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Three people, firefighter injured in Canton fire
CANTON – Three people and a firefighter were injured in a house fire early Sunday morning.
The Canton Fire Department reported responding to the scene at 3:44 a.m. and finding heavy smoke coming from the first floor of the back of the two-story home at 1023 14th St. NW.
Three people were rescued from the house. A man was in cardiac arrest after being removed and taken to Aultman Hospital, while a second man was pulled from a second-story window by a firefighter who sustained minor injuries, Division Chief Steve Henderson said in a news release. The second man was taken to Aultman with burns and smoke inhalation.
More:Canton Fire Department bicentennial garners appreciation for firefighters' sacrifices
An unconscious woman, who was breathing, also was rescued and taken to Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital.
The three victims remain hospitalized and their conditions were not known, Henderson said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
This story will be updated. | https://www.cantonrep.com/story/news/local/2022/08/28/three-people-firefighter-injured-in-canton-fire/65460450007/ | 2022-08-28T13:09:56 | 0 | https://www.cantonrep.com/story/news/local/2022/08/28/three-people-firefighter-injured-in-canton-fire/65460450007/ |
A summer season that was crazy for cars ends with a massive car show.
The 2022 Kenosha Classic Cruise-In — also known as “The Downtown Car Show” — will once again take over the streets of Downtown to kick off Labor Day Weekend in Kenosha.
Saturday’s show comes a month after the Kenosha History Center’s Homecoming Car Show attracted about 750 vehicles to Kennedy Park.
The Homecoming, however, is open only to Kenosha-related vehicles. The Classic Cruise-In features all makes and models of vehicles and motorcycles.
And it’s totally free, for the thousands of people who fill the Downtown streets to see the cars and for the proud owners who come to show them off.
Tony Pontillo, the car show’s main organizer, said the show continues to grow in popularity each year, which is great news for Downtown businesses.
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“The Downtown business owners tell us this is their busiest day of the year,” he said.
Pontillo estimates 8,000 to 10,000 people attend the car show, coming from the local area and driving in from Chicago, Milwaukee, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota and even from across the U.S. border.
“We’ve had people come to this show from all over,” he said. “This is one of the biggest car shows in the Midwest, and it’s the biggest free car show in the state. We even have people coming from Canada — we’ve gone international.
“People love that the show is free, and we know that helps keep it so popular.”
The show, put on by the Kenosha Classic Street Machines group, takes over Sixth Avenue and adjoining side streets, which are closed off to traffic for the event.
For many people, it brings back memories of “scooping the loop” in Downtown Kenosha, Pontillo said.
Motorcycle Unit
Besides all the vehicles in the show, the Kenosha Police Department’s Motorcycle Unit will perform riding demonstrations from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 55th Street and Seventh Avenue.
Visitors will be able to meet with the officers, take photos with the unit and see the police motorcycles.
Busy day Downtown
The show is always the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend, and visitors can combine this with other Downtown events.
“Lots of men and women come Downtown together for the car show,” Pontillo said. “The women go to the HarborMarket of the Public Market and then come to the car show later to meet their husbands, after shopping at the markets. Or they shop together. You can go to the Cheese-A-Palooza Festival in HarborPark, too.”
He suggests visitors park near the Municipal Building — 52nd Street and Sixth Avenue — and ride the streetcar to the car show and other Saturday events.
People can also park in the lot behind Reuther Central High School at Sheridan Road and 58th Street “and then just walk half a block and get on the streetcar,” he said.
The Downtown parking garage — on Eighth Avenue between 56th and 57th streets — also offers free, convenient parking for the car show and other Downtown events.
To make this even easier for people, streetcar rides will be free on Saturday.
Food (and a food collection)
Food and beverages — including pizza, brats, hot dogs and hot beef — will be available for purchase from participating Downtown restaurants, both inside and outside the venues.
Also during the car show, donations of non-perishable food items will be collected for the Salvation Army’s food pantry.
Each year, Pontillo said, the show collects about 1,200 pounds of food, plus cash, to be donated.
Look for the huge barrels marked for donations.
Cars, cars, cars
The show started with about 80 cars and has grown to feature more than 1,800 vehicles on average.
Even during a rainy year like 2021, the show attracted about a thousand entries.
That popularity means show organizers had a problem: What to do with all those cars.
But that’s a good problem to have.
Over the years, the car show has continued to expand, filling the Downtown.
Besides the classic cars, new-car dealers are also at the Cruise-In, showing off their latest models, and Snap-on has a booth, too, with raffles and other fun stuff.
You never know what you’ll find, from a new GM model to a Sunbeam Alpine British sports car.
Visitors have also seen: A 1902 Rambler, a 1956 Ford Customline, a Dodge Coronet, a Chevrolet Bel Air, Pontiac Catalina, Ford Falcon, AMX and Gremlin, a 1965 Thunderbird, a silver DeLorean and flashy Cameros and Corvettes — all shined up and put on display by their loving owners.
All shook up
Besides all the vehicles on display, visitors will see Elvis — as portrayed by singer Mike Bishop with the band All the King’s Men, performing Elvis tunes.
“People really love that band,” Pontillo said. “We have some people, especially women, who just love seeing Elvis and come every year just for the music.”
Pontillo works for several months to organize the show, contacting organizations, car clubs and city officials, he said, with help from other club members.
“It’s worth it,” Pontillo said of the huge project, “when thousands of people come Downtown for the show.” | https://www.kenoshanews.com/news/local/a-classic-returns-kenoshas-downtown-car-show-is-sept-3/article_1cf55744-23fe-11ed-b5e5-0fddb6b04ae4.html | 2022-08-28T13:22:35 | 1 | https://www.kenoshanews.com/news/local/a-classic-returns-kenoshas-downtown-car-show-is-sept-3/article_1cf55744-23fe-11ed-b5e5-0fddb6b04ae4.html |
Raise a glass (or two) to Red Wine Day, a great way to relax as you gear up for another workweek.
Pleasant Prairie’s BBQ in the Park — a new event — features bands, a bag toss tournament, bingo and — of course — food. BBQ in the Park runs from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. today at Prairie Springs Park, 9900 Terwall Terrace in Pleasant Prairie. The event takes place near the RecPlex, in front of the ballfields. Admission is free.
The Kenosha Public Museum, 5500 First Ave., is hosting the Acrylic International Biennial Juried Exhibition 2022, with 45 paintings on display through Nov. 6. This is the debut of this new exhibit, which will continue at the museum, every other year. The museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday–Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday (closed holidays). Admission is free. For more information, go to KenoshaPublicMuseum.org.
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The Fleeing Artists production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet” wraps up with a 2 p.m. performance today at the Rhode Center for the Arts, 514 56th St. Tickets are $15 general admission or $13 for senior citizens, students, educators and members of the military. Tickets can be purchased at the door or online at fleeingartists.org.
Studio Moonfall’s three-day Kenosha Book Festival wraps up today. “Kenosha Book Festival: Year Zero” is 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Studio Moonfall, 5031 Seventh Ave. This event features more than 20 guest authors. There is also a $1 used book sale — or bring a canned good for the Shalom Center and get a book. | https://www.kenoshanews.com/news/local/todays-events-for-sunday-aug-28/article_1133ec92-24bf-11ed-a501-ef5bbd545cb7.html | 2022-08-28T13:22:42 | 1 | https://www.kenoshanews.com/news/local/todays-events-for-sunday-aug-28/article_1133ec92-24bf-11ed-a501-ef5bbd545cb7.html |
WGTD (91.1 FM) is owned and operated as a public service of Gateway Technical College and is an affiliate of Wisconsin Public Radio. For an updated schedule, go online to wgtd.org. WGTD 91.1-FM’s “Morning Show” airs 8:10 to 9 a.m. weekdays.
Guests this week include:
Monday: Stephen Kurczy, “The Quiet Zone: Unraveling the Mystery of a Town Suspended in Silence.”
Tuesday: Neil Swidey, author of “Trapped Under the Sea: One Engineering Marvel, Five Men, and a Disaster Ten Miles into the Darkness.”:
Wednesday: Jill Tietjen and Barbara Bridges, co-authors of “Hollywood: Her Story—An Illustrated History of Women and the Movies.”
Thursday: Ellyn Lem, author of “Gray Matters: Finding Meaning in the Stories of Later Life” (postponed from last week).
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Friday: Joe Drape, author of “Our Boys: A Perfect Season in the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen.” | https://www.kenoshanews.com/news/local/wgtd-announces-morning-show-schedule-for-this-week/article_f2402680-2634-11ed-a28f-e3e7a5a7eef1.html | 2022-08-28T13:22:48 | 0 | https://www.kenoshanews.com/news/local/wgtd-announces-morning-show-schedule-for-this-week/article_f2402680-2634-11ed-a28f-e3e7a5a7eef1.html |
PATASKALA, Ohio — An 8-year-old Pataskala boy took third place in the 2022 USA Mullet Championship.
William Dale Ramsey received 4,058 votes in the competition. The contest started with 689 children and was narrowed down to the top 25 last month.
Ramsey said wants to put some of his winnings toward an organization that sends sick children on hunting and fishing trips. He's also raising money and so far has raised $1,500.
Ramsey said he is still adjusting to his newfound fame.
"There was people asking like 'is that him' and like taking pictures with me and everything," Ramsey said.
"Like I said this was all for fun and supporting him in something that he wanted to do and like I said, it's all for charity for us, it's not for fame, or to be known. It's just something we did for fun," said his mother, Ashley.
Another boy, 4-year-old Jameson Redd from the city of Delaware, took 14th place in the contest with 1,311 votes.
Emmitt Bailey from Wisconsin took home the $2,500 first place prize with nearly 10,000 votes. | https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/8-year-old-pataskala-boy-takes-3rd-place-usa-mullet-championships/530-0f2f8c25-0a98-4433-b084-33e6ef9a5bd6 | 2022-08-28T13:26:45 | 1 | https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/8-year-old-pataskala-boy-takes-3rd-place-usa-mullet-championships/530-0f2f8c25-0a98-4433-b084-33e6ef9a5bd6 |
SAN ANTONIO — A man was shot in the arm late Saturday night in what police say might have been a possible road rage incident.
It happened around 11:18 p.m. on the 100 block of orphan St. on the city's east side.
Police say the 46-year-old man was driving home when an unknown vehicle started shooting at him. He was hit one time in the arm and his vehicle had several holes from gunfire.
Police say he made it home and called police and EMS.
Police are still trying to gather further information about this incident, because it's unclear if this was a road rage incident or if the victim was a target.
The man was taken to BAMC in stable condition and is expected to be okay. Police searched the area where the shooting may have happened but were unable to locate any crime scene.
No other details were available and no other injuries were reported.
This is an ongoing investigation.
Learn more about KENS 5:
Since going on the air in 1950, KENS 5 has strived to be the best, most trusted news and entertainment source for generations of San Antonians.
KENS 5 has brought numerous firsts to South Texas television, including being the first local station with a helicopter, the first with its own Doppler radar and the first to air a local morning news program.
Over the years, KENS 5 has worked to transform local news. Our cameras have been the lens bringing history into local viewers' homes. We're proud of our legacy as we serve San Antonians today.
Today, KENS 5 continues to set the standard in local broadcasting and is recognized by its peers for excellence and innovation. The KENS 5 News team focuses on stories that really matter to our community.
You can find KENS 5 in more places than ever before, including KENS5.com, the KENS 5 app, the KENS 5 YouTube channel, KENS 5's Roku and Fire TV apps, and across social media on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more!
Want to get in touch with someone at KENS 5? You can send a message using our Contacts page or email one of our team members. | https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/man-shot-in-arm-by-suspect-in-unknown-vehicle-possible-road-rage-incident/273-47e77787-6765-4614-95e3-1c4c3fe674a4 | 2022-08-28T13:26:51 | 1 | https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/man-shot-in-arm-by-suspect-in-unknown-vehicle-possible-road-rage-incident/273-47e77787-6765-4614-95e3-1c4c3fe674a4 |
HOUSTON — Everything old is new again at NASA as they prepare to launch the unmanned Orion spacecraft to the moon. The first in a series of missions, NASA said the Artemis 1 mission will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration.
It's a critical test drive, of sorts, to check out Orion's systems in a spaceflight environment and how it performs on its re-entry, splashdown and recovery. NASA said a successful mission will demonstrate its capability to "extend human existence to the moon and beyond."
By "beyond," they mean Mars.
"When we think about Artemis, we focus a lot on the moon," said chief astronaut Reid Wiseman. "But I just want everybody in this room and everybody watching to remember our sights are not set on the Moon. Our sights are set clearly on Mars."
Artemis 1 launch details
- Launch date: Aug. 29, 2022; window opens at 7:33 a.m. Central time
- Mission duration: 42 days, 3 hours, 20 minutes
- Total distance traveled: 1.3 million miles
- Re-entry speed: 24,500 mph (Mach 32)
- Splashdown: Oct. 10, 2022
Next Monday, Orion will launch on board the "most powerful rocket in the world and fly farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown," according to NASA. The SLS rocket will produce 8.8 million pounds of thrust during liftoff as it launches the nearly six-million-pounds Orion to orbit.
"Our teams have been working extremely hard for a very, very long time to get to this point and this is very special and we’re extremely excited,” said Artemis I flight director Rick LaBrode.
Unlike the Apollo missions to the moon in the late 60s and 70s, Orion will travel thousands of miles beyond the moon during the four to six-week mission.
“This is a mission that truly will do what hasn’t been done and learn what isn’t known,” said Mike Sarafin, Artemis I mission manager at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “It will blaze a trail that people will follow on the next Orion flight, pushing the edges of the envelope to prepare for that mission.”
To the moon and back
As Orion continues on its path from Earth orbit to the moon, it will be propelled by a service module provided by the European Space Agency. On future missions, the module will provide housing, air and water for astronauts.
To talk with mission control in Houston, Orion will communicate through the Deep Space Network.
The outbound trip to the moon will take several days. During this period, it will collect data and allow mission controllers to assess its performance.
After four to six weeks and a total distance traveled exceeding 1.3 million miles, the mission will end with a test of Orion’s capability to return safely to the Earth.
The spacecraft will splash down off the coast of Baja, California. Divers from the U.S. Navy and operations teams from NASA will approach in small boats from a recovery ship. The divers will inspect the spacecraft for hazards and hook up tow lines, and then engineers will tow the capsule into the recovery ship for its journey home.
What's next?
The second flight of Artemis will carry a crew on a different trajectory and test Orion’s critical systems with astronauts aboard.
Future exploration missions with crew aboard Orion will assemble and dock with a Gateway. NASA and its partners will use the gateway for deep-space operations "to extend human exploration farther into the solar system than ever before."
With the Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the moon with plans to eventually establish the first long-term presence on the moon.
With the experience and knowledge they gain from lunar exploration, NASA said it will be ready to take the next giant leap by sending the first astronauts to Mars. | https://www.12news.com/article/news/local/artemis-moon-mission/285-af46a3c7-da9a-4c3b-b938-fe9cc8d8e130 | 2022-08-28T14:01:11 | 1 | https://www.12news.com/article/news/local/artemis-moon-mission/285-af46a3c7-da9a-4c3b-b938-fe9cc8d8e130 |
During DEF CON, computer hackers from all over the world descend on Las Vegas to show off their skills in an environment where “radical viewpoints” are welcomed and rules are few.
So how did a University of Arizona professor receive a lifetime ban from such a proudly permissive conference?
Christopher Hadnagy insists he still doesn’t know.
In February, DEF CON organizers announced they had received “multiple” reports about Hadnagy for violations of the convention’s code of conduct against harassment.
“After conversations with the reporting parties and Chris, we are confident the severity of the transgressions merits a ban from DEF CON,” organizers said in a statement on the convention’s website.
But Hadnagy says he was never told what he was accused of, and he denies doing anything wrong.
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Now the adjunct professor in the UA’s College of Applied Science and Technology is suing the convention and its founding hacker, Jeff Moss, aka the Dark Tangent.
The defamation lawsuit filed Aug. 3 in a Pennsylvania federal court accuses Moss and DEF CON of ruining Hadnagy’s reputation and damaging his security consulting business with “vague yet scathing statements” that “falsely accuse him of what could only be despicable conduct.”
Hadnagy is seeking at least $375,000, plus punitive damages and legal fees.
Moss could not be reached. His attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
When contacted by email, Hadnagy professed his innocence and made several references to his lawsuit.
“My company and I consistently deny and continue to deny any and all allegations of misconduct,” he said in an email.
He referred all further questions to his lawyers, who declined to discuss the ongoing litigation.
Not many rules
Jeff Moss was just 18 when he organized the first DEF CON in 1993 as an excuse to party in Las Vegas with a few dozen of his hacker friends.
The event has grown into one of the world’s largest and best-known gatherings of information security professionals and amateur key punchers.
Hackers go to see what they can get away with. IT managers and government agents go to see what hackers are trying to get away with and how to defend against it.
There are the usual convention staples like mixers, group outings, panel discussions and industry speakers.
Then there is the other stuff: lock-picking lessons, a law-enforcement-identification game called “I spotted the fed,” and hacking how-tos for everything from seizing control of a decommissioned commercial satellite to playing Doom on the control screen of a John Deere tractor.
In recent years, the conference has devoted a whole “village” — sort of a target-specific breakout session — to cracking open voting equipment.
One of the most popular attractions is a days-long game of capture the flag, in which teams of tech workers, government contractors and students try to break into each other’s systems and steal virtual flags without losing their own. Some have called it the “Super Bowl of hacking.”
DEF CON touts itself as an open forum “where radical viewpoints are welcome and a high degree of skepticism is expected.” The conference’s code of conduct, last updated in 2015, covers a single topic: “harassment against any participant, for any reason.”
“Harassment includes deliberate intimidation and targeting individuals in a manner that makes them feel uncomfortable, unwelcome, or afraid,” the code states.
Potential responses to such behavior include “expulsion without refund and referral to the relevant authorities.”
As organizers say elsewhere on the DEF CON site, “We don’t have a ton of rules, but we take the ones we have very seriously.”
Since 2017, the conference has posted “transparency reports” at the end of each convention, listing any notable incidents.
Hadnagy’s ban was announced in a special report published on DEF CON’s website on Feb. 9, and it soon made headlines on several news sites that cover tech.
He quickly took to Twitter to defend himself, pleading with his followers to “wait for details and facts before jumping to conclusions.”
Hadnagy followed that up with a lengthy statement on the website of his consulting firm, Social-Engineer, LLC, in which he identified one possible source of the complaints against him.
“From what I have seen and heard, many of the criticisms of me concern my training courses and, specifically, responses to bad reviews from 2015 and 2017,” he writes. “Those criticisms are fair. I could have handled situations like these a lot better. I take full ownership of my past mistakes, and I believe that I have grown since then and I commit to doing better.”
‘Cancel culture’
According to the lawsuit, his company has lost a number of existing and potential clients since early February, including several that specifically cited DEF CON’s announcement as the reason for terminating their relationships with him.
Hadnagy claims the allegations have also damaged the Innocent Lives Foundation, a nonprofit he launched — with an announcement at DEF CON — in 2017 to unmask anonymous child predators online and report their identities to authorities.
“As a result of (the defendants’) statements, plaintiff Hadnagy has become a victim of ‘cancel culture’ in the tech industry,” the lawsuit argues.
Another security conference called BSides Cleveland faced an online backlash in June, when it scheduled Hadnagy as a surprise guest, prompting a handful of speakers to walk out in protest when they learned he had been added to the slate.
The event organizer later apologized for what he called an oversight on his part, then resigned from his leadership position.
Hadnagy is an author and expert in the field of social engineering, also known as “human hacking.” In the world of online security, that usually involves tricking people into divulging confidential information or engaging in other potentially damaging behavior.
His expansive knowledge of the subject has meant a long affiliation with DEF CON, where he headed up the conference’s crowd-pleasing social engineering village for a decade.
In his lawsuit, Hadnagy accuses Moss and company of cooking up the false code-of-conduct violations so they could replace his village with something similar hosted by someone else.
Attorneys for Moss and DEF CON have yet to file their response to the lawsuit.
Hadnagy hasn’t been working for the UA for long. University spokeswoman Pam Scott said he has taught a “popular and highly rated class” in social engineering attacks and defenses three times since 2021, and he is scheduled to teach it again in the spring.
She said university officials were not familiar with his lawsuit or the conference ban, and she declined to comment about either topic.
DEF CON just celebrated its 30th year with four days of panels, parties, pranks and “ethical” cyberattacks on sanctioned targets looking to improve their security. The announced attendance in Las Vegas topped 30,000 this year, and it included the usual mix of so-called “white hats,” “black hats” and at least a few people carrying law enforcement badges.
Hadnagy wasn’t there, but he did send a representative.
According to court records, a process server stopped by the Caesar’s Forum Convention Center on Aug. 11, the first day of the conference, and delivered a copy of the lawsuit to Moss’ attorney.
Contact reporter Henry Brean at hbrean@tucson.com or 573-4283. On Twitter: @RefriedBrean | https://tucson.com/news/local/subscriber/u-of-a-prof-sues-over-lifetime-ban-from-las-vegas-hacker-convention/article_418d25d8-2308-11ed-a060-67a66bbdb5ca.html | 2022-08-28T14:11:36 | 1 | https://tucson.com/news/local/subscriber/u-of-a-prof-sues-over-lifetime-ban-from-las-vegas-hacker-convention/article_418d25d8-2308-11ed-a060-67a66bbdb5ca.html |
Join us on Tuesday, Aug. 30 as we talk with candidates in Congressional Districts 6 and 7.
At 10 a.m., we will host Kirsten Engel, the Democratic candidate in CD 6. Juan Ciscomani, the Republican candidate in CD 6, has not responded to our invitation. At 2 p.m., we will host Democrat Raúl Grijalva and Republican Luis Pozzolo. They are running in CD 7.
We invite readers to attend the interviews, which will be conducted via Zoom. Email sbrown@tucson.com if you need the Zoom information emailed to you. Here is the invitation to join: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85030559366?pwd=MGtKTGZiMUhEancrejYrZXdKVWU2dz09
Meeting ID: 850 3055 9366
Passcode: 193869 | https://tucson.com/opinion/local/join-us-tuesday-for-interviews-with-congressional-candidates/article_41056878-2588-11ed-8275-0f6db0d6eab4.html | 2022-08-28T14:11:55 | 1 | https://tucson.com/opinion/local/join-us-tuesday-for-interviews-with-congressional-candidates/article_41056878-2588-11ed-8275-0f6db0d6eab4.html |
The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
Pima County Attorney Laura Conover has finally made a decision in the shooting incident involving former Tucson police officer Ryan Remington that killed wheelchair-bound Richard Lee Richards. She has charged Remington with manslaughter and is proceeding with prosecution. This is concerning.
I cannot comment on the charge because I don’t know all the facts. My concern is Conover’s undue delay and her failure to recuse her office from the charging decision.
The shooting occurred on Nov. 29, 2021, and the Pima County Attorney’s Office received the full Tucson Police Department investigation on Dec. 10. It took her nine months to finally make her charging decision. In her press conference, she indicated that part of the delay was because her office re-investigated the entire case.
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This excuse rings hollow. I am sure TPD reviewed all the video and talked to all the witnesses. It is impossible for a review of an investigation that originally took 11 days to take an additional seven or eight months.
This unprecedented delay was not only unfair to former officer Remington; it was unfair to the family of the deceased. As the former chief criminal deputy in the Pima County Attorney’s Office, who has handled dozens of officer-involved shootings, I know that taking nine months to make a decision on this type of case is unacceptable.
More concerning is the County Attorney’s failure to recuse herself from the Remington matter. Defendant Remington was a member of the Tucson Police Officer’s Association (TPOA) at the time of the shooting and their lawyer is the defense attorney in the case. The County Attorney’s brother is on the Board of TPOA as well as the chairman of the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Arizona (CLEAA) of which TPOA is a member. These two organizations are not only supportive of former Officer Remington, they are funding his defense in the criminal case.
The stated goal of these organizations is to support officers involved in shootings and to give unlimited financial support to pay for a criminal defense attorney. The close family connection between the County Attorney and her brother is such that the County Attorney should never have involved herself in this case in the first place. The appearance of impropriety is stunning and her conflict of interest is obvious.
Did County Attorney Conover charge the case on the facts or perhaps because of public pressure and not wanting to face criticism for not charging, due to her brother’s relationship and ties to the police unions? Will Remington get a better plea offer because of her brother’s position with TPOA and CLEAA? We will never know.
The public has a right to question the County Attorney’s ability to be fair and impartial when her own brother is actively involved in the defense of the accused. She ran on transparency and a promise to use independent prosecutors to prosecute officer-involved shootings. She failed to tell the public about her brother’s connection to the police unions and she failed to get an independent prosecutor to prosecute the case.
She has stated that she had the case reviewed by the former Maricopa County Attorney and another lawyer from the Attorney General’s Office. Having them review it is fine, but the ultimate decision to prosecute and retain the case is hers and hers alone. Having outside lawyers look at the case does not eliminate the conflict. She made the decision to prosecute and her office has chosen to keep the case. Her conflict does not go away.
The linchpin of the criminal justice system is the belief that it is fair and impartial. Conover’s decision to keep this case, despite her clear conflict and the gross appearance of impropriety, does a disservice to the citizens of Pima County and erodes trust and confidence in our criminal justice system and the rule of law. We deserve better.
David Berkman was a prosecutor for 20 years and chief criminal deputy under former Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall for seven years from 2004 -2011. | https://tucson.com/opinion/local/local-opinion-conovers-delay-conflict-of-interest-and-broken-promises/article_0f97e37a-2555-11ed-afde-8bd783db1be2.html | 2022-08-28T14:12:01 | 0 | https://tucson.com/opinion/local/local-opinion-conovers-delay-conflict-of-interest-and-broken-promises/article_0f97e37a-2555-11ed-afde-8bd783db1be2.html |
The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
Several mountain peaks in the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson are scheduled to die. Canadian mining giant Hudbay Minerals is determined to decapitate them.
As a conservationist at the Center for Biological Diversity, I document and push back against destructive projects in defense of public lands and their rich array of wildlife. For more than a decade I’ve been visiting the Santa Ritas with a fever to get lost in, understand and protect this special place.
I’ve photographed one of the world’s rarest flowers, a high-desert orchid that gathers all its nutrients from an underground fungus. I’ve checked remote cameras that detected a wild jaguar here, as well as bobcats, coatis, cougars, mule deer and too many birds to count.
On the same day, I’ve been sunburned at the base of the foothills and nearly frostbit in the snow at the peaks. More than once I’ve tumbled bloody through cat claw and steep scree. I’ve watched lonely monsoon clouds collapse and feed a desert stream that generates an eruption of insects, nourishing bats and foxes under a dark sky full of stars unfamiliar to city dwellers.
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I’ve raised my child around campfires and the croak of canyon tree frogs here. Everything about these mountains — the presence of ocelots, phosphorescent beetles, 20-foot-tall agave flower stalks and an untold number of freshwater springs visited by bears and mountain lions — feels like a beautiful dream.
But copper is a harsh wake-up call.
Our modern, connected civilization demands tons of copper rolled into our internet lines, smartphones and electric-vehicle batteries. And while it’s possible to reduce demand for new copper by recycling — one report estimates it could cut demand by 55% — that process is limited by the lack of economic drivers and policies to encourage it.
Instead, mining companies get rubber stamps to rip more wealth out of the earth.
Large copper deposits sit beneath the Santa Rita Mountains, and Hudbay has been after them for years. A federal judge and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals have dealt blows to the company’s proposed Rosemont Mine on the mountains’ eastern slope, ruling that Hudbay couldn’t dump waste rock and tailings on federal public land where it had no mining claims.
Now Hudbay is focusing on the Santa Ritas’ west side and ridgeline. Over the past several years, as its original mining project stalled because of fierce opposition from Arizona Tribes and environmental organizations, Hudbay started buying thousands of acres of state and private land.
Earlier this year Hudbay broke ground on Copper World, scraping, drilling and dumping earth into desert streams that feed the Santa Cruz River. I visit nearly every week, though it’s painful to watch.
Hudbay plans up to six open pits, including the proposed mile-wide eastside Rosemont pit, along with a sulfuric acid plant, toxic waste ponds and other mining operations that would span more than four miles and decapitate mountain peaks. Weigles Butte, Harts Butte and others would vanish from the skyline.
These lands are within jaguar critical habitat, part of a mountain range that is a crown jewel of biodiversity in southern Arizona and northern Mexico’s sky islands.
In April, the Tohono O’odham, Pascua Yaqui and Hopi tribes asked a federal judge to halt Hudbay’s work at Copper World, saying it violated the Clean Water Act. They described the area as a “location of sacred sites, ancestral villages and burials, and a source of plant, animal and mineral resources critical to maintaining the Tohono O’odham Nation’s culture.”
“There is no way to reverse the loss of these critical desert streams,” the Tribes warned.
The Tribes’ Clean Water Act suit, along with a separate case filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and our allies, sought to expand the permit to cover mining on the Santa Ritas’ west side. When Hudbay withdrew its discharge permit, claiming it didn’t need one, the judge dismissed the cases.
Hudbay still needs state permits to begin full-blown mining, but it’s hard to see Arizona officials stepping in to stop this destruction.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency are allowing it to continue unabated. The Corps has failed to conduct a sufficient environmental impact analysis and require measures to safeguard our desert’s precious water. The EPA has failed to require Clean Water Act permits for Hudbay’s bulldozing, dredging and dumping.
So Hudbay continues to strip the land and prepare the mountains for oblivion.
I’ll be out at Copper World again in a few days. I’ll stand at the historic Helvetia Cemetery with binoculars and bear witness.
It’s heartbreaking to admit it, but this magical section of the Santa Ritas we love and rely on, for water and a connection with a wilder world, are scheduled to die.
Russ McSpadden is the Southwest conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. | https://tucson.com/opinion/local/local-opinion-copper-world-is-coming-for-beloved-santa-rita-mountains/article_ed159cea-24bc-11ed-8100-eb2197323a90.html | 2022-08-28T14:12:07 | 1 | https://tucson.com/opinion/local/local-opinion-copper-world-is-coming-for-beloved-santa-rita-mountains/article_ed159cea-24bc-11ed-8100-eb2197323a90.html |
The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
It’s déjá vu all over again. Back in January 2021, former Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry’s contract was renewed for four years. His salary was reduced a bit, but other than that nothing much else changed, except the Board of Supervisors added a performance review.
The newly elected supervisors couldn’t believe that in all the decades Mr. Huckelberry was the county administrator he never had a performance review. Supervisor Rex Scott acted to correct that glaring deficiency by motioning that future salary increases be based on an annual performance evaluation by the Board of Supervisors.
Ten months later when Mr. Huckelberry had that tragic bike crash there was no performance evaluation tool, nor any mechanism to determine his salary for the remaining three years of his contract.
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The déjá vu part is that there is another highly paid government executive Farhad Moghimi, the executive director of Pima Association of Governments and the Regional Transportation Authority, who has not had a performance review since 2017.
Each of the 12 years I worked at PAG I received an annual performance evaluation by my supervisor using a questionnaire prepared by Human Resources. I also had to submit a self-assessment. Every employee at PAG got an annual performance review, except the executive director.
Moghimi’s 2017 contract requires a performance review every January to determine his annual salary increase. There was no review in 2018.
In January 2019 the Regional Council went into executive session for 13 minutes, supposedly to talk about the executive director, and came out with directions for PAG’s attorney to do what was discussed in executive session. No other information, including his contract, was shared with the public.
Those executive sessions ended in 2019. There was no executive session for Moghimi’s performance review again until August 2021. The Regional Council went into executive session for close to 90 minutes and came out with a motion that directed PAG staff, namely Moghimi, to develop a performance evaluation tool for the executive director.
Here’s the déjá vu part again. It’s a year later and there’s no performance evaluation tool in sight.
In January 2022, the Regional Council had a lengthy discussion about the performance evaluation tool developed by Moghimi and the members from Oro Valley and Sahuarita. It was a checklist of requirements standard for any metropolitan planning organization like PAG. Six of the 10 questions ask if the executive director “complies with” some type of regulation, board directive, or established policy. It reminded me of a performance evaluation tool for a cashier: Did you balance your drawer at the end of each day — yes or no?
Several members of the Regional Council recognized that there were several deficiencies with this tool, such as: is Moghimi a good leader, does he work well with others, is the organization achieving its mission, does he facilitate collaboration across jurisdictions, how is employee morale, etc. These are standard questions asked in any performance evaluation for a senior leadership position in the public sector.
General Ted Maxwell, the ADOT representative on the Regional Council, offered to prepare a more comprehensive performance evaluation tool called a 360 review for the Regional Council’s input. This is a common performance evaluation tool used to obtain feedback from employees, external organizations and partners, as was recently done for the performance review for the Tucson city manager. Maxwell talked about how effective this tool was when he served in the military, but he has failed to produce the simplest example.
It’s been a year since the original directive was made and there’s still no evaluation tool nor performance review. Moghimi controls hundreds of millions of transportation dollars for Pima County, he is leading the development of the next $2 billion RTA plan, and he’s paid with a lot of our tax dollars, so I for one want to know how he measures up and I want accountability, as should all taxpayers.
Ruth Reiman worked in state and local government for 25 years. Now retired, she serves on several community committees and boards. | https://tucson.com/opinion/local/local-opinion-d-j-vu-all-over-again-at-pag/article_20c321ac-226a-11ed-92c2-17acfe80e4f9.html | 2022-08-28T14:12:13 | 1 | https://tucson.com/opinion/local/local-opinion-d-j-vu-all-over-again-at-pag/article_20c321ac-226a-11ed-92c2-17acfe80e4f9.html |
The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
Sept. 15 marks a day of vast importance in Tucson — it’s the start of Hispanic Heritage Month and that evening Mexican Independence Day celebrations begin.
It’s a day that I consider our community’s future as a cultural hub that continues to attract visitors from around the world. Since I began as president and CEO of Visit Tucson last December, I have lived by the mantra that we should embrace who we are — in our mission and messaging as a destination marketing organization.
Tucson is at a cultural crossroad where creativity and passion have taken root. Just 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, there is spillover from both sides — and it’s omnipresent in the food, the art, the music, the events and the strong sense of community found here. There’s a constant ebb and flow of people and ideas that’s so embedded in the city’s identity that long-time residents barely even notice it’s there.
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From Sept. 15-Oct. 15, we hope to shed light on Tucson’s Hispanic roots for all to see. For the first time ever, Visit Tucson has created a campaign called ¡Viva Tucson!, to connect the individual events that commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month — which celebrates not only Mexico’s independence, but that of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Chile, and Belize.
During ¡Viva Tucson!, experience everything from a Mexican Independence Day Concert performed by Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Mariachi Aztlán from Pueblo High School, and Compañía de Danza Folkórica Arizona to the Vamos a Tucson Mexican Baseball Fiesta, featuring matchups of Mexican Pacific League teams and the University of Arizona. Appreciate the ingenuity of cross-border collaborations during the Release Party of “Las Hermanas” beer at Borderlands Brewing Company and celebrate the living traditional arts of Southern Arizona’s and Northern Mexico’s communities during Tucson Meet Yourself.
I’d encourage locals and visitors alike to experience one or multiple ¡Viva Tucson! events firsthand. No matter your heritage or ancestry, I guarantee you’ll learn something about others, and perhaps in turn yourself. After all, ¡Viva Tucson! is a celebration of not just Hispanic heritage, but the vibrancy of humanity and Tucson’s strong sense of community.
And when Oct. 15 passes and ¡Viva Tucson! concludes, I’d encourage you to continue to commemorate Tucson’s Hispanic heritage. Explore our UNESCO City of Gastronomy by taste testing a few independent taco shops. Experience the pageantry of Hispanic heritage by attending the All Souls Procession. Learn about a prominent Latin artist while visiting the Tucson Museum of Art.
While ¡Viva Tucson! shines a month-long spotlight on Hispanic heritage, I’m exceptionally proud that Tucson’s vibrant culture is on full display every day.
Felipe Garcia is president and CEO of Visit Tucson. | https://tucson.com/opinion/local/local-opinion-hispanic-heritage-month-is-a-celebration-for-all/article_d6ebee30-2573-11ed-b20e-cb465da51499.html | 2022-08-28T14:12:19 | 0 | https://tucson.com/opinion/local/local-opinion-hispanic-heritage-month-is-a-celebration-for-all/article_d6ebee30-2573-11ed-b20e-cb465da51499.html |
LAPORTE — The path has been cleared for construction of a 100-room hotel and restaurants near an Interstate 94 interchange outside Michigan City.
The LaPorte County Council recently approved $1.5 million to run water and sewer lines to the site also close to U.S. 20 and U.S. 35.
The utility service will be provided by the Michigan City Sanitary District.
Matt Reardon, of the LaPorte County Office of Economic and Community Development, said access to water and sewer service there could spur more growth in an underdeveloped area west and east of U.S. 35.
He said the hotel will contain banquet space for weddings and other venues.
The estimated $22 million plans also include 10,000 square feet of space for restaurants along with some office space.
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The interchange is the first one in Indiana for travelers coming from Michigan.
“We’re going to do everything we can to make this look welcoming,” Reardon said.
Reardon said construction probably won’t begin until spring 2023.
“We got a lot of work to do to get the utilities done, designed and bid for the project,” he said.
The site was placed into a tax increment financing district earlier this year to further assist with the cost of developing it.
The money will come from the increase in tax dollars generated by higher property values brought on by new development within the TIF.
The council also pledged to increase by $5,000 the annual salary of all Emergency 911 workers.
Council Vice President Mike Rosenbaum, R-4th, said the department has lost about one-third of its staff from workers leaving for higher salaries in surrounding counties.
The pay increase slated for final approval next month raises the starting salary for a dispatcher in the department to about $46,000, he said.
Rosenbaum said another $4,000 boost in E-911 salaries could happen when money starts coming in from the increase in the local income tax approved in April.
The tax was raised from 0.095% to 1.45%.
All of the estimated $13 million generated by the tax hike will go toward emergency responder salaries and other public safety-related matters throughout the county.
About half of the revenue will go to county government while much of the remaining dollars will be collected by the municipalities of LaPorte and Michigan City, officials said.
It will be the second pay hike this year for E-911 employees and other emergency responders whose pay to start the year was raised by 6%.
That increase wasn’t enough, judging by the high number of employees continuing to leave.
Rosenbaum said a second pay hike this year is being worked on for the Sheriff’s Office, which is down five staff members.
“I’m hoping we’re going to be able to do the same thing for our sheriff’s department. They have been long and faithful and chomping at the bit also waiting to hear how we can help them,” he said. | https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/laporte/new-interchange-development-gets-green-light/article_f0b7318f-9779-534e-ab2b-299cd02fdd00.html | 2022-08-28T14:20:31 | 0 | https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/laporte/new-interchange-development-gets-green-light/article_f0b7318f-9779-534e-ab2b-299cd02fdd00.html |
CEDAR FALLS — Country music star Wade Hayes will headline opening night Friday at the 29th annual Northeast Iowa Steel Guitar Show.
Nashville singer-songwriter Leona Williams with Ron Williams will perform Saturday and next Sunday, along with dozens of steel guitar players from throughout the Midwest and Nashville.
The three-day annual event is taking place at a new location, Bien Venu Event Center at the Holiday Inn and Suites. Music is from 7 to 11 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. next Sunday, beginning with a music-oriented church service.
The show will benefit the Shriners Hospitals For Children Transportation Fund.
“We’re coming back to a live show after COVID in 2020 and a scaled-down, streamed version of the show in 2021. We thought it was time to give the event a new feel, while still honoring the tradition,” said Jeff Kolb, NEISGS board member.
The Northeast Iowa Steel Guitar Show was started in 1993 and for many years took place at the historic Electric Park Ballroom in Waterloo.
Changing venues was in response to requests for closer overnight accommodations during the three-day festival, Kolb said. Adding headlining acts will help introduce steel music to new audiences. “Other Midwest steel shows have national touring artists who appear, and we decided it was time to do that, too.”
The distinctive twang of a steel guitar is instantly recognizable in traditional and classic country music. It is considered one of the “hardest instruments to learn and one of the hardest to play. For a lot of us, it’s not a country song without steel guitar and fiddle,” Kolb said.
There are steel players coming from Tennessee, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Michigan, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Iowa and other states. Many of the players have toured with major country stars. “It’s a unique opportunity for the public to see and hear these players, and we have a house band that backs them up.
“One of the elements of the steel show is the camaraderie among the players. To me, there’s nothing else like it. The atmosphere is very welcoming and relaxed, almost like a family reunion because the steel player community is such a close-knit group,” Kolb explained.
Hayes scored a number of hit country songs in the 1990s, including his No. 1 hit signature song and certified gold album, “Old Enough To Know Better,” as well as “What I Meant To Say,” “On a Good Night” and “When the Wrong One Loves You Right” and “The Day That She Left Tulsa (In a Chevy).” Considered a neo-traditionalist, Hayes formed the McHayes duo with Mark McClurg, Alan Jackson’s fiddle player and later played with Alabama’s backing band.
Hayes was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer in 2011 and has battled it into remission several times. He also wrote a song about it, “Is It Already Time,” and he continues to tour and write songs.
Leona Williams has written songs for a who’s who galaxy of country music superstars, including Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, George Jones, Randy Travis, Ray Price, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard, her ex-husband. She was Haggard’s duet partner and has performed numerous times on the Grand Ole Opry stage. Williams will be joined by her son, Ron, who is a well-respected country artist.
Seating is general admission. A discounted three-day pass is $35; single day admission is $15 for Friday; $25 for Saturday and $20 for next Sunday. Tickets are available at the door.
"What’s appealing to me about the visiting artist program, in my interpretation at least, is that Hartman is a place to appreciate nature without necessarily having all that hard science knowledge." | https://wcfcourier.com/news/local/country-stars-to-headline-29th-annual-ne-iowa-steel-guitar-show/article_83d0d280-c21a-5d7d-8be2-64f1f013d7a9.html | 2022-08-28T14:25:06 | 0 | https://wcfcourier.com/news/local/country-stars-to-headline-29th-annual-ne-iowa-steel-guitar-show/article_83d0d280-c21a-5d7d-8be2-64f1f013d7a9.html |
WATERLOO — River rafting in downtown may be coming closer to fruition.
The City Council will hold a work session Monday to discuss the topic. The meeting takes place at 5:30 p.m. in the council chambers of City Hall. This is an additional meeting for the council, which has its regular meetings on the first and third Monday of each month.
After the talks, the council will vote on whether to approve a Destination Iowa grant application for the project it’s calling the Cedar River Initiative Project.
Waterloo and Cedar Falls are working on the grant together with two anchor projects and multiple “connector projects” for each city. The total price tag is almost $14 million.
Waterloo’s proposed anchor project is a white-water rafting course and is the bulk of the project – estimated at almost $11.35 million. The price tag in May was estimated at $9.5 million. That plan included a one-mile course from Park Avenue to Sixth Street.
The plan for Waterloo also includes almost $2.18 million for other projects at Cedar Bend Park, Pioneer Park, Riverview Recreation Area and Sans Souci Island. There would also be improvements to River Road and the Deere property along the street.
Cedar Falls’ projects take up about $400,000 of the entire grant. The anchor project is bridge lighting for the Center Street and Main Street bridges near downtown. Smaller projects include work at Olsen, Tourist, Washington and Island parks.
The Destination Iowa grants come from $100 million of COVID-19 relief money the state has set aside for bolstering tourism. Sixty percent, or almost $8.38 million, must be matched by local sources. Waterloo already has one source matching $1 million.
Other anchor projects previously under consideration included a hard court indoor tournament center in Waterloo, River Road Parkway in Waterloo and a multi-modal parking ramp in Cedar Falls.
Another option for the grant was a lighting project on the Fourth Street Bridge in Waterloo, but it is being funded locally.
The Cedar Valley Nature Trail received $3.5 million from Destination Iowa to help pave 16 miles of path.
Photos: Waterloo East volleyball hosts Waterloo West, Aug. 25
The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship announced Friday that it had immediately suspended the warehouse and grain dealer licenses for the Jesup-based store.
Cory Hurless, a program manager for art, music and graphics in Austin, Texas, will meet virtually with the Art and Culture Board during a Wednesday public meeting.
Adding plinths for art or a flat surface to the four new overlook areas originally was considered a possibility. But City Council ultimately decided against them.
The former vice president told the crowd that 'Today our country is almost unrecognizable compared to the days of security and prosperity of the Trump-Pence administration.' | https://wcfcourier.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/whitewater-rafting-topic-of-discussion-at-mondays-council/article_32856b88-d696-5eaf-9166-dda737a3e315.html | 2022-08-28T14:25:06 | 0 | https://wcfcourier.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/whitewater-rafting-topic-of-discussion-at-mondays-council/article_32856b88-d696-5eaf-9166-dda737a3e315.html |
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Eva Cassidy may be the most famous musical artist to ever live in Annapolis, but it took 26 years and a mural dedication for the city to mount a tribute concert in her honor.
“That’s the thing about Eva: All of her success was posthumous,“ said fan Doug Gibson, who attended the recent dedication along with his girlfriend, an artist who knew Eva Cassidy through Annapolis art circles.
Acquaintances, coworkers, friends, family, bandmates, roommates and even ex-boyfriends all were among the crowd of several hundred who attended the official dedication of “Maryland Songbird,” a portrait of Eva Cassidy painted on the rear of a Cathedral Street building in Annapolis. The mural, created by artists Jeff Huntington and Julia Gibb with help from local students and supported by their nonprofit Future History Now, is best viewed in the parking lot of Stan and Joe’s Saloon on West Street.
“We’re going to start calling it the Eva Cassidy Lot,” quipped Joe McGovern, one of the saloon’s proprietors. “Not the Eva Cassidy Parking Lot.”
It took Huntington seven years to get all the necessary approvals and funding for the project, the artist said, but there was never any question that Cassidy was the former Annapolis resident who would be memorialized on the wall.
More than 30 musicians performed at a tribute concert in the Eva Cassidy Lot. No one was more mobbed by fans than cellist Hugh “Fitz” Cassidy, Eva’s father, who joined local bluegrass outfit The Befuddlers to play a quartet of songs recorded by his daughter: “Over the Rainbow,” “Autumn Leaves,” “Fine and Mellow” and “Wade in the Water.”
The Befuddlers rehearsed for the gig at Hugh and Barbara Cassidy’s home in Shadyside, a waterfront retreat the couple considers “a gift from Eva,” since they built it with royalties from her recordings. Singer and upright bass player Jenn Byrne said she has always felt welcome there and struggled to get through “Over the Rainbow” without crying. Her voice would crack, an affect that Eva Cassidy, a perfectionist for a pure vocal line, would have hated.
“I would just look over at Hugh and think, ’How can he do this?” Byrne said. Yet they did. Hugh, 86, and Barbara, 83, could be smiling nearly all afternoon.
Hugh Cassidy joined the Befuddlers with a five-string electric cello that he retrofitted himself. He frequently glanced over to follow the fingers of Larry Melton, an electric bass player who was one of Eva’s close friends and collaborators. For years, Byrne said, the band always has avoided playing what she calls “the Eva stuff,” around 30 American songbook standards and contemporary pop songs that Eva Cassidy covered at her concerts.
“Cassidy was not a writer but an interpreter,” former Washington Post music critic Richard Harrington wrote in an appreciation. “If a song did not capture her soul, Cassidy knew she would not be able to move others singing it.”
“The Bowie blues diva,” as Washington City Paper called her, phrased lyrics with an aching sincerity that placed her alongside the famous original recording artists: Judy Garland, John Lennon, Sting. Not bad for a soprano accustomed to at times playing for 10 people in Annapolis bars.
Anita Hagan recalled being in one such small crowd around 1993 in the basement of Reynold’s Tavern in Annapolis. She was sitting in the dark listening when a group of guys came in, turned the lights on and started throwing darts. The singer did nothing to deter them.
“She wouldn’t do that,” Hagan said. “So I did.”
It’s a shame, but Hagan knows Cassidy drew slightly larger crowds at gigs farther out of town, including Shootz, a billiards hall in Bethesda, and Fleetwood’s in Alexandria, a restaurant owned by Fleetwood Mac’s Mick Fleetwood. Eva Cassidy’s longest 10 seconds of living fame came in 1992, when she recorded a series of duets with Chuck Brown, Washington’s “father of Go-go” called “The Other Side.” But while area musicians recognized her genre-crossing talent, the record industry did not, and Eva Cassidy wasn’t interested in letting executives make decisions about her music.
She had, in Harrington’s words, an “instinctive disdain for commercial compromise.”
That iconoclast spirit likely came from Barbara, a German immigrant, and Hugh, whose vocations include music, metalsmithing and professional weightlifting. The family moved to Bowie from Oxon Hill in 1972. Son Dan became a professional fiddler, but their daughter had no formal musical training, opting to take art classes at Prince George’s Community College. Cassidy’s non-musical jobs included painting furniture for a company in Annapolis and tending plants at a nursery in Beltsville.
She lived, for a time, near Maryland Hall in Annapolis. At some point, she took a handful of voice lessons with a trained vocal coach in Washington, Barbara recalled, but was told, “You don’t need lessons. Just keep doing what you are doing.” So she did, gigging away but never gaining fame.
Perhaps appropriately, Huntington, McGovern and other organizers did little outreach for the event, allowing Facebook posts and word of mouth to draw a crowd that would fit in the lot, along with cameras for the Irish filmmaker working on a documentary. “Cassidy Family Dedication,” was written on the chalkboard at Stan and Joe’s.
Family members have attended several events in Eva’s honor, Hugh Cassidy said, but nothing like this one.
“In Annapolis, this it the biggest deal,” he said, “and the best.”
“This is more joyful,” Barbara added, noting that one of Eva’s friends was surprised by the gathering’s celebratory tone. That friend, she said, “is still having to deal with the grief.” As are so many of the artist’s fans.
In May of 1996, Eva Cassidy showed up at a release party for “Live at Blues Alley” walking with a cane. She had recently fallen while painting a mural and blamed the spill on a hip injury. Within three months, the singer would be diagnosed with melanoma so advanced it had already spread to her bones. She died Nov. 2.
Byrne vividly remembered the day of Cassidy’s funeral. She had recently moved back to Annapolis and run into mutual friends who attended the service. Still tearful, they handed her a copy of “Live at Blues Alley.” Cassidy and her band recorded the album at the 124-seat Georgetown venue less than a year before. The singer ordered only a thousand copies, and was convinced she’d “have boxes and boxes of them lying around forever,” her co-producer and former boyfriend Chris Biondo told The Washington Post.
Shortly after Cassidy died, Grace Griffith, a folk and Celtic singer from La Plata, arranged a meeting between Hugh, Barbara and the CEO of a small record label in Washington State. Blix Street, they all agreed, was the right fit. In 1998, Blix released “Songbird,” featuring mostly recordings from Biondo’s Montgomery County studio and re-released “Blues Alley.”
Both albums would take off in Europe before gaining traction in the United States. To this day, Barbara believes that’s not because Americans have poor taste, but because smart producers at publicly funded broadcasters overseas have more autonomy than those at American commercial radio stations.
“They let the DJs choose the music,” Barbara Cassidy said.
A BBC radio host began spinning Cassidy’s covers of “Fields of Gold” and “Over the Rainbow,” the latter of which was included on a 1999 “BBC Songs of the Century” compilation. A bootleg video became the most requested ever on BBC-TV’s “Top of the Pops.” Yet it took a few years for Cassidy’s music to boomerang back across the Atlantic. Then, in 2002, American world champion figure skater Michelle Kwan took to the ice for the exhibition program at the Salt Lake City Olympics. Kwan had been expected to win the gold medal that year but had only taken the bronze. She appeared in a Vera Wang dress and skated a devastating program to Cassidy’s “Fields of Gold.”
“Tears of joy, tears of sadness and more than a little irony,” commentator Dick Button said as Kwan completed her final spin.
That performance marked the first time their Cassidy’s music was played on national television, her parents said. Kwan made “Fields of Gold” her signature performance, and when a skating tour stopped in Washington, Kwan invited the singer’s parents and arranged to meet them, Barbara Cassidy recalled.
In 2003, Cassidy’s cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Songbird” made the soundtrack of the hit film “Love Actually.” Slowly, more of her music seeped into the American cultural consciousness. Cassidy’s cousin Laura, who attended the tribute concert, maintains an online list of celebrity fans. On “The Voice,” judge Kelly Clarkson recently praised a contestant as “Eva-esque,” expecting viewers to know her on a first-name basis.
Miyuki Williams, a host at WPFW-89.3FM, Washington’s “Jazz and Justice” public radio station, proudly related that anecdote. She periodically invites Hugh and Barbara Cassidy to be her guests. Those shows draw more responses from fans than anything else Williams does at the station.
“Their emails are full of gratitude and grace,” Williams said from the stage between acts. “The phone calls are passionate, often spoken through tears. Whether it’s a triumph of her enormous talent or the tragedy of her life far too short, the listeners are deeply moved.”
Other speakers were just as heartfelt. Brian Cahalan, owner of 49 West Coffeehouse, Wine Bar and Gallery regretted that while he heard Eva play at the tavern around the corner, he didn’t get a babysitter to attend the Blues Alley show in Washington.
“And then she was gone,” Cahalan said.
But now, every day, he can look at the Future History Now mural, and see a portrait of his blonde friend, long hair falling forward, fingers strumming her guitar. Other passers-by may see the black-and-white portrait and be introduced to “Maryland’s Songbird” for the first time.
“There are still people in Annapolis who have never heard of Eva Cassidy,” Byrne said, “but once they listen, they will never forget.” | https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/annapolis-honors-singer-eva-cassidy-with-mural/2022/08/28/9e6df706-26d1-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html | 2022-08-28T14:30:31 | 1 | https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/annapolis-honors-singer-eva-cassidy-with-mural/2022/08/28/9e6df706-26d1-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html |
HARRISONBURG, Va. — It was from humble beginnings that Melodie Davis, at the age of 16, intrepidly stepped into the world of Christian media.
“On this day, November 18, 1967,” Davis wrote in her new book, “Sunday afternoon at 4:30 p.m., I decided what I want to be: a Christian writer.”
Davis went on to work for Mennonite Media, now MennoMedia, for 43 years. She started out as a secretary — not her first choice for a job title — and worked her way up to a managing editor role by the time she retired in 2018.
Wanting to provide an updated history on the company and also to share about her experience as a woman in the industry at a time when that wasn’t easy to do, Davis recently published “Memoir of an Unimagined Career: 43 Years Inside Mennonite Media.”
Davis said she wanted to share the history of her company from an engaging, inside-out perspective, drawing in her own personal life and major world events from the last half-century that illuminate her story.
“Anyone who has memories of ‘The Mennonite Hour’ as it grew into what is now MennoMedia will love this book,” Harvey Yoder, pastor of Family of Hope Mennonite House Church, said in a review. “Melodie’s personal story woven into this church agency’s story makes this a fascinating read.”
Davis said she entered the field when people were asking questions about working mothers on popular radio talk shows of the day, such as “The Mennonite Hour,” that were produced by the company she went to work for.
As the decades went by, Davis, a script writer, said the company expanded into more TV and film media, including documentaries.
“Her insights about collaboration, admitting failures, pushing the edges, caring deeply about the people in the stories and embracing changing opportunities are nuggets of wisdom to glean,” Jerry Holsopple, professor of visual and communication arts at Eastern Mennonite University, said in a review.
Davis said the documentaries were aired by local affiliates of some of the major networks in the 1980s and ’90s. One of the most interesting parts of her career, she said, was answering calls on a phone line for after the show aired.
Davis, who grew up in the Mennonite faith, now attends a local Presbyterian church, which she’s been a part of for decades, with her husband. On the same staircase she posed for pictures on her wedding day, Davis — with her humble smile -- posed for a photo with her new book.
“Over the years, I found what I was really enjoying doing was writing,” Davis said. “I realized that it was OK to be a missionary or have a mission right here in Harrisonburg.”
Davis also wrote a column called “Another Way” that appeared in the Daily News-Record in the 1990s and early 2000s. She’s written nine other books and has won numerous awards for her work, including a distinguished service award from EMU and recognition from American Women in Radio and Television.
“I don’t have any evidence of it (on hand),” Davis said. “But some of our stuff won American Women in Radio and Television. I got to go to New York City for a red carpet.”
Davis said she hopes aspiring women journalists, young people starting their career and anyone interested in Christian media history will find her book meaningful. “Memoir of an Unimagined Career” is available on Amazon.
“(I hope) that (readers) can find ways to do things they didn’t think they could do,” Davis said. “Things that challenge you. And just to give it your all and try to do your best work. I had a lot of help along the way.” | https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/author-documents-career-in-mennonite-media-in-new-book/2022/08/28/9b108b0a-26d1-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html | 2022-08-28T14:30:38 | 0 | https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/author-documents-career-in-mennonite-media-in-new-book/2022/08/28/9b108b0a-26d1-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html |
STAUNTON, Va. — Amanda Shrader is often seen with a smile and an enthusiastic voice by her clients.
“I believe everyone has a story and I feel like if you’re able to share in a supportive group, it makes it feel like you’re not alone,” Shrader said.
Flowy long skirts in all colors of the rainbow were set up in her studio, Virginia Creative Collective, as well as more skirts hung on the racks and piled in the studio’s office space.
“It’s the feeling that you can be a princess and you can feel powerful and feel beautiful and feel strong and just literally lift all that weight off of you,” she said of the skirts.
Shrader individually names the skirts after clients she has met and who shared their stories. She would often uses her instincts to name the skirts based on how clients feel.
“The deeper I got into the project, I would look at people and I’d say, ‘that’s your skirt,’” she said. “I’m literally connected to each and every one of those skirts.”
Growing up, Shrader always felt like she was the biggest or tallest girl in grade school, which often made her feel less of herself. Although she tried to stay positive, maintaining her self-esteem was difficult. However, she was determined to stop nagging and hating on herself, especially after giving birth to her son four years ago.
“The realization came and I was like ‘OK, I’m a mother. I need to stop worrying about these little things and stop caring really about what everybody else thinks,’” she said while becoming teary-eyed. “If I’m taking care of myself and I’m doing what I love to do, then all the rest came so naturally.”
“I created a human and it changed,” she also said of her body after giving birth. “Our bodies aren’t meant to stay the same, and if they are, then that’s great. But, we’re growing and we’re changing everyday.”
Shrader knew then all she wanted to do was help others.
She started The Skirt Project in 2020 by choosing various women on social media to do portrait sessions. Shrader has since collected more than 80 skirts.
“I know it’s weird, but I just felt like that this was the way I was supposed to go and I was supposed to try,” she said. “To connect women together and to hear their stories, and be this, not leader, but this creator of something that we need more of in this world.”
Jordan Mahaney, who owns Virginia Creative Collective studio with Shrader, got involved. Mahaney, also a photographer, said the project impacted her emotionally because she never got to celebrate her milestones and was often burned out.
“I just kept doing and doing and that really did took me moment to recognize what I accomplished,” Mahaney said.
She said she never got a chance to walk the stage with her bachelor’s or master’s degree, since she was involved more in her personal life.
Mahaney wore a lavender-colored skirt to her photoshoot session, along with her cap and gown.
“It just felt complete,” she said. “This is now a part of me that I am ambitious and highly-educated.”
Since then, Shrader created a network of women across the country, including in California, Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania, that have joined the movement.
“The women that have never met each other before become best friends and that is so incredible to me,” Shrader said.
One client, Chelsea Gilmer, met Shrader through social media and worked with her through a maternity shoot as a part of a project, along with other mothers and mothers-to-be.
“She asked me if I wanted to have skirt named after me and I was like, ‘Of course,’” Gilmer said. “I felt so honored that she would even asked me.”
“She is one of the most positive people,” she also said. “You can’t walk into a room there and not smile or not feel good about yourself.”
Gilmer also hopes The Skirt Project movement continues to grow.
“It has already reached 12 different states,” she said. “I think it’s only a matter of time that it grows even more.”
Shrader has some advice for women facing hardships or who do not feel like they are enough.
“It’s okay to support one another, it’s okay to feel our sadness, it’s okay to feel our happiness, our fake happiness when it’s tough,” she said. “It’s the different seasons of life that you need support in all of the seasons.” | https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/the-skirt-project-photographer-strives-to-empower-women/2022/08/28/a1ea7256-26d1-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html | 2022-08-28T14:30:44 | 0 | https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/the-skirt-project-photographer-strives-to-empower-women/2022/08/28/a1ea7256-26d1-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html |
FRIENDSVILLE, Md. — A proposal to expand a network of biking and hiking trails through western Maryland has triggered intense opposition among hikers, whitewater rafters and other outdoor enthusiasts who might otherwise cheer the idea.
Supporters — including Garrett Trails, a nonprofit organization led by resort, lodging, local government and other recreational business interests — say the Youghiogheny canyon trail would bring greater public access to a gorgeous piece of Appalachian landscape and boost the region’s struggling economy, especially once it’s linked to the Great Allegheny Passage rail-trail running from Cumberland to Pittsburgh. Eventually, the Youghiogheny trail would also connect to a planned Eastern Continental Divide Loop in western Maryland.
“I can’t kayak that river anymore — I’m past my prime being able to enjoy that — but I would certainly enjoy hiking up and down that river, and I think a lot of people would,” said Rob Hammond. Hammond, a security systems consultant, said when he was living in Cleveland, he used to run the Youghiogheny rapids once a month or so and came to love the area so much he moved to Garrett County.
“This is a public river,” he said, “and we should have access to it.”
Opponents say the proposal would violate a landmark 1968 Maryland law that led to the designation of the Youghiogheny (pronounced YOCK-uh-gain-ee) as the state’s only wild and scenic river. They also argue that building durable two-lane trails along the Yough, as the river is often known, for multitudes of visitors will inevitably destroy the primitive beauty that has survived until now precisely because of its rugged, secluded nature.
“I feel that it would make an economic impact because it would go through an amazing area. However, that amazing area would be changed forever,” said Eric Harder, the nonprofit Mountain Watershed Association’s Youghiogheny Riverkeeper. “A wild and primitive place is somewhere that’s inaccessible to normal human traffic.”
The debate comes as the nation’s state and federal parks have strained to handle huge crowds driven outdoors during the pandemic. And it’s taken on additional urgency after the Maryland General Assembly tucked $4.7 million in project funding into the Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) budget in what opponents say was deft legislative maneuvering by the project’s backers with little transparency or public comment.
“I have a lot of questions, and I feel like my biggest issue with this is the misinformation or lack of information from the get-go,” said Molly Rikhye, who owns property in the river valley and voiced her opposition at a recent town hall. “This was just kind of sprung on everybody all at once.”
The controversy also has raised not only familiar questions about how to open public access to natural resources while still preserving them, but also questions about the meaning of terms such as “natural” or “primitive.”
“They’ve gone after the wildest place in Maryland,” said Steve Storck, a former executive director at Garrett Trails who left the nonprofit in a dispute with its executive board over running a trail through the Yough corridor. “That’s the issue.”
Storck has also become his former employer’s biggest critic, saying Garrett Trails has operated on behalf of businesses and local governments that would profit from the trail network without the requisite transparency that public entities require.
Michael M. Dreisbach, the nonprofit board’s president, says it’s no secret that the organization has been pushing for trails in the Youghiogheny River for about 15 years.
“There is nothing that precludes a trail in the Yough river canyon, period,” said Dreisbach, who with his wife owns the Savage River Lodge, a resort embedded inside state forest land where cabins go for as much as $315 a night. Besides the lodge, which was listed for sale for a time for $7.9 million, the Dreisbachs own other businesses, too, including the Cornucopia Cafe in Grantsville. Dreisbach said that, if anything, several opponents, such as rafting guides and property owners, have a vested interest in keeping people out.
“And at this point, it’s almost a moot story anymore because you only got a couple people that are constantly opposed to everything you do,” said Dreisbach, a self-described Blue Dog Democrat who is also on the ballot this year for a seat in the Maryland Senate.
The Youghiogheny River is the only western Maryland river that doesn’t flow south — hence, its Algonkian name meaning “stream flowing in a contrary direction.”
The river runs 135 miles from its source on Backbone Mountain in West Virginia, dropping into steep rocky canyons over a 4-mile stretch in Maryland before emptying into the Monongahela River outside Pittsburgh. Its course includes Maryland’s largest waterfall and twisting whitewater rapids that rank among the most difficult in the eastern United States.
Over the years, the Yough valley also has supported logging and mining, including an old small-gauge railroad whose trail bed has been mostly reclaimed by nature. Its forests shelter 15 plant and 11 animal species that the DNR says are considered threatened or endangered.
In 1968, Maryland’s General Assembly passed the Scenic and Wild Rivers Act — co-sponsored by House Majority Leader Rep. Steny H. Hoyer when he was a state senator — that initially listed five rivers. Eventually, the Youghiogheny became the first and only one to receive the designation, with a portion between Miller’s Run and Friendsville gaining further protection as a “wild river” in 1976. (Congress also considered adding the Yough to the federal roster of wild and scenic rivers but did not.)
By law, DNR has responsibility to manage and protect the Yough, including sections where regulations require that its “primitive” natural state remain intact and “inaccessible except by trail.”
But what constitutes a “trail” is also key to the debate. Opponents of the Yough canyon trail argue that only a rudimentary foot path fits within the law’s intent; supporters say a durable trail — perhaps covered with gravel and able accommodate two-way traffic for bicycles, hikers and perhaps even wheelchairs — would qualify, too.
To that end, Sen. George C. Edwards and Del. Wendell R. Beitzel — who secured funds for the Yough trail after consulting with Garrett Trails — said legal counsel with the General Assembly’s Department of Legislative Services advised them that the trail proposed by Garrett Trails would not violate the law. Both said the opinion was not obtained in writing.
The two lawmakers recently called a town hall to explain their efforts to obtain the $4.7 million in funding to build two trails from Sang Run to Kendall Trail and from Swallow Falls to Sang Run.
About 60 people attended, all but three of whom spoke against the project.
“Personally, I’m for trails,” said Roger Zbel, owner of Precision Rafting who’s been leading groups through the river’s whitewater for 42 years. “I mountain bike, I hike, I do it all. But I’m really against a trail going up in the wild and scenic corridor.”
Others argued that, especially at a time when climate change has shown the powerful impact of human activity on the environment, there ought to be places crowds of people shouldn’t go. Some suggested that preservation can bring its economic benefits. Several expressed hope that DNR Secretary Jean Haddaway-Riccio would reject the Yough trail as her predecessor, Joseph P. Gill, did in 2014.
Gill, in a letter dated June 12, 2014, and addressed to Beitzel and Edwards, said Garrett Trails’ plan, which included large bridges, would damage the Yough’s scenic canyon, violate its protective law and probably run afoul of other state and federal environmental laws.
Haddaway-Riccio, noting that neither the governor nor DNR had requested the trail funds, suggested that her agency would take a very cautious look at the plan.
“We are not opposed to exploring and considering expansion of trails in the region,” Haddaway-Riccio said in a statement provided by a DNR spokesman, adding that the agency would also have to take into account the river’s protected status.
“The provision of the law, along with terrain challenges, will likely result in the need to adjust the location of the trails and develop design features that would work in this corridor or seek solutions for these trails outside the corridor,” she said.
Harder, the Youghiogheny Riverkeeper, said a new biking and hiking trail that extends the larger western Maryland network but runs outside the Yough canyon would be the way to go.
“We’re not anti-trail — we actually manage our own bike trail,” Harder said. “We just think this is the wrong location for it.” | https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/wildest-place-in-maryland-under-threat-from-biking-trails/2022/08/28/a54036ac-26d1-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html | 2022-08-28T14:30:50 | 1 | https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/wildest-place-in-maryland-under-threat-from-biking-trails/2022/08/28/a54036ac-26d1-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html |
HAINES CITY, Fla. — Two police officers with the Haines City Police Department were injured during a traffic stop in Haines City, authorities say.
The police department said in a Facebook post that a police car collided with another car that was not the target of the traffic stop near East Johnson Avenue and Powerline Road.
There were no reported injuries to any police officers involved in the crash.
The area of the intersection is blocked off and police say they encourage drivers to avoid the location as the investigation remains ongoing. | https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/polkcounty/2-haines-city-police-injured-traffic-stop/67-91f5fb9e-7930-419f-9e1c-a18425613808 | 2022-08-28T14:43:26 | 0 | https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/polkcounty/2-haines-city-police-injured-traffic-stop/67-91f5fb9e-7930-419f-9e1c-a18425613808 |
SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office is investigating the death of a 76-year-old man after he drowned at Crescent Beach on Saturday.
Francisco Telesforo Campos La Nuez of Hollywood, Florida died at the scene after deputies and paramedics attempted to render aid, deputies wrote in a statement.
Deputies say it is unknown at this time if the man's death is medical in nature or is the result of drowning. However, detectives do not believe there is any foul play involved.
The victim’s official cause of death will be determined and released by the Medical Examiner’s Office. | https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/sarasotacounty/man-drowns-sarasota-crescent-beach/67-91c65035-1cd8-45e1-be89-c09c08682f35 | 2022-08-28T14:43:32 | 0 | https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/sarasotacounty/man-drowns-sarasota-crescent-beach/67-91c65035-1cd8-45e1-be89-c09c08682f35 |
The League of Woman Voters of the Greater Dayton Area is presenting a panel discussion on redistricting and gerrymandering in Ohio on Sept. 20 at the Dayton Metro Library
The event will discuss the history of gerrymandering in Ohio, why the November election will use legislative district boundary maps ruled unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court, and what changes can be made to ensure fair maps in the future. The audience will have the opportunity to ask questions.
Panelists will include Dennis Turner, professor at the University of Dayton School of Law; Catherine Turcer, executive director of Common Cause Ohio; Tom Roberts, member of the Ohio Citizens Redistricting Commission and President of the Ohio State Conference, NAACP; Myla Cardona-Jones, associate professor at Sinclair Community College; and Gary Leppla, a local attorney.
The program, titled “Redistricting – What it Means for You,” will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Dayton Metro Library, 215 E. Third Street, Dayton. The event is open to the public and free of charge.
“Redistricting in Ohio has been marked by confusion and controversy over the last year,” the organization said in a release.
“Despite Ohioans voting overwhelmingly in 2015 and 2018 to pass Constitutional amendments to establish a process to end gerrymandering, the district maps we will use for the upcoming general election have been ruled unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court.”
For more information, call (937) 228-4041 or email league@lwvdayton.org.
About the Author | https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/local/league-of-women-voters-offering-panel-discussion-on-gerrymandering/CGROLDP2SJAKLIIB5F5OC7IRRQ/ | 2022-08-28T14:51:12 | 1 | https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/local/league-of-women-voters-offering-panel-discussion-on-gerrymandering/CGROLDP2SJAKLIIB5F5OC7IRRQ/ |
The old Highland Springs High School building in Eastern Henrico was spruced up over the summer, and will reopen to students on Monday with a new purpose.
The site, which has been rebranded as the “Oak Avenue Complex,” will soon serve as the first full-service community school in Central Virginia. It will provide local students and families with on-site health and dental care; mental health and tutoring services; and space for adult and GED-program classes.
In response to a FOIA request from the Richmond Times-Dispatch, police released drafts of talking points and a news release. None of them mention Dogwood Dell amphitheater.
A community school is both a place and a strategy meant to address barriers outside the school day that impact student success during the school day.
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“We're not asking schools to do more. We're working with partners to expand what you can do in a school to create a space where families can access convenient services,” said Mike Taylor, CEO of the nonprofit Henrico Education Foundation. “After all, our schools are everywhere. Why not make them the center of this work because it's easier for families to access the services.”
Starting Monday, the Oak will house sixth and seventh graders in the county’s expanding Achievable Dream Academy program, and will be used temporarily by students from the Advanced Career Education Center at Highland Springs.
Within a few weeks the Henrico school division’s family and community engagement department, which heads the community school initiative, will move into the building.
Initial partners include the Henrico County Food Bank and the Virginia Department of Social Services, which will help to provide a food pantry, and caseworkers who will be on-site to work with families.
“If we have resources on site, if students and even families can get to them faster, there are less barriers for them to have access,” said Adrienne Cole Johnson, chief of family and community engagement for Henrico Schools. “Students excel more because they know that they're supported, and they don’t have to worry about some of those basic day-to-day needs.”
Further out, the Oak will provide on-site health and dentistry services through other community partners.
Studies of community schools that have been running for more than five years have shown higher standardized reading and math scores, better attendance rates and greater parental involvement.
“When kids are hungry, it's hard to learn. Whether they have a vision issue or a dental issue, that impacts a student's ability to focus and be in class,” said HEF’s Mike Taylor. “We’ve looked at some data with some folks in the community, and absences are an issue. A lot of times, it's health-related.”
The HEF, a nonprofit that supports Henrico Schools, is providing capital funds for the Oak, fundraising for sustainability and acting as a convener with experts and community partners. Taylor said that HEF is still working on some additional fundraising for equipment including exam tables and computer equipment.
The Oak, which will continue to roll out new services over the next year, was originally planned to launch earlier, but supply chain issues delayed some aspects. On-site health and dental services could be operating by the spring, but dates are still uncertain.
While the Oak will be the county and region’s first full-service community school, the initiative began in Henrico back in 2016 at Glen Lea Elementary School with a Community Learning Center initiative.
Henrico County Public Schools now has eight schools with similar after school enrichment programming. They are funded by a U.S. Department of Education program that supports schools’ Community Learning Centers, particularly those that serve students in high-poverty and low-performing schools.
The school division’s first telehealth center, part of the community school initiative, opened last year at Glen Lea Elementary School.
School division officials along with HEF are working on a grant application for the USDOE’s Full-Service Community Schools program, which is meant to support community schools that improve the accessibility of services for children and families, particularly those attending high-poverty schools.
The Biden administration proposed expanded funding for community schools in its budget, and Congress more than doubled funding for the program. The USDOE announced in July plans to award $68 million in funds for 40 new grantees.
On Tuesday morning, maintenance crews at the Oak were busy painting, cleaning and moving furniture in order to prepare for students’ first day of school on Monday.
“The game plan was always to repurpose this to some form, they just had to determine what we would repurpose it to,” said Susan Moore, HCPS director of facilities as she oversaw the “refresh” process on Tuesday.
The students who will begin classes at the Oak on Monday will bring the building to life, Johnson said. One of the first developments will be the family and resource center, which will offer on-site tutoring, workshops and parent groups.
“The thought is that we're going to have very active partnerships on site to support our young people, but also our family and community,” Johnson said. | https://richmond.com/news/local/education/former-highland-springs-high-to-serve-as-regions-first-full-service-community-school/article_9667434b-ed68-550d-95c2-fd8757b60e77.html | 2022-08-28T15:05:51 | 0 | https://richmond.com/news/local/education/former-highland-springs-high-to-serve-as-regions-first-full-service-community-school/article_9667434b-ed68-550d-95c2-fd8757b60e77.html |
Police searching two Detroit neighborhoods after shooting Sunday morning
Detroit — Police are searching two neighborhoods on the west side of Detroit after at least one shooting Sunday morning.
Detroit and Michigan State Police are investigating incidents at West Seven Mile and Pennington Drive and West Seven Mile and Wyoming Avenue. It is not clear if the incidents are related but the areas are less than a mile apart.
Detroit police declined to release information about the incidents and are planning a press conference Sunday afternoon.
Megan Owens, who lives on Pennington, said she heard about a dozen shots around 7 a.m. Sunday.
"I heard the shots from my window. We thought it was fireworks," Owens said. "It's usually very peaceful here."
She said an older man walking his dog was bleeding from a wound on his leg. The man put his belt around his leg to stop the bleeding and was taken by ambulance to the hospital, she said.
The dog was bleeding from his paw, and the man's wife took the dog to a veterinarian, she said.
This story will be updated. | https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2022/08/28/police-searching-two-detroit-neighborhoods-after-shooting/7924791001/ | 2022-08-28T15:08:53 | 1 | https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2022/08/28/police-searching-two-detroit-neighborhoods-after-shooting/7924791001/ |
A facility for quotation covers the absence of original thought.—Dorothy Sayers
I’m not good at math; I’ve never been good at math. I accepted it from an early age. My teacher would hand me a math test. I’d just write on it, “I’m going to marry someone who can do this.”—Rita Rudner
If computers get too powerful, we can organize them into a committee -- that will do them in.—Bradley's Bromide
Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong.—Oscar Wilde
I will never forget my first day of school. My mom woke me up, got me dressed, made my bed and fed me. Man, did the guys in the dorm tease me.—Michael Aronin
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.—Herm Albright
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Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing.—Ralph Waldo Emerson
If there is one thing worse than being an ugly duckling in a house of swans, it’s having the swans pretend there is no difference.—Teena Booth
Education is when you read the fine print. Experience is what you get when you don’t.—Pete Seeger
I had a terrible education. I went to a school for emotionally disturbed teachers.—Woody Allen
Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?—Edgar Bergen
If I’ve learned one thing in life it is that I can always count on pinkeye at the most inappropriate moment.—Janeane Garafalo
A human being has a natural desire to have more of a good thing than he needs.—Mark Twain
Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain — and most fools do.—Dale Carnegie
The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from those who are undecided.—Casey Stengel
The wit makes fun of other people; the satirist makes fun of the world; the humorist makes fun of himself.—James Thurber
All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.—Charlie Chaplin
I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education.—Wilson Mizner
When a man tells you he got rich through hard work, ask him “Whose?”—Don Marquis
In high school, I could not pass a math test. I couldn’t pass a drug test either. There may be a correlation.—Lynda Montgomery
Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.—Mark Twain
A healthy male adult bore consumes each year one and a half times his own weight in other people’s patience.—John Updike
You know there’s a problem with the education system when you realize that out of the three Rs, only one begins with an R.—Dennis Miller | https://azdailysun.com/news/local/carpenters-column-when-all-you-can-do-is-laugh/article_21f20d54-262f-11ed-9ae9-eb904251e0f1.html | 2022-08-28T15:11:32 | 1 | https://azdailysun.com/news/local/carpenters-column-when-all-you-can-do-is-laugh/article_21f20d54-262f-11ed-9ae9-eb904251e0f1.html |
Local artist Emma Gardner has been perched on scaffolding for the last few days, carefully working to restore a piece of Flagstaff history along Aspen Avenue.
What she’s doing is part chemistry, part art. It requires her to travel back in time in research, and harness her love of history.
Just a few weeks ago, the porous bricks Gardner's brush travels over were tagged in teal, black and white spray paint. The letters "KERP" obscured the Mission Ice Cream advertisement that’s been a part of the scenery downtown since Franklin D. Roosevelt was president.
Parker May was recently arrested at the post office on WC Riles Street, where police say he was trying to remove his sweatshirt and shoes after leading officers on a foot chase through downtown Flagstaff. When he was booked in the Coconino County Detention Facility, three cans of spray paint were entered into evidence -- in teal, black and white.
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According to police reports, May told officers he was inspired to tag the sign by videos he’d seen on the internet. A woman, Tanya Bahe, was also taken into custody on Sunday, July 17, for filming May’s work.
Witnesses told Flagstaff police officers they had seen a man in a black hoodie and red shoes jump onto a newspaper dispenser and paint over the Mission sign. One woman, identified in police reports as Wildine Rodriguez, told officers she tried to protect the sign, going so far as to grab the graffiti painter’s leg and asking him to stop.
When police arrived, they said the suspect fled the scene. Once detained, he was booked for resisting arrest and criminal damage -- both misdemeanors.
According to one officer’s account, May offered to clean up the damage.
The problem with that? Cleaning up antique brick is delicate work, and bricks have always meant a lot to Shirley Westbrook, the building’s owner.
“My husband and I rented the building next door, the old Daily Sun building, and opened a gym sometime in the late 1960s. That was our introduction to the corner,” Westbrook said.
Westbrook added: “When they tore down the green stamp store across the street ... I went and scavenged a bunch of old bricks and brought them across the street and took them to my house.”
Here she pauses to laugh a little at the memory.
“I’ve never used them," she continued, "but it’s a lot of fun, a lot of changes that are pretty important for people to be able to tie back to in a short amount of time.”
For her, the history of the building is a valuable thing. At one time, it housed the Elk’s club. Then it was home to a drug store. Originally the wall was one layer of brick thick, but with time and renovations, a second layer was added. That second layer of bricks, Westbrook explained, were painted blue, white, and gold by Jack Fuss in 1938 (the year she was born)—encouraging passerby to grab a frozen treat.
“I’m always talking about bricks,” Westbrook joked, but just as there’s more than one layer of brick forming the building’s façade, there’s more paint under the original sign than first meets the eye.
“It’s really interesting because there’s so many layers of ghost signs under the sign. I don’t want to cover anything up because I want it to still tell that story, but we need to restore what got tagged,” Gardner said.
Somewhere under the ice cream ad is a layer of red paint, according to a story Westbrook retold. She learned it from Jim Beard, who owned the building before she did.
“He was very upset when they put the sign on the building because they had redone the face of it. The new brick was bright and he loved it. He had an agreement that nobody would paint any signs on it,” Westbrook said. “He had a little fiery temper, so he came up and painted it out with red paint. So it had already been defaced ... that was the story I received from him.”
The building was most recently tagged a little after 11 p.m. on Saturday, July 16. Westbrook was asleep. The next day, she left to visit her daughter, and she didn’t discover the damage until sometime later. When she first saw the tag, Westbrook was taken aback.
“It was kind of colorful … on the side of a railroad car it might be alright,” she said.
Still she was not inclined to leave the new paint up. Westbrook had a history of defending the sign. She said she was approached years ago by a downtown mover and shaker who wanted to update the look of the historic building.
“He wanted to put a mural over that … of a sunrise and all kinds of things, but I said, 'No.' It can’t be painted over. It must stay as Mr. Beard left it,” she said.
But she was ultimately facing a decision to either paint over or repair the vintage ad.
“Well, I’ve got two choices," she recalled thinking. "I can either paint over it and we end up with a big black nothing. ... I can’t afford to put a new picture up there, or we can try and see if we can restore it.”
Gardner steps in
A friend of Westbrook’s estimated to police that the repairs would cost more than $2,500. That same friend introduced her to Gardner to help start the restoration process.
Where Gardner worked in the August sunshine, bicycle wheels halted, and steps slowed. Some stopped to watch her work, tracing the brush strokes made by Fuss all those years ago. People thank her, because the ice cream advertisement splashed over brick on the building that now houses Lux Coffee and Mountain Sports means a little something different to everyone.
“People have walked by and said, ‘Oh, we take our family photos there every year with all the kids and everything.’ Of course, a bunch of photographers use it all the time as a backdrop,” Gardner said.
She leaned on photos for reference, primarily one that was taken in the 1980s. Ever the diligent researcher, Gardner was still searching for older images.
“The ‘frozen’ letters I couldn’t really tell what they looked like, and I put it out on Facebook. I was like, ‘Hey, does anybody have any old pictures of this sign?’ Someone who contacted me grew up in the '70s when this was the drug store that was on the sign. He said, ‘Thank you so much for restoring that sign. It means a lot to me and my family because we grew up there in that store.’ Keeping that history alive? He really appreciated that,” she said.
Gardner, who’s been in Flagstaff for more than 25 years, mentioned other ghost signs around town that she would like to restore, given the community’s reception of her current project.
“They’ve faded. Like ghosts. They’ve just hung around and lurked. I guess that’s the reason they call them that,” Westbrook said.
She said she’s seen Flagstaff change a lot over the years. Now she hopes some things will remain to reconnect visitors and locals with the town’s past.
When asked what inspired her most to repair the ghost sign on her building she replied with a gleam in her eye, “Remembrances of signs like that in Albuquerque in my youth.”
“It’s interesting how Shirley getting me to restore this little sign has made so many people come out and go, ‘Oh, I love that sign!’ We need more of that. Just appreciating downtown Flagstaff. Instead of complaining about parking,” Gardner laughed. “I do think those signs are really fun and they’re a part of history, and I think it would be really great if there was an in initiative to kind of half restore or stabilize more of them.”
As she continues the rigorous job of restoring the Fuss sign, the local artist has worked hard to preserve its integrity and history -- warts and all.
“I can kind of piece together what the colors probably were. ... I’ve gotten a bunch of pictures of [Fuss’] work through the historical society. Just to see what his feeling was, what he did in general, stuff like that. The owner thought with one of the letters, ‘They must have restored this wrong.’ And I was like, ‘No, just sometimes his perspective was off.’ Because he was working really close and doing it all and sometimes it’s hard. If you don’t step back every 30 minutes you’re not going to know. If you’re on scaffolding it’ll be like, ‘Oops, that one was really narrow.’ So I’m keeping mistakes that he already made.”
Gardner was searching for more reference photos as she continued her work.
“It’s really hard for me to look through the layers and figure it out and piece it together. If anyone has any old pictures I would appreciate if they send them to me. Old pictures before 1985,” she said.
Any photos of the building at the corner of San Francisco Street and Aspen, Avenue can be emailed to spirleyes@gmail.com to help with the restoration project. | https://azdailysun.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/brick-by-brick-local-artist-restores-aspen-avenue-sign-after-vandalism-incident-and-arrest/article_1631ad16-23f1-11ed-8970-5fbcfd7ca5a3.html | 2022-08-28T15:11:38 | 1 | https://azdailysun.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/brick-by-brick-local-artist-restores-aspen-avenue-sign-after-vandalism-incident-and-arrest/article_1631ad16-23f1-11ed-8970-5fbcfd7ca5a3.html |
Lyla Zeller was born and raised in Flagstaff.
She's a graduate of Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy, she’s a mother and she hasn’t been seen since Friday, Aug. 12.
According to the missing persons report, 28-year-old Zeller and fiancé Jacob Flynn told friends they were going to stay at a hotel that Friday night. They were last seen in a red four-door 2013 Ford Focus with the Arizona license plate BCZ2321. On the passenger’s side, the back bumper has a yellow paint transfer from a parking pole. There’s an apartment complex parking pass sticker on the front driver’s side window.
Eric Wood was the last person to see the couple two weeks ago.
“As time kept creeping on I got more and more worried. Now, it’s all worry,” he said.
Wood and Zeller have a son together, Sam, who will turn 8 in October. Flynn also has a little boy, Felix, who is 6. When he first spoke to the Arizona Daily Sun, Wood was assembling a bunk bed, having just gotten temporary emergency custody of Felix.
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“They came and brought the boys over Friday evening,” Wood said, adding that he ordered dinner and played music with Flynn, who produces music.
The group spent the evening together.
Wood remembered very clearly that the two were planning to meet him at a play-date for Sam on Saturday morning at 9 a.m.
When Zeller and Flynn didn’t arrive, Wood drove to see Ann Marie Zeller, Zeller’s mother. That’s when he learned the pair had not returned home.
Ann Marie said she’s concerned about Flynn’s health. She said he has been battling pancreatitis since he was little. In recent years Flynn has been in and out of hospitals and had surgery not long before the two were last seen.
When she last saw her daughter, she said, she was in good spirits, but she thought the two might have had a recent disagreement.
“I know people have their demons, and you never completely know what’s going on,” said Duncan Suhr, who first met the two in high school and became a close friend of Zeller’s after her 18th birthday party.
Suhr became close to Zeller and Wood and was their roommate for a time.
Now, he’s spearheading a search scheduled for today that he hopes will bring the pair home.
“We’re close friends that have seen each other become beautiful, fruitful adults," he said.
The search for Zeller and Flynn will take place near the “End of the World” off of Woody Mountain Road, an area that reaches through ponderosa pine forests across rocky cliffs and into Yavapai County.
“It’s a place that’s special to them,” Ann Marie said.
Characterized by a dramatic landscape, there are roads that are often difficult to navigate around the End of the World. Campers and hikers, according to Suhr, are often seeking seclusion. He’s hoping that Zeller and Flynn are there.
That’s one of the reasons why Coconino County Search and Rescue can’t run point on the investigation yet, according to Sgt. Aaron Dick.
A search and rescue coordinator, Dick said crews need what they call a planning point to start operations. A planning point is usually a parked car, abandoned campsite, or trailhead reported by missing persons or their families as a last known location. From a planning point search and rescue can set up a search area -- usually estimated based on the person’s planned activity (hunting, hiking, off-road driving, etc.).
Dick said there’s still a chance the investigation will turn up more clues, and a potential planning point.
Now, because the two were last seen in Flagstaff, the case belongs to the city’s police department. Ryan Forsman is the detective on this case, and he said it is challenging because there is no limited scope or specific area to search.
Forsman requested phone data from Zeller and Flynn’s shared cellphone to try to pinpoint their location. He said it appears the device was used last on the morning of Aug. 12, and the signal bounced off the Mount Elden tower -- meaning it might have been used essentially anywhere in east Flagstaff. On Friday he learned that the phone has not been turned on since.
The community search Suhr is organizing will be a volunteer effort. He’s recruited more than a dozen adults with trucks and drones to head down every road in the area, and talk to campers and hikers in search of the missing parents. Suhr has printed out maps to organize the effort and plans on distributing fliers to get the word out about his friend’s disappearance.
Investigators have posted on social media and missing person databases, and are searching for the couple’s car using license plate reading technology. Forsman said the Department of Public Safety has no recent record of their license plate in the system, suggesting that they likely have not traveled along Interstate 40, Highway 89 or Highway 180.
“That leads me to believe they’re still in Flagstaff,” the detective said.
Investigators have searched local hotels and hotel surveillance in search of the pair and their red sedan with no results, but Forsman is hopeful.
He received a phone tip on Friday morning from someone saying they went to high school with Flynn, and believed they had seen him and his car downtown Tuesday. Before that another tipper said they had seen Flynn at a duck pond in Flagstaff. That caller told investigators they thought they had seen the red Ford Focus, but stickers appeared to have been scraped off of the windows.
Forsman visited the duck pond near the Continental driving range and Old Walnut Canyon Road. He searched the area and parts of Frances Short Pond with no results.
Forsman believes the pair might be safe and in Flagstaff.
“I’m hopeful with these last two sighting, we’ll be able to locate them in good health,” Forsman said.
Suhr said that if the search today isn’t fruitful, he’s not giving up. He heard there might have been a sighting of the two near Walnut Canyon, and he said they’ll search there next.
For him, the search is personal in more ways than one. He’s known Zeller for a decade, but he’s also a parent, and he’s worried about Felix and Sam.
“It’s really unfair for their kids. They want to know where mom and dad are,” Suhr said.
Wood, who is taking care of both children currently, shared the same concern.
“The boys are worried about their parents, and both of them are acting out in their own ways. They’re both holding out as much hope as they can,” he said.
Suhr is also not willing to give up hope.
“Jacob is bubbly, happy, energetic, passionate about music and a hard worker. Lyla is an amazing mom. They’re just lovely caring people," he said.
Zeller is about 5-foot-7, weighing close to 135 pounds. She has curly brown hair and blue eyes. Flynn is also 28 years old and is listed at 6-foot-2, 140 pounds, with blond hair and blue eyes. Police investigators ask that anyone who might have seen either person to call them at 928-774-1414 or contact Forsman directly at 928-679-4071.
The search will begin at 8 a.m today, and volunteers will be meeting at the Chevron on Old Route 66 near Woody Mountain Road.
“They’re parents, friends, sons and daughters ... there’s so many people that care about them. No matter what happens or has happened, an answer is important for their kids," Wood said. | https://azdailysun.com/news/local/missing-for-two-weeks-community-search-organized-to-find-local-couple-gone-since-aug-12/article_5e8d074a-2559-11ed-8cb7-9717f43c833f.html | 2022-08-28T15:11:44 | 1 | https://azdailysun.com/news/local/missing-for-two-weeks-community-search-organized-to-find-local-couple-gone-since-aug-12/article_5e8d074a-2559-11ed-8cb7-9717f43c833f.html |
When I started running 12 years ago using the Couch to 5K program, I had a deep level of shame about my body. I did most of my training on an aging, minimally used indoor track to avoid being seen by too many people. When I did run outside, I found myself walking more and running less because I was afraid people were judging my body.
As I progressed as a runner, I started to become a bit more confident. I ventured outside, ran a few local 5Ks, and without noticing, I worried less about what people thought of my body.
But there were certain things I wouldn’t do because I didn't believe my body deserved to; I wouldn’t wear tight shorts or tops, and I certainly wouldn’t run in a sports bra. Running in a sports bra was reserved for small, lean bodies.
I continued running, transitioning into trail running. Summers in Iowa are hot and humid, and often downright uncomfortable. Apprehensively, I began taking off my shirt, but only while I was running on the trails and the likelihood of someone seeing me was low.
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The first time I ran in a sports bra, the weight of my sweat-soaked shirt being removed from my body was practically a metaphor for the emotional transformation that had begun: the deep, heavy shame I once felt was starting to lift.
A few months later, I was running down a busy road in Iowa City on another sweltering day. I stopped at an intersection, my body begging for a reprieve from the suffocating humidity. It was a moment of truth. What would win? My desire to be more comfortable? Or my anxiety that people would think my body didn’t deserve to run in a sports bra?
I took off my shirt. While this small act may seem uneventful, it was a cathartic moment that represented a shift in how I viewed myself and my body. My body was not for anyone else but me. I did not care what anyone thought of my stomach, my legs, my arms. I did care about my comfort.
Eventually, running in a sports bra became normal for me. I didn’t think twice about ditching my shirt and gave zero energy to what others might think of my body.
Then I moved to our beloved Flagstaff, the home of talented runners, professional or otherwise. Every other runner I passed on the road or trail seemed to have the stereotypical “runner’s body” (which we all know is gibberish, but that’s for another article). Comparison and self-doubt began to creep in.
What I’ve realized is that what’s true in Iowa is also true in Flagstaff (and everywhere else): We do not owe anyone anything. Societal norms tell us we have to look a certain way to run in a sports bra or wear certain clothes. I’m here to tell you that you deserve to run however you want at whatever size, shirt or no shirt -- and regardless of whether you live among the cornfields or the world’s best runners.
Kelly Teeselink is Council Director of Girls on the Run of Northern Arizona and has completed over 30 ultras, including six 100-mile races.
Send your running-related thoughts to coordinating editor Julie Hammonds (runner@juliehammonds.com) to be featured in a future column. | https://azdailysun.com/sports/local/high-country-running-who-deserves-to-run-in-a-sports-bra/article_f6531bc0-25c5-11ed-b4d5-97204ad1b887.html | 2022-08-28T15:11:51 | 1 | https://azdailysun.com/sports/local/high-country-running-who-deserves-to-run-in-a-sports-bra/article_f6531bc0-25c5-11ed-b4d5-97204ad1b887.html |
Firefighters from CFPA, Powers RFD, Myrtle Point RFD, and U.S. Forest Service responded to a report of a fire just north of Powers on Saturday afternoon. The fire, which was burning in grass and brush on a steep hillside, was contained by dark at about 15 acres.
Fire crews were assisted by the landowner, a private logging company with dozers and water tenders, several helicopters and a retardant plane. Crews continued mopping up hot spots through Sunday. Cause of the fire is under investigation. Anybody with pertinent information about the fire should contact CFPA at 541-267-3161. | https://theworldlink.com/news/local/firefighters-extinguish-fire-near-powers/article_47d2bdae-23f8-11ed-9396-63b3d7bc00cf.html | 2022-08-28T15:20:36 | 0 | https://theworldlink.com/news/local/firefighters-extinguish-fire-near-powers/article_47d2bdae-23f8-11ed-9396-63b3d7bc00cf.html |
AUBURN, Maine — The Auburn Police Department and Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit are investigating a toddler's death by drowning on Saturday.
Police and fire crews responded Saturday to a home on Dillingham Hill Road that day after receiving a report that a 2-year-old had been found unresponsive in the family's swimming pool, according to a news release issued Saturday by Auburn deputy chief of police Timothy Cougle.
Cougle said officers tried to save the toddler's life at the scene. Auburn Fire Department paramedics arrived and took the toddler to Central Maine Medical Center, but the child did not survive.
Cougle said the preliminary investigation indicates this incident was an accidental drowning. | https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/news/local/lewiston-auburn/auburn-police-department-maine-state-police-major-crimes-unit-investigating-death-of-toddler-by-drowning/97-7a1ce389-45e8-46e2-b1f1-7db4291f36c2 | 2022-08-28T15:22:45 | 0 | https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/news/local/lewiston-auburn/auburn-police-department-maine-state-police-major-crimes-unit-investigating-death-of-toddler-by-drowning/97-7a1ce389-45e8-46e2-b1f1-7db4291f36c2 |
DERBY, Kan. (KSNW) – One person is dead following a shooting early Sunday morning, according to Derby Police.
Derby Police responded to a shooting around 2:30 Sunday morning.
Law enforcement responded to the 1200 block of North Westview.
The Deputy Chief said someone was dead following the shooting.
This is an ongoing investigation and we will continue to update this story as we learn more. | https://www.ksn.com/news/local/one-dead-following-early-morning-shooting-in-derby/ | 2022-08-28T15:28:20 | 1 | https://www.ksn.com/news/local/one-dead-following-early-morning-shooting-in-derby/ |
SPRINGDALE, Ark. — The Springdale Police Department (SPD) is investigating a shooting that left one man dead Sunday, Aug. 28.
SPD responded to a call from the security at Zabana Nightclub at around 2:20 a.m. saying they heard several gunshots.
When police arrived, they found a man believed to be in his 20s laying in the parking lot with several gunshot wounds. Officers began CPR until the paramedics arrived on the scene. The man was transported to the hospital where he later died.
The man was identified as 19-year-old Luis Lemus. No other victims were found and the suspect has not been identified at this time.
No further information has been released. Anyone with information is asked to call SPD at 479-751-4542 or the Criminal Investigation Division at 479-750-8139.
Stay with 5NEWS for updates on this developing story.
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To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com. | https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/local/springale-police-investigate-nightclub-shooting-left-one-dead-zabana/527-9ed98aac-5cd0-4a4d-8a94-6fde391ea246 | 2022-08-28T15:36:19 | 0 | https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/local/springale-police-investigate-nightclub-shooting-left-one-dead-zabana/527-9ed98aac-5cd0-4a4d-8a94-6fde391ea246 |
Firefighter Challenge brings competition to downtown Carlsbad
The annual Firefighter Challenge came to downtown Carlsbad Friday Saturday as firefighters from across the country competed in an obstacle course meant to simulate the challenges of the job.
Firefighters, in full gear, ran up a series of steps climbing a tower to start the races.
At the top, they pulled a weight via roped to the top, and ran back down.
Back on the ground, competitors used a sledgehammer to move a weight before they could proceed through to a water hose they used to hit a target.
The final, and longest part of the course saw firefighters drag a heavy dummy through the finish line.
They were evaluated based on the time they took to compete the course.
Hosted by Carlsbad MainStreet and the Carlsbad Fire Department, the challenge was held along Canyon Street near the Eddy County Courthouse.
The event also featured local food trucks and other vendors from Carlsbad and southeast New Mexico.
Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on Twitter. | https://www.currentargus.com/story/news/local/2022/08/28/firefighter-challenge-brings-competition-to-downtown-carlsbad/65458988007/ | 2022-08-28T15:45:22 | 1 | https://www.currentargus.com/story/news/local/2022/08/28/firefighter-challenge-brings-competition-to-downtown-carlsbad/65458988007/ |
Expect delays on River Road South starting Aug. 29
Dejania Oliver
Salem Statesman Journal
Salem is advising drivers to watch for traffic restrictions on River Road South from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Aug. 29 through Sept. 6.
The northbound lane on River Road south of Owens Street will be closed as crews work to install extensions to mesh screens on the road. Flaggers will be there to direct traffic.
For more information on scheduled or emergency road closures in Salem, go to the Current Road Conditions Map on Salem's website.
Dejania Oliver is the breaking news reporter for the Statesman Journal. Contact her at DAOliver@salem.gannett.com or follow on Twitter @DejaniaO. | https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/local/2022/08/28/salem-oregon-delays-on-river-road-south-start-aug-29/65418460007/ | 2022-08-28T15:47:02 | 1 | https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/local/2022/08/28/salem-oregon-delays-on-river-road-south-start-aug-29/65418460007/ |
One man is dead and four others injured after bullets went flying on the Coney Island boardwalk late Saturday, police said.
Officers responded to the popular Brooklyn fixture minutes before midnight for reports of shots fired at Boardwalk and West 29th Street. A 42-year-old man found with a gunshot wound to the back died.
Four other people, two men and two women, had varying gunshot wounds to the legs. All were transported to NYU Langone Hospital and were expected to survive, police said.
The victims range in age between 34 and 49.
Detectives were still combing through the crime scene Sunday morning after the sun came up over the boardwalk, where police tape and evidence markers still covered the area.
Saturday's shooting marked the second time late-night gunfire injured a large group of people this summer. Last month, five people were injured in a shooting at the boardwalk. | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/1-dead-4-injured-in-late-night-shooting-on-coney-island-boardwalk/3841658/ | 2022-08-28T15:47:17 | 0 | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/1-dead-4-injured-in-late-night-shooting-on-coney-island-boardwalk/3841658/ |
DeeDee Loomis logged onto Facebook on Wednesday, and posted a simple but desperate plea.
“I need you! Wake up!!”
Her husband, 50-year-old Tyler Loomis, had been in the hospital — on a ventilator, unconscious and in intensive care — since late Saturday, after getting crushed by a 35-passenger bus.
And she had been by his side since, waiting for any sign of improvement.
“She won’t leave him and I can’t say that I blame her,” said Lisa Price, a friend and employee of the couple. “He’s the love of her life; I mean, those two are incredible.”
They met when they were both chauffeurs for a different company and started Tailored Dreams Limousines Party Buses 11 years ago, growing the business to a half-dozen buses and as many drivers.
On Aug. 20, Tyler Loomis was at their shop just east of North Star High School, replacing a rear suspension airbag on one of their buses.
He knew what he was doing, Price said. He’d replaced others before.
His best friend and brother-in-law, Michael Mercer, was helping.
They’d installed the bag and had put some air in it when Mercer heard what sounded like a pop.
“And then I looked over and the vehicle was on top of his chest,” he said of Loomis.
The next few minutes are a blur to him. He remembers running to Loomis, who wasn’t responding. He called 911, then grabbed a floor jack, raising the rear of the bus enough to free his friend.
“I pulled him out and I began doing chest compressions. And then 911 responders arrived and they took over.”
Lincoln Fire and Rescue crews got the call at about 11 p.m., and were on the way to the hospital with a revived — but still unconscious — Loomis by 11:18.
He suffered a crushed chest, multiple broken ribs and a right eye hemorrhage, DeeDee Loomis said.
On Monday, Price launched a GoFundMe campaign with a goal of raising $20,000 to help the couple with their medical costs. It was the least she could do, she said: Loomis isn’t just a boss to her and the other drivers.
“He's more of a leader. He's a mentor. He's a friend. He's always there for us when we need something. He's a natural-born leader.”
The business took a hard hit during the pandemic but was rebounding, Price said. She and the other drivers don’t want what happened Saturday, and all the costs that will come with it, to derail that return.
“So if we can help any way we can — with medical bills, keeping the company running while he's down — anything helps. He's an incredible man and we don't want him to have to shut his doors.”
Two days after DeeDee pleaded on Facebook for her husband to wake up, he did. Briefly, she said. And he was able to follow a few verbal commands.
“We had some good news for once this afternoon,” she wrote. “So that is a plus.”
And Friday brought more good news, when doctors were able to remove his ventilator, she said.
"I think every indication shows that he is a predator to the public," Nemaha County prosecutors said before a district judge sentenced a former Lincoln sportswriter to prison.
After having consensual sex with a woman early Saturday morning, an 18-year-old Lincoln man is accused of leaving his date's room and sexually assaulting her roommate, police said.
The host of "Drive Time Lincoln" stood by the since-deleted post he made on the Nebraska GOP's Twitter account, calling it "political strategy and gamesmanship."
Judge Kevin McManaman sided with the city on its motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by Erin Spilker, who was a 20-year veteran of LPD when she resigned this year.
The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office will be setting up a traffic checkpoint Friday night as part of a nationwide campaign to crack down on drunk driving.
The collision occurred around 5:45 p.m. Sunday in northeast Lincoln, where the police cruiser was stopped facing eastbound on Adams Street, getting set to turn south onto 48th.
Authorities responded to the north Lincoln gas station around 11 p.m. Saturday after a 31-year-old man was shot once in the leg in an apparently targeted act of violence, according to police.
The Aurora man and two coworkers were driving back to their Lincoln hotel early Thursday morning when he allegedly cut the neck of one of his colleagues. | https://journalstar.com/news/local/an-incredible-man-employees-rallying-around-lincoln-man-crushed-by-bus/article_c93eaf18-1dd3-5818-a656-cb34f6f65863.html | 2022-08-28T15:58:22 | 1 | https://journalstar.com/news/local/an-incredible-man-employees-rallying-around-lincoln-man-crushed-by-bus/article_c93eaf18-1dd3-5818-a656-cb34f6f65863.html |
After dodging two wildfires in one year, Cave Creek has prepared itself for future threats
A small desert community assembled to protect its most vulnerable
CAVE CREEK — Lisa and Bruce Arlen wrapped their paintings in bubble wrap and paper for the second time in two weeks.
They sped away from their house after cramming everything into their Ford SUV. Flames and smoke filled their rear view mirror as they fled what was being called the Ocotillo Fire.
The Ocotillo Fire had started just hours before, and it would keep the Arlens out of their home for three days. It raged north through Cave Creek until the winds shifted, stopping right at the edge of Morning Star Road — across from the Arlen’s house.
When the couple returned after the fire was put out, the house was miraculously unscathed.
“We were very fortunate,” Lisa Arlen said two years after the destructive fire, which started May 30, 2020.
Those living south of them were less fortunate.
Fernando Villalobos lived in Cave Creek with his wife, Marcia, for more than 30 years. Like the Arlens, they evacuated as the Ocotillo Fire burned more than 1,000 acres of land and 12 residential structures. But they didn’t return to a miracle.
Their fully-furnished live-in barn and their art studio, where Fernando Villalobos made pottery for a living, were reduced to shards of half-melted glass, warped metal and cement-brick walls.
Left with nothing but an empty, one story house on the five-acre property, they relied solely on their community, which came together to help them and other victims of the fire.
The town of Cave Creek took drastic measures in the aftermath of the Ocotillo Fire and another that started in the same month, working to help prevent another disaster from striking.
Rather than continuing to rely on neighboring towns to come to the rescue, Cave Creek established its own fire department and joined a better system for out-of-town aid. Town officials have also taken steps to educate and train citizens to protect both their homes and the environment from future disaster. And citizens, not just town officials, have done all they can to help each other bounce back.
But the legacies of the Cave Creek fires still loom over the desert town.
The first fire put the town on notice
It began in June 2005, when the Cave Creek Complex Fire, the third-largest fire in recorded Arizona history, burned through the Tonto National Forest, racing toward Cave Creek.
Tonto forest fire officials, along with state and local agencies, fought the fire before a Type 1 Incident crew took over. Though it never reached Cave Creek, it came close, and it burned 11 homes in Camp Creek, a populated area in the Tonto Forest.
One of those homes belonged to then-Cave Creek mayor Vincent Francia. He had lived in the cabin for years, starting in 1976 when he worked as a cook at a saloon.
“The cabin was in a canyon and the fire just came roaring up there,” he told The Arizona Republic 17 years later.
But Francia didn’t have time to think about his old home. He was focused on ensuring his community’s safety.
“It was a full week without any sleep,” he said. “Evacuation of any kind is a mayor’s worst nightmare.”
The nightmare never came true.
“It came down to the last minute,” he said. “It wasn’t luck. It was good firefighting.”
The fire was started by a lightning strike in Scottsdale, so Jim Ford, who then served as deputy chief of the Scottsdale Fire Department, helped direct early firefighting efforts.
“We knew it could (happen), but the perception is ‘It won’t come here,’” Ford said. “Nobody ever thinks they’re gonna be involved. You see it on TV. Sometimes it comes close to home.”
Francia, who is also the general manager of Turf Paradise Race Track in Phoenix, opened his stables to allow residents to board their animals in case of an evacuation order. The stables housed hundreds of donkeys, horses, goats and other animals, he said, and the entire community came together to help one another.
It was “an indication of the type of community Cave Creek is,” he said. “We respect each other's privacy, but if somebody’s in trouble, everybody’s there.”
Francia described the Cave Creek Complex Fire as eye-opening for the community. More than a decade later, two more fires opened eyes even wider.
Two fires within a month
Ernie Bunch was in his second term as volunteer mayor of Cave Creek when the East Desert fire ignited on May 17, 2020 west of town, and burned nearly 1,500 acres as it consumed brush and vegetation east through the mountains.
“It’s pretty scary to be mayor of a small town and see heavy slurry bombers over your town,” Bunch said.
Like the 2005 Cave Creek Complex Fire, the East Desert Fire never reached any structures in town. But evacuations were ordered.
The Arlens were among those told to leave their homes. They neatly packed their paintings and other essentials, unaware they’d repeat the process again later in the month. As night drew near, the flames of the East Desert Fire grew increasingly visible in the distance.
The couple left to go to a friend’s apartment, but ended up sleeping in their car until 4 a.m. the next day, by which time the evacuation order had been lifted.
Just a few days after the Arlens returned, on May 30, a man cut a metal fence with a grinder, Ford said, emitting sparks that quickly ignited the Ocotillo Fire. It soon grew out of control.
The Arlens and Villaloboses had to leave their homes within hours. Evacuations were led by the town marshal and sheriff’s department.
“You always have some people who say ‘I’m not leaving. I’m gonna defend my house,’” Ford said. “We can rebuild your house. We can’t replace your life.”
The Arlens said they didn’t think twice about leaving.
“When you’re told to leave, just leave,” Bruce Arlen said.
The East Desert Fire started when a man was clearing out plants around his house and the weed-whacker sparked on rocks. He was trying to create what is known as “defensible space,” which Ford says is crucial to wildfire prevention.
The most important part of creating a defensible space, Ford said, is clearing all flammable material, including plants, firewood and trimmings, from within a 5-foot radius of the house. That way, the fire might burn surrounding vegetation from a farther distance, but should burn around the house itself.
Ford also recommends regularly clearing gutters of leaves and clearing dead plant matter and clippings from the house.
“You gotta give the firefighters a chance,” he said. “If you give them defensible space, they might have a better chance. If your house is overgrown and you decide to stay, you’re creating a larger risk for firefighters and police.”
After the fires, making the town safer
Firefighters and police aren’t the only ones who respond to calls for help in Cave Creek.
Sunny Parker created Arizona Foothills 911 to do that. It began in 2017, when her son was in a coma. He had acute Myeloid Leukemia, and the doctors told Parker he wouldn’t make it. Parker said she promised God she'd do good for the rest of her life if he did.
Her son recovered, and Parker kept her promise.
Foothills 911 began as a Facebook group that quickly grew to thousands of people. When the East Desert Fire began, Parker put out a post, recruiting more than 200 people with trailers to evacuate people and their animals.
“This is what we need to start doing,” she recalled saying.
Departments from surrounding towns responded to both the East Desert and Ocotillo fires through Valley Mutual Aid, an agreement that the nearest department will help a community if it’s in need.
“But it’s not a guarantee,” Ford said. If other departments don’t have the resources or ability to help, nothing can be done.
Valley Mutual Aid sent the Cave Creek a letter after the Ocotillo Fire saying other departments would most likely not be able to send aid again in the event of another fire.
Left with no safety net, Cave Creek hired a consultant to assess the risk, and the surrounding fire chiefs reached out to Ford, along with Phoenix, Scottsdale and Glendale fire departments.
They decided that because Ford grew up in Cave Creek, he should go there. Cave Creek signed an intergovernmental agreement with Scottsdale to bring Ford on as community risk reduction director
“It’s my job to tell them what they need and what they don’t need,” Ford said. “And they listened to me.”
He joined the town in December 2020, and by Dec. 7, 2021, Cave Creek established its first fire department. The department contracted with Daisy Mountain Fire Department, agreeing to provide a new engine, a new tanker and all new firefighting equipment, while Daisy Mountain provided 15 staff members and controls operations.
“I can use the expertise that’s already there,” Ford said, rather than build a fire department from scratch.
No longer a part of mutual aid, the town passed a resolution in early 2021 to join Automatic Aid. It follows a similar structure to Mutual Aid, except that aid from other departments is always guaranteed.
Everything in the Automatic Aid system has to be uniform, Ford said. Departments have the same training, the same command structure and the same dispatch.
Towns must qualify for Automatic Aid by proving that they are willing to make changes. The Town Council passed a resolution in early 2021 to be a part of the system, and Cave Creek was officially made a member on Jan. 3 of this year.
Defending homes and property
One of the first things Ford did as community risk reduction director was survey the community to see what they knew about fire prevention and what preventative features the town already had.
He held up a white sheet of paper next to his face. “This blank sheet of paper is what the town (had),” he said. They didn’t know what they were doing.”
The next step was education. Ford hosts up to five open community forums each year for residents to ask questions about fire prevention. He spreads flyers throughout the town with reminders and checklists about how to best defend a home. Twice a year, Cave Creek residents can bring their yard clippings to the fire department to be properly disposed of.
“We’re gonna have fires every year because we are a desert,” he said. “Don’t wait on everybody else — defend your property first.”
Whispering Hills, a neighborhood in Cave Creek, was the first in town to become a certified FireWise community, meaning it passed specific certifications including investing at least $2 per capita into local wildfire mitigation projects.
Since Ford’s arrival and the creation of the Cave Creek Fire Department, Bunch said improvements are already visible.
“We’re certainly more prepared,” he said. “We’ve had multiple small starts, and they just threw so much equipment at it that they were easily put out. It’s been quicker, incredible responses.”
Two fires in the same month are rare, but Bunch attributed the phenomenon to “a tremendous amount of rainfall” in 2020.
That rainfall accelerated the growth of globe chamomile, an invasive species native to South Africa that now grows all over the area. The plant is what’s known as a flash-fuel, meaning it burns quickly and spreads the fire to larger foliage.
Being aware of flash fuels can also help protect saguaro cactuses.
“Saguaros now all have a large amount of flash fuels at the base,” Ford said. “So when the fire comes through it lights that, it turns into a campfire and boils the saguaros. If you wanna save the saguaros, clear out around the base, and when the fire comes through, It'll burn the needles off, but the saguaros will be fine.”
In the aftermath, promises are kept
Globe chamomile grows in the remains of the Villalobos barn.
In every direction there are burn scars across the land, peppered with charred, slowly collapsing saguaro skeletons. Dry brush is scattered along East Desert Hills Road. It dips into a shallow ravine, with nothing remaining but bare stone and dead foliage. The mountains in the distance are scarred with black and yellow. Still, greenery shows through in some places, showing signs of new life.
Sunny Parker found Fernando and Marcia Villalobos five days after the Ocotillo Fire. Fernando Villalobos originally thought Parker had come to take his house away. But she was out with Foothills 911, helping victims however she could. Though neither Villalobos was injured in the fire, neither could take care of their ruined land themselves.
Fernando’s multiple myeloma cancer keeps him from working. Sunny takes him to multiple doctor’s appointments per day. Community members and local businesses banded together to clear the remaining debris, to raise money and collect food for the couple, and to install a new roof and new electrical system.
Still, the house is barren.
Just a few miles up the road, the Arlens settled into their home after three days of staying in a friend’s empty house. In those three days, Bruce Arlen composed a song about the fear he felt, titled “SMOKE.”
“The flames are too high I fear, smoke blurs my vision, my eyes begin to tear,” one line goes.
The difference between the Arlens and the Villaloboses: a few miles of latitude.
When Fernando’s health declined, Parker became his full-time caregiver while continuing to run Arizona Foothills 911, which is now a registered non-profit and has more than 10,000 members in the Facebook group. It protects Cave Creek and surrounding communities, and will go outside that area to help when it can.
Parker constantly monitors fire dispatchers and organizes people to help as soon as emergencies occur. She also distributes “Ready-Set-Go” bags to neighborhoods and businesses. The bags contain emergency items to keep ready for emergencies, including checklists to prevent fires and other climate disasters. And she hosts live panels with experts in fire safety and prevention.
In addition to helping her fellow community members protect their homes, Parker helped Fernando keep the two promises he made to Marcia.
The first was that they would be married in a church. A year after the fires, Fernando and Marcia were remarried in a small church in Cave Creek. Parker said she was worried that Marcia, who had been nonverbal for some time by then, wouldn’t be able to say her vows. But that day, she said, Marcia spoke “crystal clear.”
The second promise was that Marcia would die in her own home, which she did on April 18. She was 87.
“I granted her wishes,” he said. “I feel very thankful for that.
"She continues to live in my heart. I will love her forever.”
Unable to afford the house, and too afraid of future fires to continue living there, Fernando, now 64, put the house up for sale and moved in with Parker.
“I’m very happy with my new family,” he said through a smile.
Deciding to sell the home was “extremely hard.”
“My entire life is here,” he said.
Now living with Parker, Fernando plans to receive a stem cell transplant in the coming months. Though the survival rate of that operation is low, he remains hopeful, wearing a brown Scapular of Our Lady of Guadalupe around his neck, dangling alongside his wedding ring.
“All I want to do,” he said, “is to be able to give back to the community what they did for me.”
How to prepare your home for wildfires
The Cave Creek Fire Department offers this information to help residents guard against wildfires:
Vegetation management
- Home ignition zone
- Limit flammable vegetation
- Choose fire-resistant building materials and construction techniques.
- Periodically maintaining the area with the three home ignition zones.
- Immediate zone - 0 to 5 feet from home
- Intermediate zone - 5 to 30 feet
- Extended zone - 30 to 100 feet
- Landscaping and maintenance
- Trim branches that overhang the home, porch or deck, and prune branches 6-10 feet from ground depending on height.
- Remove plants containing oils, resins or waxes and replace mulch in the immediate zone with crushed stone or gravel.
Fire resistant construction
- Roofing and vents
- Use composite, metal, concrete or clay shingles
- Decks and porches
- Never store flammable materials under deck or porch
- Remove vegetation and debris from under them
- Siding and windows
- Use fire-resistant siding like brick, fiber-cement or plastic.
- Use dual pane tempered glass windows.
Being prepared
- Emergency responder access
- Ensure your neighborhood has clearly marked street names and house numbers.
- Driveways should be 12 feet wide and have a vertical clearance of 15 feet.
- Disaster plan
- Develop, discuss and practice an action plan for family, pets and livestock.
- Know two ways out of the neighborhood and have a predesigned meeting place.
- Annual insurance checkup
- Conduct an annual insurance policy checkup to adjust for local building costs, codes and new renovations.
Home safety checklist
- Clean roofs and gutters of dead leaves or pine needles
- Replace or repair loose or missing shingles or roof tiles
- Install mesh screens in vents to prevent embers from passing through
- Clean debris from exterior attic vents and install mesh screening
- Repair or replace lose window screens and broken windows
- Screen in areas below patios and decks with wire mesh to prevent debris from accumulating
- Move any flammable items from exterior walls including mulch and plants
- Remove everything stores under decks or porches
Defensible space guidelines
- Immediate zone 0-5 feet from house
- Remove flammable materials like plants, weeds, firewood or trimmings from this area
- Keep gutters clean
- Intermediate zone 5-30 feet from home
- Keep grass below four inches
- Clear flammable plant matter and debris
- Remove flammable plants from under tree canopies
- Create walkways and paths to deter the spread of fire
- Extended zone 30-100 feet from home
- Don’t let flammable plant material accumulate in heaps or piles
- Remove dead plant and tree material from property
- Clear flammable vegetation from surrounding structures
- Make a 6-foot cleared area at the base of saguaros | https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-wildfires/2022/08/28/cave-creek-better-prepared-wildfires-after-tough-year/10207914002/ | 2022-08-28T16:00:00 | 1 | https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-wildfires/2022/08/28/cave-creek-better-prepared-wildfires-after-tough-year/10207914002/ |
Poachers cash in on sage craze, imperiling the plant's survival for Native cultural needs
PALA, Calif. — More than 100 Native people and environmentalists gathered beneath a big tent in a meadow on an unusually chilly day in May to discuss climate issues and Indigenous responses.
Noshing on acorn porridge, chia, pit-roasted venison and pork and other locally-sourced foods, they discussed how their communities are coping as the region grows ever hotter and drier, and talked about possible solutions and mitigation. Vendors offered hand-crafted items for sale to help defer travel expenses or to share their cultural arts. Kids and adults played peon or hand games traditional to the region.
Along with Native people from California and Arizona, the Kumiai and Cucupá, the Mesoamerican relatives of the Kumeyaay and Cocopah peoples of Southern California and southwestern Arizona, share many traditions and frequently meet to discuss common topics.
Norma Meza Calles, a Kumiai from Tecate, Baja California, had journeyed with other Kumiai and Cucupá people for the conference. But Meza Calles came to talk not only about decreased water supplies, hotter weather and cattle trampling delicate plants, but a potentially devastating threat to cultural practices and ecologies of ejidos, or traditional Indigenous settlements, in Baja California: the wholesale poaching of California white sage.
The white sage has a long history with Southern California and Baja California tribal peoples. The silvery-green bush, with its distinctive white flowers in the spring, releases a rich, aromatic aroma when the leaves are burned to produce smoke. Some tribes use it in prayer. The leaves can be used to brew a soothing tea for sinus problems. The smoke from the practice of "smudging," wafting the smoke from a smoldering bundle of sage leaves, is used to clear the air.
California white sage has gained worldwide popularity, thanks to counterculture, New Age practitioners and even Hollywood stars. But that popularity comes at a high price: It's being poached by the ton from tribal lands, public lands and even some plots of privately-owned land, decimating ecologies and Native cultures in Southern California and Baja California.
Indigenous peoples and environmentalists hope that a new documentary will help raise awareness of the scale of the thefts and what people can do to reduce poaching, while state and local law enforcement officials and land managers wage a frustrating battle against poaching rings.
Native peoples who rely on the plant for ceremonies, medicine and other needs say that nothing less than their cultural practices are at risk if the white sage becomes extinct or so rare that harvesting any part of the plants would be impossible. Environmentalists and biologists fear that losing white sage also would imperil native pollinators who depend on flowering plants.
North Etiwanda Preserve, 'ground zero' for sage poaching
Cucamonga Peak towers over the North Etiwanda Preserve east of Los Angeles. Ron Goodman is a ranger on the 1,200-acre preserve, managed by San Bernardino County. He grew up here and still lives a short drive away at the the base of the rugged peaks, foothills and spring-fed waterfalls of the San Gabriel Mountains. Goodman spends much of his time hiking the preserve and the mountains, including the 8,862-foot-high Cucamonga Peak.
"You know, the Latin name for California white sage is Salvia apiana, or bee sage," he said. It’s a major food source for native pollinators like local bees. When poachers take the seeds off the sage plants, they are also responsible for reducing populations of native bee species in the Golden State.
Goodman pointed out some stands of sage along a trail. They once were much taller and more robust, he said.
"Between the drought and the poachers, if it goes on much longer, a lot of the sage will cease to exist," he said.
Trail users often notice poachers out at 5 a.m. about three to four days a week, he said. He attributes the increase in poaching since he first noticed it in 2010 to the wellness movement.
"All you need is one influencer to say it's a great thing to do and the demand just skyrockets," he said.
Poachers have become more sophisticated. They once used 55-gallon trash cans, but now carry duffel bags, Goodman said. "Not only do they destroy plants next to the white sage but they also displace a lot of the wild creatures we have up here. You destroy the balance of nature," he said.
Patrick Foy, a captain with the law enforcement division of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said state wildlife officers were involved in one sage poaching bust in December 2021. The state is coordinating with San Bernardino County prosecutors on the case, where three individuals were charged with illegally pulling plants from public lands.
Chase Ash, a detective with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office, said trying to stem the flow of poached sage is like playing a game of whack-a-mole. Because current California law labels the thefts as illegal harvesting, which is a misdemeanor, offenders often get off with smaller penalties.
"It's generally a sigh of relief that you're in and out and then you may face a fine, or you may face nothing," he said. "So the amount of money they're getting for the sage is going to supersede the risk, and so it's not really a deterrent at this point."
As the retail prices and the sheer amount of stolen sage rises, the county has launched a special operation to deal with poachers.
"We've been able to charge people with grand theft," Ash said. But because the only identifiable victim is the preserve or the state of California, those charges often get reduced down.
And, he said, the people who are making the money off poaching are not the actual poachers. "The people that are cutting it are generally low-income migrant workers that get $30 for a duffel bag," he said. "Those duffel bags, they hurt my back to carry."
It's not just public lands that are affected by the wholesale ransacking of the sage. Rose Ramirez, a native plant expert and co-producer of the new documentary "Saging the World," said she learned of at least one person whose fences were cut and knocked down on private land near Banning and the Morongo Reservation, allowing poachers to denude her property of hundreds of pounds of white sage. "She refuses to be identified," Ramirez said.
Indigenous peoples lose vital cultural assets
In Baja California, Kumiai and other Indigenous peoples in the region use white sage for ceremonies and other cultural purposes. They have seen much of their sage wiped out by poachers.
"When the Kumiai pick, they just pick some pieces on the side," Meza Calles said, "and they’ll give it water when they traditionally pick."
But poachers don't respect the plants or the cultural practices they support, she said. “They cut it all the way down to the ground,” Meza Calles, an acclaimed cultural practitioner and basketweaver, said with Ramirez acting as interpreter. "They leave nothing behind to regenerate, not even a stump."
Garden experts say that white sage loses leaves during droughts, a condition called "drought deciduous." The region has endured a long-term drought and hotter, drier conditions, which has further slowed the growth of the wild sage. Combined with the wholesale poaching, Meza Calles fears losing all the sage, which would deal a crushing blow to the cultures of the Kumiai and other tribes.
Sage has become a big business, Ramirez said. Despite laws in both the U.S. and Mexico that require a permit to harvest a small amount of native plants, "Norma thinks that maybe some of the big businesses have been able to get by the law by paying the Mexican government for one permit," she said. "Then they bring in a bunch of people and they just take it all."
Ramirez said that using sage without learning about it and the cultural beliefs associated with sage and other plants is disrespectful to Native cultures in general.
"I wouldn't go to a church or a Jewish synagogue and just start chanting, because I would not have any clue about this culture and religion." Non-Native people don't seem to view Native cultures, spirituality and religion the way Native peoples do, she said.
Author and photographer Deborah Small, who served as co-producer on the documentary and collaborated with Ramirez on the book "The Ethnobotany Project," said sage is worth so much to poachers because they make it into profitable products, "lotions and potions and sticks and selling them on Etsy and Walmart and everywhere."
"The people who are turning them into a product to sell, they don't ask questions," Ramirez said. "They don't ask, 'Where is this from?' If the person selling it to them says it's sustainable, that's all they want to hear."
If the seller can't exactly confirm where the sage they are peddling came from, it's potentially poached.
"And we know that by the looks of things, probably 90% of what is on the market, on the Internet or in stores is poached," she said.
That's how stolen sage ends up on store shelves, on websites or on vendor's tables at powwows and farmers' markets.
'Saging the World' showcases sage theft and its effects
Ramirez, a Chumash and Yaqui descendent, and Small collaborated with the California Native Plant Society to produce "Saging the World," a 30-minute film about the plant's importance to Indigenous peoples and the worldwide rage for sage that drives rings of poachers and the dealers who sell sticks of sage leaves at exorbitant prices.
Ramirez and Small hope the film will drive viewers to demand transparency from retailers about where the sage is sourced.
The film features Native elders and cultural practitioners, including the late Tongva elder Barbara Drake, who explain the connections between Native peoples and their lands, including the relationships with plants like sage. It also shows why the craze for sage and smudging harms the plants and the lands the Native peoples inhabit, and provides solutions like growing sage at home or only purchasing sage from verified sources.
"There's not enough sage for all the people," Ramirez said. "So, Barbara used to say we would give it to you."
But when Drake learned the severity of the problem and how much it was going around the world, she realized that was no longer feasible. "Barbara said people could go buy a plant," Ramirez said, while also advising that the customer first learned about sage's uses and importance.
Many citizens of Southern California and Baja California tribes now have a new message: "We want people to stop purchasing white sage." In the best scenario, Ramirez said, Native people want people to grow their own sage.
"Grow it yourself, because when you grow it yourself, you are contributing to the environment and to the habitat," Ramirez said. "And you also know exactly where the plant came from."
People who can't grow sage at home should verify where sage for sale comes from, Ramirez said, either from a sustainable grower or from a private party who grows it and offers it.
There are some ethical options for people who can't grow their own but still want to have and use white sage. Two farms in San Diego County grow and sell sage as do some small farms in Oregon.
SageWinds Farm nurtures sage and dreams
Ellen Woodward-Taylor has silvery-gray hair, about shoulder length, tied in a ponytail. She’s wearing a tie-dyed shirt, button-up jeans with frayed legs and well-worn hiking boots.
Three dogs hug her heels like ducklings as she feeds the two miniature horses that share a 40-acre spread in east San Diego County with her and husband, Ken. The dogs, nearly as large as the mini horses, and assorted wildlife ("Keep an eye out for rattlesnakes," she said) also inhabit the land.
Yet this tiny, wiry 80-year-old can wrangle a jackhammer, scamper up steep mountain trails in the rocky mountains that ring the Taylor homestead or carefully tend her beloved white sage plants with equal aplomb.
Ellen and Ken own SageWinds Farm, the only white sage farm in the U.S. certified as organic by both the USDA and state regulators. The Taylors grow hundreds of plants and also source some sage from a legitimate source in Baja California to keep up with the demand.
They began trying to cultivate the sage, known to be difficult to grow from seed in domestic settings, in 2010. It took the couple three years to master the art. In addition to two fields of sage, Woodward-Taylor has several dozen seedlings ready to transplant into the field. She waters each plant by hand, filling depressions in the soil that slowly percolate the life-giving water down to the sages' roots. Two wells keep the water flowing and the sage, as well as big shade trees, lots of flowering plants and even some grass, growing.
After harvesting, the Taylors dry the leaves and make the familiar "smudge sticks" that most people associate with sage, tying each bundle with string. They also render sage down into essential oil for sale or to make Ellen's soothing body butter. As a side business, Ellen also makes and sells tie-dyed clothing and bags just as she's done for decades.
Seated in the living room of their cozy home with an even larger dog, this one an elderly collie sprawling on the cool tile floor, the Taylors shared why they love this land so dearly.
"I had my first experience with sage when I was 25," Ellen said. "I was absolutely, totally overwhelmed by it — inhaling it, breathing it, smelling it." Both Ellen and Ken aver that sage and marijuana are both sacred medicinal plants.
But she realized that if too many people harvested it from the wild, the sage would be gone. The couple also knew that if they wanted to remain in their their rocky slice of heaven, they would have to figure out a way to afford it.
"This property offered us a lot of peace," said Ken Taylor, also decked out in a tie-dyed shirt. "But we came here knowing we had to make money to keep the place."
He is a lifelong organic farmer who passed his organic food company on to his son, Robin, who owns the only other sage farming operation in San Diego County.
The sage farm, along with camping rentals and tie-dyed items, keeps the Taylors afloat and allows them to enjoy the quiet surroundings and starry nights.
Ken Taylor acknowledged that some Native people don't like them selling sage, but at least one local tribe purchases sage from SageWinds.
The Taylors are both over 80. Ken has had several back surgeries and even Ellen is starting to feel a bit older. The farm is currently on the market, and the couple hopes to sell it to another dedicated sage enthusiast.
"I'd hate to have to leave it." said Ken Taylor, "but you know, things change. People get old."
Other native plants under attack from poachers, foragers
White sage isn’t the only native plant whose numbers are in rapid decline because of poaching and foraging in Southern California and Baja California. Meza Calles said stands of Mojave yucca are being obliterated in ejidos in Baja California.
Tribes deal with similar issues in Riverside and San Diego counties.
Gerald Clarke lives in the home his grandfather built on the Cahuilla Reservation in Riverside County. The modest structure overlooks a large grassland dotted by black cattle contentedly grazing. It is dwarfed by the large Quonset hut-like metal studio he uses to produce his paintings, metal art and the large Cahuilla baskets made with crushed aluminum cans that he’s known for. A cottonwood tree towers overhead. A solar panel array in a corner of the homestead provides shade for chickens that made their escape from the nearby chicken coop.
Clarke shows off his Indian tobacco plants. The Cahuilla peoples use the endemic species (Nicotiana quadrivalis) with its distinctive five-pointed star for prayer, and the star pattern appears on their baskets, he said. Sage is also important to the Cahuilla, who use it for medicinal purposes and to clean out closed-in homes at the end of winter.
But Clarke has seen people who recently moved from the city to rural Anza dig up entire yuccas to transplant in their yards.
"I saw someone coming on the road with their pickup truck and they had a yucca all bloomed out, the stalk and the blooms in the back of their truck," he said. "They don’t realize that once they bloom, the yuccas die.”
This and other such depredations has left some Native people leery of sharing their cultures.
"You're proud of your culture, you want to share it just so they understand," Clarke said. "But then at the same time, you want to hold onto it because people will abuse it."
Down the road from Anza, Pala nestles among valley oaks, manzanita and mixed conifers, and other verdant flora in a narrow portion of the San Luis Rey River Valley beneath the town's eponymous mountain.
The town is home to the Pala Band of Mission Indians, composed of Cupeño and Luiseño peoples. Among the 1,100 residents are 918 enrolled tribal members and a strong connection to the region's history and cultures. That includes white sage, acorns and basketry plants.
Chris Nejo works for Pala Tribal Chairman Robert Smith on various issues and serves on the tribal cultural resource committee.
"We work with California State Parks and the U.S. Forest Service," he said. After a couple of speed bumps with the state park, Nejo said the process works well as tribal members gather needed plants for an annual feast. But not everybody follows procedure, and that makes it harder for Indigenous peoples to gather what they need for ceremonies, feasts or subsistence.
Tribes especially worry about the wholesale foraging of acorns. Bands of foragers camp out on the western slopes of Mount Palomar in North San Diego County to harvest acorns.
Nejo said he doesn't mind sharing cultural resources. "Just don't take them all," he said.
But foragers don’t just take enough for themselves. They rake the ground completely, taking all the acorns to sell in Asian food stores in San Diego County. When local tribes come to harvest acorns, they find the trees completely stripped.
"Part of it has to do with climate change because of the warmer temperatures that we're experiencing now and the drought," Nejo said. "It seems like all plants are dying off and it's harder and harder to find some of the resources that we need."
The Pala tribe is considering a move to try to co-manage lands with state and federal agencies. Nejo said that would help supplement agency resources to manage lands. Also, he said, "Sharing our own traditional ecological knowledge with them could really help improve the health of the environment and through resiliency."
Foragers can get a permit to collect plants or plant material for $20 on Forest Service land. But the agency set a $300 limit for harvested plant value. On the other hand, poachers pay just a few cents a pound to poor, mostly undocumented people who venture out to harvest illegal sage while selling 1-ounce bundles of sage called smudge sticks for at much as $10 each online or to local retailers. Ortega also said permits don't allow for commercial sales, just for personal gathering.
Foy emphasized the role wildlife officers play in saving species from doom. "There would be no sturgeon, no salmon, no bighorn sheep or pronghorn without wildlife officers patrolling," he said.
In 2020, a group of tribal elders and plant experts wrote to California State Assemblyman James Ramos, a Democrat and the only California Indian currently serving in the state legislature, asking for help in further protecting the plant.
"White sage fields are now sacrifice zones for the reckless global commodification of the plant," the group wrote. Tongva elder Craig Torres wrote, "If we don’t fight to protect the plants and to protect the land, they’re no longer there for us."
Ramos was unavailable for comment.
Nejo said legislation may be needed to deter poaching. "We (also) need to educate the public because a lot of the reasons this poaching is going on is because people are buying sage," he said. "It's trendy right now to burn a sage bundle and bring good vibes to your house, your life."
Nejo said imitating Native ceremonies is mocking prayer and is cultural appropriation, but, he said, "I think we can help bring awareness to the poaching that's going on and the importance of sustainable harvesting."
Eric Ortega thinks that one strategy to deter poachers is requiring them to learn about the cultures they're damaging.
"Maybe as part of that legislation we could require somebody who was poaching to take a cultural class, do to them like what they did to us at boarding school?" said Ortega, a Cupeño language instructor and volunteer docent at the cultural center.
At the end of the climate summit, a young man from Pala arrived with a huge box of white sage grown in his yard. He handed out stalks of the fragrant sage to people as they left.
Debra Krol reports on Indigenous communities at the confluence of climate, culture and commerce in Arizona and the Intermountain West. Reach Krol at debra.krol@azcentral.com. Follow her on Twitter at @debkrol.
Coverage of Indigenous issues at the intersection of climate, culture and commerce is supported by the Catena Foundation.
Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today. | https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2022/08/28/california-sage-poaches-put-native-cultural-practices-risk/10123322002/ | 2022-08-28T16:00:06 | 0 | https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2022/08/28/california-sage-poaches-put-native-cultural-practices-risk/10123322002/ |
Green Valley traveling court highlights barriers to justice in rural southern Arizona
The Green Valley Justice Court will begin traveling to two locations in September to prioritize more than 600 outstanding warrants that accrued during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The court covers a large area, serving communities from south of Tucson to the Mexico border including Green Valley, Sahuarita, Corona de Tucson, Arivaca, Amado and Sasabe.
During the tour, Judge Raymond Carroll will hold court in Corona de Tucson, 30 minutes south of Tucson, and then travel 54 miles south to Arivaca.
On Sept. 12, the court will take place in Corona de Tucson from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the American Legion 15921 S. Houghton Road. The court’s second stop will be Sept. 19 in Arivaca at the 143-year-old historic schoolhouse at 17180 W. 4th Street from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The travel court that will become a frequent occurrence, Carroll said.
“The people that we deal with are hard working, they are salt of the earth, and I want to make sure they are getting access to the justice they deserve,” Carroll said.
He also noted that this is a way for him to get out into the community.
“Sending out Orders to Show Case is not the same as going to their neighborhood, their community. They are part of this. It’s a huge precinct.”
Rural community's loss:Green Valley's only hospital closes amid financial woes
In many of these rural areas, he said, there are barriers to engaging with the court. A primary obstacle is transportation.
Public transportation is often limited or nonexistent in rural areas, and often, defendants might have a suspended driver's license. To get from the farthest corners of the precinct, defendants would need to get a ride into town, which can be challenging.
Other barriers include lack of internet and telephone connectivity to attend a court hearing virtually, Carroll said.
Kristen Randall, the court administrator who spoke with The Arizona Republic in an interview and via email, said often internet connections are spotty, and even landlines are not always dependable. Additionally, some defendants do not have landlines or cellphones to call into their court hearings.
Mail is another issue. With court summons sent by mail, many people do not receive mail and have P.O. boxes. Not getting a court summons and showing up to the scheduled court hearing can make a smaller issue into a large problem.
“There’s a domino effect, it turns into a failure to appear, and then it turns to potentially a warrant with a $2,500 bond on it,” Randall said.
Fees and fines add up and people are afraid to go out, drive and interact with law enforcement, Randall said.
However, warrant issues can be easy to resolve “as long as the defendant is willing to start working with the court,” Randall said in an email to The Arizona Republic.
During the pandemic, Randall said the court noticed fewer people engaging with their cases than normal, and there was an increase in warrants, especially for warrants issued for failure to appear in court.
People either stopped working on their case, or never started during the pandemic, Randall said.
Lack of resources:Overturning Roe v. Wade brings challenges for women in rural Arizona
During the September travel court, the judge will work with people who have active warrants, need to reestablish a payment plan, or those who would like to apply for a marriage license, or who have general questions for the court. Walk-ins are welcome, according to a court news release.
“We will be offering warrant resolution and other services just hoping they will re-engage. The judge is good at working with folks in a really nonjudgmental manner,” Randall said, adding that they will work with people who have stopped payments on their "payment plan" and work to get them back on track.
She noted that the judge is often willing to waive some fines and fees to “just help folks out.”
Randall said people often do not deal with their outstanding court issue because they are afraid law enforcement will be called.
“We don’t do that. We are a separate branch of government,” she said.
Randall said she hopes the travel courts will help build trust in those far-reaching “off-the-grid communities” of residents who “generally want to be left alone" and often mistrust the government.
The news release says more travel courts are planned as the court's precinct boundaries expand next year to include a portion of the Vail community.
In addition to its travel court, the Green Valley Justice Court will relaunch in October its night court program, which was suspended during the pandemic.
“After-hours court will help serve litigants who cannot make it to the courthouse during regular hours,” the news release said.
While the travel court is on the road, the Green Valley courthouse will reopen during normal business hours. | https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2022/08/28/green-valley-travel-court-serves-rural-arizona-sahuarita-corona-de-tucson-arivaca-amado-sasabe/7896691001/ | 2022-08-28T16:00:12 | 0 | https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2022/08/28/green-valley-travel-court-serves-rural-arizona-sahuarita-corona-de-tucson-arivaca-amado-sasabe/7896691001/ |
This Chandler woman helps students experience the world. It's also helped shape her own.
The first few months out of high school would be life-changing for Machel Considine. She was chosen to be a Rotary Youth Exchange student in South Africa during apartheid in the mid-1970s.
While in South Africa, she found her deep love of service and social justice.
"It changed my life, it expanded and broadened my horizon, and it gave me a real sense of need of social justice," Considine said.
Considine is now the Inbound Chair of the Rotary Youth Exchange Group 5495, which covers most of north and central Arizona. According to the Rotary International website, an inbound chair is a committee member who is in charge of students coming to the U.S. She has been the chair for five years and worked at another rotary group for around eight years and also was the chair.
According to the Rotary International Youth Exchange website, through the program, students develop leadership skills, learn a new culture and interact with people from around the world.
In June, Considine was the first "Making the World a Cooler Place" award winner. According to PriceMyAC.com, an HVAC company in Chandler that created the award, the designation honors ordinary citizens who humbly and quietly make an impact through community service, volunteering, and philanthropy.
A longtime friend of Considine and CEO of PriceMyAC.com, John Lamont said Considine does not seek accolades for all the things she does for students in the Rotary Youth Exchange program.
Considine said after she was approached to be a Rotarian, she found out that there is a youth exchange in her district and she volunteered to be on the committee. She said hosting Rotarians brings her life-long connections.
"Student and club members frequently become permanent friendships," Considine said. "They start their year out thinking that they wouldn't make family and at the end they did."
Lamont said Considine's involvement goes beyond moving a student to the United States or bringing in students from different countries.
"I got to see firsthand all the planning, all the investing of the time Machel went through, it was a huge commitment," Lamont said.
'You need to be able to give back'
Considine said she loves helping young students experience the world, and her time in South Africa helped her realize that this was what she wanted to dedicate her time to doing.
"My biggest satisfaction is to see the growth in the students and the club members that get involved," said Considine.
She has made it her mission to ensure that young Arizonans have the opportunity to see the world in a new light. Her service has allowed many Arizona teens the opportunity to get out of their normal routine and open their minds to different cultures and experiences.
"It is a cultural exchange," said Considine.
Some may not be aware that Rotary Youth Exchange is completely volunteer-based. At times, she can be in charge of 10 teens in the youth exchange — other times, she manages 110 teens.
Considine said that the program "builds bridges and Rotary Youth Exchange is world peace, one student at a time."
'She's done so much for so many people'
One of her fondest memories from the Rotary Youth Exchange program was hosting a student from Denmark, she said.
"When our daughter was in high school, Louise Paulsen lived with us the last three months of her stay. She drove Paulsen to school every day and they became best friends," said Considine.
Paulsen attended Considine's daughter's wedding. In turn, the Considine family was traveled to Denmark as guests at Paulsen's wedding. She and her family were the only Americans in attendance.
"My husband and I got to sit at the bride and groom's table with the parents. The father of the groom translated his speech in English so that we could understand it," said Considine.
The students Considine volunteers to bring in often stay in her life past their stay in the U.S. She keeps in contact with her exchange students, the same way she stays in touch with her exchange mother from South Africa. Her exchange mother also attended her daughter's wedding.
"My host mom was on our side of the world and she flew to her host brother because she was also a rotary student," Considine said. | https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2022/08/28/rotary-youth-exchange-chandler-woman-makes-lifelong-connections/10032880002/ | 2022-08-28T16:00:18 | 0 | https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2022/08/28/rotary-youth-exchange-chandler-woman-makes-lifelong-connections/10032880002/ |
Arizona Bach Festival promotes legacy of classical music
For nearly 15 years, Arizona Bach Festival has hosted its annual event to inspire future generations of classical music artists.
The central Phoenix-based group organizes performances by world-renowned classical music artists. In spring 2022, the festival provided three weeks of lectures and educational workshops for up-and-coming artists and students.
Through all, group leaders like to remind participants that the fundamentals of modern-day jazz and pop-rock are derived from Baroque music, which is classical music that was created between 1600 and 1750.
The group's namesake, Johann Sebastian Bach, died more than 250 years ago and is considered one of the greatest composers from the Baroque period. The group promotes Bach's musical legacy, along with his contemporaries.
“It all goes back to that period of time. That’s where the foundations began. Our mission is to keep that music -- those composers -- alive for the Arizona community,” said president William Morse.
Arizona Bach Festival was one of 16 Arizona nonprofits that received A Community Thrives grants in 2021. The group received $4,700 from the program sponsored by The Arizona Republic/azcentral.com and Gannett Foundation. Gannett Co., Inc., owns The Republic. Additionally, Arizona Bach Festival received nearly $10,000 in donated matching funds through the Community Thrives initiative.
The funds allowed the group to host international artists including South African harpsichordist Leon Schelhase, one of the best in the world. Australian Geoffrey Burgess played a number of historical brass and percussion instruments. Both artists performed and taught classes at the festival.
"Both the grant and the fundraising program allow us to raise the bar on artists and performances," director Scott Youngs said. "The Arizona Bach Festival is able to generate a higher profile, reach more students and raise the overall success of our endeavors."
This year, almost three dozen Arizona nonprofits applied for a Community Thrives grant. Final reviews are underway. Grants are expected to be awarded this fall. The 6-year-old initiative supports education, arts and culture, wellness and community building. In 2021, the program awarded almost $2.3 million to nonprofits nationwide.
Find more details about A Community Thrives at acommunitythrives.com. Learn more about Arizona Bach Festival at arizonabachfestival.org.
Roxanne De La Rosa writes about nonprofits for The Republic and azcentral.com. Reach her at rdelarosa@azcentral.com. | https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2022/08/28/arizona-bach-festival-inspire-classical-music-artists/10343332002/ | 2022-08-28T16:00:24 | 0 | https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2022/08/28/arizona-bach-festival-inspire-classical-music-artists/10343332002/ |
Housing advocates across Idaho say the need for housing is dire, with many individuals living in cars and being evicted or priced out of their homes on a daily basis, and they are calling on Idaho’s Congressional delegation to take action at the federal level to increase affordable housing support.
The Idaho Asset Building Network held a press conference on Thursday morning to highlight its efforts to urge federal and state policymakers to enact long-term housing solutions. Representatives from Saint Alphonsus Health System, the Idaho State Independent Living Council and the Intermountain Fair Housing Council said the issue is affecting Idahoans personally and affecting Idaho’s workforce.
Housing issues have plagued the Treasure Valley and North Idaho in particular over the past two years as population growth drove real estate prices and average rents to historic highs. While the market has cooled in recent weeks, advocates say the situation is still extreme for many residents. Idaho has a shortage of over 24,000 affordable and available homes for renters with modest incomes, according to the Idaho Asset Building Network.
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Housing insecurity disproportionately affects people with disabilities, advocates sayRebecca Lemmons, regional director of community health and well-being at Saint Alphonsus, said housing security is closely tied to a person’s overall health, including depression and anxiety and the risk of catching and spreading communicable diseases such as COVID-19 and monkeypox.
The issue also affects hospital staff in two ways, according to Lemmons. Staff members, including nurses, are short-staffed while trying to help patients, and the potential recruits who could help round out staffing levels are unable to secure housing in the area themselves. Lemmons said between 2020 and 2021, the hospital received 677 requests from patients for help with housing.
“Our staff are spending way more time figuring out how to discharge and where to discharge our patients. It doesn’t feel good to anyone to discharge a patient to a car or a hotel,” Lemmons said.
The hospital is “deeply in need” of nurses and doctors, Lemmons said, and they hear frequently that affordability is an issue for applicants.
“We had an orthopedic surgeon decline to come to Saint Al’s because he couldn’t find affordable housing in the area,” she said. “We’re just seeing challenges all around.”
The Idaho State Independent Living Council helps people with disabilities with necessary services and support, and while Executive Director Mel Leviton said housing has always been a challenge for people with disabilities, the situation today is much worse.
“What’s different about this year is there are more people in dire circumstances, and by dire circumstances I mean we have folks who come to our meetings because they happen to be in the library, because that’s where they spend their day to cool off and they live in their cars,” Leviton said. “Maybe that would happen once or twice in years past, but it’s much more frequent now.”
Zoe Olson, executive director of the Intermountain Fair Housing Council, said her organization is fielding 40 to 50 calls for help with threats of eviction on a daily basis, and that it is primarily people with disabilities, people of color and low-income individuals and families. Olson said they have partnered with the Idaho Housing and Finance Association and Jesse Tree to help connect people with emergency rental assistance funding, but they need more staff to assist people with completing applications.
“Housing is health care. Housing is a basic life necessity, regardless of income,” Olson said. “We are in dire straits right now. We need help from our leaders — because we have a (nearly $2 billion) surplus.”
Federal budget for fiscal year 2023 includes billions for housing support
Lemmons said Idaho’s workforce housing funding that lawmakers approved during the 2022 legislative session was a good start, but more should be done in the 2023 session to address the issue.
At the federal level, the Idaho Asset Building Network called on Congress to approve the following requests in President Joe Biden’s fiscal year 2023 budget:
- The expansion of housing vouchers for an additional 200,000 households
- $5.1 billion for the Public Housing Capital Fund and $5.06 billion for the Public Housing Operating Fund
- $3.6 billion for U.S. Housing and Urban Development’s Homeless Assistance Grants program
- $100 million for legal assistance to prevent evictions
- $300 million for the competitive tribal housing program, targeted to tribes with the greatest needs
The funding for fiscal year 2023 will need to be approved or rejected by the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate before Oct. 1. | https://magicvalley.com/news/local/affordable-housing-situation-is-dire-for-idahoans-and-state-s-workforce-advocates-say/article_5a2127a2-24c0-11ed-b734-ef9c3d1eb15d.html | 2022-08-28T16:03:52 | 0 | https://magicvalley.com/news/local/affordable-housing-situation-is-dire-for-idahoans-and-state-s-workforce-advocates-say/article_5a2127a2-24c0-11ed-b734-ef9c3d1eb15d.html |
Just over 19 months since taking office, President Joe Biden announced Wednesday morning his plan to fulfill one of his key campaign promises: Student loan forgiveness.
Biden’s plan will cancel up to $10,000 per borrower and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients. He also extended the student loan payment pause through the end of 2022, just a week before it was set to expire on Aug. 30.
Biden announced his plan on Twitter and said more details would come Wednesday afternoon.
This is what we know so far:
Who qualifies?
Under Biden’s plan, borrowers who make less than $125,000 annually will see $10,000 of their debt canceled. Pell Grant recipients, given to undergraduate students who display “exceptional financial need,” will see $20,000 of their student debt forgiven.
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The income requirement to qualify for forgiveness in households is less than $250,000 annually.
The plan also aims to offer borrowers the chance to cap their monthly repayments at 5% of their monthly income.
How many Idahoans will be affected?
Idahoans are less likely to have student debt and owe less on average, according to a study from the Education Data Initiative, a resource compiled by the U.S. Department of Education.
The report estimates that there are 218,100 borrowers in the Gem State — approximately 11.9% of Idaho residents — with an average student loan debt of $33,012 and a statewide total loan debt of $7.2 billion.
Among the state’s indebted borrowers, 17.7% of them owe less than $5,000, meaning their debt will be wiped entirely assuming they earn less than $125,000. Just over 21% owe between $20,000 and $40,000 while 1.5% owe over $200,000.
According to the finance website WalletHub, Idaho ranks 37th in the United States in carrying the burden of student loans. The higher the ranking, the better it is to live in that state.
The website ranked every state on 11 key metrics to calculate each state’s student-loan indebtedness — the average student debt and proportion of students with debt — and the grant and student work opportunities, which took into account the availability of student jobs and the unemployment rate for ages 25 to 34.
Idaho ranked 36th in student-loan indebtedness and 38th in grand and student work opportunities. | https://magicvalley.com/news/local/idahoans-have-over-7-2-billion-in-student-debt-here-s-who-will-qualify-for/article_392e5498-249d-11ed-8c52-f3caa823f2ad.html | 2022-08-28T16:03:58 | 1 | https://magicvalley.com/news/local/idahoans-have-over-7-2-billion-in-student-debt-here-s-who-will-qualify-for/article_392e5498-249d-11ed-8c52-f3caa823f2ad.html |
Authorities have identified a Harvey women who died when her car crashed head-on into a school bus full of students in Sheridan County.
The car driven by Danelle Germain, 35, crossed the center line on state Highway 200 about half a mile east of Picardville on Friday afternoon, according to the Highway Patrol. The car hit a trailer being towed by an oncoming pickup truck, then the school bus. Germain died at the scene.
The Turtle Lake/Mercer Public School bus overturned on its side and came to rest in the intersection of the highway and First Avenue Northwest. The driver -- Melinda Neff, 47, of Mercer -- got the nine children off the bus. She and the students had bruises and scrapes and were taken to a Turtle Lake hospital for evaluation, according to the Patrol. The children ranged in age from 10 to 12.
The 79-year-old Underwood man driving the pickup was identified as David Leroy. He was not hurt.
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The highway was closed for about five hours, with traffic rerouted onto county roads.
The sheriff's offices from Sheridan, McLean and Mercer counties also responded to the scene, along with fire departments from Goodrich, Mercer and McClusky, and the state Transportation Department. | https://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/accident-and-incident/authorities-id-woman-who-died-in-school-bus-crash/article_0f0f1a5a-26df-11ed-89a8-f71f0e0f19f2.html | 2022-08-28T16:07:53 | 0 | https://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/accident-and-incident/authorities-id-woman-who-died-in-school-bus-crash/article_0f0f1a5a-26df-11ed-89a8-f71f0e0f19f2.html |
A Minot man was killed in a single-vehicle rollover crash east of Watford City, according to the North Dakota Highway Patrol.
Errol Malone Jr., 24, died when his 2002 Dodge pickup truck left a gravel road and rolled Friday at about 6 a.m. Central time, the Patrol said.
Malone was westbound on 28th Street Northwest 5 miles east of Watford City when the pickup missed a curve, rolled in the north ditch, and came to rest facing east. He was ejected and died at the scene, according to the Patrol. | https://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/accident-and-incident/minot-man-killed-in-friday-rollover/article_7712005c-255b-11ed-b633-bb0676170a3c.html | 2022-08-28T16:07:59 | 1 | https://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/accident-and-incident/minot-man-killed-in-friday-rollover/article_7712005c-255b-11ed-b633-bb0676170a3c.html |
Crumbl Cookies will soon bring something sweet to Valparaiso.
The fast-growing chain recently opened its first Northwest Indiana location in Dyer and now will open a cookie shop at 2310 Laporte Ave. in Valparaiso on Sept. 1.
The cookie shop did $150,000 in construction in the space, according to a city of Valparaiso building permit.
Crumbl bakes more than 130 flavors of cookies, such as milk chocolate chip, blueberry cheesecake, brownie fudge, galaxy brownie, cookie butter ice cream and cookie dough crunch. It rotates flavors on a regular basis to keep its offerings fresh and interesting.
The cookies are served either warm or chilled and come in four-pack, six-pack and 12-pack boxes that are distinctively oblong and pink, a gambit meant to make them more visible on Instagram and other social media.
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Crumbl also scoops up half-pints of housemade ice cream in flavors like vanilla bean, cookie dough crunch and peanut butter brittle. The sweet shop offers both takeout and delivery.
Cousins Sawyer Hemsley and Jason McGowan founded the national cookie shop chain in 2017 and it has since grown to more than 300 stores in 36 states, including more than a half dozen in Indiana.
For more information, visit crumblcookies.com or call 219-386-2555.
Expanded
The Salt Cave in St. John has expanded and rebranded as the Salt Cave & Wellness Spa of St. John, Indiana.
The business at 8241 Wicker Ave. is celebrating its five-year anniversary this month. It offers halotherapy, in which people sit in a salt cave with 20,000 pounds of Himalayan salt and micronized pharmaceutical-grade salt.
The 45-minute sessions are meant to relieve respiratory issues, allergies, dermatitis problems and assorted other ailments. The basic idea is that it will make people breathe easier.
But now there's more.
"When the salt cave first opened it could only offer the experience of a salt cave session to their guests," owner Marcia Autry said. "New services include the far infrared sauna, ionic foot detox where three people can do the detox together, facials, ear candling, waxing, many varieties of massages including hot stone. There is also a room for private vibrational reiki healing and vibrational raindrop oils for relaxation."
In addition to new rooms, the Salt Cave & Wellness Spa has added more services aimed at holistic health and wellness.
"The cave can have up to 10 people for meditation in the salt cave at one time," Autry said. "They offer different meditations such as vibrational and sound healing, chakra with the seven chakra bowls, reiki meditation, and these are just a few being offered. There is also gentle yoga in the cave which includes a short get-together with snacks and drinks before going into the cave for the yoga class. A new massage chair has been installed for a 15-minute relaxation session or you could ask for a red light therapy 20-minute treatment."
The Salt Cave & Wellness Spa also has expanded its retail section.
"The ever-expanding product lines include many items from local vendors," she said. "Neck wraps from Julie, specialty oils from Annie, homemade soaps and sprays from Smudges, CBD oils from Tulip Tree Gardens, bracelets from Smudges and local honey from Lowell, Indiana. The variety of specialty salt lamps has increased and now there are beautiful onyx lamps for sale."
For more information, visit www.saltcaveindiana.com or call 219-365-2283.
Relocating
Construction has started on J's Breakfast Club's new location in Gary.
Construction crews started clearing the grounds at the restaurant's future home at 2901 Broadway near the Borman Expressway, one of the busiest ribbons of interstate in the country. The project has been planned for a while.
"Today is a pure example of 'delayed but not denied,'" owner Joslyn Kelly said. "Everything happens in God's time, so we are right on schedule."
J's Breakfast Club now serves breakfast and lunch seven days a week at 3669 Broadway, where it has built a loyal following.
"I have been coming to J's for years enjoying the food and atmosphere," customer Ollette Washington said. "I am excited for Joslyn and her team as they will be able to introduce their delicious menu and great customer service to a larger audience by being so close to the highway."
Powers & Sons Construction is building the new restaurant, which will be larger than the current location.
"It is wonderful to work with a reputable team that had its beginnings in Gary and has built structures across the country," Kelly said.
The opening date has yet to be determined. The existing restaurant remains open for business until the new site opens.
"We are very much open and eager to serve customers via dine-in, carry-out, delivery and catering," said Kelly.
For more information, visit www.jsbreakfastclubgary.com or call 219-455-6959.
Coming soon
The Vitamin Shoppe is coming to Valparaiso.
The chain of vitamin stores plans to open another Northwest Indiana location at 2410 LaPorte Ave. in the Valparaiso Marketplace shopping center. The New Jersey-based retailer also has locations in Highland and Merrillville.
The Vitamin Shoppe plans to do $300,000 worth of construction in the space, according to a building permit from the city of Valparaiso.
The retailer carries every imaginable nutritional supplement like multivitamins, vitamin blends to lower blood pressure, protein powders for bodybuilders, calcium gummies and superfood chews. It also stocks energy drinks, enhanced water and other products targeted at the health-minded.
For more information, visit vitaminshoppe.com.
Ribbon-cutting
Baitmasters has been open on Lake George in downtown Hobart for a few years but just did a ribbon-cutting with the Hobart Chamber of Commerce Wednesday.
The bait shop at 603 S. Wisconsin St. is "simply an old-fashioned bait store" that sells minnows, worms and other tackle for anyone looking to fish along with the Great Blue Herons and Great White Egrets that often flock to Lake George. It also rents boats and kayaks to take out on the lake or the Deep River.
For more information, call 219-265-1777 or email baitmastersofnwi@gmail.com.
Acquired
In hyperlocal news, Franciscan Alliance bought a 5.3-acre lot in Munster just east of The Times of Northwest Indiana's main office.
The healthcare provider bought the vacant land at 651 45th St. just west of existing Franciscan medical office buildings in Munster. The site is free of the wetlands that inhibit the development of most of the still-vacant land in the area.
Antony Miocic, director of office group at Crown Point-based Latitude Commercial, represented the seller of the property.
“This is one of the few remaining infill lots in and around Munster," Miocic said. "It’s great for the municipality that an established medical provider is taking possession of this property."
Sold
Beacon Street Properties bought two fully leased commercial properties in Lake County.
Crown Point-based Latitude Commercial brokered the transactions. The firm spent $3.07 million to buy the two retail properties with a combined square footage of 23,988.
Beacon Street Properties acquired a shopping center anchored by O'Reilly Auto Parts on a 1.60-acre site near the busy intersection of Main Street and Summit Street in Crown Point, where nearly 27,000 vehicles pass per day.
The strip mall was built in 1991 and is now 100% occupied.
Latitude Commercial President Aaron McDermott brokered that deal, as well as the purchase of a Class B office building at 20 E. U.S. 30 in Schererville. The two-story office sits on a 1.59-acre site on a busy stretch of the highway.
The 12,022-square-foot office is 100% full and anchored by the real estate firm Century 21 Affiliated.
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Round the Clock marks last day in Valpo; Den Asian Bistro, Lean Kitchen and lash studio opening | https://www.nwitimes.com/business/local/nwi-business-ins-and-outs-cookie-shop-salt-cave-wellness-spa-js-breakfast-club-the/article_4c384caf-d354-57ab-8510-5a1ac1028501.html | 2022-08-28T16:17:29 | 1 | https://www.nwitimes.com/business/local/nwi-business-ins-and-outs-cookie-shop-salt-cave-wellness-spa-js-breakfast-club-the/article_4c384caf-d354-57ab-8510-5a1ac1028501.html |
WATERLOO – The Midwest All Music Association (MAMA) will host its annual Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Oct. 15, beginning at 4 p.m., at the Majestic Moon Event Center, 1955 Locke Ave.
Inductees for 2022 are: Bill Chrastil, Adriane Hall, George Clark, Tommy Bruner, Terry McCauley, Ed Butler, Jack Hoffman and Craig Cronbaugh. The bands Tailfins and Vinyl Frontier also will be inducted.
Doors open at 3 p.m.; the ceremony begins at 4 p.m. At 4:30 p.m., an autograph and photo session is planned. The dance and show begins at 6 p.m., featuring Vinyl Frontier at 6 p.m., Tailfins at 7:15 p.m.; Adriana Hall’s tribute to Carole King at 8:30 p.m., and Bill Chrastil’s tribute to Elvis at 9:45 p.m.
MAMA is a non-profit organization formed to acknowledge all genres of music throughout the Midwest. | https://wcfcourier.com/news/local/bill-chrastil-among-inductees-at-oct-15-midwest-all-music-association-hall-of-fame-ceremony/article_59aa2ef3-b3a2-5c7e-8591-a7437ac4beb6.html | 2022-08-28T16:23:23 | 0 | https://wcfcourier.com/news/local/bill-chrastil-among-inductees-at-oct-15-midwest-all-music-association-hall-of-fame-ceremony/article_59aa2ef3-b3a2-5c7e-8591-a7437ac4beb6.html |
29-year-old Seaford woman killed in crash on Sussex Highway
Delaware State Police continue to investigate a vehicle collision that closed Sussex Highway for four hours and resulted in the death of a 29-year-old woman from Seaford.
According to a statement from police, on Saturday, at approximately 6:10 a.m., the Seaford woman was in the left lane of Sussex Highway (Route 13) just past Camp Road headed northbound in a white 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Police said the driver swerved to avoid hitting a slower-traveling 2004 GMC Sierra pickup truck also in the left lane. The maneuver resulted in the front right of the Jeep hitting the left rear area of the Sierra pickup truck, police said, and the impact caused the Jeep to rotate into a slide until it flipped. The Jeep came to rest in the grass median.
The Jeep’s 29-year-old operator was not properly restrained, according to police. She was transported to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced deceased. Police are withholding her identity pending notification to the next of kin.
Following the crash, the driver of the Sierra came to a controlled stop on the shoulder of the road but subsequently fled the scene, police said.
DRIVING TIPS:Driving in Delaware? Police and insurance companies want you to follow these 5 reminders
Police said they located the unoccupied pickup truck in the Seaford area.
The driver of the 2004 Sierra pickup truck has not been identified.
The Delaware State Police Troop 7 Collision Reconstruction Unit continues to investigate this incident and is asking anyone who witnessed this collision to call Senior Corporal Albert at 302-703-3269.
Contact reporter Anitra Johnson at ajohnson@delawareonline.com. Follow her Facebook page. | https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/local/2022/08/28/police-investigate-cause-of-fatal-crash-on-sussex-highway/65460504007/ | 2022-08-28T16:28:16 | 0 | https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/local/2022/08/28/police-investigate-cause-of-fatal-crash-on-sussex-highway/65460504007/ |
Exhaust from Georgia Renewable Power’s wood-burning biomass plant in Madison County prompted state legislators to pass a law in 2021 against burning railroad ties to generate electricity.
ADEL -- A group of residents and environmentalists are fighting to prevent the world’s largest wood pellet plant from coming to a predominantly black and Hispanic community in south Georgia.
The Southern Environmental Law Center and Concerned Citizens of Cook County are asking a judge to revoke an air quality permit for the planned Adel plant on the grounds that the state Environmental Protection Division did not take into consideration the serious health risks that the pollution would pose to those living closest to it.
The Georgia Office of State Administrative Hearings could hold a hearing on the appeal before the end of the year for what community advocates say is another industrial project that would perpetuate a legacy of environmental injustice.
The plans call for Georgia-based Spectrum Energy to build a plant capable of producing 1.3 million tons of wood pellets annually, a product that is most commonly shipped overseas where the pellets are burned to generate electricity.
Wood-burning plants have gained support as a source of biomass energy and new jobs that support the forestry industry. Georgia Power, the state’s largest utility provider, has shifted some of its energy capacity away from coal and into the fuel coming from trees.
But its detractors say the plants aren’t worth the potential problems for people who are most vulnerable to the pollution and foul odors.
About a mile away from the proposed Spectrum plant is the future home of another wood pellet manufacturer where Renewable Biomass Group plans to produce 450,000 tons of pellets annually.
“What happens when you’re processing all this wood, it produces a ton of dust in this fine particulate matter that when you breathe it in can be dangerous,” Jennifer Whitfield, an attorney for the environmental law center, said. “(Renewable’s plant) is about a mile out from this sort of dense neighborhood in Adel, but it’s kind of shocking how nestled in the community Spectrum is proposing to be."
Located about 25 miles north of Valdosta, Adel is a small city with about 5,500 residents and a railroad track separating the white and more affluent east side from the west, where the majority of residents are minorities. The west side has a long history of pollution-producing industrial sites.
Spectrum plans to open its Greenfield pellet plant on the same site of a former particleboard plant that produced large volume of pollutants.
Another biomass company has purchased a neighboring property that was formerly a lumber company where the groundwater was still contaminated in 2015, more than a decade after it closed.
And in 2020, the Adel City Council, in a split vote, approved rezoning property for the Renewable wood pellet facility despite the campaign by the Cook citizens group and other organizations to block the project.
In the petition opposing the Spectrum plans are descriptions from residents about how they are impacted by industrial sites located in their backyards. One woman said she doesn’t like going near a plant because of the amount of exhaust and dust, while another woman who has asthma said she also suffers from chronic migraines that she believes is connected to the nauseating smell of gas emitted from a plant.
And Adel City Councilwoman Celestine Hayes says that the water at her home and church smells like rotten eggs and that she worries about her husband, who suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and other neighbors with health problems.
Treva Gear, who founded Concerned Citizens of Cook County in 2020, said the city’s west side is a blue-collar community where residents are already more exposed to the toxins in air and water from living close to smokestacks and warehouses that dot the landscape.
“Clean air is a civil right and the color of an individual’s skin, their economic level or what side of a railroad track they live on should not cause them to be overburdened by pollutants,” Gear said. “Everybody has the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but how can we pursue happiness when we struggle to breathe?”
Meanwhile, a group that successfully lobbied for a new state law last year to ban energy-producing plants from burning creosote-treated wood continues its fight against two wood-burning operations in Franklin and Madison counties in northeast Georgia.
Gina Ward, a leader of Madison’s clean power group, says this is another way to inform the plant owners and local leaders that the people are keep a watchful eye over the pollution coming from plants. Before the wood pellet plant opens in Cook County, Ward recommends residents get outdoor air quality monitors.
“I know exactly what they’re worrying about and it’s a real threat to their community,” Ward said.
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accounts, the history behind an article. | https://www.albanyherald.com/local/georgia-communities-mobilize-against-expansion-of-foul-smelling-wood-burning-energy/article_72b7b764-26e0-11ed-be9f-2f47be22ac98.html | 2022-08-28T16:38:50 | 1 | https://www.albanyherald.com/local/georgia-communities-mobilize-against-expansion-of-foul-smelling-wood-burning-energy/article_72b7b764-26e0-11ed-be9f-2f47be22ac98.html |
A 41-year-old woman suffered life-threatening injuries when she was shot in the head Saturday on the South Side.
San Antonio police said the shooting took place around 9 a.m. on the 3000 block of Ivy Ridge Lane.
When the first officer arrived on the scene, a suspect took him to the master bedroom where the woman had been shot, police said.
The suspect, also 41 years old, told investigators he and the woman had been arguing and wrestling for a weapon when it went off.
Police said charges are pending. | https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/South-Side-shooting-Ivy-Ridge-Lane-17403322.php | 2022-08-28T16:54:22 | 1 | https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/South-Side-shooting-Ivy-Ridge-Lane-17403322.php |
SAN ANTONIO — Two brothers were injured in an accidental shooting Saturday afternoon when one of them says he was cleaning his mother's 9mm and he accidentally pulled the trigger.
It happened around 1:00 p.m. on the 3700 block of Binz-Engleman Rd near Ft. Sam Houston on the east side.
When officers arrived the 18-year-old brother told police he was cleaning his mom's 9mm handgun when he pulled the trigger not knowing there was a round in the chamber.
The handgun discharged, hitting the other brother, 15, in his left palm and then ricocheting into his thigh. Both brothers were taken to a local hospital for their injuries, both in good condition.
CSI made the scene to process and collected the firearm that was discharged, as well as other items of evidence at the scene.
Homicide interviewed the two brothers at the hospital.
At this time, charges are not being filed on the older brother.
This is a developing story.
Learn more about KENS 5:
Since going on the air in 1950, KENS 5 has strived to be the best, most trusted news and entertainment source for generations of San Antonians.
KENS 5 has brought numerous firsts to South Texas television, including being the first local station with a helicopter, the first with its own Doppler radar and the first to air a local morning news program.
Over the years, KENS 5 has worked to transform local news. Our cameras have been the lens bringing history into local viewers' homes. We're proud of our legacy as we serve San Antonians today.
Today, KENS 5 continues to set the standard in local broadcasting and is recognized by its peers for excellence and innovation. The KENS 5 News team focuses on stories that really matter to our community.
You can find KENS 5 in more places than ever before, including KENS5.com, the KENS 5 app, the KENS 5 YouTube channel, KENS 5's Roku and Fire TV apps, and across social media on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more!
Want to get in touch with someone at KENS 5? You can send a message using our Contacts page or email one of our team members. | https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/brothers-wounded-by-gunfire-when-one-is-cleaning-gun-and-it-accidentally-discharged-weapon-gun-san-antonio-texas/273-1a74a6ce-1477-4ecf-85a0-5417fbcd9caa | 2022-08-28T16:59:07 | 0 | https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/brothers-wounded-by-gunfire-when-one-is-cleaning-gun-and-it-accidentally-discharged-weapon-gun-san-antonio-texas/273-1a74a6ce-1477-4ecf-85a0-5417fbcd9caa |
SAN ANTONIO — A man was shot following what appears to be a road rage incident on the west side of town.
It happened around 5:15 p.m. on W Loop 1604 at Culebra Rd on Saturday.
Police were dispatched to the location for reports of a shooting in progress.
Officers said both the suspect and victim were traveling north on Loop 1604 access road, approaching Culebra Rd. when they stopped at a red light.
The suspect got out of his car and walked over to the victim's car and fired multiple shots, hitting the 44-year-old victim and his car.
A third driver that was also stopped in traffic near the victim's vehicle fired shots at the suspect.
Police said the suspect fled the scene in his vehicle.
The victim was taken to the hospital in unknown condition.
CSI and Homicide detectives made to scene to process.
This is a developing story.
Learn more about KENS 5:
Since going on the air in 1950, KENS 5 has strived to be the best, most trusted news and entertainment source for generations of San Antonians.
KENS 5 has brought numerous firsts to South Texas television, including being the first local station with a helicopter, the first with its own Doppler radar and the first to air a local morning news program.
Over the years, KENS 5 has worked to transform local news. Our cameras have been the lens bringing history into local viewers' homes. We're proud of our legacy as we serve San Antonians today.
Today, KENS 5 continues to set the standard in local broadcasting and is recognized by its peers for excellence and innovation. The KENS 5 News team focuses on stories that really matter to our community.
You can find KENS 5 in more places than ever before, including KENS5.com, the KENS 5 app, the KENS 5 YouTube channel, KENS 5's Roku and Fire TV apps, and across social media on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more!
Want to get in touch with someone at KENS 5? You can send a message using our Contacts page or email one of our team members. | https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/man-shot-while-stopped-at-red-light-in-apparent-road-rage-incident-shooting-gun-weapon-san-antonio-texas/273-e8dbd2a2-e8c1-4c27-9ff0-9825bda66044 | 2022-08-28T16:59:13 | 1 | https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/man-shot-while-stopped-at-red-light-in-apparent-road-rage-incident-shooting-gun-weapon-san-antonio-texas/273-e8dbd2a2-e8c1-4c27-9ff0-9825bda66044 |
SAN ANTONIO — A woman was found with a gunshot wound to the head after police say she was arguing with a man on the south side of town.
It happened around 9:00 a.m. Saturday on the 3000 block of Ivy Ridge Lane.
Officers were dispatched to the location for reports of a shooting in progress.
When they arrived at the location, they found a 41-year-old woman with a gunshot wound to her head.
She was taken to University Hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Police say the 41-year-old suspect said the two had been arguing, then wrestling with the gun when it went off.
Charges are currently pending at this time.
No other injuries were reported.
This is a developing story.
Learn more about KENS 5:
Since going on the air in 1950, KENS 5 has strived to be the best, most trusted news and entertainment source for generations of San Antonians.
KENS 5 has brought numerous firsts to South Texas television, including being the first local station with a helicopter, the first with its own Doppler radar and the first to air a local morning news program.
Over the years, KENS 5 has worked to transform local news. Our cameras have been the lens bringing history into local viewers' homes. We're proud of our legacy as we serve San Antonians today.
Today, KENS 5 continues to set the standard in local broadcasting and is recognized by its peers for excellence and innovation. The KENS 5 News team focuses on stories that really matter to our community.
You can find KENS 5 in more places than ever before, including KENS5.com, the KENS 5 app, the KENS 5 YouTube channel, KENS 5's Roku and Fire TV apps, and across social media on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more!
Want to get in touch with someone at KENS 5? You can send a message using our Contacts page or email one of our team members. | https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/woman-found-shot-in-the-head-after-argument-with-man-police-say-san-antonio-texas-shooting-weapon-gun/273-5607eb3e-bcc6-4008-af99-484c90655786 | 2022-08-28T16:59:19 | 0 | https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/woman-found-shot-in-the-head-after-argument-with-man-police-say-san-antonio-texas-shooting-weapon-gun/273-5607eb3e-bcc6-4008-af99-484c90655786 |
FORT WORTH, Texas — Police say one person has been found dead after a car crash in Fort Worth late Saturday night.
Officers were dispatched to East Berry Street and Stalcup Road at 11:38 p.m. When they got there, they found a vehicle that allegedly lost control before it crashed into a tree.
The deceased victim died at the scene, according to police. Another person in the vehicle was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
Traffic investigation detectives have been notified of the accident.
No other information is available at this time.
Other local news: | https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/car-vehicle-crash-against-tree-fort-worth-texas-berry-st-street-stalcup-rd-road/287-06da19e9-669d-4337-b5e8-e7fa0ae682e3 | 2022-08-28T17:04:30 | 0 | https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/car-vehicle-crash-against-tree-fort-worth-texas-berry-st-street-stalcup-rd-road/287-06da19e9-669d-4337-b5e8-e7fa0ae682e3 |
NASSAU, The Bahamas — A shipwreck's shape looms like a sleeping coral giant on the ocean's floor. The scene is serene. The water, crystalline. A human form moves there, fluid and slow motion through the Atlantic undulation.
That human is Amelia Henderson, First Coast News meteorologist and possible mermaid. She recently traveled to Nassau, Bahamas for a photo shoot with Pia Venegas at the Ray of Hope shipwreck.
80-feet down in tropical waters Henderson is at home with the angelfish, anemones and reef sharks. Surprisingly, she doesn't have gills, although Henderson did hold her breath once for 2 minutes 48 seconds off the coast of Indonesia during a certification dive.
While she might not be a certified mermaid, Henderson is a scuba dive master and coral reef specialist, certified in shark feeding, shipwreck diving, cave diving and free diving.
Double checking Henderson for gills, no gills are present. But her status may need to be upgraded to Very Possibly a Mermaid, or lost city of Atlantis passport holder.
So what goes into doing a photo shoot 80-feet down at the bottom of the ocean in a dress without a mask on? Henderson answered some questions:
How did the shoot come about? You were hoping for sharks?
Henderson: I've been wanting to do this photo shoot for nearly seven years. We went out to the shipwreck on a boat, thoroughly discussing the plan to be down at the wreck with all the safety measures in case I were to panic while down there.
Once we got to the ocean floor by the shipwreck, I set my gear aside and practiced taking my mask off and taking my regulator out of my mouth and would sit on the ocean floor to see how comfortable I was without any air or mask on.
We were hoping for sharks, yes. But they don't care about photo shoots. Next time I'm bringing a bait box.
Did the saltwater hurt your eyes?
Henderson: I practiced opening my eyes under the water. I'd hold my breath and look around to get my eyes adjusted before we started the photo shoot. I got somewhat used to it.
Once I felt comfortable without my mask and regulator and felt comfortable holding my breath we started taking pictures. We did several locations around the shipwreck and several series of photos.
Were you weighted down?
Henderson: I had a weight belt on under my dress. And the dress had pockets, so we put weights in those as well. I initially went down with a scuba tank.
Let's talk makeup and hair. How did your eyelashes stay on down there? How did you style for 80-feet deep?
Henderson: I couldn't believe my eyelashes stayed on the entire time [laughs]. I thought I might lose them with my mask going off and on repeatedly.
Somehow my makeup managed to stay on as well, because I sprayed my face with hairspray before getting in the water, which helps makeup stick to your face even in water.
People have asked how my hair stayed down. Luckily there was little current by the wreck that day so the ocean was pretty still allowing me to easily adjust my hair for the shots.
Who was your team there? One other diver and the photographer? How did it work with them? How long were you holding your breath for?
Henderson: The incredibly talented photographer Pia Venegas and safety diver Laquon Bain who kept me alive.
I had Laquon giving me his spare regulator allowing me to breathe oxygen from his scuba tank. Then I'd take my mask off and give it to him while still breathing from the regulator.
Once I took a few deep breaths I'd give the regulator to Laquon and hold my breath. Laquon would take my mask and the regulator and go hide behind the photographer while she snapped photos of me posing for a little over a minute at a time.
Once I felt I couldn’t hold my breath any longer I'd signal to Laquon and he'd swim over and give me oxygen from the spare regulator again and give me my mask to clear and be able to see what the photographer wanted to do next. We did this process over and over for about an hour under the water.
Once we got low on air we wrapped up the shoot and I was taken back to my scuba diving gear, which I put back on underwater and slowly ascended, with a safety stop at 15-feet to decompress before heading to the surface.
I'm so thankful to Pia and Laquon for being amazing and can't wait to do another shoot.
When is the next one? You're hoping for sharks at that one?
Henderson: We have another shoot planned for October 12th. It'll be two different dives and two different dresses. And I'll bringing a bait box to attract sharks!
(Song: "Ticking Hands" by Lusine, ©️Ghostly International.) | https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/mermaid-or-first-coast-news-meteorologist-amelia-henderson-photoshoot-shiprweck-80-feet-down/77-5a4ef496-4333-4561-af18-e31ac2f8c3a3 | 2022-08-28T17:04:36 | 1 | https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/mermaid-or-first-coast-news-meteorologist-amelia-henderson-photoshoot-shiprweck-80-feet-down/77-5a4ef496-4333-4561-af18-e31ac2f8c3a3 |
Michigan dog parents relieved that 'mystery canine virus' has been identified
On the tail end of a stressful week for dog parents, many are relieved that the mystery canine illness identified in northern Michigan earlier this week was confirmed to be parvovirus, a serious illness for which there is an effective vaccine.
Kari Beer, an emergency and critical care specialist with Oakland Veterinary Referral Services in Bloomfield Hills, said as long as your dog is up to date on their routine care, they will be fine.
"The distemper combination vaccines, which is the one that pets typically get several boosters of when they're a puppy, and then it's usually repeated every year to three years depending on the dog's age, does include the parvovirus vaccine," Beer said.
Khusheu Mistry adopted her dog Zar during the COVID-19 pandemic and said even though it was a lengthy process to get an appointment during and after the shutdown, he is fully vaccinated so she feels OK about the parvovirus outbreak now.
"I heard about it on Monday and everybody was kind of freaking out," the 27-year-old Detroit resident said. "I think everyone was avoiding the dog park — I know I was. I still used it but only if nobody was in there just because they didn't know what it was."
Before the illness was identified as parvovirus, dog owners worried it was the start of a pandemic for dogs, which caused panic, Mistry said.
Kellen Collison similarly avoided taking his 2-year-old border collie Brody to the dog park, but wasn't really surprised when the illness was identified as parvovirus.
"Looking at the symptoms, they kind of matched up with parvo," the 30-year-old Detroit resident said.
Parvoviruses are spread through fecal oral contamination, so when unvaccinated or partially vaccinated dogs are outside and in contact with other canines or contaminated stool, there is a risk for spread, Beer said. This makes areas where dogs congregate, such as parks and boarding facilities, particularly high-risk.
Becky Briskin almost canceled her dog Pippa's Grand Circus dog park playdate in downtown Detroit out of fear of the mystery virus this week. Upon finding out the outbreak was parvovirus, Briskin was very relieved, as her Welsh terrier is fully up to date on her vaccines.
"It's nice to be able to meet up with a friend and have your dogs run around, so I do think the dog park has its place as long as you're safe," the 36-year-old Detroit resident said. "The dog park has been really great for us, especially during the pandemic when daycares were closed."
Victoria Zahul, co-director of Boxer Haven Rescue who also owns a boxer, said that during the height of the pandemic, many clinics were backed up for routine and emergency care. Her rescue had to pause intake to not overwhelm foster dog caretakers and she worried they might have to take similar precautions to allow for quarantines to stop the spread of the parvovirus.
"Once the state reopened we started taking in dogs again, but we did face quite a big struggle with getting vet care in a timely manner," she said.
Beer agreed and said Oakland Veterinary Referral Services has been busy throughout the pandemic and still is often at capacity.
For Tina Lewandowski, who owns a 7-year-old rescue dog named Denny, the past week has been nerve-wracking. Denny has a sensitive stomach and can sometimes exhibit symptoms that mimic parvovirus.
"They weren't exactly sure what it was because they thought it was parvo ... but testing negative," she said. "I did reach out to my vet, I knew that he (Denny) was up to date on everything, but I just wanted to double check."
Point-of-care tests for parvovirus in clinics and shelters up north were coming back negative for infected dogs earlier this week. The virus was only identified after more sensitive diagnostic testing was performed by Michigan State University. Beer likened the process to COVID-19 testing and encouraged dog owners to get their pet checked if they appear to be sick.
"Sometimes we test ourselves (for COVID) at home and our screening test is negative, but then you go get a PCR and it's positive," she said "So the same thing can be true for any kind of viral infection."
Beer added that she sees an uptick in parvovirus cases during the summer at her clinic, but she doesn't know why these have not led to outbreaks like the one in northern Michigan.
Some dog owners, like Dean Dreon, were less concerned about the virus and prioritized their pet's socialization and exercise. While Dreon heard people talking about the parvovirus outbreak this week, his Australian shepherd mix, Carter, has all his vaccinations and needs places like the dog park.
"If I were to keep him inside and away from other dogs for a day or two he'd just lose his mind," Dreon said.
Sheri Grace, a licensed veterinary technician and office manager for Macomb Center Veterinary Hospital, said that most clients in the area keep their dogs up to date on vaccines which is required for many dog parks, day cares and boarding facilities.
"As long as your pets are vaccinated and you use caution ... they should be fine," she said.
hmackay@detroitnews.com
@hmackayDN | https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2022/08/28/parvo-dog-canine-virus-identified-michigan/7907004001/ | 2022-08-28T17:15:04 | 0 | https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2022/08/28/parvo-dog-canine-virus-identified-michigan/7907004001/ |
Of the 7.6 companion animals who end up in U.S. shelters each year, 3.4 million are cats. Also annually, 2.7 million animals are euthanized in shelters; 1.4 million of them are cats. With an estimated 3,500 physical shelter locations around the country, odds are good you’re within close proximity to a shelter with cats looking for a home.
Stacker compiled a list of cats available for adoption in Sherman on Petfinder, ranging in age, breed composition, temperament, and needs. Be sure to do your research on any cat you’re interested in taking home to ensure a good fit with your own lifestyle to ensure the animal you select will be enjoying a forever home with you.
Keep reading to meet some amazing felines available for adoption in Sherman, Texas.
You may also like: Highest-rated Asian restaurants in Sherman, according to Tripadvisor
1 / 30Petfinder
Fiona
– Gender: Female
– Age: Baby
– Breed: Domestic Short Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
2 / 30Petfinder
Forest
– Gender: Male
– Age: Baby
– Breed: Domestic Short Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
3 / 30Petfinder
Green Onion
– Gender: Female
– Age: Baby
– Breed: Domestic Short Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
4 / 30Petfinder
Cucumber
– Gender: Female
– Age: Baby
– Breed: Domestic Short Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
5 / 30Petfinder
Eggplant
– Gender: Female
– Age: Young
– Breed: Domestic Short Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
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6 / 30Petfinder
Red Potato
– Gender: Female
– Age: Baby
– Breed: Domestic Short Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
7 / 30Petfinder
Spinach
– Gender: Female
– Age: Baby
– Breed: Domestic Short Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
8 / 30Petfinder
Tomato
– Gender: Female
– Age: Baby
– Breed: Domestic Short Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
9 / 30Petfinder
Black Power Ranger
– Gender: Male
– Age: Baby
– Breed: Domestic Short Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
10 / 30Petfinder
Blinkey
– Gender: Female
– Age: Adult
– Breed: Domestic Short Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
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11 / 30Petfinder
Strawberry
– Gender: Female
– Age: Baby
– Breed: Domestic Short Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
12 / 30Petfinder
Pear
– Gender: Female
– Age: Baby
– Breed: Domestic Short Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
13 / 30Petfinder
Gertrude
– Gender: Female
– Age: Adult
– Breed: Domestic Short Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
14 / 30Petfinder
Blue
– Gender: Male
– Age: Baby
– Breed: Domestic Medium Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
15 / 30Petfinder
Ticia
– Gender: Female
– Age: Baby
– Breed: Domestic Medium Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
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16 / 30Petfinder
Wilma
– Gender: Female
– Age: Adult
– Breed: Domestic Short Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
17 / 30Petfinder
Andy
– Gender: Male
– Age: Baby
– Breed: Domestic Short Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
18 / 30Petfinder
Gary
– Gender: Male
– Age: Baby
– Breed: Domestic Short Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
19 / 30Petfinder
Cathy
– Gender: Female
– Age: Baby
– Breed: Domestic Short Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
20 / 30Petfinder
Sara
– Gender: Female
– Age: Baby
– Breed: Domestic Short Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
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21 / 30Petfinder
Steve
– Gender: Male
– Age: Baby
– Breed: Domestic Short Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
22 / 30Petfinder
Waylon
– Gender: Male
– Age: Baby
– Breed: Domestic Short Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
23 / 30Petfinder
Rupert
– Gender: Male
– Age: Baby
– Breed: Domestic Short Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
24 / 30Petfinder
Allee
– Gender: Female
– Age: Baby
– Breed: Domestic Short Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
25 / 30Petfinder
India
– Gender: Female
– Age: Baby
– Breed: Domestic Short Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
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26 / 30Petfinder
Magpie
– Gender: Female
– Age: Baby
– Breed: Domestic Long Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
27 / 30Petfinder
Kimmie & Trini
– Gender: Female
– Age: Young
– Breed: Domestic Medium Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
28 / 30Petfinder
Daffodil
– Gender: Female
– Age: Adult
– Breed: Domestic Short Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
29 / 30Petfinder
Candy Man
– Gender: Male
– Age: Adult
– Breed: Domestic Short Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
30 / 30Petfinder
Trager
– Gender: Male
– Age: Adult
– Breed: Domestic Short Hair
– Read more on Petfinder
You may also like: Lowest-paying jobs in Sherman | https://cw33.com/news/local/cats-available-for-adoption-in-sherman/ | 2022-08-28T17:19:40 | 1 | https://cw33.com/news/local/cats-available-for-adoption-in-sherman/ |
Six-year-old girl drowns at Caledonia resort's Bear Paw Beach; police investigating
A 6-year-old girl drowned Saturday night at Caledonia's Bear Paw Beach, according to the Caledonia Police Department.
Bear Paw is a sister venue to Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Camp-Resort.
The police department and the Caledonia Fire Department were called to Bear Paw Beach, 10006 7 Mile Road, for a "possible drowning" shortly before 5:50 p.m. Saturday, Deputy Chief of Police Shawn Engleman said in a news release.
"Upon arrival, it was discovered that a 6-year-old female had been under water for an undetermined amount of time," the news release said.
Fire department personnel started lifesaving efforts and then took the girl to a hospital, where she was later pronounced dead, the news release said.
Authorities are continuing to investigate the drowning.
"Please keep everyone affected by this tragic incident in your thoughts and prayers," Engleman said in the news release.
Bear Paw Beach is a popular attraction in Racine County that features a 3-acre manmade lake with a beach and cabanas, a jumping pillow, playground, laser tag, a Northern Lights Drone Show and live music, according to its website. It's also home to Adventure Island, an inflatable waterpark and obstacle course.
"Our deepest sympathies go out to the family of the victim and to all those affected by this tragic event," Bear Paw Beach said in an emailed statement. "The owners of Bear Paw Beach are cooperating with local authorities in an attempt to determine what caused the accident."
The business thanked the fire and police departments for their "fast and professional response and actions."
Bear Paw's current focus is to provide time and resources to its employees who were affected by the incident, according to the statement.
The business posted on Facebook that the beach and Adventure Island would be closed Sunday "due to staffing shortages." Both are to reopen Monday, the post said.
According to Bear Paw's website, there are no lifeguards on duty, and attendants are for the Adventure Island obstacle course.
Contact Hannah Kirby at hannah.kirby@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HannahHopeKirby.
More:Witness to Kilbourn Avenue Bridge death recalls horror of fall: 'This should not have happened' | https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/wisconsin/2022/08/28/6-year-old-girl-dies-after-drowning-caledonia-bear-paw-beach/7924889001/ | 2022-08-28T17:20:45 | 0 | https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/wisconsin/2022/08/28/6-year-old-girl-dies-after-drowning-caledonia-bear-paw-beach/7924889001/ |
Partners for life: Couple reflect on 70 years together, 62 years in Wichita Falls
Jim and Ann Ginnings have built a life and a family together across 70 years of marriage. They've seen their family grow to four children, nine grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. For over 60 of those years, they’ve called Wichita Falls home.
They reflected on their time together and in the community.
Although they’ve lived in Wichita Falls for longer than most, their journey together didn’t start here. Instead, after Jim and his mother moved to Dallas, he met Ann on the first day of elementary school around eight decades go.
Jim said he still remembers the moment.
“The first person I saw when I walked in the door was Ann,” Jim said.
“I knew that was a girl I wanted to know, and that wasn’t all that easy because she wouldn’t talk to me or anybody else for that matter. She minded her business, and took good care of it,” he added.
Soon, Jim and Ann were attending the same church, and around the age of 16 they started dating.
“That’s how it all started from my standpoint – I’m sure glad it did. Best decision I ever made,” Jim said.
Jim attended Texas A&M, where he graduated in 1956 with a degree in petroleum engineering.
Jim said his time at A&M was when he first came to Wichita Falls, working summers for Shell Oil before going back to A&M in the fall.
It was also during his time there that he and Ann were married.
Jim said he and Ann started with very little, but worked hard to make it work.
“I think I had $500 and an old car paid for when we married, so we started from virtually nothing except our desire to be good citizens,” he said.
Four years after his graduation, Jim accepted a job in Wichita Falls. The couple made the move in 1960.
Ann said she didn’t know much about the town but supported the move.
While Jim continued to work in oil and gas, Ann worked alongside him. She also stayed active as a volunteer both in the medical field and in church for over three decades.
“I’m a 30-year volunteer with United Regional Healthcare system. Started out when it was Wichita General Hospital, but I’ve been doing that for 30 years. We’re both active in First Baptist Church, [in] Sunday School,” Ann said.
Ann retired from the oil and gas industry in 2003, but continued her volunteering, including sewing countless heart-shaped pillows for hospital patients who underwent open-heart surgery.
Jim, meanwhile, served on a number of local boards including the general hospital board, Midtown Manor board and chairman of the 4B board.
“We managed to stay busy, first one thing and then another; pretty low key and kind of under the radar mostly,” Jim said.
“Except when you were on the council,” Ann reminded him.
Jim agreed; his most visible role was when he served on the Wichita Falls City Council from 2005 through 2008.
For the most part though, the Ginnings have made their contributions to the community in silence. The couple has has donated generously to Faith Mission, Faith Refuge and MSU Texas, along with other nonprofits and organizations.
“We like living here, we like Wichita Falls, and so I think it’s just something we want to do to make the community better if we can,” Ann said.
Jim agreed that it has been important to them to give back to the community, including scholarships they give out at MSU Texas, Texas A&M and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
“People have different means of support, and when you don’t have a whole lot behind you, everything just out in front and you’re trying to make it, well, we understand the stresses that creates. And sometimes we’ve been able to help that and that’s what these scholarships do for us,” Jim said.
Ann said they’ve achieved nearly everything they hoped for in their time in Wichita Falls.
“I can’t think of anything particularly that we really wanted to do and haven’t,” Ann said.
Now, after six decades, the two continue to contribute to Wichita Falls’ future. They’ve stayed strong in their commitment to each other, and built up their family and surrounding community.
“I think the key word is commitment,” Ann said.
“We took our wedding vows seriously. Never even thought about breaking up. We said 'til death do us part' and we meant it. Besides the fact that we love and respect each other, we made that commitment. And it’s important to us and to our family,” Ann said. | https://www.timesrecordnews.com/story/news/local/2022/08/28/couple-reflect-on-70-years-together-62-years-in-wichita-falls/65410792007/ | 2022-08-28T17:25:08 | 0 | https://www.timesrecordnews.com/story/news/local/2022/08/28/couple-reflect-on-70-years-together-62-years-in-wichita-falls/65410792007/ |
NORMAL — The Normal Police Department is looking for a car that narrowly missed pedestrians and scraped the Ross Dress for Less building on Saturday. There were no reported injuries nor significant damage.
Police were informed of a reckless driver in the Ross parking lot around 1:43 p.m. Saturday, NPD Sergeant Jeff Longfellow said. The car was seen coming close to hitting pedestrians in the parking lot before it struck the building, leaving some scrapes.
No serious damage was done to the vehicle or the building and no injuries were reported, Longfellow said.
The car was able to drive off from the scene and police are still looking for it and the driver. The car was a blue Ford Focus and is thought to have had some damage to the front, near the passenger side of the bumper area. It may have had temporary tags, Longfellow said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact NPD Officer Chris Nyman. NPD can be reached at 309-454-9535. | https://pantagraph.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/normal-police-look-for-car-after-near-miss-saturday-on-greenbriar/article_659ccd66-26e1-11ed-a366-5bd9a04312c2.html | 2022-08-28T17:29:22 | 0 | https://pantagraph.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/normal-police-look-for-car-after-near-miss-saturday-on-greenbriar/article_659ccd66-26e1-11ed-a366-5bd9a04312c2.html |
What could a club’s 100-year-old ledger and a pop music vinyl record from the 1960s possibly have in common? Good question!
The simple answer is that both items were donated to the McLean County Museum of History library/archives during the course of the previous month —July 2022. But a much more interesting connection is that both items, in their own unique way, give voice to the stories of McLean County and its people.
The museum divides its collections into two general categories: library/archives and objects. The former includes paper records — everything from books to maps. The latter includes historical objects as wide-ranging as mid-19th century homespun clothing worn by early settlers to a late-20th century video game console owned by an area resident. All told, the museum holds more than 2,000 linear feet of archives and more than 18,600 objects.
Taking a look at selected donations made over a single month — July 2022 in this instance — gives one a good idea as to the range of things the museum collects. During the second week of July, for instance, area resident David Parker paid the museum a visit to make one of his periodic donations of gems (historically speaking) recently acquired through online sales or elsewhere. A highlight from David’s most recent donation is a 3-by 4½-inch black-and-white photo showing two Illinois Terminal Railroad (ITR) passenger cars trundling through a stretch of residential Bloomington on May 15, 1938.
There were several other donations of photographs also made to the museum during the month of July. Amy Miller, a longtime museum volunteer and member, contributed two 3½-by-5-inch black-and-white photos dating to 1953-1954. One showed the McLean County Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument at Miller Park and the other the entrance gates on the west side of the Illinois Wesleyan University campus.
During the past several years, the history museum has worked to enlarge its local music collection, which includes vinyl records, cassette tapes, CDs, and other formats put out by singer-songwriters, bands, choirs, orchestras and other musicians with roots in McLean County.
In July, Greg Koos, the museum’s executive director emeritus, donated the two earliest LPs and an early 45 released by 1960s “sunshine pop” band Spanky and Our Gang. Why these records? In this instance, the local connection was through lead singer Elaine “Spanky” McFarlane, who spent part of her high school years in Bloomington, where she graduated from Trinity (now Central) Catholic in 1960.
Also in July, Tammy Carlson of the Twin Cities donated a dozen issues of the Ellsworth High School newspaper — first known as the “Eagle-Lite” and then the “Eagle Hi-Lite” — dating from 1950 to 1953. Tammy’s father, Robert Carlson, and Robert’s sister, June, attended Ellsworth High. At the time, Ellsworth was one of 15 high schools in McLean County outside of the Twin Cities. Sadly, most of those schools have since been lost to district consolidation, including Ellsworth High.
Cataloging and preserving paper items such as these fragile, small school student newspapers — now seven decades old — is a core purpose of the McLean County Museum of History. If the museum doesn’t ensure their long-term preservation and safekeeping, who will?
The Ellsworth High papers donated by Tammy Carlson are likely some of the few remaining copies in existence. And in another 70 years, who knows? By that time, the museum may be the only place anywhere that has original copies.
In addition to individuals such as Tammy Carlson and Greg Koos, organizations, institutions and businesses likewise make gifts to the museum. The largest donation to the museum in July was made by the still-active Young Men’s Club of Bloomington, a “relaxed” business and professional association organized back in 1915. This collection of historical records and papers includes early minutes; membership lists; anniversary programs; club directories; interviews with past members; club histories; scrapbooks; newsletters; VHS tapes; and more.
Although the Young Men’s Club has a reputation for ribald revelry, the group also boasts an impressive philanthropic record. For many years, the club served as the sponsor for the children’s Christmas party at the Booker T. Washington Home. That is but one of many stories told in this newly acquired collection.
Photos: McLean County Museum of History
Tax Day Tea Party - April 2010
Tax Day Tea Party - April 2010
Downtown Farmers Market - May 2010
Latinos United for Change - May 2012
Veterans Day - November 2012
Christmas - December 1936
Memorial Service for the Unborn - Jan. 14, 2014
Hanging with Abe - June 2014
Racial justice demonstration - August 2014
Downtown Walk Around - April 2015
Take Back the Night - April 2015
Route 66 memories - July 2015
Veterans Day - November 2015
Interfaith rally - December 2015
Interfaith rally - December 2015
May Day - May 2016
Stations of the Cross - April 2017
042617-blm-loc-takeback2
Domestic violence awareness rally- October 2017
Veterans Day - November 2017
Anti-abortion demonstration - January 2018
March for Our Lives - March 2018
Stand Up With Me Domestic Violence Awareness Rally - October 2018
Presidents' Day - February 2019
Domestic violence awareness rally - October 2019
Memorial Service for the Unborn - January 2020
Forward Into Light - August 2020
Pork Chop Day - June 2011
war protest
Abortion rights protest - May 2022
Pieces From Our Past is a weekly column by the McLean County Museum of History. Bill Kemp is the museum's librarian.
The McLean County Museum of History recently received a donation of Ellsworth High School student newspapers from the early 1950s. Seen here is a sample page from the February 1952 issue. | https://pantagraph.com/news/local/history/mclean-county-museum-of-history-preserves-past-one-donation-at-a-time/article_cad2b83e-2412-11ed-8db5-ab24197010f8.html | 2022-08-28T17:29:28 | 0 | https://pantagraph.com/news/local/history/mclean-county-museum-of-history-preserves-past-one-donation-at-a-time/article_cad2b83e-2412-11ed-8db5-ab24197010f8.html |
GAS TRACKER: Minnesota average at $3.81 per gallon, Iowa at $3.55 Aug 28, 2022 Aug 28, 2022 Updated 1 hr ago 0 Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Here's the latest as of Aug. 28. Gas prices IA/MN Infogram Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save More From KIMT News 3 Cerro Gordo County Wanted Mason City man taken into custody after vehicle, foot pursuit Updated Jul 1, 2022 Local The Austin Bruins lead the central division right now Updated Dec 2, 2021 News Semi and pickup collide on Highway 57 in Dodge County Dec 15, 2021 Cerro Gordo County One sentence, one dismissal over marijuana discovered near Clear Lake Updated Dec 9, 2021 News Rochester man gets decade in federal prison for arson during George Floyd riots Updated Jan 14, 2022 Iowa Investigation underway related to the West Hancock school district Updated Jun 16, 2022 Recommended for you
Cerro Gordo County Wanted Mason City man taken into custody after vehicle, foot pursuit Updated Jul 1, 2022
Cerro Gordo County One sentence, one dismissal over marijuana discovered near Clear Lake Updated Dec 9, 2021
News Rochester man gets decade in federal prison for arson during George Floyd riots Updated Jan 14, 2022 | https://www.kimt.com/news/local/gas-tracker-minnesota-average-at-3-81-per-gallon-iowa-at-3-55/article_e182e648-14d2-11ed-9744-c791856883d2.html | 2022-08-28T17:30:03 | 0 | https://www.kimt.com/news/local/gas-tracker-minnesota-average-at-3-81-per-gallon-iowa-at-3-55/article_e182e648-14d2-11ed-9744-c791856883d2.html |
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Virginia Beach’s school system has become one of the latest to adopt policies and regulations that restrict cell phone usage during school hours.
This includes if a student leaves the classroom and in auditoriums, gyms, locker rooms and more.
Teachers will also not be permitted to allow students to use cell phones to “to fill instructional time or to occupy students in lieu of providing instructional activities or as a reward.”
Virginia Beach Education Association President Kathleen Slinde said the organization is encouraging students and their families to comply with the new regulation, as it will help reduce distractions in the classroom.
Accommodations will be available for students who need their devices for medical or other reasons that are included in their individualized education program or 504 plan. | https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-beach-restricts-cell-phone-use-during-school/2022/08/28/b7aad420-26ed-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html | 2022-08-28T17:32:41 | 0 | https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-beach-restricts-cell-phone-use-during-school/2022/08/28/b7aad420-26ed-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html |
CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) – Charleston Police said officers shot and killed a man late Saturday night in the 100 block of East Point Drive.
Officers said they responded to a home around 11:10 p.m. to look for a wanted person. When they arrived, police said the suspect ran out of the house toward the woods.
Police said they deployed a police canine to apprehend the suspect. The suspect allegedly pulled out a gun and shot and killed the canine.
Police said officers were at a close range and returned fire, striking the suspect. The man was transported to a local hospital and pronounced dead. | https://www.wowktv.com/news/local/man-killed-in-charleston-officer-involved-shooting/ | 2022-08-28T17:36:20 | 1 | https://www.wowktv.com/news/local/man-killed-in-charleston-officer-involved-shooting/ |
SISSONVILLE, WV (WOWK) — A man who recently moved to the Sissonville area has been identified as the victim of an accidental fatal shooting Friday in Sissonville.
That is according to the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department.
Investigators tell 13 News that Terry Moody Junior was carrying a pistol in his pants pocket when the gun fired.
It happened Friday morning on Second Creek Road in Sissonville.
Moody, 48, had recently lived in Glouster, Ohio. | https://www.wowktv.com/news/local/victim-in-sissonville-fatal-shooting-identified/ | 2022-08-28T17:36:26 | 1 | https://www.wowktv.com/news/local/victim-in-sissonville-fatal-shooting-identified/ |
LUZERNE COUNTY, Pa. — A 17-year-old girl has died after being shot in the head and a 17-year-old-boy is accused of the crime.
State police say the shooting happened on Sand Hollow Drive in Butler Township near Drums.
Authorities say 17-year-old Alan Meyers shot a 17-year-old girl in the head just after 5:00 a.m. Saturday morning.
The girl was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital where she died from her injuries.
Meyers, who's from Black Creek Township, is being held at the Luzerne County Jail and is being charged as an adult.
Authorities have not released the name of the girl who was killed.
See news happening? Text our Newstip Hotline. | https://www.fox43.com/article/news/local/teen-girl-shot-and-killed-in-luzerne-county-butler-township-near-drums-alan-meyers-black-creek-township/523-991d680f-6f0d-42be-8bac-08822c6aaf0a | 2022-08-28T17:42:30 | 0 | https://www.fox43.com/article/news/local/teen-girl-shot-and-killed-in-luzerne-county-butler-township-near-drums-alan-meyers-black-creek-township/523-991d680f-6f0d-42be-8bac-08822c6aaf0a |
DES MOINES, Iowa — Four Des Moines homes are damaged after two drivers crashed their vehicles early Sunday morning.
Des Moines Police say two vehicles were believed to be racing southbound in the 2100 block of East 14th St shortly before 4 a.m. Sunday when one lost control around Guthrie Avenue, crashing into parked vehicles and homes in the area. A second vehicle also crashed after losing control.
Neither the residents of the impacted homes nor the drivers of the vehicles reported injuries. Police say they believe the drivers fled on foot.
A Facebook and Twitter post from the Des Moines Police Department says one was driving a silver 2018 Chrysler 300, and the other was driving a black 2020 Dodge Charger.
East 14th St. from Guthrie Avenue to Thompson Avenue is back open for drivers after being blocked off for four hours following the crash.
DMPD's Traffic Unit is still investigating this incident.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the DMPD Traffic Unit at 515-323-8375.
Tips may also be shared through Crimestoppers of Central Iowa at 515-223-1409, or online at www.crimestoppersofcentraliowa.com | https://www.weareiowa.com/article/news/local/alleged-street-racers-cause-damage-to-four-homes-in-des-moines-crash/524-fdab55ee-d377-4c7d-aa0e-21fbd058c4af | 2022-08-28T18:01:44 | 1 | https://www.weareiowa.com/article/news/local/alleged-street-racers-cause-damage-to-four-homes-in-des-moines-crash/524-fdab55ee-d377-4c7d-aa0e-21fbd058c4af |
100 years ago
1922: Effete New Yorkers are munching Flagstaff lettuce with their romaine salads. Los Angeles and Hollywood divorcees are daintily absorbing it with their ptomaine salads. Even our charming and practically conventional sisters in Phoenix and Tucson are taking it in their salads. Flagstaff lettuce? Surest thing you know. There are 30 acres of it, green 2 turn and headed magnificently now being harvested on Frank Patton’s pumphouse ranch between here and Oak Creek Road. Kay Matsumoto, the hustling Japanese farmer, owns the lettuce and with a lot of his countrymen is cutting and crafting the crisp heads. New York wants another iced carload right now. So does Los Angeles. Flagstaff people are eating it as it is on sale at the stores here. Phoenix and the rest of the Southland, where it is too warm now to raise lettuce, are getting a lot of it. Kay says he'll get $1,000 worth of the lettuce from each of the 30 acres.
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Fred Breen, publisher of the Coconino Sun at Flagstaff, announces that he recently has purchased an eight-page duplex printing press and it will be installed within the next two months -- this being necessary on account of the increased size of the Sun. He was elected vice president of the Arizona Newspaper Association. The Holbrook Tribune and other newspapers are glad to see the neighbor prosper. The Sun is one of the best weekly papers in the country now, and even at that is promising its readers still greater improvement. Congratulations, brother Breen.
75 years ago
1947: Santa Fe trailways buses probably will start rolling again tomorrow or Saturday, a spokesman for the brotherhood of railroad trainmen said today in announcing that an agreement has practically been reached to terminate the union strike that began last July. He said the company had offered a wage of $5.85 per 100 miles to drivers and agreed to increase it to $6 on Oct. 26, and that the rate has been accepted by the drivers. The union is holding out for clause making the boost retroactive to June 1 when its contract expired. L. G. Charles, general chairman for the union, predicted this difficulty would be speedily ironed out. This strike involves approximately 300 drivers of 100 buses on the Western Division, which includes several Western cities, including Flagstaff. The union, with a settlement imminent, withdrew its pickets today, permitting the mechanics and other workers to return to their jobs.
Tuberculosis is an unnecessary disease, yet more than 900 persons, including 100 children, die of it each year in Arizona. The stark tragedy of these figures are why today health authorities declared the importance of every Flagstaff resident taking a free chest X-ray here within the next 10 days. Beginning tomorrow, the free chest X-ray will be available at specified places and health officials, civic leaders and others are pressing for as near 100% participation by residents as is possible. The X-rays will be taken in the early stages of the campaign in industrial plants, Flagstaff residents next Thursday, Friday and the following Monday, Sept. 4, 5 and 8, may obtain this free service in the health department in the courthouse building. In 1945 and 1946, one out of every seven persons who died in the State of Arizona succumbed to the ravages of tuberculosis. The insidious disease is the first leading cause of death between the ages of 15 and 46, the most productive years of life. When these facts are considered, the economic loss in man hours wasted and the money spent directly and indirectly to cure for the dependents of the wage earners killed or crippled by tuberculosis is inconsequential.
50 years ago
1972: Warren Hardy may be nine months away from earning his own college degree, but it hasn't stopped him from organizing his own school. Hardy, a young man with an eye set on a possible new career, already has written his own textbook. And he plans to welcome his first students to his school in early September. Moreover, there is a good chance that the students will be considerably older than the 24-year-old instructor. Accelerated conversational Spanish institute is the title of Hardy's latest endeavor. Put into simple language, it is designed for the tourist who wants a speedy course in the Spanish language. Hardy got the idea pretty much by chance. He had an assembled accelerated program before going to Argentina for 2 1/2 years on a mission for the Mormon church. He returned from that program, where he taught English, and started on his professional training at Northern Arizona University. But it was a chance request that a Flagstaff resident had applied through a self-help agency for someone to instruct her in Spanish. The request found its way to Hardy -- who had found some success in a Spanish tutoring program. Through the tutoring, he had already begun formulating a proposed text. The 60-page text is the one that will be used in the initial course. The course is designed for tourists, primarily adults who want to go to Mexico and enjoy themselves as tourists. The dialogue is tourist-oriented.
25 years ago
1997: Sure, it doesn't pay well. But what other job allows you to stand atop a mountain all day, enjoying the view and the clear, piney air? For two summers employees at Arizona Snowbowl worked at the scenic skyride, allowing them to earn money as well as enjoy the outdoors. “I always tell people we have the coolest spot in the state, “said Joan Ingols “I'd recommend the job to anyone, but I want to do it again.” For her, working as an interpreter for the Forest Service at the top of the skyride is a diversion. Ingols said the summer job is a great break from her teaching duties at Coconino High School. Another lift attendant at the skyride wants to work there while she attends Northern Arizona University. The chance to work outdoors is what makes this her favorite job. She said Flagstaff’s summer weather helps keep her relaxed and focused.
A KZGL-FM disc jockey upset with police was cited for disorderly conduct after he repeatedly swore and made obscene gestures at officers early this morning. Jeffrey Travis Graham, who goes by the name Jay Hammond on air, was in Maloney's bar when he saw two officers standing outside at about 1 a.m. and began taunting them, according to a Flagstaff Police Department report. “I saw them and kind of gave them a hard time because of what happened to me the previous week,” Graham said this morning. Graham, 26, said he was angry about being stopped last week for jaywalking. He was not cited, but Graham said the stop was unfair because the light was green when he crossed. After officer approached Graham inside the bar this morning. He came outside, continued making obscene gestures and grabbed a pen from one of the officer’s pockets. Graham later called the police department, but the report says an officer hung up on him because of his abusive language. When he kept calling back, police officers went to his home and cited him. Graham said he called police to file a report about them harassing him. | https://azdailysun.com/news/local/flagstaff-history-lettuce-grower-was-bringing-in-the-green/article_fe5614f6-24e1-11ed-af6d-6fbe4c678833.html | 2022-08-28T18:05:36 | 0 | https://azdailysun.com/news/local/flagstaff-history-lettuce-grower-was-bringing-in-the-green/article_fe5614f6-24e1-11ed-af6d-6fbe4c678833.html |
ALBANY – Like many hospitals across the United States, Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital has been battling the increasing nursing shortage due to the pandemic and an aging population. To better serve its patients and help overcome the nursing shortage, Phoebe piloted a virtual remote nurse model of care to support bedside nurses.
“With hospitals facing nursing shortages across the state and country, we thought this would be an innovative and valuable option to help not only our patients but our bedside teams," Evelyn Olenick, the chief nursing officer at Phoebe, said in a news release. "Since starting the virtual remote nursing program, we have seen a significant improvement in patient satisfaction with nurse communication and discharge education, which positively impacts quality and safety for everyone."
The virtual remote nursing team handles all the non-hands-on care and work flows, such as admission documentation, discharge education, medication reconciliation, chart reviews and audits. The virtual remote nurse is available in real-time to answer the patient’s questions, provide education and support. It allows the bedside team to respond to immediate physical patient needs, and the virtual remote nurses can maintain the regular schedule of rounds and patient monitoring.
Virtual remote nurses and bedside nurses work together to provide the highest level of care to patients.
“We began piloting the virtual remote nurse model of care in April on the observation unit, and because of the positive results, plan to implement this new model of care throughout other inpatient nursing units over the next year,” Olenick said.
A virtual remote nurse does not work with bedside nurses on all patients, and patients can decline a virtual remote nurse. The virtual remote nurses have their own office in the hospital and communicate with patients through iPads located in their rooms.
Anyone interested in joining the Phoebe Family as a virtual remote nurse can go to careers.phoebehealth.com to view open positions.
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WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – A Transportation Pilot Project between Wichita State University and Sedgwick County is changing lives for people struggling with substance abuse and mental health.
Wichita State University’s Public Policy and Management Center and the Sedgwick County Mental Health & Substance Abuse Coalition: Barriers Committee worked with the Substance Abuse Center of Kansas to make this project happen.
The Barriers Committee identified transportation as a major barrier for people seeking help.
“It gave me transportation to go to ComCare and got me on my mental health medication,” said Project Participant Amanda Johnson.
Amanda Johnson is a recovering addict, and she is one of the 15 chosen for the pilot project.
Clients are given a free bus pass they can access on their phones.
The goal is to see what life would look like if the barrier of transportation is removed.
“To get people in services and keep them in services,” said Substance Abuse Center of Kansas (SACK) CEO, Harold Casey.
What is normally about $55 a month, making major life changes for clients.
“They were able to maintain stable housing if they had jobs if they were able to maintain their sobriety,” said WSU Public Policy and Management Center Program Evaluation Manager, Dulcinea Rakestraw.
Casey said this saved the community an estimated $10,000 a month during the three-month project.
“Reducing the contacts to the emergency room and reducing admissions to the hospital,” said Casey.
Casey was not sure if it would make a difference.
“This project turned out to be a massive success for the community,” said Mental Health and Substance Abuse Coalition Executive Director, Dawn Shepler.
“I was able to get to all of my appointments and be able to go grocery shopping, I was homeless but now I’m not,” Johnson said.
Johnson found an apartment and credits consistent accessibility to support services for helping her stay in treatment.
“All of those things are important, and almost 100% were able to meet their mental health appointments,” Casey said.
Johnson said without this program, she would still be struggling.
“It’s really a different lifestyle not being homeless, being able to have a home, being able to eat, go to the grocery store, and get to appointments,” Johnson said.
The project has been extended for a year.
It costs an estimated $900 per month for 15 clients. Researchers are looking for more funding to support their work.
You can learn more about the full project here. | https://www.ksn.com/news/local/wsu-pilot-project-helps-people-meet-mental-health-and-substance-abuse-appointments/ | 2022-08-28T18:09:43 | 0 | https://www.ksn.com/news/local/wsu-pilot-project-helps-people-meet-mental-health-and-substance-abuse-appointments/ |
A mother and son duo from Washington completed an adventure of a lifetime last week, cycling across the State of Oregon from Astoria to the California Border along Highway 101.
The trip was literally full of ups and downs. Mom, Liz Colver, and her son, 10-year-old Shephard Colver, from Kenmore, Washington peddled up steep stretches of highway while shrouded in fog, cycled through winding mountain roads and trekked over monumental coastal bridges.
They were able to complete the full 370 mile route in 18 days – all while managing 10-year-old Shep’s Type 1 Diabetes.
It was mom, Liz’s first long-distance bicycle trip.
Shep completed his first long ride – pedaling 3,300 miles across the US to New York City – with his dad, James, in 2021. This 18-week trek was a mission years in the making, and it was all Shep’s idea to fulfill a dream of seeing the Statue of Liberty in New York City.
After the father-son duo completed that ride, Shep decided he wanted to do a long-distance bicycle trip with his mother, too.
“It was wild, when he got asked what he wanted to do next and he said he wanted to do a bicycle trip with me. I was startled,” Liz said. “I didn’t know it was something he had ever really thought about. But because he said he wanted to, and because he asked, I decided to say yes.”
Liz said she has never really been a bicyclist. But she said she was glad to take the lead from her son – who has learned a lot from his experiences with long-distance bicycling.
“He was coached last time, and this time he got to be the coach. So, I was able to follow his lead and pay attention to what he says about bicycling – and that was really cool,” Liz said.
On the final leg of the trip through Brookings to the California border, Shep said his legs felt like jelly and he stopped for a short break to eat a snack to bring his blood sugar up. In spite of this, he was in good spirits.
“My blood sugar is a little bit low right now, but it feels pretty great to say that now I have done this with my mom and one with my dad,” Shep said.
Shep said his favorite part of the bicycle trip was spending time with his mom.
“We’ve gotten to talk a lot about a lot of things and see lots of great things. There is a lot of pretty viewpoints – and we got to see whales for the first time,” he said.
The hardest parts of the trip were the more physical parts, he said.
“There was a lot of constant uphill climbs and a lot of ups and downs that were pretty annoying at some points,” he said. “But really, not much bad things happened on this trip.”
The mother and son were happily surprised not to have to deal with flat tires or mechanical issues with their bicycles. They also expected to come across a lot of different weather conditions – and packed accordingly.
“Being from the Pacific Northwest, we were prepared for different weather, but we didn’t even get one drop of rain the whole 18 days we were on the road. I thought that was pretty crazy,” Liz said.
The mother and son documented their trip for their family, friends and others on Facebook as a sporting event called Trek 2022. The page has 1,400 followers.
Liz said she and her family did a scoping road-trip prior to embarking on their cycle trek. This gave them a good idea about how many miles they could complete each day. They also bought an Adventure Cycling Guide to help plan for different legs of their journey.
“They have excellent tips for the routes including spots for food and groceries, where you can sleep and camp and all of that kind of stuff – so we really spent a lot of time studying those maps,” Liz said.
The mother/son duo also planned to manage Shep’s Type 1 Diabetes throughout their adventure. He was diagnosed with this illness shortly after his first attempt to bicycle across the U.S. with his father in 2019.
“We started training and we got all the way to Glasgow Montana, and I was getting a little sick. So we went to the hospital and I got diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. It’s a disorder where my pancreas doesn’t work, so I have to take shots of insulin,” Shep said. “So we sadly had to go back, but in 2021 when Covid rates were starting to go down a little, we decided to do it again and we finished the whole trip.”
With new considerations and obstacles to tackle since his diagnosis, Shep has learned how to prepare both physically and mentally to conquer these longer rides as a diabetic — with his nutrition and rest days playing a crucial role.
“When I am riding my bike, usually my blood sugar is pretty good, but when my blood sugar gets low, like right now, I usually eat something – like these power crunch bars and we have apples, bananas and oranges.”
He said he has also learned sometimes it’s best to wait it out and rest while his blood sugar is low.
“If it is low we just wait for it go up. I don’t want to eat too much – it can hurt my body. We aren’t trying to speed through the whole thing,” he said.
Mom Liz said they keep important equipment on the road – including cold cells to keep Shep’s insulin in.
“There’s ice packs that go in those that last for about 48 hours, so we tend to make sure that we have a hotel that has a refrigerator in the room every other day,” she said. “We like to camp as much as we can – but we can’t camp every night on a bike trip like this because we have to make sure that that the insulin stays cold. If it gets warm it expires immediately, and if it freezes it expires immediately, so you need to make sure it is kept in the right temperature range.”
Shepard and Liz said their bicycle trip together is something they will remember forever. On the final leg of the journey, Liz said she was wondering what it’s going to be like back at home in Washington.
“Now that we are done it’s wild to think about going back. What is normal after doing something like this? It is just a whole different kind of experience,” Liz said. | https://theworldlink.com/news/local/mother-and-son-complete-long-distance-bicycle-trek/article_3db9c7f0-23fc-11ed-a43b-7f79f68af83c.html | 2022-08-28T18:10:27 | 1 | https://theworldlink.com/news/local/mother-and-son-complete-long-distance-bicycle-trek/article_3db9c7f0-23fc-11ed-a43b-7f79f68af83c.html |
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — The School Board of Hillsborough County Millage did not pass by 590 votes after recount votes were reviewed Sunday morning.
The unofficial recount votes are as follows:
County Court Judge Group 14
- Melissa Black: 62,386
- Alicia Whiting Bozich: 28,727
- Linette "Starr" Brookins: 58,569
- Mike Isaak: 59,293
Candidates Melissa Black and Mike Isaak will move on to the General Election ballot.
School Board of Hillsborough County Millage Election:
- Yes: 110,486
- No: 111,076
Officials say there will be no other recounts and canvassers will certify election results on the 30th at 10 a.m. during their final meeting for the Primary Election.
The meeting will take place at the Robert L. Gilder Elections Service Center,
2514 N. Falkenburg Rd., Tampa and is open to the public.
The final official election results will be posted at VoteHillsborough.gov | https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/hillsboroughcounty/tax-referendum-recount-hillsborough-county/67-762aaaa2-160b-4eb6-b47a-d3860bd5ae45 | 2022-08-28T18:13:40 | 1 | https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/hillsboroughcounty/tax-referendum-recount-hillsborough-county/67-762aaaa2-160b-4eb6-b47a-d3860bd5ae45 |
TAMPA, Fla. — The NFL’s regular season is just around the corner, but in the meantime folks in the Tampa Convention Center this weekend got a taste of a different, unique type of football action.
Eight teams and athletes from all over the country competed in the USA Wheelchair Football League Tournament.
The USAWL if a program of Move United in partnership with the NFL and Bob Woodruff Foundation, which started in four cities two years ago and has expanded to include nearly a dozen teams and 700+ athletes, coaches and volunteers.
The league is the first-of-its-kind football league and offers a competitive, intense and fast-paced team sport for adults with disabilities.
The Tampa tournament was the second of the USAWFL’s 2022 season and was hosted by Hillsborough County Adaptive Sports, a first-ever home tournament for the local Tampa Bay Buccaneers Wheelchair Football Team.
“It’s an honor and incredibly exciting. Looking forward to the competition and being elevation in the second year and making even more, new lifelong friendships along the way,” says U.S. Navy Veteran Ryan Lindstrom, a Tampa native and member of the Tampa Bay Bucs Wheelchair Football Team.
If you are interested in volunteering, you can learn more here. | https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/hillsboroughcounty/wheelchair-football-tournament-tampa/67-5c805978-6054-403c-98a7-0c51c90eaa25 | 2022-08-28T18:13:46 | 1 | https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/hillsboroughcounty/wheelchair-football-tournament-tampa/67-5c805978-6054-403c-98a7-0c51c90eaa25 |
SARASOTA, Fla. — A 47-year-old man was shot and killed Sunday by Sarasota County deputies after pulling out a gun and pointing it at deputies, Sheriff Kurt Hoffman said during a news conference.
Hoffman said deputies received a call around 9:06 a.m. from a woman who said Brian Underwood was threatening her with a gun.
"She indicated the two were in an argument yesterday and she awoke today to find the man pointing the gun at her," the sheriff said.
When deputies arrived at the scene, Underwood initially did not come out of the home. The sheriff said deputies eventually made contact with the man through the phone and convinced him to come to a window where they could see him.
Hoffman said Underwood stood in the window and held his hands in the air.
The suspect proceeded to invite the deputies into the home to get the victim who had barricaded herself in a bedroom while talking to 911 operators, the sheriff said.
As four deputies entered the front door, which was left ajar after the suspect’s mother fled the residence during the incident, the sheriff's office wrote in a statement.
"As four deputies entered the home, they were confronted by the suspect, who had his hands up," the sheriff's office wrote. "Deputies gave verbal commands to de-escalate the situation when the suspect retrieved a firearm from behind his back. He chambered a round in the weapon and then pointed the firearm at deputies."
Two of the deputies fired their guns at Underwood killing him.
Sheriff Hoffman said Underwood has one prior arrest for domestic battery in 2014 out of Citrus County.
According to the sheriff's office, deputies have responded to calls involving Underwood in the past for other reported family disturbances; however, none have resulted in an arrest.
The deputy's and the victim's names are being withheld due to Marsy's Law.
The investigation is still ongoing. | https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/sarasotacounty/shooting-deputy-sarasota/67-c0ffc094-3cca-4c86-a433-a06a589f0921 | 2022-08-28T18:13:52 | 0 | https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/sarasotacounty/shooting-deputy-sarasota/67-c0ffc094-3cca-4c86-a433-a06a589f0921 |
HUDSON -- After a two-year hiatus, the Down on the Farm Breakfast at Hansen's Dairy returns Sept. 17 with a bounty of local food and family-friendly farm activities. The event will at Hansen’s Dairy Tour Center, 8461 Lincoln Road, Hudson.
Tickets go on sale Aug. 28. Attendees mustpurchase tickets online before the event; tickets will not be sold in stores or at the breakfast. Tickets are $15 for adults 13 and older; $8 for children ages 4 to 12; and children 3 and younger are free.
There will be two serving times: 8 to 9:30 a.m. and 10 to 11:30 a.m. Please plan to arrive during your scheduled serving time, then jump on the trolley to the farm after your meal for fun activities and to see cows and kangaroos. No matter the serving time slot, attendees may stay as long as they like or until the event ends at 12:30 p.m.
The farm-to-table menu includes breakfast burritos, featuring eggs from Groothuis Farm, Nashua; Edgewood Locker sausage; Hansen’s Dairy cheese curds; Litteaur Produce peppers, Waterloo; and Kramer's Salsa, Camanche. Served on the side are apple slices from Apples on the Avenue in Nashua and fresh bread from Rustic Hearth Bakery in Cedar Rapids slathered with Hansen's Dairy butter, Clear Creek Orchard jam from Collins or Wildflower Acres Honey from Waterloo. Wash it down with coffee from Fat Cup Coffee in Waterloo; apple cider from Wilson’s Orchard in Iowa City; and Hansen’s milk. | https://wcfcourier.com/news/local/tickets-on-sale-sunday-for-hansens-down-on-the-farm-breakfast-farm-breakfast-sept-17/article_a2039b9b-29a8-59b0-a15d-e1c980002421.html | 2022-08-28T18:14:44 | 1 | https://wcfcourier.com/news/local/tickets-on-sale-sunday-for-hansens-down-on-the-farm-breakfast-farm-breakfast-sept-17/article_a2039b9b-29a8-59b0-a15d-e1c980002421.html |
INDIANAPOLIS — Madam C.J. Walker, the first documented female self-made millionaire, is being honored with a new Barbie doll.
Mattel, Inc. announced it would be paying tribute to the Indianapolis entrepreneur and philanthropist as part of its Barbie Inspiring Women Series.
"The Barbie® Inspiring Women™ Series pays tribute to incredible heroines of their time; courageous women who took risks, changed rules and paved the way for generations of girls to dream bigger than ever before," Mattel's product description of the doll reads. "The series proudly honors Madam C.J. Walker as its next addition."
One of the twentieth century's most successful women entrepreneurs, Walker made her fortune by developing and marketing a line of hair care and cosmetics products through the business she incorporated in Indianapolis in 1910, the Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company.
The doll is available for purchase for $35 at several major retailors. | https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/barbie-pays-tribute-madam-cj-walker-new-doll/531-4a776abe-a38f-40fa-84e7-6b99a3b51d5d | 2022-08-28T18:15:04 | 1 | https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/barbie-pays-tribute-madam-cj-walker-new-doll/531-4a776abe-a38f-40fa-84e7-6b99a3b51d5d |
ARIZONA, USA — Grand Canyon National Park rangers have recovered the body of a 44-year-old man who fell to his death from the canyon rim on Friday afternoon.
Around 3:30 p.m., park rangers received the call that a visitor had fallen from the rim to the west of the Bright Angel Point Trail.
Rangers found that the man had fallen roughly 200 feet from the trail, and said that he was off-trail when he accidentally fell.
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Currently, the National Park Service is investigating the fall alongside the Coconino County Medical Examiner's Office.
While details are scarce at this time, park officials did say that the fall was accidental.
Rangers encourage visitors to stay aware of their surroundings and keep the following in mind:
- Stay on designated trails and walkways and always keep a safe distance of at least six feet (2 m) from the edge of the rim.
- In areas where there is a railing or fence, do not climb over the barrier.
- Keep an eye on all the people in your group, especially small children. Make sure that your travel companions have both feet firmly planted on pavement or developed trails.
- Know where the edge is. Watch foot placement and look for trip hazards.
- Do not run, jump, or perform physical stunts near the rim.
- Do not back up without first looking where you are going.
This is a developing story. Stay with 12News for more updates.
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Catch up on the latest news and stories on our 12 News YouTube playlist here. | https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/grand-canyon-visitor-fatal-200-foot-fall-august-2022/75-b5e863ab-4309-4fce-a05c-df3fbe50ac31 | 2022-08-28T18:15:10 | 1 | https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/grand-canyon-visitor-fatal-200-foot-fall-august-2022/75-b5e863ab-4309-4fce-a05c-df3fbe50ac31 |
DALLAS — Historic flooding came to North Texas on Monday, bringing down rain that came fast and with force, flooding homes, cars, businesses, roads and freeways.
The area saw nearly 10 inches of rain in just a 24-hour span, with Dallas and Fort Worth getting over nine inches of rain.
Roadways flooded on Monday, creating dangerous conditions for drivers.
Dramatic video captured the moments a Dallas Independent School District transportation team came across two children clinging to a tree amid high water conditions.
Tekendria Valentine shot the video and said the location was not a part of the driver's normal route.
Members of the Dallas ISD transportation team aboard the bus used seatbelts from the bus to pull the children to safety.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a disaster declaration for several counties, including Dallas, Tarrant, Kaufman and Ellis counties.
“What happened yesterday is the second worst rainstorm and flooding in Dallas since 1932,” Abbott said during a press conference on Tuesday.
Details about the bus rescue were limited. Check back for updates. | https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/video-captures-dramatic-rescue-in-high-water-involving-dallas-isd-team/287-6e860faa-085c-4349-aadc-3ed0e1c5f478 | 2022-08-28T18:15:16 | 1 | https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/video-captures-dramatic-rescue-in-high-water-involving-dallas-isd-team/287-6e860faa-085c-4349-aadc-3ed0e1c5f478 |
CANBY, Ore. — Newly released police body camera footage shows the the Aug. 17 arrest of Oregon State Rep. James Hieb, R-Canby, at the Clackamas County Fair. KGW obtained the footage through a public records request.
Hieb was arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct and interfering with a peace officer. He later told KGW that the incident happened after a woman asked him to put out a cigarette, but he didn't offer a clear explanation for why things escalated.
Police turned over three videos of the incident, each taken from a different officer's body worn camera. Hieb's face is blurred in the video, along with the officers, as required by state public records law.
In the videos, Hieb slurs his words and becomes verbally combative with deputies after acknowledging he is a political official. Heib wore a white campaign polo shirt.
"If you are running for political office, this is probably not the look you want," said one deputy. "We've had several calls from employees telling us that you refused to put out a cigarette and refused to leave."
Smoking is prohibited at the fairgrounds. Hieb claimed he was never asked to leave.
When deputies asked to see Hieb's identification, he refused. Deputies then put Hieb into handcuffs. Hieb told police he had a firearm on his hip, which was removed by deputies without incident.
During further questioning, Hieb downplayed his interaction with fairgrounds staff. "Some lady just walked up and was like, F--- you and your cigarette. Long story, short," said Hieb. "Do you know how many people work for the fair? Or fairgrounds? Anybody can say I work for the fair."
Deputies tried repeatedly to calm Hieb down and encourage him to cooperate, suggesting they would issue him an exclusion notice from the fairgrounds and then drive him home.
"Would you like to go home tonight," a deputy asked. "No," responded Hieb. "I love this kind of s---"
Instead, Hieb continued to debate deputies and challenged them to arrest him.
At one point, Hieb fell to the ground while in handcuffs and swore at officers.
"There we go mother f---er. Hurt me," Hieb said to deputies. "What are you going to do?"
A deputy responded, "Because of your behavior we're taking you to the Clackamas County jail."
OTHER STORIES: Clackamas County clerk who oversaw May primary ballot counting fiasco makes her pitch for reelection to a sixth term
At one point during the conversation, a deputy asked Hieb if he was at the fair with anyone that night, and Hieb responded "a lady named Tootie Smith" — apparently referring to Clackamas County Chair Tootie Smith — but he did not elaborate.
Smith does not appear anywhere in the video, and in a statement released shortly after the footage was made public, she said she was "appalled" by Hieb's behavior and that his comment about being at the fair with her was "an outright lie."
"I was not at the fair on the day of Hieb’s arrest and I do not personally know Hieb... Hieb’s belligerent behavior is unacceptable and an embarrassment," she said.
Smith said her only past interaction with Hieb was on the day the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners appointed him.
Hieb was appointed in February to represent Oregon House District 39 by Clackamas and Marion County commissioners, replacing House Minority Leader Christine Drazan, who stepped down to run for governor.
He has a history of other run-ins with police including citations in 2004 for speeding, fleeting a police officer and driving under the influence, 2008 for failure to register a vehicle and carry insurance, 2012 for criminal trespass and disorderly conduct and 2019 for failure to use safety belts.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/body-camera-footage-rep-hieb-arrest-released/283-b5d1bb72-dd07-4a5f-b4d9-007f56c0181f | 2022-08-28T18:16:56 | 1 | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/body-camera-footage-rep-hieb-arrest-released/283-b5d1bb72-dd07-4a5f-b4d9-007f56c0181f |
SPOKANE, Wash. — Updated at 9 p.m.- DNR states that all level 3 evacuations have been downgraded and are still holding at level 1. The weather is expected to be better Sunday with calls for less wind. 80 firefighters will be dispatched to begin mop-up of the fire.
DNR is also asking people to stay away from the north side of Palisades Park, and out of the park in general for the next few days, specifically, the area known as Rimrock Road.
The Palisades Fire has burned a total of 43 acres, according to Spokane County Fire District 10. Firefighters report they were able to hold the fire's growth overnight. No buildings have been lost in the fire.
As of 9 p.m. Saturday evening, the fire is 10% contained.
They worked through the night to keep flames from spreading and additional brush trucks will be brought in to help today.
Cooler temperatures and humidity are expected today, a welcome sight for crews. However, wind gusts are still a major concern as the fire continues to burn forest and timber.
The fire started Friday afternoon near Palisades Park in north Spokane and prompted several evacuations.
Level 3 evacuations have been downgraded to level 1 for areas west of Government Way. Meanwhile, areas on the east side of Government Way remain at a level 1 evacuation notice.
Here are the specific boundaries as of Saturday morning, according to the Spokane Regional Emergency Communications Center.
- Level 1 evacuation: north to North Houston Road, west to North Grove Road, south to West Greenwood Road, east to North Government Way.
- Level 1 evacuation: north to North Houston Road, south to River Ridge, west to Government Way, east to the Spokane River.
A Red Cross shelter has been opened at West Central Community Center at 1603 N Belt Street. The shelter opened at 8 p.m. on Friday, and pets are welcome.
DNR told KREM 2 that the fire is not burning toward any structures. It is moving northwest and crews said the biggest concern is the wind.
Crews with Fire District 10, the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and other resources are on their way to the scene of the fire at this time.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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To report a typo or grammatical error, please email webspokane@krem.com. | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/brush-fire-burning-near-government-way-in-spokane/293-d3d05a33-8d5a-432d-90a8-7b6b98fbd249 | 2022-08-28T18:17:02 | 1 | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/brush-fire-burning-near-government-way-in-spokane/293-d3d05a33-8d5a-432d-90a8-7b6b98fbd249 |
SEASIDE, Ore. — The 40th running of the Hood to Coast Relay wrapped up on Saturday with thousands of runners crossing the finish line in Seaside.
Around 19,000 people were divided among 12-person teams tackling 36 legs of the 198-mile race. It takes guts and a heart with something to prove which is exactly what team Forrest Stump had.
“We're all a team of people with disabilities, various disabilities from all over the united states,” said runner Travis Ricks, who lost a leg as a teenager.
Another teammate Jamie Brown was born without a fibula. They have running prosthetics now but like so many kids today they couldn't afford one when they were younger.
Forrest Stump is starting a legislative effort called "So Kids Can Move" in hopes of changing that.
“Most insurance companies deem running prosthetics as a luxury item,” said Brown. “As we see them now it's more of a necessity or a lifestyle for us and we want to make sure that every kid has the opportunity to be given a running leg where insurance companies cover it like a regular walking leg, so as not to take any opportunity for a kid to be a kid.”
KGW News fielded its own Hood to Coast Team called "Running Footage". Participants included general manager Steve Carter and reporters Alma McCarty and Evan Watson.
“My legs need a day off!” said Watson, after finishing his third leg of the relay. “It was just really fun. It was a great time and it was cool to see all the comradery and just this encouraging spirit out here as well.”
KGW had help filling its team roster from sister station, KUSA in Denver. KUSA producer Ally Heath brought her running legs and a personal story that made her effort extra meaningful.
Heath's great grandmother summited Mt. Hood three times — twice before Timberline Lodge was even built. Sixteen years ago, Heath and her family scattered her great grandmother's ashes on Mt. Hood and in other areas between the mountain and Seaside. This was her first time back.
“I could see Mt. Hood pretty much the whole time I was running and it just kind of felt like she was there cheering me on which felt awesome,” said Heath. “She always said, ‘The one thing I can give you is courage and the strength to keep going on,’ and every time I felt like I was slowing down a little bit, I just looked over and there she was, up on Mt. Hood. It kind of felt like a little light shining down on me to keep going.”
The Hood to Coast Relay sells out just about every year but participants may find their way in through its annual lottery. The lottery for the 2023 relay opens on October 5. | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/hood-to-coast-relay-40th-year-seaside/283-f895d25d-231b-4e56-8934-9ab7c438567b | 2022-08-28T18:17:08 | 1 | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/hood-to-coast-relay-40th-year-seaside/283-f895d25d-231b-4e56-8934-9ab7c438567b |
PORTLAND, Ore. — In recent years, there's been a growing push from environmentalists to remove four dams on the Lower Snake River on southeastern Washington to help rejuvenate salmon populations. The dams are located near where Snake River flows into the Columbia.
On Thursday, Sen. Patty Murray and Gov. Jay Inslee came out with a long-awaited report that says it's not feasible to tear down the dams right now — but it could be in the future.
The Army Corps of Engineers built the dams back in the 1960s and '70s. Environmentalists are concerned that salmon runs in the river will go extinct, along with the orcas in the Puget Sound that feed on the salmon, if the dams aren't removed.
Public utilities, on the other hand, want to keep the dams because they generate dependable, renewable energy.
Earlier this year, ads funded by the utilities pushing back against the dam removal started running in the Pacific Northwest. The future of the dams evolved into a bitter fight and a big lawsuit.
RELATED: Inslee, Murray recommend taking action to make breaching Snake River dams a 'viable option'
That's why Sen. Murray and Gov. Inslee got involved — to address the conflict and figure out what options were available. They took input from thousands of people, including communities, tribes and "other stakeholders."
According to the report, they found that with "adequate investment and coordination, it is possible to replace most of the services and benefits provided by the dams" if they were to be breached.
The report also acknowledged that the benefits provided by the dams must be replaced or mitigated before the dams are taken down, which essentially means that breaching the dams is "not a feasible option in the near-term."
"Replacing the energy production of the Lower Snake River Dams is achievable given our existing commitments, the amount of regional clean energy generation already in development, and the federal resources available. But moving from the realm of the possible into reality requires getting these resources built in an effective, efficient manner," the report says.
So what comes next?
Murray and Inslee pledged to take steps to move forward with the removal process — things like improving fish passages for salmon and creating a better habitat. Inslee also pledged to build clean energy resources and put up power lines to deliver that energy, but he and Murray offered no timelines or guarantees.
This conclusion was closely watched by environmentalists and power utilities.
Kurt Miller is the executive director of Northwest River Partners, a trade group that represents more than 100 community-owned power companies in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Nevada and Wyoming.
His group wants to keep the dams, and he's pleased that political leaders found it was not feasible to tear them down anytime soon.
"And that's the message that we've been trying to share all along is like, listen, we understand what people are trying to do and salmon are super important, but there are other things that are also super important in terms of trying to achieve our clean energy goals and keep electricity costs affordable and provide irrigation to farmers," he said.
The electric industry often argues that the power from the four dams is critically important for the region, and political leaders agreed with them for now.
As far as how much energy the dams produce, Miller said about 4-5% of the power in the Pacific Northwest comes from the Lower Snake River dams. That percentage is likely to grow in the coming years as more coal plants shut down.
The energy generated by the dams is important because it's more dependable than wind turbines, for example, which only make power when the wind blows, or solar that only makes power when the sun is shining. And industrial batteries aren't good enough yet to store significant amounts of energy.
It may also come as a surprise that environmentalists saw the report as a victory as well.
Pam Clough is an advocate with Environment Washington, which is fighting to protect salmon and orcas in the Puget Sound, and she supports tearing down the dams.
"I'm really comforted that Sen. Murray and Gov. Inslee have publicly recognized that extinction of salmon and orcas are unacceptable and that they are committed to finding a viable way to breach the Lower Snake River dams," Clough said.
"There are many scenarios on the table that can replace the energy these dams provide," she added.
Miles Johnson, senior attorney with the conservation group Columbia River Keepers, also supports removing the dams.
"So this is a form of progress," he said. "You know, five years ago, no politician in the Pacific Northwest would say 'Snake River dam removal' out loud," he said.
Columbia River Keepers is part of a federal lawsuit to try to get the dams torn down. All sides involved in the lawsuit have taken a pause to see how things shake out, but Johnson said ending that pause is a possibility if there is no action toward solutions.
"I think what we're disappointed in is the lack of a plan for replacing the dams' electricity ...and the lack of any clearly defined goal for what replacement looks like," he said. "You know, Columbia River Keepers, and more broadly most of the proponents for dam removal, we've never said just bulldoze the dams out and forget about the consequences. It's always been about a comprehensive solution that invests in renewable energy in the Northwest and replaces the power and benefits of those dams, but we need to make a plan to do that." | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/the-story/snake-river-dam-removal-not-feasible-near-future/283-68cc524a-e0d7-4c90-864d-f809f142bd42 | 2022-08-28T18:17:14 | 1 | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/the-story/snake-river-dam-removal-not-feasible-near-future/283-68cc524a-e0d7-4c90-864d-f809f142bd42 |
CLARK COUNTY, Wash. — The Washington Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) is planning to open a new behavioral health facility in Clark County.
The site is located off Northeast 50th Avenue in the Mount Vista area near Washington State University's Vancouver campus and Vancouver iTech Preparatory, a public school that services grades 6-12.
The state facility got its first big green light earlier this month: a conditional use permit that lays out conditions for moving forward before getting a building permit and starting construction.
Some neighbors who spoke to KGW said they're unhappy about the idea of the facility being built nearby.
Luanne Conner said she isn't sure what she'll do if the facility is built adjacent to her property.
"I’m not sure. Right this minute, we're just reeling because, really? We don't matter?"
The plan is to build three 16-bed buildings for a total of 48 mental health patients. Patient stays last 90 to 180 days or longer if approved by a court.
The neighbors fighting the facility have safety concerns for themselves and for students.
“It's actually quite common for behavioral health facilities to be nearby schools in that they are all similarly use-permitted,” said Janise Gogian, director of community transitions for the Behavioral Health Administration for DSHS.
Gogian said the facility will be built to fit into the natural environment, and it will be secure. Patients will be prescreened and will not have criminal charges pending.
"It's fully locked, the patients are not allowed outside the facility or the fenced area; the recreation area has a 12-foot anti-climb fence,” said Gogian.
Getting a conditional use permit was a big hurdle for the facility. It's basically a go-ahead for the plan.
In terms of security, an examiner with the county wrote, "The proposed facility does not pose a significant risk to area residents or students attending nearby schools."
Neighbors like Conner disagree.
"They're not putting up a fence or razor wire, they're not putting up anything like Washington State Hospital but they're sending Washington State Hospital patients here,” said Conner.
But Gogian said patients will be screened, and the most acute patients will stay at Washington State Hospital so that others can be treated safely.
DSHS leaders hope to have the facility built by winter of 2024, barring any legal challenge from neighbors. They say it will be called the “Brockman Campus,” named after the family that previously owned the land. | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/vancouver/new-behavioral-health-facility-moves-forward-clark-county/283-b65a51af-c5c6-4bb3-ba9c-e8e99fd6af19 | 2022-08-28T18:17:20 | 0 | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/vancouver/new-behavioral-health-facility-moves-forward-clark-county/283-b65a51af-c5c6-4bb3-ba9c-e8e99fd6af19 |
VANCOUVER, Wash. — A slice of land between Vancouver’s waterfront and Esther Short Park is set for development, adding mixed use development and public open space and amenities between the two districts.
The Waterfront Gateway District is getting set to be built on about six acres of city owned land. The city's principle economic development planner John Collum said it will both fill a gap and stand alone as a destination.
“Waterfront Gateway it sits right in the middle, it's a donut hole. And it's going to be a great mixed use project to tie those two district together,” explained Collum.
A lot of planning has already gone on based on public input. The latest renderings show office and retail space, and housing, including an affordable housing building.
There will also be two and a half acres of open space; this will be plaza and pedestrian-oriented development. It will include a lot of room to walk around and enjoy the sights, including the lights. One section is already dubbed the Lantern District.
“We’re sort of energizing the site through a creative and interesting lighting program that will really help make this a destination and a signature attraction for the citizens of Vancouver,” said Patrick Gilligan, an executive vice president with developer LPC West.
KGW checked the project out, where the city and developer had set up a display in east Vancouver. They picked a popular farmers market to show off the project and get some more input from people like Sherry Nash.
“I really didn’t have an idea that they were moving forward in this way, but I think it’s a great thing,” said Nash.
Nash appreciated learning about the plan to build a place that she feels supports the values of people coming together.
“Families being allowed a place to interact together and make memories; enjoy each other,” Nash commented.
Those things are already happening on Vancouver’s increasingly vibrant waterfront and there is more to come there.
Project planners and developers for the Waterfront Gateway District see even more variety with what they have planned, as they bring the area between waterfront and downtown together for everyone in the city and visitors from everywhere else.
The city of Vancouver is expecting to reach a final agreement with the developer in the next few months then work should start late next year and is expected to be complete by the end of 2025.
If you want to weigh in on the project you can do it online, or by attending a future outreach effort. The city has two others planned:
- Downtown Vancouver Farmers Market: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 27 at 6th & Esther Streets
- Walking tours of the Waterfront Gateway site will begin at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Please check in at the booth in front of the Slocum House at Esther Short Park
- Community Open House at City Hall: 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 14 at 415 W. 6th St.
- Walking tours of the Waterfront Gateway site will be provided | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/vancouver/waterfront-gateway-district-developing-vancouver/283-30eb251c-bbd7-4840-94a4-ec2fc9e2e4b3 | 2022-08-28T18:17:27 | 1 | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/vancouver/waterfront-gateway-district-developing-vancouver/283-30eb251c-bbd7-4840-94a4-ec2fc9e2e4b3 |
SALEM, Ore. — A wildfire in remote southwest Oregon almost quadrupled in size overnight Saturday, forcing evacuations and prompting the governor to invoke an emergency act that allows the state fire marshal to take command of suppression efforts.
The Rum Creek Fire, which had covered around 1,200 acres (485 hectares) on Friday, increased to 4,700 acres (1,900 hectares) in size, Gov. Kate Brown's office said Saturday.
Authorities also ordered evacuations as a wildfire grew in rugged terrain in western Idaho. The Valley County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook Saturday that evacuation preparedness for some neighborhoods in the rural area “have been changed to a “GO” status and we are initiating an immediate evacuation of the area.”
Planes were scooping water from nearby Lake Cascade and dumping it on the fire, which had grown to 10,000 acres (4,046 hectares). Boaters were warned to stay clear of the path of the aircraft.
In Oregon, the Josephine County Sheriff's Office ordered evacuations of several unincorporated communities along the Rogue River, which is popular among rafters. Sections of the river were closed to recreation by federal officials because of the fire.
“The Rum Creek Fire grew rapidly overnight, requiring additional resources to battle the fire and support the state’s response,” Brown said in a statement. “This is a good reminder that conditions can change quickly, and that fire knows no bounds.”
Brown’s declaration cleared the way for the State Fire Marshal to mobilize firefighters and equipment to assist local firefighters and to support a coordinated response.
The unincorporated community of Galice was among those ordered evacuated. The county fairgrounds in Grants Pass has been designated as an evacuation shelter, with space for people, their pets and livestock.
The fire was started by lightning on Aug. 17 and killed Logan Taylor, a 25-year-old firefighter, after he was struck by a tree the next day. Brown has ordered all flags at Oregon public institutions to be flown at half-staff on Monday in honor of Taylor, with his memorial service to be held the same day.
“He will be remembered for his bravery, courage, and commitment to protecting Oregonians from wildfire," Brown said.
A wildfire near Spokane, Wash., prompted evacuations Friday but has been brought under control, emergency officials said Saturday.
The fire was held to 41 acres (17 hectares) with no structures burned, the Spokane County Fire District said on Facebook.
And in Northern California, a wildfire that broke out Saturday in Nevada County that prompted local evacuation orders, according to the Fresno Bee newspaper. The Still Fire had burned 30 acres (12 hectares) by mid-afternoon and was 0% percent contained, according to state fire officials. | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/wildfire/oregon-fire-quadruples-governor-declares-emergency/283-f37fbf0b-5a67-490b-a5ae-04a663fdd39f | 2022-08-28T18:17:33 | 1 | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/wildfire/oregon-fire-quadruples-governor-declares-emergency/283-f37fbf0b-5a67-490b-a5ae-04a663fdd39f |
Two men are in custody following an incident that took place early Saturday morning in Dallas that left two women shot.
Officers responded to a call in the 2400 block of Malcolm X Blvd at approximately 12:53 a.m.
According to Dallas Police Department, a fight took place and escalated when two men shot two women. The suspects, 21-year-old Jaymis Abbott and 22-year-old Keshawn Lemon, are both in custody.
The women were transported to a local hospital to be treated with non-life threatening injuries.
No further details have been released. The investigation is ongoing. | https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/2-men-in-custody-after-shooting-2-women-during-fight-in-dallas-police-say/3058754/ | 2022-08-28T18:18:49 | 1 | https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/2-men-in-custody-after-shooting-2-women-during-fight-in-dallas-police-say/3058754/ |
COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A person was shot Sunday morning at an apartment complex in Cobb County, police said.
It happened at The District at Vinings apartments at 2800 Paces Ferry Road in Atlanta.
All police would confirm is that a man was shot. We do not know if he survived or if they have any suspects in custody.
This is a developing story. Check back often for new information.
Also download the 11Alive News app and sign up to receive alerts for the latest on this story and other breaking news in Atlanta and north Georgia. | https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/district-at-vinings-shooting/85-3c00768f-449e-4a0c-9746-31be61efcd02 | 2022-08-28T18:23:31 | 1 | https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/district-at-vinings-shooting/85-3c00768f-449e-4a0c-9746-31be61efcd02 |
SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — A Sandy Springs watering hole shut its doors after 40 years in business, they announced on Facebook. The Rusty Nail Pub said it was with "heavy hearts" that Aug. 20 was their last day in business.
"You have given us 40 years of laughs, love, and memories, and for that, we couldn't be more grateful," they wrote on Facebook.
It is unknown the circumstances behind the closure on Roswell Road. It appears the other location on Buford Highway in Atlanta remains open.
According to its website, The Rusty Nail was the "South's version of Cheers."
"As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. And what's the other one? Oh, you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here," the Facebook post read. | https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/rusty-nail-sandy-springs-closed/85-8a81dc59-6834-428a-a355-ec34beb485e7 | 2022-08-28T18:23:37 | 1 | https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/rusty-nail-sandy-springs-closed/85-8a81dc59-6834-428a-a355-ec34beb485e7 |
CUMMING, Ga. — A two-day memorial concludes Sunday in Forsyth County ahead of Drug Overdose Awareness Day on August 31st. It's an emotional, visual representation of the lives gone too soon because of drug overdoses.
A sea of faces from all walks of life lines a shopping center in Cumming.
“Today is the 6th annual Tea Cup Memorial," Jennifer Hodge said.
Jennifer Hodge started the memorial with her son Robbie, who battled drug addiction after being prescribed pain pills when he was a teenager.
“Each one of these tea cups represents someone’s child because most of these tea cups are young people," Hodge said.
Each tea cup is filled out with a name, date of birth, date of death, where the person lived, and what they overdosed from.
“These are going to be lit, and that’s where the significance comes. We just really want this to impact people when they see it because every single light was a life that could have lived," Harrison Watson, a board member with Realty4Recovery said.
“We raise them up. We honor them for the fight that they fought that the battle was just too much," Hodge said.
The fight hits close to home for her.
“This is a tea cup for Robbie Hodge," Hodge said. "He passed away in 2016.”
Her son Robbie died at just 23 years old.
“He did die from one pill. It was a fake Xanax that his friend gave to him," Hodge said.
That pill was laced with fentanyl, a powerful drug 100 times stronger than heroin.
"My brother was four years older than me, but we were absolutely best friends. If there’s anything good that comes from losing a sibling, it’s the impact he’s made on so many people, and now it’s spreading worldwide," Lauren Hodge, Robbie's sister said.
This year, the family is lighting not just one candle but two. Robbie's father Michael died from a fentanyl overdose in June.
“We’re never going to get our children back, but the thing we’re never going to do is let the world forget what happened here and how this epidemic has taken control," Hodge said.
The Tea Cup memorial service will happen again Sunday, August 28, from 3 to 5 p.m. at CENTURY 21 Results Realty ay 2920 Ronald Reagan Parkway in Cumming.
Hodge started Realty4Recovery, a non-profit organization providing education, drug treatment, and Narcan kits to the public. Any realtor across the country can give 33% of his or her commission to the organization. That money is split between Realty4Recovery and the non-profit of the person's choice.
Nearly 92,000 people died from a drug overdose in the United States in 2020, compared to 71,000 in 2019, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fentanyl-involved drug overdose deaths increased by 218% in Georgia from 2019 to 2021. | https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/thousands-of-people-who-died-from-drug-overdoses-remembered-at-memorial/85-0352418b-f869-4b34-9a87-260fcdc30de6 | 2022-08-28T18:23:43 | 1 | https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/thousands-of-people-who-died-from-drug-overdoses-remembered-at-memorial/85-0352418b-f869-4b34-9a87-260fcdc30de6 |
Police say they've arrested the man behind the jarring caught-on-camera attack that sent a man falling to the floor of a Brooklyn shopping center last weekend.
The victim was at the Kings Plaza Mall in Mill Basin around 6 p.m. Aug. 20 when the violent incident occurred. As the 36-year-old was standing, another man snuck up behind him and punched him in the side of the head.
He immediately fell to the floor, where he appeared to be knocked out cold. The suspect and another man who was with him turned and walked away right after, as onlookers nearby were shocked to see what had happened.
One woman walked over to move the victim's phone closer to him, as he laid face down on the ground, motionless. What appeared to be a security guard passed by, without even glancing over. The mall did not respond to a request for comment regarding their security guard seemingly walking past the man on the ground.
The victim was taken to Brookdale Hospital Medical Center. It was not clear why he was attacked.
Police said 21-year-old Jaheim David was arrested Saturday on assault charges in connection with the attack. Attorney information for the Brooklyn man was not immediately known.
The incident followed after another equally shocking video of a man getting sucker punched outside of a Bronx restaurant.
News
The 52-year-old victim in the that incident, identified by his brother as Jesus Cortez, was in front of Fuego Tipico Restaurant on 188th Street in Fordham Heights around 10:45 p.m. the night of the incident, surveillance video showed. In jarring footage of the attack, Phu can be seen calmly walking up behind Cortez, arms folded low behind his back.
Phu, 55, then slugs him violently with his right arm, the right hook to the head immediately rendering Cortez unconscious on the ground. Phu stands over the motionless victim, looking down on him for a moment before walking back inside the restaurant. Police said there was no prior conversation or argument before the attack.
Days after the mall attack, a 74-year-old woman was knocked to the ground near Grand Central. Her attacker, also caught on video, is still in the wind. | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/alleged-sucker-punch-attacker-arrested-for-knocking-man-out-cold-at-brooklyn-mall/3841734/ | 2022-08-28T18:26:24 | 0 | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/alleged-sucker-punch-attacker-arrested-for-knocking-man-out-cold-at-brooklyn-mall/3841734/ |
A brief joyride in a fire department vehicle ended in the arrest of a New Hampshire man who allegedly jumped behind the wheel after crashing his own car on Long Island.
The unusual heist occurred on the Long Island Expressway Saturday, around 6:45 p.m., when police said the 33-year-old crashed into several other vehicles in Yaphank.
Police and fire crews were responding to the westbound crash when Jaime Alexander Brayton allegedly made his move toward the fire department's truck.
Authorities said he jumped in the driver's side and took off, injuring an officer who tried reaching his arm into the truck to try and stop Brayton before driving away.
Officers chased after the joyrider and were able to safely stop the man six minutes later west of Exit 62, police said. He was arrested on charges of grand larceny, assault and fleeing an officer.
Attorney information for Brayton was not immediately known. | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/man-arrested-for-stealing-long-island-fire-truck-aiding-expressway-car-crash/3841718/ | 2022-08-28T18:26:37 | 0 | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/man-arrested-for-stealing-long-island-fire-truck-aiding-expressway-car-crash/3841718/ |
Gas prices continued their decline this week with regular gas hitting $3.87 per gallon on Thursday, according to AAA. Gas prices have declined for more than 70 consecutive days since hitting a record high national average of $5.02 per gallon on June 14.
Experts continue to warn that gas prices, which are inextricably tied to crude oil prices, could rise again as the factors that contributed to oil market volatility for most of this year—Russia’s war, low refinery capacity—are still at play.
Stacker compiled statistics on gas prices in Sherman-Denison, TX metro area using data from AAA. Gas prices are current as of Aug. 25, 2022. State gas tax data is from World Population Review. Connecticut and New York have temporarily suspended gas taxes to help consumers while the cost of gas has increased.
Sherman by the numbers
– Gas current price: $3.25
— Texas average: $3.41
— Texas gas tax: $0.20 per gallon (#42 highest among all states)
– Week change: -$0.14 (-4.0%)
– Year change: +$0.49 (+17.5%)
– Historical expensive gas price: $4.82 (6/16/22)
– Diesel current price: $4.59
– Week change: +$0.22 (+4.9%)
– Year change: +$1.76 (+62.3%)
– Historical expensive diesel price: $5.41 (6/19/22)
Metros with the most expensive gas
#1. San Luis Obispo-Atascadero-Paso Robles, CA: $5.68
#2. Lihue (Kauai), HI: $5.67
#3. Kahului, HI: $5.51
Metros with the least expensive gas
#1. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX: $3.10
#2. Brownsville-Harlingen, TX: $3.12
#3. Corpus Christi, TX: $3.17
States with the highest gas tax per gallon
#1. Pennsylvania: $0.59
#2. California: $0.53
#3. Washington: $0.52
States with the lowest gas tax per gallon
#1. Alaska: $0.0895
#2. Hawaii: $0.16
#3. Virginia: $0.162 | https://cw33.com/news/local/how-gas-prices-have-changed-in-sherman-in-the-last-week-2/ | 2022-08-28T18:36:26 | 1 | https://cw33.com/news/local/how-gas-prices-have-changed-in-sherman-in-the-last-week-2/ |
Grant applications for Idaho families hoping for financial aid for educational resources will be available starting mid-September, the State Board of Education announced last week.
Created earlier this year by Gov. Brad Little and the Legislature, the $50 million Empowering Parents grant program is modeled after the Strong Families, Strong Students program administered in 2020 by the state in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eligible families may tap into the new round of funding to buy education-related items from an online marketplace, from computer hardware and software and instructional materials to tutoring services.
“We know that there are thousands of students throughout our state who experienced learning loss as a result of the pandemic disruption,” Board President Kurt Liebich said.
The program provides $1,000 per student and up to $3,000 per family. K-12 students attending public schools, private schools or homeschools are all eligible.
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Grants will be prioritized for households earning $60,000 per year or less, then for households earning up to $75,000 per year. If funds are still available, the program will then be available to all other eligible families.
The state will contract with Primary Class, Inc. to create the a grant application portal and the online marketplace, the State Board said. Under that agreement’s terms, the application portal will launch within 30 days, making the process available to parents around mid-September.
Go here to sign up for updates.
K-12 organizations partner to improve internet access
Four Idaho education groups are partnering to improve broadband infrastructure throughout Idaho in order to provide better access to education.
A major part of the program is an internet speed-testing campaign, Imagine Idaho announced Monday on behalf of the Idaho School Boards Association, the Idaho Education Association and the Idaho Association of School Administrators, who are also joining the effort.
The state of Idaho will use the data collected from the campaign to apply for federal funding for broadband projects.
The speed test is available here, and Imagine Idaho stressed that all information gathered all be “confidential.” The campaign concludes on Sept. 15, 2022.
“While school leaders have worked diligently since the start of the pandemic to expand access to broadband and infrastructure, the digital divide and homework gap are still very much present in Idaho,” said Jason Knopp, ISBA President. “We have reimagined the way students learn in ways that will bring lasting impact.”
$500,000 for ‘educational entrepreneurs’ up for grabs
A $500,000 grant for “education entrepreneurs” in Idaho and the Pacific Northwest is now up for grabs.
VELA Education Fund — a national nonprofit that supports student, parent, educator and community education entrepreneurs — on Monday announced the program aimed at creating nontraditional educational opportunities, including homeschool co-ops and micro-schools.
Micro grant applications for up to $10,000 in funding are now available for programs based in Idaho, Alaska, Montana, Oregon, and Washington, the organization announced.
“We’ve seen strong interest in the Pacific Northwest in permission-less innovation, and we’re excited to be able to launch this initiative to support families and educators who are reimagining education,” said VELA President Meredith Olson.
The grant application is available here, where interested applicants can also take an “eligibility quiz” to see if they qualify.
VELA has awarded more than 1,600 totaling more than $16.5 million grants nationwide since launching publicly in August 2020, the organization said.
Idaho Falls schools earn ‘high reliability’ certifications
Seven schools in the Idaho Falls School District have earned certifications aimed at creating “safe, supporting and collaborative schools.”
The certifications, molded after Marzano’s High Reliability Schools Framework, help schools transform into organizations that that “proactive steps to ensure student success,” the district announced Monday.
The framework includes five “levels” of measured success that schools must demonstrate:
- Safe, supportive and collaborative culture
- Effective teaching in every classroom
- Guaranteed and viable curriculum
- Standards-referenced reporting
- Competency-based education
Schools that certified for the first level of success include:
- Linden Park Elementary School
- Edgemont Elementary School
- Ethel Boyes Elementary School
- Sunnyside Elementary School
- Compass Academy
- Idaho Falls High School.
Temple View Elementary School, which earned Level 1 certification last spring, certified for levels 2 and 3 this time around, the district said.
Here are some examples of what schools did to earn their Level 1 certifications:
- Linden Park re-emphasizing school-wide expectations throughout the year, and reinforced “good behavior” with positive-behavior referrals to students and congratulatory calls to parents.
- Ethel Boyes recognized students through positive office referrals.
- Edeemont celebrated student successes by handing out “leadership tickets” and letting students participate in morning announcements.
- Compass Academy held regular meetings with students to gather feedback and recommendations.
- Idaho Falls High School created Hope Squad, a group of students “committed to building a positive culture and to ensuring all students feel connected to school.” | https://magicvalley.com/news/local/50-million-in-grants-for-idaho-families-will-become-available-in-september/article_d976faa4-258d-11ed-87c2-c31495f1ea30.html | 2022-08-28T18:57:07 | 1 | https://magicvalley.com/news/local/50-million-in-grants-for-idaho-families-will-become-available-in-september/article_d976faa4-258d-11ed-87c2-c31495f1ea30.html |
In each Sunday edition of the Times-News, we highlight some of the best photos from recent stories. Find the Another Look feature on Page A6.
For more photo galleries go to Magicvalley.com/gallery or follow the Times-News Instagram account @magicvalleytn. | https://magicvalley.com/news/local/another-look/article_cb516524-23ec-11ed-9cce-4b0d3cc82134.html | 2022-08-28T18:57:13 | 0 | https://magicvalley.com/news/local/another-look/article_cb516524-23ec-11ed-9cce-4b0d3cc82134.html |
Here’s an update of the COVID-19 numbers in the state.
New positive cases: 1,453
New deaths: None
Total positive cases: 2,272,624
Total number of deaths: 31,427
Total vaccine doses administered: 14,200,177
Rate of transmission: 0.87
CASES BY COUNTY
Atlantic: 64,068 cases, 977 deaths, 381,810 doses administered
Cape May: 12,775 cases, 271 deaths, 134,723 doses administered
Cumberland: 38,154 cases, 588 deaths, 187,626 doses administered
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Ocean: 154,393 cases, 2,913 deaths, 705,013 doses administered
Source: N.J. Department of Health
Figures as of 2 p.m. Aug. 28 | https://pressofatlanticcity.com/news/local/new-jersey-reports-fewer-than-1-500-new-covid-19-cases-and-no-deaths/article_a07d073e-26fa-11ed-9c11-030957d58c10.html | 2022-08-28T19:00:15 | 0 | https://pressofatlanticcity.com/news/local/new-jersey-reports-fewer-than-1-500-new-covid-19-cases-and-no-deaths/article_a07d073e-26fa-11ed-9c11-030957d58c10.html |
NORMAL — Members of the public can pick up new maps of the Constitution Trail system at locations around Bloomington-Normal.
The Friends of the Constitution Trail group handed out copies at the Sweet Corn Circus over the weekend, a press release from the group said. As of Monday, maps will be available at the following locations:
- Normal Parks and Recreation Department
- Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department
- Normal Public Library
- Bloomington Public Library
- Wilson Cycle
- Fleet Feet Sports
- Vitesse Cycle Shop and Often Running
- Bloomington Cycle and Fitness
- West Bloomington Revitalization Project Bike Co-op
- B-N Convention and Visitors Bureau
- Marriott Bloomington-Normal
- Ecology Action Center
- McLean County Museum of History
The updated map was created in cooperation with the county GIS system, and the GIS site includes a map of the trail system. The new map includes the additions to the trail since 2015, along with select proposed additions. The map also has the Route 66 bike route as well as suggestions and safety tips for cyclists. | https://pantagraph.com/news/local/new-constitution-trail-map-available-in-bloomington-normal/article_d9423476-26e7-11ed-a88c-8bd97f4affc0.html | 2022-08-28T19:10:20 | 0 | https://pantagraph.com/news/local/new-constitution-trail-map-available-in-bloomington-normal/article_d9423476-26e7-11ed-a88c-8bd97f4affc0.html |
EPA waives fuel rule in Michigan, three other states after Indiana refinery fire
Chicago – The Environmental Protection Agency temporarily lifted a federal rule for fuel sales in four states in response to a fire last week at an Indiana oil refinery that could affect prices and supply.
The emergency waiver was granted Saturday for Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, EPA Administrator Michael Regan said. In a letter to state officials, Regan said the agency determined the waiver is necessary “to minimize or prevent disruption of an adequate supply of gasoline to consumers.”
The waiver lifts a Clear Air Act requirement that lower-volatility gasoline be sold in the states during summer months to limit ozone pollution. It is in effect until Sept. 15, the EPA said.
BP said its refinery in Whiting, Indiana, experienced an electrical fire Wednesday. No one was hurt, and the fire was put out, but it forced at least a partial shutdown of the refinery along Lake Michigan’s shoreline about 15 miles (24 kilometers) southeast of Chicago, according to the company.
Governors in all four states requested the EPA waivers, according to the EPA’s letter. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office said the refinery provides about 20% to 25% of the gasoline, jet fuel and diesel used by Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois.
BP spokeswoman Christina Audisho said the company was working with local and state agencies and was still assessing when affected units can restart. | https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2022/08/28/refinery-fire-fuel-rule-indiana-michigan/50651569/ | 2022-08-28T19:12:44 | 0 | https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2022/08/28/refinery-fire-fuel-rule-indiana-michigan/50651569/ |
In another effort to address staffing shortages, this time in “hard-to-fill” positions, Tucson Unified School District increased the daily pay rate for substitutes in certain schools and will shift around several special education teachers to meet needs at other campuses.
The Exceptional Education, or special ed, staff who split their time between two campuses to meet the high demand will be given $1,000 stipends per semester to help cover travel costs and compensate them for the additional work.
Substitutes who cover classes at six chosen schools, which district administrators determined typically have lower sub staffing numbers, will receive an additional $25 to their current $145 daily pay rate for at least the first quarter of the school year.
“I think you’re seeing a theme here: vacancy coverage, vacancy coverage, vacancy coverage,” Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo said Aug. 23 as he briefed board members on the shortages of substitutes and Exceptional Ed teachers.
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The increase in daily pay rates is meant to make those schools more attractive for substitutes, Trujillo said, considering that those campuses suffered the highest sub shortages last school year.
It will apply to subs who work at Banks Elementary, Johnson Primary, Lawrence 3-8, Pistor Middle, Valencia Middle and Vesey Elementary schools.
That measure was initially presented as a $15 increase, which Trujillo said still maintained a fair gap between what substitutes and teachers make.
That increase, according to information provided during the meeting, could cost the district up to $47,460 assuming that all the current sub vacancies at those sites are filled.
But board member Sadie Shaw said she doubted such a low increase would make a difference, and she proposed raising that amount to $25.
“My concern is we’re starting to get in the territory of what a fully certified teacher makes on a daily basis,” Trujillo said of Shaw’s proposal. “I can say that this governing board has gone in and adjusted this rate a couple of different times and money has not solved the problem.”
Still, the board ultimately agreed that raising the rate for the mentioned schools was the main way to make the positions more attractive to teachers, and unanimously approved the measure.
District administrators did not state how much the new $25 increase could cost the district altogether if all vacancies are filled.
Trujillo said the plan is for the board to revisit the issue at the start of the second quarter to analyze whether the pay increase has helped with staffing and determine whether there should be changes made to the list of schools eligible for that raise.
Exceptional Education
As for the district’s Exception Education program, Trujillo said, some schools have seen a fairly small population in the special ed programs while other schools have seen an increase in demand for those services.
To ensure that all those students are receiving the needed attention and support, up to 14 Exceptional Education staff members with smaller caseloads may be required to divide their time among two different campuses to meet needs.
Trujillo said that could include Exceptional Education teachers and paraprofessionals, meaning teacher assistants.
Sabrina Salmon, the district’s senior director of Exception Education, said staff assigned to new schools will not be removed from their original assignments.
Instead, teachers with caseloads of under 10 students may be required to divide their time between two campuses if another school is struggling with larger caseloads than the staff can handle.
“We realize it’s a hardship to ask one of our hardworking Ex Ed educators, whether parapro or lead teacher, to make the move from one school that doesn’t necessarily have the large caseload to another school to help educators that might be pushed to the limit with their caseloads,” Trujillo said.
So, to compensate those employees for their added efforts, district staff proposed to provide them with $500 stipends per semester. That would cost the district $14,000 for the academic year, assuming all 14 Ex Ed staff members were assigned to a second school.
But board member Leila Counts said she believed it was fair to pay them a higher amount.
“I just think $500 is a little low, considering that there is the transportation, the driving, and then your mind is split between two different sites and that’s kind of hard to wrap your head around sometimes,” Counts said, proposing to increase the amount to $1,000 per semester. “This is such specialized work.”
Counts’ proposal was approved unanimously, meaning the measure may now cost the district up to $28,000.
Salmon said the Ex Ed staff assignments may change as the district continues to analyze its enrollment and staffing levels during the school year to adjust its resources accordingly.
Have any questions or news tips about K-12 education in Southern Arizona? Contact reporter Genesis Lara at glara@tucson.com | https://tucson.com/news/local/education/for-some-teachers-and-subs-tusd-to-provide-stipends-increase-pay/article_52f04f14-23e2-11ed-8e33-0b33b4346b5f.html | 2022-08-28T19:27:53 | 1 | https://tucson.com/news/local/education/for-some-teachers-and-subs-tusd-to-provide-stipends-increase-pay/article_52f04f14-23e2-11ed-8e33-0b33b4346b5f.html |
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