by Alice Walker and the musical stage play, book (of the musical stage play) by Marsha Norman, music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray.
The Color Purple stars Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, Gabriella Wilson “H.E.R.”, Halle Bailey, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, and Fantasia Barrino as Celie in her feature film debut, reprising her 2007 role on Broadway. The film also stars Louis Gossett, Jr., Phylicia Pearl Mpasi, Ciara and Jon Batiste.
Torn apart from her sister Nettie (Bailey) and her children, Celie (Barrino) faces many hardships in her life, including an abusive husband simply called Mister (Domingo). With the support of sultry singer Shug Avery (Henson) and stand-her-ground stepdaughter Sofia (Brooks), Celie ultimately finds extraordinary strength in the unbreakable bonds of a new kind of sisterhood.
Warner Bros. Pictures Presents an Amblin Entertainment Production, A Harpo Films Production, An SGS Pictures Production/A QJP Production, The Color Purple. It is distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures and is in theaters in North America now, and internationally beginning 18 January 2024.
About Warner Bros. Discovery
Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ: WBD) is a leading global media and entertainment company that creates and distributes the world’s most differentiated and complete portfolio of content and brands across television, film and streaming. Available in more than 220 countries and territories and 50 languages, Warner Bros. Discovery inspires, informs and entertains audiences worldwide through its iconic brands and products including: Discovery Channel, discovery+, CNN, DC, Eurosport, HBO, HGTV, Food Network, Investigation Discovery, Magnolia Network, Max, TBS, TLC, TNT, truTV, Travel Channel, MotorTrend, Animal Planet, Science Channel, Warner Bros. Film Group, Warner Bros. Television Group, Warner Bros. Games, New Line Cinema, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies, Discovery en Español, Hogar de HGTV and others. For more information, please visitwww.wbd.com.
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https://www.tvgrapevine.com/2024/09/own-spotlight-sneak-peek/
| 2024-09-22T02:34:55
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| 0.911547
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This year, Questlove showed off his expansive musical knowledge with the release of his book, Hip-Hop Is History. Despite his controversial sonic hot takes, Questlove is undeniably a musicologist.
In 2025, Questlove will flex his award-winning creativity by directing a documentary surrounding the iconic music group, Earth Wind & Fire. Today (September 21), Questlove took to his Instagram to announce the new.
“Coming in 2025…..the definitive story of the elements,” he wrote. “The story of how a band led by a genius from Chicago changed our way of thinking, our minds and our hearts. Having been baptized in the afrocentric joy river of this powerhouse unit, I’ve learned about them, I’ve learned about us & more importantly I’ve learned about and rediscovered myself in the process.”
Although Questlove hasn’t revealed any additional details surrounding the project (including title, release date, creative direction, etc.), he did express his gratitude to be leading the charge. “I’m so excited to be directing a documentary preserving their positive but VERY vulnerable and real story of soul, self & struggle,” he wrote. “This is the story of joy, persistence, love, pain, magic and self discovery. This is Earth, Wind & Fire.”
Back in 2022, Questlove took home the Best Documentary Oscar for Summer Of Soul, so viewers are certainly in for a moving piece.
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https://uproxx.com/music/questlove-direct-earth-wind-and-fire-documentary/
| 2024-09-22T02:35:37
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| 0.960871
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Make sure you don't have any of these recalled Anker power banks which are a fire hazard
Many people will just go into a drug store and pay a ridiculous amount of money for a no-name 5000mAh power bank without giving it a second thought. But phone connoisseurs and enthusiasts will end up buying a power bank from Amazon or other online stores where you can pay the same price as that power bank sold in the drug store costs but it will have two to six times the battery capacity. You should always have a charged-up power bank whenever you go out just in case.
Anker model A1642, the 334 MagGo Battery (PowerCore 10K) has been recalled. | Image credit-Anker
Anker is one of the most well-known manufacturers of power banks and other charging solutions
One of the most popular brands is Anker which sells a wide variety of power banks. If you use an Anker power bank, you need to pay attention now. The company has recalled three power banks because of a potential fire risk. The models include the Anker 334 MagGo Battery (PowerCore 10K), the Anker Power Bank, and the Anker MagGo Power Bank. All three have a manufacturing defect that could result in the lithium-ion batteries overheating which could melt plastic components used in the power bank to become a smoke and fire hazard.
Anker model A1647, the Anker Power Bank. | Image credit-Anker
Anker says that even though only a small number of batteries are affected by the issue (which it says is a batch used in the products from January 3, 2024, to September 17, 2024, it decided to recall the three models "out of an abundance of caution." You can verify whether or not you own one of the recalled power banks by looking at the bottom of any Anker power banks you own for one of these three model names:
- Anker 334 MagGo Battery (PowerCore 10K)-Model number A1642.
- Anker Power Bank-Model number A1647.
- Anker MagGo Power Bank-Model number A1652.
Anker model A 1652, the Anker MagGo Power Bank. | Image credit-Anker
If you discover that you own any of these Anker power banks, store it in a safe location. Do not put the power bank in a garbage or recycling bin. Verify the serial number of your device by tapping on this link. You'll be taken to a page where you need to type in the serial number of your unit in the field marked "Enter your serial number.." The serial number will consist of 16 digits. If your serial number is not 16 digits, it means that your device is okay and is not one of the units being recalled. Serial numbers used by Anker do not include the letters "O" and "I."
How do I get in touch with Anker if I need to talk to someone at the company?
On the other hand, if the serial number of your power bank, which is found on the bottom of the battery, matches the numbers you see when you enter your serial number on the form and press "Check," you must stop using it immediately! If you have any further questions, you can email the company at support@anker.com. If you'd prefer, you can call Anker from the U.S. at 1-800-988-7973. Calls will be answered from Monday through Friday from 6 am to 5 pm PDT (7 am to 8 pm EDT). Or, you can engage in a live chat from Anker's website Monday through Friday from 10 am to 4 pm PDT (1 pm to 7 pm EDT).
Anker says that the problem originated from its previous supplier. The company has changed suppliers and is undergoing a thorough review to make sure this doesn't happen again. The company does want you to know, and this is important, that if your Anker power bank isn't one of the models recalled, "you can continue to use your device with confidence."
Anker adds, "We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this situation may have caused and greatly appreciate your understanding, patience, and cooperation."
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https://www.phonearena.com/news/Make-sure-you-dont-have-any-of-these-recalled-Anker-power-banks-which-are-a-fire-hazard_id162902
| 2024-09-22T02:38:54
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| 0.943271
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SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
In the presidential campaign, Vice President Harris is increasingly leaning into reproductive freedom as a key theme in rallies and in ads. Harris campaigned in Georgia on Friday with a speech fully focused on abortion access, as well as the consequences of abortion bans now in place in nearly two dozen states. NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith was there and joins us now. Hey, Tam.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Hi.
DETROW: So Georgia, obviously a key swing state this year. It is also a state that put in place new abortion restrictions after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Tell us more about why Harris chose to go there this week.
KEITH: Yeah, this was a late addition to her schedule, added because ProPublica ran a story earlier this week about a Georgia mother named Amber Thurman. She had left Georgia to get an abortion because of the restrictions there and was prescribed medication to end her pregnancy. But then after returning home, Thurman experienced complications and she needed a common procedure. But the doctors waited too long to do it and she ended up dying. The procedure is banned in Georgia unless the life of the mother is at risk. And ProPublica reported that a Georgia state medical board has reviewed her death and determined that it could have been prevented. NPR hasn't independently confirmed this reporting, but Harris was in Georgia to say Thurman's name and to bring attention to this story.
DETROW: Connect for us how that event, focusing on that story, fits with the broader campaign messaging that we're seeing from Harris on this topic.
KEITH: She's been delivering this message with urgency really ever since the Supreme Court decision two years ago removed protections for abortion access and threw it to the states. She says women are suffering and even dying unnecessarily because of these state bans, which she calls in her speeches Trump abortion bans. Yesterday, she described this as a health care crisis of former President Donald Trump's creation because he appointed those justices who made it possible to overturn Roe.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: He brags about overturning Roe v. Wade. In his own words, quote, "I did it and I'm proud to have done it," he says. He is proud, proud that women are dying, proud that doctors and nurses could be thrown in prison for administering care.
KEITH: Earlier in the week at an event with Oprah Winfrey, Harris actually met with Thurman's mother and sisters. And it may well have been one of the most emotional moments of this whole campaign.
DETROW: Yeah. Let's talk about the Republican side. What is former President Trump's position on this, and also, how are antiabortion groups responding to this push from Harris?
KEITH: Yeah, those groups responded aggressively this week, saying that Thurman didn't die because of Georgia's abortion ban. They say medication abortion is now just too readily available and that it's putting women at risk. They also blamed Thurman's doctors. At his rally today in North Carolina, Trump said he supports exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. And he made this claim about what would happen if he's elected again.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DONALD TRUMP: Women will be happy, healthy, confident and free. You will no longer be thinking about abortion because it is now where it always had to be, with the states and with the vote of the people.
KEITH: To be clear, since that Supreme Court decision two years ago, abortion has become a much bigger campaign issue than it has been in decades. And polling shows a majority of Americans oppose these restrictive bans.
DETROW: NPR's Tamara Keith. Thanks so much.
KEITH: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
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https://www.kunm.org/2024-09-21/in-georgia-harris-focuses-on-abortion
| 2024-09-22T02:44:42
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| 0.97235
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World
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the Quad summit being hosted by US President Joe Biden in Delaware.
Updated : Sep 22, 2024, 07:55 AM IST
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the Quad summit in the US in the early hours of Sunday, i.e., September 22 (Indian time) and emphasised that the grouping is not against anyone, but for a rules-based international order and respect for sovereignty.
Quad summit, being hosted by US President Joe Biden in his hometown Wilmington, Delaware, brings together four countries -- India, US, Japan and Australia. Prime Minister Modi arrived in the US on Saturday, i.e., September 21, in the first leg of his three-day visit to the country.
During his address, the PM stressed that the summit is being held at a time when the world is surrounded by conflicts.
“Quad Summit is taking place at a time when the world is surrounded by tensions and conflicts. In such a situation, the Quad's working together on the basis of shared democratic values is very important for the entire humanity. We are not against anyone. We all support rules-based international order, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, and peaceful resolution of all issues. Free, open, inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific is our shared priority and shared commitment", he said.
PM Modi continued, "Quad countries have taken many positive and inclusive initiatives in areas like health, security, critical, emerging technologies, climate change and capacity building. "Our message is clear- the QUAD is here to stay, to assist, to partner and to complement. I once again greet President Biden and all my colleagues. We will be happy to organize the Quad Leaders Summit in India in 2025".
PM Modi also held bilateral talks with US President Biden ahead of the summit and discussed regional and global issues.
I thank President Biden for hosting me at his residence in Greenville, Delaware. Our talks were extremely fruitful. We had the opportunity to discuss regional and global issues during the meeting. @JoeBiden pic.twitter.com/WzWW3fudTn
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 21, 2024
"I thank President Biden for hosting me at his residence in Greenville, Delaware. Our talks were extremely fruitful. We had the opportunity to discuss regional and global issues during the meeting", he said in a post on 'X'.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Modi has left for New York, US, to attend UN 'Summit of the Future'. He will also address the Indian diaspora.
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https://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-pm-modi-addresses-quad-summit-holds-bilateral-talks-with-us-president-biden-says-our-talks-were-3108902
| 2024-09-22T02:48:32
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| 0.969923
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SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
In the presidential campaign, Vice President Harris is increasingly leaning into reproductive freedom as a key theme in rallies and in ads. Harris campaigned in Georgia on Friday with a speech fully focused on abortion access, as well as the consequences of abortion bans now in place in nearly two dozen states. NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith was there and joins us now. Hey, Tam.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Hi.
DETROW: So Georgia, obviously a key swing state this year. It is also a state that put in place new abortion restrictions after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Tell us more about why Harris chose to go there this week.
KEITH: Yeah, this was a late addition to her schedule, added because ProPublica ran a story earlier this week about a Georgia mother named Amber Thurman. She had left Georgia to get an abortion because of the restrictions there and was prescribed medication to end her pregnancy. But then after returning home, Thurman experienced complications and she needed a common procedure. But the doctors waited too long to do it and she ended up dying. The procedure is banned in Georgia unless the life of the mother is at risk. And ProPublica reported that a Georgia state medical board has reviewed her death and determined that it could have been prevented. NPR hasn't independently confirmed this reporting, but Harris was in Georgia to say Thurman's name and to bring attention to this story.
DETROW: Connect for us how that event, focusing on that story, fits with the broader campaign messaging that we're seeing from Harris on this topic.
KEITH: She's been delivering this message with urgency really ever since the Supreme Court decision two years ago removed protections for abortion access and threw it to the states. She says women are suffering and even dying unnecessarily because of these state bans, which she calls in her speeches Trump abortion bans. Yesterday, she described this as a health care crisis of former President Donald Trump's creation because he appointed those justices who made it possible to overturn Roe.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: He brags about overturning Roe v. Wade. In his own words, quote, "I did it and I'm proud to have done it," he says. He is proud, proud that women are dying, proud that doctors and nurses could be thrown in prison for administering care.
KEITH: Earlier in the week at an event with Oprah Winfrey, Harris actually met with Thurman's mother and sisters. And it may well have been one of the most emotional moments of this whole campaign.
DETROW: Yeah. Let's talk about the Republican side. What is former President Trump's position on this, and also, how are antiabortion groups responding to this push from Harris?
KEITH: Yeah, those groups responded aggressively this week, saying that Thurman didn't die because of Georgia's abortion ban. They say medication abortion is now just too readily available and that it's putting women at risk. They also blamed Thurman's doctors. At his rally today in North Carolina, Trump said he supports exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. And he made this claim about what would happen if he's elected again.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DONALD TRUMP: Women will be happy, healthy, confident and free. You will no longer be thinking about abortion because it is now where it always had to be, with the states and with the vote of the people.
KEITH: To be clear, since that Supreme Court decision two years ago, abortion has become a much bigger campaign issue than it has been in decades. And polling shows a majority of Americans oppose these restrictive bans.
DETROW: NPR's Tamara Keith. Thanks so much.
KEITH: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
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https://www.publicradiotulsa.org/2024-09-21/in-georgia-harris-focuses-on-abortion
| 2024-09-22T02:49:05
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en
| 0.97235
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This week some of the stars of the political drama The West Wing celebrated the series’ 25th anniversary, and they couldn’t have scored a better venue.
In a small ceremony held in the Rose Garden at the White House on Friday, first lady Jill Biden welcomed the cast and creator who brought the fictional president Jed Bartlet and his administration to the small screen.
The event began with a short address by the first lady, who passed along a message of welcome from President Biden, who is hosting a diplomatic summit at his home in Wilmington.
“Even though Joe is away hosting leaders of Australia and India and Japan in Delaware, he wanted to make sure that President Bartlet and his staff had a chance to see the oval office again,” she said.
“I’m so grateful to everyone on stage for taking the time to be here because your work inspired so many to step forward and serve our country.”
The first lady was followed by President Bartlet himself, or rather the actor who played him, Martin Sheen, who passionately recited from a poem by the poet Rabindranath Tagore, which conveyed patriotic themes:
"Where the heart is without fear,
And the head is held high
where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depths of truth
And tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sands of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever widening thought and action into that heaven of freedom
Dear father
Let our country awake."
In addition to Sheen, actors Richard Schiff, Dulé Hill, Janel Moloney, Emily Procter, Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack were in attendance, as was director and executive producer Thomas Schlamme, according to the White House.
So too was West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin, who closed out the ceremony, saying his show about a principled fictional U.S. president was “idealistic, aspirational and romantic.”
“Over the years, I've noticed that during times of peak political tension, pundits will warn us not to expect a ‘West Wing moment,’” said Sorkin. “They mean not to expect a selfless act of statesmanship. Not to expect anyone to put country first. Don't expect anyone to swing for the fences or reach for the stars.”
However, Sorkin went on to say that “West Wing moments” sometimes do happen.
“We saw proof of that on the morning of July 21,” Sorkin said, referencing the day that President Biden announced his decision not to run for a second term.
“That was the kind of thing we tell stories about.”
Copyright 2024 NPR
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https://www.publicradiotulsa.org/npr-national-news/2024-09-21/the-west-wing-cast-visited-the-white-house-to-celebrate-the-shows-25th-anniversary
| 2024-09-22T02:49:11
|
en
| 0.979396
|
In the end, London Jemison couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be in an offense that seemed tailor made for his particular skill set, picking Alabama over Kansas and Louisville on Saturday.
2025 Rankings: Rivals150 | Team | Position
2026 Rankings: Rivals150
Transfer Portal: Full coverage | Player ranking | Transfer tracker | Player search
“I chose Alabama to win basketball games and maximize my upside,” Jemison said. “Coach (Nate) Oats has had proven success developing talent—especially players with my physical makeup and shooting gravity. I’ve grown close with the entire staff throughout the recruiting process and I’m excited to be joining the program and helping continue its success.”
The versatile 6-foot-7 forward was a productive force all summer for Expressions Elite in the Nike EYBL, averaging 13.1 points. 4.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists a game.
His turning point of the summer came during the NBPA Top 100 Camp where he had consistent dominant showing against the country’s top prospects, regardless of shoe affiliation.
Jemison’s ability to impact the game in a multifaceted way is his greatest strength, using his elite footwork to out-maneuver more stationary bigs in the paint and his motor to clean up the glass on both ends of the floor.
His ability to space the floor and efficiently knock down shots from the perimeter makes him a headache of a defensive assignment for opposing bigs and he’s capable of defending all five positions on the floor.
Those attributes have a proven track record in Nate Oats’ system which thrives on pace and spacing.
Think Herb Jones and how productive he was as a utility forward who could facilitate, defend and get a bucket whenever it was needed. Jemison could potentially have a similar impact in time.
He joins Ashwaubenon (Green Bay, Wis.) wing Amari Allen to form Oats’ 2025 haul thus far.
|
https://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/news/london-jemison-is-off-the-board-to-alabama
| 2024-09-22T03:05:11
|
en
| 0.959169
|
KERRVILLE, Texas, Sept. 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- James Avery Artisan Jewelry, a family-owned jewelry retailer based in Texas, is excited to announce the opening of its new store at Wynnewood Village in Dallas. The new store is located at 655 West Illinois, Suite 606, Dallas, TX 75224.
"We're thrilled to bring our jewelry closer to the residents of South Dallas," said James Avery CEO John McCullough. "Wynnewood Village is a historic outdoor shopping center, and we're honored to be part of its growth and renewal. This new location will provide greater convenience for our customers south of downtown, making it easier for them to shop our artisan designs in person."
The new store opens today, and visitors are invited to register for a gift card giveaway. During the grand opening celebration on Saturday, September 28, there will be drawings for 30 James Avery gift cards valued at $50, $100 and $500. Additionally, the first 100 guests will receive a gift with purchase.
The store's hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday, 12 to 6 p.m. Customers will also be able to use convenient services such as Buy Online Pickup in Store at JamesAvery.com.
"We recently launched our new fall collection featuring seasonal designs, classic James Avery pieces, as well as a stained-glass inspired Enamel Virgin of Guadalupe Charm, which is already a customer-favorite," said Store Manager Anthony Moreno. "The new collection is filled with sweet and thoughtful gift ideas as the holiday season approaches."
About James Avery Artisan Jewelry®– James Avery is a vertically integrated, family-owned company located in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. We offer finely crafted jewelry designs for men and women in sterling silver, 14K and 18K gold, bronze and gemstones. James Avery jewelry is designed in the Texas Hill Country, with more than 90 percent of our pieces crafted in Kerrville, Comfort, Hondo and Corpus Christi, Texas using the finest materials sourced worldwide. We are a multi-channel retailer with over 130 James Avery stores in four states. Our jewelry is also available at JamesAvery.com, over 250 Dillard's locations and at Dillards.com and at 37 Von Maur locations and VonMaur.com. You can also find our designs at airport stores in Houston and Nashville, as well as select Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) locations.
Follow us @jamesavery on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, as well as @jamesaveryjewelry on TikTok for new releases, trends and behind the scenes.
Drawing Details
Odds of winning depend on total number of entries received. Thirty James Avery gift cards will be awarded: twenty-four $50 gift cards, three $100 gift cards, and three $500 gift cards. Entries accepted September 21 through September 28. Hourly drawings on September 28 between 11:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. during the Grand Opening Celebration at the Wynnewood Village James Avery Artisan Jewelry store. No purchase necessary. Must be at least 13 years old to enter. Only one entry per person per day. Winners not eligible to win a subsequent gift card in the same promotion. Winners need not be present to win; however, if prize is not claimed within 14 days of drawing, prize will be awarded to an alternate winner. Associates and immediate family members not eligible for this gift promotion.
SOURCE James Avery Artisan Jewelry
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https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/james-avery-artisan-jewelry-opens-new-store-at-historic-wynnewood-302254855.html
| 2024-09-22T03:08:11
|
en
| 0.948774
|
The Steelers placed tackle Troy Fautanu on the Reserve/Injured List.
Fautanu, the team's No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, suffered a knee injury during the preseason opener, missing the rest of the preseason. He started last week against the Denver Broncos but landed back on the injury report on Friday.
With Fautanu out, tackle Broderick Jones said on Friday he will be ready to go on Sunday against the Chargers.
"I'll be all right. I have been here before," said Jones. "I just have to get out there and do it if my name is called."
It was intended for Jones and Fautanu to rotate series against the Broncos last week, but after Jones committed three penalties in six plays, he was pulled for Fautanu.
Jones said he feels confident that all is good.
"I feel like I got better this week during practice for the most part," said Jones. "I've just got to continue to just stay upright because it's a long season, and we're always trying to just take care of the body as much as possible. Then, just being available."
The Steelers also elevated offensive lineman John Leglue from the practice squad to the Active/Inactive Roster for the game.
Leglue returned to the Steelers practice squad this year after spending the 2023 season with the Atlanta Falcons.
Leglue was first signed to the Steelers practice squad in 2020, spending two seasons with the team and appeared in six games in 2021.
He entered the NFL as an undrafted rookie free agent, signing with the Denver Broncos following the 2019 NFL Draft. He was released by the Broncos following the 2019 training camp and was signed to the New Orleans Saints practice squad. The Green Bay Packers signed Leglue off the Saints practice squad in 2019. He also spent time with the Tennessee Titans.
Bringing you the action: For fans who don't want to miss any of the action, NFL+ is here, which means you can now watch the Steelers live and on the go! Watch live local and primetime regular season games on mobile, plus NFL RedZone, NFL Network, live audio and more - all in one place.
|
https://www.steelers.com/news/fautanu-placed-on-reserve-injured-list
| 2024-09-22T03:12:31
|
en
| 0.979999
|
This week's Classic Jurassic Meat-Eater Matchup brings a double-edged sword of twin pass rushers for the Los Angeles Chargers into Acrisure Stadium.
Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa are a pair of masters of disaster in their own right. Bosa checks in at 6-foot-5, 280 pounds and he's lean and mean. Holding up the other edge of the pass rush is another raptor-like QB hunter in Khalil Mack. Together they represent power and speed to chase down any opposing quarterback
The pair of Mack and Bosa combined, have totaled 168.5 career sacks together, and to top it off, they could mix things up and bring a familiar face in former Steelers OLB Bud Dupree (not to mention rising second-year player Tuli Tuipulotu). The Chargers will use Dupree much like the Steelers insert Nick Herbig into the lineup, either in relief, or in a 3-outside linebacker package.
Mack, standing 6-foot-3, 270 pounds and a three-helmet guy to this point, had perhaps his best season last year, putting up a career-best 17 QB sacks tying the Chargers' single-season mark. He also blew by the 100-sack milestone to total 103 career sacks.
Bosa, in his 9th year, all with the Chargers, is coming off an injury filled 2023 season, in which he had 6.5 sacks in 9 games.
Bosa is long, and twitchy. He has good snap anticipation and likes to get up the field. Using his long arm length, he will look to run the arc, choosing to use hand traps and long arm stabs as primary weapons of rush. Bosa also has the capability of using an effective arm-over, or swim move to the inside as a changeup if an OT oversets.
But just rushing the passer isn't the only thing he does well. Bosa is strong enough to set a formidable edge versus the run. With his arm length and a good lockout, he's more than capable of turning the wide zone into a cutback while holding the point. And when the run goes the way of his counterpoint edge setter, Bosa will squeeze to the ball or just flat out crash from the backside.
Mack also runs the arc, though he seems to throw in more bull rushes than Bosa. Mack will use a cross-hand chop, trying to knock down the outside arm of the OT, and use that to set up a spin that, I must say, isn't in the same caliber as Alex Highsmith's whirly bird.
Mack sets a strong edge as well, and similar to Bosa will on the backside of a run, squeeze his gap assignment to the ball. Though in his 11th year, Mack is speedy enough to rush the passer, yet quick enough to sprint to the ball, getting in on a tackle in the flats in the same play.
There's no doubt the combination of Bosa and Mack, along with Dupree, bring a lot of pass rushing and quarterback-hunting capabilities to Acrisure Stadium.
And, as they will switch sides, rather than just lining up on one side or the other, both offensive tackles for the Steelers will see them throughout the afternoon.
This game could well be determined by the edge rushers from both teams. It makes for a challenging, yet exciting, afternoon. It's a matchup that a home crowd at Acrisure, loud and deafening, can help the hometown pass rush by drowning out the snap count.
What say you, Steelers fans? Are you ready for some football?
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https://www.steelers.com/news/meat-eater-matchup-steelers-vs-chargers-week-3
| 2024-09-22T03:12:37
|
en
| 0.966724
|
The Steelers elevated offensive lineman John Leglue and cornerback James Pierre from the practice squad to the Active/Inactive Roster for Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Chargers at Acrisure Stadium. Leglue and Pierre will revert back to the practice squad after the game.
Leglue returned to the Steelers practice squad this year after spending the 2023 season with the Atlanta Falcons.
Leglue was first signed to the Steelers practice squad in 2020, spending two seasons with the team and appearing in six games in 2021.
He entered the NFL as an undrafted rookie free agent, signing with the Denver Broncos following the 2019 NFL Draft. He was released by the Broncos following the 2019 training camp and was signed to the New Orleans Saints practice squad. The Green Bay Packers signed Leglue off the Saints practice squad in 2019. He also spent time with the Tennessee Titans.
Pierre was originally signed by the Steelers as an undrafted free agent following the 2020 NFL Draft out of Florida Atlantic. He has played in 66 career games, with six starts in three seasons. He has recorded 59 tackles, including 52 solo stops, eight passes defensed, two interceptions and a forced fumble. He also has 35 special teams tackles.
Pierre saw action in 16 games in 2023, mainly on special teams. He had seven special teams tackles, five of them solo stops.
Pierre appeared in 17 games in 2022, starting two of them. He finished the year with 20 tackles, including 16 solo stops, had four passes defensed and an interception against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 12.
In 2021, Pierre played in 17 games with four starts. He recorded 37 tackles, 34 of them solo stops, and had one interception.
He made the initial 53-man roster his rookie season and played in all 16 games.
Pierre signed with the Washington Commanders this past offseason, but was released before the start of the regular season.
Pierre played at Florida Atlantic, where he played in 39 games with 120 tackles, including 80 solo stops, eight and a half tackles for a loss and three interceptions.
Bringing you the action: For fans who don't want to miss any of the action, NFL+ is here, which means you can now watch the Steelers live and on the go! Watch live local and primetime regular season games on mobile, plus NFL RedZone, NFL Network, live audio and more - all in one place.
|
https://www.steelers.com/news/steelers-elevate-two-for-chargers-game
| 2024-09-22T03:12:43
|
en
| 0.981562
|
In four seasons with the Ravens, Queen started all 67 games. He had three seasons with more than 100 tackles, while also recording 13.5 sacks, four interceptions, 15 pass defenses and five forced fumbles.
But after trading for another former first-round pick at linebacker in Roquan Smith at the deadline in 2022, the Ravens chose not to pick up Queen's fifth-year option.
He responded by posting his best season in 2023, earning second-team All-Pro honors.
And when he became available in free agency, the Steelers were only too happy to acquire his services, making him a priority.
"Pat's a unique guy in that he has both youth and experience," Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said in the offseason when the Steelers acquired Queen. "This guy's been in the league for years, hasn't missed a game. And he's 24-and-a-half years old. And so, obviously, we're extremely familiar with him and his skill set and talent level. Excited about it. He's an all-situations guy. He's good versus run. He's good in coverage. He's a good blitzer. We're just really excited about having a guy of his caliber that brings that unique combination of youth and experience."
It's shown early, as Queen hasn't missed a defensive snap in the team's first two games, both victories on the road.
Sunday, Queen will make his regular season home debut for the Steelers when they host the Chargers.
Queen has won a championship in high school. He's won one in college. He desperately wants to add an NFL title to his resume.
"We need that N0. 7. We need it ASAP," Queen said. "That's the plan. Hopefully, we have that. It's another chance to try to be great, another chance to try to be on top. I think we've got the team to do it. I can't wait to try."
It would be the crowning moment in his career, one his father envisioned for him so many years ago.
All of that hard work, all of those training sessions, all of the arguing, it would all have been worth it.
In fact, that already has been the case.
"Heated," Queen called those sessions. Argument after argument, just pushing me. To this day, it has made me who I am. We always talk about it, how if we could go back, he would change stuff and I would change stuff. But at the end of the day, we're here now. Everything worked out the way it was supposed to, and I couldn't thank him more."
|
https://www.steelers.com/news/steelers-patrick-queen-destiny-apparent-at-an-early-age-nfl-lsu
| 2024-09-22T03:12:49
|
en
| 0.99271
|
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https://www.tayyar.org/News/World/625101/%D8%B3%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%8A-%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%88%D8%B2--%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%AF%D9%85%D8%A9-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%82----%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D9%8A%D8%B4-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A--%D9%8A%D8%B9%D8%AA%D8%B1%D8%B6-%D8%A3%D9%87%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%A7-%D8%AC%D9%88%D9%8A%D8%A9
| 2024-09-22T03:30:34
|
en
| 0.94178
|
The move marked the first time Israel has ever shuttered a foreign news outlet operating in the country. However, Al Jazeera has continued operating in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, territories that the Palestinians hope to have for their future state.
There was no immediate acknowledgement of the shutdown by Israeli forces. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. Al Jazeera denounced the move as it continued broadcasting live from Amman in neighboring Jordan.
Israeli troops entered the office and told a reporter live on air it would be shut for 45 days, saying that staff needed to leave immediately. The network later aired what appeared to be Israel troops tearing down a banner on a balcony used by the Al Jazeera office. Al Jazeera said it bore an image of Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist shot dead by Israeli forces in May 2022.
“There is a court ruling for closing down Al Jazeera for 45 days,” an Israeli soldier told Al Jazeera’s local bureau chief, Walid al-Omari, in the live footage. “I ask you to take all the cameras and leave the office at this moment.”
Al-Omari later said that Israeli troops began confiscating documents and equipment in the bureau, as tear gas and gunshots could be seen and heard in the area.
The Palestinians secured limited self-rule in Gaza and parts of the occupied West Bank through the 1993 Oslo agreements. While Israel occupies and controls vast areas of the West Bank, Ramallah is under full Palestinian political and security control, making the Israeli raid on the Al Jazeera office that much more surprising.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate denounced the Israeli raid and order.
“This arbitrary military decision is a new aggression against journalistic work and media outlets," it said.
The network has reported on the Israeli-Hamas war nonstop since the militants’ initial cross-border attack on Oct. 7 and has maintained 24-hour coverage in the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s grinding ground offensive that has killed and wounded members of its staff. It remains unclear whether the Israeli military would target Al Jazeera's operation in Gaza as well.
While including on-the-ground reporting of the war’s casualties, Al Jazeera's Arabic arm often publishes verbatim video statements from Hamas and other regional militant groups.
That has led to Israeli claims by officials up to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the network has "harmed Israel's security and incited against soldiers." Those claims have been vehemently denied by Al Jazeera, whose main funder, Qatar, has been key in negotiations between Israel and Hamas to reach a cease-fire to end the war.
An order closing Al Jazeera in Israel has been repeatedly renewed in the time since, but it hadn't as of yet ordered the Ramallah offices closed.
The war began when Hamas-led fighters killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in an Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. They abducted another 250 people and are still holding around 100 hostages. Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed at least 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between fighters and civilians.
The closure of Al Jazeera's Ramallah office also comes as tensions continue to rise over a possible expansion of the war to Lebanon, where electronic devices exploded last week in a likely sabotage campaign by Israel targeting the Shiite militia Hezbollah.
The explosions Tuesday and Wednesday killed at least 37 people — including two children — and wounded around 3,000 others.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
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https://www.journal-news.com/nation-world/israel-raids-and-shuts-down-al-jazeeras-bureau-in-ramallah-in-the-west-bank/FGB7VEM5IVEW3L7GGZEJRAR3PM/
| 2024-09-22T03:35:44
|
en
| 0.967288
|
Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner with four career wins at the track in Bristol, Tennessee, was never really worried and finished fourth.
“My aspiration was winning,” Hamlin said. “It's as good as what we've been here the last couple times. It's all offense from this point forward.”
Burton, who used a surprise win at Daytona last month to qualify for the playoffs in the final few weeks before he loses his seat with Wood Brothers Racing, was doubtful to recover enough to advance and finished 35th. Keselowski, the 2012 Cup champion, and 2017 champion Truex had a better shot at salvaging their playoffs but both came up empty.
Truex was penalized for speeding on pit road, taking him out of contention to advance, and Keselowski just didn't have the pace. Joe Gibbs Racing also had two of its four cars eliminated from the playoffs as Ty Gibbs was also penalized for speeding.
Keselowski finished 26th.
“Didn't have the pace we wanted. We ran as hard as we could, there just wasn't anything there,” Keselowski said. “Just gotta be faster.”
Truex is retiring from full-time racing at the end of the season.
“That kind of screws up your whole season,” Truex said of the speeding penalty. “It's on me. It was my mistake. Just really sad for my guys. We had a really good car. I hate I screwed it up, would have at least tried to see what we could do.”
Larson, meanwhile, led 462 of 500 laps, the most since Cale Yarborough led 495 laps in 1977. Larson's laps led is the most ever by a Hendrick Motorsports driver and marked the fifth win of the season for the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet.
He led all but 38 laps at Bristol.
It's an impressive stat considering the Hendrick team has fielded cars for Hall of Fame drivers Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Terry Labonte and Dale Earnhardt Jr., among others.
“That's pretty awesome because there's been some legendary Hall of Famers race for Hendrick Motorsports, and we've all grown up watching Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson dominate,” Larson said. “So pretty cool to get my name on another record at Hendrick Motorsports.”
Daniel Suarez, who finished four laps down in 31st, squeezed out the final spot into the second round of the playoffs by 11 points over Gibbs.
Also advancing were Chase Elliott, who finished second, Christopher Bell, who finished fifth, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe, William Byron, Austin Cindric and Alex Bowman.
Hendrick's entire four-car Chevrolet lineup advanced, as did all three Ford drivers from Team Penske. But Toyota lost a pair of JGR entries, and Ford lost two cars in Keselowski and Burton.
LaJoie's final ride
Corey LaJoie had already been told by Spire Motorsports it was not bringing him back next year, which gave him the rest of this season to finish out strong.
Then Spire threw him a lifeline with an unusual driver swap with Rick Ware Racing that will move Justin Haley into the Spire No. 7. LaJoie will replace Haley at RWR starting next week at Kansas Speedway.
While Haley's deal guarantees him the seat in 2025, LaJoie will have to earn the RWR ride. But in the meantime, he wanted one final good finish with Spire. He qualified ninth and was running 11th when he was involved in a crash that essentially ended his career with Spire.
Up next
NASCAR opens the second round of the playoffs at Kansas Speedway, where Tyler Reddick won last fall and Larson won in May. Bell takes a six-point lead over Larson into Kansas.
___
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
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Credit: AP
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https://www.journal-news.com/nation-world/kyle-larson-wins-at-bristol-as-2-former-nascar-champions-eliminated-from-playoffs/FHTVNQGSBNBFTPY3G3KRQQ4C4Q/
| 2024-09-22T03:35:50
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en
| 0.983858
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“Embarrassing day, shocking day,” Brown said. “You shouldn’t be at North Carolina and lose to a Group of Five team, period. There are no excuses. Our defense looked awful. We had communication problems, we had missed tackles. We had guys wide open for a touchdown.”
Alonza Barnett III threw five touchdown passes in the Dukes' quick-strike offense to give first-year coach Bob Chesney a signature victory over an Atlantic Coast Conference team.
“It can only come back to one person and that’s me," said the 73-year-old Brown, who won a national title at Texas and is in his second stint at UNC. “I’ve hired everybody on this staff and signed every player on this team. I am at fault 100 percent. I got big shoulders, and I’m embarrassed for our whole program that we would put a product like that on the field.”
Barnett threw for 388 yards with no interceptions while also running for 99 yards and two scores for the Dukes (3-0), who had five first-half touchdown drives — four going for five plays or less and three taking less than 35 seconds.
James Madison had TDs on offense, defense and special teams in its first victory over North Carolina in four meetings, with its 70 points matching the most ever allowed by the Tar Heels (3-1) in any game as well as the most for JMU against a Bowl Subdivision opponent.
The Dukes, who started their now-completed transition to FBS in 2022 and were picked second in their Sun Belt Conference division this season, surpassed their previous-best total against a power-conference foe (36 against Virginia last year) midway through the second quarter. That came on a 39-yard TD pass to Taylor Thompson by Barnett, whose seven touchdowns through the air and on the ground accounted for a school record.
“We never stopped believing in our players, they never stopped believing in themselves, and we knew we could win,” Chesney said. “We played harder, we played more disciplined, and we played together and that’s, you know, what I’m most proud of.”
The Tar Heels (3-1) yielded a school-record 53 points during a sloppy first half with four turnovers. The bright spots were quarterback Jacolby Criswell, who threw for 475 yards and three touchdowns in his second career start, and running back Omarion Hampton, who rushed for three TDs and 139 yards.
James Madison trailed for less than a minute during the game and relied on defense and special teams to take an 11-0 lead in the opening five minutes.
After a career-long 50-yard field goal by Noe Ruelas, cornerback Terrence Spence made his seventh career punt block, which was recovered by Jayden Mines for a 14-yard touchdown. Spence also had two first-half interceptions, returning the second 33 yards for a touchdown that put JMU ahead 53-21 at halftime.
The takeaway
James Madison: The Dukes’ offense (which managed 13 points against Gardner-Webb) awoke with an aggressive game plan by Chesney, who called a flea-flicker and an onside kick to stay unbeaten since arriving from Holy Cross this season to replace Curt Cignetti (who left for Indiana).
“I did not want to go back home trying to sleep at night saying, ‘I wish I was more aggressive,’” Chesney said. “I’ve lived that life before, and I don’t want to live that life again. So our aggressiveness will continue.”
North Carolina: The Tar Heels were booed off the field at halftime of a blowout loss that negated the promise of their third consecutive 3-0 start (for the first time since 1979-81).
A home run
Barnett, a native of Whitsett, North Carolina, enjoyed the game of his life with several family members in attendance.
“It’s surreal and crazy how things work out,” he said. “I don’t think that was an accident. That was destined.”
Up next
James Madison: The Dukes wrap up their nonconference schedule at home against Ball State on Saturday.
North Carolina: The Tar Heels will open Atlantic Coast Conference play at Duke on Saturday.
___
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https://www.journal-news.com/nation-world/north-carolina-coach-mack-brown-says-embarrasing-70-50-loss-to-james-madison-is-his-fault/CJ3YMTO3JNFKXFIVLFSOF7PJSE/
| 2024-09-22T03:35:56
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| 0.980628
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Ramírez scored six minutes into the second half for a 2-0 lead. Max Arfsten notched his eighth assist and Aziel Jackson snagged his second on Ramírez's eighth goal of the season.
Hernández gave the Crew a three-goal lead in the 71st minute with his 15th goal this season — one off his career high set a year ago. Arfsten and Jackson added to their assist totals on the score.
Ramiro Enrique's fifth goal of the campaign was unassisted and came in the 74th minute to get Orlando City (12-11-7) on the scoreboard.
Luis Muriel scored on a penalty kick in the 78th minute after Iván Angulo drew a foul on the Crew's Yaw Yeboah to make it 3-2.
Columbus regained a two-goal advantage in the 85th minute when Jackson took a pass from Cucho and scored for the first time this season. Jackson has made five appearances with the Crew since coming over from St. Louis City, where he had one assist in 16 appearances. Cucho's assist was his 12th.
Muriel added his fifth goal of the season when he found the net in the seventh minute of stoppage time to complete the scoring.
Patrick Schulte totaled one save in goal for the Crew.
Pedro Gallese stopped one shot for Orlando City.
The Crew travel to play D.C. United on Saturday. Orlando City travels to play FC Dallas on Saturday.
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https://www.journal-news.com/news/ohio/cucho-hernandez-has-goal-assist-after-subbing-in-as-crew-hold-on-for-4-3-victory-over-orlando-city/BLCH2YS42FDPZL54DUTG7ODPH4/
| 2024-09-22T03:36:02
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| 0.978706
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“This is awesome just to see the joy,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “The result of tonight's game, it matters, but at the end of the day, we need to celebrate this. Any time you get the chance, you win the division, you've got to enjoy every second of it.”
Miles Mikolas (9-11) allowed one run on four hits in six innings to earn his first win since July 21 when he beat the Braves in Atlanta. He was 0-3 with a 6.80 ERA in his previous nine starts.
“It's a really good ball club,” Mikolas said. “They like to swing the bat, so you want to jump on top, get ahead early, do your best to keep them off balance and play some great defense out there today.”
Ryan Helsley pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his 46th save in 50 chances to tie Guardians reliever Emmanuel Clase for the major league lead.
“He's been incredible, and he's taken the ball every time,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “In a series like this against these guys, it's a race to your ninth inning guy. He did a really nice job of showing that he's one of the best closers in the game.”
Matthew Boyd (2-2) allowed two runs on four hits and three walks and struck out six before being pulled after throwing 88 pitches in four innings.
Andrés Giménez hit an RBI double off Matthew Liberatore after Ramírez hit his 37th home run of the season off JoJo Romero earlier in the eighth inning to cut the Cardinals’ lead to 6-5.
Herrera hit his fourth home run of the season off Nick Sandlin in the seventh after Masyn Winn scored on a rocket that bounced off Guardians first baseman Josh Naylor’s glove for an error to give St. Louis a 6-1 lead.
“I was looking for the fastball first pitch, and I swung at it but I barely saw it,” Herrera said. “Then I saw him shaking, saying no, and I was like he's going to throw a starter because that's his pitch. I just sat on the slider.”
Bo Naylor hit his 13th homer of the season into the right field bullpen to cut Cleveland’s deficit to 2-1 in the fifth.
Walker hit his fifth home run of the season to left field in the fourth inning to put St. Louis ahead 2-0.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cardinals: Placed RHP Sonny Gray (right flexor tendinitis) on the 15-day injured list and recalled RHP Kyle Leahy from Triple-A Memphis. Gray said he would have been able to keep pitching if the Cardinals had not been mathematically eliminated from postseason contention Friday night.
UP NEXT
Guardians RHP Gavin Williams (3-10, 5.12 ERA) will face Cardinals RHP Andre Pallante in St. Louis’ home finale on Sunday.
___
This story has been updated to correct the spelling of the Cleveland manager’s first name to Stephen, instead of Steven.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
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https://www.journal-news.com/news/ohio/herrera-and-walker-homer-cardinals-beat-guardians-6-5-after-cleveland-had-clinched-division/5EHDW2HUDNGH7CQKPY3757GEPY/
| 2024-09-22T03:36:09
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| 0.977191
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Le’Veon Moss fumbled with about 90 seconds left and Bowling Green (1-2) cut the lead to six on a 23-yard field goal by Jackson Kleather with 38 seconds to go. But the Aggies recovered Bowling Green’s onside kick after that to secure the victory.
Bowling Green got within three on a TD late in the third quarter before Randy Bond added two field goals for Texas A&M (3-1) in the fourth that extended the lead to 26-17.
Takeaways
Bowling Green: Though they came up short both times, the Falcons have given two ranked teams a tough time this season after a 34-27 loss at then-No. 8 Penn State in their last game. Tight end Harold Fannin Jr. continues to shine early this season and has 349 yards receiving in three games after a 65-yard TD reception and 145 yards receiving Saturday night.
Texas A&M: Reed, who was 16 of 29, will need to be more accurate and the Aggies must find a way to limit big plays on defense if they hope to stay on the winning track when they return to Southeastern Conference play next week.
Key moment
Bowling Green blocked a punt after cutting the lead to three on a score by Rahkeem Smith on a 40-yard reverse. The Falcons got the ball on the A&M 8 but couldn’t move the ball before Kleather missed a 28-yard field goal that would have tied it late in the third quarter.
Key stat
The Aggies, who entered the game ranked ninth in the nation in yards rushing per game, had 235 yards rushing Saturday night.
Up next
Bowling Green hosts Old Dominion and Texas A&M plays Arkansas in Arlington, Texas next Saturday.
___
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https://www.journal-news.com/news/ohio/reed-throws-two-td-passes-to-help-no-25-texas-am-outlast-bowling-green-26-20/AOOAIGLMSZHVLLLSTO3NINWECA/
| 2024-09-22T03:36:15
|
en
| 0.969213
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