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PITTSBURGH — Day 11 of the trial against Robert Bowers, the man accused of shooting and killing 11 worshippers at a Squirrel Hill synagogue, continues today with more witnesses taking the stand.
On Tuesday, the jury heard from white supremacy and terrorism experts who reviewed Bowers’ Gab posts, communications with police, and selfies on his phone.
PITTSBURGH SYNAGOGUE SHOOTING TRIAL: FULL COVERAGE ⇒
Warning: the details coming out of this trial are difficult to hear and may be upsetting to some.
If you or someone you know is experiencing mental health effects from the trial, go to 1027healingpartnership.org to find help resources. As always, call 911 to report threats.
- Phone: 412-697-3534
- Email: info@1027HealingPartnership.org
- Web: 1027healingpartnership.org
We have a team of reporters inside the courthouse and have live updates throughout the day.
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©2023 Cox Media Group | https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-day-11/7J3J3KJKP5EMHNTYPZWMHFHVPA/ | 2023-06-14T13:58:58 | 0 | https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-day-11/7J3J3KJKP5EMHNTYPZWMHFHVPA/ |
A woman is being charged after police say an argument at a gas station led to gunfire in an Allegheny County community.
Freedom Brown, 41, is facing charges of terroristic threats and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault after an Allegheny County police investigation into shots fired in Tarentum around 2:45 a.m. Monday.
A person told police there was an argument at the Marathon gas station during which Brown made threats, according to court documents. Video surveillance shows two people walking in the area of E. Fifth Avenue and Corbett Street when an SUV pulled up and two males get out. Brown points in the direction of the two people and one of the males pulls out a handgun and fires eight shots in their direction, according to the complaint.
No one was hit by gunfire but two people had minor injuries running from the scene.
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Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
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©2023 Cox Media Group | https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/woman-charged-after-argument-gas-station-leads-gunfire-tarentum-police-say/AIS6Y7V7YNC6HFAVADJUGHLOHI/ | 2023-06-14T13:59:04 | 1 | https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/woman-charged-after-argument-gas-station-leads-gunfire-tarentum-police-say/AIS6Y7V7YNC6HFAVADJUGHLOHI/ |
Beavercreek City Council is considering a series of regulations for the city’s short-term property rentals, like Airbnb and VRBO.
Short-term rentals present “both benefits and challenges,” according to city documents, and the regulations are intended to ensure those rentals “contribute positively to the local economy,” while maintaining the safety of residents and the integrity of the city.
New or existing short-term rental units would be subject to the city’s 3% hotel/motel tax, similar to existing lodging options in the city, according to city documents.
Additionally, new or existing short-term rentals would be required to have a license through the city’s Planning and Development department, which must be renewed every two years.
If the city approves the regulations, existing units would be required to get the license within 60 days of passage.
Other regulations include standards of operation, limiting those who rent Airbnbs to users 25 and older, and limiting each property to one renter per unit. For example, a five bedroom single-family house wouldn’t be able to rent separately to five different users.
Additionally, the owner of the short-term rental would be required to provide relevant information to its users, such as house rules, noise regulations, and emergency contact information.
Violations can result in denial or revocation of the license, fines, or criminal proceedings.
Vice Mayor Joanna Garcia noted Monday that the city’s permit doesn’t override neighborhood-specific covenants and restrictions, like the rules of a Homeowner’s Association.
The legislation gets a second reading and a vote on June 26.
Some cities in the Dayton area, including Yellow Springs and Xenia, have adopted regulations for Airbnbs in recent years. Regulations in other cities include standards of operation, charging hotel and motel tax, or residency requirements. Other cities are considering regulating them, or have moratoriums and bans in place.
About the Author | https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/local/beavercreek-weighs-tax-regulations-for-airbnbs-other-short-term-rentals/6VCWAK6MHZGSXLP6XQ7MVXR2MI/ | 2023-06-14T13:59:44 | 0 | https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/local/beavercreek-weighs-tax-regulations-for-airbnbs-other-short-term-rentals/6VCWAK6MHZGSXLP6XQ7MVXR2MI/ |
BALTIMORE — Morgan State University is investigating an associate math professor over potential misconduct allegations.
Dr. Jonathan Farley is accused of soliciting a $5 million donation from a jailed Jeffrey Epstein back in 2019.
Farley reportedly reached out to the disgraced financier just three weeks before he died in prison.
In a statement the university said Farley's actions were done "of his own volition and without the expressive knowledge and/or permission of Morgan State University."
They added "At no time has Morgan State University sought out and/or solicited Jeffrey Epstein for contributions or donations of any kind. Nor has the University empowered any of its employees or agents of the University to solicit contributions or donations from Jeffrey Epstein on its behalf."
At the time Epstein had just been convicted of federal sex trafficking charges.
Morgan State said they would also use the investigation to reinforce "university protocols and procedures as it relates to the solicitation of private contributions by University faculty and staff." | https://www.wmar2news.com/local/morgan-state-investigating-professor-who-allegedly-solicited-5-million-from-jeffrey-epstein | 2023-06-14T14:02:57 | 1 | https://www.wmar2news.com/local/morgan-state-investigating-professor-who-allegedly-solicited-5-million-from-jeffrey-epstein |
Oak Street between Indiana 930 and Lincoln Highway East will be closed today, according to New Haven officials.
A utility crew will be working in the area and should finish by 5 p.m.
For more information, call 260-748-7030.
Oak Street between Indiana 930 and Lincoln Highway East will be closed today, according to New Haven officials.
A utility crew will be working in the area and should finish by 5 p.m.
For more information, call 260-748-7030. | https://www.journalgazette.net/local/oak-street-closure/article_8828d384-0ab6-11ee-93f2-afe7f0ed9e2b.html | 2023-06-14T14:10:53 | 1 | https://www.journalgazette.net/local/oak-street-closure/article_8828d384-0ab6-11ee-93f2-afe7f0ed9e2b.html |
MIDLAND, Mich. (WJRT) - A Midland man remains missing nearly three weeks after he walked away from the scene of a crash into a wooded area, according to Michigan State Police.
Investigators say 49-year-old Michael Wayne Frisco was reported missing on June 8, but he was last seen on May 26 after walking away from the scene of a crash at M-30 and Estey Road in Gladwin County.
Michigan State Police say Frisco walked into a wooded area without his phone or wallet. Authorities have searched the area of M-30 and Estey Road with K-9 teams on the ground and drones from the sky without finding him.
Anyone who sees Frisco or knows where he can be located should call the Michigan State Police Tri-City Post at 989-495-5555. | https://www.abc12.com/news/local/midland-man-still-missing-nearly-three-weeks-after-crash/article_a551f5bc-0aa7-11ee-a490-73d9659f3f57.html | 2023-06-14T14:11:41 | 1 | https://www.abc12.com/news/local/midland-man-still-missing-nearly-three-weeks-after-crash/article_a551f5bc-0aa7-11ee-a490-73d9659f3f57.html |
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Two people were killed in a shooting in Sacramento's Del Paso Heights neighborhood, the Sacramento Police Department said Wednesday.
Few details surrounding the shooting and what led up to it have been released at this time.
The shooting happened along North Avenue and Clay Street, according to the Sacramento Police Department. No additional details were available.
In the last few weeks, deadly shootings claimed the lives of two men in Old North Sacramento and that of an 18-year-old Grant Union High School senior who was set to graduate the next day.
This is a developing story and it will be updated as more information becomes available.
Watch more on ABC10 | https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/sacramento/2-people-killed-del-paso-heights-sacramento/103-f73e6600-d0a1-430c-ad61-0a9c7557e7a9 | 2023-06-14T14:15:24 | 0 | https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/sacramento/2-people-killed-del-paso-heights-sacramento/103-f73e6600-d0a1-430c-ad61-0a9c7557e7a9 |
DALLAS(KDAF)—These Texans are Texas two-stepping to the bank!
The Texas Lottery reports two individuals winning the $25,000 Cash Five from Tuesday night’s drawing. “Two top prize-winning tickets were sold for last night’s #CashFive drawing! Winning tickets were sold in #FortWorth and #Houston!”, tweeted Texas Lottery.
There were two top prize winning tickets sold for last night’s #CashFive drawing! Winning tickets were sold in #FortWorth and #Houston!#TexasLottery #Texas pic.twitter.com/pKIMhDZFWx
— Texas Lottery (@TexasLottery) June 14, 2023
The tickets matched all of the five winning numbers from the June 13 drawing (3,17, 21, 29, and 35). The ticket in Fort Worth was sold at 7401 John T White Rd . The other winning ticket was sold in Houston at 11111 W Hardy Rd Ste A. Both tickets were quick picks. | https://cw33.com/news/local/did-you-win-two-25000-texas-lottery-winners-from-houston-fort-worth/ | 2023-06-14T14:21:41 | 0 | https://cw33.com/news/local/did-you-win-two-25000-texas-lottery-winners-from-houston-fort-worth/ |
DALLAS (KDAF) — Surf’s up! Well, at least it will be by next year when Deep Ellum gets its new surf bar.
Goodsurf Dallas will be opening its doors as a bar, restaurant and beer garden. The bar will feature authentic surf technology to simulate a true beach experience.
“We are excited to bring Goodsurf to Deep Ellum powered by the incredible citywave® system,” said CEO Zach Shor. “Surfing is one of the most inaccessible sports in the world, and citywave® breaks that barrier down for everyone in a fun and authentic way. The wave creates an energy that flows into the rest of the facility – it’s a blast to surf and great to watch, especially with a cold drink in your hand.”
Goodsurf Dallas will open in early 2024 in Dallas’ historical Deep Ellum neighborhood at 317 S 2nd Avenue. | https://cw33.com/news/local/hang-ten-dallas-waves-in-new-surf-bar-in-deep-ellum/ | 2023-06-14T14:21:47 | 1 | https://cw33.com/news/local/hang-ten-dallas-waves-in-new-surf-bar-in-deep-ellum/ |
DALLAS(KDAF)—North Texas will experience hail, some very large to very large, frequent lightning, and heavy downpours that could cause minor flooding. There’s a patchy fog in the morning, and it’s 75 degrees.
NWS Fort Worth said, “Another round of scattered showers and storms are expected primarily this morning across North Texas, while the heat will be on across Central Texas with a Heat Advisory in effect until early Thursday evening. Some of the morning storms across North Texas and north of a stalled front would be strong to severe with hail, some large to very large, frequent lightning, and heavy downpours that could cause instances of minor flooding. In addition, Patchy fog is expected through mid-morning across North Texas on the cool side of the stationary front. Highs will remain in the 80s north of the front, while it’ll be seasonably hot across Central Texas with higher than-normal humidity. Heat indices across Central Texas will range between 105F -112F. Stay hydrated, take frequent breaks in the shade or A/C, and wear light-colored, lightweight clothing to avoid overheating”.
Due to dense fog this morning, driving may be difficult. While driving this morning, make sure your headlights are bright.
NWS Fort Worth said, “A Dense Fog Advisory is in effect for areas west of I-35 in North Texas until 9 AM this morning. Visibility less than 1/4 miles at times. Drive with caution”.
In the DFW area and surrounding areas, a Heat Advisory is in effect later this afternoon. While out in the heat today, make sure you and your family drink water.
NWS Fort Worth said, “A Heat Advisory is in effect from 1 pm today through 8 pm Thursday for those parts of Central Texas east of Highway 281. This includes the Waco and Temple-Killeen Metro areas. Though temperatures won’t be overly hot with highs in the 90s, abnormal high humidity values will result in heat index values between 105 and 112 degrees each afternoon and early evening. Remember to stay hydrated, limit time outside during peak heating, and if you must be outdoors, wear lightweight and light-colored clothing.
There is a possibility that temperatures will reach the mid-90s and lower 100s this summer. It is recommended that everyone stays inside with A/C if possible and avoids spending time outside during hot days.
NWS Fort Worth said, “Early summer heat continues this week with afternoon temperatures climbing into the mid-90s to lower 100s with heat index values reaching 100-110 degrees. Take all necessary precautions to avoid heat-related illnesses. Drink plenty of water, if possible take frequent breaks in the A/C, and avoid spending time outdoors during the hottest part of the day”.
If you are not sure, how to protect yourself from the harsh Texas heat, make sure to follow some tips from the Fort Worth Weather Service.
NWS Fort Worth said, “With the early summer heat in the forecast, here is a quick reminder of heat safety tips to keep you and your family safe in the heat! Consider rescheduling outdoor activities to the morning or evening hours. Dress for the heat: wear light or light-colored clothing. Don’t forget to drink plenty of water, take breaks in the shade or A/C, and wear sunscreen. And NEVER leave children, disabled adults, or pets in parked vehicles. Beat the heat, check the back seat”. | https://cw33.com/news/local/protect-your-car-large-hail-and-heavy-rain-are-expected-to-hit-north-texas-today/ | 2023-06-14T14:21:53 | 0 | https://cw33.com/news/local/protect-your-car-large-hail-and-heavy-rain-are-expected-to-hit-north-texas-today/ |
CLINTON — The University of Illinois Extension 4-H Club is set to host both the annual Horse Show and the General Project and Livestock Show in early July at the fairgrounds in Clinton.
The youth development organization will host the 4-H Horse Show, a free two-day event, from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 1 and from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 2, kicking off the DeWitt, Macon, and Piatt counties 4-H Fair at the DeWitt County Fairgrounds, 7564 Business Route 51 in Clinton.
The first day of the show will feature halter classes, as well as instruction on English and Western riding, while the second day will give 4-H members a chance to “demonstrate their horsemanship” in a series of games, according to the U of I Extension.
Following the Horse Show, the General Project and Livestock Show will be held July 7-9 and will feature three days of livestock judging and activities that are also free to the public.
The first day will consist of a poultry show at 9 a.m. to kick off livestock judging, followed by general project judging. Friday’s events will conclude with the “Ag Olympics” sponsored by the DeWitt County Farm Bureau.
Saturday’s events include a swine show at 8 a.m., rabbit show at 9 a.m., sheep show at 2 p.m. and general project judging. The day will conclude with a Master Showmanship Contest at 5:30 p.m.
The final day of the General Project and Livestock Show will feature beef judging at 9 a.m., followed by judging for the remainder of the show’s general projects. An award ceremony at 4 p.m. will wrap up the weekend and recognize the 4-H members who participated in the show.
For more information, contact Program Coordinator Kendra Wallace at 217-935-5764 or find the 2023 DeWitt, Macon, Piatt counties 4-H Fair book at go.illinois.edu/ShowBook23.
Colten Wildman, 11, a son of Rodney and Stacey Wildman of Oakley, was helping his sister Courtney, 19, keep a pen clean while showing simmental cows at the DeWitt County Fair in Farmer City, Thursday, July 19, 2012. Colten's mom, Stacey, bought him the shirt, ''They Poop, I Scoop!''. (The Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY)
Grace Arnold, 10, a daughter of Sam and Katy Arnold of Clinton, calms her champion heifer, ''Lola'', on Thursday afternoon. Arnold took part in showing the cow for the first time during the DeWitt County Fair in Farmer City, Thursday, July 19, 2012. ''I love her, sometimes she gives me kisses'', said Arnold. (The Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY)
Keeping animals cooled and watered was is a high priority during the DeWitt County Fair in Farmer City. University of Illinois senior agriculture major Chris Chesnut of Fithian, watered cows for his 14 year-old brother Hank, during the fair on Thursday, July 19, 2012. ''We try to give them water five to seven times a day'', said Chesnut, who was working with several cows in the Chesnut's Shorthorns stall at the fair. (The Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY)
Matt Hamilton, 16, of LeRoy, keeps cool in a rare spot of shade during the DeWitt County Fair in Farmer City on Thursday, July 19, 2012. Hamilton was keeping his simmental cattle cool as well, with fans and a misting water spray. (The Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY)
Kole Weiss, 10, a son of Josh and Brooke Weiss of Clinton, moves his fourteen month-old heifer back to a pen after cooling the animal down with a water hose at the DeWitt County Fair in Farmer City, Thursday, July 19, 2012. Animals being kept at the fair are being tended to with several cooling fans, along with getting drinking water several times daily. (The Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY)
Colten Wildman, 11, a son of Rodney and Stacey Wildman of Oakley, was helping his sister Courtney, 19, keep a pen clean while showing simmental cows at the DeWitt County Fair in Farmer City, Thursday, July 19, 2012. Colten's mom, Stacey, bought him the shirt, ''They Poop, I Scoop!''. (The Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY)
STEVE SMEDLEY
Grace Arnold, 10, a daughter of Sam and Katy Arnold of Clinton, calms her champion heifer, ''Lola'', on Thursday afternoon. Arnold took part in showing the cow for the first time during the DeWitt County Fair in Farmer City, Thursday, July 19, 2012. ''I love her, sometimes she gives me kisses'', said Arnold. (The Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY)
STEVE SMEDLEY
Keeping animals cooled and watered was is a high priority during the DeWitt County Fair in Farmer City. University of Illinois senior agriculture major Chris Chesnut of Fithian, watered cows for his 14 year-old brother Hank, during the fair on Thursday, July 19, 2012. ''We try to give them water five to seven times a day'', said Chesnut, who was working with several cows in the Chesnut's Shorthorns stall at the fair. (The Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY)
STEVE SMEDLEY
Chesnut's Shorthorns stall at the DeWitt County Fair in Farmer City is shown on Thursday, July 19, 2012. (The Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY)
STEVE SMEDLEY
Matt Hamilton, 16, of LeRoy, keeps cool in a rare spot of shade during the DeWitt County Fair in Farmer City on Thursday, July 19, 2012. Hamilton was keeping his simmental cattle cool as well, with fans and a misting water spray. (The Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY)
STEVE SMEDLEY
Kole Weiss, 10, a son of Josh and Brooke Weiss of Clinton, moves his fourteen month-old heifer back to a pen after cooling the animal down with a water hose at the DeWitt County Fair in Farmer City, Thursday, July 19, 2012. Animals being kept at the fair are being tended to with several cooling fans, along with getting drinking water several times daily. (The Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY) | https://pantagraph.com/news/local/4-h-to-showcase-learn-by-doing-philosophy-at-annual-shows-in-clinton/article_407a11b6-0a10-11ee-a316-df34b6e34336.html | 2023-06-14T14:30:17 | 0 | https://pantagraph.com/news/local/4-h-to-showcase-learn-by-doing-philosophy-at-annual-shows-in-clinton/article_407a11b6-0a10-11ee-a316-df34b6e34336.html |
Lincoln Calling, the annual downtown music festival, is merging with the Lincoln Arts Council.
The merger, announced Wednesday, grew out of a partnership between the festival and the Arts Council, which have presented events with each other for the last few years.
“We started having conversations with Lincoln Calling before the holidays,” said Lincoln Arts Council Executive Director Troy Gagner. “Lincoln Calling’s issue of the last few years has been having a stable situation and cash flow. Most of their money goes out early, before the festival, and comes in late. As we started talking a little more, the way to make sure Lincoln Calling is here for the long term is to bring it under our umbrella.”
In part, because of the merger, Lincoln Calling, which had been held in September or October since it began in 2004, will not be held this year, but will move to May 3-4, 2024.
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“This (2024) is also the 20th anniversary of Lincoln Calling,” Gagner said. “We didn’t want to go into this process and hurry up to get something done and not do Lincoln Calling right on its 20th anniversary.”
The move to the first weekend in May also will enable the festival to more easily book bands, often for lower rates than in the fall, and provide stable dates for the Lincoln Calling, which had to be held on September or October weekends when there was no home Nebraska football game.
Last September's event brought about 70 national, regional and local bands to seven stages and venues.
Other than the move to the spring, there will be few major post-merger changes in Lincoln Calling, Gagner said.
“We’re not trying to reinvent too much of it,” he said. “We have great partners in the venues and in the contractors. We want to build up what Lincoln Calling is doing, build it up and make more of it.”
To that end, Lincoln Calling’s organizational structure with an executive director working with various contractors for, among other things, booking the festival, will shift. Alexandra McCracken, the Arts Council’s events manager, will be taking over direction of Lincoln Calling.
The merger process is underway. Lincoln Calling is closing out its final tax return as a 501(c)3 non-profit and will be transferring its assets to the Arts Council. The Arts Council will be bringing several members of the Lincoln Calling board of directors onto its board.
“We are excited to join Lincoln Arts Council and work together toward our shared goals of inclusivity and community impact,” Lincoln Calling board President Michelle Zlomke said in a news release.”This merger will enable us to expand our reach and continue uplifting diverse voices in the city of Lincoln.”
The Lincoln Calling/Lincoln Arts collaboration will publicly begin Friday and Saturday with the Lincoln Music Showcase at the Lincoln Arts Festival.
The 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday showcase will present Lincoln artists Keo & Them, Universe Contest and Pure Brown on the Railyard stage in the West Haymarket. The Saturday showcase, from 3:30 p.m. to 11 p.m., will present Queer Choir Lincoln, Vera Devorah, Das Dat, David Nance and Mowed Sound, Mesonjixx and Graciela.
In partnership with Lincoln Parks and Recreation, the Lincoln Arts Council and Lincoln Calling will present a series of musical performances and art activities on Thursday evenings in August at various city parks.
The Lincoln Calling End of Summer Bash will be held Sept. 1-2 at Duffy’s Tavern and Duffy’s Backlot. | https://journalstar.com/life-entertainment/local/lincoln-calling-music-festival-merging-with-lincoln-arts-council-will-not-be-held-in-2023/article_0c449ebe-0a3a-11ee-a4ca-f38d7bf70e53.html | 2023-06-14T14:33:30 | 1 | https://journalstar.com/life-entertainment/local/lincoln-calling-music-festival-merging-with-lincoln-arts-council-will-not-be-held-in-2023/article_0c449ebe-0a3a-11ee-a4ca-f38d7bf70e53.html |
Kendra Points, a former online auction regular who was always looking for the next great deal, is betting that it's the next big thing in e-commerce.
She's not alone. Last November, when she and her husband, Matthew Nielsen, purchased Big Red Auctions LLC, their online auction franchise, there were just two other franchisees in the area.
Now there are seven.
"It's been interesting watching the number of franchises grow," she said, pointing to Star City Auctions, Primetime Auctions, Lincoln Elite and Good Life Auctions — among others — as locally owned auction houses in search of the same online shopping dollars.
There might be enough dollars to go around, she believes, because there's a fascination — an excitement, a state of mind — for consumers when it comes to online auctions. For some, it's the thrill of the hunt. Others are merely looking for a bargain.
"I think it's different for different people," she said. "I think there are some people who are addicted to the adrenaline rush you get from winning the items. And there are some people who just really want a good deal."
In a tight economy, Points said more and more people might use online auctions to save money while the cost of living continues to increase.
All of this is one of the residual effects of the Amazon boom. The online shopping craze has led to an inordinate number of returns — too many for Amazon's workforce to manage.
Instead, the world's online shopping giant sells the items for pennies on the dollar to other entrepreneurs, who sell it either in online auctions or in warehouse-type stores.
"We buy all kinds of things that are new, but not perfect or have packaging damage," Points said. "So they just get returned. And then we get them at a discount."
That's the procurement process, and there are enough returned items to feed plenty of small businesses, not all of them online.
Wholesale Logistics LLC, 2811 W. O St., has caused a stir with a weekly inventory dump of Amazon returns. On Fridays, when it debuts its new items — all thrown into containers that require shoppers to dig for their deals — items cost $8 each. The price drops each day and by Tuesdays, each item costs a buck.
The online auction model isn't much different. Equip-Bid Auctions, a Kansas City-based dot.com company formed in 2009, saw early on the potential in e-commerce and the popularity of the eBay experience.
It created an online network that could handle online auctions and then went about bringing in entrepreneurs like Points. Today, Equip-Bid provides websites and an online auction site for about 100 companies in the Midwest.
"We host their auctions on our sites," said Seth Cable, Equip-Bid's marketing director. "We're an online platform for small auction companies to use."
Big Red Auction, had its first online auction in April. It has since averaged about one auction each week, selling everything from clothing items to patio furniture, often to mixed results.
"It really has just been all over the place," Points said. "It depends on the products we're offering, depends on how many people see it (and) depends on how many people are bidding."
Big Red Auctions isn't yet turning a profit, but Points and Nielsen, who operate out of a 1,700-square-foot storage space at 515 W. South St., remain optimistic.
They are buoyed by statistics that show more than 6,000 people from the Lincoln and Omaha areas are regular bidders on Equip-Bid Auctions sites.
"It's just kind of a mishmash of people who live close enough to make it convenient to drive over and pick things up during the scheduled times," Points said. | https://journalstar.com/news/local/amazon-boom-creates-niche-industry/article_e92735cc-0953-11ee-88f4-3f6ac607f3d1.html | 2023-06-14T14:33:34 | 1 | https://journalstar.com/news/local/amazon-boom-creates-niche-industry/article_e92735cc-0953-11ee-88f4-3f6ac607f3d1.html |
VANCOUVER, Wash. — Loved ones are mourning the loss of a Vancouver teacher who was killed while riding his bike near McMinnville over the weekend.
According to Oregon State Police, 55-year-old Adam Joy was killed around 11:30 a.m. on Saturday while bicycling on Highway 221 near milepost 11.5 in Polk County. Police said a preliminary investigation showed the driver of a large pickup truck, heading in the same direction as Joy, slowed down to pass him. As that happened, police said Joy fell over into the traffic lane and the truck ran over Joy, killing him.
When KGW visited the stretch of highway where the crash happened, there was little to no shoulder space for bikes to ride on. Oregon law (ORS 811.028) indicates that drivers may only pass a person on a bike if they can leave enough space to avoid hitting them, in case they fall into the driver's lane. Police said in this case, the driver remained at the scene and the investigation into Joy's death continues.
“He was a kind person and funny,” said 12-year-old Sarah Kirchner, a seventh-grader at Vancouver School of Arts and Academics (VSAA) where Joy was a science teacher.
Kirchner shared a photo of Joy's classroom door where students had posted notes for Joy’s family. In the library, she said the school carved out space where students could mourn Joy's loss and remember him. Kirchner offered one of her favorite anecdotes about the teacher.
“As a joke, a student called [Joy] old because he was in his 50's,” said Kirchner. “He was like, ‘No, I'm not old!’ He got up and he literally attempted a handstand against the wall! He fell over, the class laughed and from then on if anyone called him old, he would say, ‘Oh don't do that, I don't want to do a handstand again.’”
A Vancouver Public Schools spokesperson shared a letter with KGW that VSAA principal Lori Rotherham sent to her staff. It reflected on the impact that Joy made during his six years at VSAA and 23 years with the district.
“[Joy’s] enthusiasm and excitement for learning were infectious and his compassion, mentorship and support for students made them feel important and valued,” read the letter.
Rotherham also included a photo of Joy juggling what appeared to be three flaming torches.
“A picture of Adam that I want to remember him by,” wrote Rotherham. “I hope it makes you smile.” | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/vancouver-teacher-killed-riding-bicycle-polk-county/283-fc3327e6-d9c8-4f77-878d-1a9c182fe258 | 2023-06-14T14:38:06 | 0 | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/vancouver-teacher-killed-riding-bicycle-polk-county/283-fc3327e6-d9c8-4f77-878d-1a9c182fe258 |
As demolition of the damaged lanes along I-95 continues -- after parts of the highway in Northeast Philadelphia collapsed on Sunday when a tanker truck carrying gasoline exploded along a ramp on Cottman Avenue -- officials are prepared to deliver a plan to rebuild the roadway.
On Wednesday at about 11 a.m., Pa. Governor Josh Shapiro is expected to join union leaders at the site of the I-95 collapse to reveal an overall plan -- and a timeline -- for the reconstruction of I-95.
During a visit to the site with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg on Tuesday, PennDOT's Mike Carroll promised the agency would deliver a rebuild plan at some point on Wednesday.
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In reviewing the site, Buttigieg said that the federal government would provided anything that state agencies may need in order to get I-95 up and running, as the highway is a crucial thoroughfare for the county's supply chain stretching from Maine to Miami.
"There's no question in my mind that all the resources that PennDOT needs federally will be available," said Buttigieg on Tuesday.
On Wednesday morning, Democratic Pa. Senators Bob Casey and John Fetterman, along with Congressman Brendan Boyle (D-2nd dist.) secured $3 million in emergency funding for PennDOT to be used on repairs associated with the I-95 collapse in Northeast Philadelphia.
A final estimate of costs associated with the reconstruction effort has not yet been released by PennDOT.
NBC10 plans to livestream the governor's visit and the unveiling of the plan in this story starting at 11.am.
Sign up for our Breaking newsletter to get the most urgent news stories in your inbox. | https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/gov-shapiro-to-unveil-i-95-reconstruction-plan/3585441/ | 2023-06-14T14:43:54 | 1 | https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/gov-shapiro-to-unveil-i-95-reconstruction-plan/3585441/ |
What to know proposed BLM plan to strengthen protections on public lands
The Bureau of Land Management is developing a proposal to carve out parcels of public land from its 245-million-acre portfolio that carry cultural and ecological value, making them ineligible for development. The plan includes strengthening protections by adding conservation as an allowable use of public lands, along with existing uses such as recreation or resource extraction.
Tribes are calling for the rules to include greater protections for sacred and cultural sites, which they say the government had long failed to do.
What are the threats to public lands?
A report released this week by the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers and The Wilderness Society said the federal government has failed to protect lands that hold spiritual and ecological importance to tribes. Some of the most vulnerable of the BLM's 245 million acres are cultural sites, which are imperiled by floods, wildfire, vandalism, energy development and wildcat recreation.
"BLM often does not adequately consider or manage areas of critical environmental concern, or ACEC," the report said. "This has led to irreparable harm to places of cultural importance to Indian tribes."
The report examined three cases where tribes in Oregon, Alaska and the Great Chaco Landscape in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah advocated for using the ACEC process to protect culturally significant lands. Those nominations were rejected outright, the report said, and existing protections were removed, exposing those lands to damage, vandalism or threats from oil, gas and other such development.
In 2021, The Arizona Republic examined the federal government's failures to protect sacred and culturally important sites on public lands. The series, Sacred Spaces, went on to win the 2021 Feddie award from the National Press Foundation. Three months after the series' publication, the Biden administration announced new federal policies designed to coordinate efforts to protect Indigenous sacred sites.
What does the proposed rule do?
Included in the proposed rule would be new regulations governing the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976. Included is a new prioritization for ecosystem management and protections. The new rules would protect intact landscapes, restore degraded habitat and call for science-based management decisions. It would also strengthen the law’s requirement to designate areas of critical environmental concerns, or ACECs.
The new rule would also institute consistent frameworks for entities to restore public lands, including through conservation leasing. Under a conservation lease, an entity such as a tribe or an environmental organization could propose to enter into an agreement with the BLM to help with restoration or mitigation efforts.
The rule would also require that any projects on public lands avoid damaging or destroying landscapes, and if unavoidable, the developer would provide an explanation.
How can the public get involved?
Members of the public can submit comments through June 20. Comments can be posted on regulations.gov, or by mail to U.S. Department of the Interior, Director (630), Bureau of Land Management, 1849 C St. NW, Room 5646, Washington, DC 20240, Attention: 1004–AE92.
Debra Krol reports on Indigenous communities at the confluence of climate, culture and commerce in Arizona and the Intermountain West. Reach Krol at debra.krol@azcentral.com. Follow her on Twitter at @debkrol.
Coverage of Indigenous issues at the intersection of climate, culture and commerce is supported by the Catena Foundation.
My articles are free to read, but your subscriptions support more such great reporting. Please consider subscribing today. | https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-environment/2023/06/14/new-blm-rules-would-allow-cultural-ecological-protections/70318142007/ | 2023-06-14T14:45:49 | 1 | https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-environment/2023/06/14/new-blm-rules-would-allow-cultural-ecological-protections/70318142007/ |
Arizona's wildfire season off to slower start, thanks to cooler air and 'active winter'
With various wildfires burning across the state right now, Arizona's wildfire season, which typically extends from May through early October, has just gotten started.
Although there have been significant fires such as the Volunteer and Bullet fires, which burned 2,675 and 3,249 acres, respectively, this year has seen a decrease in fire activity across the state.
According to statistics from the National Interagency Fire Center, in 2023 there have been 12 fires that burned more than 100 acres, with a total area of about 12,172 acres being burned across the state so far this year.
In contrast, by this same time in 2022, there were 22 wildfires that had started, which eventually burned 127,643 acres across the state.
Wildlife experts and meteorologists chimed in as to why this year's wildfire season has been milder than other record-breaking seasons.
Lots of snow, rain and cooler-than-normal temps helped drought
Gabriel Lojero, a meteorologist at the Phoenix office of the National Weather Service spoke on some of the weather conditions that have affected this year's wildfire season.
“We've had a really active winter and then we had a lot of snowfall across the high country and then good rainfall in the lower elevations and then cooler-than-normal temperatures," Lojero said. "In fact, we're still seeing that persist right through the earlier part of the summer."
Rainfall statistics from the National Weather Service also show the differences in rainfall between 2022 and 2023. During the first six months of 2022, only 0.9 inch of rainfall was seen in Phoenix. Compared with the first five months of 2023, we have already seen 3.34 inches of rainfall.
According to statistics from the U.S. Drought Monitor, produced at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, drought conditions across the state are less severe than those in 2022.
In 2022, the entire state was under drought conditions; this year, only about 18% of the state is experiencing some level of drought conditions.
Wildfire map:Track where fires are burning in Arizona in 2023
Wet conditions have kept trees, grasses from drying up
Michael Crimmins, professor of climatology at the University of Arizona, is a wildfire expert who has studied climate conditions and their effects on wildfires for the past 18 years.
“In the fire community, they think of fuels in terms of very heavy fuels which are like trees and logs and it takes a long time for them to wet up and it takes a long time for them to dry down,” Crimmins said. “If you get wet conditions that persist for months or seasons, then those fuels, they can get wet and it can take a while for them to dry up.”
Fuels such as trees and grasses dry at different speeds, depending on environmental factors and the diameter of the fuel. According to statistics from the U.S. Forest Service's Wildland Fire Assessment System, fuels could dry out as fast as one hour to as slow as 42 days.
Coming monsoon might keep wildfires at bay
“We're now going into the monsoon season,” Lojero said. “Once we get those daily thunderstorms to start materializing across the area due to the monsoon, then the wildfire season is going to shut off once we get that precipitation due to the monsoon pattern.”
According to Crimmins, this year's increased moisture could be helpful in preventing the spread of lightning-caused fires across the state.
How are fires forecasted?What we know about Arizona's new year-round fire season
"It (lightning) can be very effective at igniting fires in dry conditions (especially dry lightning, which occurs in storms with little rain), but will be limited this year if fuel moisture levels are still high when storms occur," Crimmins said.
This year’s monsoon has been forecasted to have drier-than-normal conditions with above-normal temperatures. Arizona's monsoon season normally runs from June 15 to Sept. 15. According to Lojera, there is about a 35% chance for these conditions with a 65% chance of a normal to an above-than-normal level of precipitation in the region.
But this year’s monsoon might be slightly delayed, according to forecasts from the National Weather Service. Crimmins believes that this delay might cause a specific window of time to open which could see an increase in wildfires, but it might not be enough to increase the current levels of wildfires.
“I wouldn't expect even in that short window to have big fires erupting across the Southwest just because we've had all these other beneficial things going on in the background, like fuel moisture and soil moisture,” Crimmins said. | https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-wildfires/2023/06/14/arizona-wildfire-season-2023-has-seen-fewer-fires-so-far/70315511007/ | 2023-06-14T14:45:52 | 0 | https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-wildfires/2023/06/14/arizona-wildfire-season-2023-has-seen-fewer-fires-so-far/70315511007/ |
New book tells the story of water across three ages, offering a path forward
Water expert Peter Gleick's new book starts with a bang — The Big Bang.
To kick off his comprehensive overview of humanity's relationship with water, he goes back to the very beginning, to the creation of hydrogen and oxygen atoms that later bonded to form water and make life on Earth possible. From there, he works his way up the channel of water history, noting where various tributary events tie in, to explain the origins of and suggest solutions to many of our most pressing modern challenges.
In "The Three Ages of Water: Prehistoric Past, Imperiled Present, and a Hope for the Future," published Tuesday by Public Affairs Books, Gleick outlines how early humans struggled to survive the unpredictable moods of the hydrologic cycle, often by migrating away from catastrophic droughts or floods. Later, he writes, Homo sapiens learned to tame water woes via impressive engineering feats like wells, dams, aqueducts, irrigation canals and purification treatments that enabled our species to expand and thrive.
But now, Gleick argues, our exploitative and wasteful attitudes about water endanger our own survival.
Gleick is a California-based scientist and communicator whose work on global water and environmental issues has been recognized with a MacArthur “genius” grant, the U.S. Water Prize and election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He is a co-founder of the Pacific Institute, a non-governmental organization based in Oakland focused on solving modern water challenges and advancing global sustainability.
"Three Ages" is Gleick's 14th book about water. And across its 300 pages, he leaves no historical stone unturned.
After starting with the birth of the universe, he weaves in lengthy descriptions of excavated aqueducts from ancient civilizations, evidence for Noah's Ark-type flood stories common across many cultures, details on the pathology of various water-borne diseases, farmer testimonials from the 1930s Dust Bowl, the origins of our addiction to bottled water, the drought context of the Syrian civil war and many other H20-related anecdotes sure to fascinate readers who are willing to stick with the book's sometimes meandering course.
To lend some structure to this collection of water facts, Gleick divides the human history of water into three parts: the "First Age of Water," marked by primitive attempts at channeling water for agriculture and flood prevention and early violent conflicts over its control; the "Second Age of Water," when humans gained dominion over water flows to the point where its storage behind huge dams has shifted the balance of Earth's mass as measured from space; and, finally, the future "Third Age of Water," when the global community will face serious decisions about how to protect this resource from overbearing and destructive human mastery.
"If we fail to achieve the positive future for water, it won't be because we can't," Gleick writes in his final chapter. "It will be because we didn't."
First Age: Water rules the lives of early humans
If you've ever wondered about the prevalence of water in our solar system and its discovery in different forms on other planets, Gleick's first chapter is a good place to start. After touching on now-debunked theories about the presence of artificial water canals on Mars that date back to the 1870s, he describes the two outermost planets, Uranus and Neptune, as "ice giants containing vast amounts of frozen water in their mantles, rings, and moons."
This discussion leads into one about the fragility of the existence of water on Earth — held in and kept at a usable temperature by our delicate atmosphere. The simultaneous presence of water as a vapor, as ice and as a flowing, drinkable liquid has made the evolution of lifeforms on this planet possible.
Since its formation on Earth 4.4 billion years ago, liquid water has supported the rise of atmospheric oxygen, cells with nuclei and then dinosaurs. The arrival of humans about 200,000 years ago marked the beginning of the age of its attempted control.
More book reviews:Arizona author charts a course through 1930s science and sexism on the Colorado River
For a long time, these efforts were largely unsuccessful and early humans were ruled by the vagaries of water. Gleick recounts similar stories about a massive, Earth-cleansing flood originating from past cultures in different parts of the world, from "The Epic of Gilgamesh" translated from stone tablets dating back to ancient Mesopotamia to flood stories in Greek and Latin involving Zeus and other gods to Hindu versions with a hero named Manu to the Jewish and Christian accounts of Noah.
These stories predated the explosion of efforts to control water flows using small dams, aqueducts and irrigation canals. An ancient Chinese legend tells of a king 4,000 years ago who became known as the "Great Yu Who Controlled the Waters" for the flood control relief he brought to his people. Around the same time, thousands of underground channels were dug in modern-day Iran and the Arabian peninsula to deliver groundwater to parched cities wanting to grow. Early Rome, Gleick writes, supported up to a million people with an aqueduct system that brought fresh water from more than 50 miles away.
These efforts to manipulate the flow of water away from one region to another quickly became sources of conflict between neighboring civilizations. The world's first-known water war took place nearly 4,500 years ago in what is now Iraq. In some places of the world, Gleick says these conflicts have never stopped, and many have worsened with the advanced engineering made possible in the Second Age of water.
Second Age: Humans learn to harness the forces of water
Gleick's modern "Second Age" of water, which he describes as "the flowering of science, art, technology, and knowledge," makes up the bulk of his book with a lot of historical ground to cover.
Starting once again with the existence of atoms, he begins this section by asking "What is water?" and launches into a retelling of related philosophical debates and the 18th-century experiments that led to the invention of the steam engine and the water pump. These tools enabled the supply of fresh water to growing but inopportunely located cities like New York.
But the population growth this technology made possible outpaced understanding of sanitation and how diseases spread. Despite many improvements since, the World Health Organization estimated that 820,000 people died worldwide in 2017 of diarrheal diseases resulting from inadequate access to safe water and sanitation, Gleick writes.
In developed nations, the expansion of water infrastructure and wastewater treatment to most (but not all — 10,000 homes on the Navajo Nation are still without running water or an indoor bathroom) residents solved many problems but created others.
"In 2018 the US Environmental Protection Agency estimated that more than $470 billion will be needed to replace and update existing pipelines, build and expand water-treatment systems, and provide water storage and supply for the nation's drinking-water infrastructure over the next twenty years, an amount far in excess of what is currently being invested," Gleick writes.
Moral water questions on Navajo Nation:As the Supreme Court debates a Navajo water rights case, climate change adds new questions
Failures of water treatment and transport systems, like the one that exposed residents of Flint, Michigan, to dangerous levels of lead in 2014, have created mistrust of tap water that has given rise to the harmful popularity of bottled water. This industry now generates massive quantities of plastic waste and emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere each year, worsening climate change and related flood and drought cycles.
The environmental damage of our water control issues percolates further. Modern agriculture is responsible for deeply unsustainable withdrawals from underground aquifers and surface water sources, Gleick writes. And limited regulation of pollutants from agriculture and industry degrade the quality of our remaining natural waterways, exacerbating a modern biodiversity crisis.
Global wetland area has dropped by half since 1970, Gleick notes, with an associated 83% decline in thousands of species of birds, fish, amphibians, mammals and reptiles. Perhaps printed just a few weeks too soon, his book makes no mention of a decision last month by the U.S. Supreme Court that limits protections for wetlands under the Clean Water Act, further worrying many scientists and environmental advocates.
"Many regions of the world now appear to be reaching or even passing the point of peak ecological water," Gleick writes at the end of his section on the Second Age, describing a point at which the ecological cost of removing water from nature exceeds the economic benefit.
Third Age: Going forward, a course change is needed
In the final section of his book, Gleick guides readers to a fork in the river of our future and explains what we will need to do to steer ourselves into the more sustainable, equitable channel.
"We have a clear choice," he writes. "Society can continue to push along the Second Age of Water's "hard path" ... or it can shift to what I have called the "soft path for water.""
The "hard path" relied on physical infrastructure to produce important services and advances, he explains. But it failed to provide those benefits to everyone or to consider the broader environmental consequences. Now, instead, he says we must protect the health of critical ecosystems, assert the human right to water and work together to maximize public goods.
The preferred "soft path" for water has five key characteristics, he writes:
- We must recognize the human right to water and focus on meeting water-related needs.
- We must recognize the true value of water as more than just the economics of the goods it can produce.
- We must protect the health of ecosystems by guaranteeing the water needed to support them.
- We must shift to providing the health, food, goods and services people want in the most efficient way possible.
- We must put treated wastewater, gray water and storm water to use to increase water availability without taking more from nature.
Read the climate series:The latest from Joan Meiners at azcentral, a column on climate change that publishes weekly
Surveys have shown that Americans are willing to pay $40 to $50 billion per year to improve water quality to swimmable, fishable and boatable standards. And wastewater treatment has advanced to a point where it is possible to covert flushed liquids to a higher quality than most current drinking water. (This is, after all, what they do with impressive efficiency on the International Space Station, Gleick points out.) The WHO estimates that every $1 invested in water and sanitation returns more than $4 in benefits.
Yet, these are not options we are currently taking. A large navigational shift is needed.
Gleick concludes his book with a quote from the late biologist E.O. Wilson:
"The real problem of humanity is the following: we have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology."
Gleick views these as solvable problems. He posits that a basic emotional attachment to water may ultimately help people do what is necessary to protect it. Institutions can be modernized, if popular vote demands it. And, if corporations and governments can be moved toward social responsibility and environmental stewardship, modern technology can be harnessed for water preservation rather than continuing on the damaging path of water exploitation.
More specific direction, along with innumerable fascinating water anecdotes, can be found in the pages of "The Three Ages of Water."
Joan Meiners is the climate news and storytelling reporter at The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. Before becoming a journalist, she completed a doctorate in ecology. Follow Joan on Twitter at @beecycles or email her at joan.meiners@arizonarepublic.com. Read more of her coverage at environment.azcentral.com.
Support climate coverage and local journalism by subscribing to azcentral.com at this link. | https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-environment/2023/06/14/peter-gleick-tells-the-story-of-water-and-its-power-over-people/70314554007/ | 2023-06-14T14:46:16 | 0 | https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-environment/2023/06/14/peter-gleick-tells-the-story-of-water-and-its-power-over-people/70314554007/ |
ROANOKE, Va. – All aboard the Zoo Choo! The historic train is back at the Mill Mountain Zoo after almost a two-year hiatus due to renovations.
An official ribbon cutting for the train will take place on Wednesday, June 14 at 10 a.m. This is the official public launch of the newly renovated Zoo Choo.
The Zoo Choo is an iconic part of the zoo’s history and gives children and adults a ride around the zoo on its 1,010-foot-long track.
Mary Silcox and her son Jack were one of the first people to ride the train this summer. They both said they had a great time and the ride was really fun.
For many people like Mary, this train is more than just a ride. It is an important part of her family’s history.
“My grandfather, Judge Jack Colter, was a big part of the development of the original Zoo Choo and also laid a lot of the track too, and Jack is named after my grandfather. So, this is exciting to bring him back to the train track he was a part of,” says Silcox.
Even though there have been a lot of repairs to the train, including a complete restoration of the locomotive and two passenger cars and the replacement of the gas engine, the original track that Mary’s Grandfather helped build is still the same.
“I had no idea this was the original track. It makes me feel really special that he was a part of it. It is a great way to remember him,” says Silcox.
Other renovations to the train included an update of the electrical system, the replacement of the hydraulic drive and brake control system and a new sunshade installed at the station platform for visitor comfort.
In total, the Mill Mountain Zoo needed to raise $65,000 to make all the repairs to the Zoo Choo to bring it back for the guests.
Niki Voudren, Executive Director of the Mill Mountain Zoo, says, “Once we raised a portion of the funds needed to renew the Zoo Choo, it was hauled off-site into Kinsey Sign Company and remolded. They had to order parts.”
The Zoo Choo is an important part of the Mill Mountain Zoo’s history. First debuting in 1952, the G-16 miniature train gives you a behind-the-scenes look at some of the animals you can see at the zoo. The ride laps around the zoo twice and allows visitors a 360-degree view of the Roanoke Valley.
“We could just not deny the public’s demand for the Zoo Choo. Those of us who rode the Zoo Choo as a kid just wanted that Zoo Choo back on the tracks. So we listened to our guests, and now with their help, we are able to provide a more robust experience for the guests,” says Voudren.
Kim Garlinghouse, one of the Zoo Choo conductors, says it is truly an honor to drive the train around the zoo for each family and guest.
“They come back making me feel like a superhero with comments like, ‘That was the best train ride ever. I am so excited I want to do it again.’”
Although the Zoo is a participant in many national and international wildlife conservation efforts, conducts research onsite, has many innovative educational programs, camps, and events, and exhibits native and exotic animal exhibits, for many visitors, the train is an integral part of their childhood memories and Zoo experience.
Future goals for the Zoo Choo include a new mural to the train tunnel, as well as adding activities at the train depot. | https://www.wsls.com/news/local/2023/06/14/all-aboard-the-zoo-choo-at-mill-mountain-zoo-is-back/ | 2023-06-14T14:59:59 | 0 | https://www.wsls.com/news/local/2023/06/14/all-aboard-the-zoo-choo-at-mill-mountain-zoo-is-back/ |
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ROANOKE COUNTY, Va. – Heads up! A tractor-trailer crash on I-81S in Roanoke County has traffic at a standstill, according to VDOT.
As of 10:06 a.m., traffic is backed up for about 7 miles at exit 138.9.
VDOT says the south right lane and right shoulder are closed.
Stay with 10 News for the latest traffic updates | https://www.wsls.com/news/local/2023/06/14/tractor-trailer-crash-on-i-81s-in-roanoke-county-leads-to-35-mile-backup/ | 2023-06-14T15:00:05 | 1 | https://www.wsls.com/news/local/2023/06/14/tractor-trailer-crash-on-i-81s-in-roanoke-county-leads-to-35-mile-backup/ |
DULUTH — A Proctor Public Schools fifth grader is once again Minnesota’s foremost “safety patroller.”
Staff at AAA, the automotive club, named Everett Mistelske its statewide Safety Patroller of the Year, earning the Bay View Elementary student a plaque and $200. Safety patrollers are akin to crossing guards, the students who help shepherd their classmates to and from school each day, and the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably. The club chooses one elementary school student from each state for the distinction.
“I love being involved and volunteering in my community. Crossing guards is one of those ways I love to volunteer,” Mistelske wrote in an essay that AAA asks nominees to write. “When I first started crossing guard I felt a great surge of power, but now a couple of months into it I feel like a leader crossing people, knowing new people, having fun, and helping my wonderful community stay safe.”
Mistelske was nominated by Erica Amborn, a teacher at the school who also advises its patroller program. Amborn noted Mistelske’s dependability, honesty and safety skills.
He’s also the third-consecutive Bay View student to win the award. Eli Ruth , now a sixth grader, won it last June and Austin Carlson , now a seventh grader, won it after the 2020-2021 school year.
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That three-year streak is Amborn’s doing.
“The students that I’ve nominated for this have usually been the students that I can count on, rely on,” Amborn told the News Tribune on Tuesday. “They take the morning shift, and it’s usually a shift that not many can do. It’s not fun, it’s not after school. You don’t get out of class early, you have to come to school early, so I’ve always felt like those kids deserve a little extra recognition.”
There were 29 patrollers in Bay View’s program last year. Gene LaDoucer, a regional spokesperson for AAA, said that fewer than a dozen students were nominated for this year’s award. About 679,000 students at 35,000 schools nationwide are safety patrollers each year, AAA said.
“I think I am a leader because when I am on the street, I feel like I am helping others that could be in danger to be safe,” Mistelske wrote in his essay. “When I first started being a crossing guard, I learned from Mrs. Amborn, my advisor, how to help train the new people. It feels good to be trusted to teach and for my teacher to trust me. I think when I am older, I would like to be more like Mrs. Amborn, help kids, help people, teach others, volunteer, and show others they can be leaders, too.” | https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/local/proctors-mistelske-named-aaas-best-safety-patroller | 2023-06-14T15:00:13 | 1 | https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/local/proctors-mistelske-named-aaas-best-safety-patroller |
CEDAR FALLS – Recently announced funding cuts at Upper Iowa University will have no effect on its Cedar Valley location.
Layoffs are taking place at UIU’s main campus in Fayette, and face-to-face courses in Wisconsin will end, but five satellite campuses in Iowa will remain unaffected.
Spokesman Andrew Wenthe says UIU’s Cedar Falls location at 4807 University Ave. offers more than 30 bachelors and associate degrees and five masters degrees to around 300 students through in-person and online learning, and shows no sign of slowing down.
“We think Waterloo is an area where we can continue to serve the community there and hopefully even grow that location,” Wenthe said.
According Jill Hansen, director of center recruitment for the Waterloo-Cedar Falls campus, online learning has started to become more prevalent, with the push predating the pandemic. COVID accelerated that growth, which has continued since restrictions were lifted.
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“Some of the students that were maybe nervous or hesitant about it got in that modality and were like, ‘Oh, I kind of like the flexibility that this gives with my kids, my work, my family,’ and decided to just stay in the online modality,” Hansen said.
Others prefer learning in a classroom, and the UIU campus provides that. That includes Tina Delagardelle from Jesup. Delegardelle, 41, has long wanted to be a teacher, but having a family put that on hold. During COVID-19, she was able to work as a substitute teacher when the state of Iowa eased restrictions. Reminded of why she loved teaching – and with her children old enough to gain more independence – she decided to return to class. Upper Iowa University proved the right fit for her.
The program offers Delagardelle the flexibility she needs to be there for her children’s athletic events and her day-to-day life.
“We have a lot of teachers at Jesup that have graduated from the Upper Iowa program, and it’s a very reputable program,” Delagardelle said. “So I knew they offered night classes, and I knew it would work with my schedule, that’s why I jumped on.”
Delagardelle started attending classes in January 2022 and expects to be done by December. | https://wcfcourier.com/news/local/education/upper-iowa-university-cuts-cedar-valley/article_d568354c-0a19-11ee-ac47-233d4fce748b.html | 2023-06-14T15:03:52 | 0 | https://wcfcourier.com/news/local/education/upper-iowa-university-cuts-cedar-valley/article_d568354c-0a19-11ee-ac47-233d4fce748b.html |
The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
When COVID struck three years ago, Tucson International Airport transformed from a bustling hub into a ghost town nearly overnight. Before COVID, 3.8 million passengers flew through Tucson annually. That number plummeted by more than half in 2020. Facing economic ruin, carriers like American, Southwest, and United jetted to D.C. hat in hand. Recognizing the importance of the nation’s airlines, Congress responded by bailing out the industry with more than $54 billion of taxpayers’ money.
The government’s bailout of the airlines came with virtually no strings attached. One of the only conditions the industry agreed to was maintaining staffing levels so that they would be ready when demand picked back up. Flush with taxpayer dollars, the airlines instead offered voluntary furloughs and generous early retirement packages, resulting in more than 56,000 employees leaving the airlines. Consumers who spent their Christmas on the floor of airports instead of celebrating with friends and family felt the impact.
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Fast forward to today. Fueled by leisure travelers’ pent-up demand, air travel is returning to pre-pandemic levels and the airlines are again turning a profit and rewarding Wall Street. Yet, airlines are still squeezing us into seats and they continue to nickel-and-dime us, even for the “privilege” of sitting with our young kids. Consumers in Arizona and elsewhere are right to wonder if their investment in the airlines’ future was worth it.
If the airlines won’t treat consumers with respect voluntarily, our leaders in Congress must require them to put protections in place. U.S. Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly will have the opportunity when the Senate takes up the Federal Aviation Administration’s reauthorization legislation. In previous years, this must-pass bill has been an opportunity to create consumer protections that require airlines to compensate passengers for lost bags, end involuntary bumping, and improve access for passengers with disabilities.
Proposals before Congress right now would prevent airlines from charging extra fees for families to sit together, make getting refunds easier, require airlines to compensate passengers when they strand them at the airport, and allow state regulators — such as Attorney General Kris Mayes — the ability to further protect passengers. Arizona’s Congressional delegation should support legislation to implement these common-sense ideas.
Arizonans and citizens across the country brought airlines back from the brink of ruin. As we travel from Tucson International Airport and other airports in our state and across the nation, we deserve an airline industry that works for passengers. The question is, will elected officials in D.C. stand up to the airlines and put our interests first?
Teresa Murray is the Consumer Watchdog for the Arizona Public Interest Research Group (Arizona PIRG). Arizona PIRG is a statewide organization that conducts research, education, and advocacy on behalf of the public’s interest.
Tips on how to handle airline woes from cancellations to refunds to lost bags can be found at https://arizonapirg.org/resources/flyers-bill-of-rights/ | https://tucson.com/opinion/local/arizona-opinion-time-to-improve-consumer-protections-when-we-fly/article_844b7fdc-0958-11ee-b28f-efc6b4621773.html | 2023-06-14T15:09:57 | 0 | https://tucson.com/opinion/local/arizona-opinion-time-to-improve-consumer-protections-when-we-fly/article_844b7fdc-0958-11ee-b28f-efc6b4621773.html |
The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
President Biden recently proclaimed June as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Pride Month. Similar proclamations have been issued before in commemoration of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising that sparked the public fight for the civil rights of members of the LGBTQI+ community. Pride month is about recognition, celebration of past successes and contributions, and visibility of our community. It’s about some unfinished business and it’s about our future — a future that we as Board members for Southern Arizona Senior Pride, know is currently imperiled.
While “imperiled” may seem a strong statement, the Arizona Daily Star just reported on June 6 that the Human Rights Campaign has declared a state of emergency warning that the LGBTQI+ community is being assaulted by “unprecedented and dangerous” legislation. State and local lawmakers, including some in Arizona, have introduced over 500 pieces of legislation targeting our community. Nearly half have passed. The homophobic and transphobic hate and intimidation tactics being used in schools, libraries, and health care settings are well publicized. A recent study by Movement Advancement Project (MAP) published in March 2023 concluded that a segment of US society is acting to “erase GLBTQ people from school and public life.” Nationally, these assaults are being translated systematically into policy change and legislation, in particular against transgender youth as well as adult drag performers. Due to lies and discriminatory tropes about the LGBTQI+ community spread by certain social and public media outlets, the assaults are being converted into targeted harassment, threats and violence.
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Given the strength of the attacks and vehemence of anti-gay activists you might think they are fueled by an outpouring of negative public opinion. That would be untrue. A recent fact sheet on public opinion polls compiled by the Human Rights Campaign shows a majority of likely voters in the US agree that the flood of legislation against the LGBTQI+ is excessive and demonstrates “political theater.” A majority disapprove of banning content on gender identity and sexual identities in schools, classrooms and libraries. A large majority support same-sex marriage. A very large majority, independent of partisanship, religious affiliation, and geography, support non-discrimination protections for members of the community. The point is clear: most Americans view members of our community for who we are — friends, family members and neighbors who, despite having faced some of life’s hardships and setbacks, are resilient, strong and contributing members of society. Most Americans know our presence takes nothing away from them. Instead, our existence adds to their lives through our contributions to art and literature, science, education, healthcare and other endeavors.
To its credit, Tucson has been one of the more progressive, accepting and embracing communities when it comes to LGBTQI+ people and for that we are most appreciative. Tucson has a history of being inclusive, including its decades old anti-discrimination ordinance, yet there’s still more to be done. We respectfully ask our fellow Tucsonans to join in thanking Governor Hobbs and Mayor Romero for their displays of rainbow flags on public buildings. Please also advise other government officials and legislators that like us, you do not believe anyone living in the US should be targeted, intimidated or threatened. Tell them none of us should live in fear just because of who we are and who we love. Consider donating to the ACLU, Lambda Legal or our own local LGBTQ Alliance Fund, the umbrella support of Tucson area LGBTQI+ organizations. Encourage the Arizona Daily Star to provide regular coverage of the LGBTQI+ community in Southern Arizona.
As older LGBTQI+ adults, we’ve witnessed decades of gradual movement toward the light of inclusion. We can testify to the pain and heartache, isolation and loneliness, loss of family and even economic damage our community has endured.
Please don’t turn the page of history back, but instead take a stand and let’s celebrate this month together as a celebration of all of us!
Robert Bell is the Board Chair of Southern Arizona Senior Pride who recognizes and responds to the unique concerns of LGBTQI+ older adults with a range of services and programs to Celebrate, Support and Unite our community. (www.soazseniorpride.org) | https://tucson.com/opinion/local/local-opinion-tucson-lgbtqi-proud-and-concerned/article_8596ad8c-093d-11ee-8b1b-735aadf67831.html | 2023-06-14T15:09:57 | 1 | https://tucson.com/opinion/local/local-opinion-tucson-lgbtqi-proud-and-concerned/article_8596ad8c-093d-11ee-8b1b-735aadf67831.html |
Editor’s Note: The video above shows KXAN News Today’s top headlines for June 13, 2023
TEXAS (KXAN) — While it’s technically not summer yet, the raw and “feels like” temperatures are near boiling outside.
But while Austinites relish air conditioning, cold drinks and access to local pools and waterways, it’s critical to be prepared in case of a power outage or a broken air system. Here’s what you should keep on hand to protect yourself and your loved ones in the event of a summer emergency.
First aid kit
As is the case in any other emergency, you never know when you might need medical attention. You want to cover all the DIY, at-home bases and have your kit include:
- Compress dressings
- Adhesive bandages
- Adhesive cloth tape
- Ointment packets
- Antiseptic wipes
- Aspirin
- One emergency blanket
- Non-latex gloves
- Hydrocortisone ointment
- Sterile gauze pads
- Oral thermometer
- Tweezers
Water
It’s no surprise: The higher the temperatures, the greater the risk for dehydration during the summertime. Pellman’s Automotive recommends an extra gallon of water per person as part of your summer car emergency kit.
Non-perishable snacks, pantry staples
In the event of a power outage, you’re going to want to have access to canned foods, pantry staples and non-perishable snacks that aren’t reliant on a refrigerator or cooking prior to consuming. Pellman’s also suggested keeping non-perishable items in your car in case you are ever in an emergency during the summer time and need to fuel your body.
Box and battery-powered fans, ice packs
While we all bow down to air conditioning during Texas summers, there might come a time that your AC system fails you or a power outage strips access.
For those with broken ACs, box fans can help cool down your room while you await a fix. In the event of a power outage, though, battery-powered fans are available at most box store, home improvement and online retailers and can bring some relief during the intense summer heat.
If you are feeling flushed, ice packs can be your best friend and prevent serious heat complications, such as heat exhaustion. Those can be placed on the head, groin and underarms to help target and cool the body down quickly.
Instant cold packs don’t need to be kept in a freezer and can offer instant relief, if access to traditional ice packs isn’t available. Summer cooling vests are also available for purchase, which can offer up to eight hours’ worth of cooling relief.
Sunscreen, bug spray
We don’t need to tell you the Texas sun’s ultraviolet rays are gnarly at best. Having access to sunscreen — and, if you’re pale like me, aloe lotion — during the summer is critical to protect your skin against the intense heat.
On more humid summer days, Texas’ climate can be chock full of dreaded mosquitoes and other bugs. Keeping bug spray on hand will give your skin some welcomed reprieve.
Extra medicine, pet supplies
As is the case with other emergency situations like winter storms, you always want to be prepared for an emergency outage or a situation where you can’t readily leave your home.
In that respect, it’s critical to maintain an ample supply of any necessary medications, including those for your furry friends. Likewise to you keeping extra food and water on hand, you should do the same for your pets.
Flashlights, extra batteries
Any time there’s a risk of a power outage, having a flashlight on hand will be key to safely navigating your home at night. Storing an extra flashlight, as well as additional batteries, will make sure you aren’t kept — literally — in the dark.
Power banks
Having access to a working phone is vital during an emergency. A fully-charged power bank can help power your electronic devices and keep you connected in a pinch.
Austin Energy will be offering power bank giveaways this week during its summer preparedness emergency demonstrations. Those will be held the following days at these locations:
- City of Austin Utilities Customer Service Centers North: 8716 Research Blvd., Ste. 115, Austin
- Wednesday, 8 a.m.-12 p.m. or while supplies last
- City of Austin Utilities Customer Service Centers South: 1901 W. William Cannon Drive, Ste. 100, Austin
- Thursday, 8 a.m.-12 p.m. or while supplies last | https://cw33.com/news/local/what-you-need-for-a-texas-summer-emergency-kit/ | 2023-06-14T15:22:34 | 1 | https://cw33.com/news/local/what-you-need-for-a-texas-summer-emergency-kit/ |
SEATTLE — As temperatures in western Washington continue to climb, so does the number of people out on the water, including the number of women captains taking the helm.
The Freedom Boat Club, a company that operates on a membership basis and who prides itself on making boating more accessible for everyone, has seen such an increase in women captains that they are starting a club for them to meet regularly starting this summer.
"When I'm going through the Montlake Cut for example, I always kind of look around to see whose captaining and somedays there are more women captaining the boats than men," said Laura Templeton, boater and club member.
Women now make up 40% of the club's memberships, the highest it's been in the seven years they have been operating in Washington, according to director of member experience Kate Anderson.
"Boat ownership in Washington state can be challenging," said Anderson who pointed to the cost and hassle of a boat slip, maintenance, and winterizing alone.
"I just don't really want to hassle with that," said Templeton who is going on her third year of boating after promising herself she would take up the activity when her family moved to Washington.
"That was 20 years ago!" Templeton joked but said in all seriousness how being a captain and taking her friends and family out on sunny days has given her confidence. "My book club they're like, 'so you're the one that's going to be taking us around' and I'm like, 'yeah yeah.' And the response is always, 'that's cool. That's really cool.'"
Boating has given Templeton a new way to explore the state she's called home for 20 years.
"The connection to nature we just love being out on the water and of course in the Puget Sound you're out around the mountain as well," Templeton said.
Templeton, who is a mom to two teens, said she's hoping women will see her and think, "oh I can do it too." Her advice to others hoping to get behind the wheel is to just try it.
"After three years I still struggle getting in and out of slips occasionally, but I'm still learning and that's OK," Templeton said. | https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/boat-companies-women-captains-puget-sound/281-8bad1b57-4317-43be-a152-7dbd97083fad | 2023-06-14T15:25:44 | 0 | https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/boat-companies-women-captains-puget-sound/281-8bad1b57-4317-43be-a152-7dbd97083fad |
HOBBS, N.M. — History was made on June 4.
15-year-old Asia Rose Simpson did something no Hobbs native has done. She won the coveted and prestigious "2023 Miss New Mexico Teen USA".
"So I was Miss Hobbs," Simpson said. "That's where I was born and I was so excited to represent my city as Miss Hobbs."
One of the most impressive parts about this feat?
"This is actually only my second pageant [...] The first pageant I knew somewhat of what I was getting into but I had no idea of everything. [...] I won first runner up my first year, and it was just an amazing experience. I was new at it, but I learned so much about myself."
However, being runner-up wasn’t enough for Asia.
"And then in this pageant," Simpson said. "I came in way more prepared and knowing what to expect and for the interview, I was ready. Like I knew that I prepared everything I possibly could. I knew what I stood for. I knew anything and everything that they could ask about myself. So I was confident and I just brought all the experience I had from the last year into this year."
And that experience helped her earn her new crown as champion of New Mexico.
Not only is she the first person from Hobbs to win this pageant, but according to her and her family, she’s the first Filipino to win this as well.
"I'm half Filipino," Simpson said. "So I guess you could say that pageantry is really in my blood. I mean, pageantry is such a huge part of the Filipino culture. [...] I grew up most of my childhood in the Philippines and it's just been so great to have both of those cultures, really, of me being an American and Filipino and it's just taught me the value of family and the value of community service."
Some of her best memories when she was younger was centered around what she does now: pageantry.
"As far back as I can remember, my family and I, especially my dad and my siblings, we would watch Miss Universe," Simpson said. "Every time it came on [...] it would be early in the morning, so our dad would go and get pancakes and it was like just a fun tradition we would do."
And when it was their daughter in the winning sash, memories that once only existed on the TV screen came to life.
"The first thing I thought of when I won," Simpson recalled. "I looked into the audience and I saw my family [and] they were crying. They were holding hands... but the first thing I thought of was 'this was because of you guys, just because of you guys' and because of God. They helped me with every single thing that I did."
This is just the beginning, as she moves on to the Miss Teen USA pageant.
"And now I'm representing the state of New Mexico," Simpson said. "Which is an even bigger responsibility and honor and I'm just so excited for that. I'm working way harder than I have ever worked and we don't know when the pageant is specifically, however, we're starting as soon as possible."
And her family, along with the entire city of Hobbs, are right behind her.
"The community of Hobbs has really rallied around Asia," Asia's father Joseph Simpson said. "And we're really praying that New Mexico will rally as well and be united to help Asia go on this journey; not only as Miss New Mexico Teen USA, but also in the Miss Teen USA stage. And I'm actually writing a children's book and illustrating a children's book as well. It's about what it takes to be a queen and how all of us start out as princesses. However, there's a journey that has to take place. We have to learn about ourselves and we have to learn about the character and what it takes to be a queen."
So, you might have to look out for the name Asia Rose Simpson of Hobbs, New Mexico and her journey from princess to queen. | https://www.newswest9.com/article/news/local/from-princess-to-queen-the-story-of-asia-rose-simpson/513-b9c85551-38ea-4eca-a233-bcd3910527bd | 2023-06-14T15:30:20 | 0 | https://www.newswest9.com/article/news/local/from-princess-to-queen-the-story-of-asia-rose-simpson/513-b9c85551-38ea-4eca-a233-bcd3910527bd |
BARNEGAT LIGHT — The 217-step journey above the Jersey Shore is in reach for visitors again after the state completed a $1.3 million overhaul of the lighthouse at Barnegat Lighthouse State Park.
“This is an exciting day to be here,” Rebecca Fitzgerald, administrator for the New Jersey Parks Service, said from in front of a statue of the lighthouse’s builder, U.S. Army Maj. Gordon Meade.
For the first time since mid-2022, the lighthouse was opened to visitors Saturday. Nearly 1,000 people visited the site this past weekend.
The lighthouse and its park typically see about a half-million guests a year, officials said. They hope more people are eager to see the over 100-year-old structure’s renovations.
“We want the visitors, especially, to show up and see how beautiful it is,” Fitzgerald said.
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Nicknamed “Old Barney,” the lighthouse sits at the northern tip of Long Beach Island.
Visitors who make their way to the top are greeted by a small room below the lighthouse’s illuminating bulb and lens, walking out from there to a nearly 170-foot view of the island to the south, bay waters to the north and Atlantic Ocean to the east.
Admission to the state park has been waived because of an executive order by Gov. Phil Murphy.
Ocean County awarded $107,739 in grants to 24 nonprofits hosting tourism-related events in t…
During the trip to the lighthouse’s top, signs depicting events in the lighthouse’s history educate visitors about the surrounding areas.
It’s a trip Caitlin Ratz has enjoyed about 10 times.
“The view was as rewarding as the climb,” said Ratz, 34, of Florham Park, Morris County, seated on a bench at the park with her children after climbing the lighthouse staircase.
Tuesday was the first time Ratz had visited the lighthouse since it reopened, she said.
New to the lighthouse is a coat of paint expected to last about 20 years, state park officials said. Other interior work included repairs to the lantern’s steel platform, roof restorations and window replacements, Fitzgerald said.
The Friends of Barnegat Lighthouse State Park, a nonprofit that aids in the structure’s upkeep, also donated a beacon lantern and security fencing around it, Fitzgerald said.
Cameras are set to be installed that will allow for livestreaming of the views from the top of the lighthouse, Fitzgerald said.
On Tuesday, about 100 visitors took advantage of the nice weather to visit the park.
BARNEGAT LIGHT — The beacon at Barnegat Lighthouse will shine once more after a seven-month …
Atop the lighthouse, cellphones and cameras captured the view amid a gusty wind.
The lighthouse is one of three the federal government tasked Meade, an engineer, with building.
It began warning vessels on New Year’s Day in 1859, construction having taken the previous two years, costing about $60,000 at the time. It was originally fitted with a lens delivered from France, said Mark Texel, administrator of state historic sites.
A lighthouse has been at the location, however, since 1834, Texel said.
“The shoals are very dangerous,” Texel said. “As a navigation aid, this was a critical, lifesaving house that was a wooden structure when it was first built.”
It would be decommissioned and acquired by the state in 1927. Afterward, it would assist the military in World War II as a watchtower, Texel said.
Its 32 acres were deemed New Jersey State Park land in 1951, and the lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. The site went through previous renovations, including the construction of a current jetty guarding it from waters in 1987.
It would be unlit until the Friends of Barnegat Lighthouse State Park led an effort to have it reignite its spotlight in 2009. While modern commercial ships likely rely mostly on sonar for navigation, local boaters still trust in Old Barney to guide them along the coast, Fitzgerald said.
“It can be seen about 21.5 miles from sea,” Texel said. | https://pressofatlanticcity.com/news/local/barnegat-lighthouse-reopens/article_a21cd14a-0a17-11ee-826f-efb19edcfd58.html | 2023-06-14T15:30:21 | 1 | https://pressofatlanticcity.com/news/local/barnegat-lighthouse-reopens/article_a21cd14a-0a17-11ee-826f-efb19edcfd58.html |
Peoria water buyout issue returns as city hires firm to study the contentious issue
The Peoria City Council took its first, small steps Tuesday night in what will be a long and complicated process to decide whether to buy the city's water infrastructure from Illinois American Water.
After some debate, the council voted 7-4 to spend $99,550 to hire a consulting firm to help do research over the coming months before making a decision whether to buy the waterworks. The issue comes before the council every five years.
Mayor Rita Ali and councilmembers Andre Allen, Denise Jackson and Bernice Gordon-Young all voted against hiring the consulting firm Woodard Curran.
Opponents of the measure said it would be imprudent to spend almost $100,000 on a consulting firm when it was unlikely, in their view, the city would end up purchasing the water infrastructure in the end.
"I will be voting no, because I honestly don't believe the city can afford to purchase the water company for one thing — I think that the cost would be astronomical, and I don't believe we should be taking on that astronomical expense," Ali said. "I think it's very risky. Perhaps the study will come back and say that."
Peoria must notify Illinois American Water by Nov. 3 of its intent to buy the utility or not. That means the council has until its Oct. 30 meeting to come up with a decision.
Proponents of hiring the consulting firm — which says it will help the city review background information, financial considerations and determine what operating the water infrastructure would look like — said the firm would be provide a crucial service in helping the council make a decision.
Councilmember Tim Riggenbach said this would be "the best $100,000" the council could spend all year.
"Of all the things we vote on, this is probably the most complex," Riggenbach said. "The vote we take tonight is not to move ahead with due diligence, because that's a very specific thing for the contract we'd be voting on in November, but this is setting the groundwork to give us some unbiased information as to the actual costs involved to do the full due diligence as well as what the repercussions would be moving forward."
More:Four people injured in two separate shootings on Sunday in Peoria
Councilmember John Kelly called hiring the consulting firm a "responsible" move but still harbored reservations about the council ever purchasing the utility.
Councilmember Denis Cyr said Riggenbach "hit the nail on the head" in his assessment.
"To me, I see this money as an investment," Cyr said. "It's not an expense — it's money invested for our constituents so in a few months from now, when reports are coming back, we can No. 1, have all the information and have a council conversation based on all the information that the third party gathered for us."
Still, there was a feeling among those opposed that the cost to buy the water utility would be too high at the end of the process, no matter what the study said.
In 2002, the City Council moved far enough ahead in the process that it had a valuation done on the utility. It was determined 21 years ago the utility had a value of $227 million.
Allen said that price would likely be much higher than that figure when adjusted for inflation.
"I think we know the answer to this question without even spending the $100,000 on a crystal ball, so I will be voting no on this," Allen said.
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Jackson said she is "very concerned" with the amount of money the city would be spending on the consulting firm.
"I would like to be as careful as possible about how we move forward, especially considering this is taxpayer money," Jackson said. "I am seriously not sure yet that the benefits outweigh the costs we would have to pay if we continue to proceed down this path."
Councilmember Zack Oyler said the money would be well spent because "we're spending money to understand what we're looking at."
Councilmember Mike Vespa echoed a similar sentiment, saying he would vote yes because "we don't know what we don't know."
"What I don't like really in principle is a private company extracting profits from the citizens of Peoria and putting it into the pockets of shareholders who live outside of here or using it to build up their infrastructure in other communities," Vespa said.
He said, too, if the city were to buy the utility, the interest rates on bonds issued to do it would be very high. But he hopes the information from the consulting firm will shine light on all of that.
Now that the firm has been hired, the next step will be a "data gathering and assessment" phase launched by the firm beginning on July 7. The firm will then have "check-in" meetings with the council on July 21, Aug. 11, Sept. 26. and Oct. 3.
On Oct. 10, the firm will make a presentation to the council of its complete findings. | https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/local/2023/06/14/peoria-hires-consulting-firm-to-help-guide-decision-on-water-buyout/70319756007/ | 2023-06-14T15:30:26 | 1 | https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/local/2023/06/14/peoria-hires-consulting-firm-to-help-guide-decision-on-water-buyout/70319756007/ |
ODESSA, Texas — The Odessa Fire Rescue responded to a structure fire earlier this morning around 4:15 a.m. at 3840 N. Ogilvy Ave according to the City of Odessa.
The fire took place at L&L Manufacturing, and it is believed to have started on the exterior and worked its way into the building for a short period of time.
No injuries were reported and there is no cause yet revealed for how the fire started. ECSO was also at the scene.
The investigation is still ongoing and we will continue to update this story as we receive more information. | https://www.newswest9.com/article/news/local/odessa-fire-rescue-responds-to-structure-fire/513-797ed196-f96b-40b3-a693-639f8f6ba58c | 2023-06-14T15:30:27 | 0 | https://www.newswest9.com/article/news/local/odessa-fire-rescue-responds-to-structure-fire/513-797ed196-f96b-40b3-a693-639f8f6ba58c |
WILDWOOD — Three people are being sought by police after they allegedly stole from a local grocery store.
The city's Detective Division is asking for tips to help identify either a teenager or young adult, as well as a man and woman, for allegedly stealing from the city's ACME Markets on Park Boulevard around 9:30 p.m. on Sunday, police said in a news release.
Police did not disclose what items were stolen or their value.
Information about the case can be directed to police by calling 609-522-0222 or emailing jstevens@wildwoodpd.com. Police welcome anonymous tips.
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Police are asking for tips that can help them identify a group of people wanted in connection to items stolen from the Wildwood ACME Markets on Sunday.
Police are asking for tips that can help them identify a group of people wanted in connection to items stolen from the Wildwood ACME Markets on Sunday.
Police are asking for tips that can help them identify a group of people wanted in connection to items stolen from the Wildwood ACME Markets on Sunday. | https://pressofatlanticcity.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/wildwood-thefts-grocery-store/article_721fb090-0ab5-11ee-97ae-67c2bf307e30.html | 2023-06-14T15:30:27 | 1 | https://pressofatlanticcity.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/wildwood-thefts-grocery-store/article_721fb090-0ab5-11ee-97ae-67c2bf307e30.html |
Electric vehicles (EVs) are poised to transform automotive manufacturing, and Ohio needs to fill an expected 25,000 jobs in seven years, just to accommodate the new vehicles, according to a new government and industry report.
Ohio today is is producing just one graduate for every expected job in the EV and advanced manufacturing sectors, Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted told the Dayton Daily News Wednesday, a day after the state released its report, “Supercharging Our Electric Vehicle Workforce.”
“If you can’t supply the talent, (EV businesses) are not going to locate in your community,” Husted said.
The initial numbers are daunting. In Western Ohio — a region that includes Montgomery, Miami, Greene and Clark counties — about 5,000 EV-sector jobs are expected, the report says.
Western Ohio accounts for 21% of overall Ohio EV workforce demand, the report said, with most job growth anticipated in producing EVs and their batteries.
This is driven by the two largest EV investments in the region — Honda’s $237M battery retooling in Anna and SEMCORP’s $916M new EV facility.
Honda’s joint venture battery production site with LG Energy Solution is also being built now near Jeffersonville.
“The bulk of talent demand will be for manufacturing roles, such as engineers, equipment technicians and credentialed operators,” the report said of Western Ohio’s expected needs.
In Southwest Ohio — which includes Warren County — the state expects 7% of overall Ohio EV workforce demand, with a strong demand for electrician and electrician technicians. Some 1,600 new jobs are expected there.
Meeting the demand will require educators to be on board, students and workers to understand the opportunities and government standing ready to assist or get out of the way.
“We need to have all hands on deck,” Husted said. “This is all going on when we have the lowest unemployment rate in our state’s history.”
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Perhaps one underappreciated facet of EV production is that it requires fewer workers compared to the manufacture of internal combustion engine (ICE) automobiles. Ford CEO Jim Farley has said the labor cost of EV production is about 40% lower than a traditional ICE car.
But Husted said the report’s data comes from industry itself.
“This is what the industry told us,” Husted said. Some workers will transition out of the ICE workforce, either to retirement or to another field, he said.
“There may be fewer jobs in one sector and more in another, But the aggregate with all that’s happening in advanced manufacturing is expected to grow — according to the industry,” he added.
In the end, these are skills required not just by EV and battery producers, but by the semi-conductor and cloud computing industry, and by the military, he said.
Said Husted: “The Air Force is going to need these skills.”
Globally, there are more than 20 million passenger EVs on the road and electrification is spreading rapidly to other segments of transport, the report says. Adoption is projected to accelerate over the next decade by 80%, it also says.
Today, are more than 1.4 million EVs in the United States.
“Today, the automobile industry faces new opportunities and challenges brought by the transition to EVs,” said Ryan Augsburger, Ohio Manufacturing Association. “Not since the implementation of the assembly line has America’s auto industry faced so much change so quickly.”
“We have a plan, and now it’s time to execute it,” Husted said Wednesday.
About the Author | https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/local/electric-vehicle-challenge-fill-25000-ohio-jobs-by-2030/OS4JRYGJOJD43D3BXEIAYADALY/ | 2023-06-14T15:31:04 | 0 | https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/local/electric-vehicle-challenge-fill-25000-ohio-jobs-by-2030/OS4JRYGJOJD43D3BXEIAYADALY/ |
AUSTIN, Texas — June is "Elder Abuse Awareness Month." New data from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) shows a month like this is absolutely necessary with the number of cases the State is investigating.
Nearly 120,000 reports of abuse, neglect or exploitation of Texas elders were sent to the State in the 2022 fiscal year. The DFPS' Adult Protective Service (APS) staff investigated nearly 85,000 of those claims and validated more than 50,000 of them.
"It can be physical. It can be emotional. It can be verbal abuse," said Michael Aguirre, who works with APS in Travis County.
Aguirre said his team validated nearly 4,500 local cases of abuse or neglect in 2022. But exploitation cases may be harder to investigate because the person at the center of the allegations may have a close relationship with the victim.
"They're using their ongoing role to support that individual to help them and then taking advantage through some form of exploitation. So, you know, most often financial exploitation," Aguirre said.
The more than 50,000 reports that APS validated are only tied to issues behind the doors of private residences. To make sure residents in care facilities are accounted for, a state employee called an ombudsman, like Patty Ducayet, is there to step in.
"Being at the bedside of residents, visiting them room to room and introducing ourselves and reminding them of our service, which is to meet with them, provide them information about their rights and the responsibilities of the facility," Ducayet said.
According to Ducayet, signs of abuse and neglect in a facility include:
- First, if a person says they are being abused, believe them
- Physical signs like bruises or broken bones, multiple falls, new sores on the body
- Emotional signs like talking less, avoiding other people, crying or anger
"In [calendar year] 2022, ombudsmen made almost 11,000 visits to assisted living facilities [ALFs] and over 13,000 visits to nursing facilities," Ducayet said. "At the same time, we investigated 1,339 complaints in ALFs and 6,703 complaints in nursing facilities. In ALFs, we resolved 83% of the complaints we received and 87% in nursing facilities."
Both departments said they work with authorities to help put an end to any issues, but for the Office of the Ombudsman, it's all about what the patient is comfortable with before taking the next steps.
"Ideally, we're really trying to help them communicate with the facility where they live, talk to the people who care for them and who manage the building operations, help them express what they need," Ducayet said.
Both Ducayet and Aguirre said during "Elder Abuse Awareness Month," it's important for older adults to know the resources that are available to report abuse, neglect or exploitation.
"There's national research that shows that for every one case of a reported abuse, neglect or exploitation, that there are about 24 cases that are unreported, unknown to programs similar to ours," Aguirre said.
If you or a loved one needs help to report elder abuse, you can call 1-800-252-5400 or visit TxAbuseHotline.org. For the State Ombudsman, you can call 800-252-2412 and email them at ltc.ombudsman@hhs.texas.gov. | https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/texas/more-than-50000-cases-of-elder-abuse-in-2022-according-to-texas-dfps/269-2a5f2170-fc2e-4066-aa85-0a9b9011b229 | 2023-06-14T15:32:32 | 1 | https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/texas/more-than-50000-cases-of-elder-abuse-in-2022-according-to-texas-dfps/269-2a5f2170-fc2e-4066-aa85-0a9b9011b229 |
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — A Wichita police officer was investigating one suspected DUI driver early Wednesday morning when another suspected DUI driver hit his patrol car.
The crash was captured on a police camera. Police blacked out a portion of the video before releasing the video on social media.
The Wichita Police Department said the crash happened around 2 a.m. at West Street and University Street, near West and Maple in west Wichita.
The patrol vehicle has significant damage and had to be towed away, but neither the officer nor the driver were injured.
Both the first and second drivers were arrested on suspicion of DUI and other traffic violations.
The WPD said this crash is an example of the dangers traffic officers face daily. | https://www.ksn.com/news/local/video-suspected-dui-driver-hits-wpd-car/ | 2023-06-14T15:33:04 | 0 | https://www.ksn.com/news/local/video-suspected-dui-driver-hits-wpd-car/ |
Mandan School Board members Marnie Piehl, Kama Hoovestol and Darren Haugen have been reelected.
The three incumbents faced no challengers in Tuesday's election. Thirty-four people voted.
School Board member Heidi Schuchard recently resigned due to a move out of the school district, but it was too late to put her seat on Tuesday's ballot. The board will appoint someone to serve in her place until the next election, in June 2024.
A committee of the school board will interview applicants this coming Monday at the Brave Center. The board plans to appoint someone the following Monday, the 26th, during its regular meeting.
The board has nine members elected to three-year terms. More information is at bit.ly/3ML5SKQ. | https://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/education/mandan-school-board-incumbents-reelected/article_ca4d25e2-0abd-11ee-acda-1bccc54094cc.html | 2023-06-14T15:35:59 | 1 | https://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/education/mandan-school-board-incumbents-reelected/article_ca4d25e2-0abd-11ee-acda-1bccc54094cc.html |
BALTIMORE — A new report shows Maryland ranks 21st in the nation when it comes to child well-being.
According to the Kids Count Data Book, released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Maryland parents are struggling to balance work and childcare mostly due to affordability.
Other issues addressed in this year's data book include rising housing costs and lack of health insurance.
Below are some other findings revealed in this year's Data Book.
● 187,000 or 14% of children lived in households with income below the poverty line (rank: 18th)
● 344,000 or 25% of children lived with parents who lack secure employment (rank: 14th)
● 423,000 or 31% of children lived in households with high housing cost burdens (rank: 39th)
● 62,000 or 4% of children did not have health insurance (rank: 15th) .
● Between 2017 and 2021, 43,000 or 3% of children lived in high-poverty areas (rank: 10th)
In 2022 the data book highlighted the level of anxiety or depression facing children in Maryland. | https://www.wmar2news.com/local/report-maryland-ranks-21st-among-states-in-child-well-being | 2023-06-14T15:36:51 | 0 | https://www.wmar2news.com/local/report-maryland-ranks-21st-among-states-in-child-well-being |
Check out these top stories and more in The Times and nwi.com.
Lake County Council honors jail staff for fast fire response: https://bit.ly/3N6jbWv
Bone Dry bar closes in Highland after more than two decades: https://bit.ly/3PckAxu
Stay connected with all your Region News at www.nwi.com.
Video provided in partnership with The Times, JEDtv and WJOB. Sponsored by Strack & Van Til. | https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/219-news-now-lake-county-council-honors-jail-staff-for-fast-fire-response/article_d342bad8-0ab6-11ee-b4fc-47bd7bef4961.html | 2023-06-14T15:46:09 | 0 | https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/219-news-now-lake-county-council-honors-jail-staff-for-fast-fire-response/article_d342bad8-0ab6-11ee-b4fc-47bd7bef4961.html |
PENNSYLVANIA, USA — The American Red Cross reported a concerning shortfall of blood and platelet donations last month.
To ensure a strong blood supply this summer, the Red Cross is offering a $10 thank-you gift card by email to any merchant of the donor's choice throughout June.
Additionally, donors will be automatically entered for a chance to win a backyard theater package. More details can be found here.
June 14 is World Blood Donor Day; a day meant to raise awareness of the need for a safe, diverse and stable blood supply and to recognize blood donors. Officials urge that now is a great time for those who have been on the fence about giving or haven't donated in a long time.
For those interested in making an appointment, download the American Red Cross Blood Donor App, visit this website, or call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767).
A blood donor card, driver’s license or two other forms of identification are required at check-in. Those who are 17 years old, weigh at least 110 pounds and are in generally good health may be eligible to donate blood.
High school students and other donors 18 years old and younger must also meet certain height and weight requirements. | https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/blood-donors-american-red-cross-throughout-june-receive-10-gift-card/521-9966ab83-e00f-49dc-b2dd-c7fb95fc758a | 2023-06-14T15:46:10 | 0 | https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/blood-donors-american-red-cross-throughout-june-receive-10-gift-card/521-9966ab83-e00f-49dc-b2dd-c7fb95fc758a |
Valparaiso's efforts to require video streaming services pay a franchise fee of 5% of local gross revenue for using equipment located in the public right-of-way to transmit programming, similar to cable television companies, appear to be doomed.
The Indiana Court of Appeals on Tuesday directed the Marion Commercial Court to vacate its earlier denials of motions to dismiss filed by major streaming services and satellite TV providers and to "conduct further proceedings," which likely means tossing the litigation in its entirety.
That outcome was all but inevitable after the Republican-controlled General Assembly in April tucked a provision in the sprawling House Enrolled Act 1454 that redefined the term "video service" in connection with the franchise fee to specifically exclude satellite television and video streaming services — retroactive to July 1, 2006.
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As a result, Valparaiso, Indianapolis, Fishers and Evansville seemingly no longer have grounds to seek past, current and future franchise fees from Netflix, DirectTV, Dish Network, Disney+ and Hulu.
The appellate court, in its 3-0 decision, did not outright dismiss the cities' lawsuit. Rather, it directed Marion Superior Judge Heather Welch to reconsider in light of the new, retroactive statute her earlier ruling, which found a sufficient basis under the law then in effect to preliminarily classify each streaming company as a video service subject to the franchise fee.
The General Assembly typically opts not to intervene in pending litigation. Though that tradition slowly has been dying in recent years.
In this case, state Rep. Craig Snow, R-Warsaw, sponsor of the measure, admitted in February he was approached on this issue by campaign donor and lobbyist Matt Bell of Catalyst Public Affairs Group, whose clients include DirectTV and Dish Network, and Snow agreed to stick the provision terminating the lawsuit in the legislation as a "consumer protection" effort.
The provision was stripped from the proposal April 11 by the Senate. But it made it back in April 28, during the final hours of this year's legislative session, as lawmakers worked to reach compromises on still-pending measures prior to final approval by both chambers and the governor. | https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/government-politics/valparaiso-video-streaming-lawsuit-poised-for-dismissal/article_a65c8b9e-0a2e-11ee-8526-77c7add5f535.html | 2023-06-14T15:46:15 | 1 | https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/government-politics/valparaiso-video-streaming-lawsuit-poised-for-dismissal/article_a65c8b9e-0a2e-11ee-8526-77c7add5f535.html |
SAN ANTONIO — A man who picked up three women was told to drive to a gas station where two men then ambushed him, tried to rob him, and then shot him several times, police say.
Officers were called to the 700 block of Palo Alto Road around 9:30 p.m. for reports of a shooting in progress.
Police say that the man picked up three women from an unknown location and was told to drive them to a gasoline station because they needed to pick something up.
When he got to the gas station, two men with guns ambushed him and then tried to rob him. When he wouldn't give them his possessions, one of the men pulled out a gun and shot him three times in the chest.
The two men and the three women ran off, and police could not locate any of them.
The victim was taken to BAMC in life-threatening condition.
Police say they have good surveillance video of the interaction between the women, the gunmen, and the victim.
Police believe that the whole incident was a set-up.
This is a developing story.
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Want to get in touch with someone at KENS 5? You can send a message using our Contacts page or email one of our team members. | https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/man-in-critical-condition-after-shot-several-times-during-possible-ambush-style-attempted-robbery-sapd-san-antonio-texas-gun/273-b68d5ce2-001f-411e-82bf-cec76bff29d4 | 2023-06-14T15:46:16 | 1 | https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/man-in-critical-condition-after-shot-several-times-during-possible-ambush-style-attempted-robbery-sapd-san-antonio-texas-gun/273-b68d5ce2-001f-411e-82bf-cec76bff29d4 |
Times Staff
Several students from City Baptist School in Hammond were taken to a Chicago hospital Tuesday afternoon after the bus they were riding in was involved in an accident on the inbound Dan Ryan Expressway.
The school said six students were on the bus, and all were taken to a hospital for observation. Both the Illinois State Police and Chicago Fire Department said five students were transported by CFD ambulance after the "single vehicle rollover crash."
The fire department said the driver refused medical treatment at the scene.
Illinois State Police said officers responded to the accident, which occurred around 35th Street in the local lanes of northbound Interstate 94, at about 2:30 p.m. Two lanes were closed to traffic for about one hour as a result of the accident.
"The crash investigation is ongoing and no further information is available at this time," ISP said Wednesday morning.
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Video provided in partnership with The Times, JEDtv and WJOB. Sponsored by Strack & Van Til.
City Baptist, a school operated by First Baptist Church of Hammond, issued the following statement after the accident:
“There was a City Baptist bus accident this afternoon. There were six students on the bus at the time of the accident. All six students were taken to the hospital for observation. No serious injuries have been reported. Parents and staff are at the hospital. The driver was not treated for injuries. Thank you for your prayers.”
Gallery: Recent arrests booked into Lake County Jail
Matthew Roggenkamp
Age : 22
Residence: East Chicago, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305148
Arrest Date: May 31, 2023
Arresting Agency: East Chicago Police Department
Offense Description: BATTERY - AGGRAVATED - STRANGULATION
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Ruben Vega III
Age : 36
Residence: Hammond, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305181
Arrest Date: June 1, 2023
Arresting Agency: Hammond Police Department
Offense Description: DOMESTIC BATTERY - SIMPLE - PRESENCE OF CHILD < 16 YEARS OLD
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Jordan Picotte
Age : 29
Residence: East Chicago, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305144
Arrest Date: May 31, 2023
Arresting Agency: East Chicago Police Department
Offense Description: BATTERY - SIMPLE - MODERATE BODILY INJURY
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Rakeem Pippins
Age : 27
Residence: Gary, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305141
Arrest Date: May 31, 2023
Arresting Agency: Other
Offense Description: ROBBERY
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Victor Odgen
Age : 26
Residence: Lake Station, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305151
Arrest Date: May 31, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake County Sheriff's Department
Offense Description: DOMESTIC BATTERY - AGGRAVATED - MODERATE BODILY INJURY
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Matthew Moses
Age : 48
Residence: Gary, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305154
Arrest Date: May 31, 2023
Arresting Agency: Other
Offense Description: OWI
Highest Offense Class: Misdemeanor
Thomas Murray
Age : 34
Residence: Gary, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305164
Arrest Date: May 31, 2023
Arresting Agency: Indiana State Police
Offense Description: OWI
Highest Offense Class: Misdemeanor
Kurt Gonzalez II
Age : 32
Residence: East Chicago, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305146
Arrest Date: May 31, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake County Sheriff's Department
Offense Description: ROBBERY
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Anthony Green
Age : 41
Residence: Cedar Lake, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305160
Arrest Date: May 31, 2023
Arresting Agency: Cedar Lake Police Department
Offense Description: POSSESSION - METHAMPHETAMINE
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Robert Hollis
Age : 67
Residence: Hobart, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305169
Arrest Date: June 1, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake Station Police Department
Offense Description: OWI
Highest Offense Class: Misdemeanor
Johnny Jones
Age : 50
Residence: Hammond, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305170
Arrest Date: June 1, 2023
Arresting Agency: Hammond Police Department
Offense Description: STRANGULATION; DOMESTIC BATTERY - SIMPLE
Highest Offense Class: Felony; Misdemeanor
2305170
Kenny Flagg Jr.
Age : 19
Residence: Merrillville, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305179
Arrest Date: June 1, 2023
Arresting Agency: Indiana State Police
Offense Description: OWI
Highest Offense Class: Misdemeanor
Howard Geib Jr.
Age : 52
Residence: Merrillville, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305165
Arrest Date: May 31, 2023
Arresting Agency: Schererville Police Department
Offense Description: MOTOR VEHICLE THEFT; UNAUTHORIZED ENTRY OF A MOTOR VEHICLE; POSSESSION - COCAINE OR NARCOTIC DRUG
Highest Offense Class: Felonies
Keith Cales
Age : 41
Residence: Crown Point, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305153
Arrest Date: May 31, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake County Sheriff's Department
Offense Description: CONFINEMENT
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Daniel Dillman
Age : 26
Residence: Lowell, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305175
Arrest Date: June 1, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake County Sheriff's Department
Offense Description: OWI
Highest Offense Class: Misdemeanor
Robert Allison
Age : 48
Residence: East Chicago, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305142
Arrest Date: May 31, 2023
Arresting Agency: East Chicago Police Department
Offense Description: HOMICIDE - VOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Lavonya Banks
Age : 44
Residence: Harvey, IL
Booking Number(s): 2305163
Arrest Date: May 31, 2023
Arresting Agency: Other
Offense Description: FRAUD - FORGERY
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Jacob Pritt
Age : 35
Residence: Hebron, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305296
Arrest Date: June 3, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake County Sheriff's Department
Offense Description: HEALTH- POSSESS HYPODERMIC SYRINGE OR NEEDLE
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Joshua Pritt
Age : 40
Residence: Hebron, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305295
Arrest Date: June 3, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake County Sheriff's Department
Offense Description: POSSESSION - COCAINE OR NARCOTIC DRUG
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Danny Serrano Jr.
Age : 40
Residence: Whiting, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305282
Arrest Date: June 3, 2023
Arresting Agency: Hammond Police Department
Offense Description: DOMESTIC BATTERY - SIMPLE
Highest Offense Class: Misdemeanor
Michael Valdez
Age : 46
Residence: Dyer, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305319
Arrest Date: June 4, 2023
Arresting Agency: Dyer Police Department
Offense Description: OWI
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Mary Powers
Age : 36
Residence: Lake Station, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305289
Arrest Date: June 3, 2023
Arresting Agency: Gary Police Department
Offense Description: POSSESSION - COCAINE OR NARCOTIC DRUG; THEFT - PROPERTY - SHOPLIFTING - < $750
Highest Offense Class: Felonies
Bryan Oparka
Age : 49
Residence: Crown Point, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305308
Arrest Date: June 3, 2023
Arresting Agency: Crown Point Police Department
Offense Description: FRAUD
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Vishad Patel
Age : 34
Residence: Portage, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305305
Arrest Date: June 3, 2023
Arresting Agency: Indiana State Police
Offense Description: OWI
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Latrice McNeil
Age : 36
Residence: Chicago Heights, IL
Booking Number(s): 2305301
Arrest Date: June 3, 2023
Arresting Agency: Highland Police Department
Offense Description: THEFT - PROPERTY - SHOPLIFTING - < $750
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Edwin Negron
Age : 50
Residence: East Chicago, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305285
Arrest Date: June 3, 2023
Arresting Agency: Hammond Police Department
Offense Description: INTIMIDATION
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Oscar Martinez Ocampo
Age : 33
Residence: Hammond, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305290
Arrest Date: June 3, 2023
Arresting Agency: Hammond Police Department
Offense Description: OWI
Highest Offense Class: Misdemeanor
Devonte Gipson
Age : 30
Residence: Chicago, IL
Booking Number(s): 2305283
Arrest Date: June 3, 2023
Arresting Agency: Hammond Police Department
Offense Description: CONFINEMENT
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Bryne Manns
Age : 34
Residence: Hammond, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305287
Arrest Date: June 3, 2023
Arresting Agency: Hammond Police Department
Offense Description: OWI
Highest Offense Class: Misdemeanor
Edgar Martinez
Age : 33
Residence: Hammond, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305315
Arrest Date: June 4, 2023
Arresting Agency: Hammond Police Department
Offense Description: OWI
Highest Offense Class: Misdemeanor
Martin Cruz Jr.
Age : 53
Residence: Merrillville, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305304
Arrest Date: June 3, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake County Sheriff's Department
Offense Description: INTIMIDATION
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Bianca Dominguez
Age : 33
Residence: Munster, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305311
Arrest Date: June 3, 2023
Arresting Agency: Munster Police Department
Offense Description: POSSESSION - COCAINE OR NARCOTIC DRUG
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Anthony Combs Jr.
Age : 36
Residence: Lafayette, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305297
Arrest Date: June 3, 2023
Arresting Agency: East Chicago Police Department
Offense Description: INTIMIDATION
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Cachun Combs Jr.
Age : 45
Residence: Gary, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305288
Arrest Date: June 3, 2023
Arresting Agency: Gary Police Department
Offense Description: WEAPON - POSSESSION - FIREARM - BY A FELON
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Dameka Ali
Age : 32
Residence: Hammond, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305299
Arrest Date: June 3, 2023
Arresting Agency: Hammond Police Department
Offense Description: BATTERY - SIMPLE - AGAINST LAW ENFORCEMENT OR PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICIAL
Highest Offense Class: Felony
William Alms
Age : 28
Residence: Whiting, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305316
Arrest Date: June 4, 2023
Arresting Agency: Hammond Police Department
Offense Description: DOMESTIC BATTERY - SIMPLE - PRESENCE OF CHILD < 16 YEARS OLD
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Jesse Argandona
Age : 21
Residence: Whiting, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305314
Arrest Date: June 4, 2023
Arresting Agency: Hammond Police Department
Offense Description: INTIMIDATION
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Ryan Vaughn
Age : 29
Residence: Gary, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305221
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake County Sheriff's Department
Offense Description: OPERATE VEHICLE AFTER BEING HABITUAL TRAFFIC OFFENDER
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Allan Triplett
Age : 34
Residence: Crown Point, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305217
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Hammond Police Department
Offense Description: FAMILY OFFENSE- INVASION OF PRIVACY; BURGLARY - PROPERTY - RESIDENTIAL ENTRY - BREAKING AND ENTERING
Highest Offense Class: Felonies
David Roper
Age : 22
Residence: Hammond, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305193
Arrest Date: June 1, 2023
Arresting Agency: LCCS
Offense Description: DOMESTIC BATTERY
Highest Offense Class: Misdemeanor
Louwon Scott
Age : 22
Residence: Hammond, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305218
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Hammond Police Department
Offense Description: DOMESTIC BATTERY
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Lamont Murdaugh
Age : 23
Residence: Schererville, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305228
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake County Sheriff's Department
Offense Description: DOMESTIC BATTERY; BATTERY - SIMPLE - AGAINST LAW ENFORCEMENT OR PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICIAL
Highest Offense Class: Felonies
Delvin Perkins
Age : 28
Residence: South Holland, IL
Booking Number(s): 2305223
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Indiana State Police
Offense Description: OWI
Highest Offense Class: Misdemeanor
Timothy Pettis
Age : 28
Residence: Kentland, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305211
Arrest Date: June 1, 2023
Arresting Agency: St. John Police Department
Offense Description: POSSESS LEGEND DRUG OR PRECURSOR
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Matthew Midkiff
Age : 39
Residence: Griffith, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305190
Arrest Date: June 1, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake County Sheriff's Department
Offense Description: POSSESSION - COCAINE OR NARCOTIC DRUG; POSSESS LEGEND DRUG OR PRECURSOR
Highest Offense Class: Felonies
Christopher Lanman
Age : 21
Residence: Merrillville, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305196
Arrest Date: June 1, 2023
Arresting Agency: Merrillville Police Department
Offense Description: DOMESTIC BATTERY
Highest Offense Class: Misdemeanor
Christopher Hedges
Age : 44
Residence: Crown Point, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305197
Arrest Date: June 1, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake County Sheriff's Department
Offense Description: BATTERY - SIMPLE - AGAINST LAW ENFORCEMENT OR PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICIAL
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Misti Harbison
Age : 39
Residence: Portage, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305188
Arrest Date: June 1, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake County Sheriff's Department
Offense Description: OWI
Highest Offense Class: Misdemeanor
Kenneth Babiarz
Age : 23
Residence: Chicago Heights, IL
Booking Number(s): 2305201
Arrest Date: June 1, 2023
Arresting Agency: Munster Police Department
Offense Description: OWI
Highest Offense Class: Misdemeanor
Shawntina Beatty
Age : 30
Residence: Gary, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305191
Arrest Date: June 1, 2023
Arresting Agency: Indiana State Police
Offense Description: DOMESTIC BATTERY
Highest Offense Class: Misdemeanor
Timothy Brown
Age : 45
Residence: Gary, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305214
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake Station Police Department
Offense Description: OWI
Highest Offense Class: Misdemeanor
Marcos Gutierrez
Age : 39
Residence: Whiting, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305219
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Hammond Police Department
Offense Description: OWI
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Shannon Alelunas
Age : 44
Residence: Hammond, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305225
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Hammond Police Department
Offense Description: POSSESSION - COCAINE OR NARCOTIC DRUG
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Gabriel Washington
Age : 39
Residence: Gary, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305271
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Gary Police Department
Offense Description: FAMILY OFFENSE- NEGLECT OF DEPENDANT/CHILD VIOLATIONS
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Keorra Wilson
Age : 24
Residence: Gary, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305270
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Gary Police Department
Offense Description: FRAUD - DECEPTION - IDENTITY
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Jesus Salas Jr.
Age : 42
Residence: Merrillville, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305235
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake County Sheriff's Department
Offense Description: DOMESTIC BATTERY - SIMPLE
Highest Offense Class: Misdemeanor
Clarence Sistrunk
Age : 33
Residence: Chicago, IL
Booking Number(s): 2305257
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake County Sheriff's Department
Offense Description: BURGLARY - PROPERTY - RESIDENTIAL ENTRY - BREAKING AND ENTERING
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Richard Vinet Jr.
Age : 46
Residence: East Chicago, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305249
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: N/A
Offense Description: FAIL TO COMPLY A FINAL ORDER
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Sadat Wade
Age : 47
Residence: Gary, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305261
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: LCCC
Offense Description: ROBBERY
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Lavell Nylon
Age : 19
Residence: Chicago, IL
Booking Number(s): 2305231
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Whiting Police Department
Offense Description: ROBBERY
Highest Offense Class: Felony
David Pitts
Age : 48
Residence: Hammond, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305245
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake County Sheriff's Department
Offense Description: OWI
Highest Offense Class: Misdemeanor
Robert Moore
Age : 29
Residence: Gary, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305259
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake County Sheriff's Department
Offense Description: FALSE REPORTING - REPORT, CRIME, OR COMPLAINT
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Asia Munford-Winters
Age : 28
Residence: Gary, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305266
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Indiana State Police
Offense Description: FRAUD - FORGERY
Highest Offense Class: Felony
George Lowe Jr.
Age : 60
Residence: Gary, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305274
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake County Sheriff's Department
Offense Description: OWI
Highest Offense Class: Misdemeanor
Michael Malkowski
Age : 37
Residence: Crown Point, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305233
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake County Sheriff's Department
Offense Description: OWI
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Raul Mendoza
Age : 50
Residence: Griffith, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305267
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Schererville Police Department
Offense Description: OPERATE VEHICLE AFTER BEING HABITUAL TRAFFIC OFFENDER
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Carlos Larrea
Age : 25
Residence: Whiting, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305263
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: LCCC
Offense Description: CONFINEMENT
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Jessica Hegwood
Age : 32
Residence: Gary, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305272
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Gary Police Department
Offense Description: FAMILY OFFENSE- NEGLECT OF DEPENDANT/CHILD VIOLATIONS
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Jerome Kusbel
Age : 68
Residence: Schererville, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305269
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Schererville Police Department
Offense Description: OWI
Highest Offense Class: Misdemeanor
Llewain Hardin
Age : 41
Residence: Chicago, IL
Booking Number(s): 2305265
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake County Sheriff's Department
Offense Description: OWI
Highest Offense Class: Misdemeanor
Keith Gardenhire
Age : 46
Residence: Gary, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305246
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake County Sheriff's Department
Offense Description: POSSESSION - COCAINE OR NARCOTIC DRUG
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Yancey Gray
Age : 54
Residence: Gary, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305247
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Gary Police Department
Offense Description: THEFT - PROPERTY - SHOPLIFTING - < $750
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Lorenzo Crooks
Age : 50
Residence: Gary, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305277
Arrest Date: June 3, 2023
Arresting Agency: Indiana State Police
Offense Description: OWI
Highest Offense Class: Misdemeanor
Marko Duric
Age : 36
Residence: Park Ridge, IL
Booking Number(s): 2305281
Arrest Date: June 3, 2023
Arresting Agency: Indiana State Police
Offense Description: OWI
Highest Offense Class: Misdemeanor
Carlos Castillo
Age : 26
Residence: Hobart, IN
Booking Number(s): 2304984
Arrest Date: May 26, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake County Sheriff's Department
Offense Description: OWI
Highest Offense Class: Misdemeanor
Brandon Cramer
Age : 39
Residence: Portage, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305264
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Hobart Police Department
Offense Description: RESISTING LAW ENFORCEMENT DEFENDANT USES A VEHICLE
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Brayan Benavides Acevedo
Age : 22
Residence: Berwyn, IL
Booking Number(s): 2305258
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake County Sheriff's Department
Offense Description: ROBBERY
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Erica Brooks
Age : 37
Residence: Hammond, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305232
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Hammond Police Department
Offense Description: OWI
Highest Offense Class: Misdemeanor
Daniel Castaneda Jr.
Age : 33
Residence: East Chicago, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305239
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake County Sheriff's Department
Offense Description: OWI
Highest Offense Class: Felony
Cordaryl Bell
Age : 35
Residence: Sauk Village, IL
Booking Number(s): 2305250
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake County Sheriff's Department
Offense Description: FRAUD - FORGERY
Highest Offense Class: Felony
William Barnes
Age : 75
Residence: Gary, IN
Booking Number(s): 2305237
Arrest Date: June 2, 2023
Arresting Agency: Lake County Sheriff's Department
Offense Description: OWI
Highest Offense Class: Misdemeanor
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Get local news delivered to your inbox! | https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/hammond/bus-from-hammond-city-baptist-school-in-tuesday-crashe-on-dan-ryan-6-students-taken/article_82cbaa20-0aba-11ee-88e1-63a4d9e93115.html | 2023-06-14T15:46:21 | 1 | https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/hammond/bus-from-hammond-city-baptist-school-in-tuesday-crashe-on-dan-ryan-6-students-taken/article_82cbaa20-0aba-11ee-88e1-63a4d9e93115.html |
LANCASTER, Pa. — What started as an ordinary bike ride through the woods resulted in Jesse Rothacker being bitten more than fifty times by a wild snake!
Luckily for Rothacker the snake wasn’t venomous and was identified as a milk snake, a species common to Pennsylvania. Rothacker posted his experience on his YouTube channel.
“You can see in the video I’m laughing a lot every time he bites me because I know he’s not trying to hurt me! The way that milk snakes explore is with their mouth, and so [they] don’t have a powerful defensive bite, they just will slowly grab on to everything that they’re curious about,” said Jesse Rothacker, director, and founder of Forgotten Friend Reptile Sanctuary based in Lancaster County.
Rothacker’s YouTube video is just one of dozens that show his work with wildlife in Pennsylvania, specifically with snakes and other reptiles. His organization also rescues surrendered reptiles and helps them find new homes.
“We want them to do something like enjoy the snake, appreciate the snake from a safe distance, and that’s less likely to end up with a bite,” Rothacker said.
His recent YouTube video is a demonstration of what not to do when encountering a snake in the wild. But when he’s not being bitten for the camera, Rothacker travels across the Commonwealth to educate others about how to treat nature with respect.
“We started doing outreach in 2004 when we started forgotten friend, and now we get to do hundreds of shows every single year,” Rothacker said.
On Tuesday, June 13, Rothacker visited Duckling Early Learning Center in East Hempfield Township, York County. Several reptiles accompanied Rothacker, including an iguana, tortoises, and several species of snakes. The purpose of which was to demonstrate the likelihood of encountering one of the animals in the wild during the summer season.
“The best tool you have when you meet a snake is the cellphone in your pocket, pull the rectangle out of your pants and take a picture of the snake from a safe distance, five or ten feet away,” Rothacker explained.
Pictures can be sent to Rothacker or other reptile experts who can identify the snake and determine its level of danger.
June also marks the beginning of Venomous Snake Hunting season in Pennsylvania.
Licensed hunters can hunt specific species of snake from the second Saturday of June until July 31.
Rattlesnakes and copperheads are the most common snakes hunted during this period; however, they must be male and meet certain size and weight requirements in order to be used for their meat and other material.
Rothacker also recommended hunters express caution when eating their meat due to the poison the snakes carry. | https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/snake-seasonal-summer-outdoor-dangerous-recreation-wildlife/521-ff247126-c67a-4276-b3ad-27fef0bdbb77 | 2023-06-14T15:46:22 | 1 | https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/snake-seasonal-summer-outdoor-dangerous-recreation-wildlife/521-ff247126-c67a-4276-b3ad-27fef0bdbb77 |
Idea to create low-rent apartments at Daytona Beach's First Step Shelter fizzles
DAYTONA BEACH — For about three months, First Step Shelter Board members have discussed the idea of transforming 12 idled portable classroom buildings into subdivided apartments for shelter residents who need an affordable place to live.
On Tuesday evening, it took the board five minutes to decide they want to drop the proposal pitched by the shelter's executive director, Victoria Fahlberg.
"Personally, I don't want to slow down with this," said Mayor Derrick Henry, chairman of the First Step Shelter Board. "I'm not in a rush to construct out there. There's a lot of different models that could work."
Henry said he wants to stay focused on the shelter's main commitment to help people get into housing in other parts of Daytona Beach.
"I don't want to be in a place where we become something new," Henry said. "I want to be even greater for our central mission."
He said it doesn't seem like the time to be repurposing the portable classroom buildings for rental housing when the shelter has about 60 residents on any given day, still far from the 100 residents some in the community have wanted.
'This is mission creep'
A few other members of the eight-person board echoed the mayor's comments, or simply said they agreed with him.
Shelter board member Dwight Selby said "this is a great idea someone should do," but not First Step Shelter.
"This is mission creep," Selby said. "We're not engaged in permanent supportive housing."
The plan called for a total of 33 low-rent apartments on the shelter site. That wouldn't really even begin to address the need in Volusia County to get thousands of residents in affordable apartments, Selby said.
"Another organization should do this," he said.
"It's a great idea, but we're not there," said board member Joan Campanaro. "If we raise money, it needs to be for (more shelter) case managers."
Board members didn't vote on the shelter site housing proposal, but their comments made it clear the idea was being put on a tall shelf.
More about First Step Shelter rental housing idea
About 480 residents have been placed in housing since the shelter opened in December 2019, more than half of the 906 people who have stayed at First Step. About 90% of those housed at least two years ago are still in housing.
The First Step program has been life changing for a lot of the people who come through the shelter doors. But there are those who are disabled, in poor health, elderly and unable to work.
It's those very vulnerable residents Fahlberg had in mind when she started working on the onsite housing idea. Her proposal called for the renters to still receive many of the same services shelter residents do, including First Step's free meal program, caseworker services, medical clinic and laundry facility.
The trailers were to be grouped in clusters of four in three different parts of the First Step property. Each grouping of four trailers would house 11 people spread out in one duplex and three triplexes.
Each renter's unit was to have a living room that flows into a kitchenette, and a walled-off bedroom beside a bathroom with a shower.
The Volusia County School District had agreed to donate some of its out-of-service portable classrooms for the project.
Homeless housing idea explored:First Step Shelter working on a plan to create new on-site rental housing
Their rent would have been based on income, and some could have paid as little as $400 per month.
Daytona Beach city commissioners would have had to OK the proposal since the city owns the shelter and the surrounding property off of U.S. Highway 92 about five miles west of I-95.
You can reach Eileen at Eileen.Zaffiro@news-jrnl.com | https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/local/volusia/2023/06/14/daytona-shelter-board-members-shoot-down-idea-for-onsite-rental-housing/70319012007/ | 2023-06-14T15:49:27 | 1 | https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/local/volusia/2023/06/14/daytona-shelter-board-members-shoot-down-idea-for-onsite-rental-housing/70319012007/ |
Culver's, home to cheese curds, Butterburgers, frozen custard, opens Monday in New Smyrna
NEW SMYRNA BEACH − An emerging commercial stretch that teems with beach traffic on weekends will soon offer oceangoers another enticement to stop.
Culver's restaurant, part of a fast-growing Wisconsin-based franchise, is opening at 2679 State Road 44 on Monday, June 19, offering its signature Butterburgers, frozen custard and cheese curds.
This will be the fourth Culver's in the Volusia-Flagler area, with Palm Coast, Port Orange and Daytona Beach each having one. All are within two miles of Interstate 95.
The New Smyrna franchisees, Davis and Marisa Ferreria, also own the Palm Coast Culver's and formerly owned the Port Orange restaurant. They were at the new restaurant Tuesday as some of their new employees were undergoing training.
"We hope to hire 70 people," Marisa Ferreria said. "We are still a few bodies short."
Davis Ferreria said he and his wife moved to Florida after living in Illinois with the intent to retire, but their involvement with the Culver's franchise has pulled them back into working again. The New Smyrna Culver's took about two years to bring to fruition, he said.
"We saw that spot and it's near I-95, and we thought, that would be perfect," he said.
It also helps that thousands of homes have been built in surrounding areas and many more have been approved on the west side of New Smyrna Beach.
The Ferrerias, who are originally from the Philippines and now live in Port Orange, consider themselves beach people, which added to their attraction.
"I like New Smyrna Beach. I like the vibes," Marisa Ferreria said. "It seems vibrant."
She has adorned the New Smyrna restaurant with beach décor.
Culver's menu includes various burger options but also chicken, fish, and salads to pair with fries, onion rings, and those cheese curds, breaded, deep-fried, and oozing with unaged white and cheddar cheeses sourced from a Stanley, Wisconsin, dairy.
Culver's has more than 100 restaurants in Florida and more than 900 in the United States. Industry publications have called it one of the fastest-growing chain restaurants in the country.
The New Smyrna Beach Culver's will be open seven days a week, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Opening Day:Ford's Garage restaurant now serving Daytona Beach
Caroline Hebert:My favorite restaurants in the Daytona Beach area | https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/local/volusia/2023/06/14/fourth-volusia-flagler-area-culvers-opening-monday-in-new-smyrna-beach/70319415007/ | 2023-06-14T15:49:28 | 1 | https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/local/volusia/2023/06/14/fourth-volusia-flagler-area-culvers-opening-monday-in-new-smyrna-beach/70319415007/ |
Council President Holli Woodings and Mayor Lauren McLean, along with the rest of the Boise City Council, hear public testimony regarding the proposed Modern Zoning Code, Tuesday, June 13, 2023.
Council President Holli Woodings, Mayor Lauren McLean, and council pro-tem Jimmy Hallyburton, listen during public testimony regarding the proposed Modern Zoning Code, Tuesday, June 13, 2023.
Council President Holli Woodings and Mayor Lauren McLean, along with the rest of the Boise City Council, hear public testimony regarding the proposed Modern Zoning Code, Tuesday, June 13, 2023.
Council President Holli Woodings and Mayor Lauren McLean, along with the rest of the Boise City Council, hear public testimony regarding the proposed Modern Zoning Code, Tuesday, June 13, 2023.
Council President Holli Woodings, Mayor Lauren McLean, and council pro-tem Jimmy Hallyburton, listen during public testimony regarding the proposed Modern Zoning Code, Tuesday, June 13, 2023.
Council President Holli Woodings and Mayor Lauren McLean, along with the rest of the Boise City Council, hear public testimony regarding the proposed Modern Zoning Code, Tuesday, June 13, 2023.
BOISE — George Haaland had five or six rental applications out for a place to live when he testified last at the Planning & Zoning hearings about the zoning code rewrite. None of them lined up, so by the time he came to testify at the city council hearings about the zoning code rewrite, he was living in a friend’s accessory dwelling unit, he told the council.
The public will get a chance to comment once again Wednesday before the city council makes its decision Thursday. The goal of the code is to address housing affordability, climate and transportation, in part by limiting sprawl and growing up and more densely. The current zoning code hasn’t been significantly updated since 1966.
“I’m not homeless, I’m just experiencing other people’s homes right now,” Haaland said, with a notebook on the podium in front of him. “A dangerous way to approach change… is to keep using that document that we’ve had over the last 60 years.”
Boise’s generational divide was on display once again as the first day of public testimony on the zoning code rewrite kicked off.
The code is intended to increase affordable housing, reduce congestion and preserve open spaces. However, much of the debate is about whether the code actually will do those things.
For the most part, many older Boiseans who testified were skeptical about whether rezoning, density and other changes could work. Often, they were worried about limiting public hearings and allowing some developments to go through an administrative approval.
Many younger Boiseans were excited about the prospect of a walkable, affordable city.
“As a renter and a young citizen of Boise, I want my city to be affordable, comfortable and safe from wildfires and climate change,” Elaine Zabriskie said. “I want my future to be here, but I need policy support like this code to make sure that it’s actually possible.”
Zabriskie said she had been priced out of housing in Boise twice. Once, her apartment complex was sold and her rent increased from $950 to $1,800. Then later, she was renting a house in the West End. The owner decided to sell the home and she had 30 days to leave.
“If we had had the ability to put in an offer on the house when it went up for sale, we would have,” she said. “But it sold for over $700,000 and instead of being an opportunity for us, it was just a reminder of how far away from our housing goals we really were.”
Many who were opposed to the new code were older and didn’t believe the incentives would produce affordable housing.
“I do not see older parts of Boise having the infrastructure to handle this proposed infill,” said Dave Kangas, who is involved in Reject Boise Upzone. “Furthermore, I do not believe that the incentives are going to provide the affordability that you are looking for.”
One man, Doug Drinka, said it’s hard to take back incentives, higher density rezone and entitlements once they are given.
“We’ll have sold the farm,” Drinka said. “What does it look like to move slowly? Don’t give up density or parking requirements for free…new rights can always be added in the future, but they can never be taken away.”
Many others in opposition shared problems they had with increased density, not wanting to be packed like sardines or the potential for nearby higher buildings.
Some were concerned about apartment buildings in their area, which one man referred to as “monstrosities.” That man’s wife said she was worried about larger buildings blocking the sunlight for single-level homes.
But at the same time, many were excited about density.
Jamie Somma said the greater density should result in more sustainable and fiscally responsible development when it comes to infrastructure, which he said should reduce pressure on property taxes. One woman said sprawl threatens clean water and harms farmland.
David Anderson, Idaho Program Manager with the American Farmland Trust, said that continuing as usual will develop almost two square miles of farmland each year in Ada County, but building better will reduce development pressure on farmland by up to 50%.
In comparison, the first day of the zoning code rewrite hearings was more moderate and marked by specific neighborhood associations’ requests, concerns and goals related to their unique section of Boise.
For example, the North West Neighborhood Association asked about requiring a pathway along an irrigation lateral between Bogart and Duncan lanes.
The Veterans Park Neighborhood Association said it expected around 40% of the lots in the neighborhood would be incentivized for redevelopment because of rezoning some properties along State Street.
And the West End Neighborhood Association said there is a “uniquely large number of early 20th century single story homes on standard lots.” The association asked for the council to protect those homes from taller buildings by allowing different neighborhood transitions between heights.
There were also changed minds.
Joanie Fauci, who spoke on behalf of the Central Foothills Neighborhood Association, said she was concerned about limited parking. But Fauci said after hearing from a developer how much more rent is charged to provide parking, she isn’t worried.
“We don’t need higher rents,” Fauci said. “I used to be concerned about duplexes and quadplexes but then I looked around the north, east and west end neighborhoods. They’re tucked in everywhere and everyone is getting along just fine.”
Ultimately, the city council will have to make a decision this week on which direction to move in and what Boise will be in the future. And at least one man testified that he was tired of all the division. He said this was about a community getting together and solving the problems as a village.
“It will all work out in the end,” he said.
Carolyn Komatsoulis covers Boise, Meridian and Ada County. Contact her at 208-465-8107 or ckomatsoulis@idahopress.com and follow her on Twitter @CKomatsoulis.
Carolyn Komatsoulis covers Boise, Meridian and Ada County for the Idaho Press. She previously worked at a newspaper in rural Nebraska. She's from the D.C. area and went to school in Boston, where she graduated with a degree in journalism. In her free time, she loves watching football, spending time with Kyoko and Pickles, exploring and going on road trips with her best friends. She welcomes news tips in English or Spanish. | https://www.idahopress.com/news/local/to-densify-or-not-citizens-debate-boise-zoning-code-rewrite/article_4cf4aaec-0a55-11ee-a3a9-5fb80f18b6a7.html | 2023-06-14T15:50:58 | 0 | https://www.idahopress.com/news/local/to-densify-or-not-citizens-debate-boise-zoning-code-rewrite/article_4cf4aaec-0a55-11ee-a3a9-5fb80f18b6a7.html |
Shreveport man arrested after barricading himself in his vehicle
A Shreveport man was arrested Tuesday evening following a hit-and-run that ended with the suspect barricaded in his vehicle for several hours.
According to Caddo Parish Sheriff's Office, about 3:40 p.m., Deezzra Davis Jr., 32, was driving a black sports utility vehicle when he reportedly followed an 18-wheeler for miles. He crashed into the back of it two times on Interstate 49 near Hwy. 170.
Davis was stopped by a sheriff deputy near Hwy. 173. While stopped, he got out of the vehicle to yell at the deputy and then proceeded to get back in his vehicle and speed away. A pursuit ensued ending at Drift Inn Landing on Hwy. 1 in Mooringsport.
Davis barricaded himself inside his vehicle at Drift Inn Landing.
Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Special Response Team was called to the scene about 5 p.m. Davis was taken into custody after the deployment of a deputy K9. Davis did receive a dog bite to his left arm, and he was transported to nearby hospital for evaluation.
Davis was charged with hit-and-run, aggravated flight from an officer and aggravated criminal damage to property.
Caddo Parish board member's home not boarded up in June, despite lawsuit allegations
Makenzie Boucher is a reporter with the Shreveport Times. Contact her at mboucher@gannett.com. | https://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/local/2023/06/14/shreveport-man-arrested-after-barricading-himself-in-his-vehicle/70318274007/ | 2023-06-14T15:52:50 | 1 | https://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/local/2023/06/14/shreveport-man-arrested-after-barricading-himself-in-his-vehicle/70318274007/ |
The Glen CEO named board of directors for LeadingAge Gulf
President and CEO of The Glen has been named the Chair of board of directors of LeadingAge Gulf States for the 2023-2024 year.
On Tuesday, June 13, The Glen announced that Debra Williams, CPA, President and CEO of The Glen has been named chair of the LeadingAge Gulf States board.
“Serving as Board Chair of LeadingAge Gulf States helps The Glen become more connected with national and regional organizations which help the older population. Our regional affiliation with LeadingAge has widened our network providing great potential,” said Williams. “I am committed to furthering the association’s mission to represent the interests of its members — and the populations they serve — with integrity and dedication.”
The Glen has been a part of LeadingAge Gulf States for 19 years, and Williams has been on the board for the past seven years, previously serving as Secretary/Treasurer.
According to The Glen, LeadingAge is an association of 5,000 nonprofits dedicated to expanding the world of possibilities for aging.
LeadingAge Gulf States envisions a long-term care system which offers accessible, affordable, high-quality and innovative health care, housing and community services for the senior populations of Louisiana and Mississippi.
More:LSUS archivist receives award for his commitment to customer service
Makenzie Boucher is a reporter with the Shreveport Times. Contact her at mboucher@gannett.com. | https://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/local/2023/06/14/the-glen-ceo-named-board-of-directors-for-leadingage-gulf/70318819007/ | 2023-06-14T15:52:56 | 0 | https://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/local/2023/06/14/the-glen-ceo-named-board-of-directors-for-leadingage-gulf/70318819007/ |
On May 29, the Flagstaff Police Department responded to a reported sexual assault. On June 2, they asked for the public’s help locating a white Ford Mustang convertible with a brown soft top and two stripes down the middle of the hood, because the owner of the vehicle was wanted for questioning.
That case is still open. No arrests have been made.
According to data provided by the Flagstaff Police Department, at least 45 sexual assaults were reported in the Flagstaff city limits in 2022. Between January and March of 2023, nine sexual assaults were reported.
Flagstaff Police spokesperson Jerry Rintala said sexual assaults are some of the most unreported crimes.
“It’s a very serious issue and we always take it very seriously, and it’s important. They are investigated fully,” Rintala said. “I was speaking with detectives for some background, I was advised that the on-the-streets, snatch-and-grab sex assault does occur, statistically not as often as when it [the suspect] is somebody the victim knows. That also, unfortunately, hinders people’s want to come forward.”
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Sienna St. Johns is a registered nurse and credentialed sexual assault nurse examiner at Northern Arizona Care and Services After Assault (NACASA) at North Country HealthCare.
“This year, I think between all of our clinics, we are around 70-75 cases. We’re not even through half the year,” St. Johns said. She said during 2020 and 2021, NACASA saw a big dip in the number of recorded sexual assaults, but she thinks the drop-off didn’t necessarily mean there were fewer crimes committed, simply that there were fewer crimes reported.
During the height of the pandemic, NACASA’s outreach efforts slowed to a halt. In an average year, St. Johns' team might have had the opportunity to table at community events or work with partnering organizations to help survivors understand their options and assuage their fears. In 2020 and 2021, they weren’t getting myth-busting information out to the community, and St. Johns believes the data reflects the impact of reduced messaging.
In order to become a credentialed sexual assault nurse examiner, St. Johns attended hours of rigorous training, has to regularly update her knowledge, and took a comprehensive test to earn her credential.
Before going through that process, she said she wasn’t clear on how rape kits worked. She thought for a time that they were administered by the police — which is a pretty common belief.
At NACASA, all exams and services offered to a survivor are done by a registered nurse, not a police officer, in a clinic-style environment at North Country HealthCare.
“[You don’t know] what a person has experienced in their life. Whether they or friends or family members have had bad experiences with law enforcement or if they’re from a group that does not expect to be treated well by law enforcement," St. Johns said. "I think that can be a big barrier [to reporting]. I want to be getting the word out that this is entirely patient-centered, patient-led, and also we’re nurses. We’re not detectives, we’re not police officers.”
NACASA can see adults and adolescents ages 13 and up.
When a survivor arrives at North Country HealthCare after a sexual assault, a nurse like St. Johns will give them the option of entering quietly through the employee entrance.
From the moment they walk in the door, St. Johns said, the survivor is 100% in control.
“One of the misconceptions is if you report, you legally have to have a forensic exam, or if you have a forensic exam, you legally have to do all the parts of it. You don’t. It’s all about consent and it’s all about being very focused on the patient,” St. Johns said.
After a trauma, restoring autonomy to a victim can be critical.
Victims over the age of 18 do not have to press charges or report their assault to the police. However, the process is still time-sensitive. St. Johns said a victim should come to NACASA within 120 hours, or five days, of an assault.
At that point, a nurse can still collect evidence — including DNA, with the patient’s consent.
“We can collect evidence. We can turn it over to the jurisdiction where the assault happened for storage,” St. Johns said. “That gives them [the survivor] time to decide whether or not they want to report. Sometimes they do change their mind. It just takes some time to talk it over with a trusted friend or family member, time to get over the shock of what happened. Sometimes they wait a little while and something will inspire or prompt them, and they’ll realize they would like to report.
“I think we’ve seen that a lot in the media. For them to know that even if they’re not reporting, that evidence is collected and it’s in one place where they can access it.”
She hopes by coming in early, patients can gain some peace of mind knowing that their options are open.
Still, the goal of a forensic exam does not have to be evidence collection. In fact, in NACASA’s view, the exam is about “the patient, not the [evidence] box.”
“We want to do as good a job as we can collecting evidence, packaging and preserving that evidence, but our first task and our number one loyalty is to the patient. If they don’t want swabs collected, we don’t collect swabs. If they only want us to examine certain parts of their body and not others, that’s fine,” St. Johns said.
So why come in for an exam at all if you’re certain you don’t want to press charges? St. Johns said there’s a number of reasons. A nurse at NACASA will check a survivor’s vitals, making sure there aren’t any injuries that require immediate attention or a higher level of treatment.
A NACASA nurse can also provide preventative care to patients — offering things like emergency contraception and antibiotic treatments to prevent sexually transmitted infection when appropriate.
“We can also give recommendations on wound care, injury care, post-strangulation care and genital injury care. A lot of the recommendations we give, because we’re discharging the patient, are things they can do for themselves at home, and recommendations on when they’ll need follow-up sooner or later. We also talk to them about what the red flags are -- what things would make them want to go to urgent care, or make a next-day appointment with their doctor or go to the emergency department,” St. Johns said.
She said a nurse at NACASA is a safe person to talk to, a person who can help a patient begin to understand some of the mental, emotional and physical effects of trauma.
“We talk about the resources available to them, but we also talk about the fact that there’s no one right way to react after trauma. They might find themselves reacting in an entirely different way than they thought they might," she said. "We want to reassure them there’s not a right way to be a victim. People deal with these things in different ways, and we encourage them to reach out to their sources of support and rely on the community care that’s available to them."
NACASA, St. John’s insisted, is also a safe and non-judgmental place.
“We tell people they should just be as easy on themselves as they can. This is in no way their fault. This happened entirely because someone else decided their consent didn’t matter,” St. Johns said. “That mental and emotional teaching and that compassionate nursing support, hopefully makes things a little bit brighter in a dark time.”
NACASA works closely with Victim Witness and community care providers that provide services up to and including acupuncture for post-trauma support. Referrals, like exams in the case of adult victims, are done with the patient’s consent.
Recently, NACASA received grant funding from the Assistance League of Flagstaff to further support victims in material ways. They keep gas cards, gift cards for food, toiletries and clothing on hand to give out.
Sometimes victims have to travel to Flagstaff for an exam; other times they’re visiting the area or hoping to leave town to clear their head. A slice of the patients St. Johns sees are either unhoused or face housing insecurity. In all of those cases, she said, a gas card, toothbrush or warm clothing can offer a much-needed leg up.
St. Johns said the last few months have been fairly busy, but tourist season and summer are unpredictable. Reliably, between freshman orientation and Thanksgiving Break — often referred to as "the red zone" — she said her office can expect to see more sexual assault victims coming in, particularly from the NAU campus.
Women in college are almost three times more likely to be victims of sexual assault than other women their age according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN). Their data also indicates 26.4% of female and 6.8% of male undergraduate students have experienced rape or sexual assault through physical force, violence or incapacitation.
“I think it might be a prevalent thought with college-age people who are here to have a good time, that if they drink too much and something happens to them that it’s partially their fault," St. Johns said. "I really want to, as often as I can, make the point that it’s not what you wore. It’s not what you drank. It’s not who you danced with. It’s nothing except the fact that someone else decided that your consent was not worthwhile. You were in the presence of a predator, and there’s no way you could have known that beforehand.”
During an exam, if a patient believes they might have been a victim of drug or alcohol facilitated sexual assault the nurse can take a blood or urine sample to store as evidence.
“Things metabolize at different rates. Alcohol is the most prevalent drugs used in drug-facilitated sexual assault. There may be nothing that wasn’t expected there, but that doesn’t mean that a crime wasn’t committed. If a person was beyond the ability to consent and someone used that to prey on them, it’s still a crime. I think a lot of people, especially younger people don’t fully realize that,” St. Johns said.
College students are at high risk of sexual assault, but St. Johns said people who use drugs regularly are vulnerable too.
“There are communities that I think aren’t being reached and aren’t aware of the services, so I would like to do a lot more outreach in conjunction with harm reduction and get the information to people that use drugs. If they want to come to us, without reporting and have a non-judgmental compassionate exam, we’re available for them,” St. Johns said.
She added that NACASA is working on learning more about how to better help members of the LGBTQ+ community.
“I don’t think forensic nursing has done a good enough job reaching out to trans and other gender non-conforming people. I think the LGBTQIA and two-spirit community, in general, has had to face a lot of stigma from medicine. From people in medical professions. Also, going back to the fact that a lot of people aren’t clear on how connected we are with law enforcement. Those communities have had historically negative relationships with law enforcement,” she said. “One of my personal goals is to do more outreach into these communities. We are taking part in three different pride events this month.”
She added that NACASA is seeking education led by trans and non-binary people. They’re asking for victim pronouns and preferred names, and hoping to ensure that every patient, regardless of their identity, can confidently and safely seek care.
If you believe you may have been a victim of sexual assault or intimate partner violence, call 928-527-1900. If you would like to connect with NACASA resources, visit them online, in person at 2920 N. Fourth St. Flagstaff, AZ 86004 or call 928-522-9460. Sexual assault can also be reported directly to the police, via 911. | https://azdailysun.com/news/local/addressing-sexual-assault-in-flagstaff-nacasa-supplies-care-support-for-survivors/article_8075c3c8-0a1f-11ee-a0a3-e3a4aeb161e9.html | 2023-06-14T15:55:19 | 0 | https://azdailysun.com/news/local/addressing-sexual-assault-in-flagstaff-nacasa-supplies-care-support-for-survivors/article_8075c3c8-0a1f-11ee-a0a3-e3a4aeb161e9.html |
Trinity Tompkins said we’ve all got two families: the one we’re born with, and the one we find. Her found family comes together around arenas.
“Rodeo was home for me, a place to defuse and find peace,” she said.
This year, Tompkins was crowned the 10th-ever Flagstaff Pro Rodeo Queen. It's a fitting title for an articulate young lady whose horse is her best friend, and whose heart is linked unequivocally to the sport of rodeo.
“I think I was maybe 6 months old when my mom bought me my first baby saddle at Prescott Frontier Days Rodeo. I’ve literally gone every single year of my life. I know most of the cowboys out there, they always looked after me. The rodeo was always my happy place, my free place,” Tompkins said.
Born and raised in Prescott, she remembers watching rough stock events when she was small, sitting in a box near the chutes.
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“When you start to feel the fire and find that community…it’s contagious, I feel. You can walk through the back where all the cowboys are and you can make a lot of friends. It’s a very loving and influential community and I feel like it should be open to everybody,” Tompkins said.
Her mother was a rodeo queen in her 20s, and almost as soon as Tompkins was born she was entered into baby modeling competitions. Since then, Tompkins has dabbled in singing, acting and modeling. Meanwhile, she was also building skills as a horsewoman, competing in team roping and goat-tying events.
When Flagstaff put the call out for rodeo queen contestants, it seemed only natural that she try her hand. Rodeos are the place where she’s always felt completely at home.
This year, she said, the Flagstaff Pro Rodeo carved out its own very special place in her heart — and it wasn’t just because she was crowned after a speech, horsemanship trial, and judged “hot lap.”
“There a quite a few things that I found were really second to none,” Tompkins said. “Their hospitality for cowboys, queens and pageant competitors, the way they speak to you, the way they help you, you’re never alone at Flagstaff. It’s a very home-oriented rodeo and it’s very well put together. They have a lot to share with other rodeos. I didn’t have a bad moment.”
Tompkins added that Flagstaff Pro Rodeo’s hospitality also extended to the animals.
Her horse, Paisley, usually doesn’t like stalls. The equine amenities in Flagstaff may have changed the mare’s mind a bit.
“The stalls were clean, nice, cool during the day for the animals, it was fully fenced in. It not only made me feel comfortable, but my horse who doesn’t like being in stalls actually relaxed,” Tompkins said.
As rodeo queen, 20-year-old Tompkins is the face of the annual event. She helps mutton buster get set, greets fans, and is featured in photos.
This year, a little girl with huge brown eyes stopped her near the entry gate and asked for her autograph. Tompkins said she nearly teared up.
“I like spending time with the little ones, my little sister did the mutton busting. I love spending time with mutton busters and the young people in the crowd. The people who want to try it [rodeo sports]… even if they don’t have a horse. Making sure that they have that inspiration,” she said.
For Kristen Daulton, who founded the rodeo 10 years ago, the event was full of emotional moments like the one Tompkins described.
“It was a little overwhelming for sure, lots of emotions this week. Sad it’s over, happy we got to do it,” she said.
For her, this rodeo was the best yet.
“I feel like it was our committee this year. I got so many compliments on how cohesive our committee was. Everyone was smiling and happy to be there. Our goal was to be positive and take care of everybody who walked in the gate. They knocked it out of the park,” Daulton said. “What a huge success the 10th anniversary was, there’s not one single thing I would change!”
The final ticket sale numbers aren’t in yet, but this year’s newly crowned Flagstaff Pro Rodeo Teen Queen, Jaelee Mernaugh, said the crowd on Saturday night was electric.
“Saturday it was a packed arena. There was like no open seats and it was so cool to be able to carry the Arizona flag,” she said. As teen queen, she supports Tompkins in her duties, acting as a younger counterpart in promoting rodeos.
She rode her 20-year-old “ultimate queening horse,” a bay quarter horse named Joe Kid, in the weekend’s pageant.
“The highlight would have to be when I was announced for the hot laps. My horse, he loves rodeo queening. He gets all ready and he’ll hear our name and he just takes off and he’s ready to go,” Mernaugh said.
Mernaugh said Flagstaff Pro Rodeo is the best rodeo she’s ever attended.
Those kinds of reflections mean the world to Daulton.
“I honestly didn’t think I’d still be here 10 years later,” Daulton said.
But she is. A decade on, she and her team of volunteers are still packing the grand stands with fans on Saturday night. They’re still making people like Tompkins feel at home. Their still making Flagstaff’s home town rodeo a summer event for the books. | https://azdailysun.com/news/local/reflecting-on-the-rodeo-flagstaff-pro-rodeo-wraps-the-10th-annual-event/article_3fb83506-0a32-11ee-955b-7b65691c705e.html | 2023-06-14T15:55:25 | 0 | https://azdailysun.com/news/local/reflecting-on-the-rodeo-flagstaff-pro-rodeo-wraps-the-10th-annual-event/article_3fb83506-0a32-11ee-955b-7b65691c705e.html |
A group of local youth soccer players is set to represent Flagstaff and Arizona in one of the United States’ premier summer club tournaments beginning this weekend.
The American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) United Arizona 18U team, comprised mostly of high school players and May graduates from Flagstaff, will play in the Far West President’s Cup in Boise, Idaho, beginning Friday. A win in the tournament would vault the team to the national tournament.
Even getting to this point was an accomplishment, as it took success at the state level.
“It’s just powerful because there aren’t a lot of soccer teams in Flagstaff, but it shows we still have good people who love the game and can play,” said Tyanna Chase, a recent graduate of Coconino High School. “I think it just shows how much we love the game here, how much we support each other and now we’re able to represent Arizona as a team.”
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“We’ve put a few different programs on the map out of Flagstaff that have garnered some respect in Arizona and from coaches outside the state,” said Michal Blair, who coaches the team alongside Belinda Donahoe. “And we want to just keep giving the girls opportunities to play and get coached up and get better.”
AYSO United will play against top competition from Colorado, Idaho and Alaska in three days of pool play, attempting to secure a top spot in the tournament bracket and eventually compete for a championship.
The team played in this tournament last year, and came up just short. It lost 1-0 in the championship round.
However, rather than seeing this year as a chance to exact some revenge, the girls see last year’s result as a building block.
“It was cool to see that buildup and what it took to get there, especially since we were a wildcard getting into that tournament,” said Campbell Blair, an incoming senior at Northland Prep Academy. “And now we know we can win it.”
Michael Blair hasn’t had to harp on last year’s loss either.
“I think they’re ready. Maybe we’ll use that as motivation, but really what matters is that it’s their last time together and they want to end it the right way,” he said.
Win or lose, this summer run -- whether it ends in this round or at nationals -- will be the last for this particular group. There are a handful of high school graduates playing in their final youth club seasons. Some are going off to play college soccer, while others will pursue different interests.
“Working hard for the seniors to see how far they’ve come since they were 7 would mean a lot,” Campbell Blair said. “It’s sad to see them go, and, even though I’m excited for the future, we don’t want to lay an egg. If we’re playing our best we can send them off well.”
Far West Presidents Cup play will begin Friday and run until next Tuesday's championship match. | https://azdailysun.com/sports/local/local-club-soccer-team-prepares-for-regional-championship/article_969ffc5a-0a32-11ee-a2c8-a70166c7b8aa.html | 2023-06-14T15:55:31 | 0 | https://azdailysun.com/sports/local/local-club-soccer-team-prepares-for-regional-championship/article_969ffc5a-0a32-11ee-a2c8-a70166c7b8aa.html |
ORLANDO, Fla. – Hot days are especially inconvenient for dogs.
Summers in Central Florida are also getting hotter, according to our media partners at Climate Central, so it’s important to pay extra attention to our four-legged friends.
Dogs only have sweat glands in their footpads, so this major mechanism to help humans cool down is not enough for dogs. They pant.
That means dogs are more susceptible to heat stroke. A dog’s normal body temperature is between 100.2 and 103.8 degrees Fahrenheit, and if its temperature reaches 105 degrees, it may be suffering.
That’s why it’s bad to leave a dog in a vehicle or in any space without air conditioning or ventilation or without access to water. If you have a dog that is a brachycephalic breed, like a French bulldog, a pug, a boxer, or a Boston terrier, these situations are even more dangerous.
It’s important to catch the following signs of heat stroke early to reduce damage to your dog’s body:
- Heavy panting
- Rapid breathing
- Excessive drooling
- Dry mucous membranes
- Bright red gums and tongue
- Hot skin
- Increased heart rate
- Trouble staying balanced
If you notice any of these symptoms, start sponging or pouring cool water on your dog’s body but not ice water. You should also keep a fan on them as well. You want to cool them down gradually.
If symptoms seem to get worse, you need to get them to the vet immediately.
That’s not the only heat issue dogs can encounter in summer.
Do you know what it’s like to walk barefoot in hot sand? For dogs, walking barefoot on something like asphalt in the summer can be extremely painful. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, asphalt temperature reaches 135 degrees when the air temperature is only 86 degrees.
The American Kennel Club suggests putting your hand on the ground when you are about to walk your dog. If you can’t handle the heat of the ground for more than 10 seconds, then it’s too hot for your dog.
Try to walk your dog early in the morning and late at night.
If you must walk your dog during the day:
- Get boots or dog shoes and train them to get used to wearing them. This might take time
- Moisturize your dog’s paws using dog lotions or balms available at your local pet store
- Keep to grassy areas and places in the shade
If your dog’s paw pads have been burned, your dog may limp, start licking their paws or vocalize when stepping. If the paw pads are red or bleeding, take them to the vet for treatment.
You can listen to every episode of Florida’s Fourth Estate in the media player below: | https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2023/06/14/hot-dogs-how-summer-heat-can-hurt-your-pup-what-you-can-do/ | 2023-06-14T16:00:34 | 0 | https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2023/06/14/hot-dogs-how-summer-heat-can-hurt-your-pup-what-you-can-do/ |
POLK COUNTY, Fla. – This alligator has the right idea.
Polk County deputies spotted the baby gator behind an ice machine outside a Circle K.
“Even the gators can’t handle this Florida heat!” the sheriff’s office tweeted on Wednesday.
Central Florida has been seeing highs surge into the mid-to-upper 90s this week, with the heat index above 100.
Tuesday was the hottest day so far this year, and Wednesday will be hotter. Orlando had a high temperature of 95 on Tuesday.
The gator was relocated to a lake, where it can hopefully stay cool!
Even the gators can't handle this Florida heat! On this #WildlifeWednesday, a baby gator was caught cooling off behind the ice machine of a Circle K Store. @PolkCoSheriff Deputies Coggins, Craig, and Turner arrived to lure him out and relocated him to one of Polk’s 550 lakes.🐊🧊 pic.twitter.com/8P7eB6icGT
— Florida Sheriffs Association (@FLSheriffs) June 14, 2023
You can listen to every episode of Florida’s Fourth Estate in the media player below: | https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2023/06/14/right-idea-gator-cools-off-by-ice-machine-in-florida-heat/ | 2023-06-14T16:00:40 | 0 | https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2023/06/14/right-idea-gator-cools-off-by-ice-machine-in-florida-heat/ |
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A high-risk sex offender was arrested Monday, accused of barging into a room at an Orange County hotel and attempting to rape an 18-year-old victim who thought they were opening the door for their boyfriend, an affidavit shows.
The attack happened at Stayable Suites, located at 8700 S. Orange Blossom Trail, where deputies responded around 7 p.m. to interview the victim. After the victim’s boyfriend had left for work around 9 a.m., they told deputies that they believed a light knock on the door between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. was him.
The affidavit shows Fredrick Batese Howard, 54, was really the one outside. When the victim opened the door, they told deputies that Howard forced his way into the room after seeing them and saying “Oh yeah.”
Deputies said the victim attempted to close the door, but couldn’t. According to the affidavit, Howard closed the door behind him and forced the victim onto the bed, where he held them down and put his hand over their mouth.
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The victim managed to scream as Howard reached to unbuckle his pants, at which point the attacker got up and left, deputies said.
Within hours, deputies said they helped the victim identify Howard as the suspect, bringing him in for an interview after 10 p.m. when he was allegedly caught in multiple lies.
Howard claimed he was released from jail less than a week ago “for a violent criminal offense,” what Orange County court records suggest was a case of carjacking with a deadly weapon in Orlando on May 4. Howard’s arrest in the attempted rape prompted a decision to keep him detained without bond in the carjacking case, according to an order filed Tuesday revoking his pretrial release.
Howard was booked minutes after midnight, described in the affidavit as a transient and a high-risk sex offender. He faces charges of attempted sexual battery, burglary of a dwelling, false imprisonment and battery, according to the affidavit.
The heavily-redacted affidavit does not identify the victim beyond their age.
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: | https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2023/06/14/sex-offender-arrested-after-attempted-rape-at-orange-county-hotel-deputies-say/ | 2023-06-14T16:00:47 | 1 | https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2023/06/14/sex-offender-arrested-after-attempted-rape-at-orange-county-hotel-deputies-say/ |
CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — In a tough blow to kids looking to beat the heat this summer, the Flint River Community Center's splash pad is temporarily closed for repairs, according to a release.
The center notes that maintenance turned off the water and drained the lines to check for leaks. They also plan on taking a look at the drain lines to see if the tank holds water.
At this moment, a reopening date has not been determined, as crews are still determining the exact scope of the repairs needed.
To keep track of the reopening status, click here. | https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/flint-river-splash-pad-temporarily-closed/85-4ae3a859-81f5-4161-9d27-581196febc5f | 2023-06-14T16:04:58 | 1 | https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/flint-river-splash-pad-temporarily-closed/85-4ae3a859-81f5-4161-9d27-581196febc5f |
ATLANTA — A popular watering hole on Edgewood is closing up shop this weekend.
Georgia Beer Garden announced on Instagram on Tuesday that its "last day open to the general public" will be this Sunday, June 18.
The account said that "the truth is GBG no longer fits this street even though we do truly love Edgewood."
The post indicated something will come along to replace Georgia Beer Garden, saying "this space needs to evolve and become something else."
"We look forward to updating you down the road with what is coming next. We’re lucky enough to own the building, which gives us room to play," the post said.
GBG long operated in both floors of the building at 420 Edgewood Ave., as well as the outdoor beer garden space. However the top floor of the building was transformed last fall into a cocktail bar, Mambo Zombi, that will continue in operation.
The owners of Georgia Beer Garden also operate the popular Joystick Gamebar across the street; the Instagram post said that business will not be impacted.
The bottom floor space will still be available for private events until it has a new permanent operation, the post said.
"We had a lot of fun here and got to take part in a lot of amazing things. More importantly, we were lucky enough to work with fantastic people. They, and the wonderful folks who patronized GBG, will always be family. Thank you for many years of warmth, kindness, and companionship," the post said. "Join us on Sunday to give GBG the send off she deserves. We’ll be giving 20% off all tabs." | https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/georgia-beer-garden-closing/85-6ecc05a3-bb83-4ece-b864-e4c85812f93a | 2023-06-14T16:05:04 | 0 | https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/georgia-beer-garden-closing/85-6ecc05a3-bb83-4ece-b864-e4c85812f93a |
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — A man is dead following a crash on I-65 near Fultondale Tuesday afternoon.
Jason E. Dodd, 45, of Kimberly, was killed when his 1997 Toyota Tacoma left the roadway and overturned near the 265 mile marker, two miles south of Fultondale. The crash occurred at approximately 4:22 p.m.
According to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency’s Highway Patrol Division, Dodd was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash and was ejected from the car. He was pronounced dead on the scene.
Troopers are investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash. | https://www.cbs42.com/news/local/1-dead-following-crash-on-i-65-near-fultondale/ | 2023-06-14T16:05:47 | 1 | https://www.cbs42.com/news/local/1-dead-following-crash-on-i-65-near-fultondale/ |
Travel anywhere on the planet and you’ll find some version of ice cream. Grab a lemon gelato in Italy; a stick of butterscotch kulfi in Nepal; a cinnamon paleta bar in Mexico. If you’re in Seoul, try a “J”-shaped puffed corn cone filled with soft ice cream.
North Americans tend to be loyal to chocolate, vanilla and cookies ‘n’ cream, according to the International Dairy Foods Association. We like our half gallons or waffle cones stuffed with the fondly familiar.
Still, the world of ice cream isn’t immune to change, and like any culinary domain, it’s evolving. Recent years have seen an explosion of novel flavor combos, unexpected ingredients and new presentations from ice cream makers large and small, food editors say.
On the flavor front, there are floral ingredients like rose, orange blossom, lavender and jasmine, and herbal notes like saffron and tarragon. Unusual combos of savory and sweet are another trend.
“Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream has an ‘Everything Bagel’ flavor featuring cream cheese ice cream with everything bagel gravel,” says Delish.com’s Assistant Food Editor Taylor Ann Spencer.
Liz Sgroi, executive director at Food Network Magazine, points to a collab this spring between Van Leeuwen and Hidden Valley on a ranch-dressing-flavored ice cream.
Ice cream makers, like a lot of chefs, are embracing an international pantry, says Alana Al-Hatlani, assistant food editor at Southern Living magazine.
“I’ve noticed a lot of new citrus flavors beyond lemon, orange and lime, like calamansi, kumquat and mandarin,” she says. In her city, Birmingham, Alabama, the artisan ice cream company Big Spoon Creamery has a Key Lime Yuzu Pie flavor, for instance.
Spencer notes Oregon-based ice creamery Salt & Straw for “combos like Pistachio with Saffron, and Hibiscus and Coconut.” Other offerings there sound like a warm hug in gelid form: Jasmine Milk Tea laced with chocolate-coated almond slivers, or Rhubarb Crumble with Toasted Anise.
Tyler Malek, who co-founded Salt & Straw with his cousin Kim Malek, says they enjoy partnering with chefs and makers to tell cultural stories through ice cream. In a regional collab, they worked with Florida-based Panther Coffee on a Coffee Chocolate Tres Leches ice cream that launched at Panther’s Miami shop. It’s now available nationwide through Salt & Straw’s website.
One of Tyler Malek’s favorites is Strawberry Honey Balsamic with Black Pepper ice cream. To showcase flavorful Oregon strawberries, he worked with a local beekeeper who’d developed a honey balsamic vinegar.
“Adding a splash of that allowed the strawberry flavor to really shine through,” Malek says.
Salt & Straw’s Thanksgiving lineup features turkey bacon, buttery brittle and jammy cranberry sauce flavors folded into a five-course feast of ice creams.
In Tivoli, New York, in their Fortune’s Ice Cream shop, Brian Ackley and his wife, Lisa, offer Halva Honeycomb, based on Middle Eastern sesame candy, and citrus-y Olive Oil Satsuma. Both are non-dairy, born of Brian’s wish to create creamy texture without using typical coconut cream or neutral oils. Tahini and oat milk are the keys to the halva flavor, while almond milk is blended with extra virgin olive oil in the satsuma ice cream.
Lisa is Persian, so the couple were delighted to find orchards in the Hudson Valley that could source perfect black cherries for a Labne Sour Cherry ice cream. The labne is similar to tangy Greek yogurt.
Texture also plays a role in the modern ice cream experience.
“Our Cider Donut flavor has whole donuts blended into the base,” says Ackley. “And we’ve got a green apple sorbet made from whole fresh apples – chunks or not chunks, depending on what I feel delivers the best flavor and texture combo that day.”
Jeni’s recently launched a Ted Lasso ice cream, called Biscuits with the Boss, with shortbread cookies inside.
Sgroi has seen some fun hacks on TikTok, like blended, frozen, sweetened cottage cheese ice cream.
“Another popular one (though slightly less healthy!) is ice cream wrapped in a fruit roll-up. It’s gimmicky, messy and a bit hard to eat, but no one seems to mind — the original recipe video has millions of views,” she says.
Non-dairy ice creams are evolving to meet modern demand, says Al-Hatlani: “Vegan or plant-based options aren’t new, but they’re getting better and creamier.”
Soft serve is no exception. The New York City ice cream shop Morgenstern’s recently opened a dairy-free, soft-service outlet, Morgenstern’s Bananas. And in Seattle, the plant-based ice cream shop Frankie & Jo’s, also offers the treat.
“Coconut milk ice cream has been popular for the last five years,” says Spencer, “but with the rise of oat milk as an alternative, oat milk ice cream is now trending. We’re also seeing brands play with new alt-milks in their ice creams, like macadamia nut milk.”
Grocery store shoppers are encountering new ice cream flavors and formats from familiar brands. To name just a few: Baskin Robbins has pints of Triple Mango Ice Cream, swirled with real mango, mango sorbet and mango ribbons; Ben and Jerry’s has introduced chocolate-coated ice cream bars called pint slices; and Entenmann’s has launched an ice cream sandwich line based on some of their baked goods, like chocolate chip cookies and glazed donuts.
—-
New York-based writer Kim Cook covers design and decor topics regularly for The AP. Follow her on Instagram at @kimcookhome. | https://www.cbs42.com/news/local/creative-ice-cream-flavors-could-make-this-a-sweet-savory-scoop-worthy-summer/ | 2023-06-14T16:05:53 | 0 | https://www.cbs42.com/news/local/creative-ice-cream-flavors-could-make-this-a-sweet-savory-scoop-worthy-summer/ |
Child care crisis pushing Oregon families to breaking point, report finds
Fifteen percent of parents in Oregon with children under six years old had to quit, change or refuse a job because of problems with child care during 2020-21, according to the latest KIDS COUNT Data Book, published annually by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
And women are five to eight times more likely than men to experience negative employment consequences related to caregiving, the report found.
“As a state, we need to recognize that the lack of accessible and affordable child care is not only a concern for families but is also an economic issue. We must invest in policies and funding that prioritize supporting our working families and child care providers,” said Jenifer Wagley, executive director of Our Children Oregon, Oregon’s member of the KIDS COUNT network.
How does Oregon compare?
The report shows national and state trends in child well-being.
Data is collected and aggregated from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Department of Health and Human Services’ National Survey of Children’s Health, the U.S. Department of Education’s National Assessment of Educational Progress, and with the help of the Population Reference Bureau and the KIDS COUNT Network, which represents every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
This year’s report showed that, overall, Oregon ranks 26th in child well-being, the same as last year.
States are ranked on a total of 16 indicators in four domains: Health, family and community, economic well-being, and education.
Oregon scored well on health, ranking seventh nationwide, and on family and community, ranking 16th.
It did poorly on economic well-being, ranking 30th, and on education, ranking 44th.
The education ranking is determined by children ages 3 and 4 not in school (58% in Oregon); fourth graders not proficient in reading (72% in Oregon); eighth graders not proficient in math (78% in Oregon); and high school students not graduating on time (17% in Oregon).
Focus on child care
The report this year took a special look at the expense and availability of child care nationwide.
It found that even if parents can find an opening for child care near their home, they often can’t afford it.
In Oregon, the average cost of center-based child care for a toddler is $13,700, the report found. That’s 12% of the average income for a married couple and 37% of an average single parent’s income in the state.
Nationally, the average annual cost of child care for one child was $10,600. That's 10% of a married couple's median income and more than a third of a single parent's income, according to the report.
A lack of accessible child care impacts more than families. It also costs the state's economy an estimated $2.15 billion per year due to decreased productivity, lost earnings, and increased public assistance, according to a report by the Oregon Child Care Research Partnership.
While parents struggle with the cost of child care, child care workers are paid worse than 98% of professions, the report found. The median pay for child care workers nationwide in 2022 was $28,520 per year, or $13.71 per hour.
The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated the issue, with a recent survey finding that 70% of child care providers experienced a decline in enrollment relating to the pandemic, and almost half of them are uncertain about their ability to remain open.
How does Oregon help?
Oregon has taken steps to address the problem, including passing legislation to increase funding for low-income families to access affordable child care through the Employment Related Day Care program and supporting child care providers.
Despite these efforts, advocates continue to push for increased funding and policy changes to ensure that all Oregonian families have access to affordable and high-quality child care.
However, advocates say the Oregon Legislature's proposed biennial budget for the new Department of Early Learning and Care state agency would cause at least 1,000 families to lose affordable child care access through the Employment Related Day Care program.
Advocates are calling for at least an additional $100 million in investments to fully implement changes to the Employment Related Day Care program and prevent the need to kick families from the program.
Solutions offered
The report offers several suggestions for improving child care systems:
Federal, state and local governments should invest more in child care.
State and local governments should maximize remaining pandemic recovery act dollars to fund needed child care services and capacity.
Congress should reauthorize and strengthen the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act, and increase funding for public pre-kindergarten and Head Start.
Public and private leaders should work together to improve the infrastructure for home-based child care, beginning by lowering the barriers to entry for potential providers by increasing access to start-up and expansion capital.
To help young parents, Congress should expand the federal Child Care Access Means Parents in School program, which serves student parents.
Tracy Loew covers the environment at the Statesman Journal. Send comments, questions and tips:tloew@statesmanjournal.com or 503-399-6779. Follow her on Twitter at@Tracy_Loew | https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/local/2023/06/14/child-care-crisis-costs-kids-count-data-book-oregon/70314236007/ | 2023-06-14T16:08:49 | 1 | https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/local/2023/06/14/child-care-crisis-costs-kids-count-data-book-oregon/70314236007/ |
Oregon State Police say speed likely contributed to fatal crash on Highway 22
Investigators say the driver lost control, left the highway, hit a boulder, flipped and then crossed the center line crashing into two other vehicles.
Investigators say speeding was likely a factor in a Sunday afternoon crash on Highway 22 about five miles east of Idanha that killed a Salem man.
Oregon State Police said Alberto Avila-Perez, 41, was driving west in a Honda Civic at about 3:51 p.m. when he lost control, left the road and hit a boulder.
The Honda flipped over, crossed the center lane and hit an oncoming trailer being towed by a Hyundai and then crashed head-on into a Subaru Forester.
Avila-Perez was pronounced dead at the scene. A passenger was transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The other drivers were not injured.
Traffic on Highway 22 was impacted for about four hours due to the crash.
Bill Poehler covers Marion and Polk County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com | https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/local/2023/06/14/oregon-state-police-speed-likely-contributed-fatal-highway-22-crash/70319473007/ | 2023-06-14T16:08:52 | 0 | https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/local/2023/06/14/oregon-state-police-speed-likely-contributed-fatal-highway-22-crash/70319473007/ |
This week, the life of a fallen Temple University police officer Sgt. Christopher Fitzgerald, will be remembered as the street where he died is set to be named in his honor.
Fitzgerald was slain in February as he attempted to apprehend a teenager who he believed had robbed a convenience store.
On Thursday, Pa. Governor Josh Shapiro, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney and other elected officials are expected to be on hand for the renaming the 1700 block on West Montgomery Avenue to “Christopher Fitzgerald Way.”
In a statement on the renaming, officials said, Temple police officer Leroy Wimberly worked with State Senator Sharif Street (D-3rd dist.) to draft the petition that proposed renaming that block of West Montgomery Avenue to "Christopher Fitzgerald Way."
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After gaining enough signatures, the statement notes that the petition was introduced as a resolution by Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr. on behalf of City Council President Darrell L. Clarke.
The event is expected to take place at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday.
There are additional resources for people or communities that have endured gun violence in Philadelphia. Further information can be found here. | https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/street-at-temple-university-will-be-renamed-for-slain-officer/3585472/ | 2023-06-14T16:15:23 | 1 | https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/street-at-temple-university-will-be-renamed-for-slain-officer/3585472/ |
LEECHBURG, Pa. — A winning scratch-off lottery ticket sold in Westmoreland County has awarded someone $1,000 a week for life!
The Game of Life winning ticket was sold at the Giant Eagle on Towne Center Drive in Leechburg. The store receives a $10,000 bonus for selling it.
The Game of Life is a $10 game that offers top prizes of $1,000 a week for life annuity or a cash option of $1.04 million.
Scratch-Offs are distributed at random, meaning the Pennsylvania Lottery and its retailers do not know where winning tickets will be sold. The Lottery learns where winning tickets are sold only after a prize has been claimed.
Click here to visit the Pennsylvania Lottery’s website for more information.
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Transportation Security Administration officers at Pittsburgh International Airport stopped two guns in the last four days at security checkpoints, bringing the total caught this year to 19 — well on pace to set a new record for the number of guns caught in a single year, according to the TSA.
A gun was caught early this morning when a man from West Leechburg in Westmoreland County showed up with a 9mm handgun loaded with 16 bullets, including one in the chamber. On June 10, an Atlanta man was arrested when a TSA officer removed a .357 revolver with 50 bullets from the man’s fanny pack. The gun was unloaded but was packed with two speed loaders with six bullets each and an additional loose 38 rounds of ammunition.
In each instance when the TSA officer spotted the guns in the checkpoint X-ray machines, airport police came to the checkpoint and confiscated the weapons and ammunition. Federal penalties for bringing weapons to the checkpoint can run as high as $15,000.
Last year, 26 guns were caught at the airport. In 2021, 32 guns were caught.
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Elizabeth Township police are asking for the public’s help to locate a missing woman.
Chloe Gelbish, 30, was last seen around 10 p.m. on June 9. She has not made contact with family or friends.
Gelbish is five feet, two inches tall and weighs 100 pounds.
She was last seen wearing jeans and a T-shirt.
Anyone with information is asked to call 911.
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PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins have named Jason Spezza as assistant general manager.
Spezza will report directly to President of Hockey Operations Kyle Dubas and assist club management in all hockey operations departments.
“After a decorated playing career, Jason fully immersed himself on the management side of the game learning all facets of hockey operations this past season while with Toronto,” said Dubas in a news release. “He showed tremendous work ethic, curiosity, and ability to build relationships throughout all departments at the team facility. His move from the roster to the front office staff also helped make the hockey operations department, coaching staff and playing roster a more cohesive and collaborative unit. We are thrilled to have Jason join the Pittsburgh Penguins today as he will add a great perspective to our Club, and we are excited to watch him reach his potential in management.”
Spezza, who retired from a 19-year NHL career in 2022, spent last season with Dubas and the Toronto Maple Leafs as the special assistant to the general manager.
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LEESBURG, Fla. — Two people were killed and a third person was seriously injured in a crash in Leesburg Wednesday morning.
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Around 10 a.m., Leesburg Fire Rescue and Emergency Medical Services responded to the intersection of Main Street and Sleepy Hollow Rd. just west of Leesburg International Airport for reports of a “serious” motor vehicle accident.
READ: Woman in her 20s shot, killed in Pine Hills, deputies say
See a map of the area below:
Two people have already been pronounced dead from injuries sustained in the crash, according to Leesburg Fire Rescue.
A third person was taken to a local hospital with injuries described as “life-threatening.” A fourth declined any medical treatment.
READ: Volusia County sheriff issues ‘loser alert’ over hate group’s plan for Juneteenth
None of the people involved have been identified.
The Leesburg police department is investigating the circumstances leading up to the crash.
READ: Google to pay out $23 million settlement over search results; how to apply for yours
Drivers are asked to avoid the area or anticipate delays as the investigation is expected to last several hours.
This story is developing. Please stay with WFTV as more information comes into our newsroom.
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ORLANDO, Fla. — Bite30 is back.
Nearly 40 Orlando-area restaurants are participating in the month-long event that features special deals on prix fixe menus.
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Participating restaurants are offering multi-course meals for $35 through July 9.
“Restaurant-hop through the City Beautiful, experience delicious food, service and ambiance of the restaurants you really should know about,” organizers said.
Read: ‘Rust’ shooting: Armorer likely hungover when she loaded gun, prosecutors say
You can click here for a list of participating restaurants.
While Bite30 is going on, reservations are suggested.
Read: Feeling the summer heat? Here are tips to prevent heat exhaustion
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ORLANDO, Fla. — Breeze Airways announced its 10th nonstop route from Orlando International Airport on Wednesday.
The new route will start Sept. 6, with service on Wednesdays and Saturdays to Portland, Maine.
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Airline officials said airfare for the route will start at $99 one-way.
“We continue to find great opportunities for growth out of MCO,” said Breeze Airways President Tom Doxey. “This new route to Portland will give guests in Orlando a great way to visit a beautiful destination in the Northeast.”
Read: Breeze Airways debuts flights from Orlando to West Virginia, doubles frequency of route
Breeze also offers nonstop service from Orlando to Akron-Canton, Ohio; Bentonville-Fayetteville, Arkansas; Charleston, South Carolina; Huntsville, Alabama; Santa Ana-Orange County, California; Providence, Rhode Island; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Charleston, West Virginia. The airline also offers one-stop/no plane change BreezeThru service to New Orleans, Louisana and Provo-Salt Lake City, Utah.
Read: Seriously Nice: Breeze Airways adds new discount flights from Orlando & air service packages
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COCOA, Fla. — A Cocoa man was arrested over the weekend, accused of “gross negligence” leading to the death of his disabled wife.
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63-year-old Robert Bradford was booked into the Brevard County jail Sunday on charges that include manslaughter of an elderly or disabled person.
The investigation began back in January of 2022 with an anonymous call for a medical emergency at Bradford’s home on Boardwalk Lane.
READ: Woman in her 20s shot, killed in Pine Hills, deputies say
Cocoa police officers later responded to Rockledge Regional Medical Center to interview the patient, identified as Bradford’s wife, Robin Grogan, but she was unable to communicate with them because of her condition.
According to an incident report, the responding officers noted that Grogan also appeared to be extremely underweight.
Despite 12 days of medical care, Grogan died at the hospital from “various medical conditions,” the report states.
READ: New Beatles song features artificial intelligence track using John Lennon’s voice
After months of digging into the couple’s relationship and finances, investigators determined Bradford was Grogan’s primary caretaker and was the sole payee of her disability payments, but he couldn’t say when Grogan last received medical care or how much, if any of the payments went to her treatment.
A report from the Brevard County Medical Examiner’s Office stated Grogan died of complications from malnutrition and a severe infection due to “gross negligence.”
Investigators noted that any reasonable person should have seen that Grogan was in need of immediate medical treatment, but the initial call for help was made by an anonymous woman rather than Bradford himself, her primary caretaker.
READ: Deputies arrest second suspect after veteran shot, killed in Pine Hills shopping center
Bradford remains in the Brevard County jail on more than $100,000 bond.
He’s scheduled for a court appearance in August.
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ORLANDO, Fla. — The summer season can bring a lot of sunshine but it can also bring high temperatures. The Florida Department of Health is warning residents and visitors about the dangers of heatstroke and heat exhaustion.
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But they have some tips to help beat the heat and stay cool:
- Stay hydrated
- Those who are at high risk of heat-related illness, including the elderly and young children, should stay in an air-conditioned environment (a shopping mall or a public library are good alternatives)
- If you need to work or exercise outside, take breaks and pace yourself
- Do not leave children or pets in parked cars, even if the windows are left open
- Use sunscreen with a SPF 15 or higher
- Wear a hat and lightweight, light-colored clothing
- Leave your pets with plenty of water in shady areas
- Check local news for extreme heat alerts and safety tips
Read: Beat the heat: 9 ways to protect yourself from extreme heat
Heatstroke symptoms include any of the following:
- Extremely high body temperature, 103ºF or higher
- Hot, red, dry or damp skin
- No sweating
- Hallucinations
- Chills
- Throbbing headache
- Confusion/dizziness
- Slurred speech
If someone does experience heatstroke:
- Call 911 right away
- Move the person to a cooler place
- Help lower the person’s temperature with cool cloths or a cool bath
- Do not give the person anything to drink
Photos: 9 ways to protect yourself from extreme heat
Heat exhaustion symptoms include:
- Heavy sweating
- Extreme weakness or fatigue
- Dizziness/confusion
- Nausea
- Cold clammy/moist skin
- Pale or flushed complexion
- Muscle cramps
- Slightly elevated body temperature
- Fast/shallow breathing
Read: Heat exhaustion vs heatstroke: Here’s the difference and how to stay safe
What to do for heat exhaustion:
- Move to a cool place
- Loosen your clothes
- Put cool, wet towels/cloths on your body or take a cool bath
- Sip water
Get medical help right away if:
- You are throwing up
- Your symptoms get worse
- Your symptoms last longer than 1 hour
Read: Safety tips: The heat and the problems it causes
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LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — Residents in the Leesburg area will have a chance to pick up food items at no cost Thursday morning.
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Farm Share, a nonprofit that aims to help food-insecure residents in Florida, will hold a food giveaway.
Organizers said the distribution will be hosted in conjunction with the Christian Worship Center.
READ: Feeling the summer heat? Here are tips to prevent heat exhaustion
The June 15 event is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. and will be held at:
- 1041 County Road 468, Leesburg, FL 34748
See the map below for event location:
Farm Share said it helps to fight hunger “by working hand-in-hand with local farmers to recover and redistribute produce that would otherwise be thrown away due to aesthetic imperfections.”
The organization will also hold a free food distribution event in Deltona on Friday, June 16, in conjunction with Nitty Gritty True Talk Ministries, Inc.
READ: Questions raised after antisemitic flyers thrown in Winter Garden leads to traffic violation
That giveaway also starts at 10 a.m. and will be held at Centro Internacional de la Familia de Deltona, located at:
- 2886 Elkcam Boulevard, Deltona, FL 32738
See the map below for event location:
Food availability at both giveaways will be on a first-come, first-served basis until supplies run out.
The distribution events will be drive-thru style to minimize contact and to help ensure the safety of everyone who participates, organizers said.
Attendees should arrive in a vehicle with a trunk or cargo bed.
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Farm Share also distributes food to communities throughout Florida, free of charge, through soup kitchens, food pantries, homeless shelters, churches, and senior centers.
To find a food pantry near you, click here.
Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
©2023 Cox Media Group | https://www.wftv.com/news/local/this-week-farm-share-host-food-giveaways-lake-volusia-counties/4JSMMYRZNBFIVNNVMYIUJB6Y64/ | 2023-06-14T16:18:37 | 1 | https://www.wftv.com/news/local/this-week-farm-share-host-food-giveaways-lake-volusia-counties/4JSMMYRZNBFIVNNVMYIUJB6Y64/ |
VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood is warning residents about possible hate group activity planned for this weekend.
>>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<<
“Some of the dumbest groups of weird losers in America are saying they plan to dump more hate flyers in our neighborhoods this Juneteenth weekend,” Chitwood said on social media.
Chitwood has been an outspoken critic of hate group activity in and around Volusia County over the last several months.
Watch: Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood sued by an antisemitic group
His criticism and online comments about hate groups and their activities have made Chitwood a target online.
Several users in online forums have been arrested and charged with threatening violence against Chitwood.
Read: Another 4chan user arrested for threatening to kill Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood
“Just remember this is all because they feel inadequate and small with no friends and no future,” Chitwood said in the post about the hate groups. “They’re not welcome in Volusia County and probably not welcome in their own families’ homes.”
Chitwood said his deputies will be out to enforce the law this weekend and keep people in Volusi8a County safe.
Read: ‘Guardian of Israel’ award given to Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood
Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
©2023 Cox Media Group | https://www.wftv.com/news/local/volusia-county-sheriff-issues-loser-alert-over-hate-groups-plan-juneteenth/7ALTJJFKJFBXTDPEE5DJCUBMFE/ | 2023-06-14T16:18:43 | 0 | https://www.wftv.com/news/local/volusia-county-sheriff-issues-loser-alert-over-hate-groups-plan-juneteenth/7ALTJJFKJFBXTDPEE5DJCUBMFE/ |
GREENSBORO — Shuttered for the past school year, Guilford County Schools' only all-girls high school program could be officially closed by the Guilford County Board of Education in July.
Superintendent Whitney Oakley shared her recommendation to close the Middle College at Bennett during the board's meeting Tuesday. The district is set to hold a public hearing at its next board meeting on June 22. A vote is expected at the board's meeting on July 18.
The all-girls high school launched in 2003 as the result of a partnership between Guilford County Schools and Bennett, a small, historically black women's college, located in Greensboro. In 2019-20, the school had 128 students.
As with all of Guilford County Schools Middle College programs, a big part of the idea was for high school students to be on the campus, take some of their classes directly from the college, experience campus academic life, and hopefully get excited to continue with college after graduating.
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However, things started to unravel during the pandemic.
Ahead of the 2020-21 school year, Guilford County Schools hoped to have students back in class for in-person learning, at least part of the year, while Bennett College had plans to stay virtual all year. In response, Guilford County Schools chose to limit the program to then-rising juniors and seniors.
Rising 10th graders at the time were offered other options and rising ninth graders weren’t enrolled. That pattern continued in 2021-22, with Guilford County Schools again not bringing any new classes in, leaving seniors as the only remaining class for the 2021-22 school year.
District leaders said they did open applications up for new freshmen for the 2022-23 school year, but not enough applied to be able to restart the program that year.
In explaining the recommendation to officially close this summer, district leaders said Bennett's class schedule just doesn't fit well with the school district's schedule. For example, leaders said, Bennett holds some classes in the early evening, as opposed to district's daytime setup. And, district leaders said, Bennett operates on a hybrid model, with one day of face-to-face instruction and four days of remote instruction each week.
"We know that for the vast majority of our students, they need face-to-face instruction," Oakley said.
During the board's discussion, board member Khem Irby brought up the fact that Guilford County Schools now has a high school for boys, the N.C. A&T Four Middle College, but none for girls.
"We no longer have a balance," she said. "So I don't know what the plan is or the idea is around bringing that balance back."
Oakley told her the district's facilities master plan calls for eventually opening a single-gender leadership academy for grades 6-12, and so that issue could be revisited in years ahead. Male and female enrollment across all the middle colleges is roughly even, district leaders said. | https://greensboro.com/news/local/education/guilford-superintendent-recommends-closure-of-shuttered-all-girls-high-school/article_a9b17cfc-0a27-11ee-8428-779f62689245.html | 2023-06-14T16:20:58 | 0 | https://greensboro.com/news/local/education/guilford-superintendent-recommends-closure-of-shuttered-all-girls-high-school/article_a9b17cfc-0a27-11ee-8428-779f62689245.html |
LANCASTER, Pa. — A Lancaster County man has been convicted of shooting two of his friends to death, then burning their bodies in a pickup truck in Manor Township in 2020, prosecutors announced.
Ezequiel B. Almodovar, 38, was found guilty by a Lancaster County jury Tuesday of shooting and killing Jonathan Rivera, 29, and Eugenio Morales-Torres, 33, at his home on Hunsicker Road in Upper Leacock Township on July 27, 2020.
Almodovar then used a pickup truck belonging to Morales-Torres to transport the victims' bodies to a farm lane off Charlestown Road in Manor Township, where he set the truck on fire.
The bodies were discovered the next day, prosecutors said.
After hearing a week's worth of testimony and two hours of deliberation, the jury convicted Almodovar of two counts of first-degree homicide, two counts of abuse of corpse and one count each of reckless burning and tampering with evidence. He will be sentenced at a later date.
The two first-degree murder convictions carry mandatory sentences of life in prison with no opportunity for parole, according to prosecutors.
Almodovar was linked to the killings by several pieces of evidence that were found in his home after Rivera went there and never returned.
At a preliminary hearing in 2020, Rivera's fiancée testified she interrupted Almodovar as he was cleaning up the crime scene when she went there looking for Rivera, who had texted her the night before to say he was going to visit "Zeke" (Almodovar).
When Rivera did not return and his phone went silent, his fiancée went to Almodovar’s home, according to her testimony at the hearing.
There, she testified, she encountered Almodovar – in what appeared to be a blood-stained, white tank top shirt – crouching down next to Morales-Torres’ black pickup truck, where he appeared to be looking for objects on the ground.
The fiancée and Rivera’s sister (who was Morales-Torres’ girlfriend) went back to Almodovar’s house the next morning, according to testimony. The truck was gone, but they found a spent shell casing in the grass, near the driveway.
The casing was turned over to police, who found five more casings outside Almodovar’s home, according to testimony.
Police also found stains, believed to be blood, in the driveway and on a comforter and towel inside the home. A bag of blood was found in a biohazard bag inside Almodovar's garage. | https://www.fox43.com/article/news/local/lancaster-county/ezequiel-almodovar-conviction-murder-jonathan-rivera-eugenio-morales-torres-lancaster/521-deb96039-1617-4530-acef-7e12150e6eb1 | 2023-06-14T16:23:05 | 0 | https://www.fox43.com/article/news/local/lancaster-county/ezequiel-almodovar-conviction-murder-jonathan-rivera-eugenio-morales-torres-lancaster/521-deb96039-1617-4530-acef-7e12150e6eb1 |
LANCASTER, Pa. — Police in Lancaster are looking for help identifying a suspect accused of robbing and assaulting an elderly woman at Park City Center earlier this month.
The victim in the case is 93 years old, according to Lancaster City Police.
The alleged assault occurred just after 9 a.m. on June 2, police said.
Anyone with information regarding the suspect's identify and/or his whereabouts is asked to contact Detective Adam Flurry at flurrya@lancasterpolice.com or 717-735-3444.
You can also submit a tip online. | https://www.fox43.com/article/news/local/lancaster-county/lancaster-police-suspect-robbery-assault-park-city-center-june-2/521-43b6fdce-771a-48e1-83f5-88ba1b4aa9ab | 2023-06-14T16:23:11 | 0 | https://www.fox43.com/article/news/local/lancaster-county/lancaster-police-suspect-robbery-assault-park-city-center-june-2/521-43b6fdce-771a-48e1-83f5-88ba1b4aa9ab |
TAMPA, Fla. — A Temple Terrace veteran voice will be heard through Tampa International Airport after he won this year's Voice of TPA contest.
Sean Baker, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and helicopter pilot who joined in the early 1990s, will begin recording the famous greeting later this month. It's expected to be heard by travelers in July, according to a news release.
Airport authorities said Baker decided to join the contest after recalling last year's winner, Coretta Youmans and decided to enter. He purchased 12 entries.
"They let you reflect on what you did that day and remind you that everything will be all right because there will be another one tomorrow," he said.
After a 22-year career in the military, he retired in 2014 with the rank of Major. He has since earned a master’s in business administration from the University of South Florida.
He also likes biking, hunting, fishing and watching Bucs and Bulls football. And, of course, the Tampa Bay area's sunsets. | https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/veteran-wins-2023-voice-of-tpa-contest/67-c4afdde3-fb10-4994-b63d-93a0cdb2fbd2 | 2023-06-14T16:34:19 | 1 | https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/veteran-wins-2023-voice-of-tpa-contest/67-c4afdde3-fb10-4994-b63d-93a0cdb2fbd2 |
HOUSTON — A new Texas law will force drunk drivers who kill parents to pay child support.
Bentley's law, which is named after a drunken driving victim's surviving son, would require people convicted of intoxication manslaughter to pay restitution.
Payments would begin a year after the defendant is released from prison and continue until all of the victims' surviving children turned 18.
Supporters of the bill hope it will deter drivers from getting behind the wheel after they've had too much to drink.
The Texas bill was signed during this session.
Why is it called Bentley's law?
On April 13, 2021, a knock at the door changed Cecilia Williams's life forever according to a report from KSDK, KHOU 11’s sister station in St. Louis, Mo.
"I got up out of bed to an officer and a state trooper standing at my door,” Williams said. “What they told me I didn't expect."
Williams' son, daughter-in-law and grandson were killed when they were hit by a drunken driver along Highway 30 in Jefferson County.
"They repeatedly told me that they had died in a fiery crash,” she said.
It was at that moment that Williams decided something had to change.
"I made a promise to my kids, and my grandson, and other people that I was going to do what I could to stop people from driving under the influence,” Williams said.
Working with local legislators she drew up legislation that has become known as “Bentley's Law.”
"It requires drunk drivers who kill a parent or parents to pay a child maintenance,” Williams said. “That child maintenance will go until the child or children turns 18 unless they seek a secondary education."
Tennessee became the first state to sign Bentley’s Law into law in July 2022 and similar legislation has been introduced in numerous other states.
"I'm hoping that by December we have all of the states in the United States,” Williams said.
Read the full law: | https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/texas/bentleys-law-texas/285-da86e0e3-1005-4855-b607-53810b29c80b | 2023-06-14T16:35:43 | 1 | https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/texas/bentleys-law-texas/285-da86e0e3-1005-4855-b607-53810b29c80b |
HOUSTON — Texas’ highest criminal court ruled Wednesday that the securities fraud case against now-suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton’s should remain in Houston, settling a key issue in the 8-year-old case as Paxton faces an impeachment trial in the Texas Senate this summer.
In a 6-3 ruling, the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals, made up of nine Republicans and no Democrats, overturned lower-court decisions that said Paxton’s trial had been improperly moved from Collin County, where he lives, to Harris County. They said the trial judge had lost jurisdiction over the matter.
"The standards we use to judge will inevitably be applied against us. Thus, even the noblest of goals, no matter how righteous, cannot justify improper means, Judge Bert Richardson wrote for the majority. "Today we fulfill our duty by upholding our Constitution’s rule of law and affirming the wisdom of its framers."
However, the Texas Constitution and state law protected the judge’s authority over the case, the court ruled.
“We’re gratified but not surprised that the Court recognized that this defendant must stand trial before a Harris County jury and a judge who will follow the law,” prosecutor Brian Wice said.
Paxton’s defense team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In 2015, a Collin County grand jury indicted Paxton on two counts of securities fraud, a first-degree felony with a punishment of up to 99 years in prison, and one count of failing to register with state securities regulators, a third-degree felony with a maximum 10 years in prison.
The securities fraud charges related to Paxton’s efforts in 2011 to solicit investors in Servergy Inc. without disclosing that the McKinney-based tech company was paying him to promote its stock.
Paxton has said he did nothing wrong and dismissed the charges as motivated by his political rivals.
Prosecutors were able to remove the case from Collin County in 2017, arguing that they could not get a fair trial in a county that Paxton had represented during his 10 years in the Texas House and two years in the state Senate.
Paxton’s lawyers, arguing that the judge who ordered the case to Harris County had lost jurisdiction over the case, succeeded in sending the case back to Collin County in 2020, leading to appeals from prosecutors that resulted in Wednesday’s ruling.
Paxton was suspended from acting as attorney general when the Texas House voted to impeach him late last month.
This is a developing story.
This story comes from The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans - and engages with them - about public policy, politics, government, and statewide issues. | https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/texas/ken-paxton-securities-fraud-trial/285-fa483b24-75af-4b2e-91c9-89a27fd4463f | 2023-06-14T16:35:44 | 1 | https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/texas/ken-paxton-securities-fraud-trial/285-fa483b24-75af-4b2e-91c9-89a27fd4463f |
PORTLAND, Ore. — This Friday, Prosper Portland, the city's economic development agency, will open applications for the Small Business Stabilization Restore Grant. It comes after the success of the so-called Repair Grant, awarded to more than 600 businesses for graffiti and vandalism repairs.
One of those recipients is Rhythm Traders, a drum store that has been open for more than 30 years in Portland, and has operated in Northeast Portland since 2007. Amid the many positives over the last few years, owner Brad Boynton said they've dealt with some negatives.
"Businesses on [Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard] get hammered with vandalism and graffiti all the time. So for us, it's an almost weekly affair," he explained. "Pretty quickly your building can become derelict and so you really have to stay on top of it."
Earlier this year, he applied for the Repair Grant, aimed at cleaning up storefronts. He said the nearly $10,000 grant has gone a long way to fund repairs and replacements, like vinyl window coverings.
"We discovered that we could actually make it look a lot better, and make it less enticing for break-ins at the same time just buy covering up the windows," he said.
Now, the city's opening up a second companion grant program this week that goes a bit further than the first grant, as explained by Ellen Bolus-Edmonds.
"The Restore Grant is opening for the first time on Friday. This is in response to community sessions, and what we have learned from the Repair Grant is that there are a lot of expenses that are essential to the business owners, but are not covered by the repair grant," she said.
The Restore Grant Program can provide up to $25,000 to cover things like, interior repairs, inventory loss and insurance increases. However, only small businesses in certain areas are eligible for this funding, including businesses in and around the following areas: along commercial corridors of 82nd Avenue, east Portland, east of Interstate-205, north/northeast Portland, central city, or the inner westside of Portland. In addition, applicants must have been in business prior to March 2020 when COVID was declared a pandemic, employ three or more employees, and have had a 2019 Annual Gross Revenue in the range of $300,000–$3 million.
"These grants are tremendous because they basically allow us to focus on our core business," Boynton said. "Now I can get back to employing people and selling drums and offering lessons and do the things that I do best." | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/prosper-portland-grant-applications-small-businesses-vandalism/283-34156736-16db-430c-ad9f-2566201e22f7 | 2023-06-14T16:40:01 | 1 | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/prosper-portland-grant-applications-small-businesses-vandalism/283-34156736-16db-430c-ad9f-2566201e22f7 |
SEATTLE — A pregnant 34-year-old woman and her unborn child died Tuesday after the woman and a 37-year-old man were shot in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood.
Seattle police officers from the west precinct responded to Fourth Avenue and Lenora Street around 11 a.m. for reports of shots fired, according to Assistant Chief Tom Mahaffey with the Seattle Police Department.
Police found the man and the woman near the intersection. Officers gave them first aid until the Seattle Fire Department arrived.
With the help of witnesses, officers found the suspect a short distance away, Mahaffey said. Officers also recovered a firearm.
The man and woman were taken to Harborview Medical Center. The woman died. The man is in stable condition, according to the Seattle Fire Department.
“This was a tragic and senseless act. We’re grateful that Seattle police were able to quickly apprehend a suspect and further violence was avoided. People deserve to feel safe in the heart of our city – we can’t accept the alternative," a spokesperson for the Downtown Seattle Association said.
Homicide detectives are the lead investigators on the case, Mahaffey said. The investigation is active and ongoing, and Mahaffey said police are still gathering details about what happened.
Mayor Bruce Harrell addressed the shooting during a news conference regarding the city's housing levy.
“I do want to recognize that within the last several hours, we suffered a tragedy downtown, on the streets of downtown Seattle,” said Harrell. “We don't know what motivated it. We do have the suspect. We do believe at this point, I think life was lost and it's very sad. I don't generally try to start off a great event with that kind of sad news, but I think it's important to ground this celebration into what's happening in our city, that they are relying on us. They are relying on us for hope to deal with these complex issues of recklessness and violence, housing and security. And we have to be rooted in love and compassion.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Download our free KING 5 app to stay up-to-date on news stories from across western Washington. | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/washington/shooting-belltown/281-f055a620-4bae-4f35-a31b-f38db91fc6d9 | 2023-06-14T16:40:02 | 0 | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/washington/shooting-belltown/281-f055a620-4bae-4f35-a31b-f38db91fc6d9 |
As warmer weather rolls in, many of us are hitting the trails.
There are plenty of incredible views to take in across Southwest and Central Virginia, and you might even decide to bring a furry friend along with you.
If you plan to take in the great outdoors with your pal by your side, send your photos our way through Pin It.
Not sure how it works? Don’t worry, it’s easy!
How to use Pin It:
- Upload your photo to Pin It under the Precious Pets channel
- Include your pet’s name in the description (optional)
- Hit submit
- Be on the lookout for your photos during our newscasts and on our social media platforms
Once you upload your pictures, you should see them below:
Copyright 2023 by WSLS 10 - All rights reserved. | https://www.wsls.com/news/local/2023/06/08/pin-it-hitting-the-trails-with-your-pet-send-us-your-photos/ | 2023-06-14T16:40:05 | 0 | https://www.wsls.com/news/local/2023/06/08/pin-it-hitting-the-trails-with-your-pet-send-us-your-photos/ |
GARY — After six years of state control, Gary residents are ready to have more of a say in their school district.
Over a dozen residents submitted applications to the Gary Common Council in the hopes of being selected for the city's newly-created schoolboard. The five-member, appointed school board was established when Gov. Eric Holcomb signed Senate Enrolled Act 327 into law May 5. The legislation authorizes the mayor of Gary to appoint one school board member, the Gary Common Council to select another and gives three picks to the Indiana secretary of education, who must appoint at least one Gary resident, one resident of Gary or Lake County, and a final member from anywhere. The school board will eventually replace the Indiana Distressed Unit Appeals Board, or DUAB, as the school district's governing body.
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MGT Consulting and DUAB have run the Gary Community School Corp. since 2017. The former elected school board was dissolved after it spent $21.5 million more than the district took in, racked up $103 million in debt, frequently struggled to make payroll, stiffed vendors, routinely failed to remit to the IRS tax payments withheld from employee paychecks and fell $3 million behind on paying employee health insurance premiums.
School board candidate and president and CEO of the Urban League of NWI said the school district is in the midst of a "critical transition period to bring local control back to the city of Gary."
The Gary Common Council began accepting school board applications in May. To be considered, candidates had to be Gary residents, had to submit a resume and a letter of intent, and had to attend the June 12 Boards and Commissions Committee meeting. The council received 15 applications, however five candidates did not attend the meeting.
Councilmembers asked applicants about their vision for the future of the school district, what qualities they would like to see in a new superintendent and about any applicable skills they might have.
Councilwoman Lori Latham, D-at-large, said she was at the Indiana State Legislature when Senate Enrolled Act 327 was being discussed. During the hearing, Latham said people questioned whether Gary had enough qualified candidates for an elected school board.
"I am so happy and proud that today we showed we have an outstanding number of qualified, committed, well-intentioned residents in the city who are more than qualified to serve on our school board," Latham said, thanking all the applicants.
Council President William Godwin, D-1, echoed Latham's sentiment, adding that assuming "a place like Gary doesn't have the talent is absolutely false."
No official action was taken during the Monday meeting; Godwin said the council hopes to make a decision during its June 20 meeting. He also encouraged all applicants that are not selected to "stay involved" in city government and in the school system.
The school board is slated to be created July 1 and will be initially tasked with advising the district’s emergency manager. It will take full control, including the power to appoint a superintendent, on July 1, 2024, or a later date when DUAB certifies Gary schools no longer are financially distressed.
After relentless cost-cutting and right-sizing along with the extra financial resources obtained through a successful voter referendum in 2020, Gary schools have a $1.3 million annual operating surplus, has paid off all but $66 million in debt, and has a five-year financial plan in place to maintain solvency and stability.
In May it was announced that Paige McNulty, the Gary School Corp.'s current emergency manager, will step down June 30. Mike Raisor, MGT Consulting's senior vice president of education solutions, will become the district's next manager.
In a statement to the Times, Indiana Department of Education spokesperson Christina Molinari said the IDOE has begun interviewing applicants and will likely make a final selection "in the coming weeks." The IDOE is still accepting applications; interested candidates can email bmurphy@doe.in.gov.
Both state Rep. Ragen Hatcher, D-Gary, and Vernon Smith, D-Gary, attended the Monday committee meeting. Godwin thanked the lawmakers for the role they played in crafting the legislation that created the appointed school board.
School board applicants included Vanessa Allen McCloud, Glenn Johnson, Dwight Porter, Greg Easton, Myles Tolliver, Kathy Grimler, Mary Ann Canty Reedus, LaTasha Hall, Jacquese White and Jonathan Boose. Louis M. T. Tatum, Robert Buggs Sr., Richard Hayes, Bryan Cossey and Terry McQuay also applied for the school board, but did not attend the Monday meeting.
Tolliver said he would like "to see the school system thrive and go back to what is used to be."
Also during the Monday committee meeting, councilmembers interviewed candidates for the Gary Public Transportation Corp., or GPTC, Board and the Redevelopment Commission.
The seven-member GPTC Board includes three members appointed by the mayor and four appointed by the Common Council. Current board member Joi Whiteside applied as did Mary Ann Canty. Richard Hayes and Bryan Cossey applied for the board, but were not present during the meeting.
The Gary Redevelopment Commission, or RDC, consists of five members; three are appointed by the mayor and two are appointed by the Common Council. Applicants included; Adam Hall, Markael Watkins, Travis Williams, Tashaun Brown, LaJuan Clemons Sr., Jacquese White, Roosevelt Dixon and current RDC member Jeremiah King. Richard Hayes and Bryan Cossey also applied, but were not present during the Monday meeting.
Gallery: New furniture for kids at Glen Park Academy
Gary Community School Corp. students returned to their classrooms after winter break to a surprise Tuesday: brand-new furniture.
Glen Park Academy New Furniture.jpg
A classroom at Glen Park Academy for Excellence in Gary, decked out Tuesday with brand-new furniture.
Glen Park Academy New Furniture 2.jpg
Staff rolls brand-new furniture into Glen Park Academy for Excellence on Tuesday. Buildings throughout the Gary school district received new f…
Glen Park Academy New Furniture 3.jpg
Gary Community School Corp. officials said that Tuesday was the first time in decades that many schools in the district received new furniture.
Glen Park Academy New Furniture 4.jpg
Students sit in a classroom Tuesday at Glen Park Academy for Excellence in Gary. Students returned from the holiday break to brand-new furniture.
Glen Park Academy New Furniture 5.jpg
New tables on Tuesday at Glen Park Academy for Excellence in Gary. | https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/gary/gary-common-council-interviews-prospective-school-board-members/article_027c6dd8-0a14-11ee-b40b-477fa0bf6d8e.html | 2023-06-14T16:42:50 | 0 | https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/gary/gary-common-council-interviews-prospective-school-board-members/article_027c6dd8-0a14-11ee-b40b-477fa0bf6d8e.html |
Jurisdiction in the case of an Ohio teenager charged with making threats to Porter County schools earlier this year has been waived to adult court, a Porter County magistrate ruled in an order dated Tuesday.
Ryan Krajewski, a 17-year-old Ohio resident currently being held at the Porter County Juvenile Center, is charged with impersonating a public servant and intimidation.
Juvenile Court Magistrate Kristen Mulligan agreed with the prosecution’s argument that Krajewski’s alleged offenses, committed when he was 16, were “heinous or of an aggravated character,” and were part of a repetitive pattern of offenses that leave him “beyond rehabilitation under the juvenile justice system” in light of his 27 months on probation in Medina County, Ohio, for charges including inducing panic.
“The juvenile continued to engage in unlawful behavior involving computers and telecommunications despite the services and supervision through Medina County Probation and the additional therapeutic services obtained by parents for the juvenile,” the prosecutor stated in the findings of fact endorsed by the magistrate.
The Porter County charge of impersonating a public servant stems from a Jan. 4 call to Valparaiso police reporting a supposed shooting, according to a charging document. Officials said Krajewski falsely portrayed himself as a special agent with the FBI during that call.
Krajewski is further charged with two counts of intimidation, which are felonies in adult court, in relation to threats he allegedly made to several area schools early this year.
Krajewski allegedly contacted Valparaiso High School on Jan. 9 and reported a bomb in the building, and then called in another threat to the school Jan. 17.
On Jan. 26, Krajewski allegedly made threats to schools in Valparaiso, Portage, Wheeler, Union Township and Washington Township. He "threatened to use a weapon or weapons of mass destruction to commit mass murder" at Valparaiso and Portage high schools, according to the charges.
Krajewski was arrested Jan. 26 in Ohio.
All the threats he is accused of making proved to be noncredible, officials have said, but the threats sent schools scrambling into lockdown or lockout status.
The Jan. 9 call to Valparaiso High School resulted in a lockdown and early release of students, police said. A false threat of violence Jan. 17 at the same school triggered a lockout response from police and disrupted school operations.
The Portage Police Department said in a social media post at the time that the local high school had "received an anonymous phone call in which a person threatened violence later in the day," prompting its lockdown.
Wheeler High School had also implemented a lockout in response to the threats, officials said.
Krajewski will continue to be housed at the Porter County Juvenile Detention Center, unless he’s transferred to an adult facility as the result of a hearing on the matter, or he’s released on bond set by Porter Superior Court, according to Tuesday’s order.
Gallery: Recent arrests booked into the Porter County Jail | https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/ohio-teen-transferred-to-adult-court-in-school-threats-case/article_ddb16fd8-0ac9-11ee-b3d2-d353add6ea94.html | 2023-06-14T16:42:56 | 1 | https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/ohio-teen-transferred-to-adult-court-in-school-threats-case/article_ddb16fd8-0ac9-11ee-b3d2-d353add6ea94.html |
TUPELO — With the second mandatory campaign finance report deadline past, four candidates have yet to report.
Candidates running for county or state offices were required to complete a financial report by June 9 that lays out all contributions and spending between May 1-31.
Independent candidate for sheriff Anthony “Tony” Rogers, independent candidate for District 4 Justice Court judge Jermandy Jackson, and Republican candidates for District 5 Supervisor Dakota Gilland and Zachary “Bub” Rock all missed the deadline and had not filed by Tuesday, June 13.
Jackson said Tuesday that he had been out of town on business and was unable to file. He said he planned to file by end of the day Tuesday. Officials at Lee County Circuit Court told the Daily Journal that they did not receive a copy of his report by 5 p.m.
Republican candidate for District 4 Justice Court Judge Timothy "Tim" Tubb said though he missed the deadline, he took no further contributions through May and filed his report Tuesday afternoon.
Rock refused to share contact information with the Daily Journal in the past, and attempts to reach him have failed. Attempts to reach Gilland and Rogers before the deadline were also unsuccessful.
The June report follows a major lack of filing in May, when more than half of the candidates running for public office failed to meet their mandatory report on May 10. Many of the candidates cited a lack of knowledge of the deadline or just accidentally letting the deadline pass. Gilland, Jackson, Rock and Tubb were among those failing to meet the May 10 deadline.
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Error! There was an error processing your request. | https://www.djournal.com/news/local/three-lee-county-candidates-fail-to-meet-second-finance-report-deadline/article_937f3d0e-0a2f-11ee-ba83-c72f9d43573f.html | 2023-06-14T16:44:44 | 1 | https://www.djournal.com/news/local/three-lee-county-candidates-fail-to-meet-second-finance-report-deadline/article_937f3d0e-0a2f-11ee-ba83-c72f9d43573f.html |
Maverick Yards will bring pickle ball, townhomes, dining, entertainment to downtown Mauldin
Maverick Yards is one step closer to becoming a reality as a key development in downtown Mauldin's City Center Village plan.
The City of Mauldin, the Parker Group Development and Longbranch Development broke ground on the multi-use project on Monday, June 12.
Maverick Yards will be located on 6.5 acres of land at the corner of Jenkins Street and Jenkins Court. It will include a dining and entertainment complex with more than 40 nearby townhomes for rent, a press release from the City of Mauldin stated.
The Parker Group will redevelop a 20,000 square-foot industrial warehouse into "The Pickle Yard," featuring six pickleball courts - three indoors with three outdoors. The redevelopment will also include "three-or-four food concepts, outdoor seating, fire pits, a beer garden and a stage for live performances."
Longbranch Development will redevelop 2.4 acres of nearby property into 42 townhomes that will be available for rent. The townhomes will feature three bedrooms, open floor plans and two-car garages.
The groundbreaking ceremony featured statements from Mayor Terry Merritt, Drew Parker, founder of the Parker Group Development and Brett Basnight, co-founder of Longbranch Development.
“Soon the buildings around us will come down, and this site is going to be bustling with activity,” Parker said. “Once completed, where we’re standing is going to be a hub of activity where you can eat, you can live and you can play. I like to think that what the Parker Group and Longbranch is doing is just a small part of a bigger plan, and it’s an honor to be standing here today to be a part of that.”
Merritt remarked that Maverick Yards will complement what the City already has in place, including Maverick Station, a restaurant and retail complex recently developed by the Parker Group, the Mauldin Cultural Center on East Butler Road and BridgeWay Station, the urban village slated to open its first phase this fall.
Both projects are projected to open in late 2024.
Mayor: Mauldin's City Center will make it a 'destination'
Mayor Merritt mentioned viewing at least eight renditions of City Center from multiple developers over the past 10 years while thanking City Council and City staff for their hard work in making the City Center vision a reality. He refers to the journey to where the Center is today as “a rollercoaster ride with numerous stops and starts."
While the Maverick Yards project will transform Mauldin in many ways, one thing it won’t change is the City’s character, said Mayor Merritt.
Mauldin strives to create 'urban core':Key developments transforming the growing city.
“Mauldin is a close-knit community, and it will remain a close-knit community,” he said. “We stop and talk to each other, we go to church and attend festivals together, when we see someone in need, we help them, and we still wave at our neighbors with a full hand. That’s not going to change. We’re going to keep that community spirit for generations to come.”
“We’re quickly going from a city with no traditional downtown to a city with multiple community hubs and diverse gathering places, making Mauldin the destination we know it can be,” said Mayor Merritt. "It’s a dream coming true.”
Nina Tran covers trending topics for the Greenville News. Reach her via email at ntran@gannett.com | https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/greenville/2023/06/14/city-of-mauldin-breaks-ground-on-maverick-yards-city-center-growth-and-development-upstate-sc/70318596007/ | 2023-06-14T16:46:00 | 1 | https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/greenville/2023/06/14/city-of-mauldin-breaks-ground-on-maverick-yards-city-center-growth-and-development-upstate-sc/70318596007/ |
TEXAS, USA — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott appointed Mason native Steeley Smith as the student regent for the Texas Tech University System (TTU System) Board of Regents for the 2023-24 academic year.
Smith is a graduate of Mason High School and a graduate student at Texas Tech University pursuing a master’s degree in agribusiness from the Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics in the TTU Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources.
She received a bachelor’s degree in agricultural communication from the Davis College in 2021, and a master’s degree in media and mass communications from the TTU College of Media and Communication in 2022.
She becomes the 18th student to serve on the board of regents and the sixth student from TTU.
“Steeley is driven, ambitious and hard-working – all characteristics that will serve her well as the student regent,” TTU President, Lawrence Schovanec, said. “Her involvement as a student at Texas Tech and experience working in various government and public service offices will greatly benefit Steeley in this role. I am pleased she has been appointed to the Board and expect she will find much success representing the viewpoints of our diverse student bodies.”
Smith received a pair of minors in agribusiness and political science during her undergraduate studies and graduated magna cum laude. She was a President’s List and Dean’s List recipient and a member of the Mortar Board Honor Society and Texas Tech Terry Scholars. Additionally, she received “Top 10 Freshmen” recognition during her first year.
She served as the advertising sales manager for The Agriculturist, a student publication of the Department of Agricultural Education & Communications in the Davis College, where she won a pair of national honors for feature writing and student publication. Smith also was involved with Agriculture Future of America and attended several conferences across the country.
Smith graduated summa cum laude with a Master of Art degree and spent a year in the TTU School of Law, where she was heavily involved in several programs including the Organization of Women Law Students, Raider Bar Association, Texas Young Lawyers Association and State Bar of Texas, among others.
She serves as the coordinator for the TTU Government & Public Service Internship Program, where she oversees networking and business development with U.S. Capitol and Texas Capitol offices and organizes and manages student interns who represent TTU in Washington, D.C., and in Austin.
Smith’s first experience in the nation’s capital was serving as a public policy intern for U.S. Rep. Michael Conaway (TX-11), where she worked as a communications point between constituents and the congressman. She also served as a campaign assistant for U.S. Rep. Jodey Arrington (TX-19) where she advocated campaign messages for stakeholder support and assisted in the campaigns strategic planning to address goals and issues.
“The student regent position ensures a voice for our students as the Board of Regents discuss and consider issues that affect our student population of approximately 63,000 students across the five universities of the Texas Tech University System,” Tedd L. Mitchell, M.D., chancellor of the TTU System, said. “On behalf of our system, I’d like to congratulate Steeley on her appointment and welcome her as our next student regent.”
Smith will serve a one-year term, effective immediately, which expires May 31, 2024. Her first board of regents meeting will take place Aug. 10-11 at the TTU System Building in Lubbock.
She replaces Hani Michael Annabi of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso, who was appointed in 2022. | https://www.myfoxzone.com/article/news/local/mason-graduate-named-texas-tech-system-student-regent-by-gov-abbott/504-058947a2-3e7a-4516-98d4-fc976c41d0a3 | 2023-06-14T16:49:18 | 0 | https://www.myfoxzone.com/article/news/local/mason-graduate-named-texas-tech-system-student-regent-by-gov-abbott/504-058947a2-3e7a-4516-98d4-fc976c41d0a3 |
RUNNELS COUNTY, Texas — A San Antonio man was struck by a car and killed Monday night on State Hwy. 158, 7.1 miles north of Ballinger.
The Texas Department of Public Safety said Rigoberto Alvarez-Ortega, 57, of San Antonio, was standing in the barrow ditch while his vehicle was being serviced. A car, driven by Billy Jack Leach, 82, of Canyon Lake, veered into the right, driving into the barrow ditch, striking Alvarez-Ortega and the fence line.
Alvarez-Ortega was pronounced dead at the scene.
Leach was not injured in the crash. The crash report did not indicate any citations issued. | https://www.myfoxzone.com/article/news/local/san-antonio-man-struck-killed-on-sh-158-near-ballinger/504-d8331169-3107-42cd-9ee2-9af05c0832cb | 2023-06-14T16:49:24 | 1 | https://www.myfoxzone.com/article/news/local/san-antonio-man-struck-killed-on-sh-158-near-ballinger/504-d8331169-3107-42cd-9ee2-9af05c0832cb |
PRINCETON, Texas — An AMBER Alert has been issued for a missing teenager in the Collin County city of Princeton.
Police say they responded to a missing person call on Tuesday and learned Ja'Myra La'Cole Strawder left her home voluntarily.
The 14-year-old was entered into the statewide AMBER Alert system "due to the criteria and nature of this case," police said.
The alert describes her disappearance as an abduction.
Strawder has black hair and brown eyes, is 5-foot-7, and weighs around 140 pounds, according to police. She was last seen wearing a gray sweatshirt/hoodie, gray sweatpants and black slippers.
According to the statewide alert, police are also searching for Lee Carter III, 34, who is believed to be connected to the teen's disappearance.
The vehicle being used is described as a black 2014 Mercedes E35 with the Texas license plate RNS-2973.
Anyone with information on her whereabouts is urged to call Princeton police at 972-736-3901 or use the "Submit a Crime Tip" section of the department's website. | https://www.myfoxzone.com/article/news/local/texas-amber-alert-search-underway-missing-collin-county-teen/287-c9ed1da9-b791-4449-a0d2-b43270314f77 | 2023-06-14T16:49:31 | 1 | https://www.myfoxzone.com/article/news/local/texas-amber-alert-search-underway-missing-collin-county-teen/287-c9ed1da9-b791-4449-a0d2-b43270314f77 |
Massive asteroids will pass by Earth this week, with one coming closer than the moon
A slew of asteroids are set to fly by Earth this week, with one projected to venture closer than the moon.
According to the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the solar orbiting rocky fragment dubbed 2023 LZ will pass by Earth on Wednesday, June 14, with its closest approach slated to be approximately 197,000 miles.
For reference, the average distance between the Earth and the moon is about 239,000 miles.
NASA data indicates 2023 LZ is approximately 59 feet, making it a "house-size" asteroid. According to SkyLive, 2023 LZ will only be viewable through long-exposure photography from Phoenix.
While it may sound a little too close for comfort, Mount Lemmon SkyCenter Director Alan Strauss told The Arizona Republic that there's no need to worry.
"I will tell you that asteroids pass nearby the Earth often, and like all of the ones we know of and have cataloged, these are harmless and have no effect on Earth," Strauss said.
That goes for the rest of the bunch as well, as two more meteors will zoom past on June 15 and June 17.
More:How ASU, University of Arizona scientists helped Apollo astronauts land on the moon
Asteroid 2020 DB5 will pass by on June 15
2020 DB5, according to NASA Jet Propulsion Lab data, is estimated to be a 1,600-foot asteroid and will have its long-distance date with Earth on June 15.
A similar asteroid 1994 XD, which was discovered by Spacewatch at the Kitt Peak Observatory in Arizona, passed by Earth on Monday, about 3.1 million miles away.
2020 DB5's closest approach will be just under 2.7 million miles from Earth.
At 1,600 feet, this asteroid is "bridge-size", making it a "potentially hazardous object" according to NASA's asteroid watch dashboard, but it won't hit the planet.
Asteroid 2023 HL comes around June 17
On June 17, asteroid 2023 HL will cruise by Earth on its tour, coming as close as 3.2 million miles away from the blue marble.
2023 HL is an estimated 45 feet dropping it in the "house-size" category alongside 2023 LZ.
Additionally, those interested can take a peek at asteroids to come near Earth via the Eyes on Asteroids countdown on NASA's website. | https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-science/2023/06/14/asteroid-passing-earth-june-2023/70318466007/ | 2023-06-14T16:56:49 | 1 | https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-science/2023/06/14/asteroid-passing-earth-june-2023/70318466007/ |
Bee etiquette: How to behave around our pollinating friends and avoid bee attacks
With summer getting into full swing, you may notice there's a little more buzz in the air.
Some of the stories are alarming, too. In 2022, an Ohio man received 20,000 bee stings, and swallowed 30, while helping a friend cut down tree branches and accidentally sliced into the hive.
No reason to panic, though, as here is what to know to stay safe around bees this summer.
Bee safety — for us and the bees — is an important part of our coexistence, so much so that a human's life expectancy is linked to that of the pollinator's well-being.
Part of that well-being comes in the form of improving our interactions with them by gaining a bit more understanding of their behavior.
Why do bees swarm?
Bee swarms are a natural fear. A massive, buzzing black wall flying throughout the sky would scare anyone. However, the swarms serve a purpose.
"A swarm is when, usually, half the bees leave an existing hive to go start a new hive and bees will not attack when they're swarming because the first thing they do before they leave is they fill their bellies with honey," President of the Beekeepers Association of Central Arizona and University of Montana Master Beekeeper Duane Combs told the Arizona Republic.
An article from Iowa State University echoes this, saying under most circumstances, honey bee swarms are not highly dangerous, due to a reduced ability to sting given the prior honey feed.
Full of honey and ready to relocate, the process often sees these swarms hover within 100 yards of their previous home while scouts check the market.
"They'll send scouts out from there and once they find a new home, then the scouts lead them to the new home," Combs said. "You can stick your bare hand into a swarm and 99.95% of the time they will not sting you."
Though not advised, Combs point provides some perspective on the myths surrounding the nature of bee swarms, and while daunting, the true danger is in the form of existing hives.
When will bees attack?
It mainly comes down to self-defense. Protecting the hive, themselves, or their resources is when bees will risk their lives.
"Swarms aren't the problem, it's existing hives and what the bees are doing is protecting their home, they're protecting their honey and pollen resources, they're protecting the baby bees, their queen and sisters," Combs said.
During the summer, attacks can occur more frequently as the bees become a bit more defensive due to the number of resources declining.
"We get in the summer what's called the dearth, where there are fewer flowers. If you remember, in early spring, every lot that had not been plowed in a year was covered with weeds that flowered and so there was a tremendous amount of food available," Combs said. "Right now, there still are urban flowers and some trees, but for the most part, the amount of food out there has gone down dramatically."
When bees forage, Combs said they can trek up to eight miles from their hive, but ideally prefer to shop only around half a mile to three miles, as to conserve energy.
When bees attack:Arizona mom stung 75 times during family photo shoot
Are Africanized or European honeybees more dangerous?
Generally, bees can be misconceived as aggressive insects, when, in fact, they attack only when they feel they need to defend their nest, Carl Hayden Bee Research Center research leader Gloria Hoffman told the Arizona Republic in 2016.
In large part, this can be attributed to the hysteria associated with Africanized bees, dubbed "killer bees," when they touched down in Texas in 1990 and ventured to Arizona three years later.
According to the Smithsonian Institution, Africanized bees are dangerous because they will attack in greater numbers compared to that of European honey bees. Additionally, upon their introduction to Brazil, they had killed 1,000 people with victims getting stung ten times more than that of the European variant.
This led some to believe that the sting from an Africanized honey bee was far more dangerous than others.
However, a 1989 study co-authored by Justin Schmidt, an insect behaviorist at the Southwest Biological Institute in Tucson cited by Scientific American, found that there was no difference in the "lethality of the venom from various honeybee subspecies."
"The authors concluded: Perhaps use of the popular term ‘killer bee’ to describe the Africanized bee is inappropriate,” according to Scientific American.
Their aggressive nature has also since fallen by the wayside.
"In the 90s, African bees were very aggressive. But because they've interbred with other bees, today being an Africanized bee doesn't mean they are going to be aggressive anymore than a European," Combs said.
Good news, as Combs also states that the most common type of bee found in Arizona are likely African hybrids.
How do first responders treat bee-sting victims?
Upon responding to an attack, fire crews will send out a team to assess the situation. They then may call in an ambulance or other reinforcements to treat sting victims and stabilize the swarm.
Those showing signs of anaphylactic shock, including swelling of the throat or loss of breath, will be transported to the hospital.
What should I do if I encounter a swarm?
If you find yourself squaring off against a potential swarm, the best thing to do is stay calm and leave.
"When dealing with bees that start coming towards you, the first thing they will do is bump you, because if they sting you they die," Combs said. "When you see bees circling around you or bumping you, you need to back up and back out of the area."
Don't swat at them, either, as it'll be perceived as an aggressive move, which could spark the bee into becoming more defensive, and increasing the possibility of getting stung.
Like most wild animals or insects, bees are just as unpredictable, meaning anyone, especially those allergic, should remain cautious.
"When you encounter bees, just move slowly out of the area, protecting your mouth and your eyes," Combs said.
These are some additional tips from experts to help reduce grabbing a bee's attention:
- Avoid wearing dark, loose clothing or shiny objects while hiking
- Avoid wearing perfumes, cologne or strong scent
- Don't make jerky movements near hives
- Do not swat at bees | https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2023/06/14/how-to-stay-safe-around-bees-during-the-summer-arizona/70308233007/ | 2023-06-14T16:56:50 | 1 | https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2023/06/14/how-to-stay-safe-around-bees-during-the-summer-arizona/70308233007/ |
Prep work on 96th and Allisonville roundabout to begin soon
Fishers has chosen a contractor to build the two-lane roundabout at 96th Street and Allisonville Road that will replace the unpopular Michigan Left turn at the intersection.
Reith-Riley sent in the lowest bid at just under $6.3 million. The Board of Public Works and Safety was set to approve the contract Wednesday.
The city had budgeted $5 million for the project and officials said it must make some adjustments to the plan to meet that cost.
Reith-Riley will begin utility work at the site in 2023 and the street rehabilitation will start in 2024.
The roundabout will replace the Michigan Left, which requires drivers to turn right, then do a U-turn a couple of hundred feet later to make a left-hand turn onto either Allisonville Road or 96th Street.
The change is intended to help ease traffic congestion when a new residential and commercial project is built on the northwest quadrant of the intersection.
'It's about time':Fishers does U-turn on Michigan Left; change coming to 96th St. intersection
RG Residential is planning the Riverplace Apartments, with 380 units in five buildings, 66 townhomes and 35,000 square feet of commercial retail space.
The city is also planning a park and trails next to the development along the White River.
Riverfront Park will have a nature area with a canoe launch, quarry ponds, adventure course, pavilion, bike and ropes course, treehouse, river overlook and a hammock grove. A trail will connect it to Heritage Park at 106th Street.
Call the reporter at 317-444-6418. | https://www.indystar.com/story/news/local/hamilton-county/fishers/2023/06/14/fishers-roundabout-allisonville-road-96th-street-replacing-michigan-left/70321086007/ | 2023-06-14T16:57:00 | 1 | https://www.indystar.com/story/news/local/hamilton-county/fishers/2023/06/14/fishers-roundabout-allisonville-road-96th-street-replacing-michigan-left/70321086007/ |
Isle Royale wolves continue recovery after nearly dying out, while park's moose decline
Traverse City – Gray wolves are thriving at Isle Royale National Park five years after authorities began a last-ditch attempt to prevent the species from dying out on the Lake Superior island chain, scientists said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the park's moose population continues a sharp but needed decline. Overpopulation of the lumbering mammals were causing their own starvation as they outstripped available balsam fir trees – their primary food during long, snowbound winters, Michigan Technological University biologists said.
The trends appear to justify federal officials' 2018 decision to airlift mainland wolves to Isle Royale, the researchers said, arguing that the predators' return is helping rebalance an ecosystem knocked off-kilter as their number dropped to just two.
The scientists' annual report, based largely on aerial observations last winter, estimated the rebuilt population at 31 wolves– up from 28 last year. It said the wolves appeared to be forming three packs, with others wandering alone or in smaller groups. The moose total was roughly 967, down from 1,346 last year and 54% decline from about 2,000 in 2019. Ecologists are celebrating what they hope will be a healthier herd.
“It’s been hugely successful,” said study co-leader Sarah Hoy, a research assistant professor and animal ecologist. "That’s what everyone was hoping for."
But the early results haven't settled a debate over whether people should rescue struggling species at Isle Royale or other designated wilderness areas, where federal law calls for letting nature take its course.
“We have felt and still believe that the National Park Service should not have intervened and set up this artificial population of wolves,” said Kevin Proescholdt, conservation director for the advocacy group Wilderness Watch.
Scientists believe the island’s first moose swam to Isle Royale around the turn of the 20th century. Wolves arrived in the late 1940s, apparently crossing the frozen lake surface from Minnesota or the Canadian province of Ontario. Though technically part of Michigan, that state's shores are farther away.
Moose provided an ample food supply for the wolves, which in turn helped keep moose numbers in check. Both populations rose and fell over the years, influenced by disease, weather, parasites and other factors. But inbreeding finally took its toll on the wolves, whose numbers plummeted between 2011 and 2018.
Some experts said they should be allowed to die out, as have other species that once occupied the island, including Canada lynx and woodland caribou, which had the same predator-prey relationship as today's wolves and moose.
“Species come and species go,” Proescholdt said, arguing that the federal Wilderness Act “directs us to let nature call the shots and not impose our human desires.”
Park officials and Michigan Tech scientists contend the absence of a top-of-the-food-chain predator of moose and beaver would have been ruinous for the island's forest. Even now, its balsam firs continue to deteriorate from moose browsing and an attack of tree-killing spruce budworm, the report said.
Experts acknowledge the same factors that nearly wiped out the wolves – primarily inbreeding – eventually could return. Global warming is causing fewer ice bridges to form on Lake Superior, reducing the likelihood of wolves trekking from the mainland to the park and diversifying the gene pool. The sprawling archipelago’s closest point to the mainland is about 15 miles (25 kilometers) away.
That could mean park managers will need to import a few wolves every decade or so, Hoy said.
They brought in 19 wolves from Minnesota, Ontario’s Michipicoten Island and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in 2018-19. Only a few are believed still alive – hardly surprising as wild wolves seldom live longer than five years, Hoy said. But their descendants are believed to have produced at least seven litters of pups.
This year's field study detected an 11-member pack on the main island's eastern side and a five-member pack on the western side. There were three groups of at least three wolves each, and a few loners or pairs. A new pack also appears to be forming, the report said.
The moose population's 28% drop from 2022 is one of the biggest one-year collapses ever seen at the park, it said. While wolf predation is partly responsible, necropsies indicate the biggest cause was starvation from overpopulation.
Even though relatively few moose calves appear to be surviving to adulthood, there's no reason to worry about the moose's immediate future, Michigan Tech biologist Rolf Peterson said. They've fallen to 400-500 before and bounced back. But the warming climate, tick infestations and other long-term challenges will remain.
For now, the park's ecosystem is getting healthier thanks to the wolves' return, he said, suggesting the decision to intervene was correct.
“The old hands-off approach to managing national parks, figuring everything will turn out OK, is probably not sufficient,” Peterson said. “Our footprint is all over the entire globe." | https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2023/06/14/isle-royale-wolves-continue-recovery-after-nearly-dying-out-while-parks-moose-decline/70321221007/ | 2023-06-14T17:04:18 | 1 | https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2023/06/14/isle-royale-wolves-continue-recovery-after-nearly-dying-out-while-parks-moose-decline/70321221007/ |
WESTMINSTER, Md. — A historic Black cemetery is getting rezoned within the city limits of Westminster.
On Monday the Mayor and Common Council unanimously approved the annexation of Ellsworth Cemetery on Leidy Road.
Since the late 1870s the site has been a resting place for Black Carroll County residents and military veterans, who at the time were not allowed to be buried within city limits.
The one-plus acre of land was falling into disrepair until 2013 when the Community Foundation of Carroll County renewed efforts to maintain and preserve the property.
RELATED: Securing the future of Ellsworth Cemetery
Last year volunteers unveiled the headstones of nine black soldiers buried at the cemetery including John Wesley Cole, an infantryman who was wounded following the Battle of Gettysburg.
Earlier this year the organization petitioned the City to annex the cemetery, with the goal of having it become part of the Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area.
The move, they say, would make the cemetery eligible for grant funding towards continued preservation efforts. | https://www.wmar2news.com/local/ellsworth-cemetery-to-become-part-westminster | 2023-06-14T17:09:16 | 1 | https://www.wmar2news.com/local/ellsworth-cemetery-to-become-part-westminster |
ARKANSAS, USA — State leaders in Arkansas have found themselves dealing with a debate over pay raises that would impact more than 22,000 employees across the Natural State.
The new pay bump would be based on performance.
"The majority of people do feel that this was a slap in the face," one anonymous state employee explained.
She's been employed with them for 25 years and said she has oftentimes struggled to make ends meet because of her salary.
"Medical bills and prescriptions [and] regular expenses," the state employee added.
Another worker who has been at a state agency for nearly 10 years told us that she's a single mom and hasn't seen a significant pay increase in at least seven years.
"Our health insurance keeps continually rising and getting higher and higher every year [and] they're taking out more from our paychecks for everything," she described.
On Friday, Republican Governor Sarah Sanders released a letter that was written to Secretary Joseph Wood, who is the director of the Department of Transformation and shared services.
According to Gov. Sanders, the pay increase would only apply to those deemed as "exceptional employees."
For state employees who have served for more than one year, those deemed "highly effective" will receive a 4.5% base salary increase, while those deemed "role models" will receive a 5% base salary increase.
This is all based on a performance review system that has five categories:
- Unacceptable
- Needs improvement
- Solid performer
- Highly effective
- Role model
For context, there are a total of 15 departments and 11 independent agencies.
There are approximately 22,742 employees.
There are 15,959 employees who are categorized as solid performer, needs improvement, and unacceptable.
There are 4,300 people considered highly effective employees, and 1,456 employees are deemed a role model.
Those numbers show how many employees would qualify for this pay increase.
Both state employees that we interviewed, explained that they believe this is a letdown.
"We work so hard and feel like there is no appreciation," one employee added.
The Arkansas State Employees Association, an advocacy group for state employees, hopes to be able to meet with legislators and the Governor.
You can read the full statement from the governor below: | https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/local/arkansas-employees-performance-based-increase/91-52650aa2-fc2c-4417-962b-c0420eb815cb | 2023-06-14T17:22:26 | 1 | https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/local/arkansas-employees-performance-based-increase/91-52650aa2-fc2c-4417-962b-c0420eb815cb |
The closure of Hillegas Road will resume today as a sewer pipe crew continues work, according to Fort Wayne City Utilities.
Motorists should use a Goshen Road and Sherman Boulevard detour. The project should finish in 10 days.
For more information, call 260-427-1234. | https://www.journalgazette.net/local/hillegas-road-closure/article_00732e2e-0ab8-11ee-a960-af33b3457043.html | 2023-06-14T17:27:22 | 0 | https://www.journalgazette.net/local/hillegas-road-closure/article_00732e2e-0ab8-11ee-a960-af33b3457043.html |
🎳Enter to win 4-pack gameplay, shoe rental at Aloma Bowling CentersEntries accepted through June 21 at 11:59 p.m.Crystal MoyerPublished: June 14, 2023, 12:11 PMTags: Insider, Contestsbowling (Copyright 2023 by WKMG ClickOrlando - All rights reserved.) Copyright 2023 by WKMG ClickOrlando - All rights reserved. | https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2023/06/14/enter-to-win-4-pack-gameplay-shoe-rental-at-aloma-bowling-centers/ | 2023-06-14T17:32:46 | 0 | https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2023/06/14/enter-to-win-4-pack-gameplay-shoe-rental-at-aloma-bowling-centers/ |
ORLANDO, Fla. – School’s out for the summer and, parents, if you’re looking for a way to keep kids active while staying out of the summer heat, you may want to consider bowling.
A group of Central Florida bowling allies are offering free gameplay for kids during the weekdays this summer.
“It’s one of those past times that’s not common anymore, so I wanted to give my kids a chance to do what I used to do as a kid,” parent Amanda Olivares said.
Olivares and her family spent the afternoon at Boardwalk Bowl in Orlando, taking down pins.
The perks?
“We get to beat the heat. We all know Central Florida’s really hot,” Olivares said.
Another benefit? The kids are bowling for free. It’s all part of the Aloma Bowling Centers’ kids summer program.
During the weekdays, kids 15 and under can bowl free at one of three Central Florida locations with the purchase of $4 shoe rentals.
“The excitement that the kids get when they knock down those pins and seeing the hard work and jumping around in excitement, that’s the exciting part for me,” Olivares said.
From May 29 to Aug. 11, Airport Lanes in Lake Mary/Sanford, Aloma Bowl in Winter Park and Boardwalk Bowl in Orlando are offering two free bowling games per day to kids 15 and under. The offer is available Monday through Friday from business open to 5 p.m.
Pre-registration is required and must be completed online before the first visit. To register for Free Bowling for Kids, click here for Airport Lanes in Lake Mary/Sanford, here for Aloma Bowl in Winter Park and here for Boardwalk Bowl in Orlando.
Parents can also join in on the fun! Bowling games for parents and additional games for children can be purchased for $2 per game.
[ENTER TO WIN 4-PACK BOWLING GAMEPLAY PLUS SHOE RENTAL AT ALOMA BOWLING CENTERS]
All participants must purchase shoe rentals and a parent or guardian must be present. Free Bowling for Kids is not available on holidays, and it cannot be combined with any other promotions or offers. The promotion is not available to summer camps or day cares. Children must be 15 or younger to qualify.
There’s also another program offering free bowling for kids and teens in dozens more locations across Florida, called Kids Bowl Free. This program is designed by bowling centers to give back to the community and provide a safe, secure and fun way for kids to spend time this summer.
Since 2007, more than 35 million kids and families have participated.
Step 1: Find a participating bowling center in your community.
Step 2: Register your kids. Note: Children whose age does not exceed a limit by a participating bowling center are eligible to register for two free games each day of the program all summer long, courtesy of the participating bowling centers along with the schools and organizations. Participating bowling centers set their age limits. See the center registration page for more details.
Step 3: Go bowling all summer!
The following Central Florida bowling allies are participating in Kids Bowl Free.
You can listen to every episode of Florida’s Fourth Estate in the media player below: | https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2023/06/14/kids-bowl-free-with-shoe-rental-at-these-central-florida-locations/ | 2023-06-14T17:32:52 | 0 | https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2023/06/14/kids-bowl-free-with-shoe-rental-at-these-central-florida-locations/ |
ORLANDO, Fla. – Magic Kingdom is still No. 1.
A new report by the Themed Entertainment Association shows Disney’s Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida ranks No. 1 for attendance worldwide.
The annual Theme Index report shows 17.1 million people visited the Magic Kingdom in 2022, up 35% from 2021 when attendance was nearly 12.7 million. Despite the growth, the Magic Kingdom still has not returned to its pre-pandemic attendance number of nearly 21 million in 2019.
No park in the world has recovered its pre-pandemic attendance numbers, according to the report.
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While Disney theme parks around the world dominate the list (Disneyland in California ranked No. 2 and Tokyo Disneyland ranked No. 4), Universal Studios’ theme parks are also making strides.
Universal Studios Japan, which ranked fifth for attendance in 2019, saw 125% attendance growth between 2021 and 2022, driven by the lifting of COVID-19 capacity restrictions and also the opening of Super Nintendo World in 2021. That put the park at third for attendance.
Universal’s Islands of Adventure in Orlando ranked No. 5, up from 12th in 2019. Park attendance grew 21% between 2021 and 2022.
In the U.S., Magic Kingdom and Disneyland again took the top two spots, followed by Islands of Adventure, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Universal Studios Florida.
Overall, Florida’s eight parks accounted for 77.3 million visitors in 2022.
TEA and AECOM use several sources to estimate theme park attendance, including from the companies themselves.
See the full report on the AECOM website.
Use the form below to sign up for the ClickOrlando.com In the Loop: Theme Park Scoops newsletter, sent every Friday morning. | https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2023/06/14/this-disney-theme-park-is-the-busiest-in-the-world/ | 2023-06-14T17:32:58 | 0 | https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2023/06/14/this-disney-theme-park-is-the-busiest-in-the-world/ |
TUPELO, Miss. (WTVA) — An investigation is underway after authorities found and safely removed an explosive device Tuesday evening in Tupelo.
Lee County deputies found the IED (improvised explosive device) inside a vehicle Tuesday evening at the Texaco gas station on Barnes Crossing Road, according to a Lee County Sheriff’s Department news release.
A bomb squad was able to help with its removal.
Deputies had originally responded to the gas station as part of an investigation into the alleged abuse of 81-year-old Dianne Cotton, a vulnerable adult.
Investigators consider her son Michael Foster, 58, a suspect.
Up until that point, investigators had been unable to get in contact with her; and someone reported seeing the pair at the gas station Tuesday evening.
When deputies confronted them, Foster was allegedly in possession of methamphetamine and deputies found the IED. Cotton was taken to the hospital for medical evaluation.
Foster was booked into the Lee County jail on the felony drug charge and misdemeanor trespassing. | https://www.wtva.com/news/local/explosive-device-found-and-removed-tuesday-evening-in-tupelo/article_9b2fcc9a-0ace-11ee-9e58-3b81007a8605.html | 2023-06-14T17:36:21 | 0 | https://www.wtva.com/news/local/explosive-device-found-and-removed-tuesday-evening-in-tupelo/article_9b2fcc9a-0ace-11ee-9e58-3b81007a8605.html |
Update June 14, 2023
Hodge has been found.
Original article below
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WTVA) — The public’s help is needed in locating missing teenager Georgia Nicole Hodge in Oktibbeha County.
The 16-year-old was last seen on June 10 near Sanders Road.
She may be in or near Columbus, which is approximately 20 miles east of Starkville.
She is a little over 5 feet in height and weighs 135 pounds.
Anyone with information about her is asked to call the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Department at 662-323-2421. | https://www.wtva.com/news/local/missing-teenager-georgia-hodge-located/article_bc35632c-0a34-11ee-9db2-83830d17e379.html | 2023-06-14T17:36:27 | 0 | https://www.wtva.com/news/local/missing-teenager-georgia-hodge-located/article_bc35632c-0a34-11ee-9db2-83830d17e379.html |
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