text
string | url
string | crawl_date
timestamp[ms] | label
int64 | id
string |
|---|---|---|---|---|
BOISE, Idaho — It’s a meaningful day for 9-year-old Aurora Armon; she gets to finally finish a major project.
“Giving money to FACES of Hope,” Aurora said.
Faces of Hope in Boise helps and provides resources for people dealing with things like domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse. Aurora is passionate about helping others, so she started a campaign at school.
“I made a penny drive, and whoever raised the most money gets a pizza party,” Aurora said.
The prize of pizza helped produce pounds of pennies from students at Crimson Point Elementary in Kuna.
“They were really kind, they said that they were bringing it in because it was helpful to autistic and child abuse awareness,” Aurora said.
Those are topics close to Aurora and her supportive family.
“My brother is autistic, and he got abused in the hands of a teacher,” Aurora explained.
Ada County Prosecutor Jan Bennetts met Aurora at FACES to help accept a donation of well over $1,500.
“She is making a difference in the community and we are really proud of that,” Bennetts said.
Bennetts notes how meaningful it is for a 9-year-old to take on a serious topic for a charity drive.
“Very important, serious issues and I think it’s great because it raises awareness and someone who is a young girl out there trying to make a difference already, it’s exciting to know what the future hold for us with someone like that who engaged and interested and caring about her community,” Bennetts said.
Aurora’s family is so proud of her hard work, just ask her mom Kate.
“With April being autism awareness month and child abuse awareness month, April is a big deal in our house. My son is well aware of everything, he is aware of his diagnosis, he is aware of what happened, and it wasn’t right. To be able to have his little sister speak up for him, that’s great,” Kate said.
Prosecutor Bennetts agrees.
“It is so heartwarming to see people get involved and be engaged in preventing child abuse, which is so important. It takes a community to really prevent child abuse, and that is our goal,” Bennetts said.
Aurora is a humble elementary schooler, who also happens to be Miss Gem State Elementary. She says delivering the check brings a unique excitement.
“It’s like having a whole entire, other birthday,” Aurora laughed.
Pennies, pizza, and projects aside, Aurora says her work comes down to a simple message.
“My favorite part of this whole project is helping people who are autistic and the people getting abused,” Aurora said.
Her family is excited for the success of the project, and the impact it will have.
“I am just so proud of her,” Kate said.
Aurora hopes people who learn about her project will remember this: “Stop abusing people and you don’t have to be rude to people who are autistic,” Aurora said.
Watch more Local News:
See the latest news from around the Treasure Valley and the Gem State in our YouTube playlist:
|
https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/local/208/treasure-valley-9-year-old-raises-pounds-of-pennies-faces-of-hope-aurora-armon-kuna/277-c34bc588-3c00-4caa-be2a-373d97dbcccc
| 2022-05-06T01:14:20
| 1
|
https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/local/208/treasure-valley-9-year-old-raises-pounds-of-pennies-faces-of-hope-aurora-armon-kuna/277-c34bc588-3c00-4caa-be2a-373d97dbcccc
|
LOS ANGELES — The man who tackled comedian Dave Chappelle during a performance at the Hollywood Bowl will not be charged with any felonies, the district attorney's office said Thursday.
Isaiah Lee, 23, was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, police said, after rushing the stage toward the end of Chappelle's set in the last of a four-night stint at the outdoor amphitheater as part of the "Netflix Is a Joke" festival.
He was carrying a replica handgun with a large blade that folded out of it similar to a pocket knife, according to a photo released by police.
"After reviewing the evidence, prosecutors determined that while criminal conduct occurred, the evidence as presented did not constitute felony conduct," the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said in a statement.
The case has been referred to the Los Angeles city attorney's office, which prosecutes misdemeanors within the city. An email seeking comment from the office was not immediately returned.
Jail records showed Lee was still being held Thursday in lieu of $30,000 bail, Mendez said. It was not immediately known if he had retained a lawyer, and the motive for the attack was unclear.
People standing in the wings of the stage, including actor Jamie Foxx and rapper Busta Rhymes, rushed on to the stage to try to help Chappelle.
Security guards chased and overpowered Lee, who was taken away in an ambulance for treatment of an unspecified injury.
"The performances by Chappelle at the Hollywood Bowl were epic and record-breaking and he refuses to allow last night's incident to overshadow the magic of this historic moment," Chapelle's publicist Carla Sims said in a statement.
Chappelle was attacked as he was wrapping up a routine in which he talked about how comedians have to worry more about their personal security in the wake of this year's Academy Awards ceremony where the Oscar-winning actor slapped Chris Rock on live television in reaction to a joke about his wife.
Rock was also in the wings of Chappelle's show, He grabbed the mic and jokingly asked, "Was that Will Smith?"
___
Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton
WATCH ALSO:
|
https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/california/no-felony-charge-man-who-tackled-dave-chappelle/103-d91ff9af-6ca2-4240-b76b-f380cc0ef2c8
| 2022-05-06T01:17:52
| 1
|
https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/california/no-felony-charge-man-who-tackled-dave-chappelle/103-d91ff9af-6ca2-4240-b76b-f380cc0ef2c8
|
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Overturning the landmark Roe V. Wade decision could have major consequences for women seeking abortion services outside of California, experts say. It could have those women turning to a state where lawmakers are vowing to protect those rights.
“It doesn’t end the need for abortion,” said Lauren Babb, a spokesperson with the Planned Parenthood Mar Monte Health Centers, which serves the Sacramento area. “It simply ends the ability to get a safe medical procedure.”
Restricting access to abortion services is dangerous, Babb said.
“For folks who cannot afford to get access to care in a state where they live or they may end unfortunately dying from trying to end their own pregnancies,” Baab said. “Just like many folks did before Roe.”
Planned Parenthood officials say reversing the landmark decision could make California the nearest state for 1.4 million women to access safe abortion services. Dr. Daniel Grossman, with the University of San Francisco, said those numbers and problems could grow.
“Increased risk of maternal mortality and increased socio-economic risks,” Grossman said. “They’re more likely to be living in poverty.”
He said some women, often those with friends and family here, have traveled to California to access services, but they’re not coming by the hundreds of thousands.
“If there just were a streamlined way that people in these states with a ban could figure out where they could access care for example here in California and be supported to fly here and access that care,” Grossman said. “That system doesn’t exist. That’s really what we need.”
He’s concerned that, without options, some may be forced to self-manage, which could put them at serious health and legal risks.
WATCH ALSO:
|
https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/california/reversal-of-roe-v-wade-impact-california/103-db586821-13b0-4179-98ef-9ca2afba3665
| 2022-05-06T01:17:58
| 0
|
https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/california/reversal-of-roe-v-wade-impact-california/103-db586821-13b0-4179-98ef-9ca2afba3665
|
FAIRFIELD, Calif. — Two weeks after Fairfield resident Anthony Fuimano was shot and killed near a park in Fairfield, police say they have arrested a man in connection to the homicide.
51-year-old Richard Kline of Martinez was arrested by Fairfield Police detectives Thursday, on suspicion of murder in the deadly April 21 shooting.
According to the Fairfield Police Department, officers responded to the area of Laurel Drive and Manzanita Avenue around 11:25 p.m. on April 21 after receiving calls about a shooting.
After arriving on scene, first responders say they found Fuimano suffering from a gunshot wound and took him to a hospital where he died the next day, according to police.
Police have released limited details on the circumstances surrounding the homicide but confirm that an argument took place before the shooting.
The Fairfield Police Department says they are still investigating the deadly shooting and ask anyone with information to contact their Investigations Division at 707-428-7600.
|
https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/fairfield/police-arrest-suspect-in-anthony-fuimano-shooting/103-944e2fa2-e671-427f-b272-0a1e0a573e0c
| 2022-05-06T01:18:04
| 0
|
https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/fairfield/police-arrest-suspect-in-anthony-fuimano-shooting/103-944e2fa2-e671-427f-b272-0a1e0a573e0c
|
MOKELUMNE HILL, Calif. — California Highway Patrol said one person is dead after a solo vehicle crash along Highway 26.
At around 3:11 p.m. CHP-San Andreas received a call of a single-vehicle accident on Highway 26, about one mile west of Mokelumne Hill.
According to CHP, the driver overturned and crashed into a tree. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene.
CHP says there is currently one-way traffic control on Highway 26.
ABC10: Watch, Download, Read
Watch more from ABC10: Sacramento police shoot, kill 'aggressive dog' during ghost gun sweep
|
https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/mokelumne-hill-crash-one-dead/103-fa0eb360-2596-4d24-bd00-577e5dcd39e9
| 2022-05-06T01:18:10
| 1
|
https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/mokelumne-hill-crash-one-dead/103-fa0eb360-2596-4d24-bd00-577e5dcd39e9
|
KELLER, Texas — As Tarrant County continues moving away from its perch as one of America’s reddest urban counties and public schools increasingly serve as battlefields for culture wars, school board races in four North Texas districts have quickly transformed from traditionally low-profile contests into high-stakes political conflicts.
The races include the kind of heated debates — about how America’s history of racism should be taught and what books kids should be able access on campuses — that have recently become typical in Texas and across the country. But the four Tarrant County districts’ school board races, which voters will decide Saturday, also feature something rare for Texas’ nonpartisan and typically sleepy school board races: hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions and campaign spending.
That’s largely driven by Christian cellphone company Patriot Mobile, which has put $500,000 into a political action committee supporting conservative candidates in the Carroll, Grapevine-Colleyville, Keller and Mansfield school districts. What’s more, Patriot Mobile Action is led by a seasoned local political campaign expert and has contracted with top conservative political consulting firms that usually focus on statewide races and presidential campaigns.
The Grapevine-based company and its political arm aren’t shy about their goals and plan to expand such activism beyond Tarrant County.
“Patriot Mobile Action is a new entity created to put Christian conservative values into action,” said a statement from Patriot Mobile’s vice president of government and public affairs, Leigh Wambsganss, who also runs the PAC. “We will take action in supporting organizations and candidates that exemplify these values.”
Conservative parents in Tarrant County who are backing the same candidates as Patriot Mobile Action believe the races are a chance to save their kids from a harmful liberal indoctrination. They’ve packed school board meetings to insist that books about LGBTQ people have made pornography rife within schools and that lessons about American history and current events are subversively promoting so-called critical race theory in a way that intends to make white children feel guilty about the country’s history of racism.
Meanwhile, parents opposed to the conservative candidates are fighting an uphill battle as Saturday’s elections approach. They argue that critical race theory, a graduate school-level legal concept, isn’t being taught in schools and distracts from more pressing needs like dealing with pandemic learning loss and the state teacher shortage.
The parents fighting to make “school board meetings boring again” are also afraid that local school board candidates, if elected, will serve the interests of PACs and big-money donors.
“We’re not interested in changing anybody’s minds,” said Laney Hawes, whose four children attend Keller Independent School District. “We’re interested in reaching the voters who don’t realize what’s at stake.”
Texas has more than 1,200 school districts, which are largely independently run by their elected boards. About 47 districts across the state have school board elections Saturday, according to Ballotpedia.
The North Texas school board races are microcosms of larger fights playing out statewide. Since at least last year, state officials and lawmakers have stoked fears about the “indoctrination” of children in classrooms. Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have made parental rights a priority as they both seek reelection in November. Patrick has also vowed to push for a “Don’t Say Gay” bill in Texas, mirroring Florida’s conservative push to limit classroom discussions about LGBTQ people.
This comes after the Texas Legislature passed a law last year limiting how race, slavery and current events are taught in schools. They dubbed it the “critical race theory” bill, even though the legislation never mentioned the term. Critical race theory is a university-level concept that examines how racism shapes laws and policies. Public education experts, along with school administrators and teachers, say the theory is not taught in public schools.
But to some parents, like Keller ISD mom Carly Alacahan, vilifying equity and inclusion efforts and criticizing attempts to teach history from multiple perspectives is overly politicizing public schools.
“I don’t ever want my kids to hear the school board meetings because it definitely feels like I’m a criminal — like we’re criminals just for getting where we are,” said Alacahan, who is Latina. “We don’t hate white people. We don’t hate anybody. We just want to be able to tell the story so that we can understand each other.”
Still, much of the money pouring into Tarrant County school board races stems from fears that schools are teaching young white children lessons that make them feel discomfort about their own race.
“As a parent, I will say that critical race theory in and of itself is racist, and I’m not a racist, neither is my son or my family,” said Patriot Mobile Chief Marketing Officer Scott Coburn, who is white. “My son, who has been in Southlake schools his entire life, has never seen anything racist at all, systemically or otherwise, within the schools.”
A shifting county
Tarrant County has long been a bastion of American conservatism. When the Tea Party movement swept American politics in the early years of the Obama administration, a northeast Tarrant chapter was formed that included members from suburbs like Collevyille, Grapevine, Keller and Southlake. It quickly became a powerhouse in Texas politics and played an outsized role in shaping the state GOP as it helped elect local conservatives to the Texas Legislature.
In the 2016 presidential election, Texas’ larger counties moved deeper into the Democratic column. But Tarrant emerged as America’s most conservative large urban county. Republican Donald Trump won there with an 8.6-point margin, his largest victory among the country’s 20 largest counties.
But two years later, Democrat Beto O’Rourke narrowly beat Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in Tarrant. In the 2020 presidential election, Democrat Joe Biden narrowly beat Trump by 0.2 percentage points.
Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University, said the conservatives pouring money into local school board races are doing so as a counteroffensive to the inroads progressives have made in areas that were once Republican strongholds. “These are counties that are no longer rock-solid conservative and in the way that we would have characterized them maybe 10 years ago,” Jones said.
Tarrant includes Southlake, an affluent suburb that drew national attention after a 2018 video of white high school students chanting a racist slur prompted dialogues on the treatment of Black students at Carroll ISD, the area’s public school system.
After the video went viral, the district introduced what it called a Cultural Competence Action Plan to address racial discrimination. Then came the backlash.
Through the Southlake Families PAC, Carroll ISD’s conservative parents worked successfully to stop a plan they deemed would “ingrain woke racial politics in the schools.” Last year, with support from the Southlake Families PAC, the two school board candidates running in steadfast opposition to the district’s diversity plan won seats on the board.
Wambsganss, who is now leading Patriot Mobile Action, helped start the Southlake PAC in 2011, a Southlake document obtained by The Texas Tribune shows.
“She runs our PAC and she’s got 30-plus years in political consultant experience and managing money in campaigns,” Coburn said of Wambsganss. “She’s really well versed in all of this. She’s using all of the same tactics that you would see like a political consultant company that would come in and help somebody organize and manage a campaign.”
And while the amount of money Patriot Mobile Action is spending on local school board races is a sharp departure from convention, Rebecca Deen, a political science professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, said it’s not unexpected.
“It doesn’t surprise me because they’re right next door to Southlake,” Deen said. “They had a front-row seat.”
State Rep. Dan Huberty, R-Houston, sits on the House Public Education Committee and co-sponsored the GOP’s so-called critical race theory bill last year. Before he was a lawmaker, he served on the Humble ISD school board. Yet even he is in disbelief that the North Texas school board races are pulling in dollar figures usually seen in statewide campaigns.
“It’s perplexing to some degree that there is a lot of outside interest coming,” Huberty said. “I ran for school board because my kids were going to public school, and I wanted to try to make a difference [in] their potential education. It wasn’t because I had a political philosophy.”
A patriot’s phone plan
Grapevine-based Patriot Mobile bills itself as “America’s only Christian conservative wireless service provider.” The money it donates to conservative causes and organizations comes from customers’ phone bills. Patriot Mobile has over 60,000 subscribers nationwide, a number that is expected to almost double by the end of the year, said Coburn, its chief marketing officer whose son is a Carroll student in Southlake.
Ahead of Saturday’s election, Patriot Mobile Action PAC has raised over half a million dollars, coming almost entirely from its phone company, and had about $125,000 cash on hand as of the end of April.
Since the end of March, the PAC has spent about $390,000 on the four Tarrant County school districts’ 11 conservative candidates. That includes nearly $200,000 on direct mailers, about $145,000 on canvassing costs and $30,000 on digital ads, according to campaign filings.
Patriot Mobile Action has spent $38,500 in advertising and canvassing for each candidate from Mansfield ISD, Grapevine-Colleyville ISD and Keller ISD. In Mansfield, the PAC has backed candidates Craig Tipping, Bianca Benavides Anderson, Keziah Valdes Farrar and Courtney Lackey Wilson. In Grapevine-Collevyille, it is supporting Tammy Nakamura and Kathy Florence-Spradley. In the Keller races, Patriot Mobile Action is backing Micah Young, Joni Shaw Smith and Sandi Walker.
The PAC has spent $20,875 on the two Carroll school district candidates it’s backing: Andrew Yeager and Alex Sexton.
The 11 candidates Patriot Mobile Action is backing either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.
The company’s political arm was devised after Patriot Mobile founders Chris Wilson and Glenn Story noticed a San Francisco-based phone carrier called Credo Mobile. It promised customers that 1% of their phone bills would go to liberal causes and candidates. In 2012, Credo Mobile created its own political action committee and raised almost $2.5 million to oppose Tea Party Republicans in Congress. According to media reports, one of the targeted conservatives was Allen West, who at the time was a Florida congressperson. He recently led the Republican Party of Texas and unsuccessfully challenged Abbott in the March Republican primary.
“Our founders saw that the Credo on the left was having a major influence on political movements and getting candidates elected just by getting people to sign up for their cellphone service,” Coburn said. “And they said, well, we don’t have anybody on our side that’s doing that.”
According to Coburn, Patriot Mobile allows its customers to receive phone service without directly supporting “Big Mobile,” which he says donates to left-leaning organizations through corporate responsibility programs. But Patriot Mobile pays T-Mobile a wholesale rate to use its phone towers and infrastructure and then repackages the service by handling subscribers’ customer service and billing needs.
Patriot Mobile has supported organizations like the National Rifle Association and conservative youth movement Turning Point USA. The phone carrier will donate $1.5 million to conservative causes in 2022 and expects that number to double next year, Coburn said.
Coburn said the launch of the Patriot Mobile Action PAC allows the phone company to “get involved in local elections” with the goal of eventually expanding into statewide races.
“We are inserting ourselves into the issues because that’s what our customers want,” Coburn said.
In the hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of door hangers and direct mailers in the North Texas races, Patriot Mobile Action warns parents of the presence of “critical race theory” in their school districts and endorses the candidates who are “saving America.”
“Keller ISD exposed our kids to explicit, ‘Woke’ Books,” one mailer reads. “The far-left agenda has infected KISD and it’s hurting our kids. It’s time for a new school board.”
A PAC-less fight
As more and more conservative money is poured into these races, some Tarrant parents are working to oppose the PAC-backed candidates — even if that means receiving online attacks and lies.
Hawes, whose four children attend Keller ISD, has been called the “expert in Libtardville” on Facebook by parents who support the three conservative candidates. She’s also been labeled as an extremist in private Facebook groups where she’s accused of working with a liberal organization in Austin to influence the Keller elections.
Hawes has gathered the support of 500 other Keller parents and started a grassroots effort to combat the conservative money.
The aim of the group, Hawes said, is to reach those who usually don’t vote in school board elections. But she said she knows that a group of parents who go door-to-door delivering at-home printed flyers will have a hard time competing against a much more sophisticated political apparatus.
“The challenge here is we’re not well funded,” Hawes said. “They’re just a bunch of parents busy with a bunch of kids, paying for soccer teams and dance classes.”
Craig Allen is a Keller school board member seeking another term. He is running against Micah Young, whom Patriot Mobile Action is supporting. He said that when he first won a seat in 2008, candidates needed less than $1,000 to mount a successful campaign.
This time around, Allen has raised over $10,000 — a number dwarfed by his opponents’ PAC-stocked war chests. None of his money has come from PACs, and about half has come in over the last few weeks as he makes a final push. Allen said parents have a right to be involved in their children’s education, but political issues should not be relevant to school board elections.
Julie Nors is running for a Keller school board seat against Joni Shaw Smith, who is supported by Patriot Mobile Action. Nors, who has raised less than $2,000, said the amount of time administrators are spending on political issues takes away from helping students recover from pandemic learning loss.
Allen said he “never would’ve dreamed” if someone had told him he needed to raise so much money for a school board seat.
“This wildly exceeds what I would have guessed even a few weeks ago,” he said.
Dialing in on the money
Patriot Mobile isn’t the only big money player in the Tarrant County school board races. Southlake Families PAC and KISD Family Alliance PAC have also raised tens of thousands of dollars to push anti-CRT candidates in their school board races.
KISD Family Alliance spent almost $25,000 on political consulting and advertising in April. On Monday, prominent Texas GOP donor Monty Bennett gave $10,000 to the PAC, filings show.
“Many of our schools have unfortunately been taken over by ideologues who care more about pushing their outlandish agendas than in providing an excellent education to our kids. That needs to change,” Bennett said in a statement late Thursday.
And filings indicate the Southlake Families PAC, which says it is “unapologetically rooted in Judeo-Christian values,” spent almost twice as much — at least $45,000 — on Carroll ISD school board races from March 29 to April 27.
Conservatives believe that if they don’t fight back at what they see as a liberal agenda making its way into schools, then they will have lost, said Jones, the Rice University professor.
“If you really want to win, you need the money to do it,” he said.
Coburn said Patriot Mobile chose four districts it considers to be “at risk” or on the “front lines” of the critical race theory battle. He said the point of the local races is to ensure the “right people” hold power to combat alleged attempts to push “liberal ideologies” like critical race theory.
“We’re going to stand up and fight against that all day long,” he said.
Carla Astudillo and José Luis Martínez contributed to this story.
Help mission-driven journalism flourish in Texas. The Texas Tribune relies on reader support to continue delivering news that informs Texans and engages with them. Donate now to join as a Texas Tribune member. Plus, give monthly or yearly now through May 5 and you’ll help unlock a $10K match. Give and double your impact today.
The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
|
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/christian-cellphone-company-north-texas-school-board-races-state-battleground/287-3b1b1985-bddd-498e-92d3-ac44e0f413b0
| 2022-05-06T01:31:31
| 1
|
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/christian-cellphone-company-north-texas-school-board-races-state-battleground/287-3b1b1985-bddd-498e-92d3-ac44e0f413b0
|
FORT WORTH, Texas — During the many protests in Fort Worth after the murder of George Floyd, director Kim Neal was just a few months into her job as Fort Worth’s first police monitor.
It's a position created amid ongoing discussions and actions focused on improving the community police relationship after an incident in 2016.
Neal relocated to Fort Worth from Cincinnati, Ohio, bringing many years of experience on police accountability. The monitor director's position stems directly from a city-created task force on race and culture made up of 23 people from across the Fort Worth area.
"So, for the community, it means transparency and accountability," said Neal.
The responsibilities for Neal and her staff include hearing community complaints and making sure there is officer accountability. The Office of Police Oversight Monitor is also wanting to hear good things about officers, as well, which helps add balance.
Neal said, "So just like we want to hold the police department accountable for what they do in our community, we also want to be accountable to the community."
The office started in February 2020 and has just released its first official report on many of their findings and recommendations to the Fort Worth Police Department, which also includes recommendations that have been accomplished and others still in progress.
Oversight group surveys uncovered quality of life issues surrounding criminal justice, health and even housing to name a few.
Neal wants every citizen in Fort Worth to feel their voice is heard.
Neal is no stranger to police accountability. As a citizen she has worked closely with the members of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives. Doing so has helped her refocus her career path.
"Now that I've focused my career primarily on police," said Neal, "it's more about really ensuring that policing is equitable and fair. I really want to make sure that we have the best practices that we possibly can in Fort Worth."
"Well, I take it very seriously. I'm very passionate about what I do. I've been doing it for a long time. My background is compliance and equity across the government. I worked at federal, state and as well as at the local level," Neal said, "and we really want to reach out to our more marginalized neighbors who feel that policing is not as fair and equitable."
While the oversight report also reveals progress addressing things like traffic stop reviews and the department's de-escalation policy, their use of force policy is still a work in progress -- including rules for officers in a foot pursuit.
Neal believes they're making progress despite many hurdles.
Neal said, "I think our biggest hurdle is there's so much work to do and such a big city to do it."
Neal purposely ended the oversight report with a community mural snapshot located at 200 Carroll Street in Fort Worth. The mural contains words about facing change.
"It means that we all have to work together to solve the problem," said Neal.
Neal and her staff have scheduled ongoing community meetings for public input. OPOM will hold a public hearing at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, May 5, 2022, and on June 9, 2022, at Fort Worth City Hall.
Both meetings are open to anyone interested in observing or participating in dialogue about the community-police relationship in Fort Worth.
|
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/fort-worth-police-accountability-group-first-report-findings-recommendations/287-015ddc3c-5038-4ad0-9e8a-df04b6a826ee
| 2022-05-06T01:31:37
| 0
|
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/fort-worth-police-accountability-group-first-report-findings-recommendations/287-015ddc3c-5038-4ad0-9e8a-df04b6a826ee
|
WINONA, Texas — On their 600-acre East Texas ranch near Tyler, Larry and Sandra James believed they were creating paradise.
Sandra, a retired professor and business school dean, and Larry, a retired telecom CEO, enjoyed their herd of rescued horses, and doted on their longhorns. Their favorite is a longhorn they call Baby.
They say their peaceful country life was upended in the spring of 2019.
“Out of nowhere, this beautiful paradise that we were creating suddenly became enveloped in clouds of stench,” Sandra said. “You’d be walking across the dam and suddenly the air would get heavy and you’d be hit by a smell that was unlike anything we’d ever smelled before.”
Sandra at first believed an animal had died.
“We thought there was a dead hog, or somewhere very close to us there had to be a dead body,” she said.
They soon learned that 16 chicken barns containing several hundred thousand birds had been built months earlier, less than a mile from their ranch. With the nauseous odors came swarms of flies.
“They put these chicken houses in the middle of a residential community,” Larry James said. “It’s not right.”
The chickens belonged to Sanderson Farms, the nation’s third largest poultry producer. The buildings and land belonged to farmers that Sanderson had contracted with to grow the chickens.
When they’re big enough, the chickens are taken nine miles west to Sanderson’s processing plant in Lindale, just outside Tyler.
“The smell is putrid death,” said Tony Jeffcoat, who transported chickens for Sanderson Farms in East Texas. “It's a smell that just sticks with you.”
Whistleblower
“I've seen live chickens eat dead chickens,” Jeffcoat said. “I've seen live birds that were left and put in the compost and still there alive, left for dead.”
Jeffcoat filed a lawsuit against Sanderson Farms after he was diagnosed with histoplasmosis, a fungal lung infection typically caused by exposure to bird droppings. He took a series of pictures and videos at chicken farms in East Texas.
“It's a nasty environment,” Jeffcoat said of the farms generally. “It's a very dusty environment with feathers flying everywhere and very foul odor, stench of death in there. ... It's wall-to-wall chickens.”
Jeffcoat’s lawsuit alleged that he was exposed to “improperly stored dead and decomposing chickens, improperly stored chicken manure, aerosolized dust containing feces and feathers, and other contaminants in the air.”
He alleged Sanderson Farms failed “to provide the necessary equipment for his safety” and “adequate training and warnings of the dangers of histoplasmosis,” the lawsuit says.
“The business model produces hundreds of millions of pounds of manure each year, millions of dead chickens, substantial aerosolized dust containing feces and feathers, and other contaminants. Stench and airborne contaminants permeate the working environment and is unavoidable for the workers,” the lawsuit alleged.
Ted Lyon, Jeffcoat’s attorney, told WFAA that his client had “zero warning, zero training (and) zero equipment.”
“The stench is horrible and all the feces, the dust and every thing gets in the air, goes down in a person’s lungs,” Lyon said. “They didn’t give him any respirators which are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control. They didn’t give him any masks that were fitted for him. It’s really sad.”
Jeffcoat told WFAA that he is often short of breath and unable to be as active with his children.
“Now this man will probably have to live with this for the rest of his life,” Lyon said. “And it’s going to probably shorten his life.”
Sanderson responds
Sanderson Farms has denied Jeffcoat’s allegations. In a filing, the company claimed Jeffcoat “failed to take reasonable steps” to protect himself.
Any damages recovered by Jeffcoat “should be reduced,” the company said in its filing, in part because he “failed to take the reasonable steps that a person of ordinary prudence in a similar situation would have taken to avoid the damages claimed by Plaintiff.”
Dr. Lisa Mani, an expert with Centers For Disease Control and retained by Jeffcoat for his case, has concluded in her report that his illness was caused by “significant and ongoing workplace environmental exposure to bird droppings.’
“It is difficult to think that in this day and age people work under these unprotected and pretty rough- hewn circumstances to bring food to our tables,” Dr. Mani told WFAA.
When asked if surrounding neighbors may be in danger from the farms, Dr. Mani said she would not want to live nearby. “I would not want my children or my adolescents playing or riding all-terrain vehicles in those areas, bicycles, even driving through those areas,” Dr. Mani told WFAA.
Poultry industry changes
Poultry farming has consolidated in recent decades. In the 1950s, there were more than a million chicken farms, each with an average of about 360 chickens per farm.
Now, there are only about 25,000 chicken farms nationwide, averaging more than 330,000 birds per location at any given time. Texas has about 1,200 farms, according to state officials.
“Industry and corporate America wants to paint what happens here as good old fashioned red-blooded American farming,” said Allen Gardner, an attorney representing Larry and Sandra James and more than a dozen of their neighbors. “This is corporate farming.”
These farms are what’s known as concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs.
Baby chicks are transported to the farms. There are typically between 25,000 to 30,000 birds per barn, according to court records in a lawsuit filed against Sanderson Farms in Henderson County. Each bird has an average of about one square foot of floor space.
In the Henderson County case, a poultry expert hired by the residents concluded that a 16-barn farm operation created an estimated 5,000 tons of manure annually. He said that was the equivalent of six football fields piled three feet high with manure.
“These chemicals build up inside that house and have to be exhausted to protect the birds,” Gardner said. “When you’re talking about hundreds of thousands of birds, the neighbors then get to deal with the hydrogen sulfide, methane, ammonia and any number of chemicals that you don’t want to be breathing in.”
Dead birds
Also, testimony showed that over a 60-day growing cycle, as many as five percent of the chickens die – meaning there will be thousands of dead birds left to decompose.
“Texas law allows a grower to compost those birds, trying to rot the birds down,” Gardner said. “That rotting dead compost smell also gets disseminated to the neighbors.”
After the farm moved in less than a mile from their property, Larry and Sandra James complained to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, or TCEQ.
They said Sanderson Farms officials came to their home to meet with them. They exchanged text messages with a Sanderson Farms official for months. The text messages show the James’ repeatedly telling Sanderson Farms officials about the smell. The official would respond that they were on top of it and would send someone out to the farm.
Larry James said he even called the president of the company.
“We really went to bed at night thinking we can work this out,” James said. “These are smart people. And we're somewhat relatively smart. We can work this out before we have to go get lawyers.”
But nothing ever got better, he said.
Texas Right to Farm Act
“What we did not know at the time is that we have one year to file action against any chicken farm that goes in,” James said.
The Texas Right to Farm law gives neighbors like them one year from the time the farm begins operations to file a nuisance lawsuit.
If they don’t file within the year, the property owners are barred from filing suit later.
But neighbors like James told WFAA they often don’t know when a chicken farm started operations. No law mandates chicken farms notify neighbors when they have begun operation.
The James’ are convinced that Sanderson Farms was trying to run out the clock.
“They think if I just talked to the TCEQ, or if I talk to, you know, my state representative, or if I talk to Sanderson Farms, certainly somebody is going to come down and do something about this,” Gardner said. “...That time they waste being reasonable, and being perfectly normal, hoping they can work out the problem is then used against them if they don't file that suit.”
Others join lawsuit
Gardner also represents neighbors in lawsuits filed against two other chicken farms in the Tyler area.
Tom and Loretta Callens are part of the same lawsuit as the James’.
Tom is retired, and Loretta is a singer and songwriter. They live on 17 acres he inherited from his dad.
The poultry farm is right next door to them.
“We don’t walk as much on the property and sometimes it gets so bad that it will permeate into the house,” Loretta Callens said. “It’s just kind of depressing.”
We met them just outside the gates of the farm.
When we opened the car door, the stench was unmistakable and overpowering.
“It’s sometimes just unbearable,” Loretta Callens said. “It’ll burn your eyes, burn your nose. Open your mouth and you taste it.”
“Can you imagine having one of our grandchildren’s birthday parties at our house and say, ‘Pass the cake,’ and smell this? … No,” Tom Callens said.
The Callens’ say the flies are terrible in the summer, so it’s impossible to eat outside.
“Welcome to our world,” she said. “I guess we’re blessed that it’s only half the time, but that’s too much. Shouldn’t be any time.”
WFAA asked Sanderson Farms officials about the complaints from neighbors, as well as the lawsuit and the images and videos recorded by Jeffcoat. In an email, they told WFAA: “It is our company policy that we do not comment on pending litigation.”
In court filings, Sanderson Farms has denied allegations by property owners.
“Defendants could not have…caused injury to plaintiffs when defendant, in good faith, was in compliance with state, federal and local regulations,” Sanderson Farms wrote in a court response to allegations.
For neighbors who filed suit, the company’s responses are insufficient.
“I was the CEO of a publicly held company. And if my company had done this, I would damn sure have done something about it,” Larry James said. “But we didn't, we didn't do anything like this. And it's just really wrong. And it's sad.”
Email: Investigates@wfaa.com
More from WFAA Investigates:
|
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/investigates/sanderson-farms-the-smell-is-putrid-death-they-had-a-nice-place-in-the-country-until-hundreds-of-thousands-of-chickens-moved-in-next-door/287-e9b55b0b-97e6-4ab4-95ff-c500c252339e
| 2022-05-06T01:31:43
| 1
|
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/investigates/sanderson-farms-the-smell-is-putrid-death-they-had-a-nice-place-in-the-country-until-hundreds-of-thousands-of-chickens-moved-in-next-door/287-e9b55b0b-97e6-4ab4-95ff-c500c252339e
|
The city of Idaho Falls laid out its plans for a new water tower Thursday in a meeting with residents.
The 85-year-old tower used by the city can hold 500,000 gallons. Water towers allow for water to flow as needed even during power outages, using gravity to distribute the water without electricity.
During the presentation David Richards, superintendent of the Idaho Falls Water Division, said the tower needs to be replaced as the pipes have started to deteriorate. The foundation beneath the tower also is reportedly crumbling.
Designs for the new tower are still being finalized, but Richards said the city had settled on a composite tower that is held up by a single pedestal. Richards said the design would reduce maintenance costs for the city compared to other designs of the same size.
The project is being funded with adjustments to water rates so that the city does not need to seek additional funding.
Construction is expected to begin in the fall, and last until Fall 2024. The new tower will be constructed in the corner of the Idaho Falls Public Library’s parking lot. Once the tower is complete, the older tower will be demolished as the city’s water system switches over to the new tower.
The south half of the library’s parking lot will be inaccessible during construction. There will also be landscaping to replace parking spots lost in construction. The new lot will have 95 parking spots, compared to 96 available now.
The tower originally had been planned to be constructed in South Capital Park. The City Council voted in December to locate the new tower in the library parking lot after several residents criticized the loss of park space, arguing that the area for the tower was frequently used and that the tower would be an eyesore in the area.
Several residents also were against demolishing the longstanding red, white and blue water tower, which is something of an Idaho Falls icon and is popular with photographers.
A ”Save the Water Tower” petition circulated in 2019 garnered more than 500 signatures, but a structural analysis of the water tower determined repairs would cost more than $2 million and, even with the repairs, the existing tower still wouldn’t meet current building standards and seismic zone requirements.
Richards said the construction will affect parking and result in road closures in the area, particularly along Park Avenue.
“There will be underground utilities work that needs to be done,” Richards said. “We have to get water line not only from the existing well, which resides just between Idaho Falls Powers’ office and the river … plus we have to get lines from the elevated tower out to our existing distribution system.”
|
https://www.postregister.com/news/local/idaho-falls-holds-meeting-to-discuss-new-water-tower/article_35007a99-e191-5b45-95a8-aba72010cd20.html
| 2022-05-06T01:50:41
| 1
|
https://www.postregister.com/news/local/idaho-falls-holds-meeting-to-discuss-new-water-tower/article_35007a99-e191-5b45-95a8-aba72010cd20.html
|
The leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade is an unprecedented one, and legal experts in Idaho have mixed opinions on the court’s apparent ruling.
“If this draft holds, it will be the first time the Supreme Court has essentially repealed what it itself has called a fundamental right, reaffirmed several times by the court,” said David Adler, the president of the Alturas Institute in Idaho Falls. “That’s not the path toward stability and predictability in American Constitutional law.”
Adler is a constitutional scholar and author whose work has been quoted by the U.S. Supreme Court and lower federal courts.
Politico published the leaked draft opinion from Justice Samuel Alito on Monday. The 5-4 ruling appears to show Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett holding the majority opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade.
When Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, five conservative justices on the court ruled in favor of legalizing abortion practices across the U.S. Adler said the draft opinion indicates the court has shifted into a radical right-wing of politics that has shown its hand of operating as a partisan body.
David Adler, Ph.D.
“When Alito says in his opinion that Roe was egregious from the start, he couldn’t be more wrong and the fact is it’s a case that had been reaffirmed many times by justices who were appointed by Republicans, so he’s pointing a very offensive finger at those who were in fact nominated and confirmed by Republicans themselves,” Adler said.
Adler said he’s deeply concerned Alito ridicules the element of constitutional autonomy in the due process clause of the 14th Amendment in the draft opinion. The clause has protected rights to access contraception, interracial marriage and LGBTQ rights for sex and marriage.
Adler takes issue with Alito’s view on unenumerated rights — rights protected by the Constitution but not explicitly mentioned in it — needing to be strongly rooted in U.S. history and tradition. There are many unenumerated rights Americans have come to expect, including the ability to travel to other states, Adler said.
“Alito’s feeble attack on Roe because it’s not enumerated doesn’t get him anywhere,” Adler said. “There’s no historical basis for that assertion.”
Alito writes in the draft opinion that the court emphasizes the decision only concerns the constitutional right to an abortion and “Nothing in this opinion should be understood to cast doubt on precedents that do not concern abortion.”
Since the draft opinion was leaked, there has been widespread concern that this iteration of the Court also would overturn the right for same-sex couples to marry.
Richard Seamon, a professor of law at the University of Idaho, said he doesn’t believe the court will overturn other cases that relate to the due process clause. He said he believes the justices know overturning precedent is difficult and they overruled Roe v. Wade because the original decision was short on analysis that didn’t examine precedent or history thoroughly.
Seamon
“(Other unenumerated rights) have become such an embedded part of the way people live. It’s inconceivable that the court would backtrack on them,” Seamon said.
Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas indicated in a 2020 opinion that they favored overruling Obergefell v. Hodges, which declared that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry under the 14th Amendment guarantee to equal protection of the law.
Seamon said Roe v. Wade has continued to be a “lightning rod” among Americans and the court’s 1973 decision’s intended effect of settling the issue has not happened.
If the draft decision is held in the coming months, more than half of U.S. states including Idaho are expected to ban abortions, the Guttmacher Institute estimates.
Adler said along with women’s suffrage in the early 20th century, Roe v. Wade was one of the most influential gains for women’s rights and that abortion bans treat women as second-class citizens by taking away their reproductive autonomy to choose to go through a pregnancy.
Alito argues that abortion bans don’t reflect the subjugation of women because women have electoral or political power and women register to vote and cast ballots at a higher rate than men. Adler notes there is no limitation American men experience that is comparable to an abortion ban for women.
“In Alito’s world, the all-powerful state has the authority to order women to carry a pregnancy to term,” Adler said.
Seamon said the draft is meant to be an advocacy document within the court to sway the other judges. He said after reading Alito’s opinion, he believes Alito crafted it over many years and Alito was planning for edits and compromise from other judges.
“Alito meant it to be really strong and overdetermined to make it seem like there really is no room for anyone who has criticism of Roe v. Wade to do anything except say ‘yeah, overruling is really the right thing to do,’” Seamon said.
Seamon said it’s important for people to understand the opinion is a draft and will likely change before the court’s final ruling this summer. He compared Alito’s opinion to an opening bid and said he takes issue with leaking the opinion because of deliberative process privilege, which shields inter- or intra-departmental records that are pre-decisional and deliberative from Freedom of Information Act requests.
“People need to be able to work on those drafts without feeling like everything they write, every comment that they make, is going to see the light of day,” Seamon said.
The Associated Press reported abortion restrictions affect minority and low-income women the most because states with restrictive abortion laws often have limited access to health care and effective birth control. Schools in these states often have ineffective or inadequate sex education.
Studies from the World Health Organization have found evidence that countries with abortion restrictions don’t decrease the number of abortions women seek, but makes abortions unsafe and undignified, which leads to a higher rate of injuries and death.
Public support to overturn Roe v. Wade among U.S. residents is a minority opinion, according to several studies and polls. Gallup, a Washington-based analytics and advisory company, has surveyed adults aged 18 and over from all 50 states and the District of Columbia since 1989 about Roe v. Wade and the company has consistently found the majority of Americans oppose overturning the decision.
A 2021 Gallup survey found 58% of Americans opposed overturning Roe v. Wade and 32% of Americans were in favor of overturning the landmark case.
The Pew Research Center has found similar results in recent years and found about half of surveyed Republicans in 2019 didn’t support overturning Roe v. Wade.
Adler also pointed out more U.S. residents vote for Democrats during election cycles, and the support to uphold the right to an abortion is more popular among Democrats.
“This opinion disregards the health interests of women and it serves only the interests of a handful of people on the Supreme Court and it serves the interest of a majority of the people in the minority party of this country,” Adler said.
Another issue Adler raised that he said he believes would create further political chaos is an attempt by a Republican-controlled executive and legislative branch to federally prohibit abortions, and a Democrat response to overturn the law, creating a cycle of abortion-focused legislation every few years.
U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson told the Post Register Wednesday that while he supports overturning Roe v. Wade, he does not support a federal abortion ban.
“They took on a political decision (with Roe v. Wade) and decided to try and solve a political decision. That’s not the job of the Supreme Court,” Simpson said. “There are extremist views out there now saying ‘oh this will repeal (Griswald v. Connecticut) where a married couple can’t get birth control pills’ — that’s all just a bunch of bull and scare tactics. This is about returning the decision (of abortion) to your local elected officials.”
|
https://www.postregister.com/news/local/idaho-legal-experts-weigh-in-on-supreme-court-opinion-leak-overturning-roe-v-wade/article_0c4e55c6-1236-5067-894e-0297b2b00218.html
| 2022-05-06T01:50:47
| 0
|
https://www.postregister.com/news/local/idaho-legal-experts-weigh-in-on-supreme-court-opinion-leak-overturning-roe-v-wade/article_0c4e55c6-1236-5067-894e-0297b2b00218.html
|
ABOVE: Iona City Clerk and Treasurer Keri West serves an Iona resident a meal during City Hall’s renovation Thursday. RIGHT: Iona residents and Hamlet Homes staff mingle during City Hall’s renovation Thursday.
ABOVE: Iona City Clerk and Treasurer Keri West serves an Iona resident a meal during City Hall’s renovation Thursday. RIGHT: Iona residents and Hamlet Homes staff mingle during City Hall’s renovation Thursday.
IONA — Iona City Hall got a makeover Thursday after a new housing developer donated more than $50,000 to renovate the building.
The donation was provided by Hamlet Homes, which is planning on building a subdivision in Iona. Hamlet Homes team members, Iona volunteers, city officials and contractors spent Thursday renovating City Hall’s entryway by replacing the front steps of the building, installing flooring, and adding new furniture and wall coverings.
“I am thrilled about the donation from Hamlet Homes,” said City Clerk and Treasurer Keri West. “We’ve needed this project for years and other bids the city has gotten have been too expensive for a small town … (Hamlet Homes) has been great to work with and we’re grateful for the help.”
The Utah-based developer plans to build 18 homes in Iona near the 4700 block of East Iona Road. Hamlet Homes Chief Operating Officer Jon Southern said the company’s employees want to be active participants in the communities they build homes in and the project was a great way for them to introduce themselves.
“We don’t want to do the bare minimum and be just another business in the area,” Southern said. “We’re excited to be here and be a part of helping this community grow.”
Southern said Hamlet Homes also is working to acquire more property in the Idaho Falls area to build more homes.
Several Iona residents went to City Hall on Thursday to meet Hamlet Homes staff and see the project. Jill’s Chicken Shack provided lunch for attendees. Southern said he was happy to see people embrace the company and welcome them to Iona.
The project was finished Thursday and West said Iona residents can immediately come by City Hall to see its updated look.
“I’m grateful to Hamlet Homes for stepping up and it’s fantastic. There’s been a lot of positive response to it. So often developers want to get in and get out. No one has ever volunteered to help with infrastructure. That’s good. We are grateful,” said Iona Mayor Dan Gubler in a news release.
|
https://www.postregister.com/news/local/new-housing-developer-donates-50-000-to-renovate-iona-city-hall/article_c57dde70-2e84-5006-9d29-16a0cec8d0a7.html
| 2022-05-06T01:50:53
| 1
|
https://www.postregister.com/news/local/new-housing-developer-donates-50-000-to-renovate-iona-city-hall/article_c57dde70-2e84-5006-9d29-16a0cec8d0a7.html
|
PORTLAND, Ore. — There are mixed reviews for Multnomah County's new program that gives incentives to landlords renting vacant units to people experiencing homelessness. .
The Move-In Multnomah program launched last week in an effort to ease the homeless crisis in the county. Since the launch, the Joint Office of Homeless Services said 45 landlords have volunteered, offering apartments and single-family homes.
"We have a lot of really great people in our community who do want to be a part of solving homelessness," said Shannon Singleton at Joint Office of Homeless Services.
The Joint Office will match landlords with people who need housing, a process that can take up to a week, and screening requirements such as income and eviction history are eliminated.
"We’ll shortly start to see people be matched from these homeless service providers into open units that landlords have reached out to add to this program," Singleton added.
While the initiative may not large enough to house thousands of homeless people, Singleton said, "ending one person’s homelessness is a big deal and worth it."
But even though the program is off to a strong start, not all landlords are in favor of it.
"I’m not sure this one is as promising as it’s being presented," said Ron Garcia who runs Rental Housing Alliance of Oregon.
He believes a transition period is needed before a move to permanent housing.
"I’m real concerned that 180 flip from having lived in a van or a tent, going into a home without any other prep is an issue."
Another concern he had is the potential of disrupting neighbors.
"Homelessness is also rooted to behavioral problems, whether it’s drug use or mental health crises. So that’s not going to be solved by putting a roof over their head," he said.
Oregon law recently stopped landlords from evicting tenants without a cause. Garcia said the change could create problems.
"I know there’s a lot of really great people on the streets who know how to live... I just don’t know as a wide range policy if there’s enough safeguards in this to help landlords be able to manage it properly."
"I don’t think anyone is assuming any one piece of this puzzle is the solution. It’s really an ask for partnership," Singleton added.
Move-In Multnomah is getting $4 million in funding from the tri- county budget. Landlords have until June 30 to apply and get the benefits.
The program is open to those experiencing homelessness who are already working with homeless services. It's through those partnerships that they are recommended for Move-In Multnomah.
If a prospective tenant struggles with addiction or mental health issues, they must already be working with recovery programs or receiving treatment in order to qualify for permanent housing through the program.
|
https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/homeless/move-in-multnomah-mixed-reviews/283-13740f36-7de0-4ac2-bf1a-9028e79b6ce9
| 2022-05-06T02:18:47
| 1
|
https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/homeless/move-in-multnomah-mixed-reviews/283-13740f36-7de0-4ac2-bf1a-9028e79b6ce9
|
EVERETT, Wash. — Since January, a massive mountain of garbage has been growing at the Airport Road transfer station near Everett. The stinky pileup almost touches the warehouse ceiling.
The sour stench is drifting further and further down the road. But the real danger is the organic matter decomposing deep within.
“Microscopic organisms start eating it, and when they do, they generate heat,” Solid Waste Director Dave Schonhard said. “It can actually cause a fire. It’s from spontaneous combustion deep inside the pile.”
Operations manager Steve McLean has his team on a 24/7 fire watch, armed with temperature-sensing guns. The summit is crushed under its own weight, releasing steam like a brewing volcano.
The trick, McLean said, is “making sure it stays steam, and not smoke.”
All three local dumps are grappling with the same challenge. A trash backlog weighing millions of pounds is causing long lines, pausing services and threatening the shutdown of what county officials deem “critical infrastructure.”
On Friday, McLean scaled the Airport Road dump mezzanine, where grime accumulates like thick moon dust. Below, the main floor looks like a stinky demolition derby.
Heavy machinery thunders back and forth, breaking up janky furniture and pushing it down into compactors. Normally, workers in orange jumpsuits pick at a 300-ton garbage heap each day. This week, they were driving trackhoes onto a 4,500-ton mountain.
What’s behind the trashy crisis?
Republic Services has hauled our waste to Klickitat County since 1992. But this year, container shortages, staffing problems and complications with the railroad led to two notices of “Class C Default” from Snohomish County.
Officials approved an emergency agreement this week. For $2 million, Waste Management in Oregon will lend a hand, taking Snohomish County’s junk across the Columbia River.
The contract spans six months. But it’s unclear how long it will take to clear the backlog. There’s still a threat of temporary shutdown.
The pile is so huge that McLean’s team isn’t separating yard waste for composting anymore. There’s no room. The trash mountain is blocking half the parking spots residents use to dump their waste, so lines are stretching down the road. The crisis is taking a toll on equipment that scales the precarious summit of old mattresses, coffee machines and moldy food.
So far, McLean hasn’t had to turn away any garbage trucks looking to ditch curbside waste. But those drivers are being affected by longer wait times, he said.
At the county’s intermodal yard, 30-ton containers of compacted trash are loaded onto trains. But these days, about 300 containers are sitting, chocked full, with nobody to move them.
“They’re stacked three high, four deep, and as far as the eye can see. It’s endless,” supervisor Marcus Gruber said. “We can’t burn it. We can’t dump it in the Sound like in the old days.”
Flies buzz around the yard, but the metal containers keep the smell at bay for the most part. There’s a sense of urgency with summer on the way.
“Just wait until it gets 80, 85 degrees,” Gruber said.
The county’s three transfer stations are also revving up their “vector control.”
That’s just a “cute name,” Schonhard said, for “rat control.”
“We have employees, we have customers, we have neighbors,” he said. “We want to be mindful.”
Employees are asking the public to be patient and to check out the lines on the county’s website before heading out.
“Basically, the turnaround time is double,” Schonhard said. “Usually they’re pretty forgiving when they look at the pile. They’re like, ‘Wow, that’s why I had to wait in line.’”
In reality, the backlog at the transfer stations only represents about a week’s worth of garbage.
“Stuff like this gives people a new perspective of how much we actually go through as a community,” McLean said.
As for the $2 million the county is shelling out to fix the problem, Public Works Director Kelly Snyder said it’s “the cost of doing business.”
“Right now we have to be focusing on safety and health and the environment,” she said. “That’s the top priority.”
|
https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/mountain-of-trash-snohomish-county-washington/283-0c64d5b9-73f0-4f93-9ad3-4753a362102a
| 2022-05-06T02:18:53
| 1
|
https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/mountain-of-trash-snohomish-county-washington/283-0c64d5b9-73f0-4f93-9ad3-4753a362102a
|
MULTNOMAH COUNTY, Ore. — Multnomah County chair Deborah Kafoury has released her proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The overall budget is $3.3 billion, up from $2.8 billion in the current fiscal year. It incorporates $88.9 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act.
“We know that two years of job losses and business closures have pushed thousands of people to the brink,’’ Kafoury said in a statement. “So we’re directing $22.8 million of American Rescue Plan funds to help people with their rent, and give them access to eviction prevention legal services.”
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler released his own budget proposal for the city earlier this week, and the county budget closely mirrors several of the top priorities in the Portland budget including a focus on homelessness, housing and responding to crime and violence.
Like Portland, the county is forecasted to receive an unexpected revenue windfall from business taxes, giving officials more flexibility than in the past couple years, which have been dominated by revenue shortfalls amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a May 5 memo, Kafoury said revenues are expected to keep growing for the next several years, and the budget is therefore designed around stabilizing existing services and making new investments, including maintaining “safety net” services that were set up during COVID.
“… many of the new programs and approaches that we stood up in our race to respond to COVID-related challenges demonstrated positive, equitable outcomes, so this budget also invests in continuing those newfound lessons and practices into the future,” she wrote.
The budget includes $183.2 million into responses to housing instability, homelessness and behavioral health needs, $107.1 of which comes from the Metro Supportive Housing Services Measure and $76.1 million from local, state and federal funding.
Among the Metro Supportive Housing Services Measure funds, $27.3 million will be spent on shelter bed support, raising the total number of available beds from 2,000 to about 2,700, and $75.9 million would go to housing placements, rent assistance and support services to get people out of homelessness.
The budget also includes $15.5 million to support behavioral health services, including some of the services at the planned Behavioral Health Resource Center, which is set to open in downtown Portland in the fall.
The budget implements the Preschool for All program that voters approved in 2020, opening up the first 600 slots for kids in September. It also plans for work to begin on several library projects as part of the $387 million Multnomah County Library capital bond that voters approved in 2020.
The county commission voted Thursday to accept the proposal. Final adoption is scheduled to come on June 16 following a six-week budget process including work sessions and public hearings.
|
https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/multnomah-county-chair-budget-proposal/283-00075f3e-0173-4d11-a584-27e072471918
| 2022-05-06T02:18:59
| 0
|
https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/multnomah-county-chair-budget-proposal/283-00075f3e-0173-4d11-a584-27e072471918
|
As members of the U.S. Supreme Court gathered with friends and family Monday to remember former Justice John Paul Stevens at a memorial service, barricades were being erected in front of the court.
Security guards were preparing for what they knew was coming -- reaction to a leaked draft opinion signaling the court planned to overrule a 1973 decision legalizing abortion nationwide.
Preeta Bansal, a Lincoln native who was a law clerk for Stevens in 1990 and recently returned to Lincoln, was at the memorial service in Washington.
"Several of the clerks commented that a few justices looked a bit grim and sullen, kind of unusually so, and in hindsight it seems that several probably already knew about the leak and the impending publication of the article," Bansal said.
The memorial service originally was scheduled for April 2020, which would have been Stevens' 100th birthday, but the pandemic interfered. Bansal had previously stood vigil over Stevens' body in 2019 as it lay in state.
On Monday, demonstrators quickly appeared outside the court after the story was published at 7:32 Central Time.
As a former court insider she was shocked by the leak revealing that Roe v. Wade might be overturned.
“The first thought I had was, ‘This is the mother of all Supreme Court leaks,’ and the second was, ‘Oh maybe that explains what was going on during the memorial service.’"
While draft opinions are part of the usual process for the high court, leaks are rare.
According to Bansal, shortly after oral arguments are heard by the court, the nine justices hold a conference to discuss how they intend to vote.
During that conference, the most senior justice for the majority chooses who will write the opinion. In this case, Justice Clarence Thomas assigned Justice Samuel Alito sometime after arguments were heard on Dec. 1. On Feb. 10, Alito circulated the draft that became public.
Preeta Bansal, a Lincoln native who was a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens in 1990, stood vigil over his body in 2019 at it lay in state.
Courtesy photo
Once a draft opinion circulates among the justices, it's not uncommon for decisions to change and the drafts to be updated, she said.
"Though the justices take an initial/preliminary vote in the conference soon after oral argument, the way the opinion is drafted by the justice assigned to write the majority opinion – and whether it is a broad or narrow ruling – becomes very important about whether they hold the majority," Bansal said.
Bansal didn’t speculate about a possible motive for the leak.
"My initial thought (like everyone’s) was that it was a strategic leak by someone. As I think about it more, I really can’t say. Why does anyone breach personal or professional trust? It could be strategic. It could be political on either side. It could just be human weakness or a desire for drama. Or it could be simple carelessness.
"I don't know what their motives were, but it's a big deal under the important confidentiality vows and trust held by anyone who has had the privilege of working at the court."
Photos: Crowd protests at Supreme Court after draft opinion on abortion leaked
A crowd of people gather outside the Supreme Court, Monday night, May 2, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion circulated among Supreme Court justices suggests that earlier this year a majority of them had thrown support behind overturning the 1973 case Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a report published Monday night in Politico. It’s unclear if the draft represents the court’s final word on the matter. The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the draft Politico posted, which if verified marks a shocking revelation of the high court’s secretive deliberation process, particularly before a case is formally decided. (AP Photo/Anna Johnson)
Anna Johnson
A crowd of people gather outside the Supreme Court, Monday night, May 2, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion circulated among Supreme Court justices suggests that earlier this year a majority of them had thrown support behind overturning the 1973 case Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a report published Monday night in Politico. It's unclear if the draft represents the court's final word on the matter. The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the draft Politico posted, which if verified marks a shocking revelation of the high court's secretive deliberation process, particularly before a case is formally decided. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Alex Brandon
A crowd of people gather outside the Supreme Court, Monday night, May 2, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion circulated among Supreme Court justices suggests that earlier this year a majority of them had thrown support behind overturning the 1973 case Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a report published Monday night in Politico. It's unclear if the draft represents the court's final word on the matter. The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the draft Politico posted, which if verified marks a shocking revelation of the high court's secretive deliberation process, particularly before a case is formally decided. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Alex Brandon
A crowd of people gather outside the Supreme Court, Monday night, May 2, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion circulated among Supreme Court justices suggests that earlier this year a majority of them had thrown support behind overturning the 1973 case Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a report published Monday night in Politico. It's unclear if the draft represents the court's final word on the matter. The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the draft Politico posted, which if verified marks a shocking revelation of the high court's secretive deliberation process, particularly before a case is formally decided. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Alex Brandon
A crowd of people gather outside the Supreme Court, Monday night, May 2, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion circulated among Supreme Court justices suggests that earlier this year a majority of them had thrown support behind overturning the 1973 case Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a report published Monday night in Politico. It's unclear if the draft represents the court's final word on the matter. The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the draft Politico posted, which if verified marks a shocking revelation of the high court's secretive deliberation process, particularly before a case is formally decided. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Alex Brandon
A crowd of people gather outside the Supreme Court, Monday night, May 2, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion circulated among Supreme Court justices suggests that earlier this year a majority of them had thrown support behind overturning the 1973 case Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a report published Monday night in Politico. It's unclear if the draft represents the court's final word on the matter. The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the draft Politico posted, which if verified marks a shocking revelation of the high court's secretive deliberation process, particularly before a case is formally decided. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Alex Brandon
A crowd of people gather outside the Supreme Court, Monday night, May 2, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion circulated among Supreme Court justices suggests that earlier this year a majority of them had thrown support behind overturning the 1973 case Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a report published Monday night in Politico. It's unclear if the draft represents the court's final word on the matter. The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the draft Politico posted, which if verified marks a shocking revelation of the high court's secretive deliberation process, particularly before a case is formally decided. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Alex Brandon
A crowd of people gather outside the Supreme Court, Monday night, May 2, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion circulated among Supreme Court justices suggests that earlier this year a majority of them had thrown support behind overturning the 1973 case Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a report published Monday night in Politico. It's unclear if the draft represents the court's final word on the matter. The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the draft Politico posted, which if verified marks a shocking revelation of the high court's secretive deliberation process, particularly before a case is formally decided. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Alex Brandon
A crowd of people gather outside the Supreme Court, early Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion circulated among Supreme Court justices suggests that earlier this year a majority of them had thrown support behind overturning the 1973 case Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a report published Monday night in Politico. It's unclear if the draft represents the court's final word on the matter. The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the draft Politico posted, which if verified marks a shocking revelation of the high court's secretive deliberation process, particularly before a case is formally decided. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Alex Brandon
A crowd of people gather outside the Supreme Court, early Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion circulated among Supreme Court justices suggests that earlier this year a majority of them had thrown support behind overturning the 1973 case Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a report published Monday night in Politico. It's unclear if the draft represents the court's final word on the matter. The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the draft Politico posted, which if verified marks a shocking revelation of the high court's secretive deliberation process, particularly before a case is formally decided. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Alex Brandon
A crowd of people gather outside the Supreme Court, early Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion circulated among Supreme Court justices suggests that earlier this year a majority of them had thrown support behind overturning the 1973 case Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a report published Monday night in Politico. It's unclear if the draft represents the court's final word on the matter. The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the draft Politico posted, which if verified marks a shocking revelation of the high court's secretive deliberation process, particularly before a case is formally decided. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Alex Brandon
A crowd of people gather outside the Supreme Court, early Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion circulated among Supreme Court justices suggests that earlier this year a majority of them had thrown support behind overturning the 1973 case Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a report published Monday night in Politico. It's unclear if the draft represents the court's final word on the matter. The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the draft Politico posted, which if verified marks a shocking revelation of the high court's secretive deliberation process, particularly before a case is formally decided. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Alex Brandon
A crowd of people gather outside the Supreme Court, early Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion circulated among Supreme Court justices suggests that earlier this year a majority of them had thrown support behind overturning the 1973 case Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a report published Monday night in Politico. It's unclear if the draft represents the court's final word on the matter. The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the draft Politico posted, which if verified marks a shocking revelation of the high court's secretive deliberation process, particularly before a case is formally decided. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Alex Brandon
A crowd of people gather outside the Supreme Court, early Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion circulated among Supreme Court justices suggests that earlier this year a majority of them had thrown support behind overturning the 1973 case Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a report published Monday night in Politico. It's unclear if the draft represents the court's final word on the matter. The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the draft Politico posted, which if verified marks a shocking revelation of the high court's secretive deliberation process, particularly before a case is formally decided. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Alex Brandon
Washington Metropolitan Police form a line outside the Supreme Court, early Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion circulated among Supreme Court justices suggests that earlier this year a majority of them had thrown support behind overturning the 1973 case Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a report published Monday night in Politico. It's unclear if the draft represents the court's final word on the matter. The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the draft Politico posted, which if verified marks a shocking revelation of the high court's secretive deliberation process, particularly before a case is formally decided. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Alex Brandon
A crowd of people gather outside the Supreme Court, early Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion circulated among Supreme Court justices suggests that earlier this year a majority of them had thrown support behind overturning the 1973 case Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a report published Monday night in Politico. It's unclear if the draft represents the court's final word on the matter. The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the draft Politico posted, which if verified marks a shocking revelation of the high court's secretive deliberation process, particularly before a case is formally decided. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Alex Brandon
A crowd of people gather outside the Supreme Court early Tuesday, May 3, 2022, in Washington. A draft opinion suggests the U.S. Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a Politico report released Monday. Whatever the outcome, the Politico report represents an extremely rare breach of the court's secretive deliberation process, and on a case of surpassing importance. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Alex Brandon
A crowd of people gather outside the Supreme Court early Tuesday, May 3, 2022, in Washington. A draft opinion suggests the U.S. Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a Politico report released Monday. Whatever the outcome, the Politico report represents an extremely rare breach of the court's secretive deliberation process, and on a case of surpassing importance. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Alex Brandon
The U.S. Supreme Court is seen early Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion suggests the U.S. Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a Politico report released Monday. Whatever the outcome, the Politico report represents an extremely rare breach of the court's secretive deliberation process, and on a case of surpassing importance. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Jose Luis Magana
Demonstrators Jonah Smith from Calif., left, and Robin G. from the D.C. area, hold a vigil at the Supreme Court, Tuesday, May 3, 2022, in Washington, following news report by Politico that a draft opinion suggests the justices could be poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide. While it is unclear if the draft represents the court's final word on the matter, the leaked report represents an extremely rare breach of the court's secretive deliberation process, and on a case of surpassing importance. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
J. Scott Applewhite
Police Officers stand on the plaza at the Supreme Court in Washington, Tuesday, May 3, 2022, as demonstrators gather following news report by Politico that a draft opinion suggests the justices could be poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide. While it is unclear if the draft represents the court's final word on the matter, the leaked report represents an extremely rare breach of the court's secretive deliberation process, and on a case of surpassing importance. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
J. Scott Applewhite
Beth Rafferty wipes a tear as she react to the news of the possible overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide, outside of the U.S. Supreme Court, Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion suggests the U.S. Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a Politico report released Monday. Whatever the outcome, the Politico report represents an extremely rare breach of the court's secretive deliberation process, and on a case of surpassing importance. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Jose Luis Magana
Demonstrators protest outside of the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion suggests the U.S. Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a Politico report released Monday. Whatever the outcome, the Politico report represents an extremely rare breach of the court's secretive deliberation process, and on a case of surpassing importance. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Jose Luis Magana
Demonstrators protest outside of the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion suggests the U.S. Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a Politico report released Monday. Whatever the outcome, the Politico report represents an extremely rare breach of the court's secretive deliberation process, and on a case of surpassing importance. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Jose Luis Magana
Demonstrators protest outside of the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion suggests the U.S. Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a Politico report released Monday. Whatever the outcome, the Politico report represents an extremely rare breach of the court's secretive deliberation process, and on a case of surpassing importance. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Jose Luis Magana
Demonstrators protest outside of the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion suggests the U.S. Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a Politico report released Monday. Whatever the outcome, the Politico report represents an extremely rare breach of the court's secretive deliberation process, and on a case of surpassing importance. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Jose Luis Magana
Demonstrators protest outside of the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion suggests the U.S. Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a Politico report released Monday. Whatever the outcome, the Politico report represents an extremely rare breach of the court's secretive deliberation process, and on a case of surpassing importance. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Jose Luis Magana
Demonstrators protest outside of the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion suggests the U.S. Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a Politico report released Monday. Whatever the outcome, the Politico report represents an extremely rare breach of the court's secretive deliberation process, and on a case of surpassing importance. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Jose Luis Magana
Demonstrators protest outside of the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion suggests the U.S. Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a Politico report released Monday. Whatever the outcome, the Politico report represents an extremely rare breach of the court's secretive deliberation process, and on a case of surpassing importance. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Jose Luis Magana
Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, speaks outside of the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion suggests the U.S. Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a Politico report released Monday. Whatever the outcome, the Politico report represents an extremely rare breach of the court's secretive deliberation process, and on a case of surpassing importance. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Jose Luis Magana
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. speaks outside of the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion suggests the U.S. Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a Politico report released Monday. Whatever the outcome, the Politico report represents an extremely rare breach of the court's secretive deliberation process, and on a case of surpassing importance. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Jose Luis Magana
Reach the writer at 402-473-7228 or emejia@journalstar.com
Get local news delivered to your inbox!
Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter.
|
https://journalstar.com/news/local/lincoln-native-who-clerked-at-u-s-supreme-court-talks-about-leaked-draft/article_3b82654c-277b-5739-96d5-fdc02439594c.html
| 2022-05-06T02:21:23
| 1
|
https://journalstar.com/news/local/lincoln-native-who-clerked-at-u-s-supreme-court-talks-about-leaked-draft/article_3b82654c-277b-5739-96d5-fdc02439594c.html
|
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — It's Teacher Appreciation Week, which means we are highlighting a group of educators that are going the extra mile for their students.
Big things are happening along the 3rd grade wing at Chenal Elementary.
"I could not be more proud of your efforts," Angie Freese, Solution Tree Author and Inclusive Practices Project Associate, said.
While every teacher impacts their students in some way, educators, like Special Education Resource Teacher Shonta Williams, were able to immediately see their influence through numbers on Thursday morning.
"We looked over the data from our inclusive model," she said.
It's a new strategy for these classrooms that focuses on inclusive practices for students with special needs, according to Williams.
"They know that I'm part of this class, and I'm going to succeed just like my peers," she said.
Kristin Lerew, 3rd grade Science and Social Studies Teacher, said part of these practices include small group instruction. It also includes bringing resource teachers into the classroom, rather than pulling kids out.
"Having that inclusion practice piece allows them to stay in the classroom where they are just like their normal peers. Whether they're struggling or not, you don't know because they're doing exactly what an 8-year-old should be doing," she said.
While they've only been doing this for one school year, both Williams and Lerew said they're already seeing its impact.
"They feel more part of a class and more engaged. They're not looking at the clock, [or] it's time for me to leave," Williams said.
"We've had a lot of growth. We have students who grew a lot. We have students who grew a little but they still grew," Lerew said.
This growth not just seen by teachers, but showing in the numbers.
According to the data, 61% of students were below expected levels of performance at the beginning of the year. Now, that number has decreased and it's only 21%.
Additionally, 3% of students were above grade level last August. Now, just 8 months later, 30% are above.
"We're trying to provide opportunities for them to reach those goals, and we want to give them the foundation to know that they can be successful, no matter what," Lerew said.
It's working as it's a foundation that's clearly been instilled in 3rd grader Matthew Rogers.
"They've taught me almost everything I've needed so far," he said.
It's pretty easy to see in the 3rd grade wing at Chenal Elementary, these teachers are more than appreciated and their impact is felt each day.
"I love you all. Y'all have helped me learn a whole lot," Rogers said.
All the teachers hope they can continue with these inclusive practices next school year.
This all started with a state grant, so they need another grant next year to continue.
|
https://www.thv11.com/article/news/local/arkansas-teachers-create-inclusive-classrooms/91-1945bc19-07e5-4fc3-be3d-64a09d05279e
| 2022-05-06T02:29:41
| 1
|
https://www.thv11.com/article/news/local/arkansas-teachers-create-inclusive-classrooms/91-1945bc19-07e5-4fc3-be3d-64a09d05279e
|
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A new lineup of Broadway shows are headed to Little Rock, as the new season is set to start in September.
The shows are being brought the city by Celebrity Attractions as part of the company's 2022-2023 Broadway Season.
This year's Broadway Season in Little Rock will feature five 'national Broadway tours' that will come to the city and take the stage over multiple days during each show.
“With each passing season, more and more get to experience the bright lights of Broadway right here in central Arkansas and it is because of our community’s continued support that we can contribute to the quality of life in Little Rock and impact the economy in profound ways. Please join us for our magical 2022-2023 Broadway Season,” the company said through press release.
Here's a look at the five shows coming to Little Rock, along with the days that you can see them:
- Blue Man Group: Sept. 9-11, 2022.
- Tootsie: Jan. 13-15, 2023.
- Disney's Aladdin: Feb. 1-5, 2023.
- Legally Blonde-- The Musical: April 21-23, 2023.
- My Fair Lady: May 19-21, 2023.
For those interested in learning more about the upcoming Broadway Season, you can click here to find out more.
|
https://www.thv11.com/article/news/local/broadway-in-little-rock-returns-2022/91-f05078fa-18d5-49ac-acf6-bc1525da67b7
| 2022-05-06T02:29:47
| 0
|
https://www.thv11.com/article/news/local/broadway-in-little-rock-returns-2022/91-f05078fa-18d5-49ac-acf6-bc1525da67b7
|
Skip to content
Main Navigation
Search
Search for:
Weather
Local
Sports
Entertainment
Investigators
Videos
Newsletters
Live TV
Share
Close
Trending
Decision 2022
How to Help Ukraine
Sixers
Watch on FireTV
Expand
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
|
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/dolly-parton-serenades-delaware-with-imagination/3230135/
| 2022-05-06T02:30:23
| 1
|
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/dolly-parton-serenades-delaware-with-imagination/3230135/
|
Downtown North Bend invites you to our Mother’s Day on Main Street this Saturday, May 7. Each of these small businesses is participating and has contributed to our giveaway. Giveaway baskets are valued at over $500 each, filled with products and gift cards from participating locations.
Stop by anytime between 10 am and 3 pm at each participating location. All 21 sites have an entry bucket, and each location counts as an entry. The more places you visit, the more chance you have at winning. We will draw the winners at 4 pm on the day of the event, and you need not be present to win.
It doesn’t matter what location you start at, but give yourself enough time to make it through them all. There are great restaurants to eat at for lunch, beautiful places to shop for a gift, and an opportunity to shop locally for flowers for mom. Most businesses will be running specials on the day of the event. There is no purchase necessary to enter the giveaway.
Mother’s Day on Main Street is a great way to get out and walk about downtown North Bend and show support to local shops during National Small Businesses Week. Downtown North Bend has something for everyone!
Beauty and the Beast Antiques (615 Virginia Avenue): This wonderful antique shop has operated for around 30 years out of a historic brick bank building in downtown North Bend. Saturday hours are 11 am to 4 pm. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057326325886
Books by The Bay (1875 Sherman Avenue): Get a Spring on reading by coming down and checking out their incredible display of fantastic reads for all ages. New and used books. Saturday hours are 9 am to 6 pm. https://www.facebook.com/Books-By-The-Bay-232314893488700/
Ciccarelli’s Restaurant (2076 Sherman Avenue): A cozy location serving brick-oven pizzas and Italian entrees in a homey space with outdoor seating. Moms get one complimentary coffee or espresso drink. Saturday hours are 8 am to 9 pm. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057417522371
Coastal Candy Co. (785 Virginia Avenue): Sweet Street Presents Coastal Candy Co., a new candy shop in downtown North Bend. https://www.facebook.com/CoastalCandyCo/
Engles Furniture (2079 Sherman Avenue): One lucky Mom will win an $8,000 Reimagine Your Home makeover! Stop by and register to win! Saturday hours are 9 am to 6 pm. https://www.facebook.com/EnglesFurniture/
Fat Cat Antiques (2005 Sherman Avenue): A sizeable antique shop right in the middle of Downtown North Bend with two dozen vendors. Saturday hours are 11 am to 4 pm. https://www.facebook.com/Fat-Cat-Antiques-108876084330140/
Gamers’ Cantina (761 Virginia Avenue): Warhammer, Magic the Gathering, Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and more! Saturday hours are 10 am to 6 pm. https://www.facebook.com/GamersCantina
Los Guerreros Mexican Restaurant (1902 Sherman Avenue): Authentic Mexican food and enormous and tasty margaritas will leave you with a smile! Saturday hours are 11 am to 9 pm. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100069970395557
North Bend Powersports (2105 Sheridan Avenue): All woman’s apparel is 10% off! Saturday hours are 9 am to 6 pm. https://www.facebook.com/NORTHBENDPOWERSPORTS/
North Bend Public Library (1800 Sherman Avenue): Children can spin the wheel for a complimentary gift for mom (and candy for themselves). There will be paper flower crafting plus coloring sheets, a new Lego table, and an opportunity to sign-up for the summer reading program. https://www.facebook.com/NorthBendPublicLibraryOregon
Ocean Breeze Flowers & Gifts (1866 Sherman Avenue): Get your orders in for Mother’s Day! Perfect time to pick up an arrangement during Saturday’s event. Or schedule delivery by contacting them at 541-808-0303. https://www.facebook.com/Ocean-Breeze-Flowers-Gifts-216689221688977/
Painted Zebra Boutique (1997 Sherman Avenue): Boutique with new items for women and juniors, including clothing, jewelry, handbags, organic lotions, greeting cards, seasonal items, and more! Saturday hours are 11 am to 3 pm. https://www.facebook.com/paintedzebraboutique/
Petal to the Metal Flowers (1993 Sherman Avenue): A full-service flower shop with fresh cut flowers, live plants, balloon garlands, balloon columns, and more! Order your Mother’s Day flowers and gifts today! https://www.facebook.com/ptmflowers/
Recycle Video Games (1942 Sherman Avenue): Moms get 10% off storewide! Saturday hours are 10 am to 8 pm. https://www.facebook.com/Recyclevideogames/
The Apothecary by Archer Farms (2048 Sherman Avenue): Plenty of unique ready-made baskets perfect for Mother’s Day gifts. Please stop by and check out their extensive line of unique gifts and products. Saturday hours are 10 am to 6 pm. https://www.facebook.com/TheApothecaryLLC/
The Grounds Cafe (1875 Sherman Avenue): A sweet little Coffee Shop and Cafe located inside the Books by the Bay Bookstore with Mother’s Day pastry boards, hand-crafted gourmet mini scone boxes, and more. https://www.facebook.com/GroundsCoffeeShop
The Liberty Theatre – Home of Little Theatre on the Bay (2100 Sherman Avenue): Between Noon and 2 pm, get a tour of their new Mom’s Room, enjoy free popcorn, and let the kids color. Moms get complimentary 10-minute massages. Of course, don’t forget to get tickets for some of their upcoming shows! https://www.facebook.com/thelibertytheatrenorthbend/
The Tin Thistle Cafe (1972 Sherman Ave): The Tin Thistle Café is a Celtic-themed whole foods vegan café featuring pasties, village bowls, and more! Saturday hours are 11 am to 4 pm. https://www.facebook.com/thetinthistlecafe
The VIP Lounge and Restaurant (634 Virginia Avenue) – Offering 20% off to moms eating with their kids between 10 am and 3 pm on Saturday, May 7th, 2022. https://www.facebook.com/The-VIP-Lounge-104956738833703/
Wildflour Public House (1989 Sherman Avenue): John and Tara Moore are the chefs and owners of Wildflour Catering. They believe in fresh, simple, and delicious ingredients. They are passionate about food: where it comes from, how it tastes, and how it is prepared and presented. Please stop by and check them out! https://www.facebook.com/wildflour.catering.moore/
World Pawn Exchange (1980 Sherman Avenue): They have the most incredible stuff! Guitars, custom jewelry, boom boxes, chainsaws, and more! Saturday hours are 10 am to 5:30 pm. https://www.facebook.com/worldpawn/
|
https://theworldlink.com/news/local/mothers-day-saturday-in-north-bend/article_51d0d7f2-cccb-11ec-9f77-97230fef885c.html
| 2022-05-06T02:56:22
| 0
|
https://theworldlink.com/news/local/mothers-day-saturday-in-north-bend/article_51d0d7f2-cccb-11ec-9f77-97230fef885c.html
|
James Franklin Davis, 82, of Coos Bay, passed away April 28, 2022 in Roseburg. Arrangements are under the direction of Nelson's Bay Area Mortuary, 405 Elrod Ave., Coos Bay, Oregon 541/267-4216
Barbara Jo Barringer, 70, of Coos Bay, passed away April 21, 2022 in Coos Bay Cremation Rites are under the direction of Nelson's Bay Area Mortuary, 405 Elrod Ave., Coos Bay, Oregon 541/267-4216
Greg Damon, 64, of Lakeside, passed away April 28, 2022 in Coos Bay. Cremation Rites are under the direction of Nelson's Bay Area Mortuary, 405 Elrod Ave., Coos Bay, Oregon 541/267-4216
Ramona Thomas, 82, of Coos Bay, passed away April 27, 2022 in Brookings. Cremation Rites are under the direction of Nelson's Bay Area Mortuary, 405 Elrod Ave., Coos Bay, Oregon 541/267-4216
Joan E. Salazar, 66, of North Bend, passed away April 26, 2022 in Coos Bay. Cremation Rites are under the direction of Nelson's Bay Area Mortuary, 405 Elrod Ave., Coos Bay, Oregon 541/267-4216
Patricia Chapman, 60, of Coos Bay, passed away April 19, 2022 in Coos Bay. Cremation Rites are under the direction of Nelson's Bay Area Mortuary, 405 Elrod Ave., Coos Bay, Oregon 541/267-4216
William Keith Ashcraft, 67, of Coos Bay, passed away April 22, 2022 in Coos Bay. Cremation Rites are under the direction of Nelson's Bay Area Mortuary, 405 Elrod Ave., Coos Bay, Oregon 541/267-4216
Ryan A. VanBuskirk, 41, of Lakeside, passed away on April 27, 2022 in Lakeside. Arrangements are under the care of North Bend Chapel, www.coosbayareafunerals.com, 541-756-0440.
Todd D. Lesco, 51, of North Bend, passed away on April 30, 2022 in North Bend. Arrangements are under the care of North Bend Chapel, www.coosbayareafunerals.com, 541-756-0440.
Paul Francis Franey, 71, of Coos Bay, passed away April 27, 2022 in Coos Bay. Arrangements are under the care of Coos Bay Chapel, 541-267-3131 www.coosbayareafunerals.com
Melody Sue Fulton, 65, of Coos Bay, passed away April 26, 2022 in Coos Bay. Arrangements are under the care of Coos Bay Chapel, 541-267-3131 www.coosbayareafunerals.com
Kathleen “Kay” Caton, 86, of Coos Bay, passed away April 29, 2022 in Coos Bay. Arrangements are under the care of Coos Bay Chapel, 541-267-3131 www.coosbayareafunerals.com
Patricia Ann Ringor, 52, of Coos Bay, passed away April 26, 2022 in Coos Bay. Arrangements are under the care of Coos Bay Chapel, 541-267-3131 www.coosbayareafunerals.com
Astarte T. Rainbow, 74, of Coos Bay, passed away April 29, 2022 in Coos Bay. Cremation Rites are under the direction of Nelson's Bay Area Mortuary, 405 Elrod Ave., Coos Bay, Oregon 541/267-4216
|
https://theworldlink.com/news/local/obituaries/may-6-2022-death-notices/article_2875d92e-ca33-11ec-bb32-f38281c3acff.html
| 2022-05-06T02:56:28
| 1
|
https://theworldlink.com/news/local/obituaries/may-6-2022-death-notices/article_2875d92e-ca33-11ec-bb32-f38281c3acff.html
|
A Celebration of Life for Vicky Lynn Cornwall, 65, of Coos Bay, is scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 7, 2022 from 12:00 to 2:00 PM at Bastendorff Beach Park – Orange Shelter, 63379 Bastendorff Beach Road, Coos Bay. RSVP is not required but appreciated at 503-858-7173.
Online Poll
The World's Latest E-Edition
The World's Latest E-Edition
View our 5-6-22 E-edition right here!
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Trending Now
Articles
- Sheriff's office looking for shooting suspects
- Letter: Living in a post-truth world
- Vehicle for hire ordinance moves forward
- North Bend council decides to be proactive with dangerous buildings
- OHA releases biweekly COVID-19 reports
- Bandon High School closes due to sewer fumes
- Ko-Kwel Wellness Center achieves accreditation
- The World's E-edition for 5-3-22
- Taylor: I will fight for liberty
- Area athletes shine at Grants Pass meet
Load comments
Post a comment as
Report
Watch this discussion. Stop watching this discussion.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Trending Now
Articles
- Sheriff's office looking for shooting suspects
- Letter: Living in a post-truth world
- Vehicle for hire ordinance moves forward
- North Bend council decides to be proactive with dangerous buildings
- OHA releases biweekly COVID-19 reports
- Bandon High School closes due to sewer fumes
- Ko-Kwel Wellness Center achieves accreditation
- The World's E-edition for 5-3-22
- Taylor: I will fight for liberty
- Area athletes shine at Grants Pass meet
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
|
https://theworldlink.com/news/local/obituaries/may-6-2022-service-notice/article_087699a0-c59d-11ec-a16d-a394026da3f5.html
| 2022-05-06T02:56:34
| 0
|
https://theworldlink.com/news/local/obituaries/may-6-2022-service-notice/article_087699a0-c59d-11ec-a16d-a394026da3f5.html
|
A viewing for Esther E. Harms, 86, of North Bend, will be held Friday, May 6, 2022, at 11:30 followed by a memorial service at 12 PM at Coos Bay Chapel 685 Anderson Ave. 541-267-3131. www.coosbayareafunerals.com
A graveside service for Leonora McClean, 83, of North Bend will be held at 2:00 pm, Saturday, May 7 at Sunset Memorial Park, 63060 Millington Frontage Road in Coos Bay. Arrangements are under the care of Coos Bay Chapel, 541-267-3131 www.coosbayareafunerals.com
A memorial service will be held for James Franklin Davis, 82, of Coos Bay, at 6:00 pm, Tuesday, May 9, 2022 at Nelson's Bay Area Mortuary. Arrangements are under the direction of Nelson's Bay Area Mortuary, 405 Elrod Ave., Coos Bay, Oregon 541/267-4216
|
https://theworldlink.com/news/local/obituaries/may-6-2022-service-notices/article_ab4f78c4-ca3c-11ec-8c3a-9ff77db3d00d.html
| 2022-05-06T02:56:41
| 1
|
https://theworldlink.com/news/local/obituaries/may-6-2022-service-notices/article_ab4f78c4-ca3c-11ec-8c3a-9ff77db3d00d.html
|
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Two California housing agencies announced new programs for prospective and current homeowners.
One offers forgivable loans to homebuyers in the state for up to 10% of the home's purchase price, and the other carries $67 million to fund projects supporting low-income homeowners
Who Qualifies?
Forgivable Equity Builder Loan - California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA)
Californians making less than 80% of the Area Median Income in their residing county qualify. In Sacramento County, families can make up to $72,000 to qualify for the program.
Families who think they might qualify are encouraged to contact a Preferred Loan Officer to take steps towards homeownership.
If the homebuyer stays in the home for at least five years, they do not have to repay the junior loan.
The loan can be used for down payment or closing costs, including rate buydowns.
CalHome Awards - Department of Housing and Community Development
Low and very low income households can qualify for any of the 33 CalHome Program projects across the state—with the $67 million in new funding increasing resources for struggling homeowners.
Funds assist individual first-time homebuyers through deferred-payment loans for down payment assistance and home rehabilitation, including manufactured homes not on permanent foundations, acquisition and rehabilitation, homebuyer counseling, self-help mortgage assistance or technical assistance for self-help homeownership.
A full list of local public agencies and nonprofit corporations receiving CalHome Program grant funding is available upon request. Just email alex.traverso@hcd.ca.gov.
For more information about the CalHome program administered by Housing and Community Development, click HERE.
Other resources for homeowners
CalHFA offers the National Mortgage Settlement Housing Counseling program, which provides counseling services to California families who are in danger of eviction or foreclosure, through housing counselors certified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
For Californians who have been financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, CalHFA has established the California Mortgage Relief Program to help homeowners get caught up on their housing payments. The program is free, and the relief funds do not need to be repaid.
|
https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/sacramento/california-announces-new-forgivable-loan-program/103-74e51b9a-6429-40f5-82a0-e9161fe5dc94
| 2022-05-06T02:57:57
| 1
|
https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/sacramento/california-announces-new-forgivable-loan-program/103-74e51b9a-6429-40f5-82a0-e9161fe5dc94
|
For affected residents who want to rebuild or start to move on with their lives, cleaning up after the Tunnel Fire's destruction remains an immediate obstacle, so Coconino County and community partners are now mobilizing to assist residents in cleanup efforts.
Coconino County provided some initial cleanup support in the form of publicly available dumpsters placed near affected properties. There are currently 14 dumpsters placed around the neighborhoods, with another 14-17 on the way, said Lucinda Andreani, deputy county manager.
Each dumpster has a capacity of roughly 20,000 lbs.
At least 30 homes were damaged or destroyed by the Tunnel Fire. Early assessments from Coconino County suggest that these properties sustained at least $20 million in damages.
The dumpsters currently on site have “been filled and emptied,” several times since their placement on April 25, Andreani said.
Between structural wreckage and green waste from burned trees, Andreani expects that “millions of pounds” of debris will need to be cleared from the fire-impacted neighborhoods. The structural debris in the area is littered with nails, glass, metal and burned drywall, while “hazard trees” loom and threaten to fall or drop burned branches.
“This is dangerous work,” Andreani said.
To help tackle the job, the county has entered into partnership with United Way of Northern Arizona, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and Team Rubicon (TR). United Way will deploy volunteers to help with unskilled aspects of the cleanup on Saturday, while SBC and TR expect to join the effort in the next two weeks.
SBC has served similar efforts following major fires in Colorado, said team leader Patty Kirchner.
“We've seen identical destruction where the whole house is destroyed,” she said. Even in such cases, she noted that it’s possible to recover valuables from the wreckage.
1 of 21
Tunnel Fire Continues to Burn
Two firefighters from a Phoenix crew working the Tunnel Fire mop up an area burned off Schultz Pass Road Thursday morning.
A fire response helicopter leaves the head of the Tunnel Fire Thursday morning amidst strong winds to scoop more water in an effort to contain the burn. The fire has consumed over 20,000 acres and continues to move northeast into the Strawberry Crater Wilderness.
Two firefighters from the Coconino Engine 383 crew crest a hill as they return to their truck Thursday morning. Efforts are still underway to contain the Tunnel Fire, which has burned over 20,000 acres.
Two fire response aircraft leave the head of the Tunnel Fire Thursday morning amidst strong winds to scoop more water in an effort to contain the burn.
Hoping to make sure that all active burning is extinguished, a firefighter from a Phoenix-based crew working the Tunnel Fire feels underground for heat during a process in which firefighters follow smoke into roots in the ground that fire will follow
The landscape on Schultz Pass Road features burned grass and trees Thursday morning after the Tunnel Fire swept through the area. The fire has consumed over 20,000 acres and continues to move northeast into the Strawberry Crater Wilderness.
A crew of Mormon Lake Hotshots drives down Schultz Pass Road Thursday morning as crews continue efforts to contain the Tunnel Fire. The fire has consumed over 20,000 acres.
The landscape off Schultz Pass Road near the origin of the Tunnel Fire near 6064D features burned grass and trees Thursday morning after the wildfire swept through the area. The origin of the fire, which has burned over 20,000 acres 14 miles northeast of Flagstaff, is still under investigation.
The landscape off Schultz Pass Road features burned grass and trees Thursday morning after the Tunnel Fire swept through the area. The fire has consumed over 20,000 acres and continues to move northeast into the Strawberry Crater Wilderness.
A burned tree that was knocked down by gusting winds pushing the Tunnel Fire lies on the scorched forest floor Thursday morning. The fire has burned over 20,000 acres and 24 known structures and continues to move northeast into the Strawberry Crater Wilderness.
The landscape off Schultz Pass Road near the origin of the Tunnel Fire near 6064D now consists of burned grass and trees Thursday morning after the wildfire swept through the area.
A dozer line can been seen off of Schutlz Pass Road Thursday morning. Dozer lines are one of many methods fire crews will use to contain the Tunnel Fire, which is burning 14 miles northeast of Flagstaff.
Two firefighters from the Coconino Engine 383 crew check on a smoldering tree Thursday morning. Efforts are still underway to contain the Tunnel Fire, which has burned more than 20,000 acres.
A fire response helicopter heads toward the head of the Tunnel Fire Thursday morning amidst strong winds to dump water in an effort to contain the burn.
The landscape on Schultz Pass Road features burned grass and trees Thursday morning after the Tunnel Fire swept through the area. The fire has consumed over 20,000 acres.
Residential communities near Timberline are located less than 2 miles away from areas burned by the Tunnel Fire off Schutlz Pass Road in Flagstaff Thursday morning. The fire has burned over 20,000 acres.
Gallery: Tunnel Fire continues to burn, though spread slows
The Tunnel Fire increased to 20,511 acres in Thursday afternoon's latest count, slowing its pace despite somewhat windy conditions, but more wind is on the way Friday. Photographer Rachel Gibbons got a tour of the scene, while Ed Moss shared some excellent photos from outside the evacuation area.
1 of 21
Tunnel Fire Continues to Burn
Two firefighters from a Phoenix crew working the Tunnel Fire mop up an area burned off Schultz Pass Road Thursday morning.
Rachel Gibbons, Arizona Daily Sun
Tunnel Fire Continues to Burn
A fire response helicopter leaves the head of the Tunnel Fire Thursday morning amidst strong winds to scoop more water in an effort to contain the burn. The fire has consumed over 20,000 acres and continues to move northeast into the Strawberry Crater Wilderness.
Rachel Gibbons, Arizona Daily Sun
Tunnel Fire Continues to Burn
Two firefighters from the Coconino Engine 383 crew crest a hill as they return to their truck Thursday morning. Efforts are still underway to contain the Tunnel Fire, which has burned over 20,000 acres.
Rachel Gibbons, Arizona Daily Sun
Tunnel Fire Continues to Burn
Two fire response aircraft leave the head of the Tunnel Fire Thursday morning amidst strong winds to scoop more water in an effort to contain the burn.
Rachel Gibbons, Arizona Daily Sun
Tunnel Fire Continues to Burn
Hoping to make sure that all active burning is extinguished, a firefighter from a Phoenix-based crew working the Tunnel Fire feels underground for heat during a process in which firefighters follow smoke into roots in the ground that fire will follow
Rachel Gibbons, Arizona Daily Sun
Tunnel Fire Continues to Burn
The landscape on Schultz Pass Road features burned grass and trees Thursday morning after the Tunnel Fire swept through the area. The fire has consumed over 20,000 acres and continues to move northeast into the Strawberry Crater Wilderness.
Rachel Gibbons, Arizona Daily Sun
Tunnel Fire Continues to Burn
A crew of Mormon Lake Hotshots drives down Schultz Pass Road Thursday morning as crews continue efforts to contain the Tunnel Fire. The fire has consumed over 20,000 acres.
Rachel Gibbons, Arizona Daily Sun
Tunnel Fire Continues to Burn
The landscape off Schultz Pass Road near the origin of the Tunnel Fire near 6064D features burned grass and trees Thursday morning after the wildfire swept through the area. The origin of the fire, which has burned over 20,000 acres 14 miles northeast of Flagstaff, is still under investigation.
Rachel Gibbons, Arizona Daily Sun
Tunnel Fire Continues to Burn
The landscape off Schultz Pass Road features burned grass and trees Thursday morning after the Tunnel Fire swept through the area. The fire has consumed over 20,000 acres and continues to move northeast into the Strawberry Crater Wilderness.
Rachel Gibbons, Arizona Daily Sun
Tunnel Fire Continues to Burn
A burned tree that was knocked down by gusting winds pushing the Tunnel Fire lies on the scorched forest floor Thursday morning. The fire has burned over 20,000 acres and 24 known structures and continues to move northeast into the Strawberry Crater Wilderness.
Rachel Gibbons, Arizona Daily Sun
Tunnel Fire Continues to Burn
The landscape off Schultz Pass Road near the origin of the Tunnel Fire near 6064D now consists of burned grass and trees Thursday morning after the wildfire swept through the area.
Rachel Gibbons, Arizona Daily Sun
Tunnel Fire Continues to Burn
A dozer line can been seen off of Schutlz Pass Road Thursday morning. Dozer lines are one of many methods fire crews will use to contain the Tunnel Fire, which is burning 14 miles northeast of Flagstaff.
Rachel Gibbons, Arizona Daily Sun
Tunnel Fire Continues to Burn
Two firefighters from the Coconino Engine 383 crew check on a smoldering tree Thursday morning. Efforts are still underway to contain the Tunnel Fire, which has burned more than 20,000 acres.
Rachel Gibbons, Arizona Daily Sun
Tunnel Fire Continues to Burn
A fire response helicopter heads toward the head of the Tunnel Fire Thursday morning amidst strong winds to dump water in an effort to contain the burn.
Rachel Gibbons, Arizona Daily Sun
Tunnel Fire Continues to Burn
The landscape on Schultz Pass Road features burned grass and trees Thursday morning after the Tunnel Fire swept through the area. The fire has consumed over 20,000 acres.
Rachel Gibbons, Arizona Daily Sun
Tunnel Fire Continues to Burn
Residential communities near Timberline are located less than 2 miles away from areas burned by the Tunnel Fire off Schutlz Pass Road in Flagstaff Thursday morning. The fire has burned over 20,000 acres.
Rachel Gibbons, Arizona Daily Sun
Tunnel Fire
Ed Moss took these photos of the Tunnel Fire with a telephoto lens from southwest of the fire operations.
Ed Mos, courtesy
Tunnel_Fire_23.tif
Ed Moss took these photos of the Tunnel Fire with a telephoto lens from southwest of the fire operations.
Ed Moss
Tunnel_Fire_1.tif
Ed Moss took these photos of the Tunnel Fire with a telephoto lens from southwest of the fire operations.
Ed Moss
Tunnel_Fire_2.tif
Ed Moss took these photos of the Tunnel Fire with a telephoto lens from southwest of the fire operations.
Ed Moss
Tunnel_Fire_12.tif
Ed Moss took these photos of the Tunnel Fire with a telephoto lens from southwest of the fire operations.
Ed Moss
Often their teams are able to meet with homeowners, who can cue them to search for items such as jewelry or ceramics.
“They tell us where they think it might be, and then we can move some of the large debris and sift the ashes,” Kirchner said. “We do find things.”
TR will offer their expertise to operate heavy machinery to break up concrete foundations and fell tress, said metro administrator Jan Allbright. “We can bring in small, medium, large skid steers, front-end loaders, even up to large excavators to handle the demolition and do a lot of the ash removal,” he said.
Both Kirchner and Allbright expect their organizations will be serving the area for the next several weeks.
“Looking at the disaster map and the number of bodies it's going to take, we're estimating 20 days, 30 people,” Allbright said.
Unfortunately, the demand for post-fire cleanup assistance is spreading resources thin, Andreani said. TR has been able to offer assistance for the Tunnel Fire, but it is also currently gearing up to assist in operations following fires in New Mexico that have claimed hundreds of homes. Staffing issues also pose a challenge -- Andreani reported that the county is at a 36% vacancy rate for their equipment operator teams.
In the interest of equitably distributing limited assistance and respecting homeowner choice, the county and its partners will be working with homeowners to determine need on a case-by-case basis.
“There’s a variety of options we're able to provide,” said Ray Garcia, county project manager. “But we can't do everything. We'll do what we can.”
Based on the needs reported by homeowners, the county will offer assistance using a “bottom up” prioritization process so that those experiencing the greatest need receive priority assistance. Level of need will in part depend on the level of insurance coverage possessed by affected homeowners.
Andreani said the community so far has been on board with the approach.
“People understand there's some people that don't have any insurance,” Andreani said. “We're trying to work with people from where they are.”
Andeani said currently, the best way for people to assist the cleanup effort is to volunteer through United Way of Northern Arizona. Volunteers will need to sign up through the United Way of Northern Arizona volunteer hub. Those interested should be aware that cleanup work will be “physical” but won’t require special skill, said former CEO Kerry Bloom, who is coordinating United Way’s Tunnel Fire response.
There are options to serve on four- and eight-hour shifts, Bloom said, and they are looking to provide a crew of 100 volunteers for the cleanup effort on Saturday.
“We still need volunteers,” Bloom said. “We’re nowhere near 100.”
Sean Golightly reports on the environment and the city of Flagstaff. Reach him at sgolightly@azdailysun.com, on Twitter at @sean_golightly, or on Instagram at @golightly_writes.
Ferocious winds that sent what was a small wildfire racing toward homes on the outskirts of Flagstaff presented a dilemma. Most residents in the “Girls Ranch” neighborhood fled the flames. One couple stood their ground. Another raced to save animals on neighbors' properties. Two homes in the neighborhood were among 30 that were destroyed. The 30-square-mile wildfire left a mosaic of charred land before it was almost fully contained Saturday. Across the U.S. West this spring, thousands of residents have been forced to evacuate from their homes because of wildfires.
Patty Kirchner, Jan Allbright, Ray Garcia and Frank Espinoza assess the damage of a Timberline home that burned in the Tunnel Fire. Coconino County has partnered with United Way, the Southern Baptist Convention, and Team Rubicon to provide affected residents with cleanup assistance.
|
https://azdailysun.com/news/local/coconino-county-community-partners-provide-tunnel-fire-cleanup-assistance/article_7791b9ce-cbfa-11ec-b85d-77fe4c1c0e71.html
| 2022-05-06T03:01:42
| 1
|
https://azdailysun.com/news/local/coconino-county-community-partners-provide-tunnel-fire-cleanup-assistance/article_7791b9ce-cbfa-11ec-b85d-77fe4c1c0e71.html
|
No. 5 Coconino Panthers softball bounced back from Tuesday’s loss and advanced in the 4A Conference playoffs with a 3-1 home win over region rival No. 8 Bradshaw Mountain on Thursday.
The Panthers (17-4, 11-2 Grand Canyon) could not string together as much offense as they had in two previous games against the Bears -- 5-2 and 14-6 wins during the regular season -- but got a complete game from freshman pitcher Kaitlyn Tso and played excellent defense in key spots. Following a 5-0 loss to No. 4 Paradise Honors in the game before, though, three runs was enough against the Bears.
In the top of the fourth inning, the Panthers led 1-0. Bradshaw Mountain loaded the bases with just one out. But Coconino got a double play to end the frame. In the top of the sixth, the Bears scored one run and nearly loaded the bases again, but sophomore catcher Alyssa Fockler threw a runner out at third base to halt Bradshaw Mountain's momentum.
“We played good defense,” coach Kimberly Dennis said. “We didn’t hit well tonight, as well as we had been hitting. And that’s kind of what happened to us at Paradise Honors, too. But we had the great defense to back it up and we were able to shut down some of their timely hits and turn them into outs.”
People are also reading…
“It was one of the best defensive games we’ve had this season,” added freshman Danica Kern.
The Panthers had just eight total hits in the game, including three in the bottom of the first inning. Freshman Destiny Villas went 1 for 1 with a walk and a base on an error. Tso also went 2 for 3 with a double. But Coconino could not consistently get the base runners they have become used to.
Solid running was Coconino’s strength offensively. Kern scored the opening run on a wild pitch with the bases loaded to take an early 1-0 lead. She scored the second run in the bottom of the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly, sprinting and easily sliding into home ahead of the tag. Junior Izabel Pozar scored the third on a single from senior Cayelyn Gonzales, sprinting her way to the plate after starting at first base.
“I think we were a lot smarter on the bases than we have been, and I think it helped us get the three runs,” Kern said.
“We had to focus on being smart and aggressive on the bases, and it definitely helped in this game,” added Dennis.
Leading 3-1 in the top of the seventh inning, Tso outed three straight batters to finish the game, including one of her seven strikeouts of the afternoon.
“It was very impressive,” Dennis said of her pitcher’s performance. “She had determination in her eyes, just honestly more than I’ve seen all year. But our defense backed her up and made big plays in big situations.”
The Panthers will play the loser of Saturday’s game between Paradise Honors and No. 1 Salpointe Catholic on Tuesday in the Rose Mofford Complex in Phoenix in the bottom half of the double-elimination bracket.
Coconino squeaked by without scoring as much as it would have liked to, but knows it needs to be more consistent offensively to keep advancing against skilled competition.
“We all kind of like the high ball, and we like to swing at that. But that’s not going to help us win games in the playoffs, because we can pop up,” Kern said. “So I think we could have scored more. We’ve scored more against them the last times we’ve played, but moving forward feels amazing.”
|
https://azdailysun.com/sports/local/defense-pitching-lead-chs-softball-to-playoff-win/article_0837c658-cce1-11ec-b86c-13ccec4636b7.html
| 2022-05-06T03:01:48
| 1
|
https://azdailysun.com/sports/local/defense-pitching-lead-chs-softball-to-playoff-win/article_0837c658-cce1-11ec-b86c-13ccec4636b7.html
|
AUSTIN, Texas — The Austin City Council on Thursday approved on consent a program that would identify dozens of families in the city and give them $1,000 per month, no strings attached. A memo sent to city council members outlines more details of the proposed pilot.
Councilmembers discussed the pilot program on Thursday, April 21, at a meeting. According to the item on their posted meeting agenda, the vote would authorize the negotiation and execution of a contract with UpTogether, a nonprofit out of California.
According to a report from KVUE's news partners at the Austin American-Statesman, the council declined to authorize the plan in April and instead elected to accept a two-week delay to again consider it on May 5.
The plan directs UpTogether to distribute no more than a total of $1,180,000 to needy families for one year as part of the pilot program. The nonprofit helps connect underprivileged communities with the resources they need to thrive economically and socially.
The Statesman reported that the money would come from taxpayer dollars and would be distributed to 85 families on a monthly basis. As opposed to programs like SNAP benefits, the families would be able to spend it how they wish, whether that be food, housing or child care.
The Statesman reports that the program would likely begin in the summer. Of the total cost, the Statesman said $1.02 million would go to the 85 families and $160,000 would go to the nonprofit for their work.
According to the memo sent by the City of Austin's chief equity officer on May 2, the potential selection process for eligible families was outlined. The office may use the following criteria to determine which families to choose:
- Households with an eviction filing against them
- Households with a pattern of missed utility bill payments
- People experiencing homelessness who have been identified for supportive housing
The equity officer said they have identified the Urban Institute to evaluate the success of the pilot. The Urban Institute will measure the pilot based on the following criteria:
- Financial stability: The ability of a household to cover a $400 emergency bill and the ability to pay bills on time
- Health and wellness: Improvement in stress levels and the ability to receive preventative care, as well as food security
- Increase in work shifts, participation in workforce or education programs, or other income changes
- Whether funds are used for things like food, transportation and housing
- The ability to pay bills without having to borrow from friends or relatives
- "Ability to live fully," measured by things like being able to cook more meals or pursuing hobbies and interests
The equity officer stressed that programs like this are money well-used and help lift people out of financial struggles.
"Studies and program evaluations have shown that one of the most effective and efficient methods to assist households in advancing economic development, public health, and public safety is the use of direct cash assistance programs which put the decisions for utilization of funds into the hands of those directly impacted," the memo said.
In fact, the memo went on, when the City of Austin distributed tens of millions of dollars to community members impacted by the pandemic in 2020, more than 90% of that money went to the basic needs of the households.
The city council vote comes as a lack of affordability continues to plague Austin and its residents.
The pause on evictions in Austin ended in March, and one tenant advocacy organization said they're seeing evictions rise to pre-pandemic levels.
In a recent report from the personal finance website, MoneyGeek, experts took a look at changes in homeownership costs and median incomes from 2019 to 2022. On the list, 26 counties throughout the U.S. were revealed as no longer having an affordable housing market. Travis and Williamson counties made No. 3 and 4 on the list.
Lana Gibson Alexander is a mother of four, and grandmother of six. She has lived in Austin for 33 years. She took part in pilot program last year with UpTogether, where she received $1,000 for a year. She said it really helped as she was facing eviction.
"There is an increase in gas prices, rent, cost of living and itself has increased,” said Alexander.
She said with this funding, she was able to get by and also support her two sons who are in their 20s who are living with her. They faced eviction.
Alexander believes the funding will help others like it did her.
"I know for a fact it’s going to be life changing, its going to have a huge positive impact,” said Alexander.
PEOPLE ARE ALSO READING:
|
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/austin-city-council-payment-families-1000/269-70df748c-e5d4-4d5c-b6b9-1f49f61f52a5
| 2022-05-06T03:06:40
| 0
|
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/austin-city-council-payment-families-1000/269-70df748c-e5d4-4d5c-b6b9-1f49f61f52a5
|
DALLAS — Coyotes have a long-standing history in the state of Texas. A species that is native to prairie land now has healthy populations across the United States.
Coyotes are as elusive as they are mysterious, so any data on population numbers is hard to find.
Humans and coyotes have millions of interactions yearly but we're mostly reminded of them when there's an attack, like what happened to a 2-year-old in Dallas.
Sam Kieschnick, an urban biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife, told WFAA that coyotes are some of the best at living on the margins, but in the region.
"I hear this a lot, 'We are replacing their homes.' I'd like to say that coyotes are adapting to ours," said Kieschnick.
Back in the day Texas had a number of apex predators: mountain lions, bears, wolves and coyotes. And when people settled here and development started many species were extirpated, leaving the resilient coyote to survive among us.
Kieschnick said that still doesn't mean coyotes are the top of the food chain in Texas. They are simply a prairie species that has adapted well.
The state does not track coyotes. But an app called iNaturalist does track sightings, and by the looks of dense plots points around D-FW, it has a healthy population.
Nationwide, only 23 states had coyotes before the 1900s. Now they're in every state but Hawaii.
"They're resilient, they are opportunistic, and almost perfectly adapted to living with us," he said.
Kieschnick took WFAA to a park in Grand Prairie, which has a greenbelt that runs alongside a creek. Coyotes use those greenbelts as corridors to move around.
Marcia Foster, formerly of Frisco, remembers taking an early morning jog with a friend when she was attacked.
"The coyote came from behind blindsided me from the back. I can't believe it's been four years," Foster said.
Foster has the scars to prove it. There are scars near both her calves. She says it took her a year to heal, and she had to have rabies shots and antibiotics long-term. Foster said she still doesn't run early mornings alone.
Kieschnick reminded residents that negative interactions are very rare, but are still scary.
In response to the attacks that have been highly publicized, he says, "This is an unhealthy coyote. This is a coyote that has been habituated. It's either been fed directly or indirectly."
The short answer is yes, we've encroached on coyote habitats. But instead of the species leaving or being eradicated, they've adapted to live among us.
|
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/dallas-coyote-attack-reminder-species-adapted-live-among-us/287-d8785f68-b3d9-492d-988a-b811bcb9c27e
| 2022-05-06T03:06:46
| 1
|
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/dallas-coyote-attack-reminder-species-adapted-live-among-us/287-d8785f68-b3d9-492d-988a-b811bcb9c27e
|
JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ala. (WIAT) — One person is dead and another is suffering from life-threatening injuries after police said a landlord shot and killed a tenant and turned the gun on himself.
Sgt. Joni Money with the Jefferson County Sheriffs’ Office said that officers were called to a report of a shooting in the 1700 block of Alliance Rd. in Bessemer. When officers arrived, she said, they found a man dead on the scene.
Money said that an investigation revealed that the suspected shooter had fled the scene and was located at a nearby residence.
As deputies approached the individual, Money said, he shot himself.
As of Thursday night, Money said the man is alive but has been transported to UAB hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Stay with CBS 42 for updates as this story is developing.
|
https://www.cbs42.com/news/local/police-landlord-kills-tenant-turns-gun-on-himself-in-jefferson-county/
| 2022-05-06T03:08:04
| 1
|
https://www.cbs42.com/news/local/police-landlord-kills-tenant-turns-gun-on-himself-in-jefferson-county/
|
Skip to content
Main Navigation
Search
Search for:
Weather
Local
Sports
Entertainment
Investigators
Videos
Newsletters
Live TV
Share
Close
Trending
Decision 2022
How to Help Ukraine
Sixers
Watch on FireTV
Expand
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
|
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/checking-plans-for-mothers-day-weekend/3230164/
| 2022-05-06T04:01:48
| 1
|
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/checking-plans-for-mothers-day-weekend/3230164/
|
ASTORIA, Ore. — The captain of a small sailboat was saved from the waves near Astoria on Wednesday after he was forced to abandon ship. He was rescued by crews from the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG).
According to USCG, the man's 26-foot sailboat was disabled off the coast of Fort Stevens, not far from Astoria. Video of the ordeal shows the boat repeatedly hit broadside by surging whitecaps.
While the boat does not capsize, one of its sails can be seen fluttering limply into the water below. The captain appears unable to keep his bow toward the waves in order to head away from shore and reduce the impact of incoming swells.
After enduring repeated hits from the waves, the man jumped overboard and paddled away from his sailboat. USCG said that he was rescued by a boat crew stationed at Cape Disappointment and taken to emergency services for evaluation.
A subsequent photo posted by USCG showed the sailboat washed ashore at Fort Stevens State Park.
Just a day prior, Coast Guard crews from Tillamook Bay worked with a good Samaritan to save two people whose 14-foot boat was taking on water near the bar entrance. One of them was in the water, while the other was still in the flooded boat. USCG said that both were rescued and taken to emergency services.
At the end of April, a Coast Guard helicopter crew saved two teenage siblings who were stranded on a rocky shore and nearly swept into the ocean near Depoe Bay. The teens were hoisted up and brought to safety roughly one hour from when the initial 911 call came in, according to USCG.
Earlier this year, a Coast Guard rescue mission ended in tragedy after a fishing boat went down off the coast of Florence, killing the captain and a single crew member. They were identified as 68-year-old Mike Morgan and 39-year-old Billie Jo Hooton — both mourned by their community and families.
|
https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/sailboat-rescue-astoria-coast-guard-waves/283-8f6d8c0d-4bac-4524-ac83-51d9a54edcce
| 2022-05-06T04:03:08
| 0
|
https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/sailboat-rescue-astoria-coast-guard-waves/283-8f6d8c0d-4bac-4524-ac83-51d9a54edcce
|
Police are looking for the suspect who is believed to have stolen an electric wheelchair from a 95-year-old man on the Upper West Side.
The mobility device was allegedly swiped from outside a professional office on West End Avenue and West 73rd Street around 8 a.m. Tuesday, according to police. The victim left the electric wheelchair outside, and when he returned two hours later, it was gone.
A police investigation found that the chair, valued at $2,570, had been taken by a unidentified man just 10 minutes after the victim went inside.
The suspect was captured on surveillance camera riding the wheelchair on the sidewalk of West End Avenue heading south later in the day. He has not yet been caught, and an investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).
|
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/electric-wheelchair-stolen-from-95-year-old-man-on-upper-west-side-police/3675913/
| 2022-05-06T04:07:18
| 0
|
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/electric-wheelchair-stolen-from-95-year-old-man-on-upper-west-side-police/3675913/
|
LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — For America, 2021 was the deadliest for opioid-related deaths.
Arkansas is one of the states with higher opioid prescriptions written. The state also increased 40% in overdose-related deaths in 2020.
With numbers trending up, one company is helping to prevent those deaths. The group's inspiration behind that push? Former president Bill Clinton.
"My brother's addiction... from the time he was 15 until he was 60. He's about to celebrate his fifth year of sobriety," said former president Bill Clinton.
It's an epidemic that has spanned through generations.
It's an issue that for Clinton, hits closer than we previously knew. It took perspective to get to the root of the issue.
"He [Clinton's brother] realized he was going to die if he didn't do something, and somehow it worked," said Clinton.
According to the Central Arkansas Harm Reduction Project, it's important that more resources are provided to Arkansans who want to quit.
"The need in this community is much larger than we are able to address at our current capacity," said Mackenzie Bolt, with the Central Arkansas Harm Reduction Project.
That's where Masimo, a national company based out of California, comes into the picture. The company is introducing new technology aimed at preventing overdose deaths.
"It wasn't until I had a conversation with President Clinton that the problem isn't just in the hospitals, it's actually bigger at home," said Masimo Founder, Joe Kiani.
One of the devices that they plan to use is called a Bridge, which sits right behind the ear and stimulates nerves.
Through that stimulation, it reduces opioid withdrawal symptoms as quickly as 20 minutes.
"You wear it for a few days and hopefully with most people 3-4 days is enough. But, some people it takes a week," said Kiani.
Another device that they plan to use is the SafetyNet Alert. The device is put on your finger and works while you sleep after taking an opioid drug. The device's purpose is to alert medical attention if you stop breathing.
"The term 'overdose,' people think you took too many of it. Sometimes even half your dose if you take it, you may not wake up," said Kiani.
The company's Bridge device is FDA approved, but they're still waiting on the SafetyNet Alert to be approved.
Masimo will be located in southwest Little Rock with a receiving and distribution warehouse.
|
https://www.thv11.com/article/news/local/arkansas-preventing-overdoses-new-technology/91-bf1bcbba-c2f2-4980-b396-5454d5590a79
| 2022-05-06T04:23:18
| 1
|
https://www.thv11.com/article/news/local/arkansas-preventing-overdoses-new-technology/91-bf1bcbba-c2f2-4980-b396-5454d5590a79
|
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — From every corner of the state, Arkansans flooded the ballroom of the governor's mansion to see the legend and recent Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Dolly Parton speak.
Alongside those Arkansans in attendance, were volunteers who have committed themselves to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, which aims at increasing child literacy.
Dolly was introduced by Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, with the crowd greeting her with standing ovation. After presenting her with a certificate, Hutchinson declared it Dolly Parton Imagination Library Day throughout Arkansas.
The governor himself even received a cool gift-- a framed copy of a children's book that Dolly loves to sing from.
Following Dolly's emphatic introduction, Dolly began her interview with our very own Craig O'Neill, providing the crowd with a refresher course on how the Imagination Library works.
"What we do is we give books to children from the time they're born until they start school. We put their little names on it and put the books in the mailbox. They're excited about that," Parton said. "They usually grab somebody in the family to read with them but it is my belief that if you can read, that you can self educate yourself."
Parton even shared the inspiration behind the Imagination Library, mentioning her father as a key factor.
"The reason I started this whole program was because of my Daddy. We grew up in a rural area, we were mountain people, poor people, and my dad didn't get a chance to go to school. Daddy couldn't read or write but he was such a smart man," she said.
Craig and Dolly even touched on motivation behind her visit to Arkansas. Well, it was to celebrate the volunteers at the libraries and the fact that there's an Imagination Library in every single county in Arkansas.
"I think that's wonderful. We were so excited coming here knowing that. We're just hoping to do that all over the country before we're finished, but we're doing so well," Parton said. "We actually have already given out 185 million books and we're hoping by the first of this next year we'll be up to 200 million. We mail out 2 million books a month and we're just so proud of that because of people like you [audience]. We're grateful."
|
https://www.thv11.com/article/news/local/dolly-parton-imagination-library-arkansas/91-b38f9b48-4793-4e3f-a44a-1b75c8997ebc
| 2022-05-06T04:23:24
| 0
|
https://www.thv11.com/article/news/local/dolly-parton-imagination-library-arkansas/91-b38f9b48-4793-4e3f-a44a-1b75c8997ebc
|
STOCKTON, Calif. — The Garlic Festival will be making a new home in Stockton this year after it was canceled in Gilroy.
Tony Noceti, head for the Noceti Group which puts on the annual Asparagus Festival, confirmed the news with ABC10.
"I'm a farmer too. My biggest thing is for the farming community, people and a nonprofit groups. I looked at it, and there's garlic growing right here in the Delta. So I decided to take it on here," Noceti said.
The event's formal name and brand hasn't been released yet, but Noceti said the new garlic festival will be at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds for at least this year. He said that location will be reevaluated later on.
"The problem with that is it should be over in their region over there, where it came from. It's not going to be called the Gilroy Garlic Festival no more, but it is going to be a garlic festival. All those naming rights will be coming out here very shortly," he said.
The new festival is set for the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds on Aug. 13 and 14. Noceti said the location is due to the situation being short notice and there being an available day at the fairgrounds.
"We've all agreed with the CEO of the fairgrounds to move forward and have the garlic festival over here," he said.
Earlier in the week, the Noceti Group announced they would be hosting the event. However, the news came as a surprise to the organizers of the Gilroy Garlic Festival.
On Facebook earlier this week, the garlic festival organizers said that Stockton wasn't the successor of the event.
The Gilroy Garlic Festival board wrote they were "happy to see the enthusiasm" from the Noceti Group, but asked that they communicate directly with the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association about any ideas.
Noceti said he has tried reaching out but to no avail.
"Long story short, we've invited everybody to come over from Gilroy with us. The other story of it is we've reached out to all of the Christopher's and group over there and called their phone numbers. They're saying we're not contacting them. Well, we sent a mass email out, and I can't find nobody to talk to over there... So at the end of the day, we haven't stolen their festival. They say it was done, and we're gonna keep it going for the people," Noceti said.
The Gilroy Garlic Festival Association previously said the city was requiring that the festival have more insurance than the minimum general liability coverage of $1 million. It led to the cancelation of the event in Gilroy.
"All I'm doing is trying to keep vendors and people happy," Noceti said.
WATCH ALSO:
|
https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/stockton/garlic-festival-stockton/103-ad109e50-2df0-4eba-997f-d3701c110d95
| 2022-05-06T04:33:29
| 1
|
https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/stockton/garlic-festival-stockton/103-ad109e50-2df0-4eba-997f-d3701c110d95
|
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty’s re-election campaign announced Thursday she has paused fundraising and is instead directing donors to support abortion providers and advocates.
The announcement comes after a Supreme Court draft majority opinion, published by Politico on Monday, suggested the court may overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision protecting the federal right to abortion.
“I cannot remember a time when I was not pro-choice. As a youth, I listened to the conversations of older women who told horror stories about botched back-alley abortions. I was raised to believe ‘my body, my choice’. Now 50 years later we are on the perilous edge with news that our constitutional right to abortion may be ended by the U.S. Supreme Court. In response, I am pausing my campaign fundraising today and urging my supporters and other political campaigns to redirect donations to abortion providers and advocates,” Hardesty said in a statement.
The commissioner added “we have a right to be angry. While Oregon has been a strongly pro-choice state, it was not until recently that we addressed disparities in access for immigrants and low-income communities. We have also seen anti-choice actions being taken by electeds and candidates who publicly state they are pro-choice when asked. Even on our own city council.”
Hardesty said her campaign’s donation page will redirect donors, over the next 24 hours and through the weekend, to groups including Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon, NW Abortion Access Fund, Pro-Choice Oregon, Forward Together and Keep Our Clinics.
|
https://www.koin.com/local/multnomah-county/hardesty-campaign-stops-fundraising-urges-support-for-abortion-advocates/
| 2022-05-06T04:45:52
| 0
|
https://www.koin.com/local/multnomah-county/hardesty-campaign-stops-fundraising-urges-support-for-abortion-advocates/
|
Constitutional amendment election on Saturday
Texans will decide on two measures aiming to cut property taxes during Saturday’s constitutional amendment election.
Proposition 1 would approve the tax cuts for elderly and disabled homeowners beginning in 2023, while a second measure seeks to raise the state's homestead exemption from $25,000 to $40,000.
Voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at seven locations across Midland County.
--
Proposition 1
“The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to provide for the reduction of the amount of a limitation on the total amount of ad valorem taxes that may be imposed for general elementary and secondary public school purposes on the residence homestead of a person who is elderly or disabled to reflect any statutory reduction from the preceding tax year in the maximum compressed rate of the maintenance and operations taxes imposed for those purposes on the homestead.”
Proposition 2
“The constitutional amendment increasing the amount of the residence homestead exemption from ad valorem taxation for public school purposes from $25,000 to $40,000.”
--
Election Day information
When: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday
Election centers
Annex Courtroom, 2110 N. “A” St.
Centennial Library, 2503 W. Loop 250 N
Cogdell Learning Center 201, W. Florida Ave.
Fairmont Park Church of Christ, 3813 N. Midland Drive
Golf Course Church of Christ, 3500 W. Golf Course Road
MLK Jr. Community Center, 2300 Butternut Lane
St. Paul United Methodist Church, 4501 Thomason Drive
|
https://www.mrt.com/news/local/article/Constitutional-amendment-election-information-for-17151584.php
| 2022-05-06T04:54:35
| 0
|
https://www.mrt.com/news/local/article/Constitutional-amendment-election-information-for-17151584.php
|
Rev. David Chisham has been the senior minister at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) since August 2021.
The opportunity to come to Midland provided the challenge of bringing a congregation back from the COVID pandemic and allow his family to return to West Texas, where he and his wife Kori have roots and family in the region.
Chisham said those things that make First Christian special include its community involvement, including the church’s pantry. The church’s mission is “to work for the unity of all Christians as the body of Christ; and in all ways seek to make known the love of God.”
Kori works at Museum of the Southwest as the director of Visitor Experience and Membership. Their daughter, Layne, attends Bush Elementary presently and will go into Carver Center next year as a fifth-grader.
First Christian is located at 1301 W Louisiana Ave.
--
Online: https://fccmidland.org/
--
Questions for FCC Rev. David Chisham
Reporter-Telegram: What was your welcome to Midland moment?
Chishan: The day we pulled in and there was a crew from my congregation to help unload the truck.
Reporter-Telegram: What was the draw to coming to FCC and Midland?
Chisham: A great congregation with incredible outreach to the community through a weekly food pantry, Children’s Learning Center and a host of other annual projects. A talented staff with ministries to all ages, and wonderful music and worship. Midland is close to where my wife grew up (Abilene) and where I went to seminary (Abilene Christian University)—also put us much closer to family. Dropping a name here … my mother-in-law is Fran Adkins who was a CBS-TV anchor and personality in Abilene from the 1980s to 2000s.
Reporter-Telegram: Favorite part of working at FCC?
Chisham: Great staff and membership committed to making a difference in our community.
Reporter-Telegram: Favorite thing about Midland?
Chisham: Generous and welcoming people, and you’re only ever 15 minutes or less from anywhere you need to go in town.
Reporter-Telegram: What are challenges that the church (not just FCC) faces in 2022?
Chisham: Reopening after COVID — it takes time to rebuild inertia after so many had to stay home and limit activities for almost two years.
Reporter-Telegram: Any books or podcasts that you recommend?
Chisham: Podcast: Gospel Con Carne. Books Anything by Fred Craddock, N.T. Wright, Henri Nouwen, Thomas Merton, Will Willimon and Walter Brueggemann.
Reporter-Telegram: Tell us something coming up on the FCC calendar that Midlanders need to know about.
Chisham: Just missed our annual community egg hunt in Hill Park (more than 1,000 attended this year!). We’re finishing our Christmas In Action house this week. Coming up, we have VBS June 13-16, and our kids are busy with camps and conferences through the summer.
Reporter-Telegram: Favorite restaurants?
Chisham: Noodle House, any barbecue brisket place and too many Tex-Mex places to list.
|
https://www.mrt.com/news/local/article/Meet-the-leader-at-First-Christian-Church-in-17151370.php
| 2022-05-06T04:54:41
| 0
|
https://www.mrt.com/news/local/article/Meet-the-leader-at-First-Christian-Church-in-17151370.php
|
Last year, REO Speedwagon’s Kevin Cronin traveled a few miles from his Southern California home to catch the Foo Fighters at a club with a capacity of 600.
“It was so inspiring,” Cronin said, making mention of the recent passing of Foo Fighter Taylor Hawkins. "When I took that opportunity to see what they did, they were playing really loud and really fast in this small place."
It conjured up memories of the past.
"It brought me back to when REO Speedwagon was playing clubs. We weren’t called REO Speedwagon for nothing. Seeing the Foo Fighters playing fast and loud inspired me to go back and there are now a couple songs from the early days in the set.”
People are also reading…
That’s the set that REO will play Tuesday when it returns to Lincoln along with longtime tour mates Styx and George Thorogood. The show, originally set for Pinewood Bowl, has been moved to Pinnacle Bank Arena due to the recent rains that washed out unfinished construction projects at the bowl.
The band’s earliest days were in 1967, when a bunch of University of Illinois students put together a musical group that took its name from the REO Speed Wagon, a 1915 truck designed by Ransom Eli Olds.
Playing first around Illinois then throughout the Midwest, REO, which had a shifting lineup early, got signed to Epic Records in 1971. But that didn’t immediately send them into arenas – not even close.
“We played bars,” said Cronin, who took over as REO’s singer in 1972. “We had a 1972 Impala station wagon and a truck for the equipment. We played bars, worked our way up to bigger bars. Then there were small theaters and we got to be an arena band. I always got the feeling that people in the Midwest were rooting for us because we were underdogs that finally made it. Our first hit song was from our ninth album.”
That was 1980’s “Keep On Lovin’ You,” which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Top 40 chart. It's one of four top-10 songs REO had from 1980 to 1984. But if all the band’s earliest charting singles are counted, its run reaches back to a live version of “Ridin’ the Storm Out” which made the bottom reaches of the chart three years earlier.
Those songs, Cronin said, keep people coming back to REO shows year after year, decade after decade.
“We had a 10-year run between 1977 and 1987 where we had nine platinum-plus albums and the big one, ‘Hi-Fidelity.” he said. “There are a number of songs that got into people’s bloodstreams. At a certain age, you get connected to music and those songs stay with you.”
No matter how many times the band has played them, those songs will never be left out of REO’s set.
“We don’t do that,” Cronin said. “If we did, there would probably be an angry mob waiting for us when we got to the tour bus. If you’re buying a ticket to an REO Speedwagon show, know there are songs we are going to play.
“I, frankly, don’t understand when I hear an artist talking about how they aren’t going to play their hits, how they don’t like their biggest songs. That makes absolutely no sense to me. To me those songs are why we can still do it. It isn’t a coincidence. It just so happens, they are my favorite songs of ours.”
That said, unlike most bands who play the same set show after show, REO switches things up every night as Cronin calls frequent "audibles” around the “core” songs.
“I’m the quarterback of the band,” he said. “I kind of get a vibe from the crowd. Going from city to city, I don’t know why, but I remember which tracks off of the albums did well there. It’s different in every area of the country and I’ll call them out.
Lincoln, too, has its memories for Cronin.
“When we come to Lincoln, I know there are people in Nebraska that knew REO Speedwagon long before we had hits songs," he said. "So I’ll throw in some songs from ‘R.E.O./T.W.O.'”
Like every other band in the world, REO was off the road for more than a year during the coronavirus pandemic. That was bad for business. But, for Cronin, it had some unexpected positives.
“I’d never been home for that long in 50 years,” he said. “I got to see the seasons change at my home. All my kids moved back in, colleges closed down and all that I had my whole family around me for a year and a half. It was the closest my family has ever been. That kind of bond wouldn’t have happened without a worldwide pandemic."
That bonding time gave him an appreciation for the people he loves and a fair amount of realization for the time missed with them while out on the road.
“I didn’t know what I was missing before," he said. "We can block out dates for birthdays, graduations, etc. The great gift I was given during the pandemic was being around for the little things ... bump into them in the hallway and all of a sudden you’re having a conversation, a real conversation. Now I kind of know what I’m missing.”
Still, Cronin was itching to get back on the road.
“I’m raring to go,” Cronin said. “I’m the luckiest guy in the world to be a singer in a rock band that’s been going for 50 years. There’s nothing like standing at the microphone in a place that’s full of people and hearing them singing along with every song, seeing them.”
Photos: Pinewood Bowl Concerts
Photos: Pinewood Bowl Concerts
Photos: Pinewood Bowl Concerts
Photos: Pinewood Bowl Concerts
Photos: Pinewood Bowl Concerts
Photos: Pinewood Bowl Concerts
Photos: Pinewood Bowl Concerts
Photos: Pinewood Bowl Concerts
Photos: Pinewood Bowl Concerts
Photos: Pinewood Bowl Concerts
Photos: Pinewood Bowl Concerts
Photos: Pinewood Bowl Concerts
Photos: Pinewood Bowl Concerts
Photos: Pinewood Bowl Concerts
Photos: Pinewood Bowl Concerts
Photos: Pinewood Bowl Concerts
Photos: Pinewood Bowl Concerts
Reach the writer at 402-473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com. On Twitter @KentWolgamott
|
https://journalstar.com/news/local/newly-inspired-reo-speedwagon-rolling-back-into-lincoln/article_3d4696b2-2ff1-5ed4-9fac-b9834362832a.html
| 2022-05-06T05:32:41
| 0
|
https://journalstar.com/news/local/newly-inspired-reo-speedwagon-rolling-back-into-lincoln/article_3d4696b2-2ff1-5ed4-9fac-b9834362832a.html
|
Skip to content
Main Navigation
Search
Search for:
Weather
Local
Sports
Entertainment
Investigators
Videos
Newsletters
Live TV
Share
Close
Trending
Decision 2022
How to Help Ukraine
Sixers
Watch on FireTV
Expand
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
|
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/philadelphia-to-start-screening-middle-school-students-for-weapons/3230186/
| 2022-05-06T05:33:14
| 1
|
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/philadelphia-to-start-screening-middle-school-students-for-weapons/3230186/
|
Skip to content
Main Navigation
Search
Search for:
Weather
Local
Sports
Entertainment
Investigators
Videos
Newsletters
Live TV
Share
Close
Trending
Decision 2022
How to Help Ukraine
Sixers
Watch on FireTV
Expand
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
|
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/still-waiting-to-rebuild-246-days-after-hurricane-idas-destruction/3230179/
| 2022-05-06T05:33:20
| 0
|
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/still-waiting-to-rebuild-246-days-after-hurricane-idas-destruction/3230179/
|
Skip to content
Main Navigation
Search
Search for:
Weather
Local
Sports
Entertainment
Investigators
Videos
Newsletters
Live TV
Share
Close
Trending
Decision 2022
How to Help Ukraine
Sixers
Watch on FireTV
Expand
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
|
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/stockton-u-pilot-program-puts-students-in-casino/3230174/
| 2022-05-06T05:33:27
| 0
|
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/stockton-u-pilot-program-puts-students-in-casino/3230174/
|
Her disappearance captured headlines nationwide — now the case of Gabby Petito will be made into a Lifetime movie.
"The Gabby Petito Story" will explore the relationship between Petito and her fiancé Brian Laundrie — and what may have gone wrong during their cross-country trip that resulted in her murder, and eventually his suicide.
Emmy-nominated actress Thora Birch is set to co-star, playing Petito's mother, and she will direct the movie.
It'll be filmed in Utah over the summer and premiere later in the year. It comes as the one-year anniversary of Petito's disappearance and murder approaches.
In April, Petito's family filed a lawsuit against the parents of her admitted killer, that alleges he and his family went on vacation together while knowing the location of Petito's body. The parents of Laundrie have filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit which claimed that they knew their son killed Petito in Aug. 2021.
|
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/gabby-petito-murder-getting-made-into-lifetime-movie/3675974/
| 2022-05-06T05:38:54
| 0
|
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/gabby-petito-murder-getting-made-into-lifetime-movie/3675974/
|
In Westchester County, there's an urgent warning to be on the lookout for a man who police say tried to get high school girls into his car.
The incidents occurred in Ardsley, and one of the victims is a freshman at Ardsley High School. She told NBC New York that was walking on the street Tuesday evening near the school, heading to practice, when someone in a red car started to follow her.
"I was listening to music. I was on my phone. All then all of a sudden the dude in the red car, he pulled up next to me. Rolled down his window, told me he was from Sleepy Hollow," the teen said. "He said he knew all about stranger danger, and that I could get into his car if I needed a ride because he’s also going to the high school."
The teenager called a friend and quickly walked away. When she got on campus, the man left.
"I was just really creeped out because I've walked back and forth all the time to the middle school, too. Nothing like this has ever happened," she said.
District leaders say the man also approached another student two hours after he followed the first.
"She let me know that it was the same dude. I asked her what the car looked like, it was the same description," the teen told NBC New York.
After practice, the teen told her mother, who in turn called police. The mother and daughter let the school know the next day. An officer was patrolling the neighborhood around the school on Thursday.
"We are taking the matter very seriously. Our students’ safety and well-being is our first priority and we are working with the local police department on the investigation," a statement from the district superintendent said.
"She reported it to the school and the school sent out an email blast. They suggested that they walk, the girls walk in pairs, or try to get a ride home," said classmate Jeremiah Simonette.
The victim’s mother said she and her daughter are meeting with investigators to look through surveillance video, to see if they can spot the man or his vehicle.
As of now, police only have a vague description of the man: A man in his 40’s with light complexion and a receding hair line. He was driving a red or maroon four-door sedan.
Anyone with information is asked to call Ardsley or Greenburgh police.
|
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/westchester-county-man-wanted-for-trying-to-lure-multiple-kids-into-his-car-near-school/3675962/
| 2022-05-06T05:39:08
| 1
|
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/westchester-county-man-wanted-for-trying-to-lure-multiple-kids-into-his-car-near-school/3675962/
|
Paul Noel tackled problems in New Orleans. He'll have to do it again as Knoxville police chief
In 2010, New Orleans Police Department Lt. Paul Noel was tasked with taking over a sex crimes unit crippled by scandal over how the department reported sexual assault complaints.
Once in charge, Noel charged ahead with reform, raising questions about the unit's practices and prompting internal and external reviews.
Things got worse before they got better, including scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and eventually a court-mandated overhaul in how sex crimes and domestic violence investigations were handled.
Still, by the time Noel was promoted to commander of the department's criminal investigations unit the following year, he had begun the process of overseeing the clearing of a backlog of 800 untested rape kits and led an effort to reopen at least 30 sexual assault complaints improperly downgraded to noncriminal incidents, according to NOLA.com.
Now, he takes over a Knoxville Police Department with a command structure short of top leaders after a series of internal investigations and allegations of a racist culture have led to a series of resignations.
More:Deputy Chief Ron Green's exit shows Knoxville's Black officer recruitment problem. Can it be fixed?
More:A cop told bosses a fellow cop was racist. They did nothing.
Noel and his wife and young child are in town briefly as they begin piecing together what life will look like in Knoxville. He spent Sunday speaking at roll call for every shift, introducing himself to officers as he begins to wrap his arms around the new role.
Knox News sat down with Noel for a brief discussion during Tuesday’s City Council meeting during which council members were discussing, among other things, a budget package that includes significant pay bumps for city personnel, including police officers.
A portion of that conversation follows. Questions and answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Knox News: In 2010 you took over a sex crimes unit in New Orleans and very quickly found things that were amiss ... you come into this role and work needs to be done. What are your priorities for that?
Noel: So, several things right off the bat. We need to select the new leadership within the organization, there are holes in deputy chief positions, as you know. So that’s something I’m working on, evaluating the existing staff. That’s something I’m gonna do in the first week, because obviously I don’t know anybody so I have to take time and evaluate the members and evaluate the organization ...
Joining ABLE (Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement program is an offshoot of New Orleans' Ethical Policing Is Courageous program that Noel is known for) is something we’re going to do that first week. To join ABLE you need four letters: one from the mayor, a letter from myself both vouching for our commitment to the 10 core principles of ABLE ... but also (they require) two letters from community groups supporting the department ...
The rest is just going to be taking a deep dive into the organization, evaluating policies and procedures and take a look at analytics, ... I’m committed to a data-driven approach to policing. I’m committed to data transparency as much as possible.”
Knox News: What is the key to unlocking the potential in recruiting to fill holes?
Noel: The reason I wanted to be here (at the City Council meeting) today is because this budget proposal is really important. You know, the men and women of the Knoxville Police Department have a lot of pride, I’ve seen that. But you can’t take pride to the grocery store and buy anything. So, that’s why this pay is so important because it’s not only going to help retain our officers, it’s going to help us go out and help us recruit not only new police officers to our academy, but also help with our lateral transfers as well ...
More:'I will not let you down': Paul Noel, an ethics advocate, named Knoxville's police chief
More:Kincannon proposes $15 an hour minimum wage for city workers - plus a property tax increase
Knoxville has a lot to offer, and I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to spend the rest of my life in this city. I wouldn't be here if I didn’t think that this was a good police department. So, this budget and this pay raise for these police officers is going to be crucial for us to be able to retain the existing staff, but also (help) go out and bring in brand new police officers that want to join our department and attract lateral transfers as well.
Knox News: New Orleans’ police department is much larger and it’s a bigger city compared to Knoxville. Can you talk about the pros and cons of those differences?
Noel: I think it’s all scalable, I really do.
The best time in my career, when I had the most fun and I got the most fulfillment was when I was the commander of the 2nd District ... It has a population of about 100,000 people, we had 120-130 police officers underneath me. And I got enjoyment from immersing myself in the community, immersing myself into the police officers, learning about where they wanted to be in five years, learning about their families.
“So, Knoxville is a midsized police department and a midsized city, but it’s also small enough where I can have those personal connections with the community and the officers. That’s why I’m here. I’m not here looking to use this as a stepping stone. I truly hope that I'm the police chief here for a really long time and I would be absolutely satisfied and tickled to death if this was the last full-time job I ever had."
Knox News: What does transparency mean?
Noel: Transparency means, you know, being committed to talking to the press, data transparency is something I’m absolutely committed to ...
“(Data transparency) doesn’t happen overnight. I’ve got no idea what the data capabilities of KPD are yet so I’m really working at a disadvantage because I don’t want to over-promise. But I am absolutely committed it.
“In New Orleans (before a cyber attack took some of it down) we had public dashboards where you could go on and see our calls for service data. You could see our response times. You could see raw citizen complaint data – you couldn’t see that person X came in, but you could see the raw data and I’m committed to all of that as long as our systems can do it ...
“But I’m also committed to how we police (the) community and being open with the public about what our plans are ... that communication is real important.”
What's next?
Noel was the deputy superintendent in charge of the New Orleans Police Department’s criminal investigations division. He was a finalist in Chattanooga’s police chief search earlier this year.
He will be sworn in June 13.
|
https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/local/2022/05/06/knoxville-police-chief-paul-noel-has-dealt-successfully-problems-new-orleans-police/9642251002/
| 2022-05-06T05:43:13
| 0
|
https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/local/2022/05/06/knoxville-police-chief-paul-noel-has-dealt-successfully-problems-new-orleans-police/9642251002/
|
VALLEY COUNTY, IDAHO, Idaho —
Valley County Planning and Zoning held a public hearing Thursday evening for a pitched affordable housing option, a proposed mobile home park near Donnelly.
A Californian developer, Roseberry LLC, wants a permit to build “Roseberry Park.” If approved, it would bring 201 manufactured homes to the area on about 40 acres near the intersection of Roseberry and Norwood Road. The developer said it would bring more necessary work force housing to the area.
Monthly rent for the units could range from $1,700 to $2,000. Rent increases would be capped at 4% for each owner. As part of their development agreement, the developer said it would not allow short term rentals. Owners must live there or rent out long term and all homes have to be new construction.
One person representing the owner said it's the best option for affordable housing in the area.
“It's actually a very, very good proposal for what you need, and in Valley County, that's affordable housing. Oh, we can't put million-dollar houses in the meadows and have it work. This can work,” said Mark Reisman with Timberland.
Those opposed to Roseberry Park raised flags around infrastructure and the lack of emergency access.
They're worried about safety, in part because of water run-off in the area during heavy snow years.
Those opposed said flooding could be a huge problem, which would hurt wildlife roaming the area.
Ultimately, they fear aspects of what they consider “Valley County” would disappear.
“Let me quote from the comprehensive plan,” said Lenard Long, a resident of cascade. “‘One of the goals, it says is to retain the rural atmosphere Valley County by protecting its natural health and open characteristics and preserve the historical and scenic health of the area.’ That should be a guidance here because if this is approved, you actually change a rural community into a suburb into a more congested area.”
Plus, those struggling to find affordable housing said this proposal would not fix what they’re dealing with. They don't think they would be able to afford a unit that could cost around $1,700/$2,000 a month.
A majority of people who oppose this development said they are aware of the serious housing affordability issues Valley County faces, but they do not believe this is the right answer.
After dozens of people came out to oppose the proposal during the public hearing, the planning and zoning commission decided to continue the conversation next Thursday at the scheduled regular Planning and Zoning meeting.
Watch more 'Growing Idaho':
See the latest growth and development news in our YouTube playlist:
|
https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/local/growing-idaho/valley-county-oppose-roseberry-mobile-home-park-proposal/277-35423e12-c1d4-4bfd-8f5b-1b7ee07efff7
| 2022-05-06T06:00:25
| 1
|
https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/local/growing-idaho/valley-county-oppose-roseberry-mobile-home-park-proposal/277-35423e12-c1d4-4bfd-8f5b-1b7ee07efff7
|
FORT MYERS, Fla. — The city of Fort Myers is growing fast with construction on new apartments and businesses everywhere, but some government officials are worried there is not enough water to go around.
Fort Myers City Manager Marty Lawine sent an email to city leaders stating the Departments of Environmental Protection and Health expressed concern the city could provide water to new developments.
According to the email, the departments requested new projects like apartments and businesses apply for special water permits, rather than general water permits.
In the email, the city manager explains a general permit “states that the city has the available capacity to serve the development project at the time of the permit signing.”
“A Specific Permit allows for construction to proceed but does not guarantee service at the time of permit signing. The capacity will be evaluated when construction is completed to determine if the capacity is available to provide service.”
NBC 2 met with Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson to discuss the email and the city’s plans to overcome a possible water crisis.
“This is a very serious situation. I mean water is basic to life,” said Mayor Anderson.
“The city manager has been all over it looking for a short-term and long-term solution.”
According to city leaders, in addition to now having water tanks near full, more water infrastructure improvements are in the works including:
- two new wells to come online within the next several weeks, expected to supply approximately 1 million gallons of raw water per day.
- Two more wells have already been contracted, one of which has already begun drilling. These are expected to go online in August and Fall of this year.
- Three more wells are currently in the design stage and targeted for 2023.
- And to complete the infrastructure system, the city is expanding the water plant. Proposals will be presented on May 13th.
“Just what we have accomplished in the last few months shows that it is hopeful,” said Mayor Anderson.
The city manager’s email did state that the issue raised by the DEP and DOH would concern some developers of potential delays or cancelations of projects.
However, Mayor Anderson believes Lawine’s plans and city leaders taking action now will keep current and future projects flowing like the water.
“The city manager assured me that every permit issued that he is aware of can provide water,” said Mayor Anderson.
The Fort Myers mayor told NBC2 he plans to hold a special council meeting with the DEP and DOH present to allow residents to hear the current concerns and allow the city to explain more in-depth the measures being taken to prevent a water crisis.
|
https://nbc-2.com/news/local/2022/05/05/fort-myers-city-leaders-plan-to-overcome-a-possible-water-crisis/
| 2022-05-06T06:02:47
| 1
|
https://nbc-2.com/news/local/2022/05/05/fort-myers-city-leaders-plan-to-overcome-a-possible-water-crisis/
|
FORT MYERS, Fla. — If you’ve been keeping an eye on gas prices lately – who hasn’t, with numbers this high – then you’ve probably noticed something.
Prices from one station to another in the same region – even in the same county – can sometimes vary drastically.
NBC2 set out to find out why, and discovered there are many factors at play.
The cheapest gas found in the region on Tuesday using GasBuddy was $3.99 per gallon at the Marathon off US-41 near Page Field. There were a few nearby stations with the same price.
“I mean, it’s the cheapest I’ve seen all day,” one woman told NBC2. “It’s necessary if you want to get to where you’re going.”
This particular Marathon is in a busy area with many other gas stations. AAA fuel analyst Markin Jenkins told NBC2 that can be a good thing for consumers.
“If you have one gas station across the street from another gas station, odds are they’re going to try to offer competitive pricing,” he explained.
On the other side of the coin, NBC2 found a station charging $4.22 a gallon off SR-82 heading towards Immokalee. There aren’t many gas stations in that stretch of road, which could be why it costs more.
“That gas station that’s out in the middle of nowhere that doesn’t have any competition, they’re just gonna charge whatever they want assuming people will pay that price,” Jenkins said.
According to AAA, Charlotte County had the cheapest average price in our region on Tuesday, at $4.10 per gallon. Lee County was a bit higher at $4.15, and Collier County was even higher still at $4.23 a gallon.
The gas tax can vary by county, but for those three, it’s the same in each. So why the difference in price?
Jenkins explained that fuel costs can sometimes vary based on how much people make – and spend – in a given area. That appears to line up for those three counties when looking at median household income and gas prices.
“The cost of living, the cost of buying a house might be completely different. And the same is true for owning a business,” Jenkins said, broadly speaking. “So those higher operational costs can sometimes lead to higher gas prices.”
However, that doesn’t explain Hendry County. The gas tax and median income there are lower than those other three counties, and yet the average price at the pump is highest, sitting at $4.25 per gallon.
It could cost more because of fewer options and less competition in a mostly rural area. But Jenkins also said the distance from the fuel supply source – in Florida’s case, the distance from the seaports – could be a factor in varying prices.
“Oftentimes the further inland you go, the more it’s going to cost to transport that gasoline because you’re further away from the port,” he explained. “That is often passed along to the consumer in the form of higher gas prices.”
There are also some other things to remember. Never fill up near airports or amusement parks. The gas station near RSW was charging $4.39 a gallon on Tuesday. Because so many travelers come through areas like that, the stations tend to get away with charging more.
“It’s a crunch, right. It’s really making me look at electric cars,” one woman told NBC2 while filling up her tank. “This is really part of my budget – it’s taking a big hit.”
Jenkins also explained that larger stations with more pumps go through gasoline faster and will update prices more often. That could mean cheaper or more expensive prices depending on the changing cost of crude oil.
As for when prices everywhere may go back down? Jenkins said it’s difficult to know for sure.
“Things are so volatile right now. It’s hard to know what conditions are gonna be like in a week’s time, let alone a month,” he said. “I would just say: expect the unexpected.”
|
https://nbc-2.com/news/local/2022/05/05/why-do-gas-prices-vary-so-much-from-station-to-station/
| 2022-05-06T06:02:53
| 1
|
https://nbc-2.com/news/local/2022/05/05/why-do-gas-prices-vary-so-much-from-station-to-station/
|
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — River Park is the latest neighborhood in the Sacramento area reporting a drive-by paintball or pellet gun shooting.
Homeowner Brian Aiello walked out to his truck in front of his home on Callister Avenue early Tuesday morning to find a bright pink splatter of paint near his door handle.
"Not exactly what I wanted to see on my door," Aiello said.
It took more than 30 minutes of scrubbing to get the paint off, but fortunately, the vehicle did not appear to be damaged.
A neighbor's security camera captured a vehicle driving by at 9 p.m. Monday, the night before and the popping sound of shots, which corresponded with cars splattered with the same pink paint down the block.
"I'm kind of doing the whole JFK investigation in my mind, right? About where it's coming from," said Aiello, who filed a report with Sacramento Police Department.
The incident comes amid a viral trend encouraging teens to do drive-by style shootings with Orbeez gel beads, targeting joggers and pedestrians.
Jessica Pagna said she was hit last month on her evening jog in West Sacramento.
"That's up a notch, you know what I mean? It makes what happened here look minor by comparison," Aiello said.
In the grand scheme of things, what happened in River Park is a minor annoyance, Aiello said. But it is vandalism.
Neighbors hope the video will help ensure the drive-by paintballers face accountability.
WATCH ALSO:
|
https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/sacramento/paintballers-shoot-at-vehicles-river-park/103-dd2c2a4f-2061-4c42-8bbb-c3a004d96734
| 2022-05-06T06:05:06
| 0
|
https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/sacramento/paintballers-shoot-at-vehicles-river-park/103-dd2c2a4f-2061-4c42-8bbb-c3a004d96734
|
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento was in full bloom last weekend at Discovery Park for the Sol Blume Music Festival. With over 40,000 total festival-goers from across the world, Sol Blume was able to fully celebrate its return after a three-year hiatus.
The purpose of Sol Blume is to bring together like-minded individuals and celebrate R&B, soul and hip-hop music with performances by artists who emphasize art, culture, love, social diversity and good vibes.
Sacramento had all that and then some, hosting an all-female headlining lineup including artists Jazmine Sullivan, Jhene Aiko, Summer Walker and Jorja Smith.
Headliners of Sol Blume 2022
Other hip-hop and R&B musicians who were on the lineup included Thundercat, Alina Baraz, SiR, Lucky Daye, Smino, Blxst, Tinashe, Kiana Lede, Westside Boogie and others, many of who were performing for the first time ever in Sacramento.
Sol Blume also brought in some local talent. Sacramento natives Victoria Monet, and Yelly performed on the Sol Blume stage too, making all Sacramentans proud and exposing out-of-towners to their music.
Victoria Monet surprised the crowd when she broke out in a birthday dance in celebration of her birthday weekend. Also, during Summer Walker's set, she surprised the crowd by bringing out Jeremih to perform a few songs.
In addition to the amazing artists and performers, Sol Blume had some new and fun activities such as a Sol Blume Butterfly House and a Silent Disco roller skating rink.
"This year’s festival went beyond the main stage music performances to include a variety of family-friendly activities, wellness experiences, immersive art activations, and local vendors from across the Sacramento region," the organizers said in a press release.
People and performers of Sol Blume
The Sol Blume Music Festival plans on returning in 2023. Dates to be announced in the later months and you can visit their website at www.solblume.com for more information.
WATCH MORE ON ABC10: Sol Blume returns to Sacramento after two-year hiatus
|
https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/sacramento/sol-blume-2022-recap-performances-surprises-impact/103-41e37a6e-e63d-49b2-976e-bef43b05312f
| 2022-05-06T06:05:12
| 0
|
https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/sacramento/sol-blume-2022-recap-performances-surprises-impact/103-41e37a6e-e63d-49b2-976e-bef43b05312f
|
LITTLE ROCK, Ark — For some Mother's Day is a day of celebration, while for some others, it could be a day for grievance-- whether its the loss of a mother, or a mom losing their child.
With constant reminders on social media showcasing everyday interactions with loved ones, things can get hard for those who are grieving during the day.
It's especially hard when the loss of a child happens prematurely due to a violent crime.
Angela Williams said the first Mother's Day without her son was a hard one.
22-year-old Anthony Curenton was shot and killed in southwest Little Rock back in 2019. Following a disagreement with his girlfriend at the time, Williams said one of her [the girlfriend's] relatives shot Curenton.
"It's hard. I think about him every day, 24/7. I live in a house where he was raised up all his life. We have pictures all over the house from when he was a baby to now," said Williams.
She said the last time she spoke with her son, he called her to ask for gas money so he could get to a job interview. She met him at a local station and filled up his tank.
Curenton followed up with his mother later that day, calling her later to tell her that he got the job.
"I got a call from the manager who was trying to get in contact with him that Monday, because he never showed up. He was murdered the day before. They had my name on file and I had to break the news to his new job," said Williams.
A part of her grieving process was carrying around a binder detailing her son's life and his death.
She keeps an envelope inside the binder that reads 'don't open for nothing or nobody.'
"This is actually information from the prosecuting attorney's office from when he got murdered," said Williams.
Inside are pictures, along with detailed information full surrounding her son's shooting.
She keeps it sealed as a reminder to never revisit the dark time that consists of what's inside the binder.
She never opens the binder, and for a while, didn't really open up about the grief she was feeling.
"I think it's hard sometimes even to talk to your family because they're grieving too," said Susan McDougal, director of Pastoral Care at UAMS.
She, along with other pastoral care members, all said they're used to grieving mothers.
As a level one trauma center, the group is called to every emergency inside the hospital for violent incidents.
McDougal said as chaplains, the best thing they can do is listen and they encourage people to eventually open up and talk.
"It's very therapeutic. For one thing I think it helps you know who you are. You lose who you are I think in the space of it," said McDougal.
For Mother's Day 2022, the group encourages you to reach out if you know a grieving mother. They said that it could make a big difference.
That consideration goes a long way and for Williams, it's been 3-years later since her son was taken from her. The grief is constant, but has a slow and steady pace of healing.
She's been going to counseling every two weeks.
"I have to sit and talk to other parents that have been through what I've been through, because at the moment of his death I thought the world was over," said Williams.
It still doesn't take away the pain of knowing she won't have him there celebrating her this year. She still remembers the first Mother's Day without her son.
"It was the worst Mother's Day of my life. The whole day was about him. Thinking about him. I didn't get a Happy Mother's Day. I didn't get a Mother's Day card, but I have a daughter that has four kids to try to comfort me in that area, but it still isn't the same," said Williams.
She said she hasn't thought about this year's holiday, but just as she always does on any given day, she'll probably go visit her son's grave.
|
https://www.thv11.com/article/news/local/arkansas-mom-grieving-death-of-son-mothers-day/91-7be7eaf3-2831-4e0d-91ae-e049649f4973
| 2022-05-06T06:13:41
| 0
|
https://www.thv11.com/article/news/local/arkansas-mom-grieving-death-of-son-mothers-day/91-7be7eaf3-2831-4e0d-91ae-e049649f4973
|
NEW YORK (AP) — A second book by “Hillbilly Elegy” author and U.S. Senate candidate JD Vance that had been under contract with Harper has been called off, the publisher told The Associated Press Thursday.
The book, currently listed on Amazon.com and until recently on the HarperCollins Publishers web site, is called “A Relevant Faith: Searching for a Meaningful American Christianity.” The imprint Harper never formally announced the book, listed at 320 pages and with different release dates on different sites, but did confirm a deal had been agreed upon.
“Harper and Mr. Vance mutually agreed some time ago not to move forward with the previously-contracted book,” a spokesperson told the AP. The publisher declined to say when the book was dropped, or why.
Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019, saying at the time that he had grown up without a strong attachment to any branch of Christianity, but “became persuaded over time that Catholicism was true.”
A spokesperson for Vance did not immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment, including whether Vance might release the book through a different publisher.
Vance, who prevailed this week in a bitter Republican primary for the U.S. Senate in Ohio, became a national celebrity with the best-selling “Hillbilly Elegy.” His memoir about growing up in the struggling Ohio steel mill city of Middletown and his roots in Appalachian Kentucky was signed up by Harper in 2013 and published months before Donald Trump’s stunning victory in 2016. But during and after the election, it was sought by those who wondered about Trump’s appeal to rural communities that once voted Democratic.
In 2020, “Hillbilly Elegy” was made into an Oscar nominated movie directed by Ron Howard and starring Amy Adams and Glenn Close.
Vance had been a sharp critic of Trump, but shifted his views and was endorsed during the primary by the former president. He will face Democrat Tim Ryan, a 10-term congressman, in the general election race to fill the seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Rob Portman.
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/a-second-jd-vance-book-falls-through-publisher-says/
| 2022-05-06T06:19:03
| 0
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/a-second-jd-vance-book-falls-through-publisher-says/
|
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — Best-selling author Dave Eggers is offering high school seniors in South Dakota’s second-largest city free copies of his book “The Circle” and copies of four books by other authors that were removed from the district’s schools.
School administrators in Rapid City deemed the books inappropriate for high school students and and marked the district’s copies as surplus to be destroyed.
“The mass destruction of books by school boards is an unconscionable horror, and the freethinking young people of South Dakota shouldn’t be subjected to it,” Eggers said. “Every high school student should have unfettered access to literature, so if you’re a Rapid City high school senior, email our office and ask for any of these titles. For every copy the school board destroys, let’s add a new one to the local circulation.”
Valerie Brablec Seales, Rapid City Area Schools’ director of Teaching, Learning and Innovation, told the Board of Education that teachers requested the books and were considering using them in a new 12th-grade English course.
Seales didn’t say why administrators objected to “The Circle,” which satirizes cultures and values that have emerged in the internet age. But she said the first concerns about one of the five books were raised in August, the Rapid City Journal reported.
“The first question arose when one of the three high school principals sent me an image of a page in one of the books, an excerpt, and expressed concerns about not wanting it in their classrooms,” she said Tuesday.
She said the books were ordered and sent to a warehouse before being distributed to the district’s three high schools. Copies of the five books in question were then listed as surplus and marked “to be destroyed.” The Board of Education on Tuesday voted to delay a decision to destroy the books in order to seek legal advice.
Eggers said Rapid City seniors can receive any of the books that were pulled from the high school at no cost to them by emailing Amanda Uhle at amanda@daveeggers.net. He said the books will be shipped to students by independent bookstores.
The other books that the district pulled are “How Beautiful We Were: A Novel” by Imbolo Mbue, which follows a young woman from a small African village who starts a revolution against an American oil company.
Also removed was “Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic,” a graphic memoir about author Alison Bechdel’s fraught relationship with her late father, and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky, which some schools elsewhere have banned because of its references to drug and alcohol use and sexual content.
The other book removed is the Booker prize-winning “Girl, Woman, Other: A Novel” by Bernardine Evaristo, which follows the lives and struggles of twelve characters, many of whom are Black British women.
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/eggers-offers-replacements-for-south-dakota-banned-books/
| 2022-05-06T06:19:11
| 0
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/eggers-offers-replacements-for-south-dakota-banned-books/
|
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — For Emma Stone, acting in “Bleat,” a Greek silent movie with surreal and disturbing scenes of sex, death, and resurrection, was a professional challenge and a relief. Playing a young widow in the 30-minute, black-and-white film, Stone said she welcomed rejoining Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos for the limited-release project set on the Greek island of Tinos and featuring goats roaming its rock-and-thorn landscape.
“What I like about Yorgos would take me a very long time to answer,” Stone said Thursday after a screening for the news media in Athens, and on the eve of the premiere at the Greek National Opera.
“In short I’ll say it’s very rare that you meet somebody who you get along with so well but on top of that artistically (provides) the ability as an actor want to give yourself over to something and not have to worry about every small move you make.”
After winning an Academy Award for best actress in “La La Land” in 2017, Stone worked with Lanthimos in the “The Favourite,” and earned an Oscar nomination as an actress in a supporting role two years later.
They remained friends and Stone agreed to waive her fee and participate in ‘Bleat’ ‒ shot using traditional film cameras and presented with a live 36-member orchestra and choir that follows the story with a jarring and funereal score.
The movie opens in a traditional, whitewashed home at a wake. There are long portrait shots of Stone and elderly mourners sitting in a room next to her dead husband, played by French actor Damien Bonnard, covered in a white shroud.
After the guests leave, Stone has a moment of ecstasy with his body, bringing him back to life for several hours as she loses consciousness and appears to die.
With goats looking on, the man promptly buries Stone and dances on her grave, before the roles are again and finally reversed, with Stone reappearing as he goes to bed and drifts back to death.
“Bleat” was shot in early 2020 on Tinos that’s famous for its whitewashed homes just before the pandemic triggered lockdowns in Greece and across Europe, and Stone described the experience as a welcome change.
“What is the point continuing to give in this kind of ‒ no offence ‒ stupid job of acting if you’re not gonna keep pushing and being challenged?” she said. “I guess that’s also true of life.”
The film will screened to the public for three days this week at the national opera in Athens, while Lanthimos and his associates said it could later be made available for limited release in other countries.
“It was important to have this projected from a traditional 35 millimeter print and incorporate live music, so that always in my mind,” Lanthimos said. “It’s not just something that someone, you know, would watch on their laptop or on their phone.”
___ Watch trailer: https://youtu.be/4VrMvg-m_PE
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/emma-stone-finds-relief-in-grim-greek-silent-movie/
| 2022-05-06T06:19:19
| 1
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/emma-stone-finds-relief-in-grim-greek-silent-movie/
|
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — Actor Amber Heard tearfully told jurors Thursday that Johnny Depp sexually assaulted her with a liquor bottle in an alcohol-fueled rage.
The March 2015 incident in Australia, where Depp was filming the fifth “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie, is sharply disputed and has been a focal point of the four-week civil trial in Fairfax, Virginia.
The night ended with the tip of Depp’s middle finger cut off, and him writing vulgar messages in blood on the walls of the house. Depp denies assaulting her in any way and says his finger was severed when Heard threw a vodka bottle at him; Heard said she’d taken sleeping pills after she was attacked and was not awake when the finger was severed.
The graphic description of the sexual assault left Heard fighting for her composure as she described it to jurors. She said Depp had been angry as soon as she arrived in Australia, roughly a month after the couple had married in February 2015.
He was accusing her of sleeping with co-stars in her movies, including Billy Bob Thornton and Eddie Redmayne, with whom she’d just shot the film “The Danish Girl” — accusations she denied.
The fight escalated to the point where he threw her into a ping-pong table, breaking it, Heard testified. He ripped off her nightgown, and Heard said she was naked and exposed as she was assaulted.
“I couldn’t get up. I thought he was punching me,” she said. “I could just feel this pressure on my pubic bone.”
She thought he was assaulting her with her fist, but later figured out that she was being assaulted with a bottle, and realized that there had been numerous bottles broken in the fight.
“I looked around and saw so much broken glass. I just remember thinking, ‘Please God, please don’t be broken,’” she said.
Heard described bizarre details in the aftermath of the attack, including seeing her shredded burgundy nightgown used to wrap a raw steak that had been left out. She said that when Depp’s security team finally arrived to tend to his severed finger, Depp was still trying to leave vulgar messages for her, but was trying to write them by urinating on the wall.
Much of the trial testimony has been repetitive of a civil suit Depp filed against a British newspaper. A judge there ruled against Depp in 2020, finding that Heard had in fact been assaulted multiple times by Depp. But the sexual assault allegations described by Heard on Thursday were not publicly aired in the U.K trial.
Depp is suing Heard in Virginia for libel over an op-ed she wrote in The Washington Post describing herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” His lawyers say he was defamed by the 2018 article even though it never mentioned his name.
Earlier in her testimony Thursday, Heard testified that Depp surrounded himself with an entourage of enablers to shield him from the consequences of his drug and alcohol use.
She described an incident that has already come up at trial, a May 2014 plane ride from Boston to Los Angeles. According to Heard, Depp was jealous and irate that she was making a movie with actor James Franco that included a kissing scene.
“He hated, hated James Franco,” she said.
As soon as Depp stepped into the private plane, he began berating her, she said. She got up and walked away, but Depp followed her. At one point, he slapped her, Heard testified. Later, she said, he kicked her, and not one person on board intervened on her behalf.
“I felt this boot in my back,” she said. “I fell to the floor. And no one said anything. No one did anything. You could have heard a pin drop. I just remember feeling so embarrassed.”
Depp, who testified earlier in the trial, described the incident differently. He denied that he’d drank excessively before getting on the plane, and said Heard initiated an argument and pursued him until he felt compelled to hide in a bathroom.
But jurors heard a recording Heard made toward the end of the incident, in which it sounds like Depp is howling and babbling incoherently. And the jury has seen a text message Depp sent his friend Paul Bettany shortly after the flight, in which he says he’s going to “properly stop the booze thing” because the flight got “ugly.” He also texted Bettany saying, “I’m admittedly too f——- in the head to spray my rage at the one I love for little reason as well.”
Heard has testified that she was physically and sexually assaulted on multiple occasions by Depp, typically when he was drunk or high on drugs. Depp has denied ever hitting her, but Heard’s lawyers have said his denials lack credibility in part because he can’t remember what he’s done when he blacks out.
Depp has said Heard greatly exaggerates his drinking, and that he tolerates his liquor well. Friends, family and employees of Depp have taken the stand and backed up his contention.
But Heard said that’s part of the problem: She said Depp has a team around him that cleans him up when he gets sick, and enables him to go about his business without acknowledging the consequences of his drinking.
___
This story has been corrected. Heard testified that Depp kicked her, not that she kicked him.
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/heard-depp-team-of-enablers-shielded-his-drug-alcohol-use/
| 2022-05-06T06:19:28
| 0
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/heard-depp-team-of-enablers-shielded-his-drug-alcohol-use/
|
NEW YORK (AP) — Elvis Costello, Patti Smith and Mavis Staples will be among the dignitaries expected in Tulsa, Oklahoma, this weekend for the opening of the Bob Dylan Center, the museum and archive celebrating the Nobel laureate’s work.
Dylan himself won’t be among them, unless he surprises everyone.
The center’s subject and namesake has an open invitation to come anytime, although his absence seems perfectly in character, said Steven Jenkins, the center’s director. Oddly, Dylan was just in Tulsa three weeks ago for a date on his concert tour, sandwiched in between Oklahoma City and Little Rock. He didn’t ask for a look around.
“I don’t want to put words in his mouth,” Jenkins said. “I can only guess at his reasoning. Maybe he would find it embarrassing.”
It’s certainly unusual for a living figure — Dylan is due to turn 81 on May 24 — to have a museum devoted to him, but such is the shadow he has cast over popular music since his emergence in the early 1960s. He’s still working, performing onstage in a show devoted primarily to his most recent material.
And he’s still pushing the envelope. “Murder Most Foul,” Dylan’s nearly 17-minute rumination on the Kennedy assassination and celebrity, is as quietly stunning as “Like a Rolling Stone” was nearly a half-century ago, even if he’s no longer at the center of popular culture.
The center offers an immersive film experience, performance space, a studio where visitors can play producer and “mix” different elements of instrumentation in Dylan’s songs and a curated tour where people can take a musical journey through the stages of his career. The archive has more than 100,000 items, many accessed only by scholars through appointment.
Museum creators said they wanted to build an experience both for casual visitors who might not know much of Dylan’s work and for the truly fanatical — the skimmers, the swimmers and the divers, said designer Alan Maskin of the firm Olson Kundig.
The museum hopes to celebrate the creative process in general, and at opening will have an exhibit of the work of photographer Jerry Schatzberg, whose 1965 image of Dylan is emblazoned on the building’s three-story facade.
Since Dylan’s still creating, “we’re going to continue to play catch-up” with him, Jenkins said.
So for a figure who was born and raised in Minnesota, came of musical age in New York and now lives in California, how does a museum devoted to his life’s work end up in Oklahoma?
He’s never seemed the nostalgic type, but Dylan recognized early that his work could have historical interest and value, Jenkins said. Together with his team, he put aside boxes full of artifacts, including photos, rare recordings and handwritten lyrics that show how his songs went through revisions and rewrites.
With use of those lyrics, two of the early displays will focus on how the songs “Jokerman” and “Tangled Up in Blue” took shape — the latter with lyrics so elastic that Dylan was still changing verses after the song had been released.
Dylan sold his archive in 2016 to the Tulsa-based George Kaiser Family Foundation, which also operates the Woody Guthrie Center — a museum that celebrates one of Dylan’s musical heroes and is only steps away from the new Dylan center.
Dylan likes the Guthrie museum, and also appreciates Tulsa’s rich holdings of Native American art, Jenkins said. Much of that is on display at another new facility, the Gilcrease Museum, which is also the world’s largest holding of art of the American West.
“I think it’s going to be a true tourist draw to Tulsa for all the right reasons,” said Tulsa Mayor G. T. Bynum. “This is one of the great musicians in the history of humankind and everyone who wants to study his career and see the evolution of his talent will be drawn to it.”
Bynum hopes that it also encourages others who may someday want to put their archives on display, and make Tulsa a center for the study of modern American music.
Dylan designed and built a 16-foot high metal sculpture that will be displayed at the entrance to the museum. Otherwise, he had nothing to do with the museum’s design and declined, through a spokesman, to offer a comment about the opening.
“If Bob were telling us what we could or couldn’t do, it would have felt like a vanity project, in a way,” Maskin said. “It was a tremendous relief not to have to satisfy Bob Dylan.”
Still, it’s safe to assume the lines of communication are open if necessary: Jenkins, the center’s director, is the brother of Larry Jenkins, Dylan’s long-time media representative.
In addition to a dinner to celebrate the opening this weekend, Costello, Smith and Staples will all perform separate concerts at Cain’s Ballroom. Costello was asked to program a jukebox that will be on display at the museum and, within a day, submitted his suggestions for 160 Dylan songs and covers, Steven Jenkins said.
The Bob Dylan Center is open to the public on May 10.
Maskin has no expectation that Dylan will ever see the designer’s work. Still, he indulges himself in a fantasy of a slow summer day, a security guard dozing in the corner, and someone slipping in wearing black jeans, sunglasses and a familiar mop of hair to wander among the displays.
“To be honest, I don’t think that’s going to happen,” he said. “I think he’s interested in the work he’s doing, and not the work he’s done.”
___
Online: https://bobdylancenter.com/
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/how-does-it-f-e-e-e-e-l-bob-dylan-museum-opening-in-tulsa/
| 2022-05-06T06:19:36
| 0
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/how-does-it-f-e-e-e-e-l-bob-dylan-museum-opening-in-tulsa/
|
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Maroon 5 and Usher will headline a benefit concert in Atlanta to honor the legacy of the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis.
The Grammy Award-winning pop band and singer will perform during the Beloved Benefit at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium on July 7, concert officials announced Thursday. The event was rescheduled from its initial date in February due to COVID-19 concerns.
NBC Sports host and correspondent Maria Taylor will serve as the event’s emcee.
Along with Usher and Maroon 5’s performances, the benefit concert will feature a program filled with inspiring community stories. The money raised will be distributed to several nonprofit beneficiaries that prioritize economic and community development.
The Beloved Benefit was inspired by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of a beloved community where people work together to solve social issues ranging from racism and poverty along with hunger and homelessness.
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/maroon-5-usher-to-headline-concert-to-honor-rep-john-lewis/
| 2022-05-06T06:19:44
| 1
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/maroon-5-usher-to-headline-concert-to-honor-rep-john-lewis/
|
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — More than 40 years after blazing a trail for female video game characters, Ms. Pac-Man was inducted Thursday into the World Video Game Hall of Fame, along with Dance Dance Revolution, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Sid Meier’s Civilization.
The Hall of Fame considers electronic games of all types each year — arcade, console, computer, handheld and mobile. Inductees are recognized for their popularity and influence on the video game industry or pop culture over time.
The Ms. Pac-Man arcade game was released in 1981 as Midway’s follow-up to Pac-Man, which entered the hall as part of the inaugural class in 2015. The Pac-Man sequel reimagined the main character to acknowledge the original game’s female fans, according to the hall. After selling 125,000 cabinets within the first five years, it became one of the best-selling arcade games of all time.
There was nothing inherently gendered about early video games, said Julia Novakovic, senior archivist at the hall. But “by offering the first widely recognized female video game character,” she said, “Ms. Pac-Man represented a turn in the cultural conversation about women’s place in the arcade, as well as in society at large.”
The Class of 2022 was chosen from a field of finalists that also included Assassin’s Creed, Candy Crush Saga, Minesweeper, NBA Jam, PaRappa the Rapper, Resident Evil, Rogue, and Words with Friends. It is the eighth class to be inducted since the World Video Game Hall of Fame was established at The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York.
Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution, first seen in arcades in Japan in 1998, was recognized for helping to pave the way for other music-centered games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band. The fast-paced game put players on a dance floor with a screen in front to direct their moves.
“Music has been an integral part of human life since prehistoric times, so it comes as no surprise that DDR enjoyed a unique popularity that spanned ages, genders, and regions,” said video game curator Lindsey Kurano.
A home version of the game followed on the Sony PlayStation in 1999.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, also first released in 1998, came out for the Nintendo 64 gaming console and defined what a 3D action video game could be, Hall of Fame officials said. The award-winning game sold more than 7.6 million copies worldwide and continues to be recognized by some players and critics as one of the best video games ever made.
“Even today, developers throughout the world credit The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time as influencing the way they create games,” digital games curator Andrew Borman said. “The game’s sprawling 3D world, fluid combat, complex puzzles and time-shifting story combined to inspire a wonder in players that they have never forgotten.”
Sid Meier’s Civilization, released in 1991, was recognized as an influential simulation and strategy game. The game, which invited players to develop their own empires, launched a series of successor games, including the most recent Civilization: Beyond Earth and Civilization VI.
“The addictive nature of the game, which creator Sid Meier himself called the ‘one more turn’ quality, and its nearly unlimited choices that prevented repetitive gameplay, earned Civilization recognition from Computer Gaming World as the best video game of all time in 1996,” said Jon-Paul Dyson, director of The Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic games. “Altogether — and given the extraordinarily long periods of play the game afforded — players have engaged with the Civilization series for more than a billion hours.”
Anyone can nominate a game for the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Final selections are made on the advice of journalists, scholars and others with knowledge of the history of video games and their role in society.
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/ms-pac-man-clears-path-to-world-video-game-hall-of-fame/
| 2022-05-06T06:19:52
| 0
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/ms-pac-man-clears-path-to-world-video-game-hall-of-fame/
|
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The man who tackled comedian Dave Chappelle during a performance at the Hollywood Bowl will not be charged with any felonies, the district attorney’s office said Thursday.
Isaiah Lee, 23, was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, police said, after rushing the stage toward the end of Chappelle’s set in the last of a four-night stint at the outdoor amphitheater as part of the “Netflix Is a Joke” festival.
He was carrying a replica handgun with a large blade that folded out of it similar to a pocket knife, according to a photo released by police.
“After reviewing the evidence, prosecutors determined that while criminal conduct occurred, the evidence as presented did not constitute felony conduct,” the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said in a statement.
The case has been referred to the Los Angeles city attorney’s office, which prosecutes misdemeanors within the city. An email seeking comment from the office was not immediately returned.
Jail records showed Lee was still being held Thursday in lieu of $30,000 bail, Mendez said. It was not immediately known if he had retained a lawyer, and the motive for the attack was unclear.
People standing in the wings of the stage, including actor Jamie Foxx and rapper Busta Rhymes, rushed on to the stage to try to help Chappelle.
Security guards chased and overpowered Lee, who was taken away in an ambulance for treatment of an unspecified injury.
“The performances by Chappelle at the Hollywood Bowl were epic and record-breaking and he refuses to allow last night’s incident to overshadow the magic of this historic moment,” Chapelle’s publicist Carla Sims said in a statement.
Chappelle was attacked as he was wrapping up a routine in which he talked about how comedians have to worry more about their personal security in the wake of this year’s Academy Awards ceremony where the Oscar-winning actor slapped Chris Rockon live television in reaction to a joke about his wife.
Rock was also in the wings of Chappelle’s show, He grabbed the mic and jokingly asked, “Was that Will Smith?”
___
Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/no-felony-charge-for-man-who-tackled-dave-chappelle-on-stage/
| 2022-05-06T06:20:01
| 1
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/no-felony-charge-for-man-who-tackled-dave-chappelle-on-stage/
|
STATESVILLE, N.C. (AP) — No charges will be filed in a shooting at the North Carolina home of rapper DaBaby, police said Thursday.
Troutman police said on social media that the investigation into the April 13 shooting has been completed, news outlets reported. According to the post, investigators consulted with the Iredell County District Attorney’s Office in determining no charges will be filed.
DaBaby and at least one other person were at the home when the shooting happened on the evening of April 13, Troutman Police Chief Josh Watson told The Associated Press. But Watson wouldn’t say who was shot or who did the shooting, citing an ongoing investigation at the time. He said the injuries of the unidentified wounded person were not life-threatening.
The shooting was the latest in a series of incidents involving DaBaby, whose real name is Jonathan Kirk. In 2019, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed weapon after a fatal shooting at a Walmart in Huntersville, North Carolina, just south of Troutman. He was not charged in the shooting.
Last year, the Grammy-nominated rapper was arrested after he took a loaded gun into an upscale store on Rodeo Drive.
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/police-no-charges-in-shooting-at-rapper-dababys-house/
| 2022-05-06T06:20:08
| 1
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/police-no-charges-in-shooting-at-rapper-dababys-house/
|
LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II will miss the traditional royal garden party season, where she would normally meet with hundreds of people on the grounds of her residences in London and Edinburgh, palace officials said Thursday.
The 96-year-old monarch will be represented instead by other members of her family, Buckingham Palace said in a statement.
Before the pandemic, the queen invited over 30,000 people each year to the gardens of Buckingham Palace or the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. The guests, who have all served their community in different ways, have the opportunity to speak with the queen and other royal family members at the parties.
The parties were set to return for the first time in three years starting next week.
The monarch has missed several major events this year and has been carrying out online engagements instead. She spent a night in the hospital in October and only conducted light duties for several months on her doctors’ orders.
In March the queen attended a service honoring the life of her late husband, Prince Philip.
She marked her Platinum Jubilee — 70 years on the throne — in February. Large-scale festivities to celebrate that milestone, including concerts and pageants, will take place later this month and in June.
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/queen-to-miss-traditional-royal-garden-party-season/
| 2022-05-06T06:20:16
| 0
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/queen-to-miss-traditional-royal-garden-party-season/
|
MADRID (AP) — Two renowned figures from the world of flamenco, singer Carmen Linares and choreographer-dancer María Pagés, were on Thursday awarded one of Spain’s most prestigious awards for fine arts.
The jury for the annual Princess of Asturias Awards lauded the two women, both of whom hail from southern Spain, for their massive influence on the artform in recent decades.
“Within Carmen Linares and María Pagés converge the spirit of several generations who, while respecting tradition and the depth of flamenco’s roots, have modernized and adapted its essence to the contemporary world,” the organizers said in a statement.
Carmen Linares is the stage name for Carmen Pacheco Rodríguez. Celebrated for her expressive voice, the 71-year-old was one of the first flamenco singers to perform at New York’s Lincoln Centre, organizers said.
María Pagés, 59, reportedly began dancing at the age of four. She established her dance company in 1990, swiftly carving out a singular space at the vanguard of flamenco.
The two artists will share the 50,000-euro ($52,700) award, one of eight Asturias prizes handed out annually by a foundation named for Spain’s Crown Princess Leonor. Other categories include social science, sport and scientific research.
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/renowned-flamenco-artists-win-spanish-arts-prize/
| 2022-05-06T06:20:24
| 1
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/renowned-flamenco-artists-win-spanish-arts-prize/
|
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — British driver Stefan Wilson spent an entire year searching for a spot in this year’s Indianapolis 500 field.
The journey proved equally challenging for team owners Don Cusick and Elton Julian — until they joined forces.
On Thursday, the trio announced it solved two problems by putting the 32-year-old Wilson in the No. 25 Chevrolet, giving race organizers a 33rd entrant and almost certainly a full starting grid for the May 29 race.
“It’s been a journey,” Wilson said. “We began work on this June 1st of last year. We had these plans that should have been so easy and it just didn’t end up that way. There was, I think, a time when we all sort of had given up. But I carried on working, carried on making calls.”
And now the IndyCar veteran will be rewarded with another chance to compete in “the greatest spectacle in racing” after finishing 33rd last year.
Getting here, though, required some unusual twists and turns including a two-plus hour meeting in the California desert between Julian and Cusick as Wilson waited anxiously for an answer.
Eventually, Julian’s DragonSpeed team, which put its IndyCar program on hold during the pandemic, and Cusick, who made his first IndyCar start last May, took a car from A.J. Foyt’s stable and decided to give it a shot.
“I didn’t know those fellows before, though I’m old enough to remember A.J. winning races,” Cusick said. “But Larry (Foyt) has been very welcoming and helpful and we’re very thankful for everything they’ve done.”
Wilson brings a familiar name with emotional ties back to Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He will attempt to make his fourth career start again using the same number his older brother, Justin, drove with when he died from injuries suffered during an IndyCar race at Pocono in August 2015.
This time, the car will feature a black, blue, red and white paint scheme with a full array of sponsors including women’s golf apparel company Lohla Sport, Sierra Pacific Windows and Gnarly Premium Cut Jerky.
Wilson will be using a Chevy engine for the first time since his rookie appearance at Indy and could help Cusick and Julian put their long-term plans back on track. Both would like to run more races in the IndyCar series.
Julian thought the lingering financial woes from the pandemic wouldn’t let him come back to Indy until next year following the sale of his IndyCar equipment to Michael Shank Racing. Brazilian Helio Castroneves won his record-tying fourth 500 last year while driving for Shank.
Instead, Cusick and Wilson, who have worked this season on the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup circuit, provided Julian with a path back to Indy.
“We’re coming back basically a year earlier than I had hoped,” Julian said. “In the back of my mind it was always ’23, ’23, even if it was just the 500. I wasn’t thinking about it too much this year and heard all the rumblings of I’d like to but I can’t, so I put my hand up.”
Wilson has been competitive on the Brickyard’s historic 2.5-mile oval. He led the 2018 race with four laps to go when his car ran out of fuel, dropping him to a career-best 15th-place finish.
He won’t have much time to fine-tune his car with qualifying scheduled for May 21-22.
Wilson isn’t even sure he’ll have enough time time to work on Chevy’s simulator. Instead, he will spend these precious few days building a relationship with his new engineer, crew members and other team officials.
The announcement ends weeks of speculation about who would become the 33rd entry. Mark Miles, the CEO of IndyCar’s parent company Penske Entertainment, said in April he expected at least one more car and possibly two to turn laps at the 500.
Now if qualifying weekend goes as planned, the traditional 33-car field should take the green flag. And Wilson intends to be ready for anything including the possibility of a 34th entry trying to keep him out of the race.
“We have to execute as a team,” Wilson said. “And I have to execute as a driver.”
___
More AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/stefan-wilson-hired-to-drive-33rd-car-at-indianapolis-500/
| 2022-05-06T06:20:32
| 0
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/stefan-wilson-hired-to-drive-33rd-car-at-indianapolis-500/
|
NEW YORK (AP) — Some of the movies’ biggest stars barely speak a word of English, or any other language for that matter. Sure, you can occasionally hear them say “Banana!” or possibly “Smoochy smoochy!” but most of what they say is gibberish. The Minions may be the world’s most popular, and lucrative, foreign language movie stars — even if “Minionese” isn’t an officially recognized language.
This summer, the goggle-wearing yellow ones will return yet again to further expand their sizable empire in “Minions: Rise of Gru” (in theaters July 1). The “Despicable Me” franchise (a fourth is due in 2024) and its “Minions” spinoffs already rank as the highest-grossing animated film franchise ever with more than $3.7 billion in tickets sold worldwide.
That’s a big reason why “Rise of Gru” was held back by Universal Pictures for the last two years during the pandemic. The Minions — a second-banana scene-stealing horde of mostly incompetent but fiercely loyal henchmen — have in 12 years become a formidable force and a ubiquitous culture presence.
“There’s a lot of them so they have a kind of power in that they can overwhelm,” says Chris Renaud, producer of “Rise of Gru” and director of the first two “Despicable Me” movies. “It’s like power by wearing you out.”
“There’s a paradox about them,” says Kyle Balda, director of “Rise of Gru,” “Minions” and “Despicable Me 3.” “They want to serve an evil boss of some sort yet there’s nothing evil about them, really. They’re quite good-natured except they like to see others fail a little bit. They laugh at each other’s misfortune. They’re very flawed, but their flaws end up working out for them. One of the things we often say is: They fail upward.”
Failing upward has gotten the Minions very far, indeed, especially considering how close they came to never quite clicking in the first place. When the filmmakers and artists ofthe Paris-based animation studio Illumination were developing “Despicable Me,” the original script had them as “henchmen and technicians” and the early mock-ups drew them as hulking tough guys, almost Orc-like monsters.
Then they were cylindrically shaped robots. But the filmmakers — including Renaud, co-director Pierre Coffin and art director Eric Guillon — kept playing with the concept, trying to channel the spirit ofthe Jawas in “Star Wars” or the Oompa Loompas in “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.” Since “Despicable Me” was based on Gru, the evildoing protagonist, the Minions needed to help balance him. If the Minions loved him, he could love the Minions.
“Pierre was the one who said ‘Maybe they shouldn’t be robots,’” recalls Renaud. “I said, ‘Well, what about mole people?’ And he goes, ‘I don’t know what that is.’ So I sent a couple ugly sketches to Pierre and Eric, and then Eric did a sketch that’s basically what you see you today. We were like, ‘OK, that looks like a pill with a goggle on it. That could work.’”
But what, exactly, were the Minions? Even their creators weren’t immediately sure. They pondered a wide range of ideas. Were they created in a lab by the movie’s gadget-maker, Dr. Nefario? The Minions were effectively blank slates, and the filmmakers could funnel just about any slapstick influence through them, from Charlie Chaplin to James Bond. A breakthrough, Renaud says, came while they were scripting a scene where the Minions craft Gru’s internet dating profile and “go full incompetent.”
That was when the “Despicable Me” filmmakers started to sense that they had hit on something potentially big — a truly cartoon creation with limitless possibilities. The Minions, wide-eyed and (mostly) innocent, were like kids.
“When we do design work, it’s like baby animals,” says Renaud. “Even if they’re behaving poorly, you forgive them and laugh at it, the way you would with your own kids.”
Just as key, too, was Coffin’s voicing of the Minions. Coffin has voiced (with the aid of pitch modulation) nearly all the minions in each film, spitting out half-words, onomatopoeias and a grab bag of expressions from a wide spectrum of languages. If Coffin and the team had Indian food for lunch, the Minions would be shouting “Tikka Masala!” by dinner.
Because the Minions started out loosely defined, and their very nature a little mysterious, the franchise has offered them a chance to continually evolve. In 2015’s “Minions,” their backstory got filled in a little;a montage followed them through history and a long line of bosses, from a Tyrannosaurus rex to Napoleon — all of whom the Minions unwittingly sabotage. Some Minions — Kevin, Stewart and Bob — have been isolated like a trio of siblings. “The Rise of Gru” picks up after they meet young Gru, who they call “mini-boss” even though he wants to be taken seriously as a villain.
“It’s sort of like a romantic comedy where it doesn’t all work out nicely in the beginning,” says Balda. “Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. But in this case, Gru is the girl because it’s the Minions who are really courting him.”
Family moviegoing fell considerably during the pandemic, during which several prominent films for kids went straight to streaming. But the recent box-office successes of films like “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” and “The Bad Guys”have suggested families are eager to return to theaters. There are other family-friendly movies heading to theaters this summer (most notably “Lightyear,” the first Pixar film to open theatrically in two years), but the Minions and “Rise of Gru” hope to help lead the way. A trailer for the film ends with the Minions, like children at the movies, filing into a theater and hopping into their seats.
Meanwhile, the work continues for the filmmakers to find out a little more about the juggernaut they created, and to keep coming up with new gags for the Minions. In “Rise of Gru,” they learn kung fu, a complication considering the size of their legs. Luckily, it’s not really even up to the filmmakers. The Minions are in charge.
Says Balda: “It’s almost like the Minions tell you what they want to do as you’re drawing them.”
___
Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/summer-preview-banana-the-minions-expand-their-empire/
| 2022-05-06T06:20:41
| 1
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/summer-preview-banana-the-minions-expand-their-empire/
|
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a defamation lawsuit over online harassment filed against actor Alec Baldwin by the family of a Marine who was killed in Afghanistan, saying the Wyoming court did not have jurisdiction over the case.
An attorney for the family said the case would be refiled elsewhere, the Casper Star-Tribune reported Wednesday.
The sisters and widow of Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum alleged Baldwin subjected them to online harassment after he posted and commented on a photo shared online by one of McCollum’s sisters, Roice McCollum, who had been in Washington during the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.
Baldwin had donated $5,000 to the family after learning of the death of Rylee McCollum in a bombing at the airport in Kabul in August 2021, just weeks before his daughter was born. Baldwin had contacted Roice McCollum via Instagram, according to the lawsuit.
In January 2022, Baldwin saw that Roice McCollum posted a nearly year-old picture of demonstrators from former President Donald Trump’s rally taken on the day Congress counted the Electoral College votes from the 2020 presidential election, the complaint stated.
Baldwin sent her a private message and confirmed she had organized the fundraiser for her brother, the lawsuit said. She responded that her participation in the protest was “perfectly legal,” according to court documents.
Baldwin told Roice McCollum he would share her photo with his 2.4 million Instagram followers and wrote: “Good luck,” according to the lawsuit.
Roice McCollum said in the lawsuit that she received hundreds of hateful messages in response to his post. Thecomplaint, which also names her sister Cheyenne McCollum and Rylee’s wife, Jiennah McCollum, as plaintiffs, sought $25 million in damages.
Baldwin asked for the case to be dismissed, saying he was expressing his political opinion, that he had not been in Wyoming and that claims by Cheyenne and Jiennah McCollum should be dismissed because he did not make any statements about them.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Freudenthal said Wednesday that the case could not be brought in Wyoming because Baldwin made the posts from New York and because they were not directed specifically at a Wyoming audience. Her decision did not address the veracity of the allegations in the complaint.
“We are pleased with this victory,” said Baldwin’s attorney Luke Nikas. “This is a significant step toward the complete dismissal of the lawsuit, which seeks to punish Mr. Baldwin for expressing his political opinion.”
Dennis Postiglione, an attorney for the McCollums, said that the case would probably be refiled in New York, where Baldwin lives, or in California, where he works.
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/wyoming-defamation-lawsuit-against-alec-baldwin-is-dismissed/
| 2022-05-06T06:20:50
| 0
|
https://www.cbs42.com/local/wyoming-defamation-lawsuit-against-alec-baldwin-is-dismissed/
|
SOUTH FORT MYERS, Fla. — Neighbors say what started out as a 24/7 yard sale is turning into a messy nuisance now. Some even said their trash is ending up on the lawn.
Broken beer bottles, smashed furniture and glass are for sale outside of Dave Aguer’s South Fort Myers home.
Neighbors say the mess keeps getting bigger.
They said he’s been collecting garbage throughout the neighborhood. One woman told NBC2 he took the grill that was left out for the garbage man and put it on the lawn.
Aguer has lived in the home for 13 years, and people in the area are worried about his new behavior. They said they see him walking outside with a knife, standing in traffic, and walking around without his pants off.
“Sometimes at 4 a.m. he is out there wandering around the yard hooting and hollering,” said Marc Hiler.
“It’s all garbage at this point. It just needs to be taken care of,” said Sabrina Constable
Lee County said there is an active code enforcement case open for his home.
Garage sales are limited to not more than one-week duration. This sale started about a month ago.
|
https://nbc-2.com/news/local/2022/05/05/san-carlos-blvd-yard-sale-turns-into-a-lawn-full-of-trash-waste/
| 2022-05-06T08:59:52
| 1
|
https://nbc-2.com/news/local/2022/05/05/san-carlos-blvd-yard-sale-turns-into-a-lawn-full-of-trash-waste/
|
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Just a month after vandals defaced a mural outside of the Alliance for the Arts in Fort Myers, a massive new project was unveiled in response.
“It is beautiful, isn’t it,” the Executive Director for the Alliance of the Arts said as music played in the background and people mingled.
The sight makes you stop and state, or maybe even snap a picture to keep forever.
Twenty pieces of art, part of a public project, are on display at the Alliance for the Arts. They each signify a response to the war in Ukraine. The massive display was inspired by the one piece of art that was vandalized.
“It’s in response to just a really cowardice act of destroying public art,” Deckart said.
They say there’s a silver lining in every situation. When vandals took their own paint to the mural, they didn’t ruin it. Actually, they sparked a bigger and more meaningful project.
“It was reactive for us to say if you’re going to throw paint on two, get ready to throw them on 20,” she said.
In total, 20 different artists, all from Southwest Florida, spent countless hours putting their thoughts on canvas.
Each of the creations is a different view on the Ukrainian crisis.
“Artists siege upon current events and upon things that are happening in the world,” said Rolan Rucco, a Pine Island artist who created the original artwork that was vandalized in early April
“I believe that every art piece has a destiny and has a journey. And that was the journey of this art piece,” he said.
The journey of a bad act led to several good ones. The Alliance for the Arts now has the funding to put in a security camera system, which they’re working on right now.
In the meantime, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office is lending a watchful eye.
Deckart, too, is putting on her security cap.
“I just feel very protective of this art and artist’s work and I just decided to stick it out last night,” she said.
While the hope is for the art to be embraced, not defaced, it’s a reality artists are well aware of in public spaces.
But before vandals come with their own paint, the man behind the mural that started it all would rather put down the brush and use words instead.
“I would like to share a cup of coffee, or a beer, with them and understand where they’re coming from,” Rucco said.
The artwork will be on display through the end of June.
|
https://nbc-2.com/news/local/2022/05/05/twenty-pieces-of-art-depicting-ukrainian-crisis-on-display-at-alliance-for-the-arts/
| 2022-05-06T08:59:58
| 1
|
https://nbc-2.com/news/local/2022/05/05/twenty-pieces-of-art-depicting-ukrainian-crisis-on-display-at-alliance-for-the-arts/
|
Maryland man gets 11 years for transportation of child pornography in Pocomoke-tied case
Federal prosecutors said case involved videos of minors captured on camera hidden in Pocomoke City home
A federal judge sentenced a former U.S. Air Force lieutenant from Maryland to more than a decade in prison after he pleaded guilty to transportation of child pornography.
A Department of Justice news release shows 36-year-old Jason Daniel Ort of Waldorf was given an 11-year sentence along with 15 years supervised release, late Wednesday. Ort will also be required to register as a sex offender in the places where he lives, works or is a student.
The case involved videos Ort recorded using a camera hidden in the bathroom of a Pocomoke City home, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office.
An adult filed a complaint with the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office in New York on Oct. 2, 2020, alleging Ort put a camera in their bedroom, according to a "Stipulation of Facts" attached to Ort's plea agreement. Ort had gone to Syracuse on Sept. 30, 2020, to visit the complainant's family.
LOCAL:Benjamin Sifrit denied parole in Ocean City 2002 Memorial Day weekend murder
CRIME:Police seek answers after man found fatally shot after crash
The complainant told the sheriff's office that Ort had been in their bedroom, documents stated. The complainant then noticed a camera containing an SD card in the room Oct. 1, 2020.
Documents showed the SD card contained video of a child using the bathroom. That video also showed Ort entering the bathroom to adjust the camera.
Air Force records revealed Ort was on leave between Sept. 28 and Oct. 5, 2020, to visit New York, according to documents.
In an interview with members of the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office, Ort admitted he placed a camera in the complainant's bedroom and put a camera in other locations, including facing the toilet of a bathroom in a family member's home in Pocomoke City, court records stated.
Investigators seized multiple electronic items in New York, including the camera, SD card and Ort's laptop, documents stated. A forensic review of the SD card discovered 10 videos of minors using the bathroom and bathing.
Documents showed the footage was recorded in the bathroom of Ort's relative's home in Pocomoke City around December 2019 and January 2020.
At the time the videos were made, the four minor victims involved were under the age of 12, according to documents, and were either "relatives or otherwise in the custody, care or supervisory control of Ort."
Documents stated he "set up the camera in such a way — at such heights and angles capturing the children entering and exiting the shower and using the toilet — as to record a lascivious exhibition of the genitals and pubic areas of the children."
On the laptop, there were also "hundreds of files constituting child pornography" which included "prepubescent minors engaged in sex acts."
More:If Roe v Wade is overturned, here's what happens to Maryland abortion laws
More:Illegal dirt bike, ATV driving on streets: How Salisbury looks to take on 'slippery' issue
A search warrant was also executed at Ort's Maryland home, where law enforcement recovered two hard drives and another laptop, among other electronic devices. Investigators found multiple video files on one of the hard drives that were identical to the ones discovered on the SD card, according to the "Stipulation of Facts."
Many of the videos on the hard drive were compilations of clips from the SD card that focused "on portions of the recordings in which the minor victims were naked and in view of the hidden camera," documents showed.
Investigators found more pictures and videos on a second hard drive, including some that showed "prepubescent females with exposed genitals or breasts or in sexually suggestive poses," documents stated.
|
https://www.delmarvanow.com/story/news/local/maryland/2022/05/06/maryland-man-transportation-child-porn-pocomoke-worcester-county-new-york/9661372002/
| 2022-05-06T09:11:36
| 0
|
https://www.delmarvanow.com/story/news/local/maryland/2022/05/06/maryland-man-transportation-child-porn-pocomoke-worcester-county-new-york/9661372002/
|
PRCC to expand nursing program. What it means for current, future students
Pearl River Community College announced a major expansion to its nursing program Monday — a move that could help reduce the nurse shortage in the area.
The expansion, building off a program created last year with Forrest Health, will now allow licensed practical nurses to study to become registered nurses at the PRCC Forrest campus.
"Last year of course we were able to plant the seed for our beginning class ... and because of that seed being planted, this year we're going to expand our nursing program," said Jana Causey, vice president of PRCC's Forrest County operations, at the Forrest County Board of Supervisors meeting Monday.
The program has been expanded to house 30 RNs and 30 LPNs.
"Everybody knows there's a nursing shortage," said David Hogan, president of the Forrest County Board of Supervisors. "... Now for (PRCC) to get the national accreditation to teach registered nurses on the Forrest County campus could not be better news for the Pine Belt."
"To step up and help really the entire healthcare system here in the Pine Belt is very big and we're very proud of it," Hogan said.
Causey said the program is intended to be flexible for students and meet the needs of Forrest General Hospital. Students can apply directly to the program or go through the practical nursing program and enter the LPN to RN Bridge program.
"We are super excited to be part of an exciting expansion that is taking place," Causey said.
Chief Nursing Officer at Forrest General Hospital Phyllis Chambers-Berry said the program will help address the current nurse shortage and she is excited to be a part of it, adding that the announcement coincides with National Nurses Week 2022, which will begin on Friday and end on May 12.
Mayor Toby Barker:No plans to opt out of medical marijuana
Contact reporter Laurel Thrailkill at lthrailkill@gannett.com or on Twitter.
|
https://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/news/local/hattiesburg/2022/05/05/prcc-expanding-nursing-program-address-pine-belt-nurse-shortage/9616243002/
| 2022-05-06T09:45:36
| 0
|
https://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/news/local/hattiesburg/2022/05/05/prcc-expanding-nursing-program-address-pine-belt-nurse-shortage/9616243002/
|
Young professionals in the Pine Belt: Southern Miss student wants to 3-D print homes
Alkendria "Desiree" McNair's passion for technology began with video games and evolved into an interest in 3-D printing houses.
"I started off playing video games, then I went to kind of fixing phones. I've always just had my hand in technology, but no one in my community really pushed technology careers," the 27-year-old said.
Now a student at Southern Miss studying information technology, the Collins native is interested in how 3-D printing of houses can lead to more sustainability and lower home costs. She was inspired by the lack of affordability of houses and a passion for the environment.
"3-D printing is another way that they can create homes and buildings without taking the natural resources. ... I thought that was something amazing that you could literally build a house with a machine," McNair said.
Hattiesburg business owner:Turning a dream into reality
USM:USM to increase tuition. Here's how increase compares to other state schools
McNair is a mother, and she said her 3-year-old daughter Amora Hathorn inspires her to be successful.
"She inspires me a lot to keep pushing when I'm tired," McNair said. "I kind of do this for her. She has autism, so I want to be able to provide her with the services she needs as well."
McNair balances her responsibilities as a mother and student along with her job as a student worker in the Southern Miss computer science department.
McNair is also a member of the university's Women in Science and Engineering Organization and a historian for the Louis Stokes Mississippi Alliance for Minority Participation and is a veteran.
She was recently selected as a 2022 IBMzSystems Student Ambassador for her accomplishments.
NcNair will participate in a leadership program to upskill her technical knowledge, network with industry leaders and collaborate with peers worldwide this summer.
"It's basically an organization where you learn about the mainframes of IBM," she said. "So you learn about their systems. They work with different companies from airlines to banks."
Sarah Lee, director of the Southern Miss School of Computing Sciences and Computer Engineering, said McNair is a leader.
“As an IBM zSystems Student Ambassador, she will have a great opportunity to expand her network as she builds relationships with professionals from throughout the country and further develop her leadership skills,” Lee said.
McNair hopes she can be an inspiration for others to pursue their passions.
"I hope to inspire other people to go for what they love to do and stop being conformed to what they think they should be doing or what other people put in their minds because sometimes people just do things because other people say they should do it, not because they want to," McNair said.
More:Concerts, live music in Hattiesburg spring, summer 2022
More:Rally held in Lumberton in support of man allegedly threatened by local alderman
And the adversity that she has faced inspired her to be successful.
"It just pushes me more in a way," McNair said. "Instead of looking at challenges like a problem I try to solve them. I like to solve problems I guess."
Before she began her journey, McNair didn't feel she knew enough about technology but decided to put the work in to learn.
"Since I've been in this field, it makes me feel like I'm not working because I feel like I'm actually doing something that I actually love to do," McNair said.
Contact reporter Laurel Thrailkill at lthrailkill@gannett.com or on Twitter.
|
https://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/news/local/hattiesburg/2022/05/06/pine-belt-professional-usm-student-mother-professional-purses-passions/9644413002/
| 2022-05-06T09:45:42
| 0
|
https://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/news/local/hattiesburg/2022/05/06/pine-belt-professional-usm-student-mother-professional-purses-passions/9644413002/
|
What's next for the McClugage Bridge construction project? Get a close-up look and details
Construction of the new eastbound span of the McClugage Bridge that began in 2019 continues, with the new bridge expected to open in autumn 2023.
The new three-lane span will replace the original McClugage Bridge, which opened in 1948. (A westbound three-lane companion bridge was built in 1982.)
The overall planned expense is about $167 million and remains on budget, said Nick Volk, a construction field engineer for the Illinois Department of Transportation.
What's on tap for 2022?
Volk said the emphasis in 2022 will continue to be building the bridge piers and abutments, with the goal to have all of them completed this year. The contractor will also begin setting beams and assembling the arch span. The arch will be assembled downstream of the work area and, when complete, lifted and set onto the two piers over the navigation channel.
The whole project is expected to be completed by autumn 2024, Volk said. "The final year will be to finish the bridge over Adams Street and remove the old eastbound structure." He said it’s likely that a combination of dismantling and implosion will be used to demolish the old bridge.
Volk previously told the Journal Star that people might recognize the new structure as one that resembles the Interstate 39 span that crosses the Illinois River near LaSalle.
Ask Dean: PEO Undated Ask Dean McClugage Bridge Update Sidebar | 7446973001
Look here for: Plans describing what the new bridge will look like
Extra: Peoria's bridges over the Illinois River have interesting origins
A trail and a memorial
The new bridge will feature a 14-foot-wide, multi-use path for walkers and bikers. The path will require two trailheads, one on each side of the river. The one on the Peoria side will be across the street from the Hardee's at 3505 NE Adams St.
A parking lot will be built, and the Ironworkers Memorial will be moved from its spot on East Lorentz Avenue. The memorial commemorates three men killed when the eastbound span was rehabilitated in 2000.
Volk said a small portion of the old eastbound bridge will be placed in the trailhead area along with informational signage. The bridge path will connect to the Rock Island Trail via Eureka Street.
Related: Construction of Peoria's new McClugage Bridge continues. Here's what's expected in 2021
Related: What to expect in 2022 as McClugage Bridge project in Peoria begins to take its final shape
More information and updates on the project can be found at mcclugagebridge.com.
|
https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/local/2022/05/06/mcclugage-bridge-construction-work-peoria-span-continues-2022/7444742001/
| 2022-05-06T10:33:43
| 1
|
https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/local/2022/05/06/mcclugage-bridge-construction-work-peoria-span-continues-2022/7444742001/
|
It is a mostly cloudy and muggy morning across Central Alabama with a few showers. Temperatures are in the 60s.
You need to be Weather Aware today! The cold front will move across Central Alabama this morning into the afternoon. It will set off scattered strong to possibly severe storms.
SPC has placed areas of eastern and southeast Alabama in a Level 3/5 Enhanced Risk for severe storms containing damaging winds, large hail, and a few tornadoes across SE Alabama. Areas along and west of I-59 in Central Alabama, including Birmingham, in a Level 2/5 Slight Risk to Level 1/5 Marginal for severe weather starting in the morning and continuing into the early afternoon. The main threats will be strong winds and hail. Heavy rain is possibly with any storm too.
The storms will end later this afternoon as the cold front sweeps across Alabama. Then we will become partly cloudy, breezy, and less humid with only a slight chance for a shower as clouds wrap around the backside of the upper-level low north of the state. High temperatures will be in the lower 80s.
Tonight, we will be partly to mostly cloudy with the wrap around flow. It will be cooler, breezy, and less humid with lows in the mid to upper 50s.
Mother’s Day Weekend Outlook: We will be partly cloudy on Saturday morning. Then it will become mostly sunny in the afternoon with less humid air and highs in the mid to upper 70s. Mother’s Day, Sunday will be sunny and warmer as an area of high pressure sits north of Alabama. High temperatures will be back in the lower to mid 80s.
Next Week Outlook: A ridge of high pressure will sit over the Southeast U.S. Monday through Wednesday. We will have plenty of sunshine each day and it will become hot. High temperatures will be in the upper 80s on Monday, but we could be in the lower 90s Tuesday and Wednesday. An upper-level low will move from the Atlantic into Georgia on Thursday and Friday. This will send clouds into Alabama along with a few showers possible on Friday. High temperatures will be in the 80s each day.
Follow Us on Facebook: Chief Meteorologist Ashley Gann, Meteorologist Dave Nussbaum, Meteorologist Michael Haynes and Meteorologist Alex Puckett
|
https://www.cbs42.com/news/local/weather-aware-today-for-strong-to-severe-storms-perfect-weather-arrives-for-mothers-day-weekend/
| 2022-05-06T10:37:17
| 1
|
https://www.cbs42.com/news/local/weather-aware-today-for-strong-to-severe-storms-perfect-weather-arrives-for-mothers-day-weekend/
|
Deltona City Commission approves adding severance to acting city manager's contract
DELTONA — When John Peters III became the city's acting manager, his finalized contract didn't include severance pay.
Instead, Peters would be entitled to return to the role for which he was originally hired, as public works director, if the City Commission were to fire him without cause.
But with multiple infrastructure projects in the works, Peters told the commission Monday night that the city needs a full-time public works director instead of Steve Danskine, city engineer, doing double duty.
The agenda item that prompted the discussion was a request to add a 20 weeks' severance package to Peters' contract, which amounts to approximately $63,000.
The commission approved the request, with a cap added to accrued vacation time, in a 4-2 vote. Commissioners Anita Bradford and David Sosa cast the dissenting votes; Commissioner Dana McCool missed Monday's meeting due to a medical issue.
Peters said he would only qualify for severance if the commission voted to remove him without cause.
He said because he's an acting manager, the commission doesn't need a supermajority to terminate him.
Bradford referred to the severance former manager Jane Shang received following her resignation and said it's not something she wants to do again.
Shang resigned in January 2020, a week after receiving a vote of no confidence from the City Commission, and received $286,881 and change in severance and accrued leave over a period of 20 weeks.
During commission comments, Mayor Heidi Herzberg explained why she supported adding severance to Peters' contract, though doing so wasn't high on her list of priorities.
"Deltona’s not an easy place for a manager," Herzberg said.
She touched on the amount of turnover in charter officers — in just over 21 years, Deltona's had more than a dozen managers — and the resistance to residing in the city as required in the charter.
Peters, who lives in DeBary, said it'd be possible to get around that by paying to rent a room, without even living there, and having his mail sent to the address, which wouldn't be a first for a Deltona charter officer.
"I'm not going to insult people by doing that," Peters said.
He added that "people are not going to invest in buying a house in a community where they’re not going to last more than two years."
Herzberg said the severance concept is foreign for a lot of people who work in the private sector.
"But in the public sector, and in long-term jobs, there's a severance package," Herzberg said.
Herzberg also said she supports adding severance to Peters' contract because of "the job that he and his team have been doing," which includes bringing to the commission's attention changes made by previous managers, such as removing the caps on vacation and sick time.
Residents address request, charter
During public comment on the item, the commission heard from residents Brandy White and Elbert Bryan, who actively participate in the vast majority of commission meetings.
Bryan pointed out that 20 weeks' severance is more than most Deltona residents make in one year.
White, who's filed to run for the District 1 seat currently held by Loren King, said she couldn't support the request as presented.
"Yeah, absolutely not," White said. "Sorry, no way, no how."
She said she probably wouldn't have a problem with severance if it included a non-compete clause. She also said she couldn't believe more of the commissioners didn't have questions about the request.
"He should not get all the benefits that come with being an actual city manager, which requires abiding by the charter," White said.
She also touched on the search, or lack thereof, for a permanent manager.
"How long can an acting city manager be the city manager? Forever?" White said. "There's no time limit."
Bradford asked what the charter states about searching for a city manager.
The charter states the commission "shall begin the process to fill a vacancy in the Charter Office of the City Manager or the City Attorney within 90 days of the vacancy."
Peters said one of the charter's problems is "it doesn't say you have to complete the search."
He said staff knew of charter issues, but the Charter Review Committee didn't want staff involved in its process.
|
https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/local/volusia/2022/05/06/deltonas-acting-city-manager-gets-20-weeks-severance-added-contract/9621296002/
| 2022-05-06T11:05:32
| 1
|
https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/local/volusia/2022/05/06/deltonas-acting-city-manager-gets-20-weeks-severance-added-contract/9621296002/
|
It's Your Business: Fostering a life sciences legacy in Bloomington is economic win
Catalent Pharma Solutions recently announced a $350 million investment in its Bloomington manufacturing facility that is expected to add 1,000+ jobs to Catalent’s Bloomington workforce in coming years. The Bloomington Economic Development Corp. is proud to work alongside numerous partners who support this project.
This is a huge win for quality jobs and vitality in a key industry, as Bloomington is a nationally recognized leading metro in life sciences, medical devices, contract pharma, biotechnology and more.
Life sciences industry in Bloomington, Monroe County and Indiana have a long history of success. Statewide, this industry has a $77 billion economic impact that was reported in 2021 (source: Biocrossroads).
Today, the Bloomington-area community has over 12,000 people who are employed by 46 life sciences companies, including Cook, Catalent, Boston Scientific, Baxter and Singota Solutions.
Our life sciences origins and growth
Bloomington’s life science leadership started in the spare bedroom of a small apartment in 1963. Catheters, needles and wire guides were the first products Bill Cook created. Today, Cook Group invents, manufactures and delivers a unique portfolio of medical devices to the healthcare systems of the world and touches almost every area in a hospital.
Public-private partnership helped Bloomington recover from a significant hit to its employment base, while growing its life sciences. Catalent is located on the former site of Thomson Consumer Electronics, which closed in 1997 and laid off 1,200 employees. A neighborhood strategic plan and deployment of city economic development tools helped to redevelop the site to encourage new investment.
In 2004, Cook Pharmica agreed to open its facility on the old Thomson site with a goal of creating 200 jobs, expanding again in 2008 and 2015. Catalent purchased Cook Pharmica in 2017 and has built on a strong foundation as it continues to grow.
Educational investment
Local investment in life sciences extends to higher education. Ivy Tech Community College works with life science industry partners to support a regional talent pipeline. This includes academic pathways, one- and two-year credentials, customized training, and a Biomanufacturing Tech Apprenticeship training program with Hoosier Hills Career Center. The college also is working with Regional Opportunity Initiatives to create additional pathways to connect area students to regional careers and training in the Indiana Uplands region through the UpSkill Work & Learn opportunity.
Indiana University’s investments in life sciences include but are not limited to the Kelley School of Business Center for the Business of Life Sciences. The center convenes students for gaining skills and knowledge throughout the life science industry, such as finance and supply chain. IU works with industry to attract and connect talent, while supporting research on issues they face. IU also offers over a dozen degrees supporting the life sciences through its College of Arts and Sciences (i.e. chemistry, biotech, psychology), School of Public Health (ie. epidemiology, nutrition science) and O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs (healthcare management). The new IU School of Medicine’s campus in Bloomington fosters medical research and educates undergraduate students in healthcare to medical students seeking their MD.
Looking to the future
Our life sciences community continues to make history, from creating minimally invasive catheter procedures to providing the world with COVID-19 vaccines. Because of our collaboration and investment into life sciences, Bloomington will continue to make a significant impact in our global society. As this industry continues to grow, we proudly support our life sciences visionaries and the many companies that call our community home.
Thank you to the partners who assisted with the Catalent expansion: Catalent, Bloomington Life Sciences Partnership, the city of Bloomington, city council, the Bloomington Economic Development Commission, Monroe County, the Indiana Economic Development Corp. and other local economic development partners.
Jennifer Pearl is president of the Bloomington Economic Development Corp.
|
https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/story/news/local/2022/05/06/catalent-investment-latest-economic-boost-bloomington/9616658002/
| 2022-05-06T11:17:31
| 1
|
https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/story/news/local/2022/05/06/catalent-investment-latest-economic-boost-bloomington/9616658002/
|
Sixth to eighth grade students in middle and elementary schools in the Philadelphia School District will be subject to weapons screenings as they arrive to class starting next week.
NBC10 obtained Thursday a letter that was sent home to Philadelphia parents and school families that details the new plan. The letter was sent after some recent incidents involving guns and middle schoolers at or near schools.
"We very rarely, if ever, have guns in our K to 8 schools and this year alone we've had at least two incidents where guns have actually been in our schools," Chief of School Safety Kevin Bethel said. "Another incident where a child was out of school, two blocks away, shooting a gun."
The school district said screenings begin on Monday, May 9, 2022, at six schools in the district where sixth to eighth graders will be subject to hand wand or mobile metal detector checks -- similar to what people are subjected to in airports -- as they arrive to school. The students also could have their bags and backpacks inspected.
School safety officers will conduct the screenings and searches with "at least one school leader" present, the district said.
"Screenings will take place at six schools per day, and be conducted at every middle and elementary school with middle grades at least once before the end of the school year," the district said in its letter.
Bethel said they initially plan on random screenings at around 100 schools and will return to schools that ask for a second round of screenings.
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
High schoolers in the district have faced metal detectors and screenings for years. The screening of younger children, however, could be met with trepidation.
"The District understands that this level of screening may feel intrusive and inconvenient," the letter said.
"Checking kids for weapons with guns in schools ... it's a thing," father Kevin Taylor said. "But, at the same time, you hope that the little kids wouldn't even touch something like that."
The goal of the screening program is track down more than just guns.
"According to District Policy 218.1, a weapon is defined as, but is not limited to, firearms, whether loaded or not; pellet or BB gun; knives; cutting instruments; nunchaku; brass knuckles; electronic shock devices; or mace and any other tool, instrument, or object used or intended to be used to inflict serious bodily injury to another," the letter said.
Any weapons found will be confiscated and students with a firearm will be referred to Philadelphia police, the district said.
"Students will be given an opportunity to dispose of any illegal or inappropriate items prior to being screened without consequence," the letter said. "Students who choose not to participate in screening will be referred to the school’s leadership."
Bethel said that they don't want to traumatize any children, but rather educate families. The hope is that parents and guardians check their children's bags before they leave for school in the first place.
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/philly-schools-to-screen-middle-schoolers-for-guns-weapons/3230313/
| 2022-05-06T11:22:04
| 1
|
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/philly-schools-to-screen-middle-schoolers-for-guns-weapons/3230313/
|
He sits solitary on the front porch of the most famous literary home in Nebraska, bundled in a purple ski jacket to endure the too-cold April morning.
The fact that he’s perched on Willa Cather’s childhood porch on a frigid Monday gives Tim Youd away as an outsider. So does the GoPro he’s harnessed to his chest to video-record his work.
But it’s what Youd is doing that grabs the attention of the stray motorist driving down Cedar Street in Red Cloud – or would, if the driver glanced toward Willa’s house, rolled down a window and heard a sound from a bygone era.
Clack-clack-clackclackclack-clack. Ping!
Youd is typing on an Oliver Model 3 typewriter, believed to be the model Cather herself used. He’s retyping Cather’s “The Song of the Lark,” – every word of it – during his 19-day trip to this 1,000-person Nebraska town, the place Cather grew up and mined for characters and scenes for her most well-known books.
He is typing on this April morning in Red Cloud like he has typed another Cather classic in Lincoln, and will in early May type a third in Omaha’s Old Market. He’s rewriting the entire thing on a single sheet of paper, banging the same keys to the same parchment again and again until Cather’s words bleed together, indistinguishable.
People are also reading…
It has become an ocean of black ink bordered in white. It has become a work of art – the 73rd novel Youd has retyped during his 100 Novels Project, equal parts performance art and one man’s decade-long literary meditation.
He’s on page 360. His typewriter clacks, blending with the birds chirping in the nearby city park and the occasional semi-truck rumbling down the brick Main Street. Then it’s quiet. Only the sound of the typewriter pierces the small-town silence.
Sixty pages left.
“When I started this, I didn’t know it was going to be 100 novels,” he says as he continues to type Cather on the front porch where little Willa once played. “I didn’t even know it was gonna be two.”
The idea came to him as he was visiting Ernest Hemingway’s house in Key West, the one famous for the six-toed cats still roaming the grounds. Youd visited like so many others, another tourist checking an obligatory box on his Key West journey.
It made him a little depressed. It made him think: What is a literary pilgrimage, really? What can truly bring me closer to a great writer?
Then Youd read that Hunter S. Thompson retyped “The Great Gatsby” so he could know what it felt like to write a great novel.
So Youd sat down and retyped Thompson’s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.”
He found himself reading the book more closely than he had before. He felt connected to the book, his brain, his fingers.
“Your senses can become totally activated when you do this,” he says. “I can find almost a euphoric state when I’m fully engaged. It’s the greatest high you can have.”
He decided to do it again. He got an idea: Maybe he could use the typewriter of the author he was retyping. He got another idea: Maybe he should travel to the spot where the great novelist wrote, lived, came of age.
He went to a Brooklyn sidewalk, around the corner from where Henry Miller grew up. He began to type Miller’s “Tropic of Capricorn.” He put out a sign that asked people not to disturb him.
Within an hour, he took the sign down.
“I realized that people wanted to talk, that conversation and curiosity was a part of this. That’s what books do.”
And now: “Some of the best conversations in my life have been talking about a book.”
He has been doing this for more than a decade. He has retyped the Bukowski novel “Post Office” outside the Los Angeles post office where Bukowski hated to work.
He retyped Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms” at the Italian hotel where Hemingway recuperated after being wounded during World War I. He has retyped William Faulkner at Faulker’s Mississippi house and Raymond Chandler at Chandler’s California house and Virigina Woolf at Woolf’s English cottage.
He has typed in a prison tower at Sing-Sing and on a bridge in Big Sur and on a cliff overlooking the ocean.
Word of the project reached Karin Campbell, a curator of contemporary art at Omaha’s Joslyn Art Museum.
In March 2020, she and the LA artist began to talk about a Cather-inspired trip to Nebraska. Youd had long ignored Cather, thinking she wrote, “Little House on the Prairie stuff.”
Then, on a recommendation from a friend, he decided to read “O’ Pioneers.”
He realized he loved it.
“Cather isn’t some fussy fiction writer. She really gets right at it. It’s profound. It’s moving,” he said of “O’ Pioneers.” “It’s a sex and murder story!”
Then COVID-19 hit, the world shut down, and Youd found himself retyping novels alone in his studio.
Campbell got an idea. The Joslyn was closing for its massive expansion and remodeling in May 2022. What if Youd came then, to show Nebraskans that the Joslyn could still connect the public to art, even with the museum closed?
“This is literally right on the street, and anyone who wanders by can connect to this experience,” Campbell said. “The reality of performance is you can only plan it so much. When you put it in a public space, it changes the rules. Each one becomes distinct.”
In early April, Youd typed “My Antonia” in Lincoln, often while sitting in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Willa Cather Archive.
In early May, he’s re-typing “O’ Pioneers” in the Old Market, surrounded by street performers and both Omahans and tourists curious about the typewriter and the man using it.
In between his trips to Nebraska’s two biggest cities, he journeyed to Red Cloud. There, he re-typed “The Song of the Lark” at Cather’s childhood home, and also at homes that feature prominently in her books.
On one of the nicest days, he moved his typewriter to the Willa Cather Memorial Prairie. Alone save for a photographer, he typed surrounded by 600 acres of never-plowed ground. He typed surrounded by native grasses blowing in the spring wind.
Back at the Cather childhood home on this April Monday, he is clacking away, typing two-fingered. The frigid morning has turned warmer, sunnier. As he types, he talks about how he has given the better part of his adult life to this project. How he has become obsessed with typewriters. How he has become a much better reader, focusing on the author’s words and intent.
He estimates that the 100 Novels Project will take six more years to complete. Maybe he will finish in New York City, Los Angeles, London.
But he likes it here in Red Cloud, where the only sounds are the birds and his typewriter. Where you can close your eyes and imagine Cather herself typing away.
“I wanted to get as close to her as I possibly could,” he says as he sits on her childhood front porch. “And I feel very close to her right here.”
The Flatwater Free Press is Nebraska’s first independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories that matter.
The Flatwater Free Press is Nebraska’s first independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories that matter.
|
https://journalstar.com/news/local/rewriting-willa-red-cloud-and-omaha-latest-stops-on-decade-long-literary-art-project/article_19d4721d-1cd9-5c3c-b157-bf604407060d.html
| 2022-05-06T11:36:14
| 1
|
https://journalstar.com/news/local/rewriting-willa-red-cloud-and-omaha-latest-stops-on-decade-long-literary-art-project/article_19d4721d-1cd9-5c3c-b157-bf604407060d.html
|
LEE COUNTY, Fla. — United Way of Lee County has extended the American Rescue Plan Act. Nonprofit agencies have until May 6 at 5 p.m. to apply.
The website to find the application is here.
The Lee Board of County Commissioners allocated over $16 million in ARPA funding to United Way to assist local, nonprofit agencies to expand social services.
“If you have nonprofit status you are eligible to pursue this funding,” said Fred Richards, the United Way Program Manager.
It will provide organizations within Lee County the opportunity to apply for funding to assist individuals in the community who were negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eligible agencies must be qualified to receive federal funds. These are the requirements:
- Offered services to Lee County residents
- Have a service location(s) in the County
- Delivered a project that responded to a public health or negative economic impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic
For more information, please visit www.UnitedWayLee.org/ARPA or email [email protected].
|
https://nbc-2.com/news/local/2022/05/06/american-rescue-plan-act-funding-deadline-for-nonprofit-agencies-is-today/
| 2022-05-06T11:42:21
| 0
|
https://nbc-2.com/news/local/2022/05/06/american-rescue-plan-act-funding-deadline-for-nonprofit-agencies-is-today/
|
NAPLES, Fla. — Firefighters responded to a house fire in Naples early Friday morning.
The fire started on a mattress in the back of the house located at 5346 Treetops Drive, according to authorities.
The two people inside tried putting the fire out until Greater Naples Fire Rescue responded to the scene.
No injuries were reported in the early morning blaze.
The fire is now contained but is under investigation.
|
https://nbc-2.com/news/local/2022/05/06/firefighters-respond-to-early-morning-blaze-in-naples/
| 2022-05-06T11:42:27
| 0
|
https://nbc-2.com/news/local/2022/05/06/firefighters-respond-to-early-morning-blaze-in-naples/
|
SAN ANTONIO — The Electric Reliability Council of Texas warns that power grid conditions will be tight during the coming heat wave, especially because so many generation plants are offline for scheduled maintenance.
Utilities typically make repairs and upgrades during the spring, before Texans turn down their air conditioners. ERCOT requires companies to complete this work by May 15.
"You're not expecting a deep freeze an you're not expecting a heat wave then," said Doug Lewin, a power consultant and president of Stoic Energy.
But this year is different. Temperatures will spike to near-record levels in the coming days.
"It's absolutely extreme for early May," Lewin said. "There's no other way about it."
As Texans prepare to crank their thermostats, about 30 percent of the state's thermal power capacity was offline for planned maintenance Thursday.
Coal and natural gas facilities around the state are producing less energy than they could. One of the state's four nuclear units is not generating any electricity at all.
A CPS Energy spokesperson says three of its units are currently down for planned maintenance. The utility says crews are "working long-hours, 7-days a week to support planned unit start-ups later in May."
"CPS Energy has enough capacity available to meet our community needs and will continue to closely monitor weather forecasts and generation availability across the state," the spokesperson said.
Still, ERCOT has asked providers to rush their repair work and re-connect to the grid.
Generation forecasts indicate many utilities plan to comply with the state's request. As of 10 p.m. Thursday, ERCOT expected about 17 gigawatts of power to be unavailable during peak demand, a nearly 3 gigawatt improvement from Monday's forecast for the same hour.
Texans are expected to use about 70 gigawatts of electricity at peak on Monday at 5 p.m.
Neither ERCOT nor Lewin say they expect widespread problems.
"I would say the probability is pretty low," Lewin said. "If there were to be outages, they would likely not last very long."
But Lewin worries delaying or rushing maintenance on aging plants could create problems during more intense heat this summer.
"The less maintenance they do now, the higher the risk they'll have problems in July or August," he said. "Do they come out of outage, turn on, and then shut back down because the work wasn't done that needed to be done?"
Climate change all but ensures more problems related to extreme and unseasonable temperatures in coming years. Lewin says ERCOT should more heavily regulate plants' maintenance schedules to accommodate unseasonable temperatures.
"Climate change is happening now. It matters. They need to study it, understand it, and change their practices to deal with it," Lewin said. "Not just ERCOT, but the state agriculture department... and others."
Texans also focus too heavily on boosting supply instead of managing demand, he says. Lewin harps that too many homes are energy inefficient, often built before modern construction codes became law.
ERCOT, unlike CPS Energy, says it will not ask Texans to conserve energy this weekend.
The San Antonio utility provides tips for conservation here.
|
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/ercot-san-antonio-power-plants-warns-of-tight-grid-conditions-ahead-of-weekend-heat-wave/273-dd1c9a9b-4a74-4389-a6d0-3629dfdbbb4c
| 2022-05-06T11:42:28
| 0
|
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/ercot-san-antonio-power-plants-warns-of-tight-grid-conditions-ahead-of-weekend-heat-wave/273-dd1c9a9b-4a74-4389-a6d0-3629dfdbbb4c
|
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — Sherry Noppe, the woman missing since Tuesday along with her dog, was found alive by searchers early Friday morning in George Bush Park, according to Harris County Precinct 5 Constable Ted Heap.
Noppe was found at 3 a.m. by a group of volunteers and deputies who were alerted by the sound of her dog, Max, barking in the woods, Heap said.
"It's a small miracle that she's alive after being missing for so long," Constable Heap said. "Our concern now is getting her out of the woods and to a hospital for a medical evaluation."
The Noppe family will give an update on her condition at a briefing this morning. Watch it live on KHOU 11 Morning News or stream it in the player above.
Noppe was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital in Katy to be evaluated. Officials said she was a little shaken up.
A friend of the family is calling it a miracle and said Max the dog is a hero for helping signal searchers with his barking.
Deputies and Texas EquuSearch have been searching the 2,700-acre park on ATVs and on foot since earlier this week.
Noppe was last seen early Tuesday afternoon walking her dog, Max, a black Labrador, near her Parkland Village neighborhood in Katy, which backs up to George Bush Park.
Tips about possible sightings had poured in over the last few days.
“We’ve had two sightings that are more credible than others, we’ve had about 200 non-credible sightings," Jake Stovall with Gulf Search & Rescue said earlier this week.
A Facebook page called Find Sherry had thousands of members. One post included a photo of a chair, a dog bowl and bottle of water with Noppe's name on it that someone left on a trail.
Noppe was recently diagnosed with dementia but despite her memory loss, was said to be very familiar with the park's trails.
|
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/missing-katy-woman-found-in-george-bush-park-harris-county-texas/285-70e9b932-4ec0-4550-b445-c2b057ee6aa4
| 2022-05-06T11:42:34
| 0
|
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/missing-katy-woman-found-in-george-bush-park-harris-county-texas/285-70e9b932-4ec0-4550-b445-c2b057ee6aa4
|
Police have released new information about a group they have dubbed the "Gilgo Four," the four women in their 20s who were found dead, wrapped in burlap sacks, along a remote stretch of Long Island highway -- within a quarter of a mile from one another -- near the now notorious beach in 2010.
The so-called "Gilgo Four" -- Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costella -- were discovered during the search for Shannan Gilbert, an escort, like the others, from Jersey City who vanished after meeting a client on nearby Oak Beach that spring. Her remains were found in a swampy marsh not far from away in 2011, 19 months after she disappeared.
Gilbert's cause of death has been disputed. But the Gilgo Four, officials say, were all murdered, possibly the work of a serial killer. No arrests have been made and no suspects have been identified. The new information release comes as new Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison seeks to restore public faith in the long-unsolved investigation, which has been skewered over lacking transparency.
“As the Homicide Squad continues its tireless work on this investigation, we believe now is the right time to disseminate this previously unreleased information in hopes of eliciting tips from the public and providing greater transparency about the victims," Harrison said in sharing the information Thursday.
While none of the details are particularly enlightening from an investigative perspective, they shed more light on the women behind Long Island's infamous case. Here are the latest details on the Gilgo Four as provided by Suffolk County:
Maureen Brainard-Barnes
Suffolk police said that Brainard-Barnes, believed to be the first victim among the "Gilgo Four," was a 25-year-old living in Norwich, Connecticut, when she went missing. They said it is believed she took an Amtrak train from New London to New York City on July, 6, 2007
She spent her time in the city working as a prostitute, advertising on Craigslist, Backpage and other sites under names like Juliana or Marie as she stayed at a Super 8 Motel on West 46th Street, between 5th and 6th avenues. Brainard-Barnes, who stood just under 5 feet tall, would travel to Manhattan to work for a few nights before going back home to Connecticut, according to investigators.
While in the city, she also stayed at a Red Roof Inn on West 32nd Street, the Carter Hotel on West 43rd Street and the Manhattan Hotel on 8th Avenue. Sometimes she would be with another woman — a friend who worked out of a different hotel room — and a man, who both women referred to as their cousin, police said. That man would provide a level of security for the two sex workers.
Brainard-Barnes traveled with the other woman to the city the weekend she went missing, but the woman went back home early. On July 9, she called a friend back in Connecticut just minutes before midnight, telling them she was going to meet someone outside of the motel, which was not what her typical operating procedure, according to Suffolk police.
Five days later, a friend reported Brainard-Barnes missing to police in Connecticut, and soon the NYPD took over the investigation. More than three years later, on Dec. 13, 2010, her body was found on the north side of Ocean Parkway, near Gilgo Beach, during police's search for Gilbert, who had gone missing from Oak Beach.
Melissa Barthelemy
Barthelemy, 24, went missing on July 12, 2009 after she was last seen at her basement apartment on Underhill Avenue in the Unionport section of the Bronx, investigators said.
The 4-foot-10-inch tall escort advertised on Adult Friend Finder and other sites, often using aliases Chloe and "VerySexyChloe," and had the words "Blaze" and "Focus" on her back, along with letters on her chest, according to police.
Barthelemy, who was said to meet her clients at bars, restaurants and hotels on Manhattan's West Side, told a friend the night she went missing that she was going to meet a man and would be back in the morning. The friend knew Barthelemy was an escort, but didn't know any other details about the meetup that night.
After not hearing from her or being able to reach her for a few days, Barthelemy's mother reported her missing to the NYPD on July 18.
Cellphone records show that Barthelemy went from the Bronx to Manhattan, likely in a taxi, on the night of July 12. An investigation then revealed that her cellphone signal was picked up in the Long Island towns of Freeport, Massapequa and Lindenhurst.
Suffolk police said that Barthelemy's sister got a series of taunting phone calls from an individual using her cell after she went missing, and the calls are believed to have come from the killer. The calls were made from an area near the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, and near Penn Station.
Authorities looked into the areas, but were unable to establish any leads due to heavy car and foot traffic nearby.
Barthelemy's body was found almost a year and a half later, on Dec. 11, 2010. While she was the first victim found, police believe she was actually the second one killed, after Brainard-Barnes.
Megan Waterman
The 22-year-old Waterman, a resident of Scarborough, Maine, was a sex worker who also utilized the same websites as the other victims, according to police, using the names "Lexxy "and "Sexy Lexi." Her family watched her board a New York-bound bus in Maine, not knowing that would be the last time they would see her, with a man who may have been her pimp.
While she was known to stay at a variety of hotels and motels on Long Island, including the Extended Stay America in Bethpage, Waterman was staying at a Holiday Inn Express in Hauppauge on June 6, 2010, an investigation found.
She left around 1:30 a.m. that day to meet a client, according to police — but told her pimp, who was in Brooklyn at the time, that she was going to a convenience store near the hotel.
Family reported her missing to police in Maine on June 8, after they said it was unlike her to not call and check in on her then-3-year-old daughter. The Scarborough police contacted the Suffolk Police Department to assist in the investigation, and her body was found on Dec. 13 later that year.
Investigators believe she was the third of the "Gilgo Four" victims. Her pimp was later arrested and convicted on interstate trafficking charges, spending three years in federal prison in Jan. 2013. However, there is no indication he had any knowledge or in any way participated in Waterman's death, police said.
In April 2022, Harrison released the last known surveillance video of Waterman, at the Holiday Inn Express in Happauge. The footage shows multiple angles from the lobby on June 4, 5 and 6 of that year. She was wearing a yellow sweater and is shown both arriving and leaving the hotel.
Harrison said investigators believe Waterman left the Holiday Inn the night of June 6, 2010, to meet her killer. He also shared an image of jewelry discovered on the remains of a toddler whose bones were recovered during the investigation (see below).
Amber Lynn Costello
The oldest of the "Gilgo Four" victims, Costello was 27 when she went missing in September 2010, having last been seen by acquaintances, the investigation has found.
She had multiple tattoos, including "Kaos" on her neck, a butterfly on her lower back and the name "Margeret" on her leg.
Costello, a heroin addict at the time, was living in West Babylon on Long Island with another woman and two men, each of whom was similarly addicted to drugs. In order to support their collective addictions, Costello and the other woman advertised as sex workers on Craigslist and Backpage; Costello used the names Carolina or Mia, police said.
She had moved to New York from Clearwater, Florida, and completed 28-day drug rehab, but police believe she had relapsed before going missing.
Sharing a cellphone with her roommates, Costello and the others would arrange dates with clients, doing both "in-calls" at the house and "out-calls" elsewhere. Police said that the roommates concocted a scam for the clients who came to the house, as after money had already been paid, one of the male roommates would say that Costello was his girlfriend, and the client would take off.
She was last seen leaving the home on America Avenue on Sept. 2, 2010, going to meet a client picking her up at the house. Costello didn't have a cellphone on her at the time, and was never reported missing.
On Dec. 13, during the same search for Gilbert, Costello's body was found on the north side of Ocean Parkway.
The bodies of the "Gilgo Four" had been dumped in burlap sacks within a quarter-mile span, about 500 feet apart on a desolate stretch of Ocean Parkway.
It was the disappearance of the 24-year-old Gilbert that led to the discovery of all the bodies, which were found in the days after the search for Gilbert launched in 2010. A total of 10 sets of human remains were found by spring 2011.
In April 2011, authorities found a partially dismembered woman, later identified as another prostitute, Jessica Taylor (no relation to the alias used by Valerie Mack), an unidentified Asian man, two unidentified women and an unidentified female toddler. The toddler was determined, through DNA testing, to be the daughter of a woman discovered about 7 miles away. They have not been identified.
Gilbert's remains were found later that year, on Dec. 13 2011, in a swampy Oak Beach marsh, about 18 months after she went missing. Investigators discovered Gilbert's body about a half-mile from where she was last seen. She was found in a swamp rampant with thorny brush and police said at the time they believed Gilbert drowned by accident.
Later, an independent autopsy by the renowned forensic pathologist Michael Baden found Gilbert had suffered injuries “consistent with homicidal strangulation.” Police have said consistently they do not believe her death is linked to the others.
Gilbert's mother, Mari, refused to let the case drop out of the public eye and pressed law enforcement for a homicide investigation that never matured. Mari Gilbert died in July 2016, allegedly stabbed to death by her other daughter, Sarra, who suffers from schizophrenia.
What have yet to be released are 911 calls connected to Gilbert's case, which Suffolk County had been ordered to release years ago but refused, citing the ongoing investigation.
She had called 911 from Oak Beach and said someone was trying to kill her; that call lasted about 22 minutes. There were three other calls. Despite efforts from the attorney of her now-deceased mother Mari Gilbert to have the calls released -- and a court order to do so -- they have never been made public.
The delay from Suffolk County to release the calls has involved previous administrations, though, and Harrison had said earlier this year he would release the tapes if they didn't interfere with the ongoing investigation. It remains unclear when or if the 911 call release will happen.
Harrison, the fifth Suffolk police commissioner to oversee the case, previously said his office plans to review every piece of evidence in the case and that real progress was being made, though didn't elaborate on the latter point. He also pledged the release of additional data to come -- and more transparency.
Suffolk officials have long said they don't believe Gilbert's case is connected to the others, the families of other victims hope the 911 calls could shed at least some light on their own outstanding mysteries.
Investigators haven’t been able to determine whether a lone serial killer or several suspects were involved, but they have said over the years they don't believe one person is responsible for all the deaths. No arrests have been made, and no suspects have ever been publicly named in any of the cases.
Harrison said that the reward in the case is now at $50,000 for information that leads to an arrest. Anyone with tips about the victims or a potential suspect or suspects is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS (8477).
|
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/gilgo-beach-murders/3676034/
| 2022-05-06T11:43:53
| 1
|
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/gilgo-beach-murders/3676034/
|
Grace Church to rent out affordable homes in Greenville as part of special program
Grace Church has purchased a dormitory building from Greenville Technical College to convert into affordable housing as part of a special program to address the local housing crisis.
The church will serve as the landlord for the property, and rent will be adjusted to fit families' income. Rent prices will range from $450 for a single room to $1,000 for a three-bedroom unit.
The goal, according to Grace Church's care and recovery ministry director LeeAnne Cavin, is that the average family will pay in the $900-range for a unit.
"We do have a crisis of housing," Cavin said. "Our whole community is really starting to desire collaboration."
The units are expected to open for rent the first week of June, and the church already has almost 40 families ready to move in.
Segregated by Section 8:A federal program that tries to house people leaves many homeless in the Southeast
The program will accept emergency housing vouchers through the Greenville Housing Authority but not Section 8 vouchers or extra subsidy from the federal government that goes directly toward rent.
To sign a lease in one of the units, families agree to be a part of a Grace Church housing program that offers medical coverage, dental care, a savings matching program, mental-health support, car maintenance, financial education, cooking classes, self-defense classes, and job and interview preparation.
Residents are expected to stay in the program for two to three years, and Grace is specifically looking to serve people coming from transitional housing and recovery programs and survivors of human trafficking, domestic violence and abuse.
The church will work with other housing organizations to find applicants, Cavin said.
Trying to fill the gap:How Greenville churches and faith groups address the local affordable-housing gap
More Grace Church news:Grace Church proposes downtown Greenville tower that would alter city's skyline
The property is the former Campus Pointe at Greenville Tech apartments on Cleveland Street and is located on a public bus line.
Requirements to stay in the program include:
- Rent and utilities payment
- Weekly connection with Grace Church through group or outreach programs of renters' choice
- Attendance at a weekly worship service at renters' church of choice
- Drug tests and apartment checks
- Participation in classes or groups such as financial education or cooking.
The apartment units will work toward filling a much-needed housing shortage in Greenville.
A 2020 study by the Greenville Housing Fund found that almost half of Greenville County renters are cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing and utilities. If you're paying more than 30% of your annual income on housing, you're paying more than you can afford while maintaining the ability to afford other needs, according to experts at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Recent affordable housing news:Greenville Housing Fund to allocate $4 million for service and healthcare workers
Grace Church has 10 locations across the Upstate and saw more than 6,000 attendees on average each Sunday in 2021.
Cavin said Grace Church is excited to expand its housing ministry and work with local housing organizations to do so.
"We're incredibly grateful to be a part of what Greenville is doing," Cavin said.
Genna Contino covers Greenville County and housing for The Greenville News. Contact Genna at gcontino@gannett.com or on Twitter @GennaContino. Subscribe to The Greenville News at greenvillenews.com/subscribe.
|
https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/2022/05/06/greenville-sc-grace-church-purchased-dorm-rent-affordable-homes/9616811002/
| 2022-05-06T11:57:54
| 0
|
https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/2022/05/06/greenville-sc-grace-church-purchased-dorm-rent-affordable-homes/9616811002/
|
BJ's Market offers smaller take on warehouse store
WARWICK — If you think BJ's Wholesale Club stores are too big, with too much stuff in them, the Massachusetts-based chain has a more diminutive offering for you, which the company promises will be more convenient: BJ's Market.
Opening Friday where the Toys 'R' Us used to be at 375 East Ave., the store has a slimmed down list of products, focusing on food. It will still sell non-food staples, such as those bales of toilet paper and other home products. It will all be in the familiar large-sized packages.
But don't look for things like flat-screen TVs, clothes and tires.
"It's like a lunchbox store," said Peter Frangie, a company vice president, explaining that it's designed as a quick stop, where parents might run in to get stuff for their kids' lunchboxes without having to walk as far.
"We are looking at it as an innovation lab," said Frangie, adding that new products will be tested there first before being rolled out to other BJ's stores. This is the first BJ's Market format opened by the chain.
The new concept wasn't designed to fit the old toy store. Instead, the store was chosen because it fits the new concept for the company, he said. "This has been a couple of years in the works, the idea of a store like this."
What's new about BJ's Market?
A typical BJ's Wholesale Club has a floor area of almost 2½ acres.
The BJ's Market is about an acre, 43,000 square feet.
By comparison, the Market Basket two miles away on Bald Hill Road is 89,000 square feet, just over 2 acres.
The store feels much cozier than a typical BJ's, with lower ceilings, smaller freezers for frozen foods and shelving that only rises two tiers off the floor, but it's still the same heavy-duty warehouse shelving, just no canyon effect.
And you can easily see the back of the store from the front of the store.
What is the bakery department like?
Pretty much the same as a full-sized BJ's store. You'll still be able to get a jumbo tray of cookies or other pastries. You'll still be able to get custom-inscribed cakes.
What about the deli?
Pretty much the same as a full-sized BJ's store. You'll still be able to take a number and get cold cuts sliced to order.
Will BJ's Market sell wine?
No. While BJ's stores in Massachusetts sell wine. it's illegal for grocery stores to sell alcohol in Rhode Island.
Do you have to be a member to shop at BJ's Market?
Yes. A membership to any BJ's store is good at all of them, including the new BJ's Market. And memberships bought at BJ's Market are good at all 200-plus stores along the Eastern Seaboard and stretching as far west as Michigan.
When does BJ's Market open?
The new store opens Friday, May 6, at 8 a.m. Its hours are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day, except Sunday, when it closes at 8 p.m.
How do you get there?
BJ's Market is right off the Route 113 west exit from Route 95 south and Route 295 north.
How many BJ's stores are in RI?
With the opening of the BJ's Market, there are four: Warwick, Johnston, Coventry and Middletown. There are also BJ's stores minutes from the state line in Seekonk and South Attleboro, Massachusetts.
|
https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/local/2022/05/06/bjs-market-offers-smaller-take-warehouse-store/9657594002/
| 2022-05-06T11:58:56
| 0
|
https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/local/2022/05/06/bjs-market-offers-smaller-take-warehouse-store/9657594002/
|
Two of the youngest Coquille Chess Club players attended the Washington State Elementary Chess Championships at the Tacoma Convention Center this weekend gaining another trophy and medal.
Noah Ish-Shalom played against 121 other top third grade players and won two out of five games.
He did beat players with ratings around 1,250. Most third grade players are rated below 600. He won a medal.
Ari Ish-Shalom played against 31 other top kindergarten players and won three out of five games which put him in ninth place, earning a trophy.
By attending national level chess tournaments, these two players are learning skills and strategies that will help them develop their chess skills.
These two youngsters are Coquille’s current prodigies to follow.
|
https://theworldlink.com/news/local/ish-shalom-brothers-shine-in-chess-tourney/article_78ef95ac-cbd2-11ec-8736-17f1d5cf0a89.html
| 2022-05-06T12:22:34
| 1
|
https://theworldlink.com/news/local/ish-shalom-brothers-shine-in-chess-tourney/article_78ef95ac-cbd2-11ec-8736-17f1d5cf0a89.html
|
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) – Arturo was a lover. When he would see Erica Star Robbins across Linn Park in Birmingham, he’d speed over to her on his wheelchair, a smile stretched across his face. He’d ask her to marry him – not an unusual occurrence – and then he’d turn to the person next to Erica and ask them, too, for their hand in marriage. “There’s enough of me to go around,” he’d say.
Arturo Fortunell, a double amputee and undocumented resident of Birmingham, had faced street homelessness for years. On Saturday, Fortunell was found unresponsive in the bushes near the Rainbow Bridge by Railroad Park where he often slept. He did not survive. Questions about the death sent to Jefferson County Coroner’s Office by CBS 42 have not yet been answered.
Erica Star Robbins, founder of Be A Blessing Birmingham, a local nonprofit that provides services to the unhoused community in the city, said Arturo’s death was devastating for those who knew him. His death, Robbins said, should be devastating for every person in the City of Birmingham. And she’s on a mission: to provide Arturo a deserving burial, a memorial service in Linn Park, and a legacy worthy of his memory. Robbins said Arturo’s death has been a catalyst to move forward with a project called “Lots of Love,” something she hopes will help provide some stability for those in Birmingham still facing the difficulties Arturo knew all too well.
Getting to know Arturo
Robbins always told Arturo that he should be in the Paralympics. His attitude was always positive, despite the constant adversity he faced. He was always ready for a challenge. And he was fast. Robbins said she was often stunned by the speed with which Arturo could get to her, calling her name from a football field away but then appearing in front of her before she could even respond.
“How you doing?” He’d ask her. “I haven’t seen you in a couple of days.”
She’d ask if he’d eaten, and he’d usually say no.
“Let’s get you something to eat,” she’d tell him. And they would. But before she knew it, as quick as he’d come, he’d be gone, smile and all, off to brighten someone else’s day.
Felicia Scalzetti, Arturo’s friend and a community organizer, said Arturo’s Birmingham friends don’t even have a way to contact his family in Mexico who may not know he’s passed. But they said they’ll remember him for the caring person he was.
“Arturo was special,” Scalzetti said, “and I’m not just saying that because he proposed to me five minutes after we met. He was always brimming with joy, had an infectious smile that lit everyone else up, and was just one of those people you always looked around for.”
The battle for mobility
Robbins said Arturo was often targeted on the streets because of his small stature. His chair, made for his small size, was stolen from him twice.
The first time, in 2019, Arturo was robbed of all his belongings, including his wheelchair. Cat Cruz, a local volunteer and former homelessness worker, remembered Arturo telling her about the incident. Arturo’s attackers had beaten him down and thrown him in the bushes.
“He was there in the bushes for a few days until the cops found him,” Cruz said. “He was all bit up and very upset.”
Cruz, Robbins and others found Arturo a replacement chair and gave it to him in Linn Park. He was excited, thanking them for their help and the freedom it brought him. Cruz said she can still remember the expression on his face.
Then, toward the end of April 2022, Cruz received a call from a former colleague telling her that Arturo was in front of a local business and wouldn’t talk to anyone. People were calling the police on Arturo, her colleague said, and he was asking for her by name.
Cruz went down to find out what was going on. Arturo’s wheelchair had been stolen again, and his hand had been injured in the fight.
“He was completely defenseless,” Cruz said.
For a second time, local organizers worked to replace the wheelchair. Two days before his death, they had managed to get him a new one. Once again, Arturo was overwhelmed with gratitude.
“He had the exact same expression on his face,” Cruz said.
But now, just days later, Cruz and Robbins are coping with the reality that Arturo will never use the chair again.
Arturo’s legacy
Cat Cruz found out Arturo had died Saturday morning after his campmate found him unresponsive.
When she got the call, Cruz said she knew something was wrong.
“But I wasn’t prepared for it to be him,” she said.
It was. Arturo Fortunell, a loved resident of the Magic City, was gone.
“It’s been really rough,” Robbins said of the days since Arturo’s passing. But she’s found motivation in the misery.
“I don’t want another neighbor – another human being – found dead,” Robbins said. “I don’t want another neighbor treated like trash, like just litter thrown out the window. They’re human, just like us.”
So Robbins is focused on three goals. She wants to provide Arturo a proper burial and hold a memorial for him in Linn Park, a place he often called home.
“I don’t want him just put in a pauper’s grave because he had family,” Robbins said. “We are his family.”
She said holding a remembrance in Linn Park would allow those who knew Arturo during his time on the streets of Birmingham to pay their respects.
“I want there to be food and music,” she said. “He loved music. He’d be dancing in his wheelchair. He was always just so happy. I just want folks to know that he was and still is loved.”
But Robbins said that Arturo’s legacy should be more than just a brief memorial. In addition to raising funds for Arturo’s burial and service, Robbins is fundraising to provide “Lots of Love” in his memory.
“We want to purchase empty lots in different areas and put love into those lots,” Robbins said.
The lots would be developed to provide shelter for those facing homelessness in the city who may find it difficult, for various reasons, to take advantage of traditional housing programs or congregate shelters.
Arturo, for example, was undocumented, a reality that made it difficult for him to receive services accessible to others. Often, people like Arturo slip through the holes of the social safety net, something Robbins said must be addressed systematically, not just on an individual basis.
According to the point-in-time count, a federally mandated survey of individuals facing homelessness, around 875 people faced homelessness in the Birmingham area on any given night in 2021, over 300 of which had no shelter at all. A significant number of those facing homelessness – over 100 – are veterans. The majority of people facing homelessness in the Birmingham area (60%) are people of color. And experts say that these numbers are likely to be an undercount because of factors including the federal government’s limited definition of homelessness and the difficulty of locating individuals who may not necessarily want to be found.
Erica Star Robbins hopes that individuals across the Magic City will step in where she said city leaders have failed. She’s asking that anyone who wants to honor Arturo’s memory, or anyone who simply wants to help their vulnerable neighbors, contribute to a GoFundMe aimed at opening spaces in the city “as warm, fuzzy and full of life” as Arturo himself – “Lots of love.”
“Help me make this dream a reality,” Robbins said. “I have seen how people can come together for a good cause. Let’s provide people with a hand up.”
|
https://www.cbs42.com/news/local/lots-of-love-for-arturo-nonprofit-seeks-to-honor-man-facing-homelessness-found-dead-in-birmingham/
| 2022-05-06T12:38:22
| 1
|
https://www.cbs42.com/news/local/lots-of-love-for-arturo-nonprofit-seeks-to-honor-man-facing-homelessness-found-dead-in-birmingham/
|
This article was originally published on May 5 at 6:48pm EDT by THE CITY
On April 18, the French graffiti artist Julien Blanc posted photos to Instagram of his signature “JiBEONE” tag on a Manhattan rooftop where he was, he wrote, “waiting for the sunrise.”
Days later, Blanc and graffiti partner Pierre Audebert were both struck and killed by a train at an elevated station along the No. 3 line in Brooklyn, in what sources described as the pursuit of a prized canvas sought by spray-paint Picassos around the world.
The deaths of Blanc, 34, and Audebert, 28, highlight the enduring — and growing — allure of tagging New York trains decades after the heyday of graffiti in the transit system. The MTA has documented a recent surge in the number of subway cars tagged, nearly double so far this year from the same time period in 2019.
“For the newer generation who are interested in the subway, it’s still a draw,” said Eric Felisbret, a graffiti historian who painted trains as ‘DEAL CIA’ in the late 1970s and early 80s. “It’s the Mecca, where they want to sort of get that feather in their cap that they’ve painted on a train in the birthplace of subway graffiti.”
The 209 graffiti markups from Jan. 1 through early May amount to a 95% year-to-date increase from 2019, when there were 107, MTA statistics provided to THE CITY show.
The spike comes after the number of tags per year had plummeted from 443 in 2018 to 297 a year later, a 33% decrease.
News
But after that number fell again to 208 in 2020, according to the MTA, subway graffiti shot up in 2021 and is on pace to blow past the 300 total reports from last year — with 89% occurring in tunnels and tracks where out-of-service trains are stored.
The rise in underground artistry is evident on the MTA website, where the agency posts weekly updates for “incidents of vandalism” in the transit system.
For the week starting March 28, the MTA tallied 73 occurrences of subway graffiti, followed by 68 the next week — by far, the highest weekly totals since the MTA began posting the numbers in August 2020. There were 59 for the week starting April 25, days after the two deaths.
Among the graffiti showpieces last month was a B train subway car emblazoned with “Let’s Go Yankees” in Bomber colors and pinstripes.
“The MTA considers acts of vandalism to be unacceptable,” Sean Butler, a spokesperson for the agency, told THE CITY. “These acts are costly to the MTA and taxpayers, and often extremely dangerous.”
‘It’s a Pilgrimage’
An NYPD spokesperson said trains stored in so-called layup areas are primarily targeted “by individuals living overseas.”
“As restrictions on international travel have lifted, we have seen an increase in layup graffiti incidents,” said the spokesperson, Lt. Jessica McRorie.
The area near the elevated Sutter Avenue-Rutland Road station in Brownsville where Blanc and Audbert’s bodies were found early on April 20 is near an underground layup area, transit workers told THE CITY, and veteran graffiti artists said it has long attracted people who want to leave their mark on the subway.
“They go to places that were well known in the 70s and 80s,” said Louie Gasparro, an actor and artist whose graffiti tag was KR.ONE. “That folklore has gotten to the community in Europe, so for the European writers, it’s a pilgrimage.”
Fred Vilomar, who tagged trains as “REE” from 1973 to 1977, said the area in Brownsville has been “well known” in street-art circles for decades.
“It was a hotspot when I was teenager, but getting into that location, you have to have timing and luck, you understand?” he said. “It’s a risky game to play and I’m sorry their lives were lost.”
Vilomar, who is in his 60s and remains active as a street artist, said he quit spray painting in the subway after a friend was fatally struck by a train in the 1970s.
“I’ve seen what it’s done to my friends and also the kids coming from overseas,” he said. “To them, it’s like the holy grail to come to New York City and paint a subway car — they take that glory with them and have that notch on their belt, but they have to understand it’s not as glorious as it seems.”
The short-lived sizzle driven by social-media photos and videos of spray-painted trains, which the MTA quickly removes from passenger service, has contributed to the subway graffiti resurgence, according to veterans of the scene.
“The MTA’s line of thinking was that if you remove the train from service instantly, you never let anyone see it and you take away the motivation immediately,” said Felisbret, the author of “Graffiti New York” and founder of at149st.com, which chronicles subway graffiti history. “But with the arrival of social media, they don’t really have that as a fighting tactic anymore.”
The Cost of Paint
The MTA said it expects to spend more than $1 million in 2022 on graffiti-related costs, as it has the previous two years.
Hundreds of millions of dollars were spent targeting graffiti from 1972 until 1989, when the MTA took what it said was the last train covered by graffiti out of service to be scrubbed clean.
“It’s expensive to clean,” said Lisa Daglian, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA. “And it causes delays and is a symptom of the larger issues that we’re facing as a society and as a system.”
The subway system has seen a nearly 20% increase since 2019 in the number of people on the tracks, most of whom are there voluntarily, according to the MTA, which is looking at ways to reduce intrusions into the path of trains.
The agency could not say how many track trespassing cases involved graffiti.
Ceet Fouad, a French-Algerian artist, told Gothamist last month he was not aware that Blanc and Audebert were planning to spray paint subway trains when he had dinner with them the night before they were found on the tracks.
“If I knew, I would tell them not to do it,” he said.
Felisbret, the veteran graffiti artist, told THE CITY this week he was “really horrified” by the two deaths, but said he doesn’t expect a long-term chilling effect on the number of artists from abroad who want to spray paint in the subway.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we soon see tributes to them on trains, paintings that are posted to Instagram,” he said. “I think it will only briefly slow things down.”
THE CITY is an independent, nonprofit news outlet dedicated to hard-hitting reporting that serves the people of New York.
|
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/graffiti-on-subway-surges-as-world-visits-nyc-for-risky-game/3676166/
| 2022-05-06T13:15:04
| 1
|
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/graffiti-on-subway-surges-as-world-visits-nyc-for-risky-game/3676166/
|
ROCHESTER, Minn. - Across the country Americans are observing National Day of Prayer.
It's held the first Thursday of May and is meant to encourage communities to reflect through prayer.
Some Rochester community members are taking an opportunity to focus their prayers on the future of abortion.
The Salvation Army Community Center hosted a prayer service on Thursday afternoon.
Those in attendance spent some time reflecting on how a Supreme Court draft could overture Roe v. Wade.
Wendell Amstutz, the president of the National Community Resource Center, led the service. He's hoping Roe v. Wade is overturned but is also praying the decision is made with compassion.
He said, "Hopefully today is a day of reconciliation, a day of compassion for people and a day where we make a fresh commitment to loving people."
Amstutz went on to say he hopes those in favor of overturning the ruling stay strong but asks, when having conversations about the topic, we all do so with kindness, compassion and understanding.
He added, "We need people who are compassionate towards each other and respect each other, to agree to disagree. From the church's side of things we need to be people who are pro-life during a difficult pregnancy and pro-life after a pregnancy."
Additional prayer services are taking place at Christ Community Church in Rochester beginning at 5:30pm with a second service starting at 7pm.
|
https://www.kimt.com/news/local/prayers-offered-over-abortion-rights-decision-on-national-day-of-prayer/article_0c563504-ccae-11ec-b11a-ffe871d1bd2d.html
| 2022-05-06T13:27:14
| 0
|
https://www.kimt.com/news/local/prayers-offered-over-abortion-rights-decision-on-national-day-of-prayer/article_0c563504-ccae-11ec-b11a-ffe871d1bd2d.html
|
MANLY, Iowa - It's a huge milestone for North Iowa-based Sukup Manufacturing.
Sukup's steel coil facility and distribution center at the Manly Terminal officially opened their doors one year ago, but now, there's a little more room. Together with Sukup employees, state representatives and Mason City Chamber of Commerce members, the green ribbon was cut on the expansion of the facility that, when fully staffed, is expected to employ 25-30 people.
U.S. Representative Ashley Hinson was in attendance at the ribbon cutting, and got a tour of the facility. As there has been more of a focus on American made products, she applauds the company's initiative.
"When you look at American products, and how we can utilize resources we have here...it's American steel, it's American energy, all of those things combined. When you look at how these industries support each other...we're next to a terminal in Manly where rail and truck intersect. From a standpoint of supply chain, it's absolutely critical in the kind of investment they're making."
The facility is helping the company in significantly reducing the company's cost of hauling in steel from out of state.
|
https://www.kimt.com/news/local/ribbon-cut-on-sukup-manufacturings-steel-coil-facility-expansion/article_b2ae1a5a-cd0a-11ec-b55f-5b512f1967e8.html
| 2022-05-06T13:27:18
| 1
|
https://www.kimt.com/news/local/ribbon-cut-on-sukup-manufacturings-steel-coil-facility-expansion/article_b2ae1a5a-cd0a-11ec-b55f-5b512f1967e8.html
|
DALLAS — A man who police initially said accidentally shot an 11-year-old boy in Dallas on Thursday night has been arrested on a murder charge, officials said.
Andre Sharp, 29, was arrested in the case, according to a police news release.
The shooting happened shortly after 7:30 p.m. in the 2500 block of Fatima Avenue in southern Dallas, near South Lancaster and East Camp Wisdom roads.
Police said Sharp was showing a .38-caliber revolver to the victim and a witness.
Sharp had pointed the gun at the victim and witness and "pulled the trigger each time he pointed the weapon," the police news release said.
The weapon didn't go off when he pointed it at the witness. When he pointed it at the victim, gun went off and shot the boy in the neck, police said.
Police initially said the man was handling a gun when it accidentally went off, striking the child.
The child, whose name has not been released, was taken to a hospital, where he died.
The suspect was interviewed at police headquarters and then arrested and taken to jail, police said.
|
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/fatima-avenue-child-killed-in-accidental-shooting-in-dallas-police-say/287-ab513fe3-d2c2-4b19-8a5e-3ceeb89b14c5
| 2022-05-06T13:53:26
| 1
|
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/fatima-avenue-child-killed-in-accidental-shooting-in-dallas-police-say/287-ab513fe3-d2c2-4b19-8a5e-3ceeb89b14c5
|
Coconino Community College (CCC) will be hosting an in-person commencement for its graduates after two years of virtual ceremonies.
CCC will recognize students who completed a degree or certificate in fall 2021, or spring or summer 2022. It has also invited 2020 and 2021 graduates to the Friday event who experienced a virtual commencement due to the COVD-19 pandemic to return to campus “to participate in the May 2022 ceremony and celebrate in person.”
The college will host ceremonies at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the V. Phillip Tullar Commons at the Flagstaff Lone Tree Campus. According to the school's website, “parking will be free and open to the public.”
A campus map is available here.
Graduates in the Arts and Sciences will be celebrated in the 10 a.m. commencement and those in Career and Technical Education will be celebrated at 2 p.m.
People are also reading…
The ceremonies will also be streamed to CCC’s YouTube.
More can be found at coconino.edu/commencement.
|
https://azdailysun.com/news/local/education/coconino-community-college-hosting-graduation-commencement-friday/article_8a45455c-ca4e-11ec-839b-23a68343e653.html
| 2022-05-06T14:09:58
| 0
|
https://azdailysun.com/news/local/education/coconino-community-college-hosting-graduation-commencement-friday/article_8a45455c-ca4e-11ec-839b-23a68343e653.html
|
Matt Billings has been involved in the Associated Students of NAU (ASNAU) since his freshman year and hopes to go into law after making some changes to his plans.
Billings, a political science major who will be graduating from Northern Arizona University this weekend, originally thought he was going to study environmental science, but switched to political science as it “seemed more interesting.”
He said he’s always been interested in politics and that one of his earliest memories is of watching the 2008 presidential election results come in. He was in third grade at the time.
“That was one of the rare occasions where I was able to stay up, and I just remember being so fascinated with why the states were red and blue, and everything that was going on,” he said. “Ever since then I’ve always wanted to lead people to politics."
Billings grew up in Phoenix, saying the transition to NAU “wasn’t too bad” despite not quite knowing what to expect of Flagstaff and the campus. He chose the school both for its Lumberjack Scholarship and because he wanted to try something new.
People are also reading…
“NAU for me had also had that sense of far enough away from home, but not too far,” he said.
After graduating, Billings plans to return to Phoenix to pursue a paralegal certification and gain experience in paralegal work before going to law school.
As for his eventual career plans, Billings said he is "indecisive right now, but immigration law seems to be something that I keep coming back to.”
During his time at NAU, Billings has spent a lot of time with ASNAU, for which he is the outgoing vice president of government affairs (VPGA).
He first joined the organization as a freshman in the New Student Government (NSG), the freshman student council. One of his high school friends was interested in joining NSG, he said -- which is why he got involved.
That friend is now the outgoing student body president and Billings “never left” the organization. He held a staff position through this year, when he became VPGA.
“Every VPGA has done something different with the role,” he said. “One of the things that I definitely wanted to focus on was, in addition to voter registration efforts on campus…strengthening student relations within the community.”
In his time as VPGA, Billings also arranged a town hall with Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and worked on voter education efforts. He also organized a community service event in the fall semester that was repeated in the spring with help from the LEAP office.
The fall event focused on a street cleanup, with teams working on each side of Butler Avenue from Milton Road to Sawmill Road.
“ASNAU has helped me grow so much as a person,” he said. “...I’ve grown so much through several roles, but especially in this one, having to oversee people. I think I really understand what it means to lead by example and lead from behind because of this role and because of this organization.”
Another organization Billings said was influential to his time at NAU was the Blue Key Honor Society, a local chapter of a national community service organization. He’s been involved since he was a sophomore.
“I think I had always know what community service was, but that organization really taught me what it meant to serve your community,” he said.
Billings was awarded the President's Prize in April for his work with ASNAU and Blue Key, among others. He encouraged other students to join ASNAU or to find other ways to get involved.
“Find something you really care about, even if you feel other students don’t necessarily think that’s the most interesting thing," he said. "Try and find other people that do, though, and maybe make a club or an organization, because there’s so many great opportunities for clubs on this campus, and before you know it, you’re going to be packing up and getting ready to leave.”
Billings is speaking from experience, as “it’s finally starting to hit that I’ll be leaving here.”
He referenced a scene from one of his favorite shows, "Gilmore Girls," in which a character is opening a new inn.
“She’s talking about how it’s so interesting that this inn has had such a long history before her and [will have] a long history after her and, for a brief moment, she gets to share the history with it,” he said. “I definitely feel that with NAU and this college -- that for four years, I got to share my life with the university, but the university has such a long history before me and it’ll have a long history after me.”
|
https://azdailysun.com/news/local/education/nau-grad-spotlight-matt-billings-to-go-into-legal-studies/article_e292e8ec-cc90-11ec-bf30-9f38e23da839.html
| 2022-05-06T14:10:04
| 1
|
https://azdailysun.com/news/local/education/nau-grad-spotlight-matt-billings-to-go-into-legal-studies/article_e292e8ec-cc90-11ec-bf30-9f38e23da839.html
|
Northern Arizona University (NAU) is set to host an in-person commencement for its spring 2022 graduates that will take place in four ceremonies across the weekend.
The ceremonies will be held in the Walkup Skydome, which will open 90 minutes before each ceremony -- with the university’s clear bag policy in effect. Those unable to attend in-person can view the program at NAU-TV.
The 11 a.m. Friday commencement will recognize bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree candidates in the College of Arts and Letters and the College of the Environment, Forestry and Natural Sciences.
The 4 p.m. Friday commencement will recognize graduates from the College of Education and the W.A. Franke College of Business.
Saturday's morning commencement will begin at 10 a.m. and recognize graduates from the College of Engineering, Informatics and Applied Sciences and the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. And the 3 p.m. Saturday commencement will recognize graduates from the College of Health and Human Services as well as NAU Online, NAU Yavapai and NAU Yuma.
People are also reading…
This year’s speakers will receive honorary doctorates “to celebrate their achievements,” according to a NAU press release. Speakers are Dom Flemons, Nancy Parra-Quinlan, Colleen A. Smith and Mickey Urdea.
Up-to-date information about traffic, parking, weather and emergencies during commencement is available by texting “NAU” to 237233. Participants are also encouraged to download the NAUgo app for another way to access commencement ceremony information.
Parking is available at several campus locations, with free shuttles running from the South Commuter parking lot (P62) and San Francisco parking garage (P96). ADA parking is available in the Skydome parking lot and will be accessible from Lone Tree Road. A map is available here.
“Visitors should plan for extra time to reach their destination so they can be at the Skydome in time for the ceremony,” the press release says.
It also says that the campus will be busiest in the hour before and after each ceremony and that traveling during ceremonies, if possible, will be easiest.
Specific traffic patterns have also been designated for the commencement. A map is available here.
More about NAU’s commencement can be found at nau.edu/legacy/commencement.
|
https://azdailysun.com/news/local/education/northern-arizona-university-hosting-commencement-for-spring-grads-this-weekend/article_17b088c6-ca49-11ec-9f1b-676948fc833c.html
| 2022-05-06T14:10:10
| 1
|
https://azdailysun.com/news/local/education/northern-arizona-university-hosting-commencement-for-spring-grads-this-weekend/article_17b088c6-ca49-11ec-9f1b-676948fc833c.html
|
The Coconino girls cross country team celebrated its 2021 state championship -- the first in team history -- with a banquet on Wednesday night, receiving its championship rings.
The Panthers scored a low 72 points in the Division III title race in Cave Creek on Nov. 13, narrowly edging out Salpointe Catholic, which scored 74.
Wheaten Smith, Mary McGinlay, Zoe Sather, Akasha Ashley and Zofia Sawasky all earned top-25 scores in the title race.
The Panthers will likely bring back most of their roster for next season, with just one senior of the seven who ran in the championship race.
Flagstaff baseball fans are in for a treat this summer.
Star Chasers baseball
The Flagstaff Star Chasers -- a new summer collegiate baseball team set to begin its first season in June -- is searching for host families for the summer, ranging from June to early August.
Families that volunteer will receive season tickets to the Star Chasers games this summer.
|
https://azdailysun.com/sports/local/local-roundup-coconino-cross-country-receives-championship-rings/article_d3b03434-cc8f-11ec-849d-63be6938c889.html
| 2022-05-06T14:11:37
| 0
|
https://azdailysun.com/sports/local/local-roundup-coconino-cross-country-receives-championship-rings/article_d3b03434-cc8f-11ec-849d-63be6938c889.html
|
Skip to content
Main Navigation
Search
Search for:
Weather
Local
Sports
Entertainment
Investigators
Videos
Newsletters
Live TV
Share
Close
Trending
Decision 2022
How to Help Ukraine
Sixers
Watch on FireTV
Expand
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
|
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/dramatic-video-shows-delaware-river-water-rescue/3230392/
| 2022-05-06T14:42:06
| 1
|
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/dramatic-video-shows-delaware-river-water-rescue/3230392/
|
Skip to content
Main Navigation
Search
Search for:
Weather
Local
Sports
Entertainment
Investigators
Videos
Newsletters
Live TV
Share
Close
Trending
Decision 2022
How to Help Ukraine
Sixers
Watch on FireTV
Expand
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
|
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/meet-the-trailblazing-latino-principal-who-has-been-a-philly-educator-for-decades/3230419/
| 2022-05-06T14:42:13
| 0
|
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/meet-the-trailblazing-latino-principal-who-has-been-a-philly-educator-for-decades/3230419/
|
New body camera footage shows the frantic moments when a group of police officers jumped into the Delaware River to rescue a woman who was trapped in a submerged car.
The video shows officers and civilians looking on at the overturned car in the waters off Freedom Pier in Gloucester City, New Jersey, as they race to pull the woman out.
“The car’s upside down. The whole top is submerged,” one officer says, apparently radioing to a dispatcher.
Three Gloucester City Police Department officers, identified by the department as officers Sean Gartland and John Bryszewski, as well as detective Sgt. Carlos Depoder, then go down a wall and into the water to search for the woman.
The officers surround the car and spot the woman, pulling her out and rendering medical aid while still in the water.
“You got her. You got her. You got her,” one officer shouts from the edge of the wall. “Hold her head back,” an officer screams as the trio of fellow officers in the water bring the woman toward the wall.
The officers then load the woman onto a boat commandeered by a good Samaritan.
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
The police department said the officers continued rendering aid until relieved by paramedics and firefighters.
Divers did not find anyone else in the water, the department said.
The rescue happened April 28. NBC10 reached out to the department Friday to check on the woman’s condition but did not receive an immediate response.
|
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/watch-nj-officers-rescue-woman-trapped-in-submerged-car/3230550/
| 2022-05-06T14:42:19
| 1
|
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/watch-nj-officers-rescue-woman-trapped-in-submerged-car/3230550/
|
Disturbing new details have emerged in the case of a 51-year-old Queens woman, the mother of a police officer, who was found shot in the neck in her own home earlier this week, according to criminal charges prosecutors unveiled Friday.
Giuseppe Canzani, a 41-year-old man from Howard Beach, faces murder and weapons possession charges in Wednesday's killing of Anna Torres, who was discovered with two bullet wounds in her 109th Avenue home in Ozone Park.
He was arraigned late Thursday on second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon in Torres' case. Canzani was ordered to return to court on May 26. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.
It wasn't known if Canzani entered a plea at his arraignment, nor was the name of his attorney immediately clear. A possible motive isn't known either. The accused killer said nothing to reporters as he was led to his arraignment a day ago.
What is clear, though, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, is the savage way in which he allegedly took the beloved Torres' life.
Canzani allegedly fired three shots in all when Torres opened her door Wednesday afternoon, hitting her twice, with one going into her neck. First responders found Torres lying face down in a pool of blood just beyond the entrance to her home.
News
She was pronounced dead within minutes of emergency medical technicians' arrival. A gun was recovered later, when Canzani allegedly fled the scene and ended up driving to a local police precinct, where officials say he got out of his vehicle still holding the weapon. He was tackled to the ground and taken into custody.
Surveillance video from the area around Torres' home shows Canzani walk away after the shooting. He gets into a parked black Chevrolet Traverse, the same vehicle police have said he used to drive to her home and later to the precinct stationhouse.
Elected officials, NYPD officers and local residents plan to hold a rally against gun violence on Saturday on Rockaway Boulevard and 101st Street.
"As alleged, this defendant clearly has no regard of human life and in broad daylight shot the victim as she stood in the entrance to her home," Katz said in a statement Friday. "This is yet another reminder how senseless gun violence is causing heart-wrenching loss in our communities."
|
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/jarring-details-emerge-in-murder-of-nyc-cops-mom-gunned-down-at-her-front-door/3676297/
| 2022-05-06T14:46:30
| 0
|
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/jarring-details-emerge-in-murder-of-nyc-cops-mom-gunned-down-at-her-front-door/3676297/
|
HOUSTON — An art collector in Austin hit the jackpot while hunting for hidden treasures at a local Goodwill.
Laura Young found a centuries-old bust on the floor under a table at the thrift shop back in 2018 and scooped it up for $34.99 At the time, she thought the old and worn sculpture was a good find, but had no idea it was an ancient piece of art with a mysterious background.
Young spent years trying to determine the sculpture's authenticity and origin. She met with art experts at the University of Texas at Austin, and contacted auction houses around the country.
One of them confirmed it was an ancient Roman artwork, but it was Sotheby's consultant Jörg Deterling who determined it dates from the late 1st century BC to the early 1st century AD.
After more detective work, they learned that the 2,000-year-old piece once belonged in the collection of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. That was later confirmed by art experts in Germany.
“There were a few months of intense excitement after that, but it was bittersweet since I knew I couldn’t keep or sell the (bust). Either way, I’m glad I got to be a small part of (its) long and complicated history, and he looked great in the house while I had him," Young said.
Experts say the artwork was once housed in the Pompejanum, a full-scale replica of a villa from Pompeii built by King Ludwig in Aschaffenburg, Germany in the 1840s. They believe the bust may portray a son of Pompey the Great (106–48 BC), who was defeated in civil war by Julius Caesar.
During World War II, Allied bombers targeted Aschaffenburg in 1944 and seriously damaged the Pompejanum.
How the Roman bust arrived in Texas remains a mystery. When the war ended, the US Army opened military installations in Aschaffenburg and it's possible a soldier brought the sculpture home to Texas when he returned.
“It’s a great story whose plot includes the World War II-era, international diplomacy, art of the ancient Mediterranean, thrift shop sleuthing, historic Bavarian royalty, and the thoughtful stewardship of those who care for and preserve the arts," said Emily Ballew Neff with the San Antonio Museum of Art.
As part of the agreement to return the sculpture to its rightful home in Germany, the Bavarian Administration of State-Owned Palaces agreed it could be displayed by SAMA until 2023.
“We are very pleased that a piece of Bavarian history that we thought was lost has reappeared and will soon be able to return to its rightful location, said Bernd Schreiber, president of the Bavarian Administration of State-Owned Palaces, Gardens, and Lakes.
You can see the ancient bust at SAMA through next May.
|
https://www.thv11.com/article/news/local/texas-roman-bust-goodwill/285-c3cb566f-9258-47c5-a8c1-f2a3d9295f41
| 2022-05-06T15:11:49
| 1
|
https://www.thv11.com/article/news/local/texas-roman-bust-goodwill/285-c3cb566f-9258-47c5-a8c1-f2a3d9295f41
|
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — From every corner of the state, Arkansans flooded the ballroom of the governor's mansion to see the legend and recent Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Dolly Parton speak.
Alongside those Arkansans in attendance, were volunteers who have committed themselves to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, which aims at increasing child literacy.
Dolly was introduced by Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, with the crowd greeting her with standing ovation. After presenting her with a certificate, Hutchinson declared it Dolly Parton Imagination Library Day throughout Arkansas.
The governor himself even received a cool gift-- a framed copy of a children's book that Dolly loves to sing from.
Following Dolly's emphatic introduction, Dolly began her interview with our very own Craig O'Neill, providing the crowd with a refresher course on how the Imagination Library works.
"What we do is we give books to children from the time they're born until they start school. We put their little names on it and put the books in the mailbox. They're excited about that," Parton said. "They usually grab somebody in the family to read with them but it is my belief that if you can read, that you can self educate yourself."
Parton even shared the inspiration behind the Imagination Library, mentioning her father as a key factor.
"The reason I started this whole program was because of my Daddy. We grew up in a rural area, we were mountain people, poor people, and my dad didn't get a chance to go to school. Daddy couldn't read or write but he was such a smart man," she said.
Craig and Dolly even touched on motivation behind her visit to Arkansas. Well, it was to celebrate the volunteers at the libraries and the fact that there's an Imagination Library in every single county in Arkansas.
"I think that's wonderful. We were so excited coming here knowing that. We're just hoping to do that all over the country before we're finished, but we're doing so well," Parton said. "We actually have already given out 185 million books and we're hoping by the first of this next year we'll be up to 200 million. We mail out 2 million books a month and we're just so proud of that because of people like you [audience]. We're grateful."
|
https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/local/dolly-parton-imagination-library-arkansas/91-b38f9b48-4793-4e3f-a44a-1b75c8997ebc
| 2022-05-06T15:32:05
| 0
|
https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/local/dolly-parton-imagination-library-arkansas/91-b38f9b48-4793-4e3f-a44a-1b75c8997ebc
|
The Midland City Council will vote Tuesday on a dry cleaning and laundry contract with Pristine Organic Cleaners 2, which is owned by the family of City Councilman Dan Corrales.
The one-year contract is for $292,490 with four possible renewals in one-year increments. The dry cleaning and laundry services are for Police, Fire, Municipal Court, Transportation, Vehicle Services and Water and Wastewater departments. The city packet shows at least two different acknowledgements of a conflict of interest signed by Pristine Organic Cleaners owner Michelle Carrasco, the wife of the at-large councilman. Dan Corrales won one of two at-large seats in November’s election.
City documents show that Pristine Organic Cleaners 2 was one of three bidders – Comet Cleaners on Briarwood Avenue and Midland Cleaning LLC in the 4200 block of Wadley Avenue were the others.
Pristine Organic Cleaners 2 turned in a total bid of $292,490. Midland Cleaning LLC’s bid was for $349,492.66. Comet Cleaners’ bid totaled $537,055.
City staff recommends approval of the contract with Pristine Organic Cleaners 2.
|
https://www.mrt.com/news/local/article/City-leaders-to-vote-on-contact-with-Corrales-17154256.php
| 2022-05-06T15:36:29
| 0
|
https://www.mrt.com/news/local/article/City-leaders-to-vote-on-contact-with-Corrales-17154256.php
|
OREGON, USA — Before the pandemic hit Oregon, state law did not allow the parents of minors with disabilities to be paid as their child's caregiver, but during COVID-19, the Office of Disabilities Services applied for and received a federal waiver allowing it during the public health emergency.
With that public health emergency set to end on July 15, the exception will end as well, unless the state takes action to make the temporary policy permanent.
Families of children with serious, round-the-clock needs are calling for this change, with a dwindling number of qualified caregivers and nurse available outside of the home.
Calli Ross and her family have been advocating for policy change even before the pandemic.
"It is ridiculous that this program should be discontinued and parents should be left hanging once again," she said.
Her son, Tens, is seven years old. He was born with 1p36 deletion syndrome, in which a small segment of DNA is missing, and a form of primordial dwarfism. On top of that, he's had several health complications that have led to his total reliance on a ventilator to breathe.
"He's vent dependent. He is oxygen dependent. He requires a specific feeding schedule. He has moments of crisis where he stops breathing. He has seizures," said Ross.
Due to his disability, he qualifies for more than 500 hours a month of in-home intensive services through Medicaid. A pandemic rule-change allowed his parents and others like them to be paid to provide those services to their children. The Office of Developmental Disability Services (ODDS) told KGW the temporary waiver was put in place to reduce exposure to COVID-19.
"It's life-changing money, but not large. It’s not large, but it’s enough to help families," said Ross.
With the money, Ross said she doesn't have to choose between medications and food. Her family can afford to pay for things not covered by insurance, like a potty training chair or a wheelchair-accessible van. She's set aside some money for tools and intensive therapies for Tens.
If the temporary program ends, the hours Tens qualifies for might not be staffed, due to a shortage of caregivers that was made worse during the pandemic.
"What we are currently facing right now is a caregiver crisis where there are just not nurses or caregivers available," Ross said. "We have 540 hours that we qualify for the month through the state, and of those, we only have 180 staffed. The rest of the time, my son requires 24/7 care. My husband or myself are by his side, awake, ready to go ahead and rescue him should we need to do that."
Because of the lack of available, qualified caregivers and support staff, ending the program puts hundreds of other families in a tough spot.
"Nursing and outside help's not always the answer and I am the best most qualified caregiver," said parent Tina Stracener. "We do want the nursing support we need to keep [my daughter] at home, but I want to be the person who takes care of her primarily, and I really need to be compensated for that so I can continue to do it."
"Paid parent caregivers keep families stable. They keep children healthy and out of institutions," said parent Gabriel Triplett. "If the state of Oregon…does not act, we are going to see hundreds, if not more, disability families thrown into crisis."
One of the biggest fears families have is that without enough caregivers, they will have to make an impossible choice for their children: to consider having them institutionalized.
"I don’t know what is going to happen in July when this money is cut off," said parent Katherine Ball. "I think that we are going to be in a horrible mess. People will have to give up their children, go back to work... I mean, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but this has to be made a permanent decision. We’ve seen how much this has helped our families."
These families are now fighting to at least allow the option of a paid parent caregivers permanently. They appealed to the state's Medicaid Advisory Committee and that group is now recommending a permanent policy to ODDS.
"Our goal is to meet in front of the emergency board of legislators and get a six- month reprieve from July until they can make new legislation in February 2023," explained Ross.
A spokesperson for ODDS said, in a statement, that "The question of whether this temporary allowance should be made permanent is a complex policy issue with strong advocacy of differing opinions from many involved in the intellectual and developmental disabilities system and would require changes to state regulations and additional approval by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services."
The state confirms a meeting is set up with parent-advocates, and that ODDS is coordinating with legislative partners on a process for resolving this issue.
|
https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/families-paid-parent-caregiver-program-oregon/283-1f9ef68c-d28d-4122-9941-d664753466ac
| 2022-05-06T15:37:07
| 0
|
https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/families-paid-parent-caregiver-program-oregon/283-1f9ef68c-d28d-4122-9941-d664753466ac
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.