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WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House announced Friday a new $3.75 billion military assistance package to help Ukraine and its neighbors on NATO’s eastern flank as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine grinds on.
The latest tranche of assistance will include for the first time Bradley armored vehicles for Ukraine. The armored carrier is used to transport troops to combat and is known as a “tank-killer” because of the anti-tank missile it can fire.
The biggest U.S. assistance package to date for Kyiv includes a $2.85 billion drawdown from the Pentagon’s stocks that will be sent directly to Ukraine and $225 million in foreign military financing to build the long-term capacity and support modernization of Ukraine’s military, according to the White House. It also includes $682 million in foreign military financing for European allies to help backfill donations of military equipment they’ve made to Ukraine.
“The war is at a critical point and we must do everything we can to help the Ukrainians resist Russian aggression,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in announcing the aid.
The direct assistance for Ukraine includes 50 Bradleys as well as 500 anti-tank missiles and 250,000 rounds of ammunition for the carriers. The U.S. is also sending 100 M113 armored personnel carriers, 55 mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles, or MRAPS, and 138 Humvees, as well as ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and air defense systems and other weapons and thousands of rounds of artillery, according to the Pentagon.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the Bradleys will be particularly useful to Ukraine in ongoing heavy fighting in largely rural areas of eastern Ukraine.
“It’s very much tied to the war that we’re seeing on the ground right now and what we anticipate we’ll see throughout the winter months,” Kirby said.
The new U.S. package was detailed by the White House and Pentagon as Germany announced it would supply around 40 Marder armored personnel carriers to Ukraine in this year’s first quarter.
Germany announced its intention to send the Marder APCs following a phone call between Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Joe Biden on Thursday.
“These 40 vehicles should be ready in the first quarter already so that they can be handed over to Ukraine,” Scholz’s spokesman, Steffen Hebestreit, told reporters in Berlin. Germany plans to train Ukrainian forces to use the vehicles, and Hebestreit said experts expect that process to take around eight weeks.
Germany has already given significant military aid, including howitzers, Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns and an IRIS-T surface-to-air missile system, with three more of those set to follow this year.
Scholz has long been wary of pressure to supply the Marder and other, heavier Western-made vehicles such as tanks, insisting that Germany wouldn’t go it alone with such deliveries. Officials noted that other countries hadn’t supplied any. But this week, France, the U.S. and Germany all announced plans to send comparable armored vehicles that fall short of tanks.
Germany last year championed deals in which eastern NATO allies sent familiar Soviet-era equipment to Ukraine, with Germany in turn supplying those countries with more modern Western-made equipment.
Hebestreit said there had been talks with the U.S. and others since mid-December on how to support Ukraine going forward. He said the possibility of supplying Soviet-produced equipment is “slowly coming to an end,” while the situation in Ukraine is changing with massive Russian strikes on infrastructure and fighting could increase when the weather warms up.
Ukraine and a number of German lawmakers inside and outside Scholz’s governing coalition also have called for Germany to deliver Leopard 2 battle tanks. Advocates of delivering the Leopard were cheered by the move on Marder APCs and vowed to keep pressing the point.
But Hebestreit said that battle tanks weren’t an issue in Thursday’s call between Scholz and Biden. He said Germany will stick to its principles of supporting Ukraine as strongly as possible, while not going it alone on weapons supplies and ensuring that NATO doesn’t become a party to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Germany also said Thursday that it will follow the U.S. in supplying a Patriot air defense missile battery to Ukraine. That was at the request of the U.S. and also is expected in the first quarter, Hebestreit said.
It comes on top of Patriot systems that Germany has sent or plans to send to Slovakia and Poland.
___
Associated Press reporters Seung Min Kim and Aamer Madhani contributed reporting.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | https://www.wane.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-germany-to-supply-around-40-armored-carriers-to-ukraine/ | 2023-01-06 22:11:37 | 1 | https://www.wane.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-germany-to-supply-around-40-armored-carriers-to-ukraine/ |
TUCSON, Ariz. — For the last eight years, Nada Alkhiat lived across the world from her husband Marwan Alhasany. When the war in Syria broke out, she and her husband escaped to Egypt. She moved to Tucson but her husband had to stay behind.
"I applied for a visa to visit my brother and they approved me but not my husband," she said.
Alkhiat worked every day to move the immigration process along for her and her husband.
"The only choice for me was to apply for a refugee, for asylum and that takes three interviews,” she said. "Can you imagine waiting eight years waiting for the mailman to come with news?"
But the community stepped in and helped her in the meantime.
"Everybody helping us," she said. "The church, the mosque, the people and my American neighbors.”
But despite the good neighbors and helpful organizations, she said she's frustrated with the immigration process.
"Like to the people in power, why does it take so long?" she said. "Why did my son never see his dad?"
When she came to Tucson, she was pregnant. Her son Jad has never met his dad in person. She said video calls aren't the same as being together in person.
"It’s very hard because I have to support myself and find like day care for my son," she said. "My son is going to see him for the first time."
So when the moment finally came, it was nothing short of spectacular for Alkhiat and her son. As Alhasany came down the stairs at the airport, Jad ran quickly to him and the family hugged tearfully.
"I am very happy," Alhasany said. "This day is — I was born for this day."
This article was written by Tina Giuliano for KGUN. | https://www.abc15.com/news/national/family-reunites-after-8-years-apart-due-to-immigration-challenges | 2022-09-21 16:35:23 | 1 | https://www.abc15.com/news/national/family-reunites-after-8-years-apart-due-to-immigration-challenges |
It’s been six years since Faraday Future first showed a prototype for its debut vehicle, the FF91 electric crossover.
Since then the EV startup has changed plans on multiple occasions, and its management team has been reshuffled even more frequently. One of the company’s original backers also had assets seized in China over unpaid debts.
Nevertheless, Faraday Future has a habit of raising funds at the 11th hour. After warning last summer it would need to raise funds just to keep the lights on through the end of 2022, and reporting last November that its coffers were down to $22.5 million, Faraday Future announced on Sunday that it managed to raise $135 million via convertible notes and will be able to start production of the FF91 in March and move to deliveries as soon as April.
Faraday Future originally promised to start production of the FF91 in 2018, and the number of times the company has pushed back the deadline makes Tesla’s adherence to production schedules look diligent in comparison.
Faraday Future’s next move will be to vote on Feb. 28 on a proposal to increase outstanding stock to raise additional funding to support deliveries.
The latest announcement comes just weeks after Faraday Future inked a deal with the government of Chinese city Huanggang. As part of the deal, Faraday Future will establish a new headquarters for its Chinese operations in the city, and possibly add a production facility there. Faraday Future’s global headquarters will remain in Los Angeles.
Production of the FF91 is planned to take place at Faraday Future’s own plant in Hanford, California. The vehicle’s targeted starting price is $120,000, though only a special Futurist model will be available at launch. It has a targeted starting price of $180,000. Last September the EPA rated the FF91’s range at 381 miles.
Smaller FF81 and FF71 crossovers are planned and are targeted to start at $74,000 and $45,000, respectively. Faraday Future is also planning a delivery vehicle.
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- 2017-2021 Porsche Panamera recalled due to fire risk | https://fox59.com/automotive/internet-brands/faraday-future-raises-funding-again-claims-april-deliveries/ | 2023-02-09 07:42:49 | 0 | https://fox59.com/automotive/internet-brands/faraday-future-raises-funding-again-claims-april-deliveries/ |
A Utah lawmaker and prominent attorney for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints advised a church bishop not to report a confession of child sex abuse to authorities, a decision that allowed the abuse to continue for years, according to records filed in a lawsuit.
The records — two pages from a log of calls fielded by a law firm representing the church and the deposition of a church official — show that Utah Republican State Rep. Merrill F. Nelson took the initial call from a bishop reporting that church member Paul Adams had sexually abused his daughters. Nelson also had multiple conversations over a two-year span with two bishops who knew of the abuse, the records show.
Nelson is a conservative lawmaker who was elected to the Utah House of Representatives in 2013 and announced his retirement earlier this year. He was also a lawyer with the Salt Lake City firm Kiron McConkie, which represents the church. He earned his undergraduate and law degree from church-owned Brigham Young University.
A transcript of the deposition and excerpts of the call log were attached to a legal filing in the Arizona Court of Appeals made by lawyers for the plaintiffs. Three of Adams's children are battling the church, widely known as the Mormon church, for access to records the church insists are confidential. The church took the case to the Court of Appeals after a Cochise County judge ruled in favor of the victims.
According to the plaintiff's legal filing, Nelson advised Bishop John Herrod not to report the abuse and told him "that he could be sued if he reported, and the instruction by counsel not to report Paul to the authorities was the law in Arizona and had nothing to do with Church doctrine." But Arizona's child sex abuse reporting law grants blanket legal immunity to anyone reporting child sex abuse or neglect.
The AP reported in August that Adams confessed to Herrod in 2010 that he sexually abused his daughter, identified as MJ.
The church's lawyers have said Herrod, and later bishop Robert "Kim" Mauzy, legally withheld information about MJ's abuse under the state's clergy-penitent privilege. Arizona law generally requires clergy members to report child neglect and sexual abuse but allows them to withhold information obtained during a spiritual confession.
The log of calls filed in the Arizona Court of Appeals shows that Nelson spoke with Herrod and Mauzy multiple times from November of 2011 to February of 2014, a period during which Adams was excommunicated. Mauzy presided over a 2013 church disciplinary process after which Adams was expelled.
Although the log doesn't detail the subject of those communications, Roger Van Komen, manager of the church's southeast region family services department, said in a deposition also included with the filing that Nelson discussed the case with Herrod.
The 2021 lawsuit alleges the church conspired to cover up Adam's sexual crimes. The one-time U.S. Border Patrol employee repeatedly raped M.J. and eventually her younger sister at their Arizona home over a period of seven years and posted videos of the abuse on the Internet.
During an interview with the AP before the new court records were filed, Nelson defended the church's actions in the Adams case and the clergy-penitent privilege. He said the church "abuse help line" that Herrod had called for advice was designed to protect children.
"I don't have all the facts, but it seems to me like it did operate as intended," he said. "The bishop called the help line and was advised no duty to report it to civil authorities. In fact, could not report because of the clergy privilege," Nelson said.
"It is intended and always has from the beginning been intended to to help victims get the help they need through social services, professional counseling, medical help, legal help, law enforcement," Nelson said.
Contacted after the new records were made public, Nelson declined further comment and asked that his previous comments be off the record. "I offer no comment on specific cases," he said.
As a lawmaker, Nelson is a genteel but deeply socially conservative, speaking out against repealing a law that banned sex outside of marriage in 2019 and unsuccessfully pushing to block changes to gender markers on birth certificates. This year, he opposed a plan to remove a marriage requirement for surrogacy arrangements.
He also has opposed legislation that would do away with the clergy-penitent privilege. "Without that assurance of secrecy, troubled people will not confide in their clergy. Secrecy is essential to the privilege," he said. "It encourages full disclosure without fear of unauthorized disclosure."
A spokesman for the church declined to comment on the plaintiff's filing.
The church established the help line in 1995 and requires bishops and other church leaders to call it before deciding whether to report the abuse to police or child welfare officials.
According to church documents, those answering the help line refer callers to church attorneys with Kirton McConkie if the allegations of abuse are serious. The attorneys then decide whether the callers should report the abuse.
Nelson, who was a shareholder at Kirton McConkie, took Herrod's first call to the help line reporting Adams's abuse, according to Van Komen's deposition. Nelson told The AP he retired from the firm, though he remains listed on its website as a member of its First Amendment and Religious Organizations section.
The AP investigation published in August found that the help line is part of a system that can easily be misused by church leaders to divert abuse accusations away from law enforcement and instead to church attorneys who may bury the problem, leaving victims in harm's way.
The AP's findings were based in part on 12,000 pages of sealed records in an unrelated child abuse suit against the church filed in West Virginia. Many of the documents describe the operation of the help line, which includes destroying all records at the end of each day
The sealed records included a list of questions that those answering the help line were to ask before referring calls to Kirton McConkie attorneys. The so-called "protocol" listed the names of several Kirton McConkie attorneys and their phone numbers, including Nelson's.
Until now, the church has said that all communications between Herrod and Mauzy and church attorneys are confidential under the attorney-client privilege. But the newly filed log provides some details of Nelson's conversations with the two bishops.
For instance, the log shows that Nelson wrote an "initial case summary" on Nov. 7, 2011 "based on a conversation" with Herrod. The log also notes a "description of legal advice," and notes additional communications with the bishop.
Federal officials arrested Adams in 2017, four years after he was excommunicated, finally stopping the abuse of MJ and her sister, with no help from the church.
Adams died by suicide in custody before he could stand trial. His wife, Leizza Adams, served more than two years in state prison on child sex abuse charges. Three of their six children, including a boy who was allegedly abused, filed the lawsuit accusing the church of negligence for not reporting their abuse, and for engaging in a wider conspiracy to cover up child sex abuse.
Attorneys for the three children declined to comment on the log and their most recent court filing. In their 2021 lawsuit they referred to Kirton McConkie while accusing the church of directing a system designed to protect the church against potentially costly sexual abuse lawsuits.
"The Mormon Church implements the Helpline not for the protection and spiritual counseling of sexual abuse victims, as professed in Mormon church doctrine and literature, but for Kirton McConkie attorneys to snuff out complaints and protect the Mormon church from costly lawsuits," the lawsuit says.
___
Follow Michael Rezendes and Jason Dearen on Twitter at @MikeRezendes and @jhdearen. Contact AP's global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org or https://www.ap.org/tips/ | https://www.postregister.com/news/national/utah-rep-told-mormon-bishop-not-to-report-abuse-docs-show/article_43ee8b92-2fb9-11ed-bb6a-174d3179f343.html | 2022-09-09 01:21:23 | 1 | https://www.postregister.com/news/national/utah-rep-told-mormon-bishop-not-to-report-abuse-docs-show/article_43ee8b92-2fb9-11ed-bb6a-174d3179f343.html |
Animated Series Culminates Three-Year Effort and Includes Creative Executives from Marvel and DC Cinematic Universe
AUSTIN, Texas and LOS ANGELES, March 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Pixel United, a Top 5 global mobile-first publisher with 5.5 million daily players worldwide, and Plarium, a global leader in developing F2P mobile and PC games, today at South by Southwest® (SXSW®) Conference and Festivals announced the release of its first original limited animated series titled RAID: Call of the Arbiter. The series, based on the billion-dollar RPG strategy game RAID: Shadow Legends, will consist of 10 five-minute weekly episodes set to premiere on YouTube on May 18, 2023. The animated series elevates RAID's core characters with deeper, more immersive storylines while delivering cinematic-quality animation.
The series teaser video, released today, can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHSEEu27d28.
The game RAID: Shadow Legends has quickly become one of the fastest growing collection RPGs with over 75 million downloads across all platforms exceeding $1 billion in lifetime revenues. The turn-based fantasy game immerses players and offers over 700 collectable champions across 15 different factions. With this new series, RAID fans can look forward to learning the origins of some of their most beloved champions, uncovering surprises throughout the series that tie to in-game rewards, and several other collaborations that deliver an immersive experience connecting the game and the series.
"RAID: Shadow Legends is an incredibly valuable part of the Pixel United portfolio and our team at Plarium spearheaded this vision that has brought the game's IP to life in a way that also opens an entirely new franchise pathway for the brand," said Michael Lang, CEO, Pixel United. "We're excited that this project spotlights our incredibly talented Pixel United global team in collaboration with some of the best creative minds in Hollywood, and we are looking forward to the future opportunities that lie ahead."
The creation of RAID: Call of the Arbiter has been a global effort involving over 400 people across the Pixel United portfolio, including RAID: Shadow Legends team members located in or displaced from Ukraine. The game RAID: Shadow Legends was launched almost five years ago by Plarium Global's Ukraine-based creative Studio and that team continues to work on the Top 20 game from Ukraine and locations around Western Europe, including at the company's new state-of-the-art Studio in Warsaw, Poland.
"This new limited series maximizes Plarium IP, extending the reach of one of our most popular franchises," said Schraga Mor, CEO, Plarium. "We know our fans will appreciate experiencing the RAID universe brought to life with memorable, three-dimensional characters, and we look forward to building their storylines even further. We are also proud to dedicate this production to our Ukrainian team members, their families, and their remarkable work over the events of the last year."
The animated series takes place in the world of Teleria, a land seemingly abandoned by its gods, torn by warring factions locked in ceaseless conflict. The central character - pulled from the game's core lore - is an ancient guardian called the Arbiter who is seeking a path to return to the world. She must summon a team of unlikely champions to light the spark that will cast down the darkness.
Eric Rollman, CEO of Rollman Entertainment and former President of Marvel Television and Animation, will produce the series. He is responsible for bringing Marvel to TV and was one of the first key hires by Haim Saban, helping drive the success of the Power Rangers franchise. More recently, he partnered with ballerina, author, and producer Misty Copeland on an animated ballet series, and was supervising producer of Skylanders Academy, a Netflix original animated series from Activision Blizzard Studios.
Jay Oliva, Founder and CEO of the animation studio Lex + Otis, is the series' showrunner. An animation industry veteran and former Netflix executive producer, Oliva has directed a dozen animated films for both Marvel and DC, including The Dark Knight Returns and the acclaimed Young Justice series. He was previously recruited by Zack Snyder to storyboard the DC Cinematic Universe, beginning with Man of Steel, and is currently the showrunner for multiple animated series, including the Netflix show Trese, as well as ARK: The Animated Series.
Plarium also partnered with TeamTO, one of Europe's leading creative animation companies, whose past work includes the Emmy-nominated "Angelo Rules." BAFTA award-winning Danish composer Jesper Kyd, known for the iconic music for blockbuster video game franchises such as Assassin's Creed and Borderlands, created original music for the animated series. In addition, Kendall Deacon Davis of Lex + Otis was the series' lead writer. He was also lead writer on ARK: The Animated Series featuring Russel Crowe.
"We're thrilled to be working with such a high caliber team on this exciting new series that takes RAID: Shadow Legends to the next level for our fans," said Nicholas Day, Vice President Creative, Plarium and Executive Producer. "We want to establish RAID as a bankable evergreen IP, with enough strength to do more, all while appealing to our core fans and capturing interest from a broader audience." In addition to Day, Gary Rosenfeld, Head of Business Development at Pixel United is Executive Producer of the animated series.
RAID: Shadow Legends is available to download on iOS and Android mobile devices, as well as PC through the Microsoft Store or the Plarium Play platform. To learn more about Plarium, follow @PlariumGames on YouTube, @Plarium on Instagram, and /Plarium on LinkedIn.
About Pixel United
Pixel United is the free-to-play, mobile-first games business of Aristocrat Leisure Ltd (ASX: ALL). Its portfolio comprises three operating businesses spanning multiple key game genres: Product Madness (UK), Plarium (Israel), and Big Fish Games (USA). Pixel United has also established PxU Studios focused on developing disruptive new games in rapidly growing segments, exploring the latest tech trends and expanding its pipeline of content and IP over time. As a global business, with a growing team of 3,000 people in 21 Studio locations worldwide, Pixel United leverages its recognizable game brands, best-in-class LIVE ops, in-house development, business intelligence and marketing capabilities, with strong investment in talent to fuel its performance and deliver sustainable long-term growth. www.pixelunited.com
About Plarium
Plarium Global Ltd. is dedicated to creating the best mobile and PC experience for its community of over 435 million hardcore and casual gamers worldwide. Our diverse portfolio includes over 20 games ranging from hardcore RPGs to casual adventures, featuring acclaimed titles such as RAID: Shadow Legends, Vikings: War of Clans, Lost Island: Blast Adventure, and the Stormfall franchise. The App Store and Google Play regularly feature our games, with Facebook twice recognizing us as a top hardcore Facebook developer. Plarium employs more than 1300 specialists at its headquarters and eight offices and studios around the globe. Our games are available on iOS, Android, and PC. They are also available through Plarium Play, our optimized game launcher for PC and Mac players. Plarium is part of Pixel United, the global mobile-first games publishing business of Aristocrat Leisure Limited (ASX code: ALL). Visit www.plarium.com for more information.
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SOURCE Pixel United | https://www.cleveland19.com/prnewswire/2023/03/13/raid-shadow-legends-billion-dollar-mobile-game-franchise-be-made-into-limited-animated-series/ | 2023-03-14 03:22:22 | 0 | https://www.cleveland19.com/prnewswire/2023/03/13/raid-shadow-legends-billion-dollar-mobile-game-franchise-be-made-into-limited-animated-series/ |
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SAN JOSE, Calif, (AP) — Toronto goalkeeper Sean Johnson and San Jose's JT Marcinkowski both finished with two saves as the two clubs played to a scoreless draw on Saturday night.
The Earthquakes (2-2-1) improved to 2-0-4 in their last six home matches in the series. Toronto (1-1-3) hasn't won in San Jose since 2010.
San Jose was looking for its first three-match win streak at home since a 10-match run to begin the 2002 season.
Toronto ended a nine-match winless streak with a 2-0 victory over Inter Miami last week. Toronto has just one shutout in its last 11 matches and its four clean sheets since the beginning of last season is the fewest in the league, excluding expansion team St. Louis City.
Toronto had a 15-14 edge in shots with both teams taking two shots on goal.
San Jose remains at home to host the Houston Dynamo on Saturday. Toronto returns home to host Charlotte on Saturday. | https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/sports/article/toronto-san-jose-finish-in-scoreless-draw-17860547.php | 2023-03-26 07:09:18 | 0 | https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/sports/article/toronto-san-jose-finish-in-scoreless-draw-17860547.php |
With holiday TV appearances and tours, Thanksgiving’s a busy time for artists, but they also get the chance to slow down and count their blessings.
As a Brit, singer Joss Stone didn’t grow up with Thanksgiving, but she’s thankful for her newborn son, who arrived via C-section last month. She’s promoting her new holiday album, Merry Christmas, Love, by performing on Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Thursday despite the fact that, she reveals, “I’ve never seen it! I’ve never seen any of it!”
But that’s OK. Everyone in her life, from her American boyfriend to her doctor, is eager to remind her what a big deal it is. “My doctor was like, ‘I don’t think you should really be working’ — because obviously, you know, I had the old ‘cut you open pull the baby out’ situation,” Joss tells ABC Audio.
“I’m like, ‘Well, I think they just stand there, though, on the float?’ And he goes, ‘Oh, it’s the Macy’s Day Parade? Oh, yeah, you got to go, girl! Go for it!…just don’t fall off the float!'”
Last month, Melissa Etheridge debuted her off-Broadway autobiographical show, My Window – A Journey Through Life. Having had that opportunity to re-examine her life, Melissa tells ABC Audio, “I’m most thankful for love. I’m most thankful for family.”
She notes, “This society has been through so much lately. I am grateful for what we’re learning. I’m grateful for what we’re asking for, because we’re all asking for some more peace and just some more love.”
The day after Thanksgiving, Debbie Gibson launches a holiday tour in support of her new Christmas album, Winterlicious. She says she’s most grateful for her family, music and her fans, known as “DebHeads.” She notes, “I’m grateful that we’ve been able to share moments for all these years.”
Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. | https://warm1069.com/parades-family-love-peace-and-fans-what-the-stars-are-grateful-for-this-thanksgiving/ | 2022-11-23 18:59:43 | 1 | https://warm1069.com/parades-family-love-peace-and-fans-what-the-stars-are-grateful-for-this-thanksgiving/ |
GUANGZHOU, China, Feb. 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a news report from GDToday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi arrived in Beijing on February 14 for a three-day state visit, his first visit to China since taking office in August 2021.
"President Raisi's visit aims to promote the implementation of long-term cooperative plans," Li Shaoxian, director of the China Institute for Arab Studies at Ningxia University, told GDToday in an exclusive interview on February 15. Before the interview, Li attended a meeting with Raisi as one of the representatives of Chinese intellectuals.
Iran's "looking east" policy, key to national development
"When I visited Middle Eastern countries such as Iran, the locals often told me that they insist on political independence, but the sanctions have endangered their national development. Therefore, they seek to 'look east' and learn the experience of independent development from China and other countries," Li said.
He analyzed that Iran practices its"looking east" policy through two approaches. "The first one is to take part in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which Iran regards as a major opportunity for national development. The geographic location of Iran is pivotal for the main route of the Belt and Road while the trade routes to Europe from China's Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia converge on Iran."
"Chinese companies have assisted Iran in building most of the metro lines and trains in Iran's capital city, Teheran, through BRI projects, improving the local transportation efficiency and promoting tourism development," Li added.
According to Li, Iran's second approach in its "looking east" policy is to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Iran completed the legal procedures for joining the SCO in 2022. On February 7, 2023, Raisi issued an order for implementing the law on Iran's membership of the SCO.
"In theory, Iran has already become an official SCO member. It is expected to attend the SCO summit in India in September 2023 as the ninth member of the organization," Li said.
He believes Iran's participation in the SCO will not only help Iran itself to tackle its current economic and social plight, but would also boost the development of the SCO and international counter-terrorism cooperation.
The economies of China and Iran highly complementary
A 25-year agreement was signed between the two countries in 2021 to enhance cooperation in a range of fields, including energy, infrastructure, production capacity, science and technology, and medical and health care. China and Iran stressed that they are now ready to implement the plan during Raisi's visit.
"The economies of China and Iran are highly complementary. With the implementation of the deal, the two sides would tap the potential of economic and cultural cooperation," Li said.
Li elaborated that Iran is a major oil exporter and holds the second-largest natural-gas reserve. "It is also one of the few countries in the Middle East with a relatively complete industrial system."
In Li's view, Iran can take advantage of its rich natural resources and promote bilateral trade through cooperation while China can make full use of its complete industrial chain and help Iran push forward with industrial transformation and upgrading.
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SOURCE GDToday | https://www.wistv.com/prnewswire/2023/02/20/raisis-visit-china-eyes-strengthened-political-economic-ties-expert/ | 2023-02-20 11:44:54 | 1 | https://www.wistv.com/prnewswire/2023/02/20/raisis-visit-china-eyes-strengthened-political-economic-ties-expert/ |
Phoenix parking lot shooting ends with a man being killed, a woman injured
Tune in to FOX 10 Phoenix for the latest news:
PHOENIX - Phoenix Police say an argument led to a deadly shooting in a strip mall parking lot near 19th Avenue and Bell Road on Saturday, Sept. 10.
"One of the men fired and struck the other male and a woman who was unrelated to this incident. The suspect left the scene on foot before police arrived," says Phoenix Police Sgt. Philip Krynsky.
The unidentified man died at the scene and the woman was taken to the hospital. She's expected to be OK.
There is no suspect information. | https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/phoenix-parking-lot-shooting-ends-with-a-man-being-killed-a-woman-injured | 2022-09-11 03:01:03 | 0 | https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/phoenix-parking-lot-shooting-ends-with-a-man-being-killed-a-woman-injured |
Storm Prediction Ctr, Norman, OK Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Thursday, April 20, 2023
_____
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE FOR WS 155
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
253 PM CDT THU APR 20 2023
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 155 REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM CDT
FOR THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS
TX
. TEXAS COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE
ATASCOSA BANDERA BASTROP
BEXAR BLANCO BURNET
CALDWELL COMAL CONCHO
DEWITT DIMMIT EDWARDS
FAYETTE FRIO GILLESPIE
GONZALES GUADALUPE HAYS
KARNES KENDALL KERR
KIMBLE KINNEY LAVACA
LEE LLANO MCCULLOCH
MASON MAVERICK MEDINA
MENARD REAL SAN SABA
SCHLEICHER SUTTON TRAVIS
UVALDE WILLIAMSON WILSON
ZAVALA
...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 330 PM CDT
FOR SOUTHERN HAMILTON AND NORTHWESTERN CORYELL COUNTIES...
At 252 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Hamilton,
moving east at 20 mph. This storm has a history of producing ping
pong ball size hail.
HAZARD...Golf ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts.
SOURCE...Radar indicated.
IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect damage
damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles.
Locations impacted include...
Hamilton, Pancake, Shive, Jonesboro, Ireland, Whiteway, Aleman,
Levita and Purmela.
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Copyright 2023 AccuWeather | https://www.expressnews.com/weather/article/tx-storm-prediction-ctr-norman-ok-warnings-17909191.php | 2023-04-20 20:30:46 | 1 | https://www.expressnews.com/weather/article/tx-storm-prediction-ctr-norman-ok-warnings-17909191.php |
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- New data is shedding light on the economic state of downtown Raleigh.
A recent report, conducted in partnership with the city, shows Glenwood South is back to its pre-pandemic economic engine, while data analyzed by the ABC11 data team paints a different picture of the state of foot traffic and office space in downtown Raleigh.
That report shows Glenwood South generates $1.2 billion for the local economy, and is responsible for 18,500 jobs. Larry Miller, President of the Glenwood South Neighborhood Collaborative, says the entertainment district did $125 million in food and beverage sales in 2022 -- more than in 2019.
"That's over 3% of all of Wake County's food and beverage taxes collected here in Glenwood South. So yes, the businesses are doing well and they're expanding," Miller said.
He said Raleigh, and Glenwood in particular, remain a destination.
"We get millions of visitors coming here from both, from other parts of Raleigh, from other parts of Wake County, from other cities in North Carolina, and from other states," he said.
It's a slightly different story when it comes to the classic 9-to-5 foot traffic in downtown Raleigh. Cellphone location data analyzed by ABC11 shows an uneven recovery since COVID-19 wiped out much of that foot traffic. That data shows it peaked at 64% of pre-pandemic levels in 2021, but now is about half of pre-pandemic levels.
Raleigh's Director of Economic Development admits the return of office workers has been slower than expected, but says the city isn't fazed.
"Companies are going to look where there's talent, cost of doing businesses is low or reasonable, and where they can find space," said Kyle Touchstone. "And so while some people may think that having vacancy rates that are higher or a negative, we just see that as a great opportunity to recruit new companies or help companies that are local grow."
Touchstone said Raleigh's inclusion on several "best-of" lists gives the city cause for optimism, and that the capital city is in a much better position than other cities its size. He also said the city is looking into alternative solutions, such as office-to-lab conversions downtown.
Several city officials will be attending a conference in Boston next month that focuses on life sciences in hopes they can gather new information on converting open space.
"We'll continue to see a focus on some of these office-to-lab conversions and urban lab space while in Boston. We're going to go to some of these urban lab spaces to look at developing some of that here in the city of Raleigh," he said.
The slow recovery of foot traffic is still having an impact, though. Andrew Ullom opened a Union Special on Fayetteville Street in 2021 and says while his company loves the location, it's been tough.
"We're still really excited and really proud to be here, but we really haven't seen the bounce back that everyone needs. And so it is busier, there is more foot traffic, but it's not anywhere near what it needs to be to support the business community that's downtown right now," Ullom said. | https://abc11.com/downtown-raleigh-business-new-data-economy/13300206/ | 2023-05-26 00:31:33 | 1 | https://abc11.com/downtown-raleigh-business-new-data-economy/13300206/ |
NEW YORK, June 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Along with high blood pressure, diabetes, and smoking, environmental factors such as air pollution are highly predictive of people's chances of dying, especially from heart attack and stroke, a new study shows.
Led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the study showed that exposure to above average levels of outdoor air pollution increased risk of death by 20%, and risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 17%.
Using wood- or kerosene-burning stoves, not properly ventilated through a chimney, to cook food or heat the home also increasd overall risk of death (by 23% and 9%) and cardiovascular death risk (by 36% and 19%). Living far from specialty medical clinics and near busy roads also increased risk of death.
Publishing in the journal PLOS ONE online June 24, the findings come from personal and environmental health data collected from 50,045 mostly poor, rural villagers living in the northeast Golestan region of Iran. All study participants were over age 40 and agreed to have their health monitored during annual visits with researchers dating as far back as 2004.
Researchers say their latest investigation not only identifies environmental factors that pose the greatest risk to heart and overall health, but also adds much-needed scientific evidence from people in low- and middle-income countries. Traditional research on environmental risk factors, the researchers note, has favored urban populations in high-income countries with much greater access to modern health care services.
Compared with those who have easier access to specialized medical services, those living farther away from clinics with catheterization labs able to unblock clogged arteries, for example, were at increased risk of death by 1% for every 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) of distance. In Golestan, most people live more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) away from such modern facilities.
Study results also showed that the one-third of study participants who lived within 500 meters (1,640 feet) of a major roadway had a 13% increased risk of death.
"Our study highlights the role that key environmental factors of indoor/outdoor air pollution, access to modern health services, and proximity to noisy, polluted roadways play in all causes of death and deaths from cardiovascular disease in particular," says study senior author and cardiologist Rajesh Vedanthan, MD, MPH.
"Our findings help broaden the disease-risk profile beyond age and traditional personal risk factors," says Vedanthan, an associate professor in the Department of Population Health and the Department of Medicine at NYU Langone Health.
"These results illustrate a new opportunity for health policymakers to reduce the burden of disease in their communities by mitigating the impact of environmental risk factors like air pollution on cardiovascular health," says study lead author Michael Hadley, MD, a fellow in cardiology and incoming assistant professor of medicine at Mount Sinai.
By contrast, the study showed that other environmental factors included in the analysis — low neighborhood income levels, increased population density, and too much nighttime light exposure — were not independent predictors of risk of death, despite previous research in mostly urban settings suggesting otherwise.
For the investigation, researchers analyzed data gathered through December 2018. They then created a predictive model on overall death risk and death risk from cardiovascular disease.
The research team plans to continue its analysis and hopes to apply the predictive model to other countries with the aim of fine-tuning its predictive capacity. They say their new tool could serve as a guide for evaluating the effectiveness of environmental, lifestyle, and personal health changes in reducing mortality rates worldwide.
According to the World Health Organization, one-quarter of all deaths worldwide are now attributable to environmental factors, including poor air and water quality, lack of sanitation, and exposure to toxic chemicals.
Funding for the study was provided by U.S. National Institutes of Health grant R21HL140474.
Besides Vedanthan, other NYU Langone researchers involved in this study are Samrachana Adhikari, PhD; and Jackie Szymonifka, MA. Other study co-investigators are Mahdi Nalini, PhD; Akram Pourshams, MD; Hossein Poustchi, PhD; Sadaf Sepanlou, MD; and Reza Malekzadeh, MD, at Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Iran; Arash Etemadi, PhD; Christian Abnet, PhD; and Neal Freedman, PhD, at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md.; Farin Kamangar, PhD, at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Md.; Masoud Khoshnia, MD, at Golestan University; Tyler McChane, MD, at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; and Paolo Boffetta, PhD, at Stony Brook University in New York and the University of Bologna in Italy.
Media Inquiries
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SOURCE NYU Langone Health | https://www.wfmz.com/news/pr_newswire/pr_newswire_health/environmental-factors-predict-risk-of-death/article_91d4990d-b218-57b3-8072-7b779ce510a6.html | 2022-06-24 19:35:13 | 0 | https://www.wfmz.com/news/pr_newswire/pr_newswire_health/environmental-factors-predict-risk-of-death/article_91d4990d-b218-57b3-8072-7b779ce510a6.html |
One of two Hendrix artworks at the station, it’s named after a tune that seems tailor-made for a transit stop. Crosstown Traffic (It’s So Hard to Get Through to You) is by New York artist Hank Willis Thomas, who last month made a big splash with the unveiling of The Embrace, a massive sculpture of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King at Boston Common.
ArtSEA: Notes on Northwest Culture is Crosscut’s weekly arts & culture newsletter.
Made of tiny bronzed-porcelain hemispheres, Hendrix’s image looks watchful and expectant — perhaps more so because the opening of Judkins Park Station is still a ways away (in a Dec. 2022 update, estimates were pushed back to spring 2025). But last month saw progress in the form of another art installation at the station: Barbara Earl Thomas’s A Walk in the Neighborhood.
Right now it’s tricky to see Barbara Earl Thomas’s piece — paper-cut murals translated into metal and embedded in glass — because it’s on the train platform in the middle of I-90. But you can get a glimpse by looking over the roadway from the concrete outcropping between the station and the park’s roller rink.
On social media, Thomas explained that the piece “celebrates the landscape and the creatures that one might encounter during a stroll through my Seattle home.” Hummingbirds, ducks, birds in flight and turtles in crawl are visible in the black silhouettes, as are Thomas’s local friends, including deceased playwright August Wilson, writer Charles Johnson, studio assistant Peggy Allen Jackson and curator Elisheba Johnson — the last of whom appears to sit and read while she waits for a train.
Black Arts Legacies in action
Barbara Earl Thomas and Elisheba Johnson are both among the artists Crosscut celebrated in our expansive Black Arts Legacy project in June. As we prepare for “Season 2” — subscribe to the Black Arts Legacy newsletter to stay updated — last year’s movers and shakers are continuing to do so around the city.
• Thomas will be talking about her extensive art career next week at Cornish College’s Raisbeck Auditorium (Feb. 10, 11:30 a.m.) — a great chance to ask her how she achieves such emotion in cut paper.
• Upcoming at Wa Na Wari, the art center that Elisheba Johnson co-founded, is an Epiphany Jam Session Memorial (Feb. 26, 2 - 4 p.m.) for recently departed Seattle jazz pianist Rodger Pegues. The gifted performer honed his craft in the Garfield High School band and at Cornish College. While there, check out the new art exhibit we wrote about in a recent Things to Do.
• Visual artist Marita Dingus will appear at Town Hall Seattle (Feb. 7, 7:30 p.m.) for a talk called “Assembling a New Art of the African Diaspora.” Born and raised in Auburn, the inventive recycler will be in conversation with another longtime Seattle artist, Gary Faigin.
• This past New Year’s Eve, installation artist and curator Tariqa Waters launched her eclectic and engaging new arts talk show: Thank You, MS PAM on the Seattle Channel. (See also her art installation Gum Baby, recently extended at the Museum of Museums.)
• Barry Johnson is also celebrating an exciting new chapter: He’s now represented by Seattle/New York gallery Winston Wächter. My colleague Margo Vansynghel recently talked with Johnson about his new autobiographical and multidimensional show, For Real Though, on view at the South Lake Union gallery (through Feb. 25).
• Seattle theater legend Valerie Curtis-Newton is directing a brand-new play, History of Theater: About, By, For and Near at ACT Theatre (through Feb. 12), produced in collaboration with The Hansberry Project. Written by Seattle’s Reginald André Jackson, the piece illuminates the struggles and achievements of Black theater artists from 1820 to the 1930s.
• Also perfectly timed with Black History Month: MOHAI is opening the new exhibit From the Ground Up: Black Architects and Designers (Feb. 4 - Apr. 30). Curator Hasaan Kirkland and the Black Heritage Society of Washington State have augmented the traveling show with Seattle-specific materials — including archival materials on Ben McAdoo Jr., our state’s first Black architect.
Northwest artists making national news
It’s Grammys weekend (Feb. 5), and once again Brandi Carlile has earned an armload of nominations. The Maple Valley singer/songwriter — who’s won six Grammys over the past four years — is up for seven awards, including Album of the Year and Best Americana Album. Known for her riveting stage presence, Carlile will perform live during the televised event, so tune in and cheer on the hometown crooner. And save the date: Carlile will play the Gorge Amphitheater this summer (June 9 - 11) — including shows with Joni Mitchell and Tanya Tucker.
Carlile isn’t the only local getting a Grammy nod this weekend: Music legends Nirvana and Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson of Heart are among those slated to receive Lifetime Achievement awards.
These stars are among the constellation of Northwest artists lighting up the national stage in the past month. Tacoma poet Rick Barot appeared in The New Yorker with “The Lovers,” a lovely meditation on what sticks around from long-lost relationships. Seattle glass artist Preston Singletary was featured in a CBS Sunday Morning profile for the Tlingit stories he brings alive in his sculptures.
Local artist Mary Iverson can be seen on TV too: One of her apocalyptic container-ship paintings is featured as a “street art” display option for The Frame, Samsung’s new “picture frame art tv.”
And Spotify named KEXP’s Fresh Off the Spaceship: The Story of the Black Constellation, featuring conversations with local musicians like Ishmael Butler and Porter Ray (both also in the inaugural class of Black Arts Legacies artists), as one of 12 “Best New Podcasts of 2022.”
There’s more local music making an impact across the country: Homegrown grunge band Soundgarden is (once again) nominated for The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Will the second time be the charm? Or will fans fall on black days?
Meanwhile, Everett’s Steel Beans has been announced as the opening act for cult-fave comedy-rock band Tenacious D (Jack Black and Kyle Gass) on their upcoming national tour. If you have not yet experienced Steel Beans — the mustachioed one-man band and social-media sensation who plays guitar and drums one-handed and sings, all at the same time — he rocks.
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Industry veteran Jenifer Boyd Harmon is leading agency spinoff as executive vice president and will advise QSR, fast-casual and casual brands on how to tap into additional growth potential
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Sept. 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- St. John, one of the largest independent agencies in the Southeast, announced today the formation of a new restaurant consultancy, Store by Store (SxS). Well known for successfully growing restaurant and retail brands for nearly 40 years, St. John is channeling its industry experience through SxS to help QSR, fast-casual and casual brands drive rapid growth store by store.
SxS mines store-level data to simplify planning, tap into unique insights to grow menu dayparts, increase average checks, monitor local preferences, determine best-use occasions and inform decisions around the right message, right offer and right time for each store's unique profile.
SxS is led by restaurant-industry veteran Jenifer Boyd Harmon. Harmon's career spans work on both the client- and agency-side of the business and includes a track record of successful growth rooted in optimizing store and market opportunities. In her role as EVP at SxS, she'll manage a team of data scientists, analysts and experienced restaurant strategists to provide rapid and actionable plans for growth.
Jenifer understands the opportunities and challenges facing today's restaurant CMOs. Most recently, she served as CMO of Ruby Tuesday. Prior to her role at Ruby Tuesday, Harmon served as an executive vice president and account group director at St. John, where for 14 years she oversaw the agency's fast-casual restaurant account, Zaxby's. Her previous experience also includes Denny's restaurants, where she was a senior director of advertising; and EP+Co, where she headed the Firehouse Subs account team.
"Restaurant brands have so much data available to them; however, few concepts look to the store-level data for growth opportunities unique to each store," said Harmon. "We use a proprietary approach to drive growth from the local-store level, making it simple for the brand team to embrace the planning on a store, co-op or systemwide basis."
Joining Harmon is Jeff Day, director of marketing analytics. Day brings more than a decade of experience in data-driven industries, such as transportation, logistics and insurance. Jeff has taken his work in data modeling and operational excellence to benefit marketing, organizing and mining media and sales for insights and strategies to optimize growth and return on advertising investment. He is a published writer and frequently consulted on identifying key performance indicators for executive leadership across the nation.
"Store By Store was created to answer a need in the restaurant category," said Jeff McCurry, president and COO of St. John. "Helping brands focus on the business-driving insights embedded in store-level data will translate into rapid, actionable growth plans."
Store by Store (SxS) helps QSR, fast-casual and casual brands drive rapid growth store by store. SxS mines store-level data to simplify planning, tapping into unique insights to grow menu dayparts, increase average checks, monitor local preferences, determine best-use occasions, and inform decisions around the right message, right offer, and right time for each store's unique profile. For more information about SxS, visit www.storebystore.com.
St. John is an independent strategy, content and media company headquartered in Jacksonville, FL. The agency inspires growth by helping brands create the relevance, utility and visibility required to earn attention in highly competitive categories. Clients include AbbVie, Florida Prepaid College Savings Plans, Metro Diner, NASCAR, Rooms To Go and Winn-Dixie. St. John is a member of the MAGNET Global Network, composed of 50 independent advertising agencies in North and South America, Europe, Asia and the Pacific Rim; and 4A's, the national trade association for U.S. advertising agencies. For more information about St. John, visit www.sjp.com.
Media Contact:
Steve Sapka
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SOURCE St. John | https://www.wagmtv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/22/st-john-launches-restaurant-consultancy-store-by-store-drive-retail-growth/ | 2022-09-22 10:22:19 | 1 | https://www.wagmtv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/22/st-john-launches-restaurant-consultancy-store-by-store-drive-retail-growth/ |
Royal Palm Beach experiences renovations, new developments
Residents in Royal Palm Beach are starting to see a changing landscape with new developments and renovations.
The Publix located at the corner of Okeechboee and Royal Palm Beach boulevards is closed as it receives a makeover.
Village leaders and builders have mapped out a strategic plan for future growth.
The village is reporting a dramatic uptick in the number of applications for residential and commercial development, but the amount land available is limited.
That's why there's been a wave of renovations to older residential and commercial developments like the Publix in The Crossroads shopping center.
The grocery store plans to expand the space and updated its amenities.
"It's exciting. I'm excited to see when it reopens what it looks," shopper Karen Williams said.
Meanwhile, some developers are proposing plans to go vertical by blending commercial and residential units together.
That's prompting the village council to consider a mixed-use social category as developers eye land south of Southern Boulevard to build shops, restaurants and residential units above called Tuttle Royale.
But some residents worry the growth could come with more congestion.
"Does any of the growth worry you at all?" asked reporter Linnie Supall.
"Maybe a little bit. Even just driving in Wellington my kids go to the Wellington schools, and the traffic has picked up a lot even deeper into Wellington when we first moved there three years ago," Williams said. "There's more people moving to this area. It's a great place to live, but [there is more] congestion."
The congestion is a big concern for the 40,000 residents who call Royal Palm Beach home, so the village is working with the transportation planning agency for solutions.
Scripps Only Content 2022 | https://www.wflx.com/2022/06/13/royal-palm-beach-experiences-renovations-new-developments/ | 2022-06-13 22:57:20 | 0 | https://www.wflx.com/2022/06/13/royal-palm-beach-experiences-renovations-new-developments/ |
MEXICO CITY, July 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Enriching the lives of pets is an ongoing mission for Petco, a leading American health and wellness company in the pet industry, providing premium products and services for beloved companions.
In order to enhance its expansion in Latin America, Petco has implemented Teamwork Commerce's omnichannel solution to manage its more than 118 stores in Mexico and Chile. This implementation includes Point-of-Sale (POS), Loyalty Program and Inventory Control, all integrated with their CRM and Online Store.
Thanks to the cloud-based functionalities of Teamwork Commerce, Petco offers "Club Petco," a program where customers receive coupons based on their purchase accumulation, whether they bought in-store or online. Furthermore, a strategy was implemented to streamline the checkout process by incorporating QR code scanning for grooming services and bulk products, allowing multiple items to be added with a single scan.
For Petco, this initiative proves to be highly valuable as it consolidates information into a single system, facilitating the checkout process and eliminating human error through devices that provide a better user interface and enhanced experience. Additionally, by adopting a "paperless" philosophy, customers can opt to receive their receipts via email or through the Petco app.
"Teamwork Commerce has become one of the key pillars in achieving omnichannel capabilities at Petco. It has reinforced Club Petco, our successful loyalty program, and we have been able to implement real-time targeted experiences to pamper our customers both in physical stores and on the ecommerce platform," said Guillermo Prieto Cortes, CIO of Petco Mexico.
Teamwork Commerce is a flexible tech stack for retailers that includes POS, OMS, CRM, Clienteling, Inventory Control and Reporting - a cloud-based system that is constantly evolving to provide cutting-edge technology to meet the needs of the ever-changing retail landscape. With Teamwork's omnichannel solution, retailers gain a deeper understanding of their customers to provide personalized experiences through invisible technology. Trusted by top retailers globally including, Petco, Prada Mx, InnovaSport, and Weber. For more information, please visit: www.teamworkcommerce.mx
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SOURCE Teamwork Commerce | https://www.kswo.com/prnewswire/2023/07/03/petco-mexico-teamwork-commerce-join-forces-revolutionize-pet-industry/ | 2023-07-03 14:57:33 | 1 | https://www.kswo.com/prnewswire/2023/07/03/petco-mexico-teamwork-commerce-join-forces-revolutionize-pet-industry/ |
New Jersey is known for having some of the best paid teachers in the county. But where you teach in the state can make a big difference, with wide pay gaps between counties and even within the counties themselves.
The statewide median teacher salary was $72,931 during the 2020-2021 school year, according to the 2022 Taxpayer’s Guide to Education Spending, an annual breakdown of school expenditures released by the state Department of Education. That’s a 3% increase from the precious school year, when the median pay was $70,818.
But median salary varies greatly, county to county. Teachers in the best paying Bergen County district earn more than $40,000 more than teachers in the best paying Salem County district, an NJ Advance Media analysis showed. | https://www.nj.com/education/2022/08/nj-teacher-pay-the-highest-and-lowest-paying-school-district-in-each-county.html | 2022-08-02 11:21:44 | 1 | https://www.nj.com/education/2022/08/nj-teacher-pay-the-highest-and-lowest-paying-school-district-in-each-county.html |
BEIJING, Oct. 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Since 2022, Waterdrop has stepped up offline brokerage, and offered offline brokers with multiple development directions including organization development mode, independent agent mode, and community outlet mode, in an effort to build an elite service team. It has also launched WFind (Waterdrop Family Insurance Needs Diagnosis) to drive professional operation by brokers. These moves indicate a clear new direction for Waterdrop, i.e. further integrating online and offline insurance business, making the work easier and more efficient for brokers with the aid of technologies, and driving the professionalism of brokers across the industry.
Implementing Offline Business Requires Empowering Brokers in Sales Leads, IP and Technology
Waterdrop spent two years exploring offline brokerage and launched the business after mode validation in 2021. Besides traditional offline brokerage, it also set up outlets. In June 2022, its first community outlet staffed by independent insurance agents opened in Wuhan. The community outlet mode is built on independent agents in which customer traffic and operating cost are replaced by rent costs. Each outlet is supplied with an independent agent, providing customers with risk diagnosis, insurance planning, product recommendation, claims aid, and some other services. The outlet mode makes it easier for brokers to enhance customer stickiness and build trust through neighborhood effects.
Ms. Jia Li, Waterdrop Vice President, commented, "Besides considering major and educational backgrounds, Waterdrop focuses more on the learning ability, self-motivation, and entrepreneurship of broker candidates in recruitment, because customers pay greater attention to the professionalism of insurance brokers. Brokers need to have a broad vision, an overall idea of industrial and product trends, and a deep insight into the updates of industrial peers. Only in that way can they act openly and transparently, and select products adapted to customer needs out of hundreds of products."
Li Jia said, compared with the traditional offline mode, instead of putting excessive emphasis on social networking, Waterdrop works to empower brokers in leads, IP, and technologies to make the job easier for brokers. For example, it helps brokers build personal IP and private domain traffic pools through community operation, live-streaming, and mini videos. During the IP building process, with the growth of customers who come for advice, brokers will also enter a growth loop step by step.
What Are the Critical Factors That Empower Offline Brokers to Acquire Targeted Customers?
How to precisely match leads is a longstanding issue in the industry. Previously, offline brokers received complex leads and had to screen manually; currently, with the help of technologies, offline brokers can match leads precisely and thus increase operating efficiency.
First, Waterdrop will group customers according to their willingness to purchase insurance. For example, Waterdrop will automatically identify the customers who have purchased short-term insurance and retained for more than six months as those with a higher level of purchase intention, and view the customers who seek for advice actively as having a higher level of intention. Then, the CRM system will match them with brokers based on locations, customer needs, and brokers' backgrounds and track records, etc.
After customer allocation, Waterdrop has SOPs in place for each link of the following process, having customers' WeChat, visiting customers, interpreting insurance terms, sorting customer policies, assessing risks, developing support plans, comparing products, and providing follow-up services.
TWaterdrop also launched the "Waterdrop Insurer" APP to help brokers improve working efficiency and experience. The APP offers tools like marketing content creation, customer needs analysis, family insurance plan, product comparison, request for proposal, same-screen interaction, and AI video generation, leading in the industry in helping brokers enhance customer acquisition and management efficiency.
Li Jia said, "In addition to tools, long-term persistence is most important to brokers. Tools shall be fully leveraged to learn about customer preferences. Waterdrop highlights brokers' input in content platforms like Zhihu, Douyin, Kuaishou, WeChat Channels, and Xiaohongshu. It pushes various communication materials to brokers every day, who can modify them as they like and post them on social media platforms. This is a great process of popularizing insurance knowledge among customers. But it's noteworthy that IP building requires long-term self-motivation of brokers. In the short run, the private domain built by brokers may produce little effect. But through repeating day by day, the private domain traffic will see network expansion in the long run."
According to Li Jia, the Company's offline team recorded a per capita production capacity of RMB43,000 in September. An outlet in Wuhan even signed 36 policies in August 2022.
Building the System Valuable to Brokers and Customers Is the Core of Offline Business
Li Jia said, "Our brokers are supposed to be professional, which requires long-term accumulation. Besides technologies and tools, we also empower them with a standard operation methodology named WFind."
WFind is the family insurance needs diagnosis system recently launched by Waterdrop. It differs from the product-oriented operation mode in the market, as it's a customer-oriented methodology that empowers brokers to diagnose customer needs like doctors based on customers' family population, income and expenditure gap, and future expectation and thus ensures the delivery of scientific insurance solutions.
The WFind system includes six steps, i.e. analyzing family income and expenditure and financial conditions, identifying family insurance needs, learning about risk exposure, designing insurance portfolio solutions for customers, comparing products from multiple perspectives, and helping customers find the solutions that suit them best.
The system not only helps brokers complete the upgrade from product sellers to professional brokers, but also promotes customer-centric delivery of services by brokers in a more professional, objective and neutral manner.
Based on the gaps in family income and expenditure, pension, and educational fund, the WFind system recommends insurance content correspondingly to help customers make well-informed purchase choices. That will also improve customers' perception of the professional quality of brokers and enhance trust between both sides.
Based on the WFind system, Waterdrop requires all brokers to provide 3-5 products in each category based on customer needs for them to choose from. That will give play to customers' initiative and maximize the value of independent choices.
Generally speaking, Waterdrop and the whole insurance industry are confronted with challenges. But the harder the time is, the more patient and confident the industry as a whole should be to find the solution together. Waterdrop's innovation and exploration in offline channels also serve as a fresh example of revolutionary significance for the insurance industry in its efforts to integrate online and offline operations and expand service boundaries.
About Waterdrop Inc.
Waterdrop Inc. (NYSE: WDH) is a leading technology platform dedicated to insurance and healthcare service with a positive social impact. Founded in 2016, with the comprehensive coverage of Waterdrop Insurance Marketplace and Waterdrop Medical Crowdfunding, Waterdrop aims to bring insurance and healthcare service to billions through technology. For more information, please visit www.waterdrop-inc.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains statements that may constitute "forward-looking" statements pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "aims," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "likely to," and similar statements. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about Waterdrop's beliefs, plans, and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in Waterdrop's filings with the SEC. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and Waterdrop does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.
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SOURCE Waterdrop Inc. | https://www.cleveland19.com/prnewswire/2022/10/24/waterdrop-explores-offline-insurance-brokerage/ | 2022-10-24 14:30:02 | 1 | https://www.cleveland19.com/prnewswire/2022/10/24/waterdrop-explores-offline-insurance-brokerage/ |
NEW YORK, Aug. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --
If you own shares in any of the companies listed above and
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this notice or your rights or interests, please contact:
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Weiss Law is investigating possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law by the board of directors of Infrastructure and Energy Alternatives, Inc. (NASDAQ: IEA), in connection with the proposed acquisition of IEA by MasTec, Inc. ("MasTec"). Under the terms of the merger agreement, IEA shareholders will receive $14.00 per share in cash and 0.0483 shares of MasTec common stock for each IEA share owned, representing implied per-share merger consideration of approximately $18.01 based upon MasTec's August 18, 2022 closing price of $82.99. If you own IEA shares and wish to discuss this investigation or your rights, please call us or visit our website: https://www.weisslaw.co/news-and-cases/iea
Weiss Law is investigating possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law by the board of directors of Shell Midstream Partners, L.P. (NYSE: SHLX), in connection with the proposed acquisition of SHLX by Shell USA, Inc. ("Shell USA"). Under the terms of the merger agreement, SHLX unit holders will receive $15.85 in cash for each Public Common Unit of SHLX common stock owned. A subsidiary of Shell USA currently owns 269,457,304 SHLX common units, or approximately 68.5% of SHLX common units. If you own SHLX shares and wish to discuss this investigation or your rights, please call us or visit our website: https://www.weisslaw.co/news-and-cases/shlx
Weiss Law is investigating possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law by the board of directors of Zymergen Inc. (NASDAQ: ZY), connected with the proposed acquisition of ZY by Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc. ("Ginkgo"). Under the terms of the merger agreement, ZY shareholders will receive 0.9179 shares of Ginkgo common stock for each ZY share owned, representing implied per-share merger consideration of approximately $2.98 based upon Ginkgo's August 18, 2022 closing price of $3.25. If you own ZY shares and wish to discuss this investigation or your rights, please call us or visit our website: https://www.weisslaw.co/news-and-cases/zy
Weiss Law is investigating possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law by the board of directors of EVO Payments, Inc. (NASDAQ: EVOP), in connection with the proposed acquisition of EVOP by Global Payments Inc. Under the terms of the merger agreement, EVOP shareholders will receive $34.00 in cash for each share of EVOP common stock owned. If you own EVOP shares and wish to discuss this investigation or your rights, please call us or visit our website: https://www.weisslaw.co/news-and-cases/evop
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SOURCE Weiss Law | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/08/19/shareholder-alert-weiss-law-reminds-iea-shlx-zy-evop-shareholders-about-its-ongoing-investigations/ | 2022-08-19 22:51:38 | 0 | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/08/19/shareholder-alert-weiss-law-reminds-iea-shlx-zy-evop-shareholders-about-its-ongoing-investigations/ |
By Abe Márquez
Marisol García Alcántara had run out of water hours earlier when she finally arrived at the white Kia SUV waiting in the desert outskirts of Nogales, Arizona, for her and the six other migrants in her group. It was a hot day in June 2021 and the group had just completed a grueling trip from Mexico to enter the U.S. undetected. García Alcántara’s left leg ached from jumping the border fence and the 37-year-old was relieved to settle into the SUV’s back seat. But within minutes, as the vehicle drove along a Nogales street, she heard sirens from a U.S. Border Patrol vehicle. García Alcántara remembers the SUV slowed down in response. No one expected what happened next. The agent fired his gun at the SUV. The bullet sailed in through the back seat and lodged into García Alcántara’s head just above her left eye.
“I felt something hit me in the head, and I lost my vision but was hearing everyone screaming for help,” García Alcántara told palabra in a recent interview from her home outside Mexico City.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection declined to respond to palabra’s inquiries about the shooting or the agency’s protocols for internal investigations or disciplinary action. Nogales police records say that a Border Patrol supervisor at the scene described the incident as a “fail to yield” and that “one shot was fired.” But even if the vehicle García Alcántara was in had failed to slow down in response to the agent’s siren, CBP’s use-of-force guidelines specify that deadly force is only justified to stop an imminent threat of serious injury or death and “would not include a moving vehicle merely fleeing from officers/agents.”
The same Nogales police records say a little-known unit within the Border Patrol, known as a Critical Incident Team, responded to the scene after the shooting, along with the FBI. But Critical Incident Teams, which for decades were used by Border Patrol to gather evidence on the scene after an agent used force, have been accused by immigrant rights advocates of covering up evidence of agent misconduct and interfering with law enforcement investigations. Furthermore, federal law designates other entities to criminally investigate agent misconduct, and it is unclear under what authority these Critical Incident Teams have to respond first and collect evidence.
In December, CBP told the Associated Press that its Office of Responsibility was still investigating the shooting and it would be reviewed by the agency’s National Use of Force Review Board. Yet García Alcántara says she has never been interviewed by anyone tasked with investigating the shooting or given an opportunity to share her account. She now lives with bullet fragments in her brain and regularly suffers from headaches.
It is still unknown whether the agent responsible for the Nogales shooting will face any consequences, but many such Border Patrol incidents happen with impunity. Border Patrol agents rarely are successfully prosecuted for using excessive force. In fact, in the agency’s 90-year history, advocates say not one agent has ever been convicted for killing someone while on duty. Although President Biden campaigned on bringing “compassion and sensitivity” to the asylum system, immigrant rights advocates say the administration has so far failed to deliver on this promise. In fact, evidence shows that certain kinds of Border Patrol misconduct have increased since Biden took office.
Earlier this month, however, the administration did take one notable step toward increasing accountability within the Border Patrol by announcing it will phase out the agency’s controversial Critical Incident Teams. Advocates have praised the move, while also calling it just a first step.
A legacy of impunity
García Alcántara’s case is one of 236 incidents of apparent Border Patrol misconduct since 2020 that the advocacy group Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) has documented in a new database, Border Oversight. The federal government’s lack of transparency over such incidents led WOLA Director for Defense Oversight Adam Isacon to compile the database.
“I hope that having everything in one place will force a conversation that we are not having enough about Border Patrol’s misconduct,” Isacson said. “The database can help create specific reforms to solve this problem.”
While García Alcántara survived her encounter with the Border Patrol, others have not. The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas has tracked 218 fatal encounters since 2010 with Border Patrol agents and officers at ports of entry that were reported by the CBP or media outlets. Of those fatal encounters, 75 stemmed from vehicle pursuits of migrants attempting to enter the U.S.
“We’ve seen an increase in the number of deaths due to vehicle pursuit in the last two years,” said ACLU of Texas staff attorney Shaw Drake.
In 2021, 23 people were killed in Border Patrol vehicle pursuits of migrants, including high-speed chases, up from two in 2019, according to ACLU data. Also in 2021, the same data set shows 55 people died as a result of Border Patrol agents using lethal force with a firearm. One victim was Cuban asylum seeker Diosmani Laurencio, who was killed by a Border Patrol agent in February 2021 after crossing the Rio Grande in Hidalgo, Texas.
“They shot him more than five times in the chest from close range,” his father Raúl Laurencio told palabra. The incident is currently being investigated by the DHS Office of Inspector General, the CBP Office of Professional Responsibility and the FBI.
When García Alcántara decided to immigrate to the United States to look for work and reunite with her mother, she never imagined the possibility of getting shot by a U.S. law enforcement agent while she was riding unarmed in a vehicle. “The system is broken,” she said. “We are not criminals.”
After the shooting, García Alcántara was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Tucson. Three days later, she was transferred to an immigration detention facility in Florence, Arizona, where she was held for a few weeks. In that time, she said no U.S. government officials ever contacted her to get a statement from her about what had happened in the lead up to the moment she was shot. She was deported back to Mexico a month after the shooting.
“No one investigated,” she said. “I returned to Mexico without making a statement.”
A long fight for accountability
As recently as last November, CBP defended Border Patrol’s Critical Incident Teams that responded to García Alcántara’s shooting. “These teams consist of highly trained personnel available to respond around the clock to collect and process evidence related to CBP enforcement activities as well as critical incidents,” reads a statement the agency gave to Phoenix TV station, ABC 15 Arizona. “In the case of serious incidents involving CBP personnel, members of these teams are sometimes called upon to assist investigators from CBP OPR and other local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies.”
The decision to phase out the Critical Incident Teams came in early May, in the form of a memo from CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus, Biden’s pick to lead the agency. Starting in October, only the CBP Office of Professional Responsibility – without assistance from Critical Incident Teams – will respond to and process the scenes of critical incidents involving border enforcement personnel, such as those that result in use of force, death, or serious injury. “To ensure our Agency achieves the highest levels of accountability, OPR will be the CBP entity responsible for responding to critical incidents and ensuring all reviews and investigations are conducted by personnel with appropriate expertise, training, and oversight,” reads Magnus’ memo. The agency will also beef up the number of people working on investigations for OPR.
These changes are considered a victory for immigrant rights advocates and families of victims of Border Patrol misconduct who had long pushed for an end to the Critical Incident Teams and had prodded Congress to take action.
“The records generated by the Critical Incident Teams are inherently unreliable, these are investigative teams whose mandates were to protect their own and minimize their exposure to civil liability,” said ACLU of New Mexico staff attorney Rebecca Sheff.
In response to concerns raised by advocates, the House committees on Oversight and Reform and Homeland Security sent a letter last January alerting CBP that they were investigating the teams, specifically whether they had “interfered with criminal, civil, or administrative investigations of the use of force by Border Patrol agents to protect these agents from being held accountable for potentially serious misconduct.” The same day, a group of Democratic lawmakers had requested that the U.S. Government Accountability Office conduct a review of CBP’s use of Critical Incident Teams.
Since Magnus was sworn-in last December to lead CBP , immigrant rights advocates had hoped he would start enacting some of the reforms Biden had campaigned on. As Tucson Police Chief, Magnus was known for being an outspoken critic of Trump’s immigration policies and said that Tucson’s leaders “take pride in being welcoming to immigrants.”
Sheff called the new CBP policy a “welcome change” in direction for the Biden administration on Border Patrol accountability and shows “the agency is, at least, somewhat responsive to border communities, and to the families affected by this.”
“I’m delighted they did it,” said WOLA’s Isacson. “I think this was Chris Magnus’ first real test on doing something on accountability that changes the way CBP operated for 35 years.” At the same time, Isacson noted, “there is a long way to go for accountability, this is a baby step.”
Isacson said another step he would like to see would be more funding and oversight over the appropriate entities tasked with conducting Border Patrol misconduct investigations, including more monies for the DHS Office of Inspector General, the CBP Office of Public Responsibility, and the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
Immigrant rights advocates say it is also necessary to have independent investigators re-examine old cases that may have been tainted by the Critical Incident Teams and carry out new investigations to hold Border Patrol agents accountable for any misconduct.
“The elimination of cover-up teams — which engaged in obstruction of justice and acted only in the interest of agents, not the public — is an important first step towards addressing the longstanding problem of Border Patrol impunity,” Vicki B. Gaubeca, director of the Southern Border Communities Coalition said in a press release. “Not a single on-duty agent has been held accountable for taking the lives of hundreds since 2010. Independent investigators should now consider reopening these cases to ensure that families harmed find closure and justice.”
Living through pain
Late last year, García Alcántara filed a claim against the Border Patrol’s Nogales station, a first step in filing a federal lawsuit. The claim says the bullet wound resulted in permanent life-long consequences, including injuries such as “intracranial hemorrhage, orbital fracture, skull fracture, with bullet and broken bone fragments entering her left frontal lobe.” Doctors have also told García Alcántara that she is at risk of suffering from facial paralysis or becoming epileptic. “I don’t know if I will wake up blind or with no memory one day, which makes me sad,” she said.
In the meantime, she is still waiting to learn whether the Border Patrol agent who shot her received any discipline.
“I am asking for justice, so they don’t keep doing this,” said García Alcántara. “I am also asking for a public apology from the person who did this. I’d like to know why he did this to me since I didn’t do anything to him.”
- - -
Abraham Márquez is a freelance writer from Inglewood, California, focusing on immigration and politics. | https://www.al.com/palabra/2022/05/can-border-patrols-pattern-of-mistreating-migrants-without-recourse-be-reversed.html | 2022-05-28 12:51:01 | 0 | https://www.al.com/palabra/2022/05/can-border-patrols-pattern-of-mistreating-migrants-without-recourse-be-reversed.html |
WESTCHESTER, Ill., Jan. 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- After an election year where House members saw the most contested races in history, Democrats for the Illinois House and re-elected House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch have closed strong with 14 newly elected members and $1.7 million total.
During the quarter, the Speaker's caucus reported raising over $14 million. The House Democratic Caucus raised over $12 million. Speaker Welch's total for the year was over $45 million. The result– the House's historic supermajority and a unanimous demand for a second term of leadership for Speaker Welch.
"We raised funds, we worked together, and we really dug into the fight for the people of Illinois," said Speaker Welch. "I am extremely thankful to each of our supporters and every single member of our caucus. We are bringing the most Democrats to the legislature in modern history to fight for working families in all 118 districts from Chicago to Cairo, from Winnetka to Washington Park, and from Westchester to Savanna. I am thankful to our caucus for trusting me to continue to lead us forward. Now we have to get to Springfield and continue doing the work of the people."
With 14 newly elected members of the Illinois House, Democrats are the most diverse in their representation of the people. In addition to re-electing the first African-American Speaker of the House, the general assembly welcomed the first Vietnamese American, two of the first Muslim Americans, and the first Korean American to serve and represent downstate. The diversity of heritage, race, gender, age, and ideology further solidifies the House Dems as the caucus that looks like Illinois.
About Democrats for the Illinois House: Democrats for the Illinois House is the official political arm of the Illinois House Democratic Caucus. We support Democrats for the Illinois House in fighting for equality, justice, and opportunity for all. Under the leadership of House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch, Democrats for Illinois House (DIH) is dedicated to promoting the excellent work of the caucus, protecting incumbents, winning competitive races, and serving Illinoisans with integrity. The Illinois House Democratic Caucus is one of the most diverse in the nation representing African American (22), Latinx (10), Asian American (4), Women (39) and LGBTQ+ (4) members. DIH is committed to creating an environment across the state that is inclusive and welcoming to all people.
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SOURCE Democrats for the Illinois House | https://www.kold.com/prnewswire/2023/01/18/after-securing-their-super-majority-house-speaker-emanuel-chris-welch-house-democrats-close-with-17-million/ | 2023-01-18 19:57:25 | 0 | https://www.kold.com/prnewswire/2023/01/18/after-securing-their-super-majority-house-speaker-emanuel-chris-welch-house-democrats-close-with-17-million/ |
Charges dropped against detainee beaten inside Georgia jail
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Prosecutors have dropped charges of assault, obstruction and other counts against a Georgia jail detainee after video from security cameras showed him being beaten by sheriff’s deputies who rushed into his cell.
The decision to dismiss charges against 41-year-old Jarrett Hobbs came several months after an investigation following the video’s release in November led to the arrest of three Camden County deputies on battery charges in the jail beating.
“When the video came out, it was abundantly clear that Mr. Hobbs was not the aggressor,” Harry Daniels, a civil rights attorney representing Hobbs, said Thursday.
Hobbs of Greensboro, North Carolina, was booked into jail in coastal Camden County for traffic violations and drug possession charges Sept. 3. Later that day, a security camera recorded deputies charging into Hobbs’ cell and pushing him against a wall before repeatedly punching him in the head and neck. Another camera recorded Hobbs being hurled against a wall and pinned to the floor.
Hobbs was charged afterward with aggravated battery, simple assault and obstruction of law enforcement officers. A court filing by prosecutors Tuesday dismissed those charges, citing “insufficient evidence” against Hobbs. Also dropped were the traffic and drug counts that initially landed Hobbs in jail.
Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Keith Higgins had no further comment on the case, said Cheryl Diprizio, his executive assistant.
Hobbs’ beating at the Georgia jail came to light after federal authorities in North Carolina looked into his September arrest. They wanted to determine whether Hobbs had violated his probation stemming from his 2014 guilty plea to a charge of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, according to court records.
The jail videos were first obtained by Hobbs’ attorney in the federal probation case, Daniels said.
Daniels shared the security videos with reporters in November. Sheriff Jim Proctor ordered an internal investigation more than two months after the beating occurred and Hobbs was the only one charged. Higgins, the district attorney, asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to get involved.
The following week, three Camden County deputies were arrested on charges of battery and violating their oath of office. They were also fired. Two others faced disciplinary action but weren’t charged with crimes.
Hobbs is Black. The three deputies charged are all white, according to Capt. Larry Bruce, the sheriff’s spokesman.
Hobbs was returned to federal prison after authorities determined he violated terms of his probation by leaving North Carolina. Daniels said having his charges dismissed in Georgia should improve Hobbs’ standing in the federal case.
“He’s now eligible for release to a halfway house because he no longer has pending charges, which is major,” Daniels said.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.azfamily.com/2023/02/23/charges-dropped-against-detainee-beaten-inside-georgia-jail/ | 2023-02-23 19:57:52 | 1 | https://www.azfamily.com/2023/02/23/charges-dropped-against-detainee-beaten-inside-georgia-jail/ |
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RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s first elected leftist president, will take office in August with ambitious proposals to halt the record-high rates of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. Petro has promised to limit agribusiness expansion into the forest, and create reserves where Indigenous communities and others are allowed to harvest rubber, acai and other non-timber forest products. He has also pledged income from carbon credits to finance replanting.
“From Colombia, we will give humanity a reward, a remedy, a solution: not to burn the Amazon rainforest anymore, to recover it to its natural frontier, to give humanity the possibility of life on this planet," Petro, wearing an Indigenous headdress, said to a crowd in the Amazon city of Leticia during his campaign.
But to do that he first needs to establish reign over large, lawless areas.
The task of stopping deforestation seems more challenging than ever. In 2021, the Colombian Amazon lost 98000 hectares (more than 240,000 acres) of pristine forest to deforestation and another 9,000 hectares (22,000 acres) to fire. Both were down from what they had been in 2020, but 2021 was still the fourth worst year on record according to Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP), an initiative of the nonprofit Amazon Conservation Association.
More than 40% of Colombia is in the Amazon, an area roughly the size of Spain. The country has the world’s largest bird biodiversity, mainly because it includes transition zones between the Andes mountains and the Amazon lowlands. Fifteen percent of the Colombian Amazon has already been deforested, according to Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development, or FCDS.
Destruction of the forest has been on the rise since 2016, the year Colombia signed a peace accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, that ended decades of a bloody armed conflict.
“The peace process allowed people to return to formerly conflict-ridden rural areas. As the returning population increasingly used the natural resources, it contributed to deforestation and increases in forest fires, especially in the Amazon and the Andes-Amazon transition regions,” according to a new paper in the journal “Environmental Science and Policy.”
The presence of the State is barely felt in Colombia’s Amazon. “Once the armed groups were demobilized, they left the forest free for cattle ranching, illegal mining and drug trafficking,” said Ruth Consuelo Chaparro, director of the Roads to Identity Foundation, in a telephone interview. "The State has not filled the gaps.”
The main driver of deforestation has been the expansion of cattle ranching. Since 2016, the number of cattle in the Amazon has doubled to 2.2 million. In the same period, about 500,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) of forest were lost, according to FCDS, based on official data.
This cattle expansion goes hand in hand with illegally-seized land, said FCDS director Rodrigo Botero. “The big business deal is the land. The cows are just a way to get hold of these territories,” he told the AP in a phone interview.
Experts affirm that illegally-seized lands are often resold to ranchers, who then run their cattle free of land use restrictions, such as the propriety's size.
Most of the destruction occurs in an “arc of deforestation” in the northwestern Colombian Amazon, where even protected areas have not been spared. Chiribiquete, the world's largest national park protecting a tropical rainforest, has lost around 6,000 hectares (14,800 acres) since 2018, according to MAAP.
During the campaign, Botero took Petro and other presidential candidates on separate one-day trips to the Amazon. They flew over cattle ranching areas, national parks and Indigenous territories.
“A very interesting thing Petro and other candidates said was that they never imagined the magnitude of the destruction." The feeling of ungovernability made a deep impression on each of them, Botero said.
Almost 60% of Colombia’s greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, deforestation and other land use, according to the World Resources Institute. In 2020, under the Paris Agreement, Colombian President Ivan Duque’s government committed to a 51% reduction in emissions by 2030. To do that, it pledged to reach net-zero deforestation by 2030.
The Amazon is the world’s largest tropical rainforest and an enormous carbon sink. There is widespread concern that its destruction will not only release massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, further complicating hopes of arresting climate change, but also push it past a tipping point after which much of the forest will begin an irreversible process of degradation into tropical savannah.
Although it holds almost half of the nation's territory, the Amazon is the least populated part of Colombia, so historically it is neglected during presidential campaigns.
This year's campaign was not a complete departure from that. But this year, for the first time, there was a TV presidential debate dedicated solely to environmental issues before the first round in the election. Petro, who was leading the polls then, refused to participate.
In his government program, Petro further promises to prioritize collective land titles, such as Indigenous reservations and zones for landless farmers. He also promises to control migration into the Amazon, fight illegal activities, such as land seizures, drug trafficking and money laundering via land purchases.
Petro’s press manager did not respond to requests for comment.
“Petro has studied and understands deforestation,” said Consuelo Chaparro, whose organization works with Indigenous tribes in the Amazon. But the president alone can do nothing, she said. Her hope is that he will listen and move things forward. ”We don’t expect him to be a Messiah."
___
Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content. | https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/New-Colombian-president-pledges-to-protect-17265567.php | 2022-06-25 18:50:24 | 1 | https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/New-Colombian-president-pledges-to-protect-17265567.php |
Official Chip and Dip of the NFL will serve culinary creations crafted with Tostitos; at-home fans can engage with recipes, a Super Bowl giveaway with football star Trevor Lawrence
PLANO, Texas, Feb. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tost by Tostitos, a limited-time casual dining restaurant that puts Tostitos chips and dips at the center of its recipes, is offering a front-row seat to how the fan-favorite snack can transform into a mealtime MVP from February 9-11 in Phoenix, Arizona. Snackers across the U.S. will also be able to elevate their get-togethers with a lineup of DIY recipes and a giveaway to make one fan's celebration the ultimate game day gathering.
"Tostitos believes that with good food and good company comes great memories," said Leslie Vesper, vice president of marketing at Frito-Lay. "The food table is the most anticipated element of many Super Bowl parties and Tostitos has always been part of these game day spreads. With Tost by Tostitos, we're bringing people together at home and in Arizona for the Super Bowl and showing them new and unexpected ways to incorporate their favorite chips and dips into both their Super Bowl celebrations and as mealtime staples."
Fans can enter the Tost by Tostitos social media giveaway now through February 8 for the chance to score a delivery of the chips, dips and ingredients needed to recreate dishes handpicked by Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence from the restaurant's menu, a personalized video message from the NFL pro to show off at their Super Bowl party and exclusive Tostitos swag. To enter, fans can visit Tostitos' Instagram page to share their favorite Tostitos chip in the comments and use #TostbyTostitos and #Sweepstakes. Official terms and conditions are available at www.tostbytostitos.com/sweepstakesrules. Tostitos is also sharing recipes direct from the Tost by Tostitos menu at www.tostbytostitos.com so party hosts can prep dishes to deliver the ultimate flavor experience.
With eight appetizers and entrées crafted by Frito-Lay's culinary team, the Tost by Tostitos menu includes:
- Tostitos Breaded Chicken Strips with Tostitos Toppers Dipping Sauce: Marinated chicken strips breaded with crushed Tostitos Restaurant Style Tortilla Chips and served with Tostitos Toppers sauces for dipping.
- Tostitos-Style Arizona Cheese Crisp: The traditional Arizona favorite. Large flour tortilla topped with cheese and green chiles and toasted crisp, drizzled with Tostitos Toppers Fire Roasted Red Chili Pepper sauce.
- Tostitos Shrimp Fritters: Diced shrimp, grilled corn, bell peppers, jalapeño, cilantro rolled and fried with Tostitos Cantina Tortilla and served with Tostitos Toppers Avocado Lime-flavored sauce, Tostitos Toppers Fire Roasted Red Chili Pepper sauce and Tostitos Toppers Fiesta Ranch sauce.
- Red Chili Braised Short Rib Skillet Dip: Short ribs, jalapeño bean dip, Tostitos Salsa con Queso, spiced tomatoes and crumbled cotija cheese served with Tostitos Hearty Dippers.
- Tostitos Hint of Lime Elotes: A crunchy version of Mexican-style street corn on the cob rolled in crushed Tostitos Hint of Lime-flavored tortilla chips.
- Street Tacos with Tostitos Toppers: Tacos made with a choice of Chicken Chile Verde, Pork Carnitas, Skirt Steak Al Carbon, or Cauliflower Adobo and accompanied with three Tostitos Toppers.
- Tostitos Grilled Salmon Nachos: Grilled marinated wild king salmon, Tostitos Crispy Rounds, refried beans, grated cheese, Mexican crema and cabbage pico de gallo.
- Sopapilla with Tostitos Ice Cream and Honey: Puffed, fried dough with Tostitos infused ice cream drizzled with honey.
Tost by Tostitos creates moments of togetherness featuring custom touches inspired by its location in Roosevelt Row, Phoenix's walkable arts district, including an immersive art installation. Created by four local artists who were selected in collaboration with the Roosevelt Row Community Development Corporation (CDC), the installation will tell a story of how food and culture bring people together. Visit rooseveltrow.org/spotlight to learn more about the artists and their installations.
Reservations for complimentary lunch and dinner open today and are available at www.tostbytostitos.com. Lunch will be served Feb. 9 to 11 between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. and dinner between 5 and 9 p.m. Tost by Tostitos will be located at the Roosevelt Row Welcome Center at 918 N. 2nd Street in Phoenix, AZ.
For more information on Tost by Tostitos, visit www.tostbytostitos.com or follow Tostitos on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.
About Tostitos
Tostitos is one of many Frito-Lay North America brands – the $19 billion convenient foods division of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ: PEP), which is headquartered in Purchase, NY. Learn more about Frito-Lay at the corporate website, http://www.fritolay.com/, the Snack Chat blog, http://www.snacks.com/ and on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/fritolay.
About Frito-Lay North America
Frito-Lay North America is the $19 billion convenient foods division of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ: PEP), which is headquartered in Purchase, NY. Frito-Lay snacks include Lay's and Ruffles potato chips, Doritos tortilla chips, Cheetos snacks, Tostitos tortilla chips and branded dips, SunChips multigrain snacks and Fritos corn chips. The company operates 30+ manufacturing facilities across the U.S. and Canada, more than 200 distribution centers and services 315,000 retail customers per week through its direct-store-delivery model. Learn more about Frito-Lay at the corporate website, www.fritolay.com, on Twitter (@fritolay), on Instagram (@fritolay) and on Facebook (Frito-Lay).
About PepsiCo
PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $79 billion in net revenue in 2021, driven by a complementary beverage and convenient foods portfolio that includes Lay's, Doritos, Cheetos, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Quaker, and SodaStream. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including many iconic brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales. Guiding PepsiCo is our vision to Be the Global Leader in Beverages and Convenient Foods by Winning with PepsiCo Positive (pep+). pep+ is our strategic end-to-end transformation that puts sustainability and human capital at the center of how we will create value and growth by operating within planetary boundaries and inspiring positive change for planet and people. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com, and follow on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn @PepsiCo
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SOURCE Frito-Lay North America | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2023/02/01/moving-beyond-snacking-tostitos-celebrates-food-lovers-with-first-pop-up-restaurant-tost-by-tostitos-super-bowl-weekend/ | 2023-02-01 16:09:49 | 1 | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2023/02/01/moving-beyond-snacking-tostitos-celebrates-food-lovers-with-first-pop-up-restaurant-tost-by-tostitos-super-bowl-weekend/ |
The former magazine columnist accusing former President Donald Trump of battery and defamation was back on the stand Thursday in her civil lawsuit trial, where she faced a tense cross-examination from Trump's lawyers.
At the beginning of questioning, Joe Tacopina asked if E. Jean Carroll had been "supposedly raped," to which she responded, "Not supposedly. I was raped."
Detail by detail Thursday, Tacopina tried to poke holes in Carroll's recollection of the alleged assault, questioning her inability to remember the exact date she says Trump raped her inside a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-90s
The 79-year-old initially couldn't specify when it happened, but she now believes it occurred in 1996 because a friend she told about the incident published a piece about Trump in New York Magazine that same year. That friend is expected to testify later in the trial.
Several times throughout the cross-examination, the judge admonished Tacopina for "argumentative" and "repetitive" questioning.
SEE MORE: Woman accusing Trump of rape takes stand in court
In their opening statement Tuesday, Trump's lawyers accused Carroll and her friends of scheming to create a false story about Trump.
Tacopina was also quick to bring up Carroll's political beliefs and questioned why she didn't accuse the former president sooner, especially during the 2020 presidential race. Carroll previously said her mother died a month before Trump was elected and was in "deep, incredibly painful mourning."
She was also asked why she didn't call 911 after the attack and why she didn't scream. While raising her voice, almost yelling, Carroll said, "He'd rape me whether I'd screamed or not."
Carroll said she never planned to go public, fearing Trump would retaliate, but she credited the "Me Too" movement as the reason she eventually came forward.
Trump has denied all of Carroll's accusations, claiming she lied about the story to sell copies of her 2019 book.
Carroll is looking for unspecified monetary damages and wants the court to force Trump to retract a statement in which he called her a liar.
Tacopina said he's about halfway through questioning, which will resume May 1. Trump, who is making another run for president, is not expected to testify.
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.wmar2news.com/trump-s-lawyers-try-to-poke-holes-in-woman-s-recollection-of-rape | 2023-04-28 01:40:21 | 0 | https://www.wmar2news.com/trump-s-lawyers-try-to-poke-holes-in-woman-s-recollection-of-rape |
The role deepens company's relationship with guests
ROCKVILLE, Md., Aug. 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH)—one of the world's largest lodging franchisors—has appointed Noha Abdalla to the role of chief marketing officer, reporting directly to President and Chief Executive Officer, Patrick Pacious. As a key member of the senior executive team, Abdalla will be a champion for the guest experience, leading the company's marketing, advertising, communications, and brand-building functions to advance Choice's corporate strategy across guest touchpoints. She will also help develop a future state technology and infrastructure roadmap for Choice's marketing vision, working closely with the leadership team and key organizations across the company to support future growth objectives.
"Enhancing the guest experience is a cornerstone of Choice's long-term growth strategy and a critical component of the leading value proposition we deliver for our franchisees daily," said Pacious. "Noha is an experienced leader with a successful track record of taking world-class brands to the next level. As the company continues to add new experiences and offerings for travelers, we're confident she is the best person to keep Choice's finger on the pulse of evolving consumer preferences while driving loyalty and innovation to support our diverse portfolio of brands."
Abdalla has more than 20 years of experience shaping business strategies and marketing solutions for several of the world's most well-known organizations. She joins Choice Hotels from MyEyeDr.—a Goldman Sachs-equity backed optical company with more than 800 locations nationwide—where she served as chief marketing officer. In this capacity, Abdalla led the company's first-ever marketing transformation to launch a new CRM (customer relationship management) system, online booking platform, patient portal and in-house media planning and buying function. Prior, Abdalla led all digital owned channels and oversaw all digital marketing communications as the global vice president of digital and content marketing for Hilton. Earlier in her career, Abdalla held roles of increasing responsibility on Capital One's digital brand strategy and social media team, as well as Discovery Inc.'s Animal Planet marketing department.
"Choice Hotels has a proud history of pioneering industry innovations to enhance guests' entire travel journey – from the initial shopping and booking experience to check-out and beyond," said Abdalla. "We know today's customer is more informed and has more choices available to them than ever before, and I am honored to work in lockstep with the company's key stakeholders to build on this rich legacy as we curate next-generation products and experiences that resonate with guests of today and tomorrow."
Abdalla earned a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science in international economics from Georgetown University.
About Choice Hotels®
Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) is one of the largest lodging franchisors in the world. On August 11, 2022, Choice acquired Radisson Hotels Americas, adding nine brands, more than 600 hotels, and approximately 67,000 rooms in the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada to its portfolio. With 22 brands, Choice Hotels has more than 7,500 hotels, and nearly 650,000 rooms, in 46 countries and territories as of August 11, 2022. The Choice® family of hotel brands provide business and leisure travelers with a broad range of high-quality lodging options from limited service to full-service hotels in the upper upscale, upper mid-scale, midscale, extended-stay and economy segments. The award-winning Choice Privileges® loyalty program offers members a faster way to rewards, with personalized benefits starting on day one. For more information, visit www.choicehotels.com.
© 2022 Choice Hotels International, Inc. All rights reserved.
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SOURCE Choice Hotels International, Inc. | https://www.wbay.com/prnewswire/2022/08/15/choice-hotels-appoints-noha-abdalla-chief-marketing-officer/ | 2022-08-15 19:13:15 | 1 | https://www.wbay.com/prnewswire/2022/08/15/choice-hotels-appoints-noha-abdalla-chief-marketing-officer/ |
LOS ANGELES, June 7, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Thriving as a powerhouse fitness entrepreneur, Anne Mahlum, whose entrepreneurial brilliance has reshaped the business of fitness through the success of Solidcore and her newest fitness concept Ambition, has strategically invested $265,000 into Ice Barrel, a groundbreaking company spearheaded by CEO Wyatt Ewing. Additionally, Anne has extended a generous line of credit worth $1.5 million to support the venture.
This collaboration stems from Mahlum's profound understanding of the fitness industry and her knack for identifying innovative ventures that align with her mission of empowering individuals to achieve their health and wellness goals. Leveraging her unparalleled track record of transforming the fitness industry, Mahlum recognizes the immense potential in Ice Barrel's unique offering.
Ice Barrel, known for its cutting-edge cold therapy products, and made here in the US, has captured the attention of fitness enthusiasts with its revolutionary approach to recovery and wellness. Ice Barrel is a cold therapy training tool that offers an easy and convenient way to bring ice baths to your routine. With a lightweight, compact design and functional features, Ice Barrel is portable, durable, and convenient. The company's meticulously designed barrels provide a convenient and immersive cold therapy experience, enabling individuals to unlock enhanced athletic performance, expedite post-workout recovery, and cultivate a deeper sense of overall well-being. Wyatt created the brand because he wanted to share the power of cold therapy with anyone who needs to hit the reset button.
"Our society tells us to work harder, sleep less, and don't complain. My work life balance and the everyday pressures caught up with me. I was broken, sick, and desperate for a change," said Ewing.
Cold water therapy is one of the fastest, easiest, and most natural ways to reset your body and mind. While cold therapy has been an accepted treatment for acute injuries and post-exercise recovery for over 30 years, new research is showing that cold therapy is safe and effective for chronic diseases. Cold therapy provides systemic anti-inflammatory relief, increases positive immune response, and parasympathetic nervous system stimulation. Cold therapy is being applied to provide non-pharmaceutical support for patients with depression and mood disorders, reduction of daily stress, chronic disease support including rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia among others, and disease intervention.
"Joining forces with Ice Barrel was a natural choice for me as an entrepreneur deeply committed to advancing the fitness industry and empowering individuals to lead healthier lives," said Mahlum. "I am thrilled to partner with Wyatt Ewing and his team, as their innovative approach to cold therapy aligns perfectly with my vision of fostering comprehensive wellness. Together, we will fuel innovation, drive growth, and revolutionize the way people approach recovery and performance optimization. Ice Barrel's potential to transform the fitness and wellness sector is truly remarkable, and I am excited to be a part of this groundbreaking journey."
Mahlum's investment signifies her confidence in Ice Barrel's transformative impact on the fitness and wellness sector. As an influential figure in the industry, Mahlum brings not only financial support but also invaluable insights, strategic guidance, and a vast network of connections to propel Ice Barrel's growth and market reach.
Ice Barrel retails for $1199.97
https://icebarrel.com/
Jennifer Jimenez - Dunn Pellier Media
jenn@dunnpelliermedia.com
571-243-6865
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SOURCE Ambition | https://www.kswo.com/prnewswire/2023/06/07/anne-mahlum-influential-entrepreneur-founder-solidcore-ambition-joins-forces-with-ice-barrel-ceo-wyatt-ewing-fuel-innovation-growth/ | 2023-06-07 14:19:41 | 1 | https://www.kswo.com/prnewswire/2023/06/07/anne-mahlum-influential-entrepreneur-founder-solidcore-ambition-joins-forces-with-ice-barrel-ceo-wyatt-ewing-fuel-innovation-growth/ |
Southern Charm continues tonight at 9/8c on Bravo. Every Thursday, stream new episodes of season 8 with FuboTV and DIRECTV Stream.
Southern socialite life is certainly not lacking in the drama department. Featuring familiar faces, unexpected cameos, and even a wedding, Southern Charm season 8 is sure to deliver its signature style, undeniable flair, and—of course—plenty of charm. The Bravo reality series follows a group of busy, glamorous southerners navigating friendships, romance, fashion, parenthood, and their lavish social scene. Don’t miss this endearingly chaotic 8th season. Tune in tonight at 9/8c for an all-new episode of Bravo’s Southern Charm.
Where to watch:
- FuboTV (free trial) - For $69.99/month, cut cable and register for FuboTV. Subscribe and unlock 100+ channels you love. Click here to start watching.
- DIRECTV Stream (start free trial) - With plans starting at $54.99/month for the first two months (limited-time offer), ditch cable and stream more than 65 channels of hit series, live sports, breaking news, and more. Click here to register.
About the show, from Bravo:
Charmers Leva Bonaparte, Craig Conover, Kathryn Dennis, Austen Kroll, Madison LeCroy and Shep Rose return for season eight. New to the season, though no strangers to the Charleston social scene, are Olivia Flowers, Marcie Hobbs, and Chleb Ravenell alongside familiar faces Venita Aspen, Taylor Ann Green and Naomie Olindo.
New relationships blossom and old resentments boil over as these Southern socialites navigate shifting romantic entanglements, chaotic friendships, flourishing businesses and new parenthood.
Charleston Grand Dame Patricia Altschul returns with her son Whitney Sudler-Smith, who wastes no time stirring up drama among the group; John Pringle joins in on the group’s antics as well.
Cast:
- Leva Bonaparte
- Craig Conover
- Kathryn Dennis
- Austen Kroll
- Madison LeCroy
- Shep Rose
- Olivia Flowers
- Marcie Hobbs
- Chleb Ravenell
- Venita Aspen
- Taylor Ann Green
- Naomie Olindo
- Patricia Altschul
- Whitney Sudler-Smith
- John Pringle | https://www.mlive.com/life/2022/06/how-to-watch-southern-charm-season-8.html | 2022-06-30 21:07:37 | 1 | https://www.mlive.com/life/2022/06/how-to-watch-southern-charm-season-8.html |
Search and rescue team funding bill could soon be headed to Arizona Governor's desk
PHOENIX - The Arizona Senate Appropriations Committee on March 28 voted to approve a bill that would fund search and rescue equipment used by sheriff’s departments in rural counties.
The lifesaving equipment is desperately needed as winter storms and flooding have wreaked havoc up north – like in Yavapai County.
The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office and its volunteers who've been working nonstop since flooding and evacuations a week ago say the passage of this bill would be a game changer.
House Bill 2554 was given yet another green light as the committee approved the plan to fund search and rescue equipment used by sheriff’s departments. Republican State Rep. Selina Bliss of Prescott introduced the bill.
"Equipment wears down, it breaks, it needs to be replaced and that’s where we were literally taking out duct tape and patching our stuff together to keep our missions going," Bliss said.
In the last week alone, the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office has been extremely busy dealing with flooding, evacuations and water rescues.
READ MORE: HB 2554
"You name it we do it, flood evacuations, fire evacuations, which we are getting ready for. Last week, just as an example, in 36 hours, we did three different flood evacuations," volunteer Bill Pratt said.
All volunteers pay out of pocket for their equipment.
The money allocated in the bill would go toward ropes, four-by-fours, swift water rescue boats, firefighting equipment, search dog training, among other things.
"We are volunteers, it’s not a cheap way to volunteer, but he’s a special dog. He has talent and that’s where I want to go," Ann Schmidt, a volunteer said.
Beginning next year and each year after, the bill would allocate a million dollars split between counties from the general fund.
If passed Coconino, Mohave, and Pinal counties would get 21%. 18% percent would go to Cochise, 13.5% to Yavapai, 2.5% to Gila, and finally Navajo and Greenlee counties would get 0.5% of the funding. Leftovers would go to other counties.
"It is significant. It really helps us at the kinds of expenses that we are confronted with on not only an annual basis, but almost a daily basis," Pratt explained.
There are still a few hurdles and checks, but the bill's sponsor is confident it will be heading to the governor's desk. | https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/search-and-rescue-team-funding-bill-could-soon-be-headed-to-arizona-governors-desk | 2023-03-29 02:41:47 | 0 | https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/search-and-rescue-team-funding-bill-could-soon-be-headed-to-arizona-governors-desk |
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Gas prices rose in New Jersey but declined across the nation at large amid fluctuating oil prices and low demand.
AAA Mid-Atlantic says the average price of a gallon of regular gas in New Jersey on Friday was $3.77, up nine cents from last week. Drivers were paying $3.45 a gallon on average a year ago at this time.
The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.76, down six cents from last week. Drivers were paying $3.39 a gallon on average a year ago at this time.
Analysts say that if demand remains low amid a slide in oil prices, drivers should see pump prices come down through the weekend. | https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Gas-prices-rise-in-NJ-decline-across-nation-at-17543339.php | 2022-10-29 15:17:34 | 0 | https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Gas-prices-rise-in-NJ-decline-across-nation-at-17543339.php |
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — With the Taliban’s return to power last summer came restrictions on human rights, freedoms for Afghan women, and a ban on girls’ education past the sixth grade. It was something one American musician who taught music in the war-torn country feared the most.
In 2014 Los Angeles-based musician Lanny Cordola visited Kabul, Afghanistan. He was so inspired that two years later, he moved there to begin teaching young Afghan girls how to play the guitar.
“We started off with four girls within two months. We had forty girls. Within a year, we had hundreds of girls,” said Cordola, founder of the Miraculous Love Kids.
Through the non-profit Miraculous Love Kids, he started the ‘Girl with a Guitar’ project - playing melodies with Afghan street children.
“Our model is wellbeing, education, and guitar,” said Cordola. “Part of the well-being is getting the girls off the street and giving them a stipend.”
But as thousands of Afghans tried to flee during the Taliban takeover last summer -- Cordola’s guitar girls became trapped.
“It was extremely desperate,” he said.
Cordola, surrounded by some of the girls who spent the last eight months trying to evacuate, spoke via video conference from neighboring Pakistan.
“It was really the perseverance and the tenacity of these girls and their and their families to get out of Afghanistan to have a better life and a better future,” said Cordola.
16-year-old Yasamin – whose nickname is ‘Jellybean’, was among the first to cross the border.
“We[‘re] out of that jail of Afghanistan to Pakistan. Right now, we[‘re] happy. And here we are starting to [perform] music and we[‘re] starting to study the book and good thing. And I'm very happy for this,” said Yasamin.
“You know, Jellybean, when she got here, the first thing she wanted to do was start working on getting the other girls here. So, she set up the whole plans, and I just okayed them,” said Cordola.
It took 18-year-old Salma and her brother five days to make it from Kandahar to Pakistan’s capital. But she says life in her home country had become too difficult.
“Life is very bad. I'm not going to go to school, not play[ing] the guitar, not going in the street. But right now, I'm very happy with Mr. Lanny, with my friend[s] in Pakistan,” said Salma.
The youngest in the group is 4-year-old Uzra.
“Uzra is going to come in the studio with us and make her recording debut,” said Cordola.
Over the last two months, they’ve been able to get three groups out - nine girls and a dozen of their family members.
“Next week, we're going to have six more coming, which will be four girls and two family members,” said Cordola.
The next step is to help these young girls plot out a resettlement plan.
“Wherever that may be -- in America or Europe or in a place where we can settle, “said Cordola. “And we're going to still have a presence here in Pakistan. We're still supporting hundreds of kids in Afghanistan. So, we're going to be all over the place.”
For now, Cordola is focused on helping more Afghan girls. He continues to raise funds and connect with anyone willing to help. | https://www.wtvr.com/news/national/american-musician-helps-afghan-guitar-girls-escape-taliban | 2022-06-27 17:04:24 | 1 | https://www.wtvr.com/news/national/american-musician-helps-afghan-guitar-girls-escape-taliban |
BERLIN (AP) — German energy giant RWE said Tuesday that it will phase out the burning of coal by 2030, saving 280 million metric tons of climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions.
The decision will accelerate the closure of some of Europe's most polluting power plants and a vast lignite strip mine in the west of the country.
Resident of several villages and farms west of Cologne near the Garzweiler mine will no longer face eviction. The exception is Luetzerath, a hamlet that has been the focus of protestsby environmentalists and which will now need to be cleared to extract more coal in the short-term. The government argues this is necessary to ensure energy security amid the fallout of Russia's attack on Ukraine.
The announcement Tuesday boosts the German government's efforts to bring forward the deadline for coal use by eight years from 2038 as part of the country's goal of ending its greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. Economy Minister Robert Habeck, who is responsible for energy, said negotiations with the operators of Germany's other coal mines and eight coal-fired power plants were ongoing.
In parallel to its phaseout of coal, RWE will expand its renewable energy production and build gas-fired power plants capable of burning hydrogen, the company said.
RWE, which announced the purchase of Con Edison Clean Energy Businesses in the United States at the weekend, said it is now on a path that is compatible with the 2015 Paris climate accord's goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit). | https://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/German-energy-giant-RWE-to-end-coal-use-by-2030-17485294.php | 2022-10-04 09:32:17 | 0 | https://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/German-energy-giant-RWE-to-end-coal-use-by-2030-17485294.php |
((SL Advertiser)) Minimal Living Concepts handles everything from conception to creation in building your new home or addition. Visit MinimalLivingConcepts.com
Minimal Living Concepts designs and builds modern homes and additions for your backyard or new home
Posted at 9:55 AM, Feb 13, 2023
and last updated 2023-02-13 12:27:50-05
Copyright 2023 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. | https://www.abc15.com/lifestyle/sonoran-living/sl-sponsors/minimal-living-concepts-designs-and-builds-modern-homes-and-additions-for-your-backyard-or-new-home | 2023-02-13 18:19:17 | 0 | https://www.abc15.com/lifestyle/sonoran-living/sl-sponsors/minimal-living-concepts-designs-and-builds-modern-homes-and-additions-for-your-backyard-or-new-home |
Solution can now be sold in the U.S. and around the world, providing customers an alternative to the SAS language environment
TROY, Mich., June 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Altair (Nasdaq: ALTR), a global leader in computational science and artificial intelligence (AI), paid and fully satisfied the 2019 North Carolina judgment SAS Institute obtained against recently acquired World Programming (WPL), a UK-based technology company that specializes in data analytics software. Shortly thereafter on March 3, 2022, the North Carolina court lifted the injunction that had previously prevented WPL from licensing its solutions to new customers in the United States. Altair can now license WPL solutions to customers in the United States and around the world.
With its payment of the 2019 North Carolina judgment, Altair brought an end to nearly 12 years of litigation between SAS and WPL except for an appeal filed by SAS in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit after a federal court in Texas ruled against SAS on its copyright and patent claims.
"WPL exemplifies our dedication to open architecture technology, which we believe is the best way people can harness innovation, improve products, and get the most from their work. Offering the flexibility to translate and interchange coding languages will allow organizations to build the foundation for more robust, powerful, and agile organizational processes," said James R. Scapa, founder and chief executive officer, Altair. "Now, companies in any industry across the globe can embrace open-source languages and technology while simultaneously leveraging the decades of investment they've put into the SAS language."
WPL's technology has been brought into the Altair suite of data analytics solutions and allows users to develop and execute software solutions in multi-language coding environments. Customers can utilize modern, open-source languages like Python, R, and SQL alongside established, legacy languages like the SAS language. These products include:
- Altair SLC: Runs programs written in the SAS language syntax without users needing to translate it or license third-party products. Also features a built-in SAS language compiler that runs the SAS language and SQL code and utilizes Python and R compilers to run Python and R code and exchange SAS language datasets, Pandas, and R data frames.
- Altair SmartWorks Hub: Gives users and organizations centralized governance and deployment services for every step in the data analytics lifecycle. Also lets organizations control access to data sources and deployed applications, stores audit logs about all user actions, and gives all users the power to handle tasks once considered the exclusive domain of information technology (IT) and DevOps teams.
- Altair Analytics Workbench: Empowers users to break down data silos, improve productivity, and reduce costs by giving teams a single platform where all users can connect, prepare, discover, and model any data. Also gives users an intuitive, drag-and-drop interface that lets them include Python, R, and SQL code into their SAS language programs – without needing to license third-party programs to run the SAS language programs.
With the acquisition of WPL, Altair is the first company to give organizations an alternative environment with the flexibility to leverage their decades of investment in the SAS language alongside modern, open-source coding languages, giving them the true power of a hybrid approach. Customers don't have to reprogram old code if they want to incorporate existing SAS language code into new platforms where R, SQL, or Python is the dominant language. Additionally, organizations can use the newly acquired WPL technology to integrate SAS language code that has been running on outdated servers into new servers without having to worry about incurring additional power-based licensing costs.
Altair SLC, Altair SmartWorks Hub, and Altair Analytics Workbench are available via Altair Units, which gives customers easy access to Altair's entire portfolio of software solutions.
About Altair
Altair is a global leader in computational science and artificial intelligence (AI) that provides software and cloud solutions in simulation, high-performance computing (HPC), data analytics, and AI. Altair enables organizations across all industries to compete more effectively and drive smarter decisions in an increasingly connected world – all while creating a greener, more sustainable future. For more information, visit https://www.altair.com/.
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SOURCE Altair | https://www.cleveland19.com/prnewswire/2022/06/27/court-lifts-final-injunction-favor-altair-world-programming-case/ | 2022-06-27 11:52:44 | 0 | https://www.cleveland19.com/prnewswire/2022/06/27/court-lifts-final-injunction-favor-altair-world-programming-case/ |
BANGOR -- 14-year-old Olyvea Spade is reported missing.
According to the Bangor Police Department, they officially reported her missing on July 30th.
According to the family, she was last seen around 11:00 p.m. on Friday, July 28th.
Her family realized she was not home the next morning and contacted the police.
There is no known clothing description available.
Olyvea is 14-years-old, described as 5'6'' tall, weighs around 145 lbs., and has black hair with brown eyes, according to the Bangor Police Department official media release.
If anyone has seen, heard, or has any information on Olyvea, authorities ask that you contact Detective Andrea Gurecki by email at andrea.gurecki@bangormaine.gov
To contact the Bangor Police Department call (207) 947-7384.
To leave an anonymous tip call (207) 947-7382, extension 3. | https://www.foxbangor.com/news/local/14-year-old-girl-reported-missing-by-bangor-police/article_610c60d8-2fb2-11ee-b8ab-671e4fd307d9.html | 2023-07-31 19:06:44 | 1 | https://www.foxbangor.com/news/local/14-year-old-girl-reported-missing-by-bangor-police/article_610c60d8-2fb2-11ee-b8ab-671e4fd307d9.html |
This week's show was recorded at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago, with host Peter Sagal, official judge and scorekeeper Bill Kurtis, Not My Job guest Chris Estrada and panelists Maeve Higgins, Mo Rocca and Skyler Higley. Click the audio link above to hear the whole show.
Who's Bill This Time
The GOAT Tries To Retire; A Picture Paints A Thousand Secrets; I Will Always Walk You
Panel Questions
A Too Beautiful Union
Bluff The Listener
Our panelists read three stories about something fun to do before the end of summer, only one of which is true.
Not My Job: This Fool's Chris Estrada answers three questions about April Fools Pranks
Chris Estrada was working at a warehouse when he got the call that his show This Fool had been picked up by Hulu with the help of Fred Armisen. Estrada knows about the ups and downs of comedy, but what does he know about April Fools' pranks?
Panel Questions
The Hotwire Challenge, One Way To Solve A Food Crisis; Gonzo Journalism
Limericks
Bill Kurtis reads three news-related limericks: A Big Change For Toilet Paper; The Truth About Charles Dickens?; An Emotional Support Reptile
Lightning Fill In The Blank
All the news we couldn't fit anywhere else.
Predictions
Our panelists predict, after Doggy Parton, what will be the next celebrity product?
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.nepm.org/2022-09-03/wait-wait-for-sept-3-2022-with-not-my-job-guest-chris-estrada | 2022-09-03 14:53:02 | 0 | https://www.nepm.org/2022-09-03/wait-wait-for-sept-3-2022-with-not-my-job-guest-chris-estrada |
JOHNSON COUNTY, Ind. — A four car crash at State Road 37/69 and Fairview Road has left one person in serious condition and traffic redirected, according to the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.
The White River Fire Department and the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched at approximately 2:34 p.m. on Friday, May 26 on a report of a serious accident.
Four people were transported to an area hospital. One person was listed in serious condition.
Southbound lanes of State Road 37/69 are closed. Traffic is being diverted to a different road.
The Johnson County Sheriff’s has no further updates at this time.
This is an active investigation and the information in this story will be updated as it becomes available. | https://fox59.com/indiana-news/4-car-crash-in-johnson-county-leaves-1-in-serious-condition/ | 2023-05-26 21:23:52 | 1 | https://fox59.com/indiana-news/4-car-crash-in-johnson-county-leaves-1-in-serious-condition/ |
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Las Vegas Aces player Riquna Williams has been charged after police say she hit, kicked, and strangled her wife in a domestic violence incident that lasted an hour, according to police documents.
Williams, a member of last year’s championship team, is facing five felony charges, including counts of domestic battery, domestic battery by strangulation, assault with the use of a deadly weapon, and coercion of domestic violence with force or threat to force, court records show.
According to an arrest report from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, officers were called to Williams’ home on Tuesday around noon after her wife called 911.
Williams and her wife have been together for four years and were married in September.
Speaking with police, Williams’ wife said the veteran WNBA player had been standoffish and would not spend any time with her for the past couple of days. The victim said she texted Williams on Monday night, saying the two needed to take a break from each other. She added she would go back to Florida, where the couple lives in the off-season, to spend time with her son. Williams replied “OK” but did not join the victim in bed, police said.
Early Tuesday morning, the victim said she began packing when Williams allegedly came into the room and told her “not to take anything she did not pay for.” Williams then threw clothes that had been packed in a suitcase onto the floor.
According to the report, Williams asked the victim where she was going, to which the victim replied, “We agreed you would let me leave?”
Williams’ wife also accused her of taking her cellphone, iPad, credit and debit cards, and ID, so “[the victim] could not leave her.”
Williams allegedly accused the victim of cheating on her and getting in her face, yelling at her. The victim told police Williams grabbed her by the shirt and threw her to the ground before choking her “until she could not breathe.” Williams reportedly choked her wife multiple times during the incident.
“I’ll kill you here and walk to the jail myself!” Williams reportedly told the victim.
Williams has also been accused of grabbing her wife at one point and punching her. The victim told police that because Williams is a professional athlete and works out every day, there was no way she could overpower Williams.
Her wife also accused her of blocking her in the bedroom and swinging items at her head. At one point, after choking the victim, Williams allegedly began hitting her in the face again.
According to the report, the victim told police that the incident lasted about an hour.
The victim also told police that Williams said she was going to stay at a hotel and when she got back, the victim needed to be gone. When the victim asked Williams where she could go without her ID and credit cards, Williams told the victim that “she did not care, she just wanted [the victim] gone.”
Williams left for part of the morning, returning to argue with the victim about things she had found on her phone, the victim told officers. That’s when Williams allegedly began hitting and kicking the victim.
The victim told police that Williams then took a shower and left. According to the report, the victim waited a few hours to build courage before going to a neighbor’s house to call a family member and then the police.
The neighbor told police he overheard the victim telling a family member that Williams was planning on killing [the victim] and then herself, and said “she did it again,” in reference to being hit by her wife.
Detectives took Williams into custody outside of a gym. She reportedly asked detectives why she was being detained, telling police she was the victim and had been beaten up. The report stated she had asked police if she was the suspect “because [the victim] had called first.”
The WNBA player allegedly accused her wife of being the aggressor but did not provide any specific details and kept changing her story, police said. Officers also noted that Williams said she had “a busted lip” and two black eyes, however, medical staff at an area hospital told police that she “did not have injuries consistent to what she was alleging.”
Williams was arrested and taken to the Clark County Detention Center. She was released on Wednesday without having to pay bail and was ordered to stay away from the victim.
“The court does have concerns regarding the extremely violent nature of the allegations in this case, that they alleged to have occurred over an extended period of time, and that you came back as a high-risk lethality on the domestic violence report. The court does balance that, however, with your lack of any criminal history at age 33,” Las Vegas Judge Rebecca Saxe said in court.
Court records obtained by the Associated Press show that Williams was arrested in 2019 for domestic battery charges when she played for the Los Angeles Sparks. The WNBA suspended Williams for 10 games following that arrested. Those charges were dismissed in 2020.
The Las Vegas Aces released this statement:
“The Las Vegas Aces were made aware of domestic violence charges against a member of our team, Riquna Williams. As an organization, we condemn domestic violence of any kind. At this time, Riquna Williams will be precluded from participating in team activities. Our thoughts are with the parties involved in this situation. We are currently gathering more information, and as such we will not have any further comments at this time.”
In a statement shared with ESPN Wednesday, the WNBA said it is “aware of the alleged incident” and is “in the process of gathering more information.”
Williams’ next court appearance is scheduled for August 2. | https://www.wearegreenbay.com/news/national/wnba-player-charged-for-allegedly-strangling-hitting-wife-police/ | 2023-07-27 01:13:17 | 0 | https://www.wearegreenbay.com/news/national/wnba-player-charged-for-allegedly-strangling-hitting-wife-police/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — NEW YORK (AP) — Getty Realty Corp. (GTY) on Wednesday reported a key measure of profitability in its fourth quarter. The results beat Wall Street expectations.
The New York-based real estate investment trust said it had funds from operations of $26.5 million, or 55 cents per share, in the period.
The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of 50 cents per share.
Funds from operations is a closely watched measure in the REIT industry. It takes net income and adds back items such as depreciation and amortization.
The company said it had net income of $27.3 million, or 57 cents per share.
The real estate investment trust posted revenue of $43.1 million in the period. Its adjusted revenue was $42.6 million.
For the year, the company reported funds from operations of $102.5 million, or $2.14 per share. Revenue was reported as $163.9 million.
Getty Realty expects full-year funds from operations in the range of $2.19 to $2.21 per share.
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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on GTY at https://www.zacks.com/ap/GTY | https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/getty-realty-q4-earnings-snapshot-17799720.php | 2023-02-22 22:16:27 | 1 | https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/getty-realty-q4-earnings-snapshot-17799720.php |
Building upon the innovation of Flo's Anonymous Mode, the addition of these experts will support Flo in its industry leadership in privacy and security
LONDON, Jan. 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Flo, the most popular women's health app globally, appointed Sue Khan as its new Vice President of Privacy and Data Protection Officer and launched its new Privacy & Security Advisory Board. With these appointments, Flo continues to showcase its commitment to deploying the most rigorous privacy and security standards. The company remains focused on protecting its 50M monthly active users' data at the highest level possible.
In 2022, Flo also became the first female health app to receive the ISO 27001 certification, the internationally recognized standard for information security. Flo also released Anonymous Mode (AM), which allows any Flo user the option to access the app without name, email address, and technical identifiers from being associated with the health data in their AM account. Flo is the first female health app to take this level of precaution in terms of privacy and security and create a feature that further protects sensitive reproductive health information in a post-Roe America.
Additionally, Flo surveyed 1.9K women1 aged 18-45 in the United States to determine their sentiment and concerns around data privacy and security following the reversal of Roe v. Wade and the events of 2022:
- Over 80% say they are concerned or somewhat concerned about their personal and health data.
- Among women who are concerned or somewhat concerned about their data privacy, the majority (60%) reported not taking any actions post Roe-America.
- Only 14% of women feel that they can effectively protect their data.
Khan joins Flo after spending four years at the digital-first health provider, Babylon Health where she built and led the global privacy function to ensure compliance with legal requirements in the US, UK, and APAC region. She has 17 years of experience as a lawyer, specializing in privacy and data protection, having also led the privacy initiatives for the mobile network O2, and the global entertainment company, Hasbro.
"I am thrilled to join Flo Health as the company has already set such a high standard of privacy and security excellence with the innovation of Anonymous Mode and the ISO 27001 Certification," said Sue Khan, Vice President of Privacy at Flo. "According to Flo's recent survey, only 13% of the US women feel that they can effectively protect their data. One of my goals is to help women feel informed and in control of their health data. My colleagues and I will create a better future for female health by clearly communicating with our users about data privacy rights in simple terms, so they can confidently use Flo without concern. My role is dedicated to protecting our users' privacy rights and freedoms, and safeguarding their most intimate health data."
Flo established its new Privacy & Security Advisory Board by inviting five top experts across the legal, data security and information technology fields with the aim of elevating the bar for privacy and security practices for Flo and the broader health app industry. The board members will work in collaboration with Flo's in-house Privacy and Security team to ensure the company continues to protect its users' data and privacy rights as well as create a secure platform where users can access credible health insights and track their most personal health information without concern. By introducing the Privacy & Security Advisory Board, Flo also hopes to push the femtech and healthtech industries to innovate, improve and rethink their current approach.
The inaugural members include:
- Anna Zeiter (LL.M), Associate General Counsel & Chief Privacy Officer at eBay
- Emily Hancock, Chief Privacy Officer at Cloudflare
- Craig Lisowski, Head of Data, Information Systems and Trust at NextDoor
- Susanne Schumacher (LL.B., CIPP/E, CIPM), Senior Attorney Governance & Compliance and Data Protection Officer at Catalyst Inc.
- Brenda R. Sharton, Partner & Global Chair, Privacy & Cybersecurity at Dechert LLP
"Health apps are in the midst of a privacy and security reckoning. For instance, in the US, over 80% of women say they are concerned or somewhat concerned about their personal health data," said Anna Zeiter, Associate General Counsel & Chief Privacy Officer at eBay. "Flo's Privacy & Security Advisory Board's goal is to continue to set industry leading standards in how we build technology to protect users while still delivering incredible value to them. We are going to build off the momentum of Flo's Anonymous Mode by focusing on transparency, clarity and the power of choice in Flo's products and in our conversations around data privacy and security. We'll work to ensure all efforts benefit the end user and are easy to understand and use."
As a company, Flo welcomes external expertise to strengthen its practices and products. The company now works with a Privacy & Security Advisory Board as well as a Medical Advisory Board to support its mission of building a better future for female health.
ABOUT FLO:
Flo is the most popular women's health app globally; it is #1 OB-GYN-recommended app for period and cycle tracking based on a survey among US OB-GYNs. Over 240 million people have downloaded Flo, and 50 million people use it on a monthly basis. With over 100+ medical experts, Flo supports women during their entire reproductive lives and provides curated cycle and ovulation tracking, personalized health insights, expert tips, and a fully closed community for women to share their questions and concerns. Flo prioritizes safety and keeps a sharp focus on being the most trusted digital source for women's health information. Flo health app is available in more than 20 languages on iOS and Android. For more information, please visit https://flo.health.
US CONTACT:
Anne Elorriaga
a_elorriaga@flo.health
UK CONTACT:
Daria Gerasimova
d_gerasimova@flo.health
1 Based on a 2022 survey of 1.9K US-based women aged 18-45 y.o., self-reported data. (via SurveyMonkey platform)
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SOURCE Flo Health Inc. | https://www.kfyrtv.com/prnewswire/2023/01/24/flo-health-appoints-new-executive-launches-privacy-amp-security-advisory-board-further-its-commitment-protecting-its-50m-monthly-active-users-data/ | 2023-01-24 15:15:32 | 0 | https://www.kfyrtv.com/prnewswire/2023/01/24/flo-health-appoints-new-executive-launches-privacy-amp-security-advisory-board-further-its-commitment-protecting-its-50m-monthly-active-users-data/ |
DALLAS, Tex. — A little over an hour after Oklahoma’s 49-0 loss to Texas, Brent Venables stepped to the podium.
The Sooners’ coach didn’t mince words about his team’s performance.
“[I’m] really disappointed in how we coached and played today,” Venables said. “Hats off to Texas. I thought Texas played very well and capitalized, particularly in the first half, when they needed to.
“We had some guys that did not participate today and I don't think that had anything to do with the outcome of the game. We were good enough on both sides of the ball to be a lot more competitive and to have a chance to win the game than what we displayed. “
The Longhorns thoroughly dominated on both sides of the ball from start to finish. But one inactive Sooner who may have been able to help is starting quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who missed his first game of the season due to a hit he suffered against TCU.
Without him, the Sooners offense simply couldn’t find success, finishing with 195 total yards — their fewest in a game since 2005 — while being held scoreless for the first time in the Red River Showdown since 1965.
Davis Beville, who made his first start in place of Gabriel, really struggled to move the ball, particularly through the air. He completed just 6-of-12 passing attempts for 38 yards and was sacked three times.
OU offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby was forced to get creative, opting at times to run the ball utilizing the wildcat formation while cycling several different players under center, including Brayden Willis, Marcus Major, Eric Gray and Jalil Farooq.
The gimmick offense actually found a little success at times. Farooq opened the second drive of the game with carries of 23 and 12 yards, and it helped the Sooners make it inside the Texas 10-yard line before they failed to convert on a fourth-and-2.
Another successful drive in the second quarter ended after six plays and 50 yards, when Gray faked a run up the middle and attempted a jump pass that was intercepted by the Texas defense.
Lebby said he turned to the wildcat earlier in an effort to take pressure off of Beville.
“I think that’s what’s most frustrating, is it put us into some really good situations that we didn’t take advantage of there in the first half on those first five drives,” Lebby said. “So, frustrated about that, embarrassed that it ended the way it did, and time to get back to work.”
Farooq led the way on the ground, finishing with a team-high 60 yards on five carries. The Sooners’ offense finished with just 11 first downs.
Even if the offense had been able to capitalize on its productive drives, the Sooners still would’ve been in trouble. The Texas offense, led by Quinn Ewers, hurt the Sooners in every facet, finishing with 585 total yards.
Ewers, in his first action since Week 2 against Alabama, completed 21-of-31 passes for 289 yards and four touchdowns. Texas running back Bijan Robinson added 22 carries for 130 yards and two scores. The Sooners’ defense struggled again to get pressure in the backfield, recording zero sacks and four tackles for loss.
Texas’ 49 points is the most they’ve ever scored against Oklahoma, and their 49-point win is their biggest margin of victory against the Sooners.
In the past three games, the Sooners’ defense has surrendered nearly 588 yards per game (1,762 total) and 145 points. However, the Sooner players are adamant they can fix their defensive issues.
“The outside sees the game as big plays, touchdowns, us not scoring any points,” OU linebacker David Ugwoegbu said, “but I know everything and we know everything that we need to do in order to fix it.”
There’s not much time for a turnaround. The Sooners (3-3, 0-3) sit at the bottom of the conference standings with six games to go.
Their next opportunity to bounce back comes next Saturday against Kansas at 11 a.m. in Norman.
“I think our players have been incredibly invested through the first half of the season,” Venables said. “Frustrated for them not to see the results that they're all fighting for every single day. Some ways we looked like maybe a tired football team. There's probably several reasons why. Right now we're having to play near perfect football. And we're just not able to do that right now.” | https://www.normantranscript.com/sports/ou-football-without-gabriel-sooners-offense-stalls-in-blowout-loss-to-texas/article_ac58a7ea-4755-11ed-bdd7-53bab681dc70.html | 2022-10-09 00:21:06 | 0 | https://www.normantranscript.com/sports/ou-football-without-gabriel-sooners-offense-stalls-in-blowout-loss-to-texas/article_ac58a7ea-4755-11ed-bdd7-53bab681dc70.html |
Which backpack beach chair is best?
Packing up everything for a trip to the beach isn’t always easy. Forgetting something essential could derail the day, but at the same time you don’t want to overpack and carry a bunch of things you don’t need. A backpack beach chair takes away some of that hassle by using a practical time- and space-saving design. It’s easy to carry and evenly distributes weight.
Check out the Oniva Picnic Time Fusion Folding Chair for a reliable chair with plenty of luxurious bonus features.
What to know before you buy a backpack beach chair
How it works
A standard beach chair requires a strap or storage bag for transportation. Getting the chair in and out of that bag is challenging and the single-strap carry method can make your shoulder hurt. A backpack beach chair eliminates the storage bag and more evenly distributes weight as you carry it.
The chair folds up with backpack straps that easily slip over each shoulder. These straps are usually adjustable and leave your hands free so you can carry beach toys, a cooler or anything else you might need.
Materials
Most backpack beach chairs are constructed from a metal such as aluminum to prevent rust and corrosion. The arms are made from plastic, so they don’t get too hot and burn your skin.
The metal frame is swathed in fabric, most likely a canvas polyester. This heavy polyester feels durable and strong without being uncomfortable against your skin. It’s breathable, dries quickly and doesn’t get too hot under the sun.
Reclining positions
A backpack beach chair can sit at a fixed position or recline at different levels, depending on the chair you select. The most versatile reclining chairs have up to five positions.
Chairs that don’t recline are more compact, but reclining chairs can adjust for a more comfortable sitting experience, especially if you are going to be seated for a long time. Some reclining chairs can lay completely flat, letting you lie on the beach with more structure than you’d get with a towel alone.
What to look for in a quality backpack beach chair
Sun canopy
If you don’t want to pack an umbrella separately or you’re traveling solo and don’t need a ton of coverage, a beach chair with a canopy is a great option. A sun canopy adjusts to shield you from the hot sun as you sit and folds back out of the way when not in use. It’s built into the chair, so it packs up easily as part of the backpack design when it’s time to go home .
Storage features
A great backpack beach chair comes with built-in storage that keeps your beach area well-organized. This can mean anything from a towel bar on the back for drying your wet towel or hanging armrest cupholders and pouches for your drinks, snacks, book or phone. Some chairs have a storage cooler attached to the back of the seat or the handle so you can carry your water without packing a separate bag.
Padded straps
The best beach chair backpack straps are adjustable, as this allows you to loosen or tighten the straps while you carry the chair, keeping it secure. The straps are also padded, which provides comfort and relief on your shoulders and back. Padding is important if the chair is heavy or you plan on carrying it a great distance.
How much you can expect to spend on a backpack beach chair
A single backpack beach chair costs $30-$200, while a set of two costs $100-$230.
Backpack beach chair FAQ
Are the backpack straps detachable?
A. Some beach chairs have straps built into the backing, but others have fasteners so you can take the straps off when the chair is in use and hook them back on when it’s time to carry the chair away.
What is lace-up seat suspension?
A. A chair with lace-up suspension has roped loops all the way up to attach the fabric seating to the metal frame. The design is supposed to contour more easily to support your body’s shape.
What’s the best backpack beach chair to buy?
Top backpack beach chair
Oniva Picnic Time Fusion Folding Chair
What you need to know: This collapsible chair has a powder-coated aluminum frame with a polyester canvas fabric and plenty of extra features. The weight capacity is 350 pounds.
What you’ll love: The seat and backrest are ribbed for comfort. There’s a detachable cooler for drinks, a shelf for books, an electronics pocket and a fold-out side table. The backpack straps are padded. The frame comes in black, red or blue.
What you should consider: It does not recline. There are fabric loops for an umbrella, but the umbrella is sold separately.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Macy’s
Top backpack beach chair for the money
Homevative Folding Backpack Beach Chair
What you need to know: This foldable chair has an aluminum frame with lace-up seat suspension and great extras. The weight capacity is 250 pounds.
What you’ll love: There is a towel bar on the back and a rear cooler pouch. The backpack straps are padded. There is a hanging cell phone and cup holder on the arm. It has a comfortable head rest and adjusts to accommodate five sitting positions, including one that lays completely flat. It comes in blue or multi-color fabric.
What you should consider: It can be difficult to fold up.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
GCI Outdoor Waterside SunShade Backpack Beach Chair
What you need to know: This foldable chair has an aluminum frame and a blue fabric design. The weight capacity is 250 pounds.
What you’ll love: It reclines to accommodate four sitting positions and has a built-in beverage holder. There’s a comfortable headrest. The sun canopy is a major asset, and it’s adjustable.
What you should consider: The fabric could be more durable.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.conchovalleyhomepage.com/reviews/br/camping-outdoors-br/beach-br/best-backpack-beach-chair/ | 2022-08-24 19:06:45 | 0 | https://www.conchovalleyhomepage.com/reviews/br/camping-outdoors-br/beach-br/best-backpack-beach-chair/ |
Mom charged after newborn tests positive for illegal drugs, sheriff says
JONES COUNTY, Miss. (WDAM/Gray News) – A Mississippi mother was arrested Tuesday on felony child abuse charges after her newborn tested positive for illegal narcotics.
According to the Jones County Sheriff’s Department, 25-year-old Tierra Lewis was arrested and charged after her baby tested positive for amphetamine and methamphetamine.
Lewis is being held at the Jones County Adult Detention Facility on a $10,000 bond.
Jones County Sheriff Joe Berlin said the department doesn’t tolerate these types of crimes and hopes to get justice for the child.
“History has proven that we don’t tolerate this type of behavior. This is a felony child abuse charge, and we will pursue justice,” Berlin said. “This type of criminal behavior involving a baby just makes me sick to my stomach.”
Officials did not say if the child suffered any injuries or health problems.
Copyright 2022 WDAM via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wbrc.com/2022/07/28/mom-charged-after-newborn-tests-positive-illegal-drugs-sheriff-says/ | 2022-07-28 17:37:18 | 0 | https://www.wbrc.com/2022/07/28/mom-charged-after-newborn-tests-positive-illegal-drugs-sheriff-says/ |
Challenge to Harvard’s use of affirmative action was designed by a conservative to reach a friendly Supreme Court
By Joan Biskupic, CNN
In an ordinary Boston courtroom in April 2015, lawyers and activists at the first hearing of a challenge to race-based admissions practices at Harvard knew they would see each other again, eventually at the US Supreme Court.
Attending that preliminary session before US District Judge Allison Burroughs were lawyers from the Consovoy McCarthy law firm and, on the Harvard team, former US solicitor general Seth Waxman. They had been hired at the outset for their expertise as Supreme Court litigators.
Sizing up the affirmative action controversy destined to affect campus diversity nationwide, Burroughs said: “It is the sort of case that I suspect will ultimately be decided above my pay level.”
The Supreme Court will indeed now take it up, on Monday, in one of the most closely watched disputes of the current session.
Among those in the spectator seats in April 2015 was Edward Blum, a conservative activist who’d created an entity called Students for Fair Admissions and begun raising millions of dollars from right-wing donors for this broadside against affirmative action at Harvard and, in a case filed simultaneously in November 2014, against the University of North Carolina.
Blum had previously enlisted White students to sue over race-based admissions at the University of Texas — and lost. He added a new dimension to the Harvard case, claiming that high-achieving Asian American applicants were unlawfully disadvantaged by screening policies that favored traditionally underrepresented Blacks and Hispanics.
A former stockbroker who never went to law school, Blum, now 70, has a talent for fashioning cases that appeal to the increasingly conservative high court. Using many of the same lawyers over the years, he engineered a series of lawsuits against the 1965 Voting Rights Act culminating in Shelby County v. Holder, the 2013 decision that curtailed the reach of the Voting Rights Act over designated states with a history of discrimination.
In the pending effort against affirmative action, Blum’s legal team failed to persuade Burroughs or any of the other lower court judges that heard the challenges that consideration of an applicant’s race, among other criteria, violated federal law or the Constitution.
Yet this high court venue now appears more promising to the challengers since the cases were filed nearly eight years ago. The bench is now dominated by six conservatives, with only three liberal justices.
The court, which already had demonstrated an aversion to racial remedies, in June showed a startling disregard for precedent when it reversed the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that guaranteed a right to abortion nationwide.
Students for Fair Admissions wants the justices to throw out Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, the 1978 case that first validated universities’ use of race in determining who was selected for a coveted place on campus, and Grutter v. Bollinger, a significant 2003 decision reinforcing Bakke.
The Harvard admissions program was held up as a model in the Bakke case, based on the principle that diversity is essential to the educational mission and that while schools may use race to lift an applicant’s prospects, they may not engage in quotas.
SFFA has sued under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits schools receiving federal funds from discriminating based on race, and under the 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection of the law, which covers state institutions.
Lawyers for Harvard and UNC describe race as a “plus” factor, considered along with a student’s academic record and test scores, extracurricular activities and personal attributes. Race shapes one’s life experiences, they say.
Back in 2015, Judge Burroughs noted that advocates for Black and Hispanic students were seeking to intervene in the case. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law argued that a verdict for Students for Fair Admissions would especially disadvantage minority students who’d experienced fewer academic opportunities and that they should be represented at trial.
“UNC needs race-conscious admissions to achieve the diversity,” David Hinojosa, of the Lawyers’ Committee, wrote in their brief to the Supreme Court, “in part, because of the University’s sordid history of excluding Black applicants well into the twentieth century and its present-day effects, which impede the University’s ability to attract, enroll, and retain Black, Latino, and Native American students, in particular.”
Hinojosa added that one student “testified regarding several confederate relics on UNC’s campus” and said “having to walk past the ‘racist wallpaper . . . every day adds to that feeling of not being valued . . . .'”
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court’s newest member and its first African American female justice, will hear only the UNC dispute, having recused herself from the Harvard case because she previously served on its board of overseers.
The Blum genesis
Blum, whose home is in Penobscot Bay, Maine, has been originating lawsuits against racial policies since the early 1990s when he lived in Houston. After he ran unsuccessfully for the US House of Representatives in Texas, he became part of a group of plaintiffs who sued the state over its congressional district maps.
In part to compensate for past discrimination, Texas had created Black-majority and Hispanic-majority districts to increase the chances for minorities to elect a candidate of their choice. The Supreme Court struck down the Texas plan in the 1996 case of Bush v. Vera, finding that the map violated the Constitution’s equal protection guarantee because race was the predominant factor in the map lines, at the expense of traditional districting criteria such as compactness.
Blum turned his attention to higher education in the early 2000s, bringing a case against his alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin, on behalf of Abigail Fisher, a White student denied admission who was also the daughter of a Blum friend.
In a CNN interview, Blum described race-based admissions as polarizing. “No one is suggesting diversity is a bad thing,” he said, “but just treating people differently because of their race and ethnicity, that’s a different element in the quest for diversity.”
After two Supreme Court rounds, Fisher lost that case against UT in 2016, as a sharply divided court upheld the principles of Bakke and Grutter, allowing schools to look to race as one criterion among many.
“As this Court has said,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, “enrolling a diverse student body ‘promotes cross-racial understanding, helps to break down racial stereotypes, and enables students to better understand persons of different races.’ Equally important, ‘student body diversity promotes learning outcomes, and better prepares students for an increasingly diverse workforce and society.'”
Kennedy has since retired, as has Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who penned the 2003 Grutter decision. In such racial disputes, no justice has replaced them as a centrist jurist brokering the middle ground.
The Asian-American dimension
Blum developed the cases against Harvard and the University of North Carolina while the University of Texas lawsuit was ongoing. The Asian American element in the claim against the storied Harvard campus — emphasized by the challengers as they recall caps on Jewish students at Ivy League institutions decades ago — has drawn more national attention, compared with the UNC lawsuit.
No individual Asian American students were named in the Students for Fair Admissions complaint. Blum attributed that to fears of personal attacks, whether on social media or in person at a campus dormitory.
In its filings, Students for Fair Admissions asserted that as Harvard engaged in unlawful “racial balancing,” it held Asian American applicants to higher standards than Black and Latino students. SFFA also contends admissions officers adopted stereotypes as they applied to “personal ratings,” categorizing Asian Americans as one-dimensional, lacking leadership qualities and falling short on traits such as “likeability.”
After a 15-day trial, Judge Burroughs found no intentional discrimination at Harvard and rejected claims of racial animus. The 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision.
In the University of North Carolina case, US District Court Judge Loretta Biggs upheld the schools use of race among many criteria, emphasizing that state institutions of higher education must be “open and available to all segments of our citizenry.”
A firebrand law firm
Blum has partnered with William Consovoy and Thomas McCarthy for more than a decade, including in the consequential case of Shelby County v. Holder, which curtailed the reach of the Voting Rights Act over states, mainly in the South, that had a record of electoral discrimination. Before Consovoy and McCarthy founded their own boutique firm in 2014, as the affirmative action cases were being developed, they were part of a larger Washington, DC-based law firm that had represented Blum back in the 1990s.
To pay the legal fees, Blum has collected millions of dollars from conservative benefactors through Donors Trust, which raises tax-exempt funds and channels them to various projects.
Consovoy, a former law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas who appeared before Burroughs from the start in 2015 and argued the SFFA appeal at the 1st Circuit in 2020, is currently being treated for brain cancer. Another partner, Cameron Norris, also a former Thomas clerk, will represent SFFA in the Harvard case on Monday.
Waxman will be back at the lectern for Harvard. In the UNC case, Patrick Strawbridge, another former Thomas clerk at Consovoy McCarthy, will represent SFFA, and North Carolina state solicitor general Ryan Park, a former law clerk to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, will appear for the university.
Consovoy McCarthy, often taking the helm in ideologically driven cases, represented then-president Donald Trump as he lodged election-related lawsuits in multiple states before the November 2020 presidential contest.
At the same time, Waxman, who was US solicitor general during the Clinton administration and is now in private practice at WilmerHale, was one of three former Democratic solicitors general who worked behind the scenes on a legal plan to counteract claims by Trump and other Republicans.
Biden administration enters case
Joining the veterans in the case will be current US solicitor general, Elizabeth Prelogar, siding with the universities on behalf of the Biden administration. (The Trump administration had earlier backed Students for Fair Admissions.)
Prelogar, who held consecutive clerkships for Ginsburg then Justice Elena Kagan, will present arguments in both cases Monday, highlighting the importance of diversity in higher education at West Point and other military academies. “The Nation’s military leaders,” she wrote in a brief, “have learned through hard experience that the effectiveness of our military depends on a diverse officer corps that is ready to lead an increasingly diverse fighting force.”
Blum, who insists that any policy of diversity based on race is wrong, will be in the spectator section of the courtroom on Monday.
He hopes that the high court is now ready to end the use of race in admissions, yet he adds with some caution, “After working on eight Supreme Court cases, I’ve learned that litigants can be very surprised” at a final decision.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. | https://localnews8.com/politics/cnn-us-politics/2022/10/30/challenge-to-harvards-use-of-affirmative-action-was-designed-by-a-conservative-to-reach-a-friendly-supreme-court/ | 2022-10-30 15:37:30 | 0 | https://localnews8.com/politics/cnn-us-politics/2022/10/30/challenge-to-harvards-use-of-affirmative-action-was-designed-by-a-conservative-to-reach-a-friendly-supreme-court/ |
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening's drawing of the Missouri Lottery's "Pick 3 Evening" game were:
4-4-9
(four, four, nine)
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening's drawing of the Missouri Lottery's "Pick 3 Evening" game were:
4-4-9
(four, four, nine) | https://www.sfgate.com/lottery/article/Winning-numbers-drawn-in-Pick-3-Evening-game-17490098.php | 2022-10-06 03:21:16 | 1 | https://www.sfgate.com/lottery/article/Winning-numbers-drawn-in-Pick-3-Evening-game-17490098.php |
BEIJING, Oct. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In less than a week, the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) will be solemnly held. Since the reform and opening-up, the Party's National Congress has been held every five years, becoming a vivid manifestation of the institutionalization of the Party's political life and the certainty of China's politics. Against the backdrop of the complex and turbulent international situation, the 20th CPC National Congress will also inject strong and stable expectations into the world confronting changes and disorders. Its significance is particularly special and momentous, and therefore it has been widely anticipated and attracted worldwide attention.
The 20th CPC National Congress will clearly declare what flag the CPC will hold on its new journey, what road it will take, what state of mind it will be in, and what goals it will continue to move toward. In the context of unresolved regional conflicts in the world, the raging COVID-19 pandemic, the obstruction of the global economic recovery, and the surging right-wing populist ideology, the maturity and stability of a big party and a big country is itself a "cure" for the global anxiety. The signal sent by China in the new era to the world is clear and resounding: We will adhere to realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation by Chinese-style modernization, continue to actively promote building a community with a shared future for mankind, bring new opportunities to the world with China's new development, and contribute wisdom and strength to world peace and development, as well as the progress of human civilization.
This is the blessing for China and the world. Under the leadership of the CPC, for the first time in human history, China has advanced large-scale modernization by means of peace rather than war and plunder. It has provided new possibilities for human development, and has continually injected positivity into the world. Such contribution is obvious to all. In terms of economic development, from 2013 to 2021, China's average contribution to global economic growth exceeded 30 percent, ranking first globally. When it comes to global governance, China's Global Development Initiative and Global Security Initiative have effectively responded to the concerns of the times. To be a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, a defender of the international order, and a provider of public goods is the vision and international responsibility of Chinese Communists.
Even amid high winds and rough seas, or even the most dangerous situation, China as an enormous ship has been steadily moving toward its goals under the strong leadership of the CPC. Political certainty at the highest level of the CPC fundamentally ensures the coherence of China's policies, having paramount importance for a rapidly developing country that accounts for one-fifth of the world's population. In terms of both top-level design and political practice, China's energy and focus are on "doing a good job in managing its own affairs." To others in the world, this will mean that China's determination to maintain world peace, promote common development, form partnerships, and support multilateralism is consistent and long-lasting. It is in line with the expectations of the larger part of the global community for China.
What needs to be especially emphasized to the international public opinion interested in the 20th CPC National Congress is that, first of all, China is determined with reform and opening-up, which will be brought up to a new level in the upcoming 20th CPC National Congress. Second, China is determined with the path of peaceful development, which will be consolidated at the level of top-level design in the Congress. As a matter of fact, these two points have long been incorporated into the blood of the CPC and China and have become a belief of the Chinese people, which will undoubtedly be carried forward and strengthened at the Congress. We believe that the world will have a fuller and more accurate understanding of this.
China stands firmly on the side of unity and cooperation, the trend of the times, and the common interests of most countries. This is determined by the nature of the CPC and reflects the adherence to the shared values among humankind: peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom. There is consistency and continuity about always being people-centered and standing on the right side of history and human progress, and this is the root of the stability China provides to the world. This is why the pessimistic views and smearing of China's development by some people with ideologically tinted glasses have failed time and again. This is also why more developing countries have learned valuable lessons from China's governance.
People see that China's vigorous development and political cohesion are intertwined and integrated as never before and that China is steadily walking on the new path. As this great Party and country set sail for a new journey, it will be another historical accumulation of energy while strengthening certainty. And history will continue to prove that the CPC is a party that works for the happiness of the Chinese people and strives for the cause of human progress.
Global Times: https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202210/1276865.shtml
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SOURCE Global Times | https://www.wkyt.com/prnewswire/2022/10/14/global-times-editorial-chinas-political-certainty-gives-world-sense-stability/ | 2022-10-14 08:26:49 | 0 | https://www.wkyt.com/prnewswire/2022/10/14/global-times-editorial-chinas-political-certainty-gives-world-sense-stability/ |
On a wooded river island, a Ukrainian family guards the legacy of the Zaporizhzhian Cossacks, whose history and traditions are making a comeback during the war.
Copyright 2023 NPR
On a wooded river island, a Ukrainian family guards the legacy of the Zaporizhzhian Cossacks, whose history and traditions are making a comeback during the war.
Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.wbaa.org/2023-06-28/zaporizhzhian-cossack-traditions-are-making-a-comeback-during-the-war | 2023-06-28 20:39:06 | 0 | https://www.wbaa.org/2023-06-28/zaporizhzhian-cossack-traditions-are-making-a-comeback-during-the-war |
WFO LUBBOCK Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Monday, May 16, 2022
_____
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
Severe Weather Statement
National Weather Service Lubbock TX
741 PM CDT Mon May 16 2022
...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR SOUTHEASTERN BAILEY AND
NORTHEASTERN COCHRAN COUNTIES IS CANCELLED...
The severe thunderstorm which prompted the warning has moved out of
the warned area. Therefore, the warning has been cancelled.
A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 100 AM CDT for
northwestern Texas.
...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 830 PM CDT
FOR NORTHWESTERN HOCKLEY AND LAMB COUNTIES...
At 740 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Amherst, or 8
miles northwest of Littlefield, moving northeast at 35 mph.
HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts.
SOURCE...Radar indicated.
IMPACT...Expect damage to roofs, siding, and trees.
Locations impacted include...
Littlefield, Olton, Earth, Sudan, Amherst, Fieldton, Spade and
Springlake.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a
building.
TX
. TEXAS COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE
ARMSTRONG BAILEY BRISCOE
CARSON CASTRO CHILDRESS
COCHRAN COLLINGSWORTH CROSBY
DALLAM DEAF SMITH DONLEY
FLOYD GRAY HALE
HALL HANSFORD HARTLEY
HEMPHILL HOCKLEY HUTCHINSON
LAMB LIPSCOMB LUBBOCK
MOORE MOTLEY OCHILTREE
OLDHAM PARMER POTTER
RANDALL ROBERTS SHERMAN
SWISHER WHEELER
_____
Copyright 2022 AccuWeather | https://www.sfgate.com/weather/article/TX-WFO-LUBBOCK-Warnings-Watches-and-Advisories-17177473.php | 2022-05-17 01:22:45 | 1 | https://www.sfgate.com/weather/article/TX-WFO-LUBBOCK-Warnings-Watches-and-Advisories-17177473.php |
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A witness told police that University of Virginia shooting suspect Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. targeted specific victims when he opened fire on a charter bus returning from a field trip Sunday night, a prosecutor said in court Wednesday.
Davis’s father, Lavel Davis Sr. in a Facebook post, wrote simply, “Lord please help me.”
Jones grew up in Richmond and played football at UVa in 2018 but didn't appear in any games.
This is continuing coverage of a shooting that killed three at the University of Virginia Sunday night and the arrest of Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. Monday in Henrico County.
» UVa suspected shooter had a gun two months ago, bystander told university
» Witness describes close encounter with UVa shooting suspect
» Watch now: Dramatic moment as UVa police chief learns shooting suspect is in custody
Gov. Glenn Youngkin visits campus to pay his respects. The suspect faces an initial hearing on Wednesday.
D’Sean Perry, a linebacker and defensive end, was one of the victims killed in Sunday night’s shooting at UVa, his father Sean Perry confirmed to The Daily Progress on Monday morning.
A Williamsburg man was detained after a double-bladed knife was found concealed inside the inner workings of his laptop computer during a secu…
Phillip Sims, Gerald Glasco step down as head coaches for Tigers, Warriors.
The move comes at the request of the North American Numbering Plan Administrator, the agency that assigns area codes to 20 countries, including the United States, Canada and 18 Caribbean nations and territories.
Virginia junior running back Mike Hollins, one of five people injured during Sunday’s shooting on campus, is undergoing a second surgery Tuesday morning, according to his mother. | https://richmond.com/quokka/article_d0420f49-0631-5486-b2f9-b418bc265b0b.html | 2022-11-19 10:48:57 | 1 | https://richmond.com/quokka/article_d0420f49-0631-5486-b2f9-b418bc265b0b.html |
Two years after cantaloupe were linked to one of the worst foodborne outbreaks in U.S. history, lawyers have filed a fresh round of lawsuits. Meanwhile, farmers are trying to win back customers after their signature crop was tarred by a broad brush.
Only one Colorado farm supplied cantaloupes contaminated with the listeria bacteria that killed 33 people and sickened at least 147 more in 28 states in 2011.
But that farmer sold his fruit as coming from Rocky Ford, Colo., and the longtime family farmers there, and the whole town, took a huge hit.
"The whole community is very proud of the cantaloupe. The Rocky Ford high school mascot is the 'Meloneer,'" says Mike Hirakata, a fourth generation melon grower here, "very proud to be Meloneers."
The tainted fruit came from a farm 90 miles away, but Rocky Ford farmers had never trademarked their local name and couldn't keep others from using it. That had never been a problem until 2011. The area's farmers have now legally protected their name, and they're taking other measures to convince the public that the cantaloupe they've built a 100-year reputation on are safe.
"If we wanted to keep going, we figured we needed to make changes that were for the better for our industry and for the customers," Hirakata says on a tour of his packing shed, newly refurbished with hundreds of thousands of dollars in new equipment.
He shows off the melon washing station that sprays his cantaloupes with clean water and sanitizer before the fruit are sent to an enormous cooling room. There, the melons are rapidly chilled to further inhibit the growth of any bacteria that might have survived the bath.
Farmers and the state of Colorado also invested in research that found that consumers play an important role in preventing cantaloupe-related outbreaks.
Their survey found that "more than half of consumers weren't washing cantaloupe at all before consuming them," says Marisa Bunning, a food safety researcher at Colorado State University.
"It already looked clean, and they weren't going to be eating the rind. It didn't occur to them to wash it," she says.
But researchers now believe that the deadly bacteria that caused the outbreak didn't penetrate the fruit until consumers cut into it, pushing listeria from the outer rind into the flesh they would eat with each pass of a knife.
"The knife needs to be washed between cuts," Bunning says, "just to be assured you're not causing any cross-contamination from the rind to the flesh."
Rocky Ford cantaloupe growers hired a public relations firm to help get that word out, and to tell people about the new safety measures they're taking to make sure that what happened at the one bad farm in 2011 will never happen at their facilities.
Farmer Hirakata says he never wants to go through something like that again, and not just because of the financial losses his family suffered. For over a week after the outbreak was first identified, he wasn't sure whether melons from his farm were making people sick.
"It was just kind of a sick-to-your-stomach feeling for that whole time, a lot of sleepless nights," he recalls.
Consumers appear to be forgiving, so far. Last year, Rocky Ford growers sold every cantaloupe they harvested, but they only planted 20 percent of a normal crop. This year they're planting more, but still not enough to send any out of state.
At an urban farmers market recently, several native Coloradans echoed shopper Bob Purvine's sentiment about the outbreak.
"It had us all a little paranoid," he said, but "probably wouldn't prevent me from buying the cantaloupe when it comes time again."
Why? Rocky Ford melons, he says, are the "best cantaloupe ever."
Copyright 2013 CPR News | https://www.kvpr.org/npr-news/2013-08-14/listeria-outbreak-still-haunts-colorados-cantaloupe-growers | 2022-11-14 06:08:33 | 1 | https://www.kvpr.org/npr-news/2013-08-14/listeria-outbreak-still-haunts-colorados-cantaloupe-growers |
Study: 18% drop since 2020 in people with reported medical debt
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people with medical debt on their credit reports fell by 8.2 million — or 17.9% — between 2020 and 2022, according to a report Tuesday from the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
White House officials said in a separate draft report that the two-year drop likely stems from their policies. Among the programs they say contributed to less debt was an expansion of the Obama-era healthcare law that added 4.2 million people with some form of health insurance. Also, local governments are leveraging $16 million in coronavirus relief funds to wipe out $1.5 billion worth of medical debt.
There has also been a persistent effort by the CFPB to reduce medical debt. The major credit rating agencies said last year that they will no longer include in their reports medical debts under $500 or debts that were already repaid. The agencies will also extend the time it takes to add medical debt to reports from six months to one year, possibly giving families more time to repay before being penalized with lower credit scores.
White House officials said the decline in debt could reduce fears about medical bills that can prevent people from making needed doctor appointments and filling pharmaceutical prescriptions.
While economic measures such as the unemployment rate and inflation can swing up and down, the decline in medical debt shows that steady progress is being made. Some 13.5% of the 279 million people with credit reports had at least one medical debt, down from 16.4% in 2020 and 19.4% in 2014.
Still, unpaid medical bills account for more than half of all debt in collections, according to the White House report. As a result, medical debt exceeds credit cards, personal loans and utilities and phone bills combined.
There is also evidence that the decline predates the Biden presidency. The amount of medical debt on credit reports fell to $111 billion from $143 billion between 2018 and the first half of 2021, according to a March 2022 report by the CFPB.
But communities such as Chicago, New Orleans, Pittsburgh and Toledo, Ohio, are using $16 million in funds from the 2021 coronavirus relief to buy medical debt and forgive it. So far, the spending plans are eliminating $1.5 billion in medical debt, a ratio of about 100-to-1 for the expenditures by the local governments.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.kmvt.com/2023/02/14/study-18-drop-since-2020-people-with-reported-medical-debt/ | 2023-02-14 17:27:43 | 0 | https://www.kmvt.com/2023/02/14/study-18-drop-since-2020-people-with-reported-medical-debt/ |
Tropical Storm Fiona's winds strengthen to 60 mph
Tropical Storm Fiona got a little bit stronger Friday night and is expected to strengthen into a Category 1 hurricane next week, but most forecast models continue to keep the system well east of Florida.
According to Friday's 11 p.m. update from the National Hurricane Center, Fiona now has maximum sustained winds of 60 mph and is located 55 miles west, northwest of Guadeloupe, moving west at 14 mph.
TRACKING THE TROPICS: Hurricane Center | Hurricane Guide
A tropical storm warning is in effect for:
- Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, and Anguilla
- Saba and St. Eustatius
- St. Maarten
- Guadeloupe, St. Barthelemy, and St. Martin
- Puerto Rico, including Vieques and Culebra
- U.S. Virgin Islands
- British Virgin Islands
- South coast of the Dominican Republic from Cabo Engano westward to Cabo Caucedo
- North coast of the Dominican Republic from Cabo Engano westward to Puerto Plata
A tropical storm watch is in effect for:
- Dominica
- South coast of the Dominican Republic from Cabo Caucedo westward to Barahona
Heavy rains and tropical storm conditions continued Friday night across portions of the northern Leeward Islands.
"We need to monitor this system. Not need to worry, but just monitor," said WPTV First Alert Weather meteorologist Kate Wentzel.
On the forecast track, the center of Fiona is expected to move near or just south of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico Saturday into Sunday, and approach the southern or eastern coast of the Dominican Republic Sunday afternoon. Fiona is forecast to move across the Dominican Republic Sunday night and Monday.
Fiona could be near hurricane strength when it reaches the Dominican Republic.
Fiona will begin turning toward the northwest on Monday.
The latest forecast track has the storm strengthening into a Category 1 hurricane on Wednesday — with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph east of the Bahamas.
Most forecast models keep the system to the east of Florida and many islands in the Bahamas next week.
"As it gets into the open Atlantic, some models want to take it pretty much due north, while others take it further to the west. So that's why we're waiting and we're watching," Wentzel said. "As we head into the next day or two, computer models will come into better agreement."
Fiona is expected to bring heavy rainfall to the British Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, producing isolated flash and urban flooding, along with mudslides in areas of higher terrain.
The British and U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico could see 4 to 6 inches with isolated maximum totals of 10 inches across eastern Puerto Rico. Eastern Hispaniola could experience 4 to 8 inches with isolated maximum totals of 12 inches.
If Fiona does strengthen into a hurricane, it will be the third of the season.
Scripps Only Content 2022 | https://www.wflx.com/2022/09/16/tropical-storm-fionas-winds-strengthen-60-mph/ | 2022-09-17 03:56:39 | 0 | https://www.wflx.com/2022/09/16/tropical-storm-fionas-winds-strengthen-60-mph/ |
The Consumer Product Safety Commission wants to make sure the only thing fried on Thanksgiving is the food.
In a Twitter thread shared on Nov. 23, the CPSC urged people to "cook the turkey and not your home" on a holiday it says has the most home fires by far of any day of the year.
The CPSC offers tips on how to properly deep-fry a turkey and the simple mistakes while cooking to avoid starting a fire.
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A video compilation set to dance music shows a series of turkeys being lowered into pots filled with hot cooking oil and then exploding into flames.
The video, which has been viewed more than 2.8 million times, shows the exploding turkeys happening everywhere from the basement to outdoor decks and engulfing the area in flames.
Holidays
Enjoy a safe and happy holiday season with NBC10!
"If you’re frying your turkey this year, make sure it is thawed," the CPSC wrote. "Follow the manufacturer instructions for using your fryer. Only fry a turkey outside and away from your home. Never use turkey fryers in the garage or on the porch, Turkey America!"
The commission then noted that Thanksgiving is the most dangerous day of the year when it comes to fires in homes, and it's not solely because of mishaps from attempting to deep-fry turkeys.
"Tomorrow there will be 3x more home fires in the United States than any other day of the year," the CPSC wrote. "Turkey fryers will not be the primary cause. No. Unattended cooking is the #1 cause of home fires. What causes unattended cooking? Dozens of normal things...
"A relative breaks something in the other room and now you need to see what happened," the CPSC continued. "Your young child shouts that they need help. A neighbor shows up to drop off a gift and you talk for longer than you expected."
Indeed, the commission says "your home is much more likely to catch fire tomorrow because you left something cooking on top of the stove and walked away."
The CPSC then shared simple tips for how to avoid fires and enjoy the holiday.
"We ask that tomorrow, while you’re entertaining friends and family and juggling what’s likely dozens of responsibilities, you choose to have someone in the kitchen at all times," the CPSC wrote. "They don’t need to be a good cook, just someone who can make sure there isn’t a fire.
"If you don’t have someone available (and even if you do) make sure your smoke alarms are all working. Make sure there’s a fire extinguisher in your kitchen. These things can save your life if the unthinkable happens."
While deep-frying a turkey can yield a succulent bird with golden-brown skin in about an hour, compared to cooking a turkey in an oven for several hours, there are a series of crucial steps to safely cook it that way.
Here are 10 tips for deep-frying a turkey that will help you avoid fires or any damage to your home and enjoy a delicious meal.
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY: | https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/entertainment/holidays/heres-the-top-reason-for-thanksgiving-fires-and-how-to-avoid-them/3434451/ | 2022-11-24 18:45:49 | 0 | https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/entertainment/holidays/heres-the-top-reason-for-thanksgiving-fires-and-how-to-avoid-them/3434451/ |
RICHMOND, Va., July 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Dominion Energy (NYSE: D) will host its second-quarter 2022 earnings call at 10 a.m. ET on Friday, Aug. 5, 2022. Management will discuss matters of interest to financial and other stakeholders including recent financial results.
A live webcast of the conference call, including accompanying slides and other financial information, will be available on the investor information pages at investors.dominionenergy.com.
For individuals who prefer to join via telephone, domestic callers should dial 1-800-420-1271 and international callers should dial 1-785-424-1205. The passcode for the telephonic earnings call is 98021. Participants should dial in 10 to 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start time.
A replay of the webcast will be available on the investor information pages by the end of the day Aug. 5. A telephonic replay of the earnings call will be available beginning at about 1 p.m. ET on Aug. 5. Domestic callers may access the recording by dialing 1-800-839-9307. International callers should dial 1-402-220-6085. The PIN for the replay is 98021.
About Dominion Energy
About 7 million customers in 14 states energize their homes and businesses with electricity or natural gas from Dominion Energy (NYSE: D), headquartered in Richmond, Va. The company is committed to sustainable, reliable, affordable and safe energy and to achieving net zero carbon dioxide and methane emissions from its power generation and gas infrastructure operations by 2050. Please visit DominionEnergy.com to learn more.
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SOURCE Dominion Energy | https://www.dakotanewsnow.com/prnewswire/2022/07/05/dominion-energy-schedules-second-quarter-2022-earnings-call/ | 2022-07-05 20:47:27 | 0 | https://www.dakotanewsnow.com/prnewswire/2022/07/05/dominion-energy-schedules-second-quarter-2022-earnings-call/ |
MEQUON, Wis., Aug. 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Medicardia Health (MediCardia) has announced the beta-release of it's mobile patient record, a novel mobile application that is continuously connected to sources of health records and personal data, for patients to access, view and share with anyone, anytime, anywhere.
"Since inception, MediCardia's long-term mission has been to put the power of health information into the hands of the people," said CEO, Indrajit Choudhuri, MD. "We started by developing the user interface that creates the clinical context for this information and a robust interoperability backbone that streamlines connectivity with EMRs and billing engines. We're completing development on our intelligence embedded care-engine based on societal guidelines, payer care gaps, and value-based care performance measures to drive the most important clinical KPI, quality. The power of this intelligence will first drive the MediCardia remote monitoring platform, Virtuas, already launched and in market with a semiautonomous agent that works with care providers to deliver best care and promote adherence. Now the final stage of our technology journey is to put the power of this technology and health information into the hands of patients and consumers," said Dr. Choudhuri.
MediCardia intends to showcase their technology in San Diego, CA September 8-10, 2022, at the HRX cardiovascular digital health conference that brings together innovators to transform patient care. "As a cardiac electrophysiologist and electrical engineer, we are excited to be attending HRX to meet with clinicians and scientists. Our primary focus is to identify individuals and organizations who are ready to act – sitting on the sidelines is not how we introduce innovation and bring about change. Our patients deserve change agents and that should be the responsibilities of all healthcare providers and I believe HRX will bring such forward-thinking people together" commented Dr. Choudhuri in a recent discussion. MediCardia is booking appointments for 1:1 and group presentations via emailed requests at this time.
MediCardia Health is constantly enhancing and evolving their smart digital medicine platform, to drive digital transformation in Cardiology and across healthcare. MediCardia aims to learn from and partner with practices, organizations, and networks dedicated to embracing the global digitalization of healthcare and leverage one of its greatest benefits – the adoption of virtual care – as a paradigm shift on the journey to value-based care.
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SOURCE MediCardia Health Inc. | https://www.dakotanewsnow.com/prnewswire/2022/08/22/medicardia-health-inc-launches-mobile-patient-record-that-puts-aggregated-medical-records-personal-health-data-patients-fingertips/ | 2022-08-22 18:34:59 | 1 | https://www.dakotanewsnow.com/prnewswire/2022/08/22/medicardia-health-inc-launches-mobile-patient-record-that-puts-aggregated-medical-records-personal-health-data-patients-fingertips/ |
Singapore is reviewing a colonial-era rule that criminalizes sex between men while trying to protect a law that prevents same-sex marriages. Here’s where things stand:
2. What have the courts said?
A 2014 challenge against 377A failed when Singapore’s Supreme Court ruled it was a constitutional matter. In February, the Court of Appeal upheld a lower court’s decision to dismiss three challenges to the rule. However, the court said 377A was “unenforceable in its entirety” because the Attorney General had publicly expressed a policy in 2018 of not prosecuting consenting adult men for private sexual acts. Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam said in July that the issue should be discussed and decided in Parliament and not in the courts.
3. Why is same-sex marriage in this discussion?
Any discussion on changing 377A raises concerns, especially from religious groups, that it would be followed by court cases that could lead to recognizing same-sex marriages. Under Singapore law, a marriage can only take place between a man and a woman. The government is “considering how we can safeguard the current legal position on marriage from being challenged in the Courts, so that it does not get challenged like the way Section 377A was in a series of cases,” Shanmugam said. A poll by a local think-tank, the Institute of Policy Studies, conducted in late 2018 indicated that the proportion of residents who felt same-sex marriage was always wrong or almost always wrong had dropped to 60% from 74% in 2013.
4. What’s the reaction?
Singapore’s Catholic Church said it respects the dignity of LGBTQ community, but asked for the right to maintain the position on marriage. About 19% of Singaporeans identify as Christian, while Buddhism is the largest religious group with 31%. The local LGBTQ community has no immediate plans to mount legal challenges to redefine marriage, Leow Yangfa, executive director of rights group Oogachaga, was cited in Singapore’s Today newspaper as saying.
5. What’s the potential impact?
Repealing section 377A could help further change social attitudes that have traditionally been resistant to accepting the LGBTQ community, and make the island nation more attractive to progressive-minded workers from abroad. The country, a major financial center, hosts some 37,400 international companies and has a large cohort of expats to supplement the local workforce as it grapples with the effects of an aging population. An online survey between May and June by Ipsos showed that the proportion of residents who remain supportive of Section 377A had dropped to 44%, from 55% in 2018. There’s also been criticism of 377A from some prominent Singaporeans, including former ambassador to the US Tommy Koh, suggesting the law is unjust and even possibly unconstitutional. US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in August called on businesses in Singapore to support LGBTQ groups, which drew a reminder from the government that foreign firms in the country should be careful about advocacy on issues that could be socially divisive.
6. How does it compare with other Asian nations?
Taiwan is the only Asian jurisdiction that legally recognizes same-sex marriages, though Thailand this year began moving toward allowing unions. Vietnam allows same-sex couples to have symbolic weddings but doesn’t recognize the marriage. Hong Kong doesn’t allow it, but does permit gay expatriate workers to bring their spouses in on dependent visas. Myanmar, Malaysia and Brunei all outlaw sexual relations between people of the same gender, according to the Human Dignity Trust.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2022 Bloomberg L.P. | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/why-singapore-could-decriminalize-sex-between-men/2022/08/04/7a5bdade-1472-11ed-8482-06c1c84ce8f2_story.html | 2022-08-05 04:11:20 | 0 | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/why-singapore-could-decriminalize-sex-between-men/2022/08/04/7a5bdade-1472-11ed-8482-06c1c84ce8f2_story.html |
California debates whether teens can get drug treatment without parental consent KQED | By Leslie McClurg Published June 1, 2023 at 5:18 AM EDT Facebook LinkedIn Email As the number of teens using opioids goes up, California debates whether they should have access to drug treatment without parental consent. Copyright 2023 KQED | https://www.mainepublic.org/2023-06-01/california-debates-whether-teens-can-get-drug-treatment-without-parental-consent | 2023-06-01 09:48:29 | 1 | https://www.mainepublic.org/2023-06-01/california-debates-whether-teens-can-get-drug-treatment-without-parental-consent |
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Defensive co-captain and safety Xavier McKinney has been activated from reserve-non-football injury list and is expected to play in the New York Giants' win-and-in game against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.
The Giants, who can clinch their first playoff berth since 2016 with a win, made the move Saturday. They also released receiver David Sills and elevated tight end Chris Myarick and defensive back Zyon Gilbert from the practice squad to the active roster for the game.
McKinney has missed seven games since breaking bones in his left hand while vacationing in Mexico during the bye week in early November. He had an accident while taking a tour on an all-terrain-type vehicle. He underwent surgery.
Doctors gave McKinney the OK to return to practice Thursday, opening a 21-day window for him to be activated. It didn't take long to bring back the third-year safety, who led the team with five interceptions in 2021.
Coach Brain Daboll had said Friday he didn't think McKinney would play.
Sills has been on the roster all season, and on the Giants' practice squad or active roster since 2019. He played in nine games with five starts this season, catching 11 passes for 106 yards. He has been inactive in six of the last seven games.
Fellow safety Julian Love assumed McKinney’s signal-calling duties on defense. Rookie Dane Belton and Jason Pinnock filled at free safety.
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More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL | https://www.ourmidland.com/sports/article/Giants-activate-safety-McKinney-for-win-and-in-17687722.php | 2023-01-01 00:47:24 | 0 | https://www.ourmidland.com/sports/article/Giants-activate-safety-McKinney-for-win-and-in-17687722.php |
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders gave a combative speech Tuesday evening in response to President Joe Biden's State of the Union address, drawing a sharp contrast with Biden as she delivered a series of blistering criticisms of the president.
Sanders called Biden "unfit to serve as commander in chief," said his "weakness puts our nation and the world at risk" and described the political landscape in dire terms. "The dividing line in America is no longer between right or left. The choice is between normal or crazy," she said.
Sanders sought to highlight a generational difference with Biden, saying, "At 40, I'm the youngest governor in the country, and at 80, he's the oldest president in American history." She also asserted in her speech that "it is time for a new generation of Republican leadership."
The speech gave Sanders a major national platform to speak to the country and counter Biden after the president highlighted his priorities and agenda to the nation in his speech.
Sanders gained national prominence as White House press secretary under former President Donald Trump, serving as a staunch defender of the then-President and his policies, and frequently clashing with national reporters.
She made history last year as the first woman elected as governor of Arkansas. Her father, Republican Mike Huckabee, served as governor of the state from 1996 to 2007.
This year's State of the Union is taking place with Republicans newly in control of the House, a position of power the GOP is using to launch congressional oversight investigations aimed at the Biden administration.
After being sworn in as governor, Sanders signed a flurry of executive orders, with one targeting critical race theory "to prohibit indoctrination" in schools and another barring the use of the term "Latinx" in official state documents.
Republican congressional leaders Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell announced earlier this month that Sanders would give the response for their party to the State of the Union.
McConnell said in a statement, "Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders is the youngest Governor in the nation and a powerful advocate for the popular, commonsense conservative principles that will put our country back on a better course."
McCarthy called Sanders "a servant-leader of true determination and conviction," in a statement and said that she will share a "bold vision for a better America on Tuesday. Everyone, including President Biden, should listen carefully."
This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wxow.com/news/politics/sarah-huckabee-sanders-draws-sharp-contrast-with-democrats-in-gop-rebuttal-the-choice-is-between/article_85121734-d6e3-5980-808a-bed986139e29.html | 2023-02-08 06:06:48 | 0 | https://www.wxow.com/news/politics/sarah-huckabee-sanders-draws-sharp-contrast-with-democrats-in-gop-rebuttal-the-choice-is-between/article_85121734-d6e3-5980-808a-bed986139e29.html |
Southwest Airlines CEO releases video statement following cancellation of thousands of flights
Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan issued a statement and video after thousands of flights were canceled across the country on Monday and Tuesday.
His statement said:
"I want everyone who is dealing with the problems we've been facing, whether you haven't been able to get to where you need to go or you’re one of our heroic Employees caught up in a massive effort to stabilize the airline, to know is that we're doing everything we can to return to a normal operation.
And please also hear that I'm truly sorry.
Here's why this giant puzzle is taking us several days to solve. Southwest is the largest carrier in the country, not only because of our value and our values, but because we build our flight schedule around communities, not hubs. So, we're the largest airline in 23 of the top 25 travel markets in the U.S.
Cities where large numbers of scheduled flights simultaneously froze as record bitter cold brought challenges for all airlines.
Our network is highly complex and the operation of the airline counts on all the pieces, especially aircraft and crews remaining in motion to where they're planned to go. With our large fleet of airplanes and flight crews out of position in dozens of locations. And after days of trying to operate as much of our full schedule across the busy holiday weekend, we reached a decision point to significantly reduce our flying to catch up.
We're focused on safely getting all of the pieces back into position to end this rolling struggle. You know, I have nothing but pride and respect for the efforts of the people of Southwest who are showing up in every way. The tools we use to recover from disruption serve us well, 99 percent of the time; but clearly, we need to double down on our already existing plans to upgrade systems for these extreme circumstances so that we never again face what's happening right now.
I'm apologizing to them daily and they'll be hearing more about our specific plans to ensure the challenges that they’ve faced the past few days will not be part of our future.
I reached out to Secretary Buttigieg earlier today to continue the discussions we've been having with the DOT through the holiday - sharing all the things that we're doing to make things right for our Customers.
We always take care of our Customers. And we will lean in and go above and beyond as they would expect us to. Teams are working on all of that: processing refunds, proactively reaching out and taking care of Customers who are dealing with costly detours and reroutes, as just a few examples. Our plan for the next few days is to fly a reduced schedule and reposition our people and planes, and we're making headway, and we're optimistic to be back on track before next week.
We have some real work to do in making this right. For now, I want you to know that we're committed to that."
The statement comes after Southwest canceled almost 2,900 flights on Monday or 70% of their scheduled flights, amid a winter storm that impacted portions of the country, according to FlightAware.com.
SUGGESTED: Flight canceled? Can you get a refund? Here's how to find out if you're owed money
Some passengers at Houston's Hobby Airport said consecutive days of canceled Southwest Airlines flights isn’t only an inconvenience, but has brought heartbreak to many who planned to spend the holidays with loved ones, and not stranded in an airport with promises of a refund.
"It’s like this is not real. This can not be happening," says stranded passenger Mario Casasola. | https://www.fox29.com/news/southwest-airlines-ceo-releases-video-statement-following-cancellation-of-thousands-of-flights | 2022-12-28 04:20:18 | 1 | https://www.fox29.com/news/southwest-airlines-ceo-releases-video-statement-following-cancellation-of-thousands-of-flights |
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Recommended | https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/sports/article/Boston-Team-Stax-17298736.php | 2022-07-12 07:41:33 | 0 | https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/sports/article/Boston-Team-Stax-17298736.php |
The new “Minions” movie is critic-proof. If you have young kids, there’s nothing I can say to keep you from seeing “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” which opens in theaters beginning this weekend.
Fortunately, I have no intention of maligning this fifth “Despicable Me” spin off movie. I won’t be calling it great cinema anytime soon, but the film certainly works because it is over-stuffed with funny characters, it’s fast-paced, and most importantly, it has some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments. Young kids will love it, and mom and dad will enjoy a chuckle or two.
This latest film is a prequel that rewinds to the days when a bad boy named Gru (Steve Carell) wanted to join a group of San Francisco supervillains known as the Vicious 6. These are the crème de la crème of 1970s antiheroes, featuring Belle Bottom (Taraji P. Henson), Jean Clawed (Jean-Claude Van Damme), Stronghold (Danny Trejo), the roller-skating Svengeance (Dolph Lungren) and Nunchuck (Lucy Lawless), a martial arts expert who wears a nun’s habit.
The main story finds Gru trying to join the group, stealing a magical stone and then trying to survive the Vicious 6’s retaliations with the help of Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand), a kung fu acupuncturist (Michelle Yeah), and of course, those yellow bundles of chaos known collectively as the Minions. With apologies to Carell and this impressive cast of actors in this movie, it’s the minions and their mayhem that make these films so much fun.
Indeed, perhaps the biggest problem with “Minions: The Rise of Gru” is that there is too much Gru, leaving the Minions to play in unconnected sequences that are still very funny, but not always connected to the main plot. I enjoy the energy and laughs from these side bits of chaos and wish that there was more.
Credit much of this to French animator/director/producer Pierre Coffin, who provides the vocal babbling for all of the minions. He continues to give superb comic performances that are accessible to audiences of all ages. Despite directing the original “Despicable Me” movies, he does not get enough credit for the success of this franchise.
And dear heavens, his latest creation, Otto, may be the funniest/dumbest minion yet.
I do appreciate that the film clocks in at just under an hour and a half, and I certainly enjoy the retro animation and classic music in the film’s soundtrack. If you’re making a family animation movie, it’s important to add moments that will appeal to parents in the audience.
All of that being said, “Minions: The Rise of Gru” succeeds because it panders so effectively to its elementary school fan base. The story may be mediocre, but it doesn’t matter. As long as the Minions make the kids laugh, then the movie is a success.
The kids laughed a lot at my screening.
And so did I. | https://www.idahopress.com/community/life/movie-guy-minions-rise-up-for-laughs/article_7cc3916b-6818-5a40-be9f-99286c99a6d4.html | 2022-07-03 07:41:58 | 1 | https://www.idahopress.com/community/life/movie-guy-minions-rise-up-for-laughs/article_7cc3916b-6818-5a40-be9f-99286c99a6d4.html |
The COP27 global climate change conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, wrapped early Sunday with an agreement to compensate developing countries for the damages they have suffered from climate change.
While developing countries have long pushed for a fund for the suffering they have endured from climate change, wealthy countries, including the U.S., had resisted the idea.
But that changed this year, and those developing nations got a fund establishing such climate reparations.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres heralded the agreement as an “ important step towards justice.”
“I welcome the decision to establish a loss and damage fund and to operationalize it in the coming period,” Guterres said in a statement. “Clearly this will not be enough, but it is a much-needed political signal to rebuild broken trust.”
The decision establishes a fund for responding to the “loss and damage” that these countries have suffered, but some details are not yet resolved.
To address that, a transitional committee that will be made up of 24 countries tasked with finding funding sources and establishing a structure and governance for the fund will be established.
Nations also adopted a broader agreement, called the Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan.
That plan separately calls upon developed countries to “urgently and significantly scale up” financial and technological assistance to help developing countries adapt to the impacts of climate change.
The concept of adaptation finance — which helps countries prepare for potential climate damage — is separate from the concept of loss and damage finance — which helps them to respond when those damages happen.
Climate change has been linked to a myriad of issues including rising sea levels, intense storms, floods, drought and food insecurity.
The overarching decision also calls on countries to speed up their energy transitions by “ rapidly scaling up the deployment of clean power generation and energy efficiency measures” as well as “accelerating” efforts toward phasing down unabated coal power and phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.
Last year’s climate decision, at COP26 in Glasgow, similarly called for the coal phasedown and inefficient subsidy phaseout.
–Updated at 10:50 a.m. | https://fox59.com/hill-politics/global-climate-conference-closes-with-climate-damage-compensation-deal/ | 2022-11-20 18:08:03 | 0 | https://fox59.com/hill-politics/global-climate-conference-closes-with-climate-damage-compensation-deal/ |
Family remembers one of the Mesa shooting spree victims
PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - Elaina, who didn’t want to give her last name, is mourning the loss of her brother Stephen Young. He was gunned down overnight Saturday during a shooting spree in Mesa and Phoenix. According to court paperwork, it appears the suspect Iren Byers was targeting people who were homeless or using drugs.
“He was actually very loved, he was a good person,” said Elaina about her brother. Court documents detail the first attack in Phoenix, where Byers admitted to shooting Nicholas Arnstad in the head because he was smoking fentanyl. Detectives said he then shot and killed Julian Cox at Beverly Park in Mesa. Then the third victim, Young, was found dead near Country Club and Broadway Road. Byers reportedly told investigators he killed Young because he wanted to smoke blue pills. Elaina said Young struggled with mental health issues and substance abuse for most of his life but believed he was getting clean recently. “He called me that day. I got to say, ‘Stephen, you sound good. I am so glad to hear that. I love you,’” said Elaina.
Detectives said Byers shot the fourth victim, John Swain, in the head because he was homeless. The final victim, a woman, was shot in the face but is expected to survive. Elaina said it is painful to know Byers was targeting vulnerable people. “I am mad at him for taking my brother because he was loved. Yeah, he was homeless but he was trying,” said Elaina.
Byers is facing four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder.
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Copyright 2023 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved. | https://www.azfamily.com/2023/05/30/family-remembers-one-mesa-shooting-spree-victims/ | 2023-05-30 00:33:30 | 0 | https://www.azfamily.com/2023/05/30/family-remembers-one-mesa-shooting-spree-victims/ |
Funerals begin for Greek train crash victims after harrowing ID process
KATERINI, Greece (AP) — The funeral for the first of nearly 60 victims of Greece’s worst rail disaster this week was held Friday as families began receiving the remains of their loved ones following a harrowing identification process.
Athina Katsara, a 34-year-old mother of an infant boy, was being buried in her hometown of Katerini, in northern Greece. Her injured husband was in hospital and unable to attend.
Recovery teams spent a third day scouring the wreckage in Tempe, 380 kilometers (235 miles) north of Athens, where a passenger train slammed into a freight carrier just before midnight Tuesday. The government has blamed human error and a railway official was charged Thursday with manslaughter, in an accident that shocked the nation and highlighted safety shortcomings in the small but dated rail network.
Checks of all the human remains recovered so far confirmed the death toll at 57, authorities said Friday.
The force of the head-on collision and resulting fire complicated the task of determining the death toll. Officials matched parts of dismembered and burned bodies with tissue samples to establish the number.
The bodies were being returned to families in closed caskets following their identification through next-of-kin DNA samples — a process followed for all the remains.
Relatives of passengers still listed as unaccounted-for waited outside a hospital in the central city of Larissa for test results. Among them was Mirella Ruci, whose 22-year-old son, Denis, remained missing.
“My son is not on any official list so far and I have no information. I am pleading with anyone who may have seen him, in rail car 5, seat 22, to contact me if they may have seen him,” Ruci, who struggled to stop her voice from cracking, told reporters.
Police and civilian forensics specialists set up teams to run the complex, round-the-clock identification process, which involves two stages: Matching body parts to each individual victim and then establishing identities using DNA samples from relatives of missing passengers.
Flags at the ancient Acropolis, parliament and other public buildings around Greece remained at half-staff on the third day of national mourning, while national rail services were halted by a strike for a second day.
Anger against authorities in the wake of the tragedy grew over reports that the rail network lacked adequate safeguards to reduce the impact of human error. Not far from the hospital in Larissa, several thousand school children gathered in protest in a central square, chanting “You never arrived, we will avenge you!”
A demonstration organized by student groups also took place in Athens, where hundreds of protesters chanting “Murderers!” held up white balloons for the victims, blocking traffic in the city center.
Police early Friday searched a rail coordination office in Larissa, removing evidence as part of an ongoing investigation.
The facility’s 59-year-old station manager, who was arrested and charged with multiple counts of negligent manslaughter, is due to testify before a public prosecutor on Saturday.
Stelios Sourlas, a lawyer representing a 23-year-old victim of the collision, said responsibility for the deaths went beyond the station manager.
“The station manager may have the principle responsibility ... but the responsibility is also broader: There are the rail operators and public officials whose job it was to ensure that safety measures and procedures were properly in place,” Sourlas said.
Rail unions say the network was poorly maintained despite upgrades to provide faster trains in recent years.
Greece’s center-right government had been expected Friday to call national elections for early April, but the announcement and likely date was likely to be delayed.
The passenger train involved in the crash was traveling along Greece’s busiest route, from the capital to the country’s second-largest city, Thessaloniki. The freight train was heading in the opposite direction, on the same track.
Two of the victims were identified Friday as Cypriot students Anastasia Adamidou and Kyprianos Papaioannou. Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides said the state would cover the cost of their repatriation and funerals. ___ Gatopoulos reported from Athens. Costas Kantouris in Thessaloniki, Greece, and Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus, contributed to this report.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wnem.com/2023/03/03/greece-crash-victims-returned-families-closed-caskets/ | 2023-03-03 16:01:44 | 1 | https://www.wnem.com/2023/03/03/greece-crash-victims-returned-families-closed-caskets/ |
AP PHOTOS: Crowds celebrate St. Petersburg graduate gala
June 28, 2022 Updated: June 28, 2022 2:17 a.m.
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1of 19 People watch a brig with scarlet sails floating on the Neva River during the Scarlet Sails festivities marking school graduation in St. Petersburg, Russia, early Saturday, June 25, 2022. The Scarlet Sails celebration is a rite of passage both figuratively and literally. Every year, tall ships with glowing red sails make their way down the Neva River in St. Petersburg to honor recent school graduates as they set out on the journey into adulthood. Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Show More Show Less
2of 19 School graduates kiss at the Palace Square as they take part the Scarlet Sails festivities marking school graduation in St. Petersburg, Russia, early Saturday, June 25, 2022. The Scarlet Sails celebration is a rite of passage both figuratively and literally. Every year, tall ships with glowing red sails make their way down the Neva River in St. Petersburg to honor recent school graduates as they set out on the journey into adulthood. Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Show More Show Less
3of 19 People watch a brig with scarlet sails floating through Dvortsovy (Palace) drawbridge on the Neva River during a rehearsal for the Scarlet Sails festivities marking school graduation in St. Petersburg, Russia, early Friday, June 24, 2022. The Scarlet Sails celebration is a rite of passage both figuratively and literally. Every year, tall ships with glowing red sails make their way down the Neva River in St. Petersburg to honor recent school graduates as they set out on the journey into adulthood. Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Show More Show Less
4of 19 School graduates dance in the Palace Square as they take part the Scarlet Sails festivities marking school graduation in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, June 24, 2022. Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Show More Show Less
5of 19 School graduates take a selfie photo in the Palace Square as they take part the Scarlet Sails festivities marking school graduation in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, June 24, 2022. Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Show More Show Less
6of 19 School graduates dance in the Palace Square as they take part the Scarlet Sails festivities marking school graduation in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, June 24, 2022. Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Show More Show Less
7of 19 People watch a brig with scarlet sails sailing on the Neva River during a rehearsal for the Scarlet Sails festivities marking school graduation in St. Petersburg, Russia, late Thursday, June 23, 2022. The Scarlet Sails celebration is a rite of passage both figuratively and literally. Every year, tall ships with glowing red sails make their way down the Neva River in St. Petersburg to honor recent school graduates as they set out on the journey into adulthood. Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Show More Show Less
8of 19 School graduates wait for a show on the Neva River during the Scarlet Sails festivities marking school graduation in St. Petersburg, Russia, early Saturday, June 25, 2022. Elena Ignatyeva/AP Show More Show Less
9of 19 People watch fireworks and a brig with scarlet sails sailing on the Neva River during the Scarlet Sails festivities marking school graduation in St. Petersburg, Russia, early Saturday, June 25, 2022. Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Show More Show Less
10of 19 People climb a building to watch a show on the Neva River during the Scarlet Sails festivities marking school graduation in St. Petersburg, Russia, early Saturday, June 25, 2022. The Scarlet Sails celebration is a rite of passage both figuratively and literally. Every year, tall ships with glowing red sails make their way down the Neva River in St. Petersburg to honor recent school graduates as they set out on the journey into adulthood. Elena Ignatyeva/AP Show More Show Less
11of 19 School graduates sit in a street cafe after the Scarlet Sails festivities marking school graduation in St. Petersburg, Russia, early Saturday, June 25, 2022. The Scarlet Sails celebration is a rite of passage both figuratively and literally. Every year, tall ships with glowing red sails make their way down the Neva River in St. Petersburg to honor recent school graduates as they set out on the journey into adulthood. Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Show More Show Less
12of 19 A brig with scarlet sails sailing on the Neva River during a rehearsal for the Scarlet Sails festivities marking school graduation in St. Petersburg, Russia, late Wednesday, June 22, 2022. Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Show More Show Less
13of 19 A school graduate watches a concert in the Palace Square during the Scarlet Sails festivities marking school graduation in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, June 24, 2022. The Scarlet Sails celebration is a rite of passage both figuratively and literally. Every year, tall ships with glowing red sails make their way down the Neva River in St. Petersburg to honor recent school graduates as they set out on the journey into adulthood. Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Show More Show Less
14of 19 People watch a brig with scarlet sails makes its way through Dvortsovy (Palace) drawbridge on the Neva River during the Scarlet Sails festivities marking school graduation in St. Petersburg, Russia, early Saturday, June 25, 2022. The Scarlet Sails celebration is a rite of passage both figuratively and literally. Every year, tall ships with glowing red sails make their way down the Neva River in St. Petersburg to honor recent school graduates as they set out on the journey into adulthood. Elena Ignatyeva/AP Show More Show Less
15of 19 A brig with scarlet sails, sailing on the Neva River during the Scarlet Sails festivities marking school graduation in St. Petersburg, Russia, early Saturday, June 25, 2022. Elena Ignatyeva/AP Show More Show Less
16of 19 School graduates throw their friend in the air in the Palace Square as they take part the Scarlet Sails festivities marking school graduation in St. Petersburg, Russia, early Saturday, June 25, 2022. Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Show More Show Less
17of 19 A brig with scarlet sails, sailing on the Neva River during the Scarlet Sails festivities marking school graduation in St. Petersburg, Russia, early Saturday, June 25, 2022. Elena Ignatyeva/AP Show More Show Less
18of 19 Young people sit in a park after the Scarlet Sails festivities marking school graduation in St. Petersburg, Russia, early Saturday, June 25, 2022. The Scarlet Sails celebration is a rite of passage both figuratively and literally. Every year, tall ships with glowing red sails make their way down the Neva River in St. Petersburg to honor recent school graduates as they set out on the journey into adulthood. Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Show More Show Less
19of 19 People watch a brig with scarlet sails makes its way down the Neva River during a rehearsal for the Scarlet Sails festivities marking school graduation in St. Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, June 23, 2022. Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Show More Show Less
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — The Scarlet Sails celebration is a rite of passage both figuratively and literally. Every year, tall ships with glowing red sails make their way down the Neva River in St. Petersburg to honor recent school graduates as they set out on their journey into adulthood.
Enormous, happy crowds gathered along the river banks to watch the ships on Friday and Saturday, along with an elaborate fireworks show. The pageant’s colors were augmented by the deep blue glow of the night sky, which never becomes completely dark over the northern city during the summer.
Recent graduates flocked from throughout Russia for the celebration, embracing each other, tossing their fellows in the air and clambering onto windowsills and door frames to watch the passing ships.
The celebration dates to Soviet times, in 1968, and is rooted in the earlier romantic fantasy novel of the same name by Russian author Aleksandr Green, which was turned into a popular movie in 1961. The book tells the tale of a poor girl of whom a mysterious figure prophesies that her suitor will come in a ship bearing red sails to take her away into a wondrous future.
The event was stopped in 1979, to be revived in 2005 as a major tourist spectacle drawing hundreds of thousands of people and including music and other performances. | https://www.expressnews.com/entertainment/article/AP-PHOTOS-Crowds-celebrate-St-Petersburg-17270451.php | 2022-06-28 07:20:51 | 0 | https://www.expressnews.com/entertainment/article/AP-PHOTOS-Crowds-celebrate-St-Petersburg-17270451.php |
LONDON (AP) — The ball punched in by Diego Maradona for his “Hand of God” goal at the 1986 World Cup has been sold at auction for nearly $2.4 million by the referee who missed soccer’s most famous handball.
Ali Bin Nasser, the Tunisian former match official who refereed the quarterfinal game between Argentina and England in Mexico, owned the 36-year-old Adidas ball that was sold at Graham Budd Auctions in London for 2 million pounds ($2.37 million) on Wednesday.
Bin Nasser said before the auction he felt it was the right time to share the item with the world and expressed hope the buyer would put it on public display.
The Maradona goal that gave Argentina a 1-0 lead in that match against England — but should not have been allowed — has become part of soccer legend.
Maradona jumped as if to head the ball but instead punched it past England goalkeeper Peter Shilton. Maradona quipped afterward that it was scored “a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God,” leading to its iconic name.
Speaking ahead of the auction, Bin Nasser said: “I couldn’t see the incident clearly. The two players, Shilton and Maradona, were facing me from behind.
“As per FIFA’s instructions issued before the tournament, I looked to my linesman for confirmation of the validity of the goal — he made his way back to the halfway line indicating he was satisfied that the goal should stand. At the end of the match, the England head coach Bobby Robson said to me, ‘You did a good job, but the linesman was irresponsible.’”
Maradona scored a brilliant second goal against England only four minutes later with the same ball — the only one used in the quarterfinal. He ran nearly 70 meters from his own half and weaved his way past half the England team before slipping the ball past Shilton to make it 2-0. That goal was voted the World Cup Goal of the Century in 2002.
Argentina won the game 2-1 and went on to lift the World Cup. Maradona died in 2020 at the age of 60. The upcoming World Cup in Qatar, which starts Sunday, will be the first since Maradona’s death.
The jersey worn by Maradona against England was sold in May for $9.3 million, at the time the highest price paid at auction for a piece of sports memorabilia. That was beaten by a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle baseball card, which went for $12.6 million in New York in August.
___
AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.fox16.com/sports/ap-maradona-hand-of-god-world-cup-ball-sold-for-2-4m/ | 2022-11-16 17:38:14 | 0 | https://www.fox16.com/sports/ap-maradona-hand-of-god-world-cup-ball-sold-for-2-4m/ |
Darian Woods is a reporter and producer for The Indicator from Planet Money. He blends economics, journalism, and an ear for audio to tell stories that explain the global economy. He's reported on the time the world got together and solved a climate crisis, vaccine intellectual property explained through cake baking, and how Kit Kat bars reveal hidden economic forces.
NPR correspondent Chris Arnold is based in Boston. His reports are heard regularly on NPR's award-winning newsmagazines Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition. He joined NPR in 1996 and was based in San Francisco before moving to Boston in 2001. | https://www.wvasfm.org/business/business/2022-10-14/when-stocks-are-down-bonds-hold-steady-or-go-up-so-why-are-bonds-down | 2022-10-14 21:29:36 | 1 | https://www.wvasfm.org/business/business/2022-10-14/when-stocks-are-down-bonds-hold-steady-or-go-up-so-why-are-bonds-down |
Multiple frozen fruit products sold at big brand stores have been recalled recently due to potential Hepatitis A contamination.
On Monday, Willamette Valley Fruit Company voluntarily recalled some frozen fruit products containing strawberries grown in Mexico. The products with the contamination risk were distributed to three retailers: Walmart, HEB and Costco Wholesale Stores.
At Walmart, the recalled products include the Great Value Sliced Strawberries, Great Value Mixed Fruit and Great Value Antioxidant Blend distributed to some stores from Jan. 24, 2023 to June 8, 2023. The select stores listed in the recall are located in Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, West Virginia and Wyoming.
At HEB, the recall includes the Rader Farms Organic Berry Trio sent to stores in Texas from July 18, 2022 to June 8, 2023.
And at Costco, it includes the Rader Farms Organic Fresh Start Smoothie Blend distributed in Colorado, Texas, California and Arizona stores from Oct. 3, 2022 to June 8, 2023.
Another recent recall at Costco involved a year-old product from Wawona Frozen Foods, Inc.
The company voluntarily recalled its Organic DayBreak Blend product sent to Costco stores in Arizona, California, Colorado, Utah and Washington from April 15, 2022 to June 26, 2022. The four-pound product included organic frozen strawberries grown in Mexico with the potential to be contaminated with Hepatitis A.
The product is no longer available for purchase, but consumers should still check their freezer, as the "Use By" date hasn't passed yet. Those dates include Set. 23, Sept. 29, Sept. 30 and Oct. 18 of 2023.
"Consumers are urged to check their freezers for the recalled blend, not to consume it and either discard the product or return it to the store for a refund," the company said in an announcement, posted to the Food and Drug Administration's website.
Neither recall has had any illnesses associated with the products as of their publication date, but consumers should still act as stated above to prevent any risk of Hepatitis A infection.
The FDA describes Hepatitis A as a contagious virus that can range from a weeks-long mild illness to a months-long severe illness, with some infections potentially leading to liver disease. The "vaccine-preventable" infection is spread when someone ingests the virus, even in microscopic amounts, through eating contaminated food or drinks or through close contact with an infected person, the CDC says.
SEE MORE: Jeep recalling more than 330K vehicles
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.kgun9.com/frozen-fruit-at-costco-walmart-recalled-for-possible-hepatitis-a-risk | 2023-06-13 23:34:17 | 0 | https://www.kgun9.com/frozen-fruit-at-costco-walmart-recalled-for-possible-hepatitis-a-risk |
A woman in Pennsylvania and a man in North Carolina were charged this week after a six-year-old in each case brought a gun to school, officials said, marking at least three times an elementary school student has brought a weapon to campus this year, including when a six-year-old allegedly shot his teacher in Newport News, Virginia, last month.
In Pennsylvania, a mother in Norristown was arrested after her 6-year-old son brought a gun to Joseph K. Gotwals Elementary School on February 9, prosecutors said.
Jasmin Devlin, 30, turned herself in Tuesday and has been arraigned on charges of felony endangering the welfare of a child and reckless endangerment for failing to secure a firearm in her home, the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office said in a news release. It is unclear if Devlin currently has an attorney.
Police were alerted to the gun on campus after a group of students on a school bus with the 6-year-old that morning told the school's secretary he showed them the weapon and bullets.
"The school's secretary immediately brought the boy into the office, looked in his backpack and saw the firearm. She then called Norristown Police," the release said.
Police believe the boy found the weapon -- a 9 mm Jimenez Arms semi-automatic handgun -- in a dresser in his mother's room the night before bringing it to school, prosecutors said. His 10-year-old brother took the bullets out of the gun and was pointing it at his brother, pretending to shoot him, the news release said. The 6-year-old told detectives he returned to his mother's room in the middle of the night, put the firearm in his backpack and took it to school, according to the release.
"I would like to commend the children who notified school officials immediately, thus preventing another tragedy at a school," Norristown Acting Police Chief Michael Bishop said in the news release. "These children are the true heroes in this unfortunate incident. Their notification to school officials resulted in an immediate response by Norristown Police, ensuring the safety of everyone at the school."
Devlin obtained the gun through a straw purchase conducted by a Norristown man on March 4, 2022, the statement from the district attorney's office said. Straw purchases occur when someone buys a gun for another person who is legally ineligible to buy one.
Devlin's bond was set at $50,000 and she's been ordered to not have contact with children as part of her bond conditions. A preliminary hearing in the case is set for February 24.
In North Carolina, Marvin Ray Davis, 58, was charged with a misdemeanor count of improper storage of a firearm to protect a minor after an unloaded 9 mm handgun was discovered in a 6-year-old's backpack at Fairview Elementary on Tuesday, according to a news release from the Rocky Mount Police Department.
A school resource officer searched the child's backpack after being notified by administrators that a student was in possession of a firearm, the release said.
"The backpack was secured by staff on campus and the child was removed from the classroom. There were no threats made with the weapon and it was never displayed by the child," police said.
Davis is not related to the child but did live in the same home, a department spokesperson told CNN. He was issued a $4,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Rocky Mount Court on March 1, the release said.
It's unclear if Davis has an attorney and CNN has made several attempts to contact him. CNN has also reached out to Nash County Public Schools for comment.
"The situation ... should be a reminder to all gun owners to secure their weapons in a safe manner so that minors cannot possess them," Rocky Mount Police Chief Robert Hassell said. "This was a preventable situation," he added.
The cases are particularly concerning after police said a six-year-old shot his first-grade teacher in Virginia on January 6. The teacher is recovering from a gunshot wound to the chest and the school has since reopened with new security measures in place, including metal detectors.
In Pennsylvania, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele called the incident there "a frightening reminder of the fact that children can and do find unsecured firearms in a home, and they play with them. Thankfully, these young boys were not shot or injured in their home, and no one was shot or injured at school thanks to the quick action by school personnel." | https://www.albanyherald.com/news/for-at-least-the-third-time-this-year-a-6-year-old-has-brought-a/article_e0020355-2446-57b9-a500-4e7581681f74.html | 2023-02-16 18:14:27 | 1 | https://www.albanyherald.com/news/for-at-least-the-third-time-this-year-a-6-year-old-has-brought-a/article_e0020355-2446-57b9-a500-4e7581681f74.html |
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NEW YORK (AP) — On nearly every basketball court around the world —from NBA arenas to elementary school gyms — you’ll see players of all sizes regularly attempting long 3-point shots. There’s one man largely credited with transforming basketball from a must-see above the rim game to box office-long range shooting: Stephen Curry.
But the Golden State Warriors megastar who broke the NBA’s all-time 3-point record last season is now aiming at a different target: children's books.
“This is our first project out and (we want) to hopefully reach the next generation of kids that are dreaming big, are going to be the next leaders and game changers,” said Curry of “I Have a Superpower” illustrated by Geneva Bowers. “We want them to be able to set their sights on what they want to accomplish in the world and really believe that it’s possible.”
The father of three says the book was partly inspired by his own children's love of reading.
“You kind of have your kids in mind when you’re talking about a book, and then you realize that this is kind of a universal opportunity to reach the next generation,” explained the four-time NBA champion and reigning Finals MVP.
A member of the NBA’s prestigious 75th Anniversary team and executive producer of the “Holey Moley” game show, Curry spoke with The Associated Press about empowering children and the upcoming NBA season. Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.
AP: What do you want young people to learn from “I Have a Superpower?”
CURRY: We’re all unique and we all have something to offer the world. And if you have a work ethic, if you have a belief and you feel like whatever that requires is already inside of you, then good things will happen.
AP: What would you tell parents who might say it’s easy for you to tell kids “just work hard?”
CURRY: You can always go back to when I started playing basketball when I was 5 years old — I first started playing organized basketball at 9. I was undersized, scrawny and never, ever talked about as being the greatest at anything. And (I) had to go through those experiences of trying and failing... I think that’s something that most people will hopefully be able to learn from, connect with and be inspired by.
AP: You and your wife, Ayesha, are building a media brand with TV shows and books. Why choose the media space to make an impact?
CURRY: There are a lot of different mediums to story-tell and to inspire. And publishing and writing this book is another example of ways to connect and kind of broaden your horizons... my wife showed me how it’s done, so now I got to follow in her footsteps a little bit.
AP: Switching gears, most of this NBA offseason has been focused on the Brooklyn Nets drama with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving along with the Lakers daily soap opera. Are you aware that much of the talk has not been about the Warriors, despite being the defending champions?
CURRY: We’re aware of everything that happens in the League in terms of different storylines and rumors and all that. It is the best place to watch it all happen when you’re holding the trophy and enjoying your summer and understanding, as the champs, you’re the ones being chased again now.
We don’t need anybody to talk about us. We know what we accomplished; it’s about getting ready for another run (and) we feel like we can do it again.
AP: Sports fans know that you’ve probably transformed the way basketball is played forever. Are you personally aware of how you’ve changed the game?
CURRY: I’m aware, but part of it is for me to keep doing what I’m doing in my career and hopefully stay at this level for as long as I can. There is no sense that I’ve hit my peak. I always feel like I can get better. So, I’m motivated by how far I can stretch this.
The biggest message for how I changed the game is that is possible, how I play is definitely possible… But it requires a crazy amount of work that I’ve been doing since I was 9 years old. So, I don’t want anybody to feel like they can skip steps to get there. | https://www.mrt.com/sports/article/Steph-Curry-aims-to-inspire-with-I-Have-a-17421921.php | 2022-09-06 16:27:26 | 0 | https://www.mrt.com/sports/article/Steph-Curry-aims-to-inspire-with-I-Have-a-17421921.php |
California has new weapons to battle summer blackouts: Battery storage, power from record rain
It’s a summertime sequence that’s become all too familiar in California: Extreme heat forces air conditioners into overdrive, which pushes the state’s power grid to the brink.
In August 2020, a major heat event fueled by the climate crisis forced some of the state’s first rotating power outages in decades, as the ongoing transition to green energy lagged behind demand. Last September, Californians narrowly avoided blackouts as a record-breaking heat wave broiled almost every corner of the state for days.
Now, California is trying to avoid a repeat this summer as global warming pushes temperatures higher and for longer stretches of time.
As an unrelenting heat wave across the West nears the start of its second month, officials said the risks remain high. But they are hopeful they have new tools at their disposal, including substantial growth in battery storage, increased hydropower thanks to historic winter rains and storms, and backup resources available through contingency plans.
State officials say the winter’s wild weather helped refill hydropower generators, decreasing the risk of dangerous electricity outages this summer.
“We’re feeling more confident in [California Independent Service Operator’s] ability to get through the summer, and more resources are getting added to the grid,” said Ric O’Connell, executive director of GridLab, a nonprofit focused on power grid transformation. “In general, we’re doing better this summer because we have better hydro, we have more batteries.”
Since last summer, California ISO — the nonprofit that runs the state’s electric grid — has brought more than 2,000 megawatts of new battery storage online, an almost 75% increase in capacity, officials said. And that’s expected to continue.
“The batteries are important, because they charge during the middle of the day when we have surplus solar production and discharge that energy onto the grid in the evenings, when solar is ramping off the system and we’re trying to fill the gap in supply,” Anne Gonzales, a spokesperson for the California ISO, wrote in a statement.
California ISO just reached a record high of battery charging this week — almost doubling the peak from a year prior, according GridStatus, a website that tracks independent service operators. And compared to data from last summer’s heat wave, California ISO’s energy supplies this week have already relied more heavily on battery supply during peak hours, according to supply data.
California’s first heat wave of the year could last into next week. Here are some tips on how to stay safe and cool during hot weather.
One megawatt of electricity is enough to power about 750 homes. And while renewable resources have exponentially increased in recent years, it’s worth noting that natural gas still fuels well over 40% of the state’s power most days.
But even with additional resources available this summer, officials say nothing is for certain in our changing climate.
“This year, we predict no shortfalls under average conditions,” Siva Gunda, vice chair of the California Energy Commission, said in a May briefing. “Extremes of climate change remain a wild card — another extreme event like last summer could once again put the grid into vulnerable territory.”
He predicted that a situation like last September — when the grid hit record-high demand, at about 52,000 megawatts — could likely be managed with the state’s contingency resources and additional market procurements. But if faced with another challenge such as a major wildfire or provider outages, Gunda said, the grid could fall short.
Death Valley, one of the most extreme places on the planet, is already seeing the impact of climate change, with summers even hotter than usual.
Grid operators already have issued multiple energy emergency alerts during the last few days of the heat wave, albeit at the lowest priority. Blackouts or Flex Alerts weren’t a real concern, officials said, though high demand and high temperatures forced the need to unlock additional energy supplies.
“We got some luck during the July heat waves, because while inland temperatures were hot and in some cases above normal, the direct coastal temperatures didn’t get extreme,” Gonzales said, noting that cloud cover and the cooler coasts have kept demand for energy well below prior records. “We haven’t hit particularly high demand yet.”
Even still, California ISO last week issued an energy emergency alert 1, noting “higher than anticipated demand,” but ended it an hour later. Then this week, officials issued two energy emergency watches — the lowest warning — citing Wednesday “some resources going offline, continued excessive heat in interior Southern California and transmission congestion restricting movement of power to parts of the state.”
But data shows demand, even at peak hours, never quite flirted near capacity as it did repeatedly last September.
Officials credit the emergency alert sent Tuesday night for the avoidance of widespread blackouts during record-setting energy demands.
“So while we haven’t seen substantial stress on the grid this summer, we haven’t been fully tested,” Gonzales said. “August and September historically can be times of stress on the grid.”
In the later summer, heat often becomes more extreme and wildfire activity increases, the latter of which can take out major transmission lines or generation. That time of year also becomes drier and days are shorter, reducing hydro and solar power, officials have said.
“Even though we see an improved situation for this summer, folks shouldn’t be surprised to see a Flex Alert, necessarily,” Alice Reynolds, president of the California Public Utilities Commission, warned this spring. “We’re talking about extreme heat, unusual events that are hard to manage.”
And there are also looming concerns about regional power supplies that can affect California, said Carrie Bentley, an energy consultant for the California ISO and chief executive of Gridwell Consulting.
“I think it’s going to be a challenging summer,” Bentley said. “I think from the California perspective we are much better, but we’re connected with the rest of the West.”
California’s power grid is typically tested during wildfire season or intense heat waves, but a winter storm system has challenged the state’s electric grid in new ways. Experts say resiliency measures are needed.
Unlike in California, hydropower in the Pacific Northwest is down, and the region has also recently shuttered some power plants — all while more residents are using air conditioners, sweltering under the kind of heat not typically felt in the historically cooler region.
“We’re not seeing the imports that we typically see during the summer,” Bentley said. “Higher demand and lower supply in the Pacific Northwest — they just simply have less power to import into California.”
So the balancing act of transitioning to green energy while keeping the lights on continues.
“The tight situation we had back in 2020 is behind us, but it’s hard to say — the weather this summer has been weird and intense,” O’Connell said. “How do we get resources online faster? Because we don’t want to be caught short again.”
The stories shaping California
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You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. | https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-07-28/could-californias-power-grid-become-strained-this-summer | 2023-07-28 11:24:30 | 1 | https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-07-28/could-californias-power-grid-become-strained-this-summer |
2 workers trapped in trench collapse in Texas
Published: Jun. 28, 2022 at 12:51 PM EDT|Updated: 44 minutes ago
JARRELL, Texas (KWTX/Gray News) - Two people are trapped about 17 feet underground after a trench collapsed Tuesday morning, KWTX reported.
An official at the scene said the call was received at about 8:40 a.m.
The collapse happened at a construction site near the interstate.
An official said the status of the workers buried and the cause of the collapse are unknown at this time.
The Round Rock, Georgetown, Austin, Temple and Salado fire departments are working to rescue the individuals.
Copyright 2022 KWTX via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wnem.com/2022/06/28/2-workers-trapped-trench-collapse-texas/ | 2022-06-28 17:36:14 | 1 | https://www.wnem.com/2022/06/28/2-workers-trapped-trench-collapse-texas/ |
Here's what Indianapolis is asking the state legislature to do this session
Mayor Joe Hogsett announced Tuesday the legislative priorities for the city in the upcoming Indiana General Assembly session where the state legislature will write Indiana's budget for the next two years.
State lawmakers outlined several legislative priorities for 2023 late last year, highlighting affordable housing development as one of the issues that would get lawmakers' attention.
More:What lawmakers say about abortion, education and the economy ahead of legislative session
Here's what the city is asking for.
Infrastructure funding
- Adjusting the funding formula for infrastructure around the full population of the consolidated city of Indianapolis, rather than by fire service territories. The formula now does not take into account three western townships, which shorts Indianapolis money
- Restructuring the criteria for Community Crossing grant program to better scale with the infrastructure needs of more populous counties
- Refinancing older bonds, allowing for debt service to be invested back into local road funding
More:Indy's road budget has doubled in recent years. It's not enough -- and it won't last.
Anti-displacement, tenant protections and rental assistance funding
After a challenging year for Indianapolis tenants that saw, among other issues, a lawsuit filed by the city and state to hold the negligent landlord JPC Affordable Housing Foundation accountable, Indianapolis is asking the state to:
- Pass legislation to prevent displacement of longtime homeowners living in neighborhoods undergoing rapid changes in property values and taxes
- Restore the city's ability to enforce local regulations around tenant-landlord relationships, which was stripped by the state in a hotly-contested 2020 bill
- Consider renter protections, including the right to withhold rent when a landlord fails to make necessary repairs and to set up utility escrows
- Provide state funding to help Indianapolis transform IndyRent into a permanent rental assistance program
- Provide state funding to address homelessness, including for master leasing of apartment units, supportive services, and shelter operations
In last year's legislative session, Republican state legislators had killed a Democrat-sponsored bill to implement the very tenant protections that the city is asking for.
Gun laws and funding for formerly incarcerated people
- Address the proliferation of 3D-printed converters, also known as "glock switches," that transform a semi-automatic weapon into a fully automatic weapon, as these weapons are becoming increasingly common in Indianapolis
- Pass laws to reduce access to firearms for young people, people suffering mental illness, and convicted felons
- Provide resources for the city's Division of Re-Entry work in helping people leaving incarceration find jobs, food, rides, and mental health aid
Public health
- Help local entities prepare and respond to the next public health crisis as we emerge from the global COVID-19 pandemic
- Support people experiencing lingering effects of the pandemic, addiction and mental health challenges, and the opioid crisis
- Support food access and reduce food deserts through the city’s Division of Community Nutrition and Food Policy
Contact IndyStar reporter Ko Lyn Cheang at kcheang@indystar.com or 317-903-7071. Follow her on Twitter: @kolyn_cheang. | https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/03/indianapolis-legislative-priorities-2023-indiana-general-assembly/69773769007/ | 2023-01-03 18:56:33 | 1 | https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/03/indianapolis-legislative-priorities-2023-indiana-general-assembly/69773769007/ |
National Institute of Building Sciences releases survey results and deep dive into diversity, equity, and inclusion
WASHINGTON, June 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Institute of Building Sciences has released its 2023 Built Environment Workforce Survey.
The new report, which was completed in partnership with Avenue M Group, takes the pulse on where things stand, with regard to diversity, equity, and inclusion. It covers more ground, including a breakdown of the definition of diversity. More than seven in 10 respondents included race (75%), ethnicity (74%), gender (73%), and age (71%) in their definition of diversity within the context of the built environment.
Nearly two-thirds (63%) of respondents said it's important to increase diversity of the built environment. And overall, younger respondents—aged 39 or younger (68%) and aged 40 to 49 (66%) — as well as women (79%) were more likely to indicate the importance with regard to increasing diversity.
"Nearly 30 partner organizations participated in this massive effort to look at diversity, inclusion, and social equity in our industry," said AC Powell, JD, CPS, President and CEO of NIBS. "This report offers insight on leveling this playing field to open up opportunities for all."
Highlights in the 2023 Built Environment Workforce Survey include:
- More than two-thirds (68%) of respondents were men, and about three in 10 (31%) were women.
- More than four in five (82%) identified as White and/or a person of European descent. Seven percent of respondents identified as Hispanic and/or Latina/Latino/Latinx; 4% identified as Black, African American, and/or a person of African descent; 4% identified as East Asian; and 3% identified as Native American, Alaska Native, First Nations, Métis, and/or Inuit.
- Sixty-seven percent of respondents work in private industry or business.
- The majority said they are employed full-time (73%), and about half (51%) have been in the built environment for more than 20 years.
- With regard to discrimination, almost one-third (32%) indicated they have experienced discrimination or prejudice based on age.
- Around two-thirds (67%) of women indicated they have experienced discrimination or prejudice in the built environment based on gender.
Participants in the Social Equity Survey
An initiative of the NIBS Consultative Council, the first Built Environment Social Equity Survey was released in May 2021. That study included 16 participating organizations, who sought to obtain consistent data across many industry sectors.
This year, participating organizations included The American Association of Blacks in Energy; The American Institute of Architects; American Institute of Steel Construction; American Society of Civil Engineers; American Society of Landscape Architects; ASHRAE; Association of Equipment Management Professionals; ASTM International; BOMA International; Building Talent Foundation; Construction Management Association of America; Construction Specifications Institute; Design-Build Institute of America; Green Building Initiative, Inc.; International Code Council; International Institute of Building Enclosure Consultants; Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance; National Apartment Association; The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals; National Building Museum; New Buildings Institute; Northwest Energy Efficiency Council; Phius (Passive House Institute US); Ready Mixed Concrete Research & Education Foundation; Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors; and the U.S. Green Building Council.
Learn more about NIBS' commitment to DEI.
About NIBS
National Institute of Building Sciences brings together labor and consumer interests, government representatives, regulatory agencies, and members of the building industry to identify and resolve problems and potential issues around the built environment. NIBS is a non-profit, non-governmental organization. For more information, visit nibs.org or follow @bldgsciences on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
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SOURCE National Institute of Building Sciences | https://www.kfyrtv.com/prnewswire/2023/06/05/new-built-environment-workforce-report-63-say-its-important-increase-diversity/ | 2023-06-05 17:06:48 | 1 | https://www.kfyrtv.com/prnewswire/2023/06/05/new-built-environment-workforce-report-63-say-its-important-increase-diversity/ |
CLEVELAND (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday afternoon's drawing of the Ohio Lottery's "Pick 3 Midday" game were:
6-1-2
(six, one, two)
In Other News
CLEVELAND (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday afternoon's drawing of the Ohio Lottery's "Pick 3 Midday" game were:
6-1-2
(six, one, two) | https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/ohio/winning-numbers-drawn-in-pick-3-midday-game/3DNQX3KESFBKLC3BPITVWPWGEQ/ | 2022-11-02 17:17:56 | 1 | https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/ohio/winning-numbers-drawn-in-pick-3-midday-game/3DNQX3KESFBKLC3BPITVWPWGEQ/ |
Watch Now
Suzuki strikes on 2-on-1 to put Habs up by two
Nick Suzuki enters the offensive zone on a 2-on-1 elects to shoot, firing the puck past Matt Murray to give Montreal a 2-0 lead over Pittsburgh. | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/nhl/suzuki-strikes-on-2-on-1-to-put-habs-up-by-two | 2023-06-27 10:07:57 | 0 | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/nhl/suzuki-strikes-on-2-on-1-to-put-habs-up-by-two |
SUZHOU, China, July 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Transcenta Holding Limited ("Transcenta") (HKEX: 06628), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company with fully-integrated capabilities in discovery, research, development and manufacturing of antibody-based therapeutics, announces that it has received approval from China Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) to initiate Phase II clinical trial of TST002(Blosozumab). This study aims to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of TST002(Blosozumab) after single and multiple intravenous administrations in patients with reduced bone mineral density.
Osteoporosis is a significant health concern for the middle-aged and elderly population in China. It is estimated that by 2050, the number of osteoporosis patients will reach 120 million. Compared with RANKL mAbs, sclerostin mAbs successfully achieve the dual goal of preventing bone loss and rebuilding the bone. Evenity (Romosozumab) of Amgen is the only anti-sclerostin antibody drug that has been approved by the FDA in the United States. Up to the present, there was no anti-sclerostin antibody drug approved in China.
In May 2023, Transcenta presented Phase I unblinded data, which showed that the overall safety and tolerability of TST002 (Blosozumab) in all dose cohorts is favorable. On the efficacy side, all dose cohorts from 200-1,200 mg have shown a clinically meaningful increase in lumbar spine BMD on Day 85 (D85) after a single dose of TST002 (Blosozumab) and comparable to those of Blosozumab single dose study at the similar dose levels. The average increase of lumbar spine BMD at Day 85 (D85) from baseline ranged from 3.52% to 6.20% across dose cohorts, all exceeding the least significant difference (2.77%). The increase of lumbar spine BMD in the placebo group was only 0.30% even with optimal calcium and vitamin D supplemental treatment. In addition, encouraging BMD increase in total hip from 1.30% to 2.24% across dose cohorts were observed after single dose of TST002 (Blosozumab). In comparison, the mean percent change in lumbar spine BMD from baseline to month 12 was 5.4% after one year of Denosumab treatment.1
"We are excited to have received the clearance to move forward from CDE. Our Phase II will assess several regimens of TST002 (Blosozumab) with reduced dosing frequency, bringing us closer to our Phase III. We look forward to fully exploring the differentiated profile of TST002 to address the unmet medical need of the large patient population who suffers from osteoporosis," said Dr. Caroline Germa, Transcenta's Executive Vice President, Global Medicine Development and Chief Medical Officer.
Reference:
1 https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/105/3/e255/5607536
About TST002 (Blosozumab)
TST002 (Blosozumab) is a humanized anti-sclerostin monoclonal antibody as a drug candidate for osteoporosis and other bone loss diseases. It has a dual effect possessing both anabolic and anti-resorptive effects, which stimulates bone formation and inhibits bone absorption, resulting in fast increase in bone mineral density and bone strength. Blocking sclerostin activity in human treated with anti-sclerostin antibody or with naturally occurring genetic deletion has been shown to be an effective approach in increasing bone mineral density (BMD) and reducing bone fracture. Currently there is no approved anti-sclerostin antibody therapy in China yet although Romosozumab from Amgen has been approved in the United States, Europe and Japan.
About Transcenta Holding Limited
Transcenta (HKEX: 06628) is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company with fully integrated capabilities in antibody-based biotherapeutics discovery, research, development and manufacturing.
Transcenta has established global footprint, with Headquarters and Discovery, Clinical and Translational Research Center in Suzhou, Process and Product Development Center and Manufacturing Facility in Hangzhou, and Clinical Development Centers in Princeton, US and in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou of China, and External Partnering Center in Boston and Los Angeles, US. Transcenta has also initiated the construction of the Group Headquarters and the second high-end biopharmaceutical facility with ICB as its core technology in Suzhou Industrial Park. Transcenta is developing 13 therapeutic antibody molecules for oncology and selected non-oncology indications including bone and kidney disorders.
For more information, please visit www.transcenta.com and https://www.linkedin.com/company/transcenta.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain certain forward-looking statements that are, by their nature, subject to significant risks and uncertainties. The words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend" and similar expressions, as they relate to Transcenta, are intended to identify certain of such forward-looking statements. Transcenta does not intend to update these forward-looking statements regularly.
These forward-looking statements are based on the existing beliefs, assumptions, expectations, estimates, projections and understandings of the management of Transcenta with respect to future events at the time these statements are made. These statements are not a guarantee of future developments and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond Transcenta's control and are difficult to predict. Consequently, actual results may differ materially from information contained in the forward-looking statements as a result of future changes or developments in our business, Transcenta's competitive environment and political, economic, legal and social conditions.
Transcenta, the Directors and the employees of Transcenta assume (a) no obligation to correct or update the forward-looking statements contained in this site; and (b) no liability in the event that any of the forward-looking statements does not materialize or turn out to be incorrect.
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SOURCE Transcenta Holding Limited | https://www.kait8.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/transcenta-anti-sclerostin-monoclonal-antibody-tst002-blosozumab-received-approval-china-cde-initiate-phase-ii-clinical-trial-patients-with-reduced-bone-mineral-density/ | 2023-07-31 01:47:10 | 0 | https://www.kait8.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/transcenta-anti-sclerostin-monoclonal-antibody-tst002-blosozumab-received-approval-china-cde-initiate-phase-ii-clinical-trial-patients-with-reduced-bone-mineral-density/ |
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A Hubbard Broadcasting Company | https://www.kob.com/ap-new-mexico/bc-sports-odds-66/ | 2022-09-28 03:27:11 | 1 | https://www.kob.com/ap-new-mexico/bc-sports-odds-66/ |
- The World Cup 2022 disrupted the sporting calendar and resulted in approximately 25 per cent fewer top football league fixtures compared to the fourth quarter last year and contrary to expectations, turnover from the World Cup was not enough to offset the impact of reduced fixtures elsewhere. This combined with a lower than long-term average sports betting margin and a few isolated events during the quarter had a negative impact on the Group's quarterly performance, resulting in total revenue of approximately GBP 305 million
- Continued increased sustainability focus in some key markets, notably Belgium, affected revenue negatively. In Norway Kindred has made several changes to its offering, which has also impacted revenue
- Lower revenue than expected combined with a historically low gross profit margin and considerable marketing investments had a negative impact on the profitability for the fourth quarter with underlying EBITDA estimated to reach approximately GBP 39 million. Underlying EBITDA excluding North America reached approximately GBP 54 million
- As a result of the weaker than anticipated performance, immediate actions will be taken to improve profitability in the short- and medium-term
- Kindred has decided to communicate a non-recurring indicative guidance for the fiscal year 2023. Kindred estimates Underlying EBITDA for the full-year to reach at least GBP 200 million assuming long-term average sportsbetting margin
SLIEMA, Malta, Jan. 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Kindred Group plc (Kindred) has delivered solid growth year-on-year with total Group revenue of approximately GBP 305 million (Q4 2021: GBP 244.9 million). Total revenue increased by 24 per cent (23 per cent in constant currency) and by 3 per cent excluding the Netherlands (2 per cent in constant currency) compared to the same period last year. The quarter saw 1.83 million active customers for the Group supported by marketing investments in the run-up and during the World Cup, which is the second highest recorded number and an increase of 25 per cent compared to the fourth quarter last year.
However, the revenue development did not meet the expectations due to the following factors:
- Although the turnover during the World Cup 2022 was good it did not manage to offset the reduced number of major football league fixtures being played in the quarter compared to the same period in 2021 (approximately 200 fewer top league fixtures compared to Q4 last year)
- The sports betting margin after free bets was 8.9 per cent, which was below the long-term average
- The previously communicated settled pay-out of GBP 5.3 million following the Houston Astros winning the World Series on 5 November 2022 resulted in a negative revenue contribution of GBP 4.4 million. Excluding this, North America delivered a solid underlying growth during the quarter
- While we saw continued strong development in several markets incl. Netherlands, France and Sweden, regulatory changes and increased sustainability focus in some key markets, notably Belgium, affected revenue negatively. In Norway Kindred has made several changes to its offering, which has also impacted revenue
Underlying EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2022 is estimated at approximately GBP 39 million (Q4 2021: GBP 27.6 million). The Underlying EBITDA for the quarter was negatively impacted by the weaker revenue than expected, a historically low gross profit margin and considerable marketing investments (marketing costs excluding affiliates amounted to approximately GBP 67 million). The gross profit margin for the fourth quarter was approximately 53.9 per cent and negatively impacted by Houston Astros winning the World Series, which resulted in a GBP 3.9 million EBITDA loss, as well as an unfavourable market mix with a higher proportion of the revenue coming from lower margin markets. Excluding North America, the Underlying EBITDA reached approximately GBP 54 million.
While the weaker than expected performance during the fourth quarter can largely be attributed to a few one-off events explained above and the headwinds in Belgium and Norway, actions are being taken to further improve profitability in the short- and medium-term. These include but are not limited to:
- Reducing losses in North America by decreasing marketing spend prior to the Kindred platform being launched
- Re-prioritising investment projects to free up capacity for key strategic initiatives and reduce short-term costs
- Further optimising the Group's operating expenses to reduce cost growth and improve scalability
Management does not believe that the fourth quarter 2022 results are indicative of the true earnings power of the business and Kindred has therefore decided to communicate a non-recurring indicative guidance for the fiscal year 2023. Kindred estimates Underlying EBITDA for the full-year to reach at least GBP 200 million assuming long-term average sportsbetting margins. This includes the actions mentioned above to further improve the profitability.
Based on the above, we remain fully confident in the outlook for the Group and the financial targets communicated at the Capital Markets Day on 14 September 2022.
Kindred Group's CEO Henrik Tjärnström will host a telephone conference in English on 13 January 2023 at 9.00 CET. If you wish to participate via webast please click the link below and if you with to participate via telephone conference please register on the link below. After registration for the telephone conference you will be provided phone numbers and a conference ID to access the conference. You can ask questions verbally via the webcast or the telephone conference.
The interim report for the fourth quarter of 2022 will be published on 8 February 2023 at 07.30 CET. The following results presentation and Q&A session will be available through webcast at 10.00 CET on the same day.
This disclosure contains information that Kindred Group is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation (EU nr 596/2014). The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person, on 12-01-2023 21:00 CET.
For more information:
Patrick Kortman, Director - Corporate Development & Investor Relations, +46 723 877 438
ir@kindredgroup.com
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SOURCE Kindred Group | https://www.wagmtv.com/prnewswire/2023/01/13/kindred-group-plc-unaudited-trading-update-fourth-quarter-2022-including-non-recurring-indicative-guidance-2023/ | 2023-01-13 09:04:03 | 0 | https://www.wagmtv.com/prnewswire/2023/01/13/kindred-group-plc-unaudited-trading-update-fourth-quarter-2022-including-non-recurring-indicative-guidance-2023/ |
Local and state police are working with the FBI in Albuquerque, N.M., to investigate five shootings that have targeted Democratic politicians' homes or offices since in the past month.
Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa, whose home was the first to come under fire, told NPR on Friday that the attacks have been difficult to process, "especially knowing that other women of color elected officials have also been targeted."
In the attacks, multiple rounds have been fired into the doors and walls of buildings — in some cases while elected officials were inside with their families — but no one has been hurt.
"We're grateful that nobody has been injured, but we also realize that we have to move quickly," Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said at a news conference about the attacks.
His point was underlined by recent events: Authorities had planned to highlight the shootings on Thursday, after a state senator's home was fired at on Tuesday — and then came word of yet more gunfire with a political target, as bullets struck a second state senator's office Thursday morning.
"We do have some leads," Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said. He acknowledged the obvious connection of all the victims belonging to the same party, but warned people not to speculate about the violence while evidence still is being gathered.
"We're worried and concerned that these are connected and possibly politically motivated or personally motivated," Keller said. "But we don't know that for a fact."
Timeline of the shootings
Sunday, Dec. 4 — At 4:41 p.m. someone fired eight shots at Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa's home in southeast Albuquerque. "In early December, I returned from Christmas shopping to my home being shot up; it was terrifying," Barboa told NPR on Friday. "My house had four shots through the front door and windows, where just hours before my grandbaby and I were playing in the living room."
Saturday, Dec. 10 — The campaign office in downtown Albuquerque for Raúl Torrez, the state's new attorney general, was shot at in the early morning "after we had already moved out," a campaign representative told NPR, adding that the campaign is working with law enforcement. Police officers collected evidence at the time, and that evidence now is being analyzed for any possible ties to the other shootings in Albuquerque.
Sunday, Dec. 11 — A barrage of gunfire hit the home of then-Bernalillo County Commissioner Debbie O'Malley in the North Valley area. "More than a dozen gunshot impacts were identified on walls and the house," Albuquerque police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos told NPR.
Tuesday, Jan. 3 — The home of state Sen. Linda Lopez was targeted in southwest Albuquerque. "At least eight shots were fired at her home after midnight," Gallegos said. Showing reporters from the Albuquerque Journal multiple bullet holes in her garage, Lopez said it was the first time she experienced "a very personal attack on me and my family."
Thursday, Jan. 5 — Police gunshot-detection sensors registered three shots fired near the downtown law office where state Sen. Antonio "Moe" Maestas works, at 11:41 a.m. Police didn't find any sign of damage. Maestas thanked police via Twitter, saying his family was safe and sound.
Detectives are sifting through video and other evidence
The attacks on elected officials are a top priority for investigators, Medina said at Thursday's news conference, adding that the police are collating evidence, including video collected by intersection cameras and reports by ShotSpotter installations that detect gunfire.
"They will work this nonstop until we can hopefully get this case resolved," Medina said.
The authorities are asking the public for help, hoping residents might send in information about people or vehicles near the attacks, or threats made on social media toward the politicians.
Medina said his department is reaching out to elected officials across Bernalillo County to get a sense of potential safety concerns, and to consider whether law enforcement may need to provide additional security to politicians.
As they discussed the string of attacks, the police and politicians spoke about the bane of gun violence — both in New Mexico and across the U.S.
"Too many of the people I love, my neighbors and our communities, have been impacted by violence like this," Barboa said. "We must do more to end gun violence in and against our communities."
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.mainepublic.org/npr-news/2023-01-06/five-democratic-politicians-homes-or-offices-have-been-shot-at-in-albuquerque | 2023-01-06 21:09:33 | 0 | https://www.mainepublic.org/npr-news/2023-01-06/five-democratic-politicians-homes-or-offices-have-been-shot-at-in-albuquerque |
BOSTON, June 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Aviation Climate Taskforce (ACT) announced today the selection of Tom Light as its first President and Chief Executive Officer, effective June 20, 2022. Light brings over a decade of experience in the climate action sector, most recently as the Executive Director of the Arctic Ice Project, a Silicon Valley scientific research organization that aims to restore ice to the Arctic, and prior to that as the Managing Director of WaterEquity, the first impact investment fund with an exclusive focus on climate change adaptation solutions for the global water crisis. In addition to his chief executive roles, he brings nearly 20 years of experience in the investment management and non-profit sector.
"We have conducted an extensive search for a CEO with the expertise and ability to effectively lead ACT," reports Michael Deimler, member of the Founders' Board. "With his exceptional track record of scaling and leading technical climate & sustainability organizations, we believe Tom is the ideal CEO to tackle emerging technologies and accelerate breakthrough innovations that will help the aviation sector reduce CO2 emissions."
"I am honored to join ACT and eager to work closely with the Board and members of the aviation community as we advance breakthrough solutions to decarbonize aviation," said Light. "I look forward to accelerating the development of high potential, medium-term technologies such as power-to-liquid synthetic and direct air capture to help the sector achieve net-zero emissions."
Light's prior experiences also include executive level positions at UBS Investment Bank, and as the senior leader responsible for the impact investment strategy at the Grameen Foundation where he served first as a fund manager and later as the Head of the Capital Management & Advisory Center.
He received his BA with honors from the University of Michigan in Quantitative Economics, holds an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
For media inquiries, please contact Brian Bannister: +1 44 7733 886 145 or Bannister.Brian@bcg.com.
Aviation Climate Taskforce (ACT) is a non-profit organization founded to tackle the challenge of helping the aviation industry achieve net-zero emissions, with the goal of accelerating breakthroughs in emerging decarbonization technologies by 10 years or more. Launched in October 2021, ACT brings together the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and 10 global airlines, including Air Canada, Air France-KLM Group, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, Lufthansa Group, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, and Virgin Atlantic. ACT will seek to drive technological innovation and accelerate the R&D lifecycle, starting with mid-term solutions such as power-to-liquid synthetic fuels. It will take a portfolio approach and gradually expand its scope to include new pathways for bio-based SAF and hydrogen technologies.
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SOURCE Aviation Climate Taskforce (ACT) | https://www.kmvt.com/prnewswire/2022/06/30/aviation-climate-taskforce-act-appoints-first-president-amp-ceo-accelerate-breakthroughs-emerging-technologies-decarbonize-aviation/ | 2022-06-30 05:02:44 | 0 | https://www.kmvt.com/prnewswire/2022/06/30/aviation-climate-taskforce-act-appoints-first-president-amp-ceo-accelerate-breakthroughs-emerging-technologies-decarbonize-aviation/ |
Donors, not Knox County Schools, actually pay for playgrounds, and it's causing disparities
How do you build a playground? One penny at a time.
At Mount Olive Elementary School, students brought in pennies — from their own piggybanks, even -— for a fundraising campaign called "penny wars." It was one of the school's efforts to pay for its new playground, which opened in February.
Pennies may be small change, but they're representative of the dedication needed to pay for a playground at each Knox County Schools site. The district does not pay for new or replacement playgrounds.
Instead, school communities are left to raise funds themselves, leaving disparities in the type of the equipment kids use for recess.
Through its "small and mighty" parent teacher organization, Mount Olive raised $60,000 in one year. Most of it comes from a list of donors that reads like a who's who of community stakeholders: Sevier Heights Baptist Church, the Thompson Charitable Foundation, Denark Construction, the Boyd Foundation and a smattering of elected officials.
In the last five years, communities have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on playground equipment.
“It's every community, everywhere,” said Knox County Commissioner Larsen Jay, who spoke to the school board in March and asked Knox County Schools start funding playgrounds.
Though a change in district policy could be a long way off, parents who've led playground campaigns agree something needs to change.
KCS doesn't pay for playgrounds
The playground policy is something "nobody knows about until they come up against the harsh reality," said Jay, who stepped in after multiple schools reached out for help buying equipment.
He said playgrounds have been a financial burden on school communities for 30 years.
"I couldn't ever really track down the origin of how that shifted because it predates everybody" in the district's administration, Jay said.
Board policy says the district has a "long history" of parents and community organizations buying playground equipment, calling it a "beneficial" collaboration for families and the district.
Board policy also says any equipment placed on school grounds, even if it's paid for by other groups, becomes the property of the school district.
In effect, communities are paying to buy playgrounds that are then owned by the school district, which "reserves the right to transfer property to other facilities."
In order to make sure communities purchase equipment approved by the American Society for Testing and Materials, KCS requires that playgrounds come from district-selected vendors. But with only three vendors on contract, there are limited choices.
Every parent-teacher organization fundraising for a new playground has to get permission from the board before it can spend money.
In the last five years, 22 KCS schools raised a combined $997,404.62 to install, replace or maintain playground equipment. These 31 projects cost an average of $32,174.34.
Because some schools completed multiple projects, the average cost per school is higher. Those 22 schools spent, on average, $45,336.57 on their playgrounds.
Eighteen of those 31 projects listed parent-teacher campaigns as their main source of funds. These campaigns pull together individual donations, school funds, and sizable donations from local charities and businesses.
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New schools start fresh
Knox County Schools doesn't pay for playgrounds at new schools, either. There is no money budgeted for a playground at new northwest elementary school in District 4, scheduled to open in 2023, according to district officials. KCS is projecting a $29 million cost for the school, according to the budget for fiscal year 2022.
”It's going to be opened in less than two years and you're immediately going to have to go burden the community to put something on there for elementary school kids to play,” Jay said.
New schools don't even have benefit of strong PTOs and PTAs to get a fundraiser off the ground.
Knox County Schools also doesn't pay to maintain existing playgrounds. To meet safety standards, playgrounds must have 6 to 12 inches of mulch — wood or rubber — underneath structures to protect children.
Mulch gets worn down and must be replaced, which adds a recurring maintenance cost of around $10,000.
School communities have to pay for upgrades to their playgrounds like adding accessible swing sets, building walking paths and more. They have to pay to replace worn, broken and outdated equipment, even if they're not gutting and replacing the entire play structure.
"What is happening with Sunnyview over the years is we keep getting these parts taken off and we have no way to fix this. And the county doesn't offer any way to fix it," said Brandi Pressley, a member of Sunnyview Primary's Parent Teacher Association.
Knox County Schools does pays for tearing down playgrounds and moving them when a school is renovated or relocated.
“The practice of Knox County Schools has been to essentially double tax the community for something that they have seen as an add-on where I see as an essential part of the education,” Jay said.
Fundraising is a challenge
Last year was Michelle Harper’s first as principal at Mount Olive. From the moment the first inspection report crossed her desk, she knew a new playground was a top priority.
Harper brought the idea to Mount Olive's Parent Teacher Organization. It was Jeremy Cox's first meeting.
Cox, a pastor, had worked with his church — a community partner for Lonsdale Elementary — to fundraise for a playground already.
“I had already known that the school system doesn't pay for equipment or repair of equipment,” said Cox, whose son goes to Mount Olive. ”That falls on the community, really. I knew that was a big undertaking because I was part of that process at Lonsdale.”
Cox reached out to Kristi Kristy, the school board representative for Mount Olive. Kristy helped Cox network, pointing to county commissioners like Jay. Some gave money, but Jay gave money and dove in to help.
Jay connected Cox with Boyd Foundation and Denark Construction, two of the biggest donors for Mount Olive.
Cox estimated 70% of the $60,000 raised for Mount Olive came from big organizations, churches and businesses. The other 30% came from individual donations and school campaigns like penny wars.
It was University of Tennessee System President Randy Boyd who sealed the deal.
"He asked me point blank. He said, 'How much do you need to finish this project?'" Cox recalled.
It wasn't Boyd's first time buying a playground for a local school. In the last five years, the Boyd Foundation has given $712,500 for playgrounds, including $650,000 for an expansive project at Green Magnet Academy for playgrounds, a walking track and an outdoor classroom.
But the district's reliance on donations could be starting to take its toll.
“I was disappointed to hear that Knox County Schools do not provide and maintain the playgrounds, they have to rely on private donations,” Boyd said after donating $50,000 to New Hopewell Elementary’s playground project.
A school's pool of willing and available parents — and their ability to mobilize — is the top indicator of whether a new playground is in the cards. But even the schools who succeed in raising money don't do so without roadblocks, according to parents who have led the process.
Strain on families
Parents who take up the call to fundraise are in for a lot of work.
“Here I am, I'm a parent of two. I'm a pastor. I don't have a lot of fundraising experience and I got thrown thrown into this mix with zero help from the school system,” Cox said.
Cox couldn’t put an estimate on how many hours he worked on playground funding for Mount Olive, but it was "time-consuming." He met with pastors, made phone calls, wrote grants, stopped in at local businesses on his way to and from work.
“It's a full-time job in itself,” Pressley said. For parents like Pressley whose kids filter from Sunnyview Primary School to Chilhowee Intermediate School, they’re pulling double duty on playground fundraising because both schools have undergone fundraising campaigns in the last few years.
Chilhowee doesn't have a PTA, so school leaders do the work on top of their regular duties, plus parent volunteers help. too.
“It's hard on us. It's hard on the kids because it's like you get that hope you've got that momentum, you're getting there,” Pressley said. “And then it's just like you start all over again, because you've worked so hard to get $20,000 and then you need another $10,000.”
Chilhowee managed to raise $50,000 for a playground. But by the time they had, prices had gone up — their request for approval to the school board sits at $61,000. It's "disheartening," Pressley said.
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Because campaigns can take years, some students move on before fundraising is finished. They never get to enjoy the new playground.
At Sunnyview, the slides were condemned, accelerating the timeline for a new playground. They needed to buy something fast.
”We just had to punt and we had to buy something that we could afford. So we have part of a playground ordered,” Pressley said. That took half their funds. They’re saving the rest to buy the dream playground they originally envisioned.
Frustrations with school district
Parents also have to contend with the district's rules.
For Cox, those hoops — especially when the district already has the resources, the contacts and the manpower to do handle the process — doesn't make sense.
“I personally had to write six different grants on my own time for equipment that will be owned by the school system,” Cox said. “That alone was incredibly frustrating.”
Also frustrating are Knox County's vendor rules. Sunnyview's playground was at least 20 years old. The company that installed it is no longer in business, putting the school in a bind.
"We don't have a way to have anybody repair it because other playground companies won't repair other peoples’ playgrounds. At that point, they basically just condemn it and start taking it away,” Pressley said.
Sunnyview's only option was for entirely new playground. Like all KCS schools in the market, they could purchase from one of three approved vendors.
"There are other companies that are cheaper, and who offer grants. We couldn't even go to those because Knox County Schools wants to tell parents, 'OK, you need to buy us a playground but it's under our terms,'" Cox said.
By the time Cox had $30,000 raised, the school district told him there was only one matching grant – for a vendor he couldn't buy from because they were no longer on contract with Knox County Schools.
Another vendor told Cox she couldn’t meet with him until he knew how much money Mount Olive could bring to the table.
“That left me only one person, one vendor who chose to come out and meet me at the site, give me a mock-up draft and give me some ideas of what it would cost,” Cox said.
Current practice exacerbates disparities
Different neighborhoods have different resources. And that's the real problem with leaving communities to pay for their playgrounds.
"There's not a level playing field for the schools," Pressley said. "You’re either a higher-income school, a community school or just a low-income school that just doesn't fit that mold."
The problem is two-fold: The school needs funds and volunteers with time to spare.
“That was my starting conversation with the donors and even when I was writing the grants, the fact that the Mount Olive is the second- or third-smallest elementary school in Knox County and that we just don't have the parental resources that other, bigger schools have," Cox said.
Some kids can afford to bring in a dollar for pajama day. Some kids can't. And that can cause kids to feel both left out and shameful they're not contributing.
For families already balancing child care costs, gas prices and daily needs, it's
"terrible" to make them go out and raise more money, Jay said.
“There's so many other things that that community could be doing to wrap around that school, if not for spending tens of thousands of dollars on a piece of equipment,” Jay said. Field trips, classroom supplies and teacher support could all benefit.
Sunnyview started fundraising for a playground three years ago.
"All of our coupon book sales money, and fall festivals, winter festivals, anything we've done like that has went toward this playground. And so we've been saving for years,” Pressley said.
Not only does the current practice exacerbate disparities in income and school size, it highlights differences in location and taxes those communities.
“When you've got a community like Mount Olive, which is primarily residential, we don't have a lot of businesses where I can be like, 'Hey, you're part of this community. Can you help?'" Cox said.
Inequities in income, size and location are exacerbated.
"That is the bottom line," Cox said.
Potential solutions
The first step in Jay's playground proposal is already under way: Direct the district's operations team to assess every playground and prioritize funding according to need.
Superintendent Bob Thomas instructed his staff to put together a list of program standards for playgrounds, said KCS Chief Operating Officer Russ Oaks. Both facilities and curriculum teams are developing the standards.
Oaks said once a standard is developed and brought to the board, the district will assess all playgrounds to determine which ones need improvement first.
The budget team is looking at how to fund playgrounds in the short and long term, Thomas said. Jay suggested allocating some of the district's $114 million in ESSER funds to a one-time replacement and upgrade for failing playgrounds.
“It will at least put everybody at the same starting line and we'll catch up with 30 or 40 years of neglect all in a short amount of time,” Jay said.
Though that's theoretically possible, it's not simple.
To appropriate ESSER funds for playgrounds, the district would have to file an amended plan. Because ESSER money is earmarked for initiatives to reverse the learning loss caused by COVID-19, the district would have to make a case for playgrounds' role in schools' recovery.
Doing so could take away funds from other programs. And ESSER funds are a short-term solution. In the long run, playgrounds would have to be built into the district's capital budget.
There is no allocation for playgrounds in the 2022-2023 capital budget going before the board Wednesday.
Then the district will have to decide how much to spend. A new playground can cost anywhere between $50,000 and $150,000 — or more, depending on what kind and how many structures a school picks.
Jay suggested the district offer at least a basic package to schools, at whatever price point the district decides.
"Everybody should have the same amount," Pressley said. "And then if you want to go above and beyond that, then you use your PTA or your school funding to get what you want.”
The district wouldn't have to budget for a new playground for every school annually. If they don't offer a basic package as needed, they could offer set monetary grants to a certain number of schools every year, Cox suggested.
How much those grants amount to and how many schools would get one every year would again be up to the district.
But details on how playgrounds can be built into Knox County Schools' budget aren't as important as taking the burden off communities, parents said.
“How long can we keep up the momentum to get these funds and not disappoint children?" Pressley said. "At the end of the day, it's about the children." | https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/education/2022/05/02/knox-county-schools-playgrounds-families-ask-district-start-paying/7001567001/ | 2022-05-02 03:42:54 | 1 | https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/education/2022/05/02/knox-county-schools-playgrounds-families-ask-district-start-paying/7001567001/ |
It’s that time of year again – Summer is winding down and children (and parents!) are getting ready to go back to school.
Whether you're searching for new ideas for lunch or after school snacks, American Dairy Association North East has you covered. Dairy products like milk, yogurt, and cheese provide essential vitamins and nutrients for growing minds and bodies!
Go for a sweet or savory snack to please the whole family! Cucumber Yogurt Dip pairs perfectly with fresh veggies, while the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip dip served with fruit will satisfy a sweet tooth!
Kale and spinach are perfect for smoothies! Try it in this Peachy Green Pineapple Smoothie.
Find more recipes here.
Learn more here. | https://www.wmar2news.com/middaymaryland/american-dairy-association-north-east-back-to-school-snacks | 2022-08-29 18:10:03 | 1 | https://www.wmar2news.com/middaymaryland/american-dairy-association-north-east-back-to-school-snacks |
DENVER (AP) — Colorado voters have passed a ballot initiative to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms for people 21 and older and to create state-regulated “healing centers” where participants can experience the drug under supervision.
Colorado becomes the second state, after Oregon, to vote to establish a regulated system for substances like psilocybin and psilocin, the hallucinogens found in some mushrooms. The initiative, which would take effect in 2024, also will allow an advisory board to add other plant-based psychedelic drugs to the program in 2026.
Supporters argued that the state’s current approach to mental health has failed and that naturally occurring psychedelics, which have been used for hundreds of years, can treat depression, PTSD, anxiety, addiction and other conditions. They also said jailing people for the non-violent offense of using naturally occurring substances costs taxpayers money.
Natural Medicine Colorado, the group that promoted the measure, called its passage “a truly historic moment.”
“Colorado voters saw the benefit of regulated access to natural medicines, including psilocybin, so people with PTSD, terminal illness, depression, anxiety and other mental health issues can heal,” the group said in a prepared statement.
But critics warned that the Food and Drug Administration has not approved the substances as medicine. They also argued that allowing “healing centers” to operate, and allowing private personal use of the drugs, would jeopardize public safety and send the wrong message to kids and adults alike that the substances are healthy.
“This opens a very large national conversation about the role of the FDA in determining medicines in this country,” said Luke Niforatos, the head of the opposition ballot committee, Protect Colorado’s Kids. “Because now, for the second time in a row, we’ve had states put medicine to a ballot vote and circumvent science and the FDA.”
Niforatos said his group is calling on the FDA, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Attorney for Colorado to step in because the drugs are still federally illegal.
“Are we going to dispense with the FDA — the only institution in charge of protecting patient health and safety — and just say that we’re OK with statewide, nationwide experiments on whatever startup comes up with for a drug?” he asked.
The ballot initiative’s passage comes a decade after Colorado voted to legalize recreational marijuana, after initially allowing its use for medical reasons, which led to a multibillion-dollar industry with hundreds of dispensaries popping up across the state.
Critics of the latest ballot initiative say the same deep-pocketed players who have pushed for legalizing recreational marijuana in various states are using a similar playbook to create a commercial market, and eventually recreational dispensaries, for dangerous substances.
Voters in this week’s midterm elections approved recreational marijuana in Maryland and Missouri but rejected it in two other states, signaling support gradually growing for legalization even in conservative parts of the country.
The results mean that 21 states have approved marijuana’s recreational use.
Under Colorado’s latest measure, the psychedelics that would be decriminalized are listed as schedule 1 controlled substances under state and federal law and are defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use with a high potential for abuse.
Even so, the FDA has designated psilocybin a “breakthrough therapy” to treat major depressive disorder. The designation can expedite research, development and review of a drug if it might offer substantial improvements over existing treatments.
Colorado’s ballot initiative would allow those 21 and older to grow, possess and share the psychedelic substances but not sell them for personal use. It also would allow people who have been convicted of offenses involving the substances to have their criminal records sealed.
Those who want to use mushrooms would not need approval from a doctor. In addition to being able to grow and use their own mushrooms, those who want to try the therapy could do so through the newly formed “healing centers,” which would be allowed to supply clients with mushrooms but not sell them. Instead, clients would pay for the services of the “facilitator” at the center.
Proponents have repeatedly stressed that the measure does not allow dispensaries like those selling recreational and medical marijuana.
In 2020, Oregon became the first state in the nation to legalize the therapeutic, supervised use of psilocybin after 56% of voters approved Ballot Measure 109. But unlike the Colorado measure, Oregon allows counties to opt out of the program if their constituents vote to do so.
In Colorado, counties and municipalities would be able to regulate healing centers but not ban them.
Oregon’s initiative is expected to take effect at the beginning of next year.
Washington, D.C., and Denver have partially decriminalized psychedelic mushrooms by requiring law enforcement officers to treat them as their lowest priority.
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the midterm elections at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections and check out https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections to learn more about the issues and factors at play. | https://www.kxnet.com/news/politics/ap-politics/ap-colorado-voters-decriminalize-psychedelic-mushrooms/ | 2022-11-11 21:03:22 | 0 | https://www.kxnet.com/news/politics/ap-politics/ap-colorado-voters-decriminalize-psychedelic-mushrooms/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Thick, smoky air from Canadian wildfires made for days of misery in New York City and across the U.S. Northeast this week. But for much of the rest of the world, breathing dangerously polluted air is an inescapable fact of life — and death.
Almost the entire world breathes air that exceeds the World Health Organization’s air-quality limits at least occasionally. The danger grows worse when that bad air is more persistent than the nightmarish shroud that hit the U.S. — usually in developing or newly industrialized nations. That’s where most of the 4.2 million deaths blamed on outdoor air pollution occurred in 2019, the UN’s health agency reported.
“Air pollution has no boundaries, and it is high time everyone comes together to fight it,” said Bhavreen Kandhari, the co-founder of Warrior Moms in India, a network of mothers pushing for clean air and climate action in a nation with some of the world’s consistently worst air. “What we are seeing in the U.S. should shake us all.”
“This is a severe air pollution episode in the U.S.,” said Jeremy Sarnat, a professor of environmental health at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. “But it’s fairly typical for what millions and millions of people experience in other parts of the world.”
Last year, nine of the 10 cities with the highest annual average of fine particulate matter were in Asia — including six in India, according to air quality company IQAir, which aggregates readings from ground level monitoring stations worldwide.
Fine particulate matter, sometimes denoted as PM 2.5, refers to airborne particles or droplets of 2.5 microns or less. That’s far smaller than a human hair, and the particles can reach deep into lungs to cause eye, nose, throat and lung irritation and even affect heart function.
Sajjad Haider, a 31-year-old shopkeeper in Lahore, Pakistan, rides his motorbike to work daily. He wears a mask and goggles against frequent air pollution in the city of 11 million, but suffers from eye infections, breathing problems and chest congestion that get worse as smog grows in winter.
On his doctor’s advice, he relies on hot water and steam to clear his chest, but said he cannot follow another bit of the doctor’s advice: Don’t go out on his motorbike if he wants to keep his health.
“I can’t afford a car and I can’t continue my business without a motorbike,” said Haider.
Last year, Lahore had the world’s highest average concentration of fine particulate matter at nearly 100 micrograms per cubic meter of air. By comparison, New York City’s concentration hit 303 at one point on Wednesday.
But New York’s air typically falls well within healthy levels. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s standard for exposure is no more than 35 micrograms per day, and no more than 12 micrograms a day for longer-term exposure. New York’s annual average was 10 or below the past two years.
New Delhi, a heaving city of more than 20 million where Kandhari lives, usually tops the list of the many Indian cities gasping for breath as haze turns the capital’s sky gray and obscures buildings and monuments. It’s worse in autumn, when the burning of crop residues in neighboring states coincides with cooler temperatures that trap deadly smoke over the city, sometimes for weeks.
Vehicle emissions and fireworks set off during the Hindu Diwali festival add to the murk, and the results include coughs, headaches, flight delays and highway pileups. The government sometimes asks residents to work from home or carpool, some schools go online and families that can afford them turn to air purifiers.
On Thursday, even as a hazardous haze disrupted life for millions across the U.S., New Delhi still ranked as the second-most polluted city in the world, according to daily data from most air quality monitoring organizations.
Kandhari, whose daughter had to give up outdoor sports over health scares related to the bad air, said the air pollution is constant but policymakers only seem to notice its most acute moments. That has to change, she said.
“We should not compromise when it comes to access to cleaner air,” Kandhari said.
Many African countries in the Sahara Desert regularly grapple with bad air due to sandstorms. On Thursday, AccuWeather gave nations ranging from Egypt to Senegal a rating of purple, for dangerous air quality. It was the same rating given this week to New York and Washington, D.C.
Senegal has suffered unsafe air for years. It’s especially bad in Senegal’s east as desertification — the encroachment of the Sahara onto drylands — carries particles into the region, said Dr. Aliou Ba, a senior Greenpeace Africa campaigner based in the capital of Dakar.
The Great Green Wall, a massive tree-planting effort aimed at slowing desertification, has been underway for years. But Ba said pollution has been growing worse as the number of cars on the road, burning low-quality fuel, increases.
In the U.S., the 1970 passage of the Clean Air Act cleared up many smog-filled cities by setting limits on most sources of air pollution. The landmark regulation led to curbs on soot, smog, mercury and other toxic chemicals.
But many developing and newly industrialized nations have weak or little-enforced environmental laws. They suffer increased air pollution for other reasons, too, including a reliance on coal, lower vehicle emissions standards and the burning of solid fuels for cooking and heating.
In Jakarta, capital of Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most populous country, it’s often difficult to find clear blue sky, with power plants and vehicle emissions accounting for much of the pollution. It’s also one of the world’s largest coal-producing nations.
In one apartment building in the north of the city, between two busy ports where coal is shipped and stockpiled and where factories burn more, residents tried filtering coal dust with a net. It didn’t work.
“My family and I often feel itching and coughing,” Cecep Supriyadi, a 48-year-old resident, said. “So, when there is a lot of dust entering the flat, yes, we must be isolated at home. Because when we are outside the house, it feels like a sore throat, sore eyes, and itchy skin.”
An Indonesian court in 2021 ruled that leaders had neglected citizens’ rights to clean air and ordered them to improve it.
China has improved since Beijing was notorious for eye-watering pollution that wreathed office towers in haze, diverted flights and sent the old and young to hospitals to be put on respirators. When the air was at its worst, schools that could afford it installed inflatable covers over sports fields with airlock-style revolving doors and home air filters became as ubiquitous as rice cookers.
Key to the improvement was closing or moving heavy industries out of Beijing and nearby areas. Older vehicles were taken off the road, many replaced with electric vehicles. China still is the world’s largest producer and consumer of coal, but almost none is consumed at street level. The average PM 2.5 reading in Beijing in 2013 of 89.5 — well above the WHO’s standard of 10 — fell to 58 in 2017 and now sits at around 30. China had just one city — Hotan — in the world’s top 10 for worst air.
Mexico City, ringed by mountains that trap bad air, was one of the most polluted cities in the world until the 1990s, when the government began limiting the number of cars on the streets. Pollution levels dropped, but the city’s 9 million people — 22 million including suburbs — rarely see a day when air pollution levels are considered “acceptable.”
Each year, air pollution is responsible for nearly 9,000 deaths in Mexico City, according to the National Institute of Public Health. It’s usually worse in the dry winter and early spring months, when farmers burn their fields to prepare for planting.
Authorities haven’t released a full-year air quality report since 2020, but that year — not considered particularly bad for pollution, because the pandemic reduced traffic— Mexico City saw unacceptable air quality on 262 days, or 72% of the year.
In the summer months, intense rains clean the city’s air somewhat. That’s what brought Verónica Tobar and her two children out Thursday to a small playground in the Acueducto neighborhood near one of the city’s most congested avenues.
“We don’t come when we see that the pollution is very strong,” Tobar said. Those days “you feel it in your eyes, you cry, they’re itchy,” she said.
Her son was diagnosed with asthma last year and changes in temperature make it worse.
“But we have to get out, we can’t be locked up,” Tobar said as her children jumped off a slide.
___
Naishadham reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Yu Bing in Beijing; Babar Dogar in Lahore; Mark Stevenson and Teresa de Miguel in Mexico City; Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi; Sam Mednick in Dakar, Senegal; Edna Tarigan and Victoria Milko in Jakarta; and data journalist Camille Fassett in Seattle contributed to this report. | https://www.localsyr.com/news/national/for-many-cities-around-the-world-bad-air-an-inescapable-part-of-life/ | 2023-06-09 18:41:29 | 1 | https://www.localsyr.com/news/national/for-many-cities-around-the-world-bad-air-an-inescapable-part-of-life/ |
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A California panel on Friday denied parole for a follower of cult leader Charles Manson convicted of slayings more than a half-century ago.
Bruce Davis was previously recommended for parole seven times, but those findings were rejected by three consecutive governors. Parole commissioners told the 79-year-old Davis to try again in three years.
“They said he lacks empathy,” Michael Beckman, Davis’ attorney, said after the hearing before two parole commissioners.
Davis has said he helped kill musician Gary Hinman and stuntman Donald “Shorty” Shea in 1969. He previously said he cut Shea with a knife and held a gun while Manson cut Hinman’s face with a sword.
“I wanted to be Charlie’s favorite guy,” he said during a 2014 parole hearing.
Afterward, other followers wrote “political piggy” on the wall of Hinman’s home in his own blood.
Davis was not involved in the more notorious killings of actress Sharon Tate and six others by the Manson cult the same year.
“The last 14 commissioners of the parole board found Bruce Davis suitable for parole,” as did the last nine experts who found him at a low risk for violence, said Beckman, Davis’ attorney. “For these two commissioners to think they know better is appalling.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom has consistently rejected parole recommendations for Davis and for other followers of Manson, who died in prison in 2017 at age 83. His release was previously blocked by governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown.
Anthony DiMaria, a nephew of victim Thomas Jay Sebring, argued against Davis’ parole on behalf of Hinman’s family.
“Bruce Davis remains in prison because his crimes were so severe and profound that they shook our country to its core with permanent repercussions,” said DiMaria. | https://www.yourbasin.com/news/national-news/parole-denied-for-manson-follower-charged-in-1969-slayings-they-said-he-lacks-empathy/ | 2022-07-09 16:14:18 | 0 | https://www.yourbasin.com/news/national-news/parole-denied-for-manson-follower-charged-in-1969-slayings-they-said-he-lacks-empathy/ |
Report: Theme park attendance was a roller coaster in 2021
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Last year was a roller coaster ride for theme parks worldwide, with U.S. water parks approaching pre-pandemic levels and parks in China struggling with lockdowns. That’s according to a new report released last Friday. Last year, U.S. theme parks recaptured only about two-thirds of their attendance from 2019. But the year marked an upward trajectory with attendance increasing by 134% over figures from 2020, when most theme parks were shuttered for several months in an effort to limit the spread of the new coronavirus. U.S. water parks approached their pre-pandemic figures. Attendance at Chinese theme parks in 2021 was about half of what it was pre-pandemic. | https://localnews8.com/news/ap-national/2022/10/18/report-theme-park-attendance-was-a-roller-coaster-in-2021-2/ | 2022-10-18 20:12:24 | 1 | https://localnews8.com/news/ap-national/2022/10/18/report-theme-park-attendance-was-a-roller-coaster-in-2021-2/ |
OAKLAND — It was a day to remember for Houston catcher Korey Lee, but another one to forget for the Athletics.
Lee, a first-round draft pick out of Cal in 2019, had three hits and drove in three runs in a 6-1 win over the Athletics Sunday before a crowd of 10,195 at the Coliseum. They were the first hits and RBIs of his major league career. Afterward, he was given the ball from his first hit as well as the lineup card.
“Hopefully one day whenever I get a house I’ll put it up in a little man cave,” Lee said. “I’ll just sit tight in that apartment right now and just remind me of everything.”
In attendance were Lee’s mother, brother and some friends from Cal.
“It’s crazy, being in Oakland,” Lee said. “The people here, the fans are really special so it was nice to get a little taste of home and do my thing here. It was a good day.”
The loss denied the Athletics (29-58) in a bid to win back-to-back series for the first time this season, having taken two of three from Toronto coming into the three-game set with Houston.
The Astros, who have essentially lapped the field in the A.L. West, improved to 56-29.
The A’s offense was locked up by Houston starter Jake Odorizzi (4-2), who gave up four hits with a walk and seven strikeouts in seven shutout innings. It was the first time this season Odorizzi has completed seven innings. He gave way to Phil Maton in the eighth and Bryan Abreu in the ninth.
The Athletics, who had precisely four hits in each of their previous four games, got their fifth and final hit in the eighth inning when third baseman Vimael Machin hit his first major league home run.
Lee got his first hit in the fifth against A’s starter and loser Cole Irvin (3-7), who pitched well with no offensive support. He added a two-run single in a three-run seventh against Austin Pruitt.
“Nothing any different than another at-bat, that’s how I was looking at it,” Lee said. “But it was something special as soon as I got on first.”
Kyle Tucker added a solo home run against Pruitt in the eighth inning, his 17th of the season.
Welcome to the MLB Hit Club, @koreyleeeeee! pic.twitter.com/Dlqf0H2vox
— Houston Astros (@astros) July 10, 2022
Lee was promoted to the Houston roster on July 1 when another local player, veteran catcher Jason Castro of Stanford and Castro Valley High, went on the injured list. At Cal, Lee hit .337 with 15 homers and 57 RBIs before being drafted. Teammates included Andrew Vaughn, the No. 3 overall pick of the Chicago White Sox in the same draft, and Darren Baker, whose father Dusty is now Lee’s manager.
Houston got its first run against Irvin when the game was three batters old as Jose Altuve doubled and one out later was doubled in by Alex Bregman.
Irvin left after six innings, having recorded half of the 18 outs on his watch on fly balls. He gave up two earned runs and in two July starts has a 1.93 earned run average. Irvin pitched eight innings and gave up four hits in his previous start against Toronto.
“They like to put the ball in the air so I was trusting the outfielders today,” Irvin said. “Little bit more curveball usage than I’ve had all season. Made my fastball look a little bit harder. Didn’t have good command of it early but it got better. I really wasn’t thinking too much out there. Vogter (catcher Steven Vogt) was calling a great game.”
Said A’s manager Mark Kotsay: “Cole has become a professional. He knows how to pitch. He did that well today, changing speeds, changing heights, throwing his fastball up. Kept that offense to two runs through six innings and gave us a chance to win.”
Irvin was lifted in favor of Pruitt after throwing 81 pitches, 52 of them strikes. | https://www.chicoer.com/2022/07/10/cal-product-korey-lee-has-day-to-remember-as-astros-beat-athletics/ | 2022-07-10 23:58:37 | 0 | https://www.chicoer.com/2022/07/10/cal-product-korey-lee-has-day-to-remember-as-astros-beat-athletics/ |
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bronny James has been discharged from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and is resting at home, three days after the 18-year-old son of LeBron James went into cardiac arrest.
Dr. Merije Chukumerije, a consulting cardiologist for Bronny James, said in a statement issued by the hospital Thursday that James was “successfully treated for a sudden cardiac arrest.” Chukumerije gave credit to “the swift and effective response by the USC athletics’ medical staff” after the incident Monday at the University of Southern California’s Galen Center, where the incoming freshman guard was participating in basketball practice.
“He arrived at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center fully conscious, neurologically intact and stable,” Chukumerije said. “Mr. James was cared for promptly by highly-trained staff and has been discharged home, where he is resting. Although his workup will be ongoing, we are hopeful for his continued progress and are encouraged by his response, resilience, and his family and community support.”
Earlier Thursday, LeBron James said his family is “safe and healthy” in a message of thanks posted on social media. The words were the Los Angeles Lakers superstar’s first public comments since Bronny James was hospitalized Monday morning.
“I want to thank the countless people sending my family love and prayers,” LeBron James wrote. “We feel you and I’m so grateful. Everyone doing great. We have our family together, safe and healthy, and we feel your love. Will have more to say when we’re ready but I wanted to tell everyone how much your support has meant to all of us!”
The top scorer in NBA history concluded his message with the hashtag “JamesGang,” his nickname for the tightknit family unit built around their three children by James and his wife, Savannah.
Bronny James spent only a brief time in intensive care, and he is healthy enough to be discharged only three days after the event. Both are positive signs for his long-term recovery, but he still is expected to undergo extensive testing to investigate the cause of his cardiac arrest, as is typical in this situation.
Bronny James has built a promising basketball career for himself in his father’s considerable shadow. The 6-foot-3 teenager became a top recruit as a two-way point guard for Sierra Canyon School in suburban Chatsworth.
He decided in May to attend USC, which is expected to have one of the most intriguing teams in the nation. The Trojans were holding summer practices in preparation for a 10-day tour in Europe next month.
With his family fame and huge social media following, Bronny James has the top name, image and likeness valuation in sports at $6.3 million, as estimated by On3.com.
Bronny James was the second high-profile USC basketball recruit to go into cardiac arrest in the last year. Vincent Iwuchuwku also was stricken during a workout last July, but the 7-foot-1 center returned to the court six months later, eventually appearing in 14 games for the Trojans as a freshman.
It’s too soon to know how Bronny James’ hoops career could be affected by this health setback. Dr. Sameer Amin, a cardiologist and the chief medical officer at L.A. Care Health Plan, told The Associated Press that the teenager’s move out of intensive care this week was encouraging.
“It’s a really positive sign that they didn’t sustain too much brain damage or any brain damage, or any major heart damage in the setting of their heart stopping,” said Amin, who is not treating Bronny James. “Usually we see that when somebody’s heart gets restarted very quickly after it stops. Also, in young people, you tend to get these bounce-backs a lot faster. It’s a really positive outcome that he’s already out of the ICU.”
Amin said it’s too soon to speculate on whether Bronny James can return to basketball, or how quickly it could happen.
“If (the cardiac event) is happening because of a unusual blow to the chest like in the Damar Hamlin case, oftentimes those people can have a positive outcome because it’s a rare and unusual event that led to the heart stopping,” Amin said. “In those where there’s an underlying genetic problem or an underlying electrical issue, it can be a little bit more tricky to get somebody back on the playing field.”
___
AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/lebron-james | https://wgntv.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-lebron-james-sends-thanks-says-family-is-safe-and-healthy-after-bronnys-cardiac-arrest/ | 2023-07-28 00:32:10 | 1 | https://wgntv.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-lebron-james-sends-thanks-says-family-is-safe-and-healthy-after-bronnys-cardiac-arrest/ |
Victims of a mass shooting at an Uvalde elementary school are facing serious delays in getting financial aid from the state victims' fund, said Texas state Sen. Roland Gutierrez and Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin.
In a letter sent to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott this week, Gutierrez (whose district includes Uvalde) and McLaughlin called on Abbott to remove District Attorney Christina Mitchell Busbee from heading the victims' center after receiving "numerous troubling reports" from constituents.
The shooting at Robb Elementary in May claimed the lives of 21 people, including 19 children and two teachers.
The claim of delayed compensation is just the latest problem that has emerged in public officials' handling of the shooting in Uvalde.
Following the shooting, revelations have since emerged that law enforcement responding to the scene of the shooting erred in several ways — including waiting over an hour to enter the classrooms targeted by the gunman.
The investigation into what happened that day is still ongoing.
Constituents report serious delay in getting money, say Gutierrez and McLaughlin
Gutierrez and McLaughlin wrote in their letter to Abbott that the Uvalde Together Resiliency Center was created "to provide information, support, and resources" to residents directly impacted by the mass shooting.
But constituents are reporting complaints including serious delay in getting money meant for them, according to Gutierrez and McLaughlin. One family was at risk of having the power shut off in their home as they spent time at the hospital caring for their daughter. Other families reported being offered "a meager bereavement benefit" that covered only two weeks of pay.
"This DA's office does not have the logistical capacity to get answers, resources, and results for Uvalde families," Gutierrez said in an emailed statement to NPR. "The bottom line is that the Mayor and I do not believe that the DA has the ability to administer these funds in a manner that is both urgent and transparent. We want to take the politics out of the process so that we can provide direct assistance to Uvalde families as quickly as possible."
It's unclear how many complaints the two officials have received, or how much in funds the center has to give. A representative for Gutierrez's office didn't provide that information.
Gutierrez and McLaughlin are asking Abbott to put the Texas Division of Emergency Management in charge of the center instead.
As of Wednesday, neither Abbott's office, nor Busbee responded to their claims, a Gutierrez representative said.
NPR's attempt to reach Busbee went unanswered.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.kunm.org/npr-news/2022-07-06/uvalde-shooting-victims-are-not-getting-funds-fast-enough-local-officials-say | 2022-07-07 00:11:18 | 1 | https://www.kunm.org/npr-news/2022-07-06/uvalde-shooting-victims-are-not-getting-funds-fast-enough-local-officials-say |
(NEXSTAR) — Each year, Forbes releases a list of the richest people in the U.S. In recent history, the list has included national figures like Donald Trump, Mark Cuban, and Warren Buffett, but it also includes people that have a larger reputation closer to home.
The Forbes list features the 400 wealthiest people living in America who have made their fortunes through tech companies, retailers, investing, real estate and more. These billionaires range in age from their 20s to their 90s, and are worth a combined $4 trillion.
Elon Musk, the man behind Tesla and SpaceX, is the richest person in America with a net worth of $251 billion. He edged out Jeff Bezos, whose wealth stems from Amazon, by $100 billion. Rounding out the top 10 are Microsoft’s Bill Gates, Oracle’s Larry Ellison, Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett, Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, Bloomberg LP’s Michael Bloomberg, and Walmart’s Jim Walton.
With a total of 80 billionaires, California had the most residents on the list. New York had the second-most at 65, followed by Texas with 43 and Florida at 42. Though only eight of the Forbes 400 call it home, Washington had the most individuals landing in the top 10 of any state — Bezos, Gates, and Ballmer.
Ten states didn’t have a resident that met the criteria to make Forbes’ rankings: Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, Maine, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and West Virginia.
Below is a list of the richest person in each state, as well as their net worth and source of wealth, according to Forbes.
The wealthiest woman on Forbes’ list is Julia Koch, who, along with her three children, inherited a 42% stake in Koch Industries after her husband David passed away in August 2019. Following her is Alice Walton, the only daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton. They rank 13th and 15th, respectively (there is no 14th, Koch and her brother-in-law Charles Koch tied for 13th).
Notably missing from the 10 wealthiest is Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, who dropped out of the top rankings for the first time in 2014. Twenty-two people on the list, including Donald Trump, who had made the list before and fell off it, are back again.
Forbes also found that of the 400 wealthiest people in America, 275 created their fortune while the rest inherited it. You can view the full list on Forbes’ website here. This was the publication’s 41st edition of the Forbes 400. | https://www.pahomepage.com/uncategorized/this-is-the-wealthiest-person-in-your-state-according-to-forbes/ | 2022-09-30 15:30:50 | 1 | https://www.pahomepage.com/uncategorized/this-is-the-wealthiest-person-in-your-state-according-to-forbes/ |
Research shows some hammerhead sharks hold their breath when diving deep under water. They do it to keep their bodies from getting too cold. (Story aired on All Things Considered on May 11, 2023.)
Copyright 2023 NPR
Research shows some hammerhead sharks hold their breath when diving deep under water. They do it to keep their bodies from getting too cold. (Story aired on All Things Considered on May 11, 2023.)
Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.kasu.org/education-technology/education-technology/2023-05-15/why-hammerhead-sharks-hold-their-breath-in-deeper-colder-waters | 2023-05-15 11:11:08 | 0 | https://www.kasu.org/education-technology/education-technology/2023-05-15/why-hammerhead-sharks-hold-their-breath-in-deeper-colder-waters |
Which Jansport backpack is best?
Jansport is the world’s largest maker of backpacks and one of the most trusted brands in the industry. Jansport backpacks have long been the envy of the schoolyard, but their backpacks are versatile enough for use at the office, the gym, traveling and just about any other situation in which you’d need to carry around your things. Jansport’s iconic style and signature quality are what make this brand stand apart from the competition.
The Jansport Right Pack is the top pick. It’s a laptop backpack that’s great for both students and office workers.
What to know before you buy a Jansport backpack
Jansport’s lifetime warranty
Jansport stands by its quality by offering a lifetime warranty that covers any manufacturer defects, so if you receive a damaged or broken bag, you can rest easy knowing that it will be repaired or replaced.
Remember that Jansport’s lifetime warranty does not cover damage caused by accidents, natural wear and tear, or improper care. Jansport also does not cover products that have been modified or altered in any way with their warranty.
Which type of Jansport backpack is right for me?
Since Jansport is a leading brand in backpacks, it’s only natural that they offer a wide array of options to choose from.
The most classic Jansport backpack is the Jansport SuperBreak. This bag is perfect for use as a school bag, day bag or even as a piece of carry-on luggage for flights. It comes in a variety of fun colors and designs.
The Jansport Right Pack is great for carrying around your laptop, thanks to the fact that it sits upright when placed on the floor.
The Jansport Half Pint Mini Backpack is a great option for those that are looking for a daypack to carry for a day out on the town or while hiking.
Style and aesthetic
One thing that you won’t have to worry about when buying a bag from Jansport is not having color or design options. Jansport is known for their backpacks with bold designs and colors. Choose a color or print that works with your personal aesthetic and your needs.
What to look for in a quality Jansport backpack
Laptop compartment
Even if you already have a designated laptop bag, it’s always good to look for a backpack that can be as versatile as possible. A lot of Jansport backpacks have an internal laptop compartment that can fit laptops up to 15 inches. If you don’t carry around your laptop a lot, you won’t have to worry about this feature too much.
Pockets and organization
As with any backpack, the key thing to look for in a quality Jansport backpack is the organization and layout of the bag. Jansport’s backpacks are known for offering a lot of pockets, both inside and outside the backpack, without offering too many to the point where it feels overwhelming or distracts from the overall look of the bag. Find a Jansport backpack that works best for your needs.
Extra features
Some Jansport backpacks have extra features that may be appealing to different types of people. For example, some are designed to sit upright when sat on the floor and others have a wheeled-backpack option that may be appealing to younger students.
How much you can expect to spend on a Jansport backpack
Jansport backpacks normally range from about $40-$100, depending on the model and style.
Jansport backpack FAQ
Does Jansport’s warranty include fading designs or colors?
A. No. This issue would fall under normal wear and tear, as backpacks will naturally lose their color or fade over time as the dyes break down. This is not a common problem with Jansport backpacks, though.
Are Jansport backpacks comfortable?
A. Jansport backpacks are designed with comfort in mind and most models are adjustable for added ergonomics.
What’s the best Jansport backpack to buy?
Top Jansport backpack
What you need to know: This laptop backpack is great for students and office workers.
What you’ll love: Aside from being a sturdy, durable and stylish laptop backpack, this pack’s main feature is that it is designed to sit upright when sat on the floor.
What you should consider: Some users have reported that the bag will begin to tear along the straps if it is routinely overloaded.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top Jansport backpack for the money
Jansport Half Pint Mini Backpack
What you need to know: This mini backpack from Jansport is the perfect daypack for everyday life. It’s also ideal for a night out or to bring along on a hike.
What you’ll love: This mini backpack is stylish and comes in a few different color and design options.
What you should consider: The straps on this backpack aren’t padded, but because it’s a small pack, it should never be heavy enough to cause any discomfort.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Jansport SuperBreak One Backpack
What you need to know: This is Jansport’s iconic flagship backpack. It’s great for just about anyone needing to get things from point A to point B.
What you’ll love: The SuperBreak comes in a variety of color options and designs. Its comfortable to wear and looks as good as it feels. It’s 25-liter size is perfect for carrying around life’s necessities.
What you should consider: Some users had issues with the zipper getting stuck.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.localsyr.com/reviews/br-reviews/travel-br/small-travel-bags-br/best-jansport-backpack/ | 2022-07-03 22:23:36 | 0 | https://www.localsyr.com/reviews/br-reviews/travel-br/small-travel-bags-br/best-jansport-backpack/ |
Arrest warrant issued for Jan. 6 defendant who has gone missing with trial set to begin
By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN
The FBI is searching for a Florida woman who did not show up to court in Washington, DC, on Monday, when she was set to go to trial on federal charges related to the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot.
According to a warrant issued for her arrest, court officials have not been able to locate defendant Olivia Pollock since late February. The government’s search for Pollock was largely kept under wraps until she did not show up for her trial.
“Trial in this matter was scheduled for March 6, 2023, at 9:00 AM,” District Judge Carl Nichols wrote in an order. “Defendant Olivia Pollock failed to appear.” Nichols ruled that as a result, the trial would proceed with two of Pollock’s codefendants and she would be tried separately.
Pollock’s lawyer, Elita Amato, said in a statement to CNN Monday that “Ms. Pollock had been diligently assisting in her defense for her upcoming trial prior to her disappearance,” and that Amato is “ready to assist and guide her in resolving her bench warrant before the Court.”
Pollock is the third defendant charged as part of a group of Floridians accused of attacking police at the Capitol to become a fugitive. Her brother, Jonathan Pollock, has evaded authorities since he was first charged in July 2021. The FBI is offering a $15,000 reward for information on his whereabouts.
An arrest warrant for another of Pollock’s codefendants, Joseph Hutchinson, was also unsealed on Monday. Nichols previously ruled that Hutchinson, who is representing himself, would be tried separately from other codefendants and he is not scheduled to begin his trial until later this year.
Both Hutchinson and Olivia Pollock were not being held in jail before their trials — Hutchinson was on home detention, and Pollock was subject to GPS monitoring.
Hutchinson, Olivia and Jonathan Pollock are facing several charges for what prosecutors allege was a coordinated assault on several police officers. Hutchinson and Olivia Pollock have pleaded not guilty. Jonathan Pollock has not entered a formal plea.
This story has been updated with additional information.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. | https://localnews8.com/news/2023/03/06/arrest-warrant-issued-for-jan-6-defendant-who-has-gone-missing-with-trial-set-to-begin/ | 2023-03-06 23:53:50 | 0 | https://localnews8.com/news/2023/03/06/arrest-warrant-issued-for-jan-6-defendant-who-has-gone-missing-with-trial-set-to-begin/ |
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Annual inflation in Turkey continued to rise in October, official figures showed Thursday, pushing the price of essential goods higher and amplifying a cost-of-living crisis in the country.
Consumer prices rose to 85.51% in October from a year earlier, and by 3.54% from the previous month, the Turkish Statistical Institute said.
The inflation rate was the highest in 24 years.
Experts, however, maintain that inflation is much higher than the official figures. The independent Inflation Research Group on Thursday put the annual rate at 185%.
While the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have stoked inflation around the world, economists believe that inflation in Turkey was fueled by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s belief that high borrowing costs lead to higher prices. Traditional economic thinking says that raising rates helps reign in inflation.
Last month, Turkey’s central bank slashed interest rates for the third month in a row — down to 10.5% — in line with Erdogan’s economic views. The Turkish president has signaled more rate cuts to bring the key interest rate to single digits.
In contrast, central banks around the world have been aggressively raising rates to fight soaring inflation.
On Wednesday, Erdogan who stands for reelection in a vote next year, defended his economic policies saying he expected his model — which prioritizes growth, investments, employment and exports — to “bear fruit” and be emulated by others.
“While the whole world ... is struggling with the highest inflation figures of the last 60, 70 years, the wheels of our country’s economy are turning,” Erdogan said.
“Many institutions, individuals and organizations — from the United Nations to many economists — agree with the cause-and-effect relationship we have established between inflation and interest rates,” Erdogan said. “After the new year, you will see the world ... lower interest rates.” | https://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/Yearly-inflation-in-Turkey-rises-to-new-24-year-17554616.php | 2022-11-03 09:26:39 | 1 | https://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/Yearly-inflation-in-Turkey-rises-to-new-24-year-17554616.php |
More states are proposing bills targeting LGBTQ rights. ‘It’s only getting worse,’ advocate says
By Nicole Chavez and Jalen Brown, CNN
Heather Thomas spent months pleading with Tennessee legislators to vote against a ban on gender-affirming health care for minors, which she says saved the life of her transgender son.
“It’s just so important. I mean, it saved his life. Why would I not share that to try to help others not have to go through what we went through?” Thomas told CNN.
Even when many parents in Tennessee became afraid they would become targets of the bill, Thomas continued speaking out. But despite her efforts, including testifying before the state Senate, last week Tennessee became the latest state to ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth and the first state this year to restrict public drag show performances.
Thomas, as well as transgender people and advocates in multiple states, told CNN they are increasingly alarmed about the unprecedented number of measures introduced in state legislatures this year that are seeking to restrict LGBTQ rights and queer life.
“My child doesn’t want to be transgender; he is transgender and has been his whole life. So just because he transitioned doesn’t mean he wasn’t trans before. He always has been,” said Thomas, adding that her 23-year-old son Ellis lived with severe depression before starting testosterone treatments as a teenager.
At least 385 bills targeting LGBTQ rights and queer life have been introduced around the country through March 7, according to data compiled by the American Civil Liberties Union. The number of bills has already surpassed last year’s total of 306, according to ACLU data shared with CNN.
The proposed bills cover a wide range of policies, including some that seek to restrict transgender people from competing on sports teams or using bathrooms that align with their gender identity, but it appears youth and medical care is a growing legislative focus.
Youth who identify as transgender make up a tiny fraction of kids in the United States — the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated in a 2019 study that less than 2% of high school students identify as transgender. Health care professionals have said the types of bills being pushed in this Republican-led effort are likely to further ostracize transgender kids, a group who already struggle with higher rates of depression, anxiety and suicide.
Emerson J. Sykes, an attorney for the ACLU, said each of the issues potentially impacted by the bills are distinct, but are creating a “dramatic chilling effect” even if they don’t become laws.
“The message is loud and clear: LGBTQ people — trans people in particular — are under a microscope and anybody who supports or uplifts or features transgender people or voices of any kind, whether that’s in schools, in libraries, on stages or even just existing in the world, and getting access to health care and recreation and all of those basic things,” Sykes said.
“We are definitely in protection mode and trying to figure out what we could do to protect our neighbors and their rights,” he added.
In Oklahoma, one of the states with the most proposed bills targeting health care for LGBTQ people (15 so far, according to the ACLU), Juno Stump said she is worried about her future as a transgender woman.
Last week, House Bill 2177 advanced to the state Senate after the House passed it 80-18. The measure would ban certain gender-affirming care like puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries for people under 18 years and blocks insurance from covering gender-affirming care for anyone, regardless of age.
Oklahoma Rep. Kevin West, the bill’s sponsor, has said legislation restricting gender-affirming care is about protecting children and “putting a safeguard in place” for them.
“This legislation is about protecting our children from those who would seek to profit from their gender confusion,” West said in a statement following the House vote. “As a state, we must not be partner to irreversible health practices that permanently change the bodies of our children before they are of an age where they can fully understand the consequences of their decisions.”
Under HB 2177, Stump, a 31-year-old freelance writer, says she would no longer be able to use her health insurance to pay for her gender-affirming care. She told CNN it would cost “thousands” to travel to another state and buy her medication without insurance.
When Stump first heard that HB 2177 had advanced to the Senate, she was devastated.
“I broke and fell apart into pieces in my friend’s arms in the middle of the day, and then in my wife’s arms … because it just felt so hopeless,” Stump said. “Because anything I can think of that makes me feel better, is temporary, because it’s like, well, when does this stop? When does this end?”
Stump said she suffered from depression and harmed herself for several years before she started receiving gender-affirming care in 2021. Receiving hormones changed her life, Stump said, because it freed her from having to “mask” by presenting herself as a cis-gendered, heterosexual man.
“Every single time I took a step, every single time I took a breath, every single time I said anything, I had to have this quick little conversation inside my own head … and that conversation was, ‘Is this coming across in a way that is masculine and going to help me pass as a boy?’ Because that’s what I’m being forced to do,” Stump said.
Nicole McAfee, the executive director of LGBTQ advocacy group Freedom Oklahoma, said young LGBTQ people in the state were already feeling the harm and burden of policies targeting them and now, “it’s only getting worse.”
The recent push to restrict gender-affirming care in Oklahoma began last year when Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a law that blocks funding to the University Hospitals Authority if its facilities provide gender-affirming care. At the time, the governor also called on state lawmakers to ban gender-affirming care for minors across the state during the 2023 legislative session.
Last year, Stitt signed laws that require students at public schools to use restrooms and locker rooms that match the sex listed on their birth certificates, banned transgender women and girls from competing on sports teams consistent with their gender identity and banned nonbinary gender markers on birth certificates.
Stitt has argued these laws are for the benefit of children, calling out gender-affirming health care in his 2023 state of the state address: “We must protect our most vulnerable – our children.” In banning funding for such health care for minors at the Oklahoma Children’s Hospital, the governor said it was “wildly inappropriate for taxpayer dollars to be used” for these procedures.
McAfee says the chilling effect of bills like HB 2177 would impact more than just transgender people. Some providers would be worried about being criminalized or being impacted by civil liability for providing care, they said.
“That means we’re going to lose doctors, we’re going to lose pediatricians, all who treat all children, not just children who are transgender. And in a state like Oklahoma, where we already have a really fractured health care system, adults and kids of all genders are going to suffer because of this legislation,” McAfee said.
Stump, Thomas and other advocates told CNN they were astonished and disappointed that more people outside the LGTBQ community are not alarmed by what lawmakers are doing or encouraged to act against the growing wave of bills against them.
“I really wish that more people cared … at least for self-preservation,” Stump said, “Because right now I’m on the chopping block, but, people in power aren’t gonna get rid of me and then all of a sudden start trying to fix roads and fix health care and, you know, fix the cost of food — they’re just gonna look for the next person,” Stump said.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
CNN’s Lucy Kafanov contributed to this report. | https://localnews8.com/news/2023/03/09/more-states-are-proposing-bills-targeting-lgbt-rights-its-only-getting-worse-advocate-says/ | 2023-03-09 13:32:51 | 1 | https://localnews8.com/news/2023/03/09/more-states-are-proposing-bills-targeting-lgbt-rights-its-only-getting-worse-advocate-says/ |
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Residents of Greenland have switched to daylight saving time and moved their clocks one hour forward this weekend for the very last time.
Unlike most of Europe, Greenlanders will leave their clocks untouched come autumn when daylight saving time ends. While Europe and the U.S. debate whether to stick to the twice-yearly practice, Greenland — a vast Danish semi-independent territory in the Arctic — has resolved to perennially remain only three hours behind Copenhagen and most other European countries instead of four.
Greenland’s parliament, Inatsisartut, voted to stick to daylight saving time year-round on Nov. 24 last year. Officials say it will give Greenlanders another hour of daylight in the afternoons and more time to do business with Europe and farther afield.
“The shift of time zone marks an exciting new beginning, an equal connection to North America and Europe, and an opportunity to slow down in a fast-paced world,” Visit Greenland, the local government’s tourism office said in a statement.
Geographically, sparsely populated Greenland belongs to the North American continent but geopolitically, it is in Europe.
Greenland is part of the Danish Realm and its southernmost tip is more than 3,200 kilometers (nearly 2,000 miles) west of Copenhagen.
Its 56,000 people mainly Inuit, indigenous people who chiefly live on the west coast in small towns and hamlets or remote coastal settlements. | https://www.wfla.com/news/world/greenland-staying-in-daylight-saving-time-permanently/ | 2023-03-27 12:38:38 | 0 | https://www.wfla.com/news/world/greenland-staying-in-daylight-saving-time-permanently/ |
Trader Joe’s may be one step closer to coming to a Hayes Valley condo building after the Chinese property owner said it planned to sell the scandal-plagued project.
In 2021, the San Francisco Planning Commission approved the grocery store at 555 Fulton St., exempting it from a neighborhood chain store ban, and it was scheduled to open by early 2023.
Developer Z&L Properties, an affiliate of Chinese company R&F Properties, said Wednesday it was in contract to sell the project to an unidentified buyer, which “has assured us that they are eager to take the necessary steps to bring in Trader Joe’s as soon as possible.” Due diligence is expected to take another month.
Trader Joe’s said it “remains eager to open a neighborhood grocery store serving the Hayes Valley community.”
Supervisor Dean Preston, who represents the area, said there had been “no tangible progress” on the grocery store in recent months and called a public hearing on the matter on Thursday. He said he was “encouraged” by the pending sale.
“Having a new owner enthusiastic about bringing in Trader Joe’s is a major step forward,” Preston said in a statement.
Z&L has been beset with delays during the construction of the 139-condo project, which includes a ground floor retail space. City officials blamed the company for redesigning the building without permission, and it was at the center of the corruption scandal that sent former Public Workers Director Mohammed Nuru to prison for seven years and led to the resignations of multiple city department heads. Nuru pleaded guilty in 2021 to accepting gifts, free travel and other benefits in exchange for preferential treatment and confidential information about city business.
As The Chronicle first reported in 2020, R&F co-founder Zhang Li was the developer accused of bribing Nuru with vacations and an expensive bottle of wine in exchange for permit help on 555 Fulton St. Zhang was arrested late last year in London in connection with Nuru’s case.
The billionaire real estate mogul posted bail of 15 million pounds (approximately $18.6 million) and is now fighting extradition to the U.S., with the case set to be heard this summer, according to the South China Morning Post.
At another Z&L San Francisco condo project, 55 Oak St., would-be buyers have struggled with months of being in contract, yet not being able to close on their purchases as of last year.
Reach Roland Li: roland.li@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @rolandlisf | https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/trader-joe-s-closer-opening-hayes-valley-17882978.php | 2023-04-06 22:48:50 | 0 | https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/trader-joe-s-closer-opening-hayes-valley-17882978.php |
By Bruce Finley, Denver Post
Frontier Airlines has hit more turbulence for troubles that, despite relatively low fares, have shaken relations with travelers.
A new analysis of the nation’s 10 major airlines ranked Frontier last, citing high rates of “bumping” passengers involuntarily off flights, customer complaints, and fees for bags and changed flights. This seventh-annual report found that all airlines deteriorated in their performance with overall complaints increasing in 2022 by 87%. But Denver-based Frontier’s reported data from 2022 showed that company gate agents denied boarding for more than 6,000 passengers against their wishes, an average of more than 16 every day and roughly 1 out of every 3,752 travelers, according to the report by “The Points Guy,” a travel information website. And Frontier led also in the rate of complaints with 22.6 for every 100,000 travelers in 2022 — more than twice the number of complaints reported by Spirit, the second-to-last carrier in that category.
Atlanta-based Delta Airlines fared best for the fifth year in a row in this multi-factor analysis.
Frontier’s descent in the rankings reflects frequent friction between the company and fliers in recent years that have prompted Colorado authorities to demand a federal investigation.
On Sunday, a woman who boarded a Frontier flight from Denver to Tampa “became belligerent” and was ushered off the plane. She hit a Frontier flight attendant with an intercom handset, according to a Frontier statement about that incident, and was arrested by Denver police. The police cited her for assault, then helped her find another flight to Tampa.
Frontier offers relatively low base fares but no longer makes agents available by phone in a booking process that seeks fees for services, and sometimes at airports travelers must agree to pay a fee to talk with a check-in counter agent. Online “chatbots” automated responses to common questions and “live chat” online messaging allow a form of interaction. And baggage size limits increasingly are enforced with gate agents paid a $10 bonus for every boarding passenger they catch with a bag that fails to fit into a measuring box set up at gates. Fliers caught with oversize bags must pay $99 penalties to be allowed to board. Customers in recent weeks have chafed at this practice, complaining they were charged unfairly.
Frontier officials declined to comment on the rankings or to discuss friction with fliers.
However, Frontier spokeswoman Jennifer de la Cruz acknowledged, in emailed statements, “a commission for gate agents” who catch fliers who try to board planes with oversize bags. “We have on a number of occasions investigated specific claims by customers who say they were unfairly charged for a bag at the gate and typically find there is more to the story. All complaints are taken seriously and consumers are encouraged to contact our Customer Care Team with any concerns,” de la Cruz said, referring to Frontier’s online options.
The $10 commission “is simply designed to incentivize our team members to ensure compliance with the bag size requirements to ensure all customers are treated fairly, including the majority who comply with the rules,” she said.
Do fliers always have to pay to speak with a Frontier employee at the ticket counter? “It depends,” de la Cruz said via email. “If it is something they can easily do themselves on their phone/online, then, yes, there is an agent assist fee. If it is not something they can easily do on their own, there is no charge.”
Is Frontier reconsidering whether to restore direct human contact in-person or by phone rather than rely on the online “chatbot” and “live chat” options? “We do not have plans at this time to move away from chat versus voice calls.”
In Colorado, no other airline has racked up complaints as frequently as Frontier, which had a rate of more than 600 complaints in 2020, according to Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser. In August, Weiser called on the U.S. Department of Transportation to investigate Frontier. Weiser also led a coalition of attorneys general from 38 states (including California, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia) pushing federal airline industry regulators to address flier woes.
Weiser contends air travelers booking tickets “should enjoy a reasonable expectation of being treated fairly, respectfully, and consistently by airlines.”
He and fellow state attorneys, in a letter to Congress, said that, while federal law places the central responsibility for protecting airline customers on federal transportation officials, little has been done to hold airlines accountable amid rising complaints. State attorneys argued that they are well-positioned to protect consumers — if Congress would authorize them to do so.
When a Frontier flight from San Diego to Denver this week was delayed due to a mechanical failure, gate agents gave passengers a choice to re-book on next-available Frontier flights that would require overnight stays in connecting airports at fliers’ expense. Then after five hours of delay due to the mechanical breakdown – apparently due to a faulty fire detector in a cargo hold, a crew member said — the plane was cleared for take-off. But agents refused to allow passengers who had rebooked onto lengthier fights the next day to re-board the flight to Denver, even though their seats still were available.
Gate agents threatened to call the police when one angry passenger yelled.
The pilot then intervened, telling gate agents he was going to override their refusal. On his phone, he reached a live “passenger planning” official who approved a re-boarding of passengers denied access, including a Colorado Springs couple with a 6-month-old child.
On the flight, passenger Rachel Bliss of Highlands Ranch, a boiler company sales engineer and mother of three children, lamented difficulties seeking refunds for her children’s tickets after a Frontier flight cancellation. And at the gate before the Denver flight, Bliss said, she’d faced paying the $99 fee to board when her daypack measured too big — until she “collaborated” with another passenger to avert the penalty by off-loading some of her items into the other passenger’s bag.
After witnessing fliers’ rancor and wrangling over five hours of uncertain waiting in San Diego, Bliss shook her head upon landing on the tarmac back in Denver.
“Maybe we should form a Frontier Airlines flyer support group,” she said. “I really do feel trauma-bonded with these people who went through so much.” | https://www.trentonian.com/2023/05/30/denver-frontier-airlines-last-place/ | 2023-05-30 19:00:40 | 0 | https://www.trentonian.com/2023/05/30/denver-frontier-airlines-last-place/ |
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