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SAN FRANCISCO, June 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Bluedot, a single payment platform in the electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem, has completed another successful funding round, raising $5 million to enhance and expand its app and card for EV drivers and charging management for fleets.
With new investments from industry leaders including Y Combinator, Leap Forward, Samsara Ventures, Operator Stack, LACI Impact Fund, Ford Driventure, ScaleX and angel investors from Plaid, Stripe, and Moonpay, Bluedot is poised to build on its pioneering efforts to drive EV adoption and support a sustainable future by making charging payments easier and streamlining expense management.
Bluedot's increasing momentum aligns with efforts across the country to accelerate the transition to electric, zero-emissions transportation. Currently, EVs account for 5% of new car sales in the United States, but the Biden administration has set a bold goal of increasing the EV market share to 50% by 2030. To encourage EV adoption, the federal government is investing in building 500,000 new public charging stations.
But charging remains a significant roadblock. Drivers often must manage multiple apps and cards for charging, impeding accessibility—especially for fleet drivers. Moreover, tracking charging behavior and expenses is difficult, leading to inefficiencies in overall operations. The issue is exacerbated by the complexities of reimbursement for charging expenses, particularly when home charging is involved.
Bluedot founders Ferhat Babacan and Selinay Parlak saw an opportunity to address the charging pain points faced by electric vehicle users and fleets. Their vision: to create a convenient fuel card platform, similar to Wex, but focused exclusively on EV driving and charging.
"From our experience installing charging stations and researching the EV user experience, we knew it was a hassle for individuals to use five different mobile apps for charging—or for fleet managers to use multiple dashboards and prepaid cards to handle fleet charging," said Babacan, Bluedot CEO. "So we set out to simplify the whole process."
With the recent investments, Bluedot plans to incorporate advanced features such as route optimization and home charging reimbursement into their mobile application and dashboard. These enhancements will improve the experiences of both fleets and drivers. Bluedot aims to play a pivotal role in increasing the utilization of EV charging networks and becoming a key player in this evolving landscape.
Working in close collaboration with Fleet Management Companies, OEMs, and rental companies, Bluedot plans to expand its portfolio to include new fleet verticals in the upcoming months. The company is also working to establish strategic partnerships to support EV access, simplify the individual and fleet experience and help further drive the industry forward.
Footer: Bluedot is not a bank. Banking services provided by Piermont Bank, Member FDIC. The Bluedot Visa Debit Card is issued by Piermont Bank pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. and may be used anywhere Visa cards are accepted.
CONTACT: info@thebluedot.co
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SOURCE Bluedot | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2023/06/29/bluedot-secures-5m-total-funding-drive-sustainable-ev-adoption-further-simplify-electric-driving-experience/ | 2023-06-29 17:55:16 | 1 | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2023/06/29/bluedot-secures-5m-total-funding-drive-sustainable-ev-adoption-further-simplify-electric-driving-experience/ |
(WSYR-TV) — Sam Hollander has written and produced hits for artists like Panic! at the Disco, One Direction, Katy Perry and Ringo Starr. His new book “21-Hit Wonder, Flopping My Way to the Top of the Charts” hits the shelves Dec. 6, and his book tour brings him to Syracuse University Nov. 30.
Sam Hollander will be speaking in the Lender auditorium at Syracuse’s Whitman School of Management Wednesday night at 6:45 p.m.
His book, “21-Hit Wonder” goes on sale on Dec. 6. You can learn a lot more about Sam and the book by checking out his website at SamHollanderSongs.com. | https://www.localsyr.com/bridge-street/talking-with-songwriter-and-music-producer-sam-hollander/ | 2022-11-28 19:05:04 | 0 | https://www.localsyr.com/bridge-street/talking-with-songwriter-and-music-producer-sam-hollander/ |
VANCOUVER, BC, July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Alexco Resource Corp. (NYSE American: AXU) (TSX: AXU) ("Alexco" or the "Company") announced today that it obtained an interim order (the "Interim Order") from the Supreme Court of British Columbia (the "Court") on July 27, 2022, authorizing the holding of its special meeting (the "Meeting") and matters relating to the conduct of the Meeting. At the Meeting, shareholders, optionholders, restricted share unit ("RSU") holders, and deferred share unit ("DSU") holders of Alexco (collectively, the "Securityholders") will be asked to consider and, if deemed advisable, pass a special resolution (the "Arrangement Resolution") to approve an arrangement (the "Arrangement"), in accordance with the terms of the arrangement agreement entered into by the Company and Hecla Mining Company (NYSE: HL) ("Hecla") on July 4, 2022, as assigned and amended (the "Arrangement Agreement"), pursuant to which 1080980 B.C. Ltd. ("108") agreed to acquire all of the issued and outstanding Alexco Shares that it does not already own by way of a statutory plan of arrangement (the "Plan of Arrangement") under section 288 of the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia).
Alexco also announces that it executed an assignment and amendment agreement dated July 25, 2022 (the "Amending Agreement") with Hecla and 108 to amend the Arrangement Agreement, pursuant to which Hecla has assigned its obligations under the Arrangement Agreement, such that 108 will become the purchaser under the Plan of Arrangement. The Amending Agreement is available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) under Alexco's issuer profile.
An Alexco information circular will be mailed on or before August 8, 2022 to Securityholders of record as of July 20, 2022. The Meeting will be held on August 30, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. (Vancouver time) at the offices of Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, 595 Burrard Street, Suite 2600, Vancouver, British Columbia, V7X 1L3. Assuming no adjournment or postponement to the Meeting, the cut-off time to vote by proxy will be 10:00 a.m. (Vancouver time) on August 26, 2022.
The proposed closing date of the Arrangement is September 7, 2022, subject to obtaining Court, Securityholder and regulatory approval and the satisfaction of conditions set forth in the Arrangement Agreement.
About Alexco
Alexco is the owner and operator of the historic Keno Hill Silver District in Canada's Yukon Territory, one of the highest-grade silver deposits in the world.
Website: www.alexcoresource.com
Forward-Looking Statements
Some statements ("forward-looking statements") in this news release contain forward-looking information concerning Alexco's anticipated results and developments in Alexco's operations in future periods, planned exploration and development of its properties, plans related to its business and other matters that may occur in the future, made as of the date of this news release. Forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the consummation and timing of the transaction; approval by Securityholders; the satisfaction of the conditions precedent to the transaction; and timing, receipt and anticipated effects of court, regulatory and other consents and approvals. Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause actual events or results to differ from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the risk that the Arrangement may not close when planned or at all or on the terms and conditions set forth in the Arrangement Agreement; the failure of the Company and Hecla to obtain the necessary regulatory, Court, securityholder, and other third-party approvals, or to otherwise satisfy the conditions to the completion of the Arrangement, in a timely manner, or at all, may result in the Arrangement not being completed on the proposed terms, or at all; changes in laws, regulations and government practices; if a third party makes a Superior Proposal (as defined in the Arrangement Agreement), the Arrangement may not be completed and the Company may be required to pay the Termination Fee; if the Arrangement is not completed, and the Company continues as an independent entity, there are risks that the announcement of the Arrangement and the dedication of substantial resources of the Company to the completion of the Arrangement could have an impact on the Company's current business relationships and could have a material adverse effect on the current and future operations, financial condition and prospects of the Company; future prices of silver, gold, lead, zinc and other commodities; market competition; and the geopolitical, economic, permitting and legal climate that we operate in. Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions that management believes are reasonable at the time they are made. In making the forward-looking statements included in this news release, Alexco has applied several material assumptions, including, but not limited to, assumptions as to the ability of Alexco and Hecla to receive, in a timely manner and on satisfactory terms, the necessary regulatory, Court, securityholder and other third party approvals; the satisfaction of the conditions to closing of the Arrangement in a timely manner and completion of the Arrangement on the expected terms; the expected adherence to the terms of the Arrangement Agreement and agreements related to the Arrangement Agreement; the adequacy of our and Hecla's financial resources; favourable equity and debt capital markets; and stability in financial capital markets. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Alexco expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation.
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SOURCE Alexco Resource Corp. | https://www.kold.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/alexco-obtains-interim-order-provides-transaction-update/ | 2022-07-28 22:52:02 | 0 | https://www.kold.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/alexco-obtains-interim-order-provides-transaction-update/ |
Samsara Luggage's latest collection of tech-savvy travel products now available in select Tommy Bahama stores.
NEW YORK, Oct. 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Samsara Luggage (OTC: SAML) makes its debut in select Tommy Bahama (NYSE: OXM) retail stores, marking the first time the travel and lifestyle brand will be available for purchase in a physical store. A selection of products from Samsara's Tag Smart collection is now available for purchase in Tommy Bahama's New York City store, located on 5th Avenue; Disney Springs in Lake Buena Vista, FL; Palm Desert in California; The Mall at University Town Center in Sarasota, FL; and the Relax store in Naples.
"Samsara's presence in a fleet of Tommy Bahama retail stores is a milestone for the company," says Atara Dzikowski, Co-founder & CEO, Samsara Luggage. "The exemplar customer experience and hospitality that the Tommy Bahama stores are known for made the decision to come out of the web and into the brick-and-mortar space an easy one. We are thrilled to give everyone curious about Samsara the opportunity to see the quality of our products in-person for the first time."
Tommy Bahama recently announced it would be including select products from Samsara's Tag Smart Collection to its online store. Samsara Luggage launched its Tag Smart Collection and coordinating travel products in April 2022. The Tag Smart Carry-on is combined with the Apple AirTag, which uses a Bluetooth signal to map a suitcase's precise location. The suitcase features an interior compartment that secures the device from within. The suitcase's durable aluminum frame and TSA-approved combination locks keep the AirTag protected from any outside tampering. The Tag Smart Device is included with the suitcase.
About Samsara Luggage:
Samsara Luggage, Inc. ("Samsara," "Samsara Luggage" or the "Company") (OTCQB: SAML) is a global smart luggage and smart travel brand with a deep belief in creating a world where travel isn't a hassle, but rather an effortless experience. By combining smart features, including Internet of Things (IoT) technology, innovative design and quality materials, Samsara is dedicated to transforming the travel industry with its products.
About Tommy Bahama:
Tommy Bahama is part of Tommy Bahama Group, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Oxford Industries, Inc. (NYSE: OXM). Established in August 1992, with corporate headquarters in Seattle, Tommy Bahama is the iconic island lifestyle brand that defines relaxed, sophisticated style in men's and women's sportswear, swimwear, accessories and a home furnishings and décor collection. The company owns and operates over 160 Tommy Bahama retail locations worldwide, 21 of which offer a Tommy Bahama Restaurant & Bar or a Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar. The Tommy Bahama collection is available on TommyBahama.com and at the finest U.S. retailers. For more information, please visit www.tommybahama.com.
Forward-Looking Statements:
All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this press release are "forward-looking statements," which may often, but not always, be identified by the use of such words as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "estimates," "plans," "potential," "possible," "probable," "believes," "seeks," "may," "will," "should," "could" or the negative of such terms or other similar expressions. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. These factors include uncertainties as to the Company's international manufacturing and supply chain, market acceptance of the Company's smart luggage, successfully implementing the Company's growth strategy, dependence on key Company personnel, changes in economic conditions, competition and other risks including, but not limited to, those described from in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 11, 2022 (the "SEC"), and other filings and submissions with the SEC. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof and the Company disclaims any obligations to update these statements except as may be required by law. The Company intends that all forward-looking statements be subject to the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
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SOURCE Samsara Luggage Inc. | https://www.kold.com/prnewswire/2022/10/24/samsara-luggage-debuts-tommy-bahama-stores/ | 2022-10-24 13:19:54 | 1 | https://www.kold.com/prnewswire/2022/10/24/samsara-luggage-debuts-tommy-bahama-stores/ |
By JIM HEINTZ
Associated Press
MOSCOW (AP) — The family of Paul Whelan, an American imprisoned in Russia for espionage, said Friday that he has resumed contact after unexpectedly becoming unreachable in November.
Along with WNBA star Brittney Griner, Whelan is the focus of efforts by the United States to arrange a prisoner swap with Russia.
The Associated Press and other news organizations have reported that Washington has offered to exchange Griner and Whelan for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who is serving a 25-year sentence in the U.S. and once earned the nickname the “merchant of death.”
Whelan’s brother, David, said in an emailed statement that Paul had called his parents early U.S. time on Friday, the first time any family member had spoken with him since Nov. 23. The family had been told that he was moved to a prison hospital, but that the reason for that was unclear because he had not spoken of health problems.
In the call, he did not explain why he was at the hospital, but said he’d been given “special dispensation” to call, indicating he had been prohibited from calling previously, David Whelan said.
“So the call at least acts as a ‘proof of life’ even if nothing else is explained,” he said.
Alexei Tyurkin, the chairman of the prison monitoring commission in the Mordovia region where Whelan is incarcerated, said he was in the prison hospital for “planned treatment,” but did not elaborate, according to state news agency RIA-Novosti.
The State Department said later that Whelan also spoke to U.S. consular officers and that he had been returned from the hospital to the prison colony itself.
Whelan, a former Marine who later worked as a corporate security executive, was arrested in Moscow in December 2018. His lawyer said Whelan was handed a flash drive that had classified information on it that he didn’t know about.
Whelan was convicted in 2020 and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison in August for drug possession after vape canisters containing cannabis oil were found in her luggage at a Moscow airport in February. Her prominence as an athlete, including two Olympic gold medals, has drawn wide attention to her case.
Asked by reporters on Tuesday whether a swap is possible before the year’s end, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, responded: “There always is a chance.”
“Regrettably, there have been a few occasions when it seemed that a decision in favor of it was about to be made, but it never happened,” Ryabkov said without elaborating.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. | https://wtmj.com/national/2022/12/02/brother-of-us-man-in-russian-prison-says-contact-resumed/ | 2022-12-03 05:48:14 | 0 | https://wtmj.com/national/2022/12/02/brother-of-us-man-in-russian-prison-says-contact-resumed/ |
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Solidarity and stamina were picket-line themes Monday as striking screenwriters and actors in New York and Los Angeles braced for a long, hot summer standoff with studios.
Picketers emphasized unity between writers, who have been on the lines for more than two months, and performers, who are only on Day 2 of striking — as well as camaraderie between highly paid actors and those with spare screen credits who struggle to scrape by.
Kevin Bacon, who was among the famous faces picketing among unknowns outside Viacom headquarters in New York, said his presence was about “seeing people out here and being aware that not all actors are super high paid actors, that they are working class people who are trying to make a living.”
One such working actor, Whitney Morgan Cox, who has appeared on the CBS series “Criminal Minds,” said it was “powerful” to see writers and actors come together who don’t often work simultaneously in production.
“I don’t think people necessarily realize the energy that writers and actors have,” Cox said outside Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, “and the stamina, and our ability to commit, that’s all our entire job is about is just committing to something and following through. So it’s been a really beautiful sense of community.”
Leaders of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) voted unanimously on Thursday that when their contract expired they would start striking the following day, joining the Writers Guild of America, who walked out on May 2.
“It’s been amazing to be out here now that we have the second wind of SAG members coming,” said Paul Scheer, who was already striking as a writer, and is now doing the same as an actor, outside Netflix headquarters in Hollywood. “I’m on strike two times, which means I have to walk double the steps, which is hard, but I’m willing to do it.”
On Monday temperatures were in the high 80s in New York, and well above 90 degrees F (32 C) in parts of Los Angeles, where some afternoon pickets were called off because of the extreme heat.
A union rally was planned for later in the day in Atlanta, where many productions have moved in recent years because of tax breaks and other lower costs.
The issue also came up in Washington, when White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded to a question during Monday’s briefing about whether the Biden administration supports the aims of striking entertainment workers.
“The president believes all workers, including the writers, including the actors, they deserve fair pay. And they deserve fair benefits,” Jean-Pierre said. “We sincerely hope that both actors and writers strikes get resolved, and that the parties come together and have a mutually beneficial agreement as soon as possible.”
While actors and writers also emphasized the need to reach a deal, few believed any such agreement would be coming soon, given the vast distance between the unions and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers — which represents studios, streamers and production companies in negotiations that are currently neither happening nor planned.
Key issues for both unions include residual payments, which have been nearly wiped out by the switch to the streaming system, and the unpaid use of their work and likeness by artificial intelligence avatars.
The AMPTP said it has offered fair terms on those and other issues.
“These things are things that I personally can negotiate for,” Bacon said. “But I’m here for the working class, middle class part of our union who needs these basic provisions in the basic contract.”
___
Associated Press Writers John Carucci in New York, Zeke Miller in Washington, Krysta Fauria in Los Angeles, and Leslie Ambriz in Burbank, California contributed. | https://www.ksn.com/entertainment/ap-entertainment/ap-actors-and-writers-on-strike-are-united-and-determined-in-the-face-of-a-long-summer-standoff/ | 2023-07-18 12:35:57 | 0 | https://www.ksn.com/entertainment/ap-entertainment/ap-actors-and-writers-on-strike-are-united-and-determined-in-the-face-of-a-long-summer-standoff/ |
Movement Variations has worked all semester to get its spring showcase ready to perform and send off its seniors Saturday at 5 p.m. in the Ohio Union Performance Hall.
At the end of the fall semester following its Buckeyethon performance, the club held auditions to pick student choreographers for its spring showcase — which includes hip-hop, contemporary, jazz and heels genres — Erica English, a fourth-year in marketing and president of Movement Variations, said.
“We want a variety of styles. We want a variety of all different things just to keep it interesting for the audience,” English said.
The spring showcase is bittersweet for the fourth-year members of Movement Variations since it will be their last time performing all together, English said.
“Earlier when we joined the team, it was right in the middle of COVID, so this will only be our second showcase that we’ll get to have even though we’ve been on the team for four years,” English said.
English and Lacy Slaats, a fourth-year in dance and vice president of Movement Variations, have been in Movement Variations since 2020 during their first year at Ohio State. They said the members are all tight-knit and enjoy spending time with each other.
“At a university that’s so large, these are people who I probably would have never met if it wasn’t for Movement Variations,” English said. “It’s really cool to have that group of people who share similar interests but also different interests that you can learn from.”
Slaats said she’s choreographed a dance for the showcase every year she’s been a member, including this one.
“I’m always really excited to see my dance that I’ve choreographed, like getting to watch a video afterwards and share it with people,” Slaats said.
Some dancers enjoy having the opportunity to choreograph and others just like to express themselves through dance, English said. The club is open to everyone of every experience level, she said.
The ability to choreograph a dance was one of the main reasons Slaats said she joined Movement Variations.
“There’s not a lot of other places where you have the opportunity to have 20-plus people who are willing to just be a body in your dance to have it come to life and have a free space where you can do that is what really got me interested in it,” Slaats said. | https://www.thelantern.com/2023/04/movement-variations-gives-seniors-a-last-dance-together-in-spring-showcase-saturday/ | 2023-04-20 04:39:04 | 1 | https://www.thelantern.com/2023/04/movement-variations-gives-seniors-a-last-dance-together-in-spring-showcase-saturday/ |
Alabama basketball players are the subject of controversy. The U.S. Women's National Soccer team went undefeated in a tournament this week. A Mississippi pitcher throws fastballs ... with either arm.
Copyright 2023 NPR
Alabama basketball players are the subject of controversy. The U.S. Women's National Soccer team went undefeated in a tournament this week. A Mississippi pitcher throws fastballs ... with either arm.
Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.wunc.org/2023-02-25/saturday-sports-controversy-for-alabama-basketball-players-uswnt-goes-undefeated | 2023-02-25 13:31:48 | 0 | https://www.wunc.org/2023-02-25/saturday-sports-controversy-for-alabama-basketball-players-uswnt-goes-undefeated |
How much more will your July 4 barbecue cost this year? By Shannon Bond Published July 3, 2022 at 8:12 AM EDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email NPR's Shannon Bond talks with David Branch, co-author of a new report about why that July 4 barbecue is going to cost a lot more this year. Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wvpublic.org/2022-07-03/how-much-more-will-your-july-4-barbecue-cost-this-year | 2022-07-03 13:21:27 | 0 | https://www.wvpublic.org/2022-07-03/how-much-more-will-your-july-4-barbecue-cost-this-year |
OKOTOKS, AB, Nov. 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - (TSX: MTL) The Board of Directors of Mullen Group Ltd. ("Mullen Group", "We", "Our" and/or the "Corporation") announced today that it has declared a monthly dividend of $0.06 per Common Share payable to the holders of record of Common Shares at the close of business on November 30, 2022. The dividend will be paid on December 15, 2022.
For Canadian resident shareholders, this dividend is designated as an "eligible dividend" for purposes of the enhanced dividend tax credit rules contained in the Income Tax Act (Canada) and any corresponding provincial and territorial tax legislation.
Mullen Group is one of North America's largest logistics providers. Our network of independently operated businesses provide a wide range of service offerings including less-than-truckload, truckload, warehousing, logistics, transload, oversized, third-party logistics and specialized hauling transportation. In addition, we provide a diverse set of specialized services related to the energy, mining, forestry and construction industries in western Canada, including water management, fluid hauling and environmental reclamation. The corporate office provides the capital and financial expertise, legal support, technology and systems support, shared services and strategic planning to its independent businesses.
Mullen Group is a publicly traded corporation listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "MTL". Additional information is available on our website at www.mullen-group.com or on the Corporation's issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
Contact Information
Mr. Murray K. Mullen - Chair, Senior Executive Officer and President
Mr. Richard J. Maloney - Senior Operating Officer
Mr. Carson P. Urlacher - Senior Accounting Officer
Ms. Joanna K. Scott - Senior Corporate Officer
121A - 31 Southridge Drive
Okotoks, Alberta, Canada T1S 2N3
Telephone: 403-995-5200
Fax: 403-995-5296
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SOURCE Mullen Group Ltd. | https://www.valleynewslive.com/prnewswire/2022/11/22/announces-declaration-monthly-dividend/ | 2022-11-22 19:07:12 | 1 | https://www.valleynewslive.com/prnewswire/2022/11/22/announces-declaration-monthly-dividend/ |
Family’s photo swept up by tornado found over 150 miles away
WYNNE, Ark. (KAIT/Gray News) – A family who lost countless memories in a tornado that ripped through Arkansas got one item back thanks to social media.
Melissa Morris and her family rode out the tornado in her bathroom. When they stepped out, the damage to their home was massive but it was nothing in comparison to when she realized what was lost when they stepped outside.
The shed behind their house was gone, along with the countless memories inside.
“Twenty years of being a mom, my children’s memories of me raising them,” Morris said as her voice trembled and tears fell.
The tornado took her memories and scattered them across Wynne, Arkansas.
Many were found in a field behind her house. Some were found at the Wynne First United Methodist Church, but one traveled over 150 miles to Bradford, Tennessee, to the home of Jon Ellis, who showed the photo to his wife.
The picture was of a young woman from 2012 wearing her Wynne volleyball uniform.
“She was the one that was like, ‘Wow, we need to post this on Facebook and see if, you know, if anybody knows her or see if somebody lost this, they might want it back’,” Ellis said.
The couple initially thought the photo could belong to someone in Covington, Tennessee about an hour away. The city had also been hit by a tornado the same day as Wynne.
The couple posted the picture and on the same day, the post made it to the family. Now, a priceless memory is coming back.
“I can’t thank them enough. We’re lucky to be here, we’re lucky to have people around us to care enough to do that and to go the extra mile,” she said.
The picture will be sent to Morris’ daughter in South Dakota.
Copyright 2023 KAIT via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wafb.com/2023/04/05/familys-photo-swept-up-by-tornado-found-over-150-miles-away/ | 2023-04-05 16:45:41 | 0 | https://www.wafb.com/2023/04/05/familys-photo-swept-up-by-tornado-found-over-150-miles-away/ |
PITTSBURGH, May 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "I thought there should be a way to warm food while working on a remote jobsite," said one of two inventors, from Honolulu, Hawaii, "so we invented the PORTABLE MINI-WAVE. Our design can be used at any indoor or outdoor location and it would not require electricity."
The patent-pending invention provides a portable microwave oven for warming food. In doing so, it eliminates the need for a traditional power source. As a result, it increases convenience and it can be used at work, campsites, outdoors, etc. The invention features a lightweight and compact design that is easy to use and transport so it is ideal for workers, outdoor enthusiasts, etc.
The original design was submitted to the National sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 20-CHK-179, InventHelp, 217 Ninth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, or call (412) 288-1300 ext. 1368. Learn more about InventHelp's Invention Submission Services at http://www.InventHelp.com.
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SOURCE InventHelp | https://www.kmvt.com/prnewswire/2022/05/31/inventhelp-inventors-develop-portable-microwave-warming-food-chk-179/ | 2022-05-31 18:49:26 | 0 | https://www.kmvt.com/prnewswire/2022/05/31/inventhelp-inventors-develop-portable-microwave-warming-food-chk-179/ |
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Some 2.5 tons of natural uranium stored in a site in war-torn Libya have gone missing, the United Nations nuclear watchdog said Thursday, raising safety and proliferation concerns.
However, forces allied to a warlord battling the Libyan government based in the capital of Tripoli claimed on Thursday night that they recovered the material. U.N. inspectors said they were trying to confirm that.
Natural uranium cannot immediately be used for energy production or bomb fuel, as the enrichment process typically requires the metal to be converted into a gas, then later spun in centrifuges to reach the levels needed.
But each ton of natural uranium — if obtained by a group with the technological means and resources — can be refined to 5.6 kilograms (12 pounds) of weapons-grade material over time, experts say. That makes finding the missing metal important for nonproliferation experts.
In a statement, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency said its director-general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, informed member states Wednesday about the missing uranium.
The IAEA statement remained tightlipped though on details.
On Tuesday, “agency safeguards inspectors found that 10 drums containing approximately 2.5 tons of natural uranium in the form of uranium ore concentrate were not present as previously declared at a location in the state of Libya,” the IAEA said. “Further activities will be conducted by the agency to clarify the circumstances of the removal of the nuclear material and its current location.”
The IAEA did not identify the site, nor did it respond to questions about it from The Associated Press.
Reuters first reported on the IAEA warning about the missing Libyan uranium, saying the IAEA told members reaching the site that’s not under government control required “complex logistics.”
One such declared site is Sabha, some 660 kilometers (410 miles) southeast of Tripoli, in the country’s lawless southern reaches of the Sahara Desert. Libya's late dictator Moammar Gadhafi stored thousands of barrels of so-called yellowcake uranium for a once-planned uranium conversion facility that was never built in his decadeslong secret weapons program.
Estimates put the Libyan stockpile at some 1,000 metric tons of yellowcake uranium under Gadhafi, who declared his nascent nuclear weapons program to the world in 2003 after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
But the 2011 Arab Spring saw rebels topple Gadhafi and ultimately kill him. Sabha grew increasingly lawless, with African migrants crossing Libya, saying some had been sold as slaves in the city, the U.N. reported.
In recent years, Sabha largely has been under the control of the self-styled Libyan National Army, headed by Khalifa Hifter. On Thursday night, Hifter's forces issued a statement claiming they had recovered the material.
They published a video showing a man in a disposable white suit and respirator in the desert, counting off what appeared to be 18 metal drums. Some of the blue-painted drums bore what appeared to be batch numbers. News footage from 2011 of the facility showed similar drums.
However, the man did not open the drums in the footage.
Hifter's forces claimed they found the drums some 5 kilometers (3 miles) south of the facility. They tried to accuse Chadian separatist fighters, who operate in the region, of stealing the drums after mistaking them for weapons and ammunition. Hifter's forces provided no evidence for the accusation.
The video footage resembled features of the desert surrounding the uranium stockpile site, though the AP could not immediately locate it.
Hifter's forces also claimed the storage site had been found with an “opening” on its side. They claimed that a top IAEA official informed them of the “opening" nearly a week earlier than the agency described discovering the missing uranium. The conflicting timelines could not be immediately reconciled.
Hifter's forces also asserted the IAEA failed to provide protective equipment and security for the site, though countries with nuclear material themselves bear responsibility for those sites. They also didn't explain how the site had been secured — or if it was currently.
Asked about the claim by Hifter's forces, the IAEA said: “We are aware of media reports that the material has been found. The agency is actively working to verify them.”
While inspectors removed the last of the enriched uranium from Libya in 2009, the yellowcake remained behind, with the U.N. in 2013 estimating some 6,400 barrels of it were stored at Sabha. American officials had worried Iran could try to purchase the uranium from Libya, something Gadhafi's top civilian nuclear official tried to reassure the United States about, according to a 2009 diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks.
“Stressing that Libya viewed the question as primarily a commercial one, (the official) noted that prices for uranium yellowcake on the world market had been increasing, and that Libya wanted to maximize its profit by properly timing the sale of its stockpile,” then-Ambassador Gene A. Cretz wrote.
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Jeffery reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report. | https://www.expressnews.com/news/politics/article/un-nuclear-watchdog-2-5-tons-of-uranium-missing-17842479.php | 2023-03-17 02:36:15 | 0 | https://www.expressnews.com/news/politics/article/un-nuclear-watchdog-2-5-tons-of-uranium-missing-17842479.php |
WILLOW PARK, Texas, Jan. 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ProFrac Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: ACDC) ("ProFrac" or the "Company") today reported that it has closed on its previously-announced acquisition of REV Energy Holdings, LLC ("REV"), a privately owned pressure pumping service provider with operations in the Rockies and Eagle Ford. ProFrac acquired REV for $140 million, consisting of $70 million in ProFrac Class B common shares, approximately $39 million in seller-provided financing, and the balance with cash on hand and debt assumption of approximately $5.5 million. The purchase agreement also provides for up to $20 million of earn-out payments in the event REV achieves EBITDA of approximately $90 million in 2023. REV operates three premium frac fleets totaling 204,500 hydraulic horsepower that offer significant opportunity for upgrades through the additions of DGB engines and engine idle reduction systems.
ProFrac also closed the acquisition of Producers Services Holdings LLC ("Producers"), an employee-owned pressure pumping services provider serving Appalachia and the Mid-Continent. Under the terms of the agreement, ProFrac has acquired Producers for approximately $35 million of total transaction value, of which approximately half was paid in ProFrac Class A common shares. Through this transaction, ProFrac will add three fleets, of which two are currently active, totaling 200,000 HHP as well as a 50,000 square foot manufacturing facility located near Zanesville, OH, through which the Company plans to expand its manufacturing footprint to support Northeast operations. The Company expects the transaction to be accretive to earnings and cash flow in 2023.
With these transactions, ProFrac has expanded its geographic footprint to include the Rockies and Bakken, and increased its pressure pumping and manufacturing presence in the Northeast. By the end of January, ProFrac expects to have 45 active fleets, with an additional four electric fleets under construction that the Company expects to deploy in the first half of 2023.
Advisors
Brown Rudnick LLP and Lowenstein Sandler LLP served as legal advisor and merger clearance counsel, respectively, to ProFrac on the acquisition of REV. Piper Sandler served as REV's exclusive financial advisor, and Sparkman + Foote LLP served as REV's legal counsel. Brown Rudnick LLP served as legal counsel to ProFrac on the acquisition of Producers.
About ProFrac Holding Corp.
ProFrac Holding Corp. is a growth-oriented, vertically integrated and innovation-driven energy services company providing hydraulic fracturing, completion services and other complementary products and services to leading upstream oil and gas companies engaged in the exploration and production ("E&P") of North American unconventional oil and natural gas resources. Founded in 2016, the Company was built to be the go-to service provider for E&P companies' most demanding hydraulic fracturing needs. ProFrac is focused on employing new technologies to significantly reduce "greenhouse gas" emissions and increase efficiency in what has historically been an emissions-intensive component of the unconventional E&P development process. For more information, please visit the Company's website, https://www.pfholdingscorp.com.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release may be considered "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, the reader can identify forward-looking statements by words such as "may," "should," "would," "expect," "intend," "will," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "predict," or similar words. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or the Company's future financial or operating performance. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements regarding: the anticipated benefits of the REV and Producers acquisitions; including, with (i) respect to REV, the Company's expectation that such acquisition will increase its pressure pumping service capabilities, geographic footprint and active fleet count; and expectations regarding the Company's plans and ability to upgrade the fleets to be acquired and (ii) with respect to Producers, the Company's expectation that such acquisition will increase its pressure pumping services, manufacturing capabilities, geographic and manufacturing footprint and active fleet count; the Company's expectations regarding expanding its Northeast manufacturing operations support capabilities; and the Company's expectation that the acquisition will be accretive to the Company's earnings and free cash flow. . Such forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions made by the Company as of the date hereof and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to: the ability to effectively scale the Company's operations and integrate acquired assets, services and personnel into the Company's existing business model; the risk that Company will not realize the anticipated benefits of the acquired businesses and operations; the Company's ability to execute its business strategy and plans for growth, including with respect to the integration of REV and Producers; the failure to operationalize and upgrade, as applicable, the acquired operations, services and assets of REV and Producers in a timely manner or at all; risks relating to expanding manufacturing capabilities;; risks relating to the Company's liquidity needs; industry conditions, including fluctuations in supply, demand and prices for the Company's products and services; global and regional economic and financial conditions; and other risks and uncertainties set forth in the sections entitled "Risk Factors" and "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), which are available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. There may be additional risks about which the Company is presently unaware or that the Company currently believes are immaterial that could also cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. The reader should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. The Company anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause its assessments to change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, it expressly disclaims any duty to update these forward-looking statements, except as otherwise required by law.
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SOURCE ProFrac Holding Corp. | https://www.kmvt.com/prnewswire/2023/01/03/profrac-holding-corp-completes-acquisition-rev-energy-holdings-llc-producers-services-holdings-llc-adding-six-frac-fleets/ | 2023-01-04 00:24:35 | 0 | https://www.kmvt.com/prnewswire/2023/01/03/profrac-holding-corp-completes-acquisition-rev-energy-holdings-llc-producers-services-holdings-llc-adding-six-frac-fleets/ |
FLO's first U.S. EV charger plant and high-tech testing facility will accelerate EV adoption and create jobs for Michiganders
AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Oct. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - FLO, a leading North American electric vehicle (EV) charging company, today cut the ribbon on its first-ever U.S. facility. Located in Auburn Hills, Michigan, the facility will help FLO bring more than 250,000 EV chargers to American drivers and create 730 direct, indirect, and induced jobs by 2028, including 133 jobs in 2023. The event was attended by:
- Senator Gary Peters
- Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist
- Representative Brenda Carter
- Mayor Kevin McDaniel
- Delegate Mario Limoges, Québec Government Office in Chicago
- Aaron Wolff, EV Infrastructure Strategy & Development Manager, General Motors
- Louis Tremblay, FLO CEO and Founder.
Once operational, the facility will enable FLO to accelerate execution of its U.S. market strategy, create jobs, and offer a convenient, reliable charging solution to EV drivers across the country.
"There is no better location for FLO to plant roots in the U.S. than Michigan – the birthplace of the American auto industry," said Louis Tremblay, FLO President and CEO. "Our new facility will establish FLO's American operational foothold, helping us to create jobs, strengthen charging infrastructure, and meet the charging needs of EV drivers nationwide. Michigan has created a clear roadmap for success for EV charging companies like FLO, providing funding and launching initiatives aimed at expanding charging access and accelerating EV adoption. We look forward to building the efficient, reliable, and safe charging network of tomorrow, right here in Michigan."
The Auburn Hills facility puts FLO at the center of the United States' electric transition, as American car manufacturers continue to prioritize and ramp up EV production in Detroit. Located mere miles from the heart of the U.S. auto industry, the facility's state-of-the-art testing lab will position FLO to build chargers designed for compatibility with new EVs coming off nearby production lines. The testing lab underscores FLO's commitment to investing in technological innovation in Michigan and ensuring that FLO customers have access to an easy and reliable charging experience.
"The Auburn Hills community welcomes FLO and the hundreds of jobs they'll generate for our residents," said Mayor Kevin McDaniel. "Auburn Hills has been on the cutting edge of the automotive industry for decades, and this new facility will help us embrace the transition to electric and the future of the industry."
The facility is slated to start production later this year and will continue scaling up its workforce and production. An economic report released by BW Research estimates the facility will generate $51.7 million in labor income for Michigan workers that benefit
from the construction and operations of the facility. It is projected to generate $134 million in revenue from sales of EV chargers and $76 million in gross state product in the state of Michigan by 2028.
"As the automotive industry continues their work in the electric vehicle space, contributions from companies like FLO will be crucial to the success of EV adoption," said Rep. Brenda Carter. "Our community is on the front lines of the electric transition, and we are thrilled that FLO chose Auburn Hills as the home of their first U.S. charger facility."
In February, Governor Whitmer announced Michigan will receive $110 million over five years in formula funding from the federal government to build up electric vehicle charging infrastructure and help the state continue leading the future of mobility and electrification. At the Detroit Auto Show, President Biden announced approval of 35 states' first year of funding, including Michigan. Initiatives like the Charge Up Michigan Program will expand access to charging stations and build the infrastructure for DC fast charging stations in the state of Michigan. These investments will ensure EV drivers in Michigan, neighboring states, and Canada can make long distance trips in the Great Lakes region.
"GM is working toward an all-electric future, which requires accessible and reliable charging infrastructure. We appreciate FLO's collaboration with us to make charging access more widespread," said Hoss Hassani, GM Vice President of EV Ecosystem. "Their new Auburn Hills facility will strengthen this collaboration as we work to help build a North American EV charging supply chain and put everyone in an EV."
"Auburn Hills has an abundant and diverse workforce, a great business environment, and crucial supply chain assets," added Tremblay. "We are ready to get to work electrifying the future of automotives right in the heart of the automotive industry."
FLO is a leading North American electric vehicle (EV) charging network operator and a smart charging solutions provider. We fight climate change by accelerating EV adoption through a vertically integrated business model and delivering EV drivers the most dependable charging experience from curbside to countryside. Every month, we enable more than 900,000 charging events thanks to over 70,000 fast and level 2 EV charging stations deployed at public, private and residential locations. FLO operates across North America and our high-quality charging stations are assembled with care in Michigan and Quebec. To learn more about what "EV charging done right" means to us, visit flo.com.
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SOURCE FLO | https://www.kmvt.com/prnewswire/2022/10/04/flo-holds-ribbon-cutting-event-michigan-facility/ | 2022-10-04 19:14:04 | 0 | https://www.kmvt.com/prnewswire/2022/10/04/flo-holds-ribbon-cutting-event-michigan-facility/ |
Local tech company creates a conversational artificial intelligence robot
TAMPA, Fla. - She expresses emotions, a sense of humor and seems to have a mind of her own. A local tech company has created an artificial intelligence data robot called "Maya AI."
"So we did a lot of studying on how the brain, the memories and neurons fires against each other for prompts and responses," said Maya AI cofounder Sat Ramphal, "and what we've been able to create, essentially Maya, is a robotic brain that develops deep research in generative AI helping to answer sort of focus data questions with relation to what's happening in the real world and what's changing in the real world in real time."
Right now, Maya is being used in the medical industry. Sat Ramphal said some of their biggest customers are working in the enterprise pharma space, which means they work with scientists, analysts, and researchers.
MORE: How chatbot programs could change future as it becomes more widely used
"We sit on top of a company, we take in their private personal data, like clinical or patient data and we pretty much smash that against real world data that's changing in real time and come up with insights and assessments to provide to researchers and analysts in real time basically," said Sat.
Maya is receiving new information constantly. Sat Ramphal said she is always learning from changing data in the real world.
"That's one of the biggest values. Because she's continuing to learn off of that changed data, she's able to give the most accurate answers," said Sat.
She can be reached through a phone app too.
READ: Lakeland officials hope artificial intelligence will prevent traffic crashes
"We can bring her into the real world. We can open her eyes, so she can see us," said Maya AI co-founder Sean Ramphal.
Maya can personally connect with her user.
"We created the ability where Maya has eyes, ears and a mouth," Sat Ramphal said. "So Maya is able to see the person who is actually talking to her. She's able to read the frequencies and the tones in the voice and then based on that she's able to determine specific ways to interact with the user that's more on a personal level because she has the understanding if the person is happy or sad or angry in the frequencies of their voice."
But they give her boundaries. Sat Ramphal said they remove the ability to share data and for other humans to come in and see that data as well.
"We do a lot in ethics and responsible AI," said Sat Ramphal. "We try our very best to remove any sort of biases that are inside of the platform."
They see a bright future for users with their AI creation.
"Making their job easier, making their life easier, making them more informed of what's happening in the world," said Sat.
For more information about Maya AI, visit meetmaya.world. | https://www.fox13news.com/news/local-tech-company-creates-a-conversational-artificial-intelligence-robot | 2023-03-08 04:15:23 | 0 | https://www.fox13news.com/news/local-tech-company-creates-a-conversational-artificial-intelligence-robot |
Why these 2 iconic Arizona destinations are TripAdvisor's Travelers' Choice picks for 2023
TripAdvisor has highlighted two Arizona cities with an abundance of stunning natural desert scenery among the top U.S. destinations people should see in 2023.
Page, the city near the Arizona-Utah state line that overlooks Lake Powell and Glen Canyon; and Sedona, the Verde Valley spot defined by its towering red rock buttes, both were recently honored with TripAdvisor's Travelers' Choice Destination Awards for 2023.
TripAdvisor's Travelers' Choice Awards are based on the millions of reviews that travelers share on the website to provide others with travel guidance based on their experiences.
VAI Resort, Global Ambassador:Biggest hotel openings and renos in metro Phoenix in 2023
Why TripAdvisor users love Page, Arizona
Interest in Page, a northern Arizona oasis about 10 miles from the Utah state line, increased among TripAdvisor users in recent months. It placed No. 2 among trending U.S. destinations, with only Juneau, Alaska, ranking higher.
Travelers were enamored with Page for its dramatic views of Glen Canyon Dam and the canyons, arches and Native American culture that surround it. TripAdvisor users found the city's mild year-round climate part of its appeal.
The top attractions near Page include Horseshoe Bend, an Instagram-famous spot in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, and Antelope Canyon, a slot canyon near Lake Powell that's sacred to the Navajo Nation.
A hidden gem near Page:Plus 3 other Arizona adventure destinations that are worth the effort
Why TripAdvisor users love Sedona
Sedona, an easy day trip from Phoenix, continues to wow people with its red rock buttes and canyons. Ranking as the No. 15 most popular place to travel in the U.S. for 2023 among TripAdvisor users, it stands out for its hiking opportunities at Bell Rock and Oak Creek Canyon and the architecture of the Chapel of the Holy Cross.
They also recognized the city's spas and resorts as a highlight. Mii amo, which Conde Nast Traveler named one of the best destination spas in the U.S. last year, is scheduled to reopen in February after closing for renovations. And Ambiente, a new "landscape hotel" designed in harmony with its red rock setting, is taking reservations with introductory rates starting at $899 per night. Regular rates start at a whopping $1,800 per night.
Arizona's first 'landscape hotel':Here's a look inside the swanky Ambiente in Sedona
Reach the reporter at Michael.Salerno@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salerno_phx.
Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today. | https://www.azcentral.com/story/travel/arizona/2023/02/01/tripadvisor-travelers-choice-awards-2023-arizona/69858604007/ | 2023-02-01 13:33:33 | 1 | https://www.azcentral.com/story/travel/arizona/2023/02/01/tripadvisor-travelers-choice-awards-2023-arizona/69858604007/ |
MADRID (AP) — Spain kicked off the festive period Thursday with the celebration of one of its most iconic events, the bumper Christmas lottery, known as “El Gordo” (The Fat One).
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The most sought-after prize shells out 400,000 euros ($425,000), or some 325,000 euros after tax, to holders of winning 20-euro tickets, known as décimos.
In keeping with tradition, the winning numbers are called out by children from Madrid’s San Ildefonso school in a nationally televised draw at Madrid’s Teatro Real opera house.
The incredibly popular lottery will dish out a total of 2.5 billion euros ($2.7 billion) in prizes, much of it in hundreds of smaller prizes.
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Purchasing and sharing 20-euro tickets, especially in the run-up to Christmas, is a major tradition among families, friends, co-workers and in bars and sports and social clubs.
Other lotteries have bigger individual top prizes but Spain’s Christmas lottery, held each year on Dec. 22, is ranked as the world’s richest for the total prize money involved.
Spain established its national lottery as a charity in 1763 during the reign of King Carlos III. Its objective later became to shore up state coffers. It also helps several charities.
The Dec. 22 Christmas lottery began in 1812. Since the beginning, children from the San Ildefonso college have been singing out the winning numbers and matching prizes.
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The session, which started at 9 a.m., normally lasts some four hours.
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Raquel Redondo contributed to this report | https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Spain-kicks-off-festivities-with-El-Gordo-17671094.php | 2022-12-22 09:37:06 | 1 | https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Spain-kicks-off-festivities-with-El-Gordo-17671094.php |
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Thursday a tentative railway labor agreement has been reached, averting a potentially devastating strike before the pivotal midterm elections.
He said the tentative deal “will keep our critical rail system working and avoid disruption of our economy.”
The Democratic president believes unions built the middle class, but he also knew a rail worker strike could have badly damaged the nation’s economy. That left him in the awkward position of espousing the virtues of unionization in Detroit, a stalwart of the labor movement, while members of his administration went all-out to keep talks going in Washington between the railroads and unionized workers in hopes of averting a shutdown.
But after a long night, the talks succeeded and Biden announced Thursday that the parties had reached a tentative agreement to avoid a shutdown that would go to union members for a vote. He hailed the deal in a statement for avoiding a shutdown and as a win for all sides.
“These rail workers will get better pay, improved working conditions, and peace of mind around their health care costs: all hard-earned,” Biden said. “The agreement is also a victory for railway companies who will be able to retain and recruit more workers for an industry that will continue to be part of the backbone of the American economy for decades to come.”
It looked far more tenuous for the president just a day earlier.
United Auto Workers Local 598 member Ryan Buchalski introduced Biden at the Detroit auto show on Wednesday as “the most union- and labor-friendly president in American history” and someone who was “kickin’ ass for the working class.” Buchalski harked back to the pivotal sitdown strikes by autoworkers in the 1930s.
In the speech that followed, Biden recognized that he wouldn’t be in the White House without the support of unions such as the UAW and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, saying autoworkers “brung me to the dance.”
But back in Washington, officials in his administration at the Labor Department were in tense negotiations to prevent a strike — one of the most powerful sources of leverage that unions have to bring about change and improve working conditions.
Without the deal that was reached among the 12 unions, a stoppage could have begun as early as Friday that could halt shipments of food and fuel at a cost of $2 billion a day.
Far more was at stake than sick leave and salary bumps for 115,000 unionized railroad workers. The ramifications could extend to control of Congress and to the shipping network that keeps factories rolling, stocks the shelves of stores and stitches the U.S. together as an economic power.
That’s why White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, speaking aboard Air Force One as it jetted to Detroit on Wednesday, said a rail worker strike was “an unacceptable outcome for our economy and the American people.” The rail lines and their workers’ representatives “need to stay at the table, bargain in good faith to resolve outstanding issues, and come to an agreement,” she said.
Biden faced the same kind of predicament faced by Theodore Roosevelt in 1902 with coal and Harry Truman in 1952 with steel — how do you balance the needs of labor and business in doing what’s best for the nation? Railways were so important during World War I that Woodrow Wilson temporarily nationalized the industry to keep goods flowing and prevent strikes.
Inside the White House, aides don’t see a contradiction between Biden’s devotion to unions and his desire to avoid a strike. Union activism has surged under Biden, as seen in a 56% increase in petitions for union representation with the National Labor Relations Board so far this fiscal year.
One person familiar with the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss White House deliberations on the matter, said Biden’s mindset in approaching the debate was that he’s the president of the entire country, not just for organized labor.
With the economy still recovering from the supply chain disruptions of the pandemic, the president’s goal is to keep all parties so a deal could be finalized. The person said the White House saw a commitment to keep negotiating in good faith as the best way to avoid a shutdown while exercising the principles of collective bargaining that Biden holds dear.
Biden also knew a stoppage could worsen the dynamics that have contributed to soaring inflation and created a political headache for the party in power.
Eddie Vale, a Democratic political consultant and former AFL-CIO communications aide, said the White House pursued the correct approach at a perilous moment.
“No one wants a railroad strike, not the companies, not the workers, not the White House,” he said. “No one wants it this close to the election.”
Vale added that the sticking point in the talks was about “respect basically — sick leave and bereavement leave,” issues Biden has supported in speeches and with his policy proposals.
Sensing political opportunity, Senate Republicans moved Wednesday to pass a law to impose contract terms on the unions and railroad companies to avoid a shutdown. Democrats, who control both chambers in Congress, blocked it.
“If a strike occurs and paralyzes food, fertilizer and energy shipments nationwide, it will be because Democrats blocked this bill,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
The economic impact of a potential strike was not lost on members of the Business Roundtable, a Washington-based group that represents CEOs. It issued its quarterly outlook for the economy Wednesday.
“We’ve been experiencing a lot of headwinds from supply chain problems since the pandemic started and those problems would be geometrically magnified,” Josh Bolten, the group’s CEO, told reporters. “There are manufacturing plants around the country that likely have to shut down. … There are critical products to keep our water clean.”
The roundtable also had a meeting of its board of directors Wednesday. But Bolten said Lance Fritz, chair of the board’s international committee and the CEO of Union Pacific railroad, would miss it “because he’s working hard trying to bring the strike to a resolution.”
Back at the Labor Department, negotiators ordered Italian food as talks dragged into Wednesday night and the White House announced the agreement at 5:05 a.m. on Thursday. | https://www.wane.com/news/tentative-railway-labor-deal-reached-to-avert-strike-biden-says/ | 2022-09-15 10:51:49 | 0 | https://www.wane.com/news/tentative-railway-labor-deal-reached-to-avert-strike-biden-says/ |
NEW YORK, Sept. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Halper Sadeh LLC, an investor rights law firm, is investigating the following companies for potential violations of the federal securities laws and/or breaches of fiduciary duties to shareholders relating to:
Infrastructure & Energy Alternatives, Inc. (NASDAQ: IEA)'s sale to MasTec for $10.50 per share in cash and 0.0483 of a MasTec share for each IEA share. If you are an IEA shareholder, click here to learn more about your rights and options.
PBF Logistics LP (NYSE: PBFX)'s sale to PBF Energy Inc. for 0.270 shares of PBF Energy Class A common stock and $9.25 in cash, without interest. If you are a PBF Logistics shareholder, click here to learn more about your rights and options.
EVO Payments, Inc. (NASDAQ: EVOP)'s sale to Global Payments Inc. for $34.00 per share. If you are an EVO shareholder, click here to learn more about your rights and options.
CyberOptics Corporation (NASDAQ: CYBE)'s sale to Nordson Corporation for $54.00 per share. If you are a CyberOptics shareholder, click here to learn more about your rights and options.
Halper Sadeh LLC may seek increased consideration for shareholders, additional disclosures and information concerning the proposed transaction, or other relief and benefits on behalf of shareholders.
Shareholders are encouraged to contact the firm free of charge to discuss their legal rights and options. Please call Daniel Sadeh or Zachary Halper at (212) 763-0060 or email sadeh@halpersadeh.com or zhalper@halpersadeh.com.
Halper Sadeh LLC represents investors all over the world who have fallen victim to securities fraud and corporate misconduct. Our attorneys have been instrumental in implementing corporate reforms and recovering millions of dollars on behalf of defrauded investors.
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SOURCE Halper Sadeh LLP | https://www.wbtv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/26/shareholder-investigation-halper-sadeh-llc-investigates-iea-pbfx-evop-cybe/ | 2022-09-26 05:46:56 | 0 | https://www.wbtv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/26/shareholder-investigation-halper-sadeh-llc-investigates-iea-pbfx-evop-cybe/ |
First U.S. Community Bank Holding Company to Issue a Bond Dedicated to Supporting Social & Environmental Projects
BOSTON, June 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE: BHLB) ("Berkshire" or the "Company") announced today the completion of the public offering and sale of its inaugural Sustainability Bond, offering $100.0 million of its 5.50% fixed-to-floating rate subordinated notes due 2032 (the "Notes"). The Notes were sold at par, resulting in $98.3 million in net proceeds, after underwriting discount and estimated offering expenses. The Company intends to use an amount equal to the net proceeds to finance or refinance new or existing social and environmental projects consistent with its Sustainable Financing Framework.
Berkshire is the first public U.S. community bank holding company with under $150 billion in total assets to issue a Sustainability Bond.
"Berkshire has been at the forefront of meeting the financing needs of its communities for more than 175 years. This moment is no different as our Sustainability Bond offering reflects our commitment to supporting the communities we serve and providing the capital needed for targeted projects to help businesses prosper, individuals realize the dream of homeownership and support the transition to a low-carbon economy," stated Nitin Mhatre, Berkshire's CEO. "This is a significant step towards Berkshire achieving its goal of being a high-performing, leading socially responsible community bank while enabling the financial potential of its communities," he added.
"We are thrilled by the investor response to our sustainability bond issuance. It demonstrates investor confidence in Berkshire's vision, performance, credit discipline, environmental, social, and governance (ESG), and capital strategy. Furthermore, this issuance will help reduce our cost of capital while delivering a meaningful benefit to our communities," added Berkshire's Chief Financial Officer Subhadeep Basu.
Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's"), in a report dated June 21, 2022, assigned Berkshire and Berkshire Bank (the "Bank") first time ratings. Moody's assigned the Bank a long-term deposit rating of "A3". In addition, Moody's assigned the Company an investment grade long-term issuer rating of "Baa3". The rating outlooks are "Positive" for both the Company and the Bank.*
Berkshire's Sustainable Financing Framework will guide the selection and management of projects. Sustainalytics, a Morningstar Company, and the global leader in high-quality ESG research, ratings, and data, has independently verified that Berkshire's Sustainable Financing Framework "is credible and impactful and aligns with the International Capital Market Association's (ICMA) Sustainability Bond Guidelines 2021, Green Bond Principles 2021 and Social Bond Principles 2021"**. Projects financed will focus on eligible categories outlined in Berkshire's Sustainable Financing Framework including renewable electricity generation; green buildings; renewable energy technology, storage and manufacturing; energy efficiency in commercial, residential and public buildings; affordable housing; workforce housing; and financial inclusion and access activities. Additionally, Berkshire intends to publish a report annually until full allocation describing the amount of net proceeds allocated to each eligible project category, descriptions of specific projects financed, unallocated balances and, where feasible, qualitative and quantitative measures of the expected environmental or social impact.
"Our Sustainable Financing Framework addresses areas critical to the long-term success of our communities and is consistent with our broader ESG commitment. We view our sustainable financing activities as a catalyst to deliver on our BEST Community Comeback and to be an engine for positive change in our communities. As a result of our Sustainability Bond we'll support the clean-energy transition, help small businesses and nonprofit organizations within low-moderate income neighborhoods and improve equitable homeownership," noted Gary Levante, Berkshire's SVP of Corporate Responsibility.
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, A Stifel Company, and PNC FIG Advisory, part of PNC Capital Markets LLC, acted as joint book-running managers for the offering. PNC Capital Markets LLC acted as the ESG Structuring Agent. Luse Gorman, PC acted as legal counsel to the Company and Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP acted as legal counsel to the underwriters.
About Berkshire Hills Bancorp
Berkshire Hills Bancorp is the parent of Berkshire Bank. The Bank's goal is to be a high-performing, leading socially responsible community bank in New England, Upstate New York, and beyond. Berkshire Bank provides business and consumer banking, mortgage, wealth management, and investment services.
Headquartered in Boston, Berkshire has approximately $12.1 billion in assets and operates 105 branch offices in New England and New York, and is a member of the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index. To learn more, call 800-773-5601 or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Words such as "may," "will," "should," "could," "would," "outlook," "plan," "potential," "estimate," "project," "believe," "intend," "anticipate," "expect," "target" and variations of such similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, possible or assumed estimates with respect to the financial condition of the Company, our expected or anticipated revenue, and our results of operations and our business, including earnings growth; revenue growth in retail banking, lending and other areas; loan origination volumes; current and future capital management programs; non-interest income levels; tangible capital generation; market share; expense levels; stock repurchases; and other business operations and strategies, as well as statements regarding the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and any current or future variants thereof; inflation and interest rates; economic activity; geopolitical conflicts; and market conditions.
All forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond our control, that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others: there may be increases in competitive pressure among financial institutions or from non-financial institutions; the net interest margin is subject to material short-term fluctuation based upon market rates; changes in deposit flows, loan demand or real estate values may affect the business of Berkshire Bank; changes in accounting principles, policies or guidelines may cause the Company's financial condition to be perceived differently; changes in corporate and/or individual income tax laws may adversely affect the Company's business or financial condition or results of operations; general economic conditions, either nationally or locally in some or all areas in which the Company conducts business, or conditions in the securities markets or the banking industry, may be different than the Company currently anticipates; legislative, regulatory or policy changes may adversely affect the Company's business or results of operations; technological changes may be more difficult or expensive than the Company anticipates; success or consummation of new business initiatives or the integration of any acquired entities may be more difficult or expensive than the Company anticipates; and litigation or other matters before regulatory agencies, whether currently existing or commencing in the future, may delay the occurrence or non-occurrence of events longer than the Company anticipates.
Further, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic (including any current or future variants of the COVID-19 virus) and the related local and national economic disruption may continue to result in a decline in demand for our products and services; increased levels of loan delinquencies, problem assets and foreclosures; an increase in our allowance for loan losses; a decline in the value of loan collateral, including real estate; a greater decline in the yield on our interest-earning assets than the decline in the cost of our interest-bearing liabilities; and increased cybersecurity risks, as employees continue to work remotely. Additionally, financial markets or Company operations may be adversely affected by the current or anticipated impact of military conflict, including the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, terrorism or other geopolitical events.
These and other factors that may affect forward-looking statements are more fully described under "Forward-Looking Statements" in Item 1 and "Risk Factors" in Item 1A of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on March 1, 2022, and other factors discussed in subsequent filings with the SEC.
All forward-looking statements attributable to the Company are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which such statements are made. There is no assurance that future results, levels of activity, performance or goals will be achieved. Except as required by law, we disclaim any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements contained in this press release.
Note Regarding Rating
* A rating is not investment or financial advice and is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities. Ratings may be subject to revision or withdrawal at any time by the assigning rating organization. Each rating agency has its own methodology for assigning ratings and, accordingly, each rating should be evaluated independently of any other rating.
Note Regarding Second Party Opinion
** Sustainalytics' second party opinion is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute an endorsement of any securities, product or project, does not constitute investment or financial advice, and does not represent any type of credit or securities rating or an assessment of the issuer's economic performance, financial obligations nor of its creditworthiness.
Contacts
Investor Relations Contacts:
Kevin Conn, SVP, Investor Relations & Corporate Development
Email: KAConn@berkshirebank.com
Tel: (617) 641-9206
David Gonci, Capital Markets Director
Email: dgonci@berkshirebank.com
Tel: (413) 281-1973
Media Contact:
Gary Levante, SVP, Corporate Responsibility & Communications
Email: glevante@berkshirebank.com
Tel: (413) 447-1737
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SOURCE Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. | https://www.1011now.com/prnewswire/2022/06/30/berkshire-hills-bancorp-issues-100-million-sustainability-bond/ | 2022-06-30 18:15:03 | 1 | https://www.1011now.com/prnewswire/2022/06/30/berkshire-hills-bancorp-issues-100-million-sustainability-bond/ |
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Did you know, one in five heart attacks is silent? That means the damage is done, but the person is not even aware they had one. That's why being able to predict changes in your heart, organs, and arteries is vital to preventing the worst from happening. Now, the first-ever wearable patch may be able to predict cardiovascular problems earlier than ever before.
According to the American Heart Association, every 40 seconds, someone in the United States has a heart attack.
Every three and half minutes, someone will die of a stroke, according to the American College of Cardiology.
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Research shows that 80% of all heart disease can be prevented by knowing and managing risk factors. That's why the team at the University of California San Diego lab is working on this.
A group of engineers is the first to develop a flexible, wearable, ultrasound patch.
"With ultrasound, we can penetrate the tissue and get very deep targets," said UCSD Nanoengineer Boyu Liu.
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The latest news from around North Texas.
"For example, I can easily attach it to my carotid artery," said UCSD Material Sciences Sai Thou.
Embedded in a sheet of flexible polymer is an array of millimeter-sized ultrasound transducers.
When worn on the neck or chest, it can penetrate the tissue, monitor blood flow, blood pressure, and heart function, in hopes of predicting a heart attack or stroke.
"We can use sophisticated algorithms to predict what's going to happen in the next minute, in the next hour, or in the next few days," said UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering Ph.D. Nanoengineer Sheng Xu.
Knowing how fast the blood flows through the vessels can help diagnose blood clots, heart valve problems, poor circulation and blockages in the arteries, and help doctors save lives.
In tests, the patch performed as well as a commercial ultrasound probe currently used in doctors' offices.
Although they still have more testing to do, the researchers at UCSD are hopeful that this could be made available to doctors and their patients in the next two years. | https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/health/skin-patch-predicts-heart-attack-and-strokes/3155423/ | 2022-12-22 22:33:02 | 0 | https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/health/skin-patch-predicts-heart-attack-and-strokes/3155423/ |
By ELENA BECATOROS, OLEKSANDR STASHEVSKYI and RICARDO MAZALAN
Associated Press
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of waging “total war,” seeking to inflict as much death and destruction as possible as in three months of conflict, as fighting raged Tuesday in the eastern Donbas region.
Russian forces have intensified efforts to encircle and capture Sievierodonetsk and neighboring cities, the only part of the Donbas’ Luhansk region that remains under Ukrainian government control, British military authorities said.
That battle is only one part of the Russian campaign to take the Donbas, which is now the Kremlin’s focus after its forces failed to overrun Kyiv in the early weeks of the war and were forced to withdraw and pursue more a limited objective. But its troops have become bogged down again in the eastern industrial heartland of coal mines and factories.
Russian forces have achieved “some localized successes” despite strong Ukrainian resistance along dug-in positions, the U.K. Defense Ministry said, but the fall of Sievierodonetsk and the area around it may cause logistical problems for the Russians.
“If the Donbas front line moves further west, this will extend Russian lines of communication and likely see its forces face further logistic resupply difficulties,” the ministry said.
On the eve of the three-month anniversary of the start of the war, Zelensky told Ukrainians that Russia is waging “total war, when the enemy tries to destroy as many people and infrastructure as possible.”
“Indeed, there has not been such a war on the European continent for 77 years,” he said in his address Thursday night.
He pointed to a missile attack that killed 87 people last week in the town of Desna, 55 kilometers (35 miles) north of Kyiv, one of the deadliest single strikes in the war.
“And it was only four missiles,” he said, noting the many hundreds of such strikes since the beginning of the war on Feb. 24.
In its effort to secure a victory in the Donbas, Moscow has withdrawn some forces from around Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv.
There, residents lined up for rations of tea, sugar, pasta and cereal, holding out plastic bags to receive cups of flour and other supplies.
Meanwhile, a Russian-installed official in Ukraine’s Kherson region said the pro-Kremlin administration will ask Moscow to set up a military base there.
“It is vitally important and will become a security guarantee for the region and its residents,” said Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the administration.
Ukrainian officials have speculated Russia plans to stage a referendum in the region to declare its independence, similar to ones held years ago in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of the Donbas. Moscow recognized the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics two days before invading Ukraine, using that as a pretext to send troops to its ex-Soviet neighbor.
Instead, Stremousov said the region would ask the Kremlin to make it part of Russia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said it is up to the people of Kherson to decide how and where they want to live.
Meeting in Tokyo with fellow leaders in the Indo-Pacific security coalition known as the Quad, President Joe Biden said Tuesday that Russia’s war in Ukraine had brought a “dark hour in our shared history.”
Global defense leaders on Monday agreed to send more advanced weapons to Ukraine, including a Harpoon launcher and missiles to protect its coast, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters.
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Becatoros reported from Kramatorsk, Ukraine. Associated Press journalists Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Andrea Rosa in Kharkiv, Danica Kirka in London and other AP staffers around the world contributed.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. | https://wtmj.com/national/2022/05/24/ukraines-president-accuses-russia-of-waging-total-war/ | 2022-05-24 11:44:56 | 0 | https://wtmj.com/national/2022/05/24/ukraines-president-accuses-russia-of-waging-total-war/ |
DALLAS, June 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Sport Fishing Championship (SFC), the governing body of saltwater tournament fishing, announced today the opening of the Emerald Coast Blue Marlin Classic. The tournament will be broadcast on the CBS Sports Network.
Three teams to watch coming out of Gulf Coast Masters are Team Quantified, Team Rebecca, and Team Quicktime. The three teams together had 68% of all fish caught with 35 out of 51 billfish released during Gulf Coast Masters with Team Quantified releasing 16 sailfish and four white marlin; Team Rebecca released 10 sailfish and six white marlin and Team Quicktime released nine sailfish. Team All In has been consistent throughout the Gulf circuit and are currently sitting in first place with 8500 points. They need a strong finish to keep things going, but are the team everyone is currently chasing.
The Emerald Coast Blue Marlin Classic is the biggest tournament of the SFC Gulf Circuit. With a purse of $1.8 million dollars, a fleet of over 80 of the best sportfishing anglers in all of the Gulf of Mexico are all stationed in one marina. This year's Emerald Coast Blue Marlin Classic marks the 21st anniversary of the event in Sandestin, Florida. Competition began on June 22, with boats heading out from Baytowne Marina at the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Competitors will spend three days in the Gulf of Mexico fishing day and night, returning on Saturday afternoon, with awards to be held at an event at 10 a.m. Sunday, June 25.
Fans can watch exclusive coverage of all the action at 3 p.m. on YouTube and 4 p.m. on the CBS Sports Network on Friday and 12 and 10 p.m. on the CBS Sports Network and at 3 p.m. on YouTube on Saturday.
SFC tournament points accrue based on a team's placement in the final tournament standings, with the first-place team earning 3,500 points, the second-place team 3,000 points, and so forth. Placements in the tournament standings are determined from tournament-only points based on species of fish caught and released, with the highest consideration given to blue marlin, then white marlin and spearfish, and finally sailfish and swordfish.
The season schedule next brings anglers to Cape May, New Jersey, for the South Jersey Yacht Sales Offshore Showdown from July 6 to July 8. Events thereafter include: the Oak Bluffs Bluewater Classic in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, July 12-15; the Tri-State Canyon Shootout in Block Island, Rhode Island, July 24-27; the Texas International Fishing Tournament in South Padre Island, Texas, August 4-6; the White Marlin Open in Ocean City, Maryland, August 7-11 and conclude with the San Juan International Billfish Tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico, August 23-25.
To learn more about the Sport Fishing Championship Season, visit sportfishingchampionship.com.
About Sport Fishing Championship
SFC is the governing body of saltwater tournament fishing with SFC being the largest owner and media rights holder of saltwater fishing tournaments in the industry, available to watch on every major cable and OTT platform on CBS Sports Network and YouTube. In April 2023 SFC launched The Catch, an offshore fishing competition that paired current NFL greats with SFC star anglers. The two-hour live event aired on CBS and Paramount+.
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SOURCE Sport Fishing Championship | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2023/06/23/sport-fishing-championship-heads-back-florida-emerald-coast-classic/ | 2023-06-23 12:33:47 | 0 | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2023/06/23/sport-fishing-championship-heads-back-florida-emerald-coast-classic/ |
Participating investors will focus on mobilizing companies deemed to be systemically important to the goal of reversing nature and biodiversity loss by 2030; the initiative is encouraging investor signatories to participate ahead of its spring 2023 formal launch
MONTREAL, Dec. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- During a main stage session today at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), a group of institutional investors announced the formation of Nature Action 100, a new global engagement initiative which focuses on investors driving urgent action on the nature-related risks and dependencies in the companies they own.
Nature Action 100 aims to drive greater corporate ambition and action on tackling nature loss and biodiversity decline, and will complement the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity's Global Biodiversity Framework by identifying the private sector actions that need to be undertaken to protect and restore nature and seek to catalyze these actions via investor-company engagements. A formal launch of the Nature Action 100 initiative will take place next year.
Ceres and the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) will co-lead the initiative's Secretariat and Corporate Engagement workstreams; the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation and Planet Tracker will co-lead the Technical Advisory Group.
Investors will focus on companies in sectors deemed to be systemically important to the goal of reversing nature and biodiversity loss by 2030. They will work to ensure companies are taking timely and necessary actions to protect and restore nature and ecosystems. Specifically, the initiative will:
- Map sector pathways and identify a list of 100 focus companies for investor engagement.
- Support engagements between investor teams and focus company executives and board members around initiative priorities.
- Identify corporate actions that need to be undertaken to protect and restore nature.
- Track the progress of focus companies against key indicators and provide annual progress updates.
- Support investor and corporate advocacy efforts with relevant policymakers on nature-focused policies.
New investors can express their interest here.
The group of launching investors consists of the following firms: AXA Investment Managers, Columbia Threadneedle Investments, BNP Paribas Asset Management, Church Commissioners for England, Domini Impact Investments, Federated Hermes Limited, Karner Blue Capital, Robeco, Storebrand Asset Management, Christian Brothers Investment Services, and Vancity Investment Management.
Media Contacts:
Bridget Vis, Ceres: vis@ceres.org
Ross Gillam, IIGCC: rgillam@iigcc.org
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SOURCE Nature Action 100 | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/12/11/cop15-investors-announce-nature-action-100-tackle-nature-loss-biodiversity-decline/ | 2022-12-11 15:06:25 | 1 | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/12/11/cop15-investors-announce-nature-action-100-tackle-nature-loss-biodiversity-decline/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden announced Monday that al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Kabul, an operation he said delivered justice and hopefully “one more measure of closure” to families of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
The president said in an evening address from the White House that U.S. intelligence officials tracked al-Zawahri to a home in downtown Kabul where he was hiding out with his family. The president approved the operation last week and it was carried out Sunday.
Al-Zawahri and the better-known Osama bin Laden plotted the 9/11 attacks that brought many ordinary Americans their first knowledge of al-Qaida. Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, in operation carried out by U.S. Navy SEALs after a nearly decade-long hunt.
As for Al-Zawahri, Biden said, “He will never again, never again, allow Afghanistan to become a terrorist safe haven because he is gone and we’re going to make sure that nothing else happens.”
“This terrorist leader is no more,” he added.
The operation is a significant counterterrorism win for the Biden administration just 11 months after American troops left the country after a two-decade war.
The strike was carried out by the CIA, according to five people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Neither Biden nor the White House detailed the CIA’s involvement in the strike.
Biden, however, paid tribute to the U.S. intelligence community in his remarks, noting that “thanks to their extraordinary persistence and skill” the operation was a success.
Al-Zawahri’s death eliminates the figure who more than anyone shaped al-Qaida, first as bin Laden’s deputy since 1998, then as his successor. Together, he and bin Laden turned the jihadi movement’s guns to target the United States, carrying out the deadliest attack ever on American soil — the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings.
The house Al-Zawahri was in when he was killed was owned by a top aide to senior Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani, according to a senior intelligence official. The official also added that a CIA ground team and aerial reconnaissance conducted after the drone strike confirmed al-Zawahri’s death.
On Tuesday morning, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that “there was nobody on the ground in uniform when this strike occurred.” Sullivan added that the U.S. government is “in direct communication with the Taliban on this, and I’m not going to telegraph our next moves, but the Taliban well understand the United States is going to defend its interests.”
Over the 20-year war in Afghanistan, the U.S. targeted and splintered al-Qaida, sending leaders into hiding. But America’s exit from Afghanistan last September gave the extremist group the opportunity to rebuild.
U.S. military officials, including Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have said al-Qaida was trying to reconstitute in Afghanistan, where it faced limited threats from the now-ruling Taliban. Military leaders have warned that the group still aspired to attack the U.S.
After his killing, the White House underscored that al-Zawahri had continued to be a dangerous figure. The senior administration official said al-Zawahri had continued to “provide strategic direction,” including urging attacks on the U.S., while in hiding. He had also prioritized to members of the terror network that the United States remained al-Qaida’s “primary enemy,” the official said.
The 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon made bin Laden America’s Enemy No. 1. But he likely could never have carried it out without his deputy. Bin Laden provided al-Qaida with charisma and money, but al-Zawahri brought tactics and organizational skills needed to forge militants into a network of cells in countries around the world.
U.S. intelligence officials have been aware for years of a network helping al-Zawahri dodge U.S. intelligence officials hunting for him, but didn’t have a bead on his possible location until recent months.
Earlier this year, U.S. officials learned that the terror leader’s wife, daughter and her children had relocated to a safe house in Kabul, according to the senior administration official who briefed reporters.
Officials eventually learned al-Zawahri was also at the Kabul safe house.
In early April, White House deputy national security adviser Jon Finer and Biden’s homeland security adviser Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall were briefed on this developing intelligence. Soon the intelligence was carried up to national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
Sullivan brought the information to Biden as U.S. intelligence officials built “a pattern of life through multiple independent sources of information to inform the operation,” the official said.
Senior Taliban figures were aware of al-Zawahri’s presence in Kabul, according to the official, who added the Taliban government was given no forewarning of the operation.
Inside the Biden administration, only a small group of officials at key agencies, as well as Vice President Kamala Harris, were brought into the process. Through May and June, Biden was updated several times on the growing mound of intelligence that confirmed al-Zawahri was hiding out in the home. Over the last few weeks, Biden brought together several Cabinet officials and key national security officials to scrutinize the intelligence findings.
On July 1, Biden was briefed in the Situation Room about the planned operation, a briefing in which the president closely examined a scale model of the home al-Zawahri was hiding out in. He gave his final approval for the operation on Thursday. Al-Zawahri was on the balcony of his hideout on Sunday when two Hellfire missiles were launched from an unmanned drone, killing him.
Al-Zawahri’s family was in another part of the house when the operation was carried out, and no one else was believed to have been killed in the operation, the official said.
“We make it clear again tonight: That no matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and take you out,” Biden said.
Al-Zawahri was hardly a household name like bin Laden, but he played an enormous role in the terror group’s operations.
The two terror leaders’ bond was forged in the late 1980s, when al-Zawahri reportedly treated the Saudi millionaire bin Laden in the caves of Afghanistan as Soviet bombardment shook the mountains around them.
Al-Zawahri, on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist list, had a $25 million bounty on his head for any information that could be used to kill or capture him.
Al-Zawhiri and bin Laden plotted the 9/11 attacks that brought many ordinary Americans their first knowledge of al-Qaida.
Photos from the time often showed the glasses-wearing, mild-looking Egyptian doctor sitting by the side of bin Laden. Al-Zawahiri had merged his group of Egyptian militants with bin Laden’s al-Qaida in the 1990s.
“The strong contingent of Egyptians applied organizational know-how, financial expertise, and military experience to wage a violent jihad against leaders whom the fighters considered to be un-Islamic and their patrons, especially the United States,” Steven A. Cook wrote for the Council on Foreign Relations last year.
When the 2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan demolished al-Qaida’s safe haven and scattered, killed and captured its members, al-Zawahri ensured al-Qaida’s survival. He rebuilt its leadership in the Afghan-Pakistan border region and installed allies as lieutenants in key positions.
He also reshaped the organization from a centralized planner of terror attacks into the head of a franchise chain. He led the assembling of a network of autonomous branches around the region, including in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, North Africa, Somalia, Yemen and Asia. Over the next decade, al-Qaida inspired or had a direct hand in attacks in all those areas as well as Europe, Pakistan and Turkey, including the 2004 train bombings in Madrid and the 2005 transit bombings in London.
More recently, the al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen proved itself capable of plotting attacks against U.S. soil with an attempted 2009 bombing of an American passenger jet and an attempted package bomb the following year.
But even before bin Laden’s death, al-Zawahri was struggling to maintain al-Qaida’s relevance in a changing Middle East.
He tried with little success to coopt the wave of uprisings that spread across the Arab world starting in 2011, urging Islamic hard-liners to take over in the nations where leaders had fallen. But while Islamists gained prominence in many places, they have stark ideological differences with al-Qaida and reject its agenda and leadership.
Nevertheless, al-Zawahri tried to pose as the Arab Spring’s leader. America “is facing an Islamic nation that is in revolt, having risen from its lethargy to a renaissance of jihad,” he said in a video eulogy to bin Laden, wearing a white robe and turban with an assault rifle leaning on a wall behind him.
Al-Zawahri was also a more divisive figure than his predecessor. Many militants described the soft-spoken bin Laden in adoring and almost spiritual terms.
In contrast, al-Zawahri was notoriously prickly and pedantic. He picked ideological fights with critics within the jihadi camp, wagging his finger scoldingly in his videos. Even some key figures in al-Qaida’s central leadership were put off, calling him overly controlling, secretive and divisive.
Some militants whose association with bin Laden predated al-Zawahri’s always saw him as an arrogant intruder.
“I have never taken orders from al-Zawahri,” Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, one of the network’s top figures in East Africa until his 2011 death, sneered in a memoir posted on line in 2009. “We don’t take orders from anyone but our historical leadership.”
There had been rumors of al-Zawahri’s death on and off for several years. But a video surfaced in April of the al-Qaida leader praising a Indian Muslim woman who had defied a ban on wearing a hijab, or headscarf. That footage was the first proof in months that he was still alive.
A statement from Afghanistan’s Taliban government confirmed the airstrike, but did not mention al-Zawahri or any other casualties.
It said the Taliban “strongly condemns this attack and calls it a clear violation of international principles and the Doha Agreement,” the 2020 U.S. pact with the Taliban that led to the withdrawal of American forces.
“Such actions are a repetition of the failed experiences of the past 20 years and are against the interests of the United States of America, Afghanistan, and the region,” the statement said.
—-
Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor, Ellen Knickmeyer, Zeke Miller, James LaPorta, Michael Balsamo and Darlene Superville in Washington; Rahim Faiez in Islamabad; and Lee Keath in Cairo contributed reporting. | https://www.cbs42.com/news/politics/ap-politics/biden-to-speak-on-operation-against-al-qaida-in-afghanistan/ | 2022-08-02 21:47:45 | 0 | https://www.cbs42.com/news/politics/ap-politics/biden-to-speak-on-operation-against-al-qaida-in-afghanistan/ |
Statement from Gus Antorcha, president, Holland America Line
SEATTLE, June 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "The expected announcement that CDC will be ending its requirement of a negative COVID-19 test for Americans to reenter the United States is an important step forward in the return to all global travel, including cruising. The change means that U.S. travelers can pursue their love of cruising Holland America Line voyages from homeports in Europe, Canada, and Australia without concern they could be denied entry to return home.
"This is exciting news for Holland America Line and our guests as we complete our return to service this week with all 11 ships in our fleet back in operations. It removes a barrier to travel for some guests who understandably wanted to avoid the uncertainty of return testing. At Holland America Line, we continue to operate vaccinated cruises and have created a safe and healthy environment for our guests, our teams, and the communities we serve, helping to ensure cruising is among the safest forms of socializing and travel. And we continue to offer our Worry-Free Promise to allow flexible cancelation for cruises booked by September and departing through December."
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SOURCE Holland America Line | https://www.kold.com/prnewswire/2022/06/10/holland-america-line-europe-alaska-cruises-made-easier-guests-with-expected-change-us-reentry-requirements/ | 2022-06-10 17:35:05 | 1 | https://www.kold.com/prnewswire/2022/06/10/holland-america-line-europe-alaska-cruises-made-easier-guests-with-expected-change-us-reentry-requirements/ |
(NewsNation) — A 10-year-old boy, who was looking forward to a summer of swimming and a veteran teacher of more than 23 years are among the 21 people dead after an 18-year-old gunman open fired at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday.
As of Wednesday morning, at least 19 students and two teachers have died. An additional 17 others were hurt and continue to receive care, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Wednesday their injuries were not life threatening.
All of the victims were in the same fourth-grade classroom when the gunman barricaded himself inside and began shooting at the children and teachers, according to officials.
Now, the tight-knit community 85 miles west of San Antonio, is remembering those who were lost.
“My heart is broken,” said Hal Harrell, the school district superintendent. “We’re a small community, and we’re going to need your prayers to get through this.”
This is what we know so far about those who died:
Nevaeh Bravo
Nevaeh Bravo was a student at Robb Elementary School. Her cousin, Emily Grace Ayala, said she was a fourth-grader, according to Insider.
“We love you Nevaeh very much, princess!” Ayala wrote. “Please everyone continue to keep her parents and our family in your prayers.”
Jose Flores, 10
Jose Flores, 10, was a fourth-grader at Robb Elementary School. He was among those killed in the Texas school shooting.
According to the Washington Post, his uncle Christopher Salazar confirmed Flores’s death, saying he loved to play baseball. Flores was one of four kids, having two brothers and a sister.
Flores had received an award for making the honor roll just hours before the shooting.
Eliahna Garcia, 10
Among the victims was 10-year-old Eliahna Garcia, her aunt, Siria Arizmemdi said.
“She was very happy and very outgoing,” Arizmendi, a fifth-grade teacher at Flores Elementary School in the same school district, said Wednesday. “She loved to dance and play sports. She was big into family, enjoyed being with the family.”
Irma Garcia, 46
Irma Garcia, 46, a fourth-grade teacher at Robb Elementary School, was among those killed in the Robb Elementary shooting.
Garcia had been an educator for 23 years, all of which she taught at Robb Elementary. For the past 5 years, she has been a co-educator with Eva Mireles, according to her staff biography at Robb Elementary.
A wife and mother of four kids, Garcia loved to barbecue with her husband of 24 years, listen to music and go on cruises.
Uziyah Garcia, 8
Uziyah Garcia, 8, was among those killed in the Robb Elementary School shooting.
“The sweetest little boy that I’ve ever known,” his grandfather Manny Renfro said. “I’m not just saying that because he was my grandkid.”
Garcia had visited his grandfather in San Angelo during spring break.
“We started throwing the football together and I was teaching him pass patterns. Such a fast little boy and he could catch a ball so good,” Renfro said. “There were certain plays that I would call that he would remember and he would do it exactly like we practiced.”
Amerie Jo Garza, 10
Amerie Jo Garza, 10, a fourth-grader, was among those killed in the Robb Elementary School shooting, according to a report by CNN.
In a Facebook post, Garza’s father Angel Garza confirmed the loss of his daughter, writing:
“Thank you everyone for the prayers and help trying to find my baby. She’s been found. My little love is now flying high with the angels above. Please don’t take a second for granted. Hug your family. Tell them you love them. I love you Amerie jo. Watch over your baby brother for me.”
Xavier Javier Lopez, 10
Xavier Javier Lopez, 10, was a fourth-grader and is among those killed in the Robb Elementary School shooting. According to his cousin Lisa Garza, he was looking forward to a summer full of swimming. She also said he was a bubbly soul who loved to dance with his siblings and mother.
“He was just a loving 10-year-old little boy, just enjoying life, not knowing that this tragedy was going to happen today,” she said. “He was very bubbly, loved to dance with his brothers, his mom. This has just taken a toll on all of us.”
Eva Mireles, 44
Eva Mireles, 44, was a fourth-grade teacher at Robb Elementary School who lost her life during the shooting. She was a loving mother and wife. A relative of Mireles said she was an adventurous soul.
Mireles has been an educator for 17 years, and co-taught with fellow fourth-grade teacher Irma Garcia for 5 years, according to her staff biography at Robb Elementary.
Annebelle Rodriguez and Jackie Cazares, 10
Annebelle Rodriguez shared a classroom with her cousin, Jackie Cazares, who was also killed. Both were 10 years old.
Their aunt confirmed their deaths saying: “My beautiful angels. At least you are together. But our hearts are broken in a million pieces. We love you.”
Layla Salazar, 10
Daughter of Vincent Salazar, Layla, loved to swim and dance to videos on TikTok, her father said. An avid runner, she won six races at the school’s field day. Salazar proudly posted a photo of Layla showing off two of her ribbons on Facebook.
Each morning as he drove her to school in his pickup, Salazar would play “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” by Guns ‘n’ Roses and they’d sing along, he said. She was excited about seeing the new Marvel movie, “Thor: Love and Thunder.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story. | https://www.wfla.com/nextstar-news-wire/who-are-the-victims-of-the-texas-school-massacre/ | 2022-05-25 22:21:10 | 0 | https://www.wfla.com/nextstar-news-wire/who-are-the-victims-of-the-texas-school-massacre/ |
Cassy England is a fifth-generation farmer in Pinal County, Arizona. For decades, her family has been a part of the vibrant agricultural community in the southern part of the state, growing cotton, alfalfa and grains.
But this year, she's facing an unexpected challenge: She has to manage her crops with half of the usual water supply.
Agriculture in this area relies on the Colorado River, and a historic drought is causing severe shortages. Just as she was beginning to plan her planting season, England was notified that her farms would not get any water from the river and would have to make do with available groundwater instead.
"We had to cut back about 50% of our planting, which cuts back on income," England explained. "It'll cut us down at least 30%, probably, of our normal revenue at least. And so that's really going to be an impact."
Farmers across southern Arizona are among those in the West facing the brunt of climate change. The drought, worsening fire seasons, temperature swings and monsoons all impact their businesses, food production, utility costs and livelihoods.
I wonder how we got to be the bad guy.
Rural communities also tend to lean Republican politically, which can put them at odds with climate activists and environmental protection groups, which tend to be more aligned with Democrats. And the agriculture sector accounts for an estimated 11% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, putting farmers directly in the crosshairs of climate advocates.
But farmers in this region, across the political spectrum, say they also want solutions on climate issues now.
"We're not anti-environmental at all. That's how we make our living," said Craig Alameda, a farmer in Yuma from a longtime conservative family. "If we screw up making our living, then we don't have anything. So we have to take care of what we got."
Alameda is one of the thousands of farmers across the U.S. to tap into funds from the Agriculture Department's voluntary conservation programs.
"I can remember when we were younger: When you were considered a farmer, you were considered a conservationist," Alameda recalled. "We were the ones for open spaces and taking care of everything."
"I wonder how we got to be the bad guy," he said.
He has used some of the money for projects like lining ditches, a strategy that uses concrete to prevent water from seeping into the soil walls of a ditch.
Another producer in the region, Kaylee Jensen, who identifies as Republican, said she was also trying to tap into those conservation programs to help her winter vegetable operations in Yuma.
The Agriculture Department and farming advocates argue that the current programs are "oversubscribed," meaning more farmers and ranchers want to be a part of voluntary conservation programs than there is funding for the incentives.
These programs also received a historic $20 billion boost from Democrats in the Inflation Reduction Act last fall — dollars that Republicans in Washington are looking to claw back.
Regardless of the party, farmers want people to know that the money is being put to good use.
Jensen says that's something that has ripple effects through the economy that are not always noticed far from the farm.
"There's still a disconnect between some of these really large cities and you go to the grocery store and you get your produce. Where did that come from and how was it grown and able to get there?" she said.
A solution seems far off. River levels are still dropping
Decades-old agreements over water use among the federal government, states and Native American tribes resulted in an unintended overallocation of water. More water is allocated along rivers, streams and canals than the river actually produces, said Robert Medler, manager of government affairs for Arizona with Western Growers, a producer advocacy group. This is especially true with a worsening multiyear drought.
About 80% of the Colorado River goes toward agriculture, which means farmers will be among the first to take cuts.
"The solution is going to be hard," Medler said. "Everyone realizes that, and everyone's seemingly willing to come to the table. But everyone's situation is different, and that's where the conflicts arise."
The Interior Department in April released three proposals on how to allocate water. One option includes making no changes.
England, the farmer in Pinal County, has already had her access to river water cut off. She explains that when the issue was first raised in her community, there was a divide between some more conservative farmers who argued that there was sufficient groundwater and others who were more concerned with the drying canals.
But now that cuts are coming into place and groundwater is being pumped, she does not see those political divides anymore.
"Everybody kind of has the same opinion," England said. "It's just a problem and everyone kind of wants to fix it."
And the clock is ticking. England and many others won't have their water back for the foreseeable future.
"Every day that goes by without some sort of solution just makes the problem worse," Medler said.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wvasfm.org/politics/politics/2023-05-18/arizonas-farms-are-running-out-of-water-forcing-farmers-to-confront-climate-change | 2023-05-18 09:38:44 | 0 | https://www.wvasfm.org/politics/politics/2023-05-18/arizonas-farms-are-running-out-of-water-forcing-farmers-to-confront-climate-change |
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., June 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Awesome Motive, a fast-growing software and media company with over 20 million websites using their software, today announced their acquisition of WP Charitable, a top-rated donation and fundraising software for nonprofits.
Over 10,000+ non-profit organizations and website owners across the world use Charitable to create fundraising campaigns and raise more money online.
The Charitable acquisition further strengthens Awesome Motive's position as the market leader in the WordPress and digital eCommerce space as they continue to deliver innovative solutions that are helping shape the web for billions worldwide.
"We are excited to welcome WP Charitable to the Awesome Motive family," said Syed Balkhi, CEO of Awesome Motive. "One of our core beliefs is that companies should be forces for good. This acquisition allows us to use our knowledge, experience, and resources to further empower those who're changing the world for good".
Tens of thousands of non-profit organizations already use Awesome Motive growth tools like OptinMonster, WPForms, MonsterInsights, AIOSEO, and others to grow their online presence. Now they can raise even more money online using the powerful donation features of WP Charitable.
"We're excited to have Charitable join the Awesome Motive family, and I'm confident that the strength and leadership that Awesome Motive provides will ensure Charitable remains the leading online donation & fundraising solution for many years to come" said Eric Daams, co-founder of WP Charitable.
About Awesome Motive
Awesome Motive is a leading software and media company helping shape the web for billions worldwide. Collectively, their software powers over 20 million websites and includes many of the well-known website tools such as OptinMonster, WPForms, MonsterInsights, All in One SEO, PushEngage, WP Mail SMTP, SeedProd, Smash Balloon, and more. Awesome Motive has assembled a world-class team of industry experts (100% remote in over 45 countries) that provide unparalleled service and products to help small businesses grow and compete with the big guys. Learn more about Awesome Motive at awesomemotive.com.
About WP Charitable
Launched in 2015, WP Charitable is a top-rated WordPress donation and fundraising plugin. Over 10,000+ non-profit organizations and website owners across the world use Charitable to create fundraising campaigns and raise more money online. Learn more about Charitable at wpcharitable.com
Media Contact
Faizan Ali
+1 (561) 408-1057
support@wpcharitable.com
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SOURCE Awesome Motive | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/06/22/awesome-motive-acquires-wp-charitable-top-rated-online-donation-amp-fundraising-platform/ | 2022-06-22 15:25:13 | 1 | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/06/22/awesome-motive-acquires-wp-charitable-top-rated-online-donation-amp-fundraising-platform/ |
MENLO PARK, Calif., July 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- BillionToOne, Inc., a next-generation molecular diagnostics company with a mission to create powerful and accurate tests that are accessible to all, announces the launch of its first oncology liquid biopsy products, Northstar Select™ and Northstar Response™. The products are currently available for research use with select academic cancer centers.
Northstar Select is a comprehensive pan-cancer somatic mutation profiling panel. Leveraging BillionToOne's proprietary molecular counting technology, or Quantitative Counting Templates™ (QCTs), the panel achieves an industry-leading limit of detection for identification of actionable alterations. Northstar Response is a methylation-based, tissue-agnostic treatment response monitoring assay. Using our molecular counting technology, the assay provides absolute quantification of methylated circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) burden. The purpose of the assay, when it becomes clinically available in Q1 2023, will be to enable clinicians to monitor patients' responses to therapies, including in late-stage cancers for which minimal residual disease (MRD) assays may not be as informative or effective. At this year's American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Conference in April, BillionToOne presented data on its methylation assay showing it can distinguish minute changes in cell-free tumor DNA burden as small as 0.5% vs. 0.55% tumor burden[1].
"We are extremely excited to launch our first liquid biopsy products for research. Similar to our category-altering cell-free DNA-based prenatal test, UNITY Screen™, our liquid biopsy products aim to achieve a level of performance and differentiation unmatched in the field. In particular, our QCT technology provides precise tumor burden quantification without needing the tumor tissue. We believe that blood-based treatment response monitoring will revolutionize the way cancers are treated and oncology drugs are developed, and our QCT technology helps position us to be at the forefront of this change. By combining Northstar Select and Northstar Response, we aim to be the one-stop-solution for providers treating any late stage solid tumor cancer patient," said Oguzhan Atay, PhD, co-founder and CEO of BillionToOne.
Dr. Gary Palmer, MD, Medical Director, Oncology, at BillionToOne added, "Scan-based treatment response classification is the gold standard but requires large changes in tumor burden and can be subjective. Results can further be complicated by confounding factors such as pseudoprogression. Current literature suggests that the ctDNA burden is a highly accurate biomarker for tumor burden and may be an earlier indicator of a treatment response[2],[3]. The application of BillionToOne's molecular counting technology into cancer care may provide actionable information that saves unwanted toxicity from ineffective treatments, reduce costs, and substantially improves clinical outcomes."
Having completed its internal analysis of the products on six separate cancer types, BillionToOne has released its research program with academic centers to further substantiate the evidence for these two products.
Today, BillionToOne also announced that it has entered a research collaboration partnership with University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Northstar Select and Northstar Response will be evaluated using late-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patient samples.
"I believe BillionToOne's technology has offered an opportunity to provide highly accurate measurements for variant allele fractions through the low coefficient of variation it obtains in ctDNA measurements. This is of tremendous importance in the clinic for therapy selection and for response monitoring for NSCLC patients, as tissue biopsy can be difficult to obtain serially. I look forward to the first readout of the study in the next few months," said Dr. Hatim Husain, MD, Medical Oncologist and Associate Professor of Medicine at UCSD, and the Principal Investigator of the study.
BillionToOne is conducting additional clinical studies with other academic cancer centers on different cancer types and is expected to launch the commercial versions of Northstar Select and Northstar Response for clinical use in Q1 2023.
BillionToOne, headquartered in Menlo Park, California, is a molecular diagnostics company with a mission to make molecular diagnostics more accurate, efficient, and accessible for all. The Company's QCT platform can count DNA molecules at the single-count level with single base-pair precision. BillionToOne operates a high-complexity CLIA-certified, CAP-accredited laboratory in Menlo Park, California. BillionToOne was co-founded by Oguzhan Atay, Ph.D., and David Tsao, Ph.D. For more information, visit www.billiontoone.com.
CONTACT: media@billiontoone.com
[1] Ye et al., "Novel methylation-based, tissue-free ctDNA assay accurately quantifies longitudinal tumor burden changes for precision treatment monitoring", AACR 2022 Poster #526
[2] Nabet BY, Esfahani MS, Moding EJ, et al. Noninvasive Early Identification of Therapeutic Benefit from Immune Checkpoint Inhibition. Cell. 2020;183(2):363-376.e13
[3] Bratman, S.V., Yang, S.Y.C., Iafolla, M.A.J. et al. Personalized circulating tumor DNA analysis as a predictive biomarker in solid tumor patients treated with pembrolizumab. Nat Cancer 1, 873–881 (2020)
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SOURCE BillionToOne | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/07/08/billiontoone-launches-oncology-liquid-biopsy-products-research-use-amp-announces-clinical-research-collaboration-with-ucsd/ | 2022-07-08 14:13:14 | 0 | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/07/08/billiontoone-launches-oncology-liquid-biopsy-products-research-use-amp-announces-clinical-research-collaboration-with-ucsd/ |
SAN FRANCISCO, June 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Glassdoor, the worldwide leader on insights about jobs and companies, today announced Aaron Terrazas has joined the company as chief economist, effective immediately. As chief economist, Terrazas leads Glassdoor Economic Research, an international team of economists and data scientists who leverage Glassdoor's unique data to provide real-time insights on the evolving employee experience amid today's fast-changing labor market.
Terrazas brings robust experience and knowledge across dynamic industries including transportation logistics, real estate, and more. He joins Glassdoor from trucking startup Convoy, where he spent the past three years as director of economic research. Prior to that, he served as director of economic research at Zillow and as an economist with the United States Treasury Department's Office of Economic Policy. Terrazas holds a master's degree in applied economics from The Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor's of sciences degree in foreign affairs from Georgetown University.
"I'm thrilled to join Glassdoor and a team that is innovating the next frontier of applied workplace research at such a critical juncture for the labor market. What attracted me to Glassdoor is this talented team whose unique data and research has informed how economists, employers and decision-makers understand the workplace, one of the most central institutions of our lives," said Terrazas. "It's an exciting time to have such a window into the new age of work, with its changing norms and a generation whose formative career years will be starkly different from its predecessors."
Since 2015, Glassdoor Economic Research has provided more data and analytics-driven transparency into the full spectrum of topics critical to the workplace experience, ranging from prevalent gaps in gender pay to diversity, equity and inclusion to company culture investments' impact on the bottom line.
Check out more and subscribe for the latest research and insights at https://www.glassdoor.com/research/
About Glassdoor
Glassdoor is revolutionizing how people everywhere find jobs and companies they love by providing deeper workplace transparency. Professionals turn to Glassdoor to research ratings, reviews, salaries and more at millions of employers, and to Fishbowl by Glassdoor to engage in candid workplace conversations. Companies use Glassdoor to post jobs and attract talent through employer branding and employee insights products. Glassdoor is a subsidiary of Recruit Holdings, a leading global technology company, and a part of its fast-growing HR Technology business unit. For more information, visit www.glassdoor.com.
"Glassdoor" and logo are proprietary trademarks of Glassdoor, Inc.
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SOURCE Glassdoor | https://www.wistv.com/prnewswire/2022/06/22/glassdoor-names-aaron-terrazas-chief-economist/ | 2022-06-22 16:00:51 | 0 | https://www.wistv.com/prnewswire/2022/06/22/glassdoor-names-aaron-terrazas-chief-economist/ |
(KTLA) — Noah Schnapp, star of the hit Netflix series, “Stranger Things,” has publicly come out as gay.
Schnapp, 18, addressed his sexuality on TikTok Thursday with a video of himself with a subtitle reading: “When I finally told my friends and family I was gay after being scared in the closet for 18 years and all they said was “we know.”
Schnapp was a breakout star in the Netflix series, portraying the character Will Byers since 2016.
The video’s caption reads: “I guess I’m more similar to will than I thought.”
After years of speculation, in a July 2022 interview with Variety, Schnapp confirmed fan theories that his character was also gay.
“I mean, it’s pretty clear this season that Will has feelings for Mike (Wheeler). They’ve been intentionally pulling that out over the past few seasons,” Schnapp said. “Even in Season 1, they hinted at that and slowly, slowly grew that storyline.”
Schnapp and the rest of the cast of “Stranger Things” are preparing for life after the Netflix series. Season five of the hit show will be its last, but it’s unclear when it will air or if production on the final season has begun. | https://www.wearegreenbay.com/news/national/stranger-things-star-noah-schnapp-comes-out-as-gay/ | 2023-01-06 05:08:22 | 0 | https://www.wearegreenbay.com/news/national/stranger-things-star-noah-schnapp-comes-out-as-gay/ |
Damar Hamlin thankful, speaks publicly for 1st time in video
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Damar Hamlin released a video Saturday in which he says he’s thankful for the outpouring of support and vows to pay it back, marking the first time the Buffalo Bills safety has spoken publicly since he went into cardiac arrest and needed to be resuscitated on the field in Cincinnati on Jan. 2.
Noting he continues to make “much progress” in his recovery, Hamlin said now was “the right time” to speak since the Bills’ season ended and because he needed time to recover and gather his thoughts.
“It was just a lot to process within my own self — mentally, physically, even spiritually. It’s just been a lot to process,” he said. “But I can’t tell you how appreciative I am of all the love, all the support and everything that’s just been coming in my way.”
Hamlin then said he has come to peace with what happened on the field when he collapsed after making what appeared to be a routine tackle of Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins, who struck Hamlin squarely in the chest.
“What happened to me on ‘Monday Night Football,’ I feel is a direct example of God using me as a vessel to share my passion and my love directly from my heart with the entire world,” he said.
“And now I’m able to give to kids and communities all across the world who need it the most. And that’s always been my dream,” he added. “That’s always been what I stood for and what I will continue to stand for.”
Hamlin did not appear to have any trouble speaking during the 5 1/2-minute video titled: “Thank You: A message from Damar Hamlin” posted on his Instagram account.
The video opens with Hamlin walking into view, placing down a jacket and taking a seat in what appears to be one of the Bills team meeting rooms. The room is dimly lit with the word `Bills’ prominently displayed behind him.
Hamlin is wearing a white T-shirt with the name of his charitable foundation, Chasing Millions, printed on the front and with a gold chain with the initials “DM” hanging around his neck.
The Bills did not immediately respond to a message about when or where the video was filmed.
On Jan. 20, Hamlin’s marketing representative Jordon Rooney said the 24-year-old player faces a long recovery while at the time still requiring oxygen and having his heart monitored regularly to ensure there are no setbacks.
Hamlin has been recovering at home since being released from the hospital on Jan. 11 to continue his rehabilitation with the Bills. He then began making regular visits to the team’s facility and was healthy enough to attend the Bills’ season-ending 27-10 loss to the Bengals in a divisional playoff game last weekend.
Hamlin spent a majority of the video providing thanks while listing his family, teammates, training staff, and the medical staff at both the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and Buffalo General Medical Center, where he split his recovery.
He thanked the Bengals and players from around the league for their support by “putting team allegiance aside.”
“You put humanity above team loyalty. You showed the world unity over division,” Hamlin said. “I’m not surprised by it, but I’m deeply grateful and I will be forever thankful and indebted to that.”
He also thanked those who donated more than $9 million to his charity over the past four weeks.
“While I’m so thankful to everybody, I know that it isn’t enough just to be thankful. This is just the beginning of the impact that I wanted to have on the world,” Hamlin said in closing the video by making a heart sign with his hands.
“I couldn’t do this without any of this support and the love,” he continued. “And I can’t wait to continue to take y’all on this journey with me.”
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.1011now.com/2023/01/29/hamlin-thankful-speaks-publicly-1st-time-video/ | 2023-01-29 03:35:11 | 0 | https://www.1011now.com/2023/01/29/hamlin-thankful-speaks-publicly-1st-time-video/ |
The Celebration in Port Canaveral, Florida, Honors a Mother from Pennsylvania as the Godmother of the New Ship
MIAMI, Dec. 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A celebration fit for the world's newest wonder lit up Port Canaveral, Florida, last night when Royal Caribbean International officially welcomed Wonder of the Seas into the family. With the ultimate combination of firsts and signature favorites for parents, kids and grandparents alike, the cruise line's latest ship was named by its Godmother and Wonder Mom Marie McCrea from Pennsylvania. The evening ceremony also marked the start of a new chapter for Wonder as it makes waves as Port Canaveral's new, year-round family vacation.
Royal Caribbean executives and teams, families, friends, travel advisors, the cruise line's partners and more came together on board the world's largest cruise ship to celebrate the occasion in one of the brand's unparalleled entertainment venues, the AquaTheater. In the time-honored role of Godmother, Marie bestowed a blessing of safekeeping on Wonder, its crew and the millions of families who will make lifelong memories on board in the years to come. On stage with Marie were Royal Caribbean Group President and CEO Jason Liberty, Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley, and her daughter, Allie, who nominated her mother for the role as part of a nationwide search started by Royal Caribbean on Mother's Day.
"Wonder of the Seas exemplifies Royal Caribbean Group's focus on unparalleled innovation, sustainable cruise ship design and our commitment to delivering world-class, memorable vacations, responsibly," said Jason Liberty, president and CEO, Royal Caribbean Group. "This milestone represents the culmination of millions of hours of work, from the most innovative minds in the industry, to deliver the world's latest wonder."
Designed for memory-making from end to end, Wonder inspires awe and adventure in kids and vacationers of all ages with feats and experiences across eight neighborhoods – a first in the revolutionary Oasis Class. To find the Godmother to match, Royal Caribbean took to TikTok and launched the #SearchforWonderMom contest, which saw 16,000 videos posted and 10.6 billion hashtag views.
The search was complete when the cruise line heard Marie's story, one of a devoted mother, wife and cancer survivor whose spirit inspired her family and those around her to set out on adventures and enjoy every moment together despite the hardships they faced.
"It was an honor to officially welcome Marie, and Wonder of the Seas, to the Royal Caribbean family," said Michael Bayley, president and CEO, Royal Caribbean International. "Marie's story is one of incredible strength and family memories to last a lifetime, and those are the types of memories we've committed to creating with our guests and crew on every Royal Caribbean ship for more than 53 years. Wonder is the adventure of all adventures that combines what families know and love on our revolutionary Oasis Class ships with brand-new experiences, and it's already delivered memorable vacations to more than 180,500 guests since first setting sail in March."
The latest in Royal Caribbean's revolutionary Oasis Class features a lineup of new adventures and fan-favorite experiences that everyone in the family can enjoy. Highlights include the Suite Neighborhood, the new, eighth neighborhood that welcomes Royal Suite Class guests to an elevated Suite Sun Deck with a plunge pool and bar, the most epic Ultimate Family Suite and more; the first Mason Jar Southern Restaurant & Bar that serves up Southern staples and classics with a twist for brunch, dinner and late at night; and a new, underwater-themed play area for kids, Wonder Playscape, with slides, climbing walls, imaginative puzzles and more.
"Carrying out my role as Godmother and a part of such an important moment for Royal Caribbean and Wonder of the Seas was such an honor," said Marie McCrea, Godmother of Wonder of the Seas. "Having my family by my side to celebrate this incredible ship was yet another memory we've made together – and with our new Royal Caribbean family – that I'll never forget."
From more than 40 restaurants, bars and lounges to returning favorites, on Wonder, travelers also have in store The Ultimate Abyss, the tallest slide at sea; the FlowRider surf simulator; rock climbing walls; The Perfect Storm racing waterslides; newly designed areas just for kids and teens; and original entertainment across four "stages": air, ice, theater and water.
For more details about Wonder, vacationers can visit Royal Caribbean's website. The new ship is now sailing 7-night Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises from Port Canaveral to idyllic Caribbean locales, such as the cruise line's private island destination, Perfect Day at CocoCay in The Bahamas; St. Thomas, St. Maarten; and Mexico. To hear more about Marie's story, viewers can visit TikTok.
About Royal Caribbean International
Royal Caribbean International, owned by Royal Caribbean Group (NYSE: RCL), has been delivering innovation at sea for more than 50 years. Each successive class of ships is an architectural marvel that features the latest technology and guest experiences for today's adventurous traveler. The cruise line continues to revolutionize vacations with itineraries to 240 destinations in 61 countries on six continents, including Royal Caribbean's private island destination in The Bahamas, Perfect Day at CocoCay, the first in the Perfect Day Island Collection. Royal Caribbean has also been voted "Best Cruise Line Overall" for 19 consecutive years in the Travel Weekly Readers Choice Awards.
Media can stay up to date by following @RoyalCaribPR on Twitter and visiting RoyalCaribbeanPressCenter.com. For additional information or to make reservations, vacationers can call their travel advisor; visit RoyalCaribbean.com; or call (800) ROYAL-CARIBBEAN.
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SOURCE Royal Caribbean International | https://www.wistv.com/prnewswire/2022/12/10/royal-caribbean-officially-names-worlds-newest-wonder-wonder-seas/ | 2022-12-11 04:08:03 | 1 | https://www.wistv.com/prnewswire/2022/12/10/royal-caribbean-officially-names-worlds-newest-wonder-wonder-seas/ |
When it goes on sale during the first half of 2024, the Porsche Macan Electric will have been a long time coming. It arrives more than four years after the Taycan, Porsche’s first electric model. It won’t be the first electric five-seat crossover on the market by a long shot. The German performance-car brand promises it will be the sportiest.
The battery-electric Macan will be the first vehicle to use the VW Group’s new electric-car architecture for high-end brands. Known as PPE (for Premium Platform Electric), it will underpin future EVs from Audi, and Bentley. It joins the MEB mass-market platform already in production, for the Volkswagen ID.4 and Audi Q4 E-Tron among others. PPE supplants Porsche’s J1 platform (Taycan, Audi E-Tron GT) and Audi’s MLB-Evo (Q8 E-Tron, Q8 E-Tron Sportback).
PPE: from SUVs to sport sedans
Unlike J1, PPE is designed to offer varied wheelbase, track, and ground clearance dimensions. That lets it accommodate a variety of vehicles—both passenger cars and SUVs—from three quite varied brands. Indeed, while Porsche’s first PPE vehicle is the electric Macan SUV, Audi’s counterpart is expected to be the A6 E-Tron mid-size sedan, for which a concept appeared 18 months ago, along with an A6 E-Tron Avant wagon which likely won’t be sold in North America.
The delay of more than a year in the launch of PPE vehicles—from the 2022 originally to 2023 and now to 2024—does not reflect problems in battery development or the rest of the electric powertrain. In July, Bloomberg reported Volkswagen Group’s replacement of its CEO was due to delays in model launches at Audi, Bentley and Porsche caused by software issues. Every carmaker has faced the challenge of designing and launching entirely new electrical architectures that permit over-the-air updates, higher levels of connectivity and infotainment, and centralized control of all vehicle functions. VW Group’s delays in doing so cost CEO Herbert Diess his job.
PPE has been designed for “high-volume” vehicles that will be profitable, at least in the Porsche and Audi context. The Macan Electric must sell in substantial numbers if Porsche is to meet its goal of more than 80 percent of its vehicle deliveries being battery-electric by 2030. The Taycan has been a sales success, with 100,000 sold over three years. But with prices largely in six figures, it cannot deliver anywhere near the numbers of the gasoline Macan, now being built at a rate of 80,000 a year. Over time, sales of the electric Macan must rise to that volume as well.
A lot of Porsche for Audi?
The new PPE platform was a joint effort of Porsche and Audi, but from the technical information released Monday, it seems to have quite a lot of Porsche in it. Discussions with engineers from both brands over the past few years suggested a fair degree of combativeness between the two brands, rivals within the sprawling VW Group, over features and technical solutions.
The PPE battery runs at 800 volts, like the Taycan, and can charge at 270 kw and higher. Porsche quotes DC fast-charging times of 25 minutes for a recharge from 5 to 80 percent of battery capacity; as always, that presumes ideal conditions, including battery temperature and ambient temperature, along with a charging station that can reliably deliver the necessary power.
The battery of the Macan Electric uses prismatic cells arranged into 12 modules to produce a usable battery capacity of 98 kwh in a pack with a total capacity of “around 100 kwh” (slightly higher than the 93.4 kwh in the Taycan’s Performance Battery Plus). Porsche feels that capacity offers an appropriate tradeoff between added weight and optimal recharging to minimize travel time. Porsche didn’t discuss target range ratings for the electric Macan, but one Macan exec said confidently it would be “a lot more than the Taycan.”
In all-wheel-drive form, the rear motor is more powerful than the front motor, as in the Taycan. Porsche has rearranged the magnets within its permanently excited synchronous electric motors (PSMs), which offer higher power and torque densities. The combined output of both motors, at least “initially,” is quoted at 450 kw (603 hp) and 740 lb-ft or more of torque.
“Bank charging” to use 150-kw DC stations
For trips in which 800-volt charging is not available, Porsche has moved past the Taycan’s optional DC-DC converter—which required buyers to pay an extra $460 for the ability to fast-charge at more than 50 kw at more common 150-kw DC stations. The PPE architecture uses what Porsche called “bank charging” to split the 800-volt battery into a pair of parallel 400-volt virtual packs that can simultaneously be charged at a 150-kw station. If needed, the car will equalize the two halves’ state of charge before recharging begins.
It’s effectively the reverse of the way GM’s battery engineers provided 800-volt charging on its 400-volt GMC Hummer EV. There, a series/parallel switch connects two 400-volt packs sitting on top of each other. For PPE vehicles, the switch works in reverse to split an 800-volt pack into two 400-volt batteries. And it eliminates the need for that extra DC-DC converter.
For the Macan Electric, the front suspension uses double wishbones, while the multi-link rear suspension follows best sports-car practice. Wheels up to 22 inches will be used, along with performance tires. Porsche’s Dominik Hartmann, in charge of Macan chassis development, said the variation between front and rear wheels will be more pronounced than in today’s Macan.
Porsche returns to the rear motor
The most interesting feature of the rear drive system is that it sits crosswise not in the center axis of the wheels but slightly behind them. This allows not only gearing but a more rear-dominant driving feel. Weight distribution of the Macan Electric will be roughly 48 percent front, 52 percent rear, far from the typical front-wheel-drive crossover utility. That rear drive unit is attached directly to the body.
No reporter directly asked whether the rear-engine heritage of the iconic Porsche 911 played into this decision, but at a minimum, it’s hard to escape the parallel.
The most powerful versions of the Macan Electric will have a fully variable rear differential and a so-called “performance rear axle” with an electronically controlled rear differential lock. One final technology for improved efficiency is the use of silicon carbide rather than silicon in the rear-axle power inverter. This reduces electrical losses and offers power switching at higher frequencies.
“Ludmilla” on display
Along with holograms of its 3-D powertrain renderings, one vehicle was shown to reporters at a media preview last week at the Porsche Experience Center in Franciacorta, in Italy’s Lombardy region.
Nicknamed “Ludmilla,” it was an early chassis prototype, cobbled together even before Vehicle Identification Numbers were issued for the development vehicles. To distinguish among the different chassis test mules, all painted black, the engineers named them—invariably using women’s names. Porsche said it has already built 141 Macan Electric development vehicles.
In North America, the current Macan and the new Macan Electric will be sold side-by-side for at least a year and perhaps more.
Porsche provided airfare, lodging, and meals to enable Green Car Reports to bring you this first-person report.
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- Bill seeks delay of EV tax credit American sourcing rules | https://www.kron4.com/automotive/internet-brands/2024-porsche-macan-electric-up-close-with-its-ppe-platform/ | 2022-11-16 00:56:01 | 1 | https://www.kron4.com/automotive/internet-brands/2024-porsche-macan-electric-up-close-with-its-ppe-platform/ |
JERUSALEM (AP) — There’s no plaque on the gate of the U.S. ambassador’s new residence in Jerusalem, no Stars and Stripes visible, no official listing as a notable overseas property.
The official residence of the American envoy is a rental and temporary, officials said, secured after two years of house-hunting in the wake of then-President Donald Trump’s controversial decision to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Ambassador Tom Nides moved into the sleekly renovated villa in west Jerusalem’s leafy German Colony sometime last spring. Local real estate agents estimate its value at around $23 million, and its owner and the embassy confirmed it is being leased as the U.S. envoy's official residence.
Emek Refaim Street is the latest stop for the American ambassador's home on a more than three-year migration from the seaside cliffs north of Tel Aviv to tension-filled Jerusalem. The journey reflects the Trump administration’s divisive legacy and the reluctance of President Joe Biden — who will visit the region next month — to roil relations with Israel over the issue.
Trump upended decades of U.S. policy by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in 2017, drawing plaudits from many Israelis and infuriating the Palestinians.
Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state. Most countries maintain embassies in Tel Aviv because of the long-running dispute.
Trump moved the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv, and with it the storied residence of the U.S. ambassador. Under various presidents, the envoy had previously been housed in a sprawling, five-bedroom seaside compound built on an acre (nearly one-half hectare) of land, which Israel gave the United States soon after independence in 1948.
The previous residence was a social hub for relations between the two close allies. It was known for its July Fourth blowouts, when thousands of specially invited guests would watch the sunset and fireworks over the Mediterranean Sea.
Trump’s move put an end to all that. The United States sold the property for more than $67 million, according to official Israeli records. The State Department refused to release key details of the sale, but the Israeli business newspaper Globes identified the buyer as one of Trump’s biggest contributors: U.S. casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who died in 2021.
The cliffside compound appeared little changed from outside the walls on a recent day. Two Israeli flags waved from the flagpoles in the sea breeze. A spokesman for the Adelson family declined to comment.
The decision to sell the residence appears to have been aimed at preventing any future president from reversing the embassy move, something Biden has long ruled out.
But it also forced U.S. diplomats stationed in the region — most of whom continued working in Tel Aviv — to embark on a difficult search for new digs.
When Nides arrived last December, the plight of the “homeless ambassador” was the talk of diplomatic circles. There simply weren’t many options in crowded Jerusalem for a compound large and secure enough to serve as a U.S. ambassador’s official residence.
In most countries, the official residence is not only the ambassador's home, but a place for official ceremonies and social gatherings. A cramped apartment simply won't do.
Nides initially moved into the Waldorf Astoria in Jerusalem, a tony enough address but not living quarters suited for entertaining. Sometime this past spring, he moved to the property in the German Colony, one of the most sought-after neighborhoods in Jerusalem.
The U.S. is leasing it and has notified Israel that the property will be the official residence for the American envoy, according to the embassy. Other terms of the arrangement have not been made public, but there are no plans to move the ambassador to another site. Officials from both countries, as well as the owner, declined to comment on the property’s value or its monthly rent.
If the intent was to keep the residence low-profile, that's over too. On June 8, Nides tweeted a photo from his “new neighborhood coffee shop in the German colony." His residence is surrounded by a tall white fence and dotted with security cameras. Guards can often be seen, according to local shop owners. When a gate opens, looky-loos can catch glimpses of a parking area and courtyard.
Arielle Cohen, legal counsel for the owner, Blue Marble Ltd., doesn’t dispute local reports that the company spent 50 million shekels (about $14.5 million) on the historic restoration. Her father, Avi Ruimi, grew up in the German Colony and founded the company, which specializes in historic restorations and owns several other addresses on the street.
Blue Marble bought the property in 2004. Construction lasted six years and finished in 2020, as it became clear that the U.S. ambassador would need a new home.
“We knew it was a possibility,” Cohen said in an interview. She declined to comment on the signing process but called the contract a “wonderful milestone.” She said the residence itself is about 570 square meters (about 6,000 square feet) with a second building that roughly doubles the size.
A gallery on the company’s website says one building includes two apartments and commercial space. The second is “a beautiful private villa.” A portfolio on Blue Marble’s web site shows a sleekly renovated interior, with a modern kitchen, fixtures and high ceilings.
Local media have reported that the property dates to 1930 and was built by a wealthy Palestinian family. West Jerusalem was home to a number of upscale Palestinian neighborhoods known for their stone villas before the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation, when most Palestinians on that side of the city fled or were driven out.
The residence housed unmarried British police officers during the British mandate prior to 1948, and has also been used as a fire station, school and flower shop over the years.
It's unclear whether Biden will visit the residence during his brief stopover in Israel next month.
His discussions with Israeli and Palestinian leaders are likely to focus on another consequence of Trump's embassy move — the shuttering of a U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem that served Palestinians.
The Palestinians have called on the Biden administration to deliver on its pledge to reopen the consulate, which would reinforce their claim to part of the city and help mend U.S.-Palestinian ties ruptured during the Trump years.
Israel is staunchly opposed to any reopening of the consulate for the same reason — another real-estate dispute in a region where they seem to multiply with every passing year. | https://www.sfchronicle.com/living/article/US-envoy-to-Israel-lives-in-a-luxe-rental-a-17262598.php | 2022-06-24 06:17:24 | 0 | https://www.sfchronicle.com/living/article/US-envoy-to-Israel-lives-in-a-luxe-rental-a-17262598.php |
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. — The best workout is one that you actually enjoy.
Jillian and Ryan visit Ultimate Ninjas Indianapolis, a new workout facility in Noblesville that’s modeled after the TV show “American Ninja Warrior.”
Click here for more.
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. — The best workout is one that you actually enjoy.
Jillian and Ryan visit Ultimate Ninjas Indianapolis, a new workout facility in Noblesville that’s modeled after the TV show “American Ninja Warrior.”
Click here for more. | https://fox59.com/indy-now/have-fun-while-you-workout-at-ultimate-ninjas-indianapolis/ | 2022-06-03 17:10:10 | 0 | https://fox59.com/indy-now/have-fun-while-you-workout-at-ultimate-ninjas-indianapolis/ |
WFO BINGHAMTON Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Sunday, June 26, 2022
_____
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Binghamton NY
259 PM EDT Sun Jun 26 2022
...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of southwestern
Schuyler and northeastern Steuben Counties through 330 PM EDT...
At 259 PM EDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm over
Savona, or 11 miles northwest of Corning, moving northeast at 20 mph.
HAZARD...Winds in excess of 30 mph and half inch hail.
SOURCE...Radar indicated.
IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around
unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is
possible.
Locations impacted include...
Campbell, Hornby, Tyrone, Wayne, Bradford, Savona, Meads Creek,
Monterey, Sonora and Keuka.
This includes the following highway exits...
Interstate 86/Route 17 between 40 and 41.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.
Heavy rainfall is also occurring with this storm and may lead to
localized flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded
roadways.
Frequent cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm.
Lightning can strike 10 miles away from a thunderstorm. Seek a safe
shelter inside a building or vehicle.
LAT...LON 4249 7713 4232 7686 4218 7722 4227 7731
TIME...MOT...LOC 1859Z 223DEG 17KT 4226 7723
MAX HAIL SIZE...0.50 IN
MAX WIND GUST...30 MPH
_____
Copyright 2022 AccuWeather | https://www.expressnews.com/weather/article/NY-WFO-BINGHAMTON-Warnings-Watches-and-17266780.php | 2022-06-26 20:25:19 | 1 | https://www.expressnews.com/weather/article/NY-WFO-BINGHAMTON-Warnings-Watches-and-17266780.php |
This past week have been a tough one for Arizona animal lovers. First, there was sweet "Sadi", the bobcat resident of Oro Valley, who brought joy to locals by having her kittens in their backyards. She gets casually gets shot and killed even though she is wearing a tracing collar. Next, 15 mustangs from the Alpine Herd in NE Arizona are slaughtered while grazing. Such animal cruelty does not speak well of America's current state of values and ethos. People willfully choosing to do such atrocious acts and others who shield them reflect poorly on all Arizonans. Election Day is coming. Think carefully when casting your ballot.
Polly weber
Northwest side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star. | https://tucson.com/opinion/letters/local-issues/letter-arizona-at-its-worse/article_ea3db6a6-4a55-11ed-acbd-abf8b153be06.html | 2022-10-16 19:40:09 | 0 | https://tucson.com/opinion/letters/local-issues/letter-arizona-at-its-worse/article_ea3db6a6-4a55-11ed-acbd-abf8b153be06.html |
WINSEN, Germany (AP) — Jordan Smith surged into a two-stroke lead in the second round of the European Open on Friday, seeking his second tour win five years after his first came at the same venue.
Smith hit a 4-under-par 68 on a day when several of the other early contenders struggled.
The English player’s only previous win on tour came at the 2017 European Open, also held at the Green Eagle Golf Courses near Hamburg.
Smith and second-placed Victor Perez, winner of the Dutch Open on Sunday, were the only players to post scores under par on each of the first two days.
Julien Brun and joint first-round leader Joakim Lagergren were each three strokes off the lead on 3 under, along with Danish golfer Niklas Nørgaard Møller, who had the best round of the day with a 5-under 67.
Last year’s winner, Marcus Armitage, was tied for seventh on 1 under par.
___
More AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/jordan-smith-takes-2-stroke-lead-at-european-open/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2022-06-03 19:20:51 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/jordan-smith-takes-2-stroke-lead-at-european-open/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
NEW YORK (AP) — “Space Disco Cowboy.” “Yacht Shabbat.” “Burning Man Formal”? More couples are tossing tradition when it comes to what wedding guests should wear, to some befuddlement among invitees.
Maggie Long, 34, recently attended the nuptials of a close friend in a low-key Denver lounge. The suggested dress? “Dive Bar Semiformal.”
“I love a theme,” said Long, who lives in New York. “It’s fun that people aren’t taking weddings so seriously, but I had no idea what that meant.”
After exchanging thoughts for months with the officiant, who is also a friend, Long took her outfit idea — a strappy-back, low-cut ultra-mini purple dress with a high side slit — to the bride. The bride deemed it a bit too “Kardashian cosplay.” Long finally settled on a longer gold lamé dress by Norma Kamali, and a great time was had.
“There were a lot of vintage jumpsuits. One of our friends went full 1960s with go-go boots and a bouffant. A lot of sequins were happening,” Long said.
Some couples are offering mood boards as a way to guide guests, including older ones. At the dive bar wedding, Long said plenty of older guests got into the spirit. One donned a rainbow tie-dye T-shirt, à la the Grateful Dead.
Other wedding guests have contended with “Tropical Formal,” “Snappy Casual” and “Garden Party Whimsical.”
Heading into the busy summer season for weddings and other special events, Indya Wright in Washington, D.C., has had enough.
She recently posted on Twitter: “These new age event dress codes are the bane of my existence. What happened to just ‘casual,’ ‘cocktail’ and ‘formal’? Now I gotta Google ‘After 5 Formal Festive Renaissance attire’ to figure out if you want me to give Great Gatsby or King Arthur & the Knights of the Round Table.”
Wright, 35, remains frustrated. The wedding of a college classmate had a “smart, but not too smart casual” dress code.
Renée Strauss, co-founder and CEO of the destination wedding planning company Wedaways in Beverly Hills, California, said wacky dress codes come down to couples striving to make their nuptials custom and unique.
“The key is making sure there’s communication behind the dress code. Don’t just confuse guests,” she said.
When her company builds wedding websites for clients, it includes descriptions for dress codes like “Wine Country Chic,” urging couples to offer a broad enough palette for people to express themselves. “Tropical Formal,” for instance, could be long, flowing dresses in bright summer colors and linen suits with playful ties.
“Most guests have a lot of fun with it,” Strauss said.
Rikki Gotthelf, 32, in Los Angeles, attended a wedding recently and has three more this year. She was a bridesmaid for the “Space Disco Cowboy” nuptials of friends who shuttled their guests to an abandoned ghost town near Austin, Texas.
“We had these shiny intergalactic Batsheva prairie dresses. Mine was iridescent,” Gotthelf said. “Another wedding I went to was ‘Funky Formal.’”
For guidance, Gotthelf turned to Sophie Strauss, who bills herself as a “stylist for regular people.” Strauss suggests following up with the couple if they haven’t made themselves clear.
“They won’t be offended,” she said. “They’re invested enough in how everyone looks to have put forth a kooky dress code.”
One of her clients has a “Music Festival Formal” wedding coming up.
“He clarified with the couple that it’s more Woodstock, less Burning Man. Good to know,” Strauss said.
The difference? Hippie flowy dresses, bell bottoms, tunics, tie dye, big round sunglasses and woven headbands for the former. “Mad Max-meets-Carnival on mushrooms” in lamé, combat boots, rhinestones, body paint and goggles for the latter, she said. Her client decided on a neutral-tone linen suit with a vintage beaded necklace or two.
Strauss implored guests staring down out-there dress codes to remember: “It’s not a costume. Unless, of course, it’s literally a costume party.”
Small adjustments may be enough, like wearing a regular suit but swapping out a dress shirt for one in an on-theme pattern. James Berger, 32, in Las Vegas, was among guests told to express their inner spirit. He managed a black polka dot bow tie with a formal suit that left him feeling “slightly out of place” among a sea of vibrant colors.
Strauss regularly faces the issue among her clients.
“I had a client who had to do a ‘Fancy Ranch’ theme a few months ago and she was tempted to go buy a new outfit from head to toe,” Strauss said. “But pairing some cowboy boots with a sundress or swapping a tie for a bolo tie goes a long way. And if you’re really into it you could add a cowboy hat. You don’t need to dress like Orville Peck to fit the theme, though if that’s your style, oh my god go for it!”
There’s often sentimental meaning behind wedding themes. Madison Smith, 32, is a May 2024 bride and her dress code calls for “Black Tie Sunset Glam.” The wedding will be held at the Bonnet Island Estate in Long Beach Island, New Jersey.
“It’s in honor of my late grandfather,” she said of the theme. “His favorite thing was the sunsets where I’m getting married.”
Her vision? Sunset-colored gowns of oranges, yellows, purples, blues and pinks with fun accessories, and tuxedoes with bow ties and pocket squares of the same colors.
Smith, in Arlington, Virginia, hasn’t left guests guessing. She works for Pinterest and has already been pinning inspiration to give them a boost. Her bridal shower guests have a board of their own to tackle Smith’s “LoveShackFancy” dress code.
“They have no precedent for an unusual dress code where a couple calls for something other than black tie, formal, cocktail or casual attire. When you receive an invitation that reads ‘Festive Hudson Valley Chic’ or ‘Tropical Hipster,’ it can certainly bode more questions than less for those used to more traditional themes,” said Amy Shey Jacobs, founder of Chandelier Events in New York.
“Chic as F—k.” “Gay Garden Party.” “Black Tie Fabulous.” “Colorful Cocktail.” “Sparkle and Shine.” “Red Carpet Ready.” Jove Meyer, owner and creative director of an eponymous event planning company in Brooklyn, has handled all of the above in dress codes.
“As much as I love a fun and unique dress code, I always suggest couples clarify exactly what they mean with a descriptive sentence or two so there’s no guessing,” he said.
Brittny Drye, editor in chief of the wedding resource magazine Love Inc., said guests shouldn’t be reluctant to quiz the bridal couple about a puzzling dress code.
“We never want to bombard the couple,” she said, “but when they’re asking their guests to abide by a nontraditional dress code, they’re signing themselves up to be asked questions.”
___
Find Leanne Italie on Twitter at http://twitter.com/litalie | https://www.koin.com/news/weird/space-disco-cowboy-couples-ditch-traditional-dress-codes-in-favor-of-out-there-themes/ | 2023-06-28 18:22:58 | 1 | https://www.koin.com/news/weird/space-disco-cowboy-couples-ditch-traditional-dress-codes-in-favor-of-out-there-themes/ |
EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Monday is Word Mental Health Day, and it’s a chance to “rekindle our efforts to protect and improve mental health,” according to the World Health Organization.
Health experts say the COVID-19 pandemic created a global mental health crisis, with a 25% rise in anxiety and depressive disorders in the first year of the outbreak.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major effect on our lives,” said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Many of us are facing challenges that can be stressful and overwhelming.”
According to the CDC, 45,979 deaths in 2020 were the result of suicide — “about one death every 11 minutes.”
In that same year, about 12.2 million U.S. adults seriously considered suicide, 3.2 million planned an attempt, and 1.2 million went through with a suicide attempt, according to the CDC.
The rising cost of living and financial stress, combined with the pandemic has made it tough for many around the globe, but researchers in Britain say you’re not alone.
“The stats are similar in the U.S. and U.K. about one in six people every week experience diagnosable levels of mental illness,” said Dr. Antonis Kousoulis, director for England and Wales at the Mental Health Foundation.
Britain’s Mental Health Foundation studied the best ways to cope with such problems as anxiety and depression. Experts have offered the following 11 tips to boost mental health:
- Get closer to nature
- Learn to understand and manage your feelings
- Talk to someone you trust for support
- Be aware of using drugs and/or alcohol to cope with difficult feelings
- Try to make the most of your money and get help with problem debts
- Get more from your sleep
- Be kind and help create a better world
- Keep moving
- Eat healthy food
- Be curious and open-minded to new experiences
- Plan things to look forward to
Experts say the stigma remains the largest barrier to effective suicide prevention.
“The main stigma is that it’s your fault if you’re struggling,” Kousoulis said.
But there are ways to recognize if someone needs help, and recognizing the signs is key to keeping those around you safe.
“Are there aspects of our lives that are suffering? Sleep is quite often the first one,” Kousoulis said. “Any changes in behavior, motivation at work, being invested in the relationships we have.”
Experts say it’s important for parents to listen to their kids from an early age.
According to the CDC, suicide was the second leading cause of death in 2020 among the 10-14 and 25-34 age groups.
“There is something about our society that demonizes negative emotions. You don’t want sadness, we don’t want anger, we don’t want stress, but these are valuable signs that something is going on,” Kousoulis said. | https://www.kxnet.com/news/11-tips-to-boost-your-well-being-on-world-mental-health-day/ | 2022-10-10 18:59:29 | 0 | https://www.kxnet.com/news/11-tips-to-boost-your-well-being-on-world-mental-health-day/ |
- Professionals from the gaming and crypto industries assemble to build the world's most unique platform for gamers everywhere.
- Professionals from the gaming and crypto industries assemble to solve some of the biggest problems (challenges) in the gaming industry—both Web2 and Web3.
SINGAPORE, June 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- gDEX, a revolutionary Play to Earn platform powering gamers, creators, and guilds in the Metaverse, today announced its key global leadership team. This team comprises veterans from various segments of both the crypto and gaming industries, with portfolios spanning some of the most well-known names in the world such as Nintendo, Ubisoft, JP Morgan, Disney, Pokemon, Final Fantasy, etc.
Over the last two years, this team has been hard at work to build the first solution in the market capable of unlocking the true potential of the Metaverse. Meet the team that will change the Gaming experience forever:
CEO - J.D. Salbego A Web3 industry veteran and a strategic leader in the blockchain space for over seven years, J.D is the Founder and CEO of gDEX Metaverse. Prior to this, J.D. founded AnRKey X, a multi-release GameFi studio and one of the first to innovate GameFi back in 2020, and is a familiar name in the gaming, NFT, DeFi, and the Metaverse communities. Aside from being a startup mentor in the Web3 division of the global renowned accelerator Techstars, J.D. is also a Cointelegraph.com contributor & member of their Innovation Circle for Web3 Experts. He is frequently quoted by leading blockchain and crypto media, and is a Web3 keynote speaker at leading conferences around the world including the World Economic Forum. J.D. brings in visionary thinking and a global perspective to this team at gDEX along with his inspiring leadership. He is a celebrated market influencer, internationally followed Web3 subject matter expert, and his work over the years in Web3 has been featured in Forbes, Business Insider, Yahoo Finance etc., including being linked to boosting Japan's economy with blockchain.
COO - Sonalii A Abrol A leader in digital entertainment and Gametech business ecosystems, Sonalii A Abrol has an enviable track record working with exceptional global teams at renowned AAA games publishers and developers. Her experience at brands like Nintendo Australia where she led the execution of releasing multiple 1st party & 3rd party game titles, to Gameloft Australia, and Ubisoft India make her a strong operations leader at gDEX. An engineer turned marketer, Abrol has near 15 years' experience in the APAC markets, with tactile expertise across multiple domains such as digital business operations, strategic growth initiatives, digital marketing and analytics, brand management, organizational communications, team building, and motivation.
CTO - Benj Roberts Benj is a seasoned technology leader and CTO with over twenty years' experience building high performing development and operational technology teams across traditional finance, FinTech, and blockchain-based financial services and startups with leading global Fortune 50-500 corporations like JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, Barclays Capital, and TD Securities. He inspires a great team of tech professionals at gDEX in building the next generation of gaming tools and experiences. While at JP Morgan, he worked on their Quorum blockchain, for decentralized large-payment interbank settlement (~$26BN across 7,000 transactions), and was the key technology advisor for projects serving the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Australia Stock Exchange (replacement with Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and smart contract structures across core traded asset classes of ~ $3.5BN daily turnover), Hong Kong Monetary Authority (daily transactions totalling ~$5.2BN), and the APAC Fintech Ecosystem. Over the years, he managed the Equity and Equity Derivatives trading platforms across Asia-Pacific (including Japan) building real-time (us & ns) infrastructure and application stacks with 99.999% uptime increasing stability and agility 10-fold through extensive operational, adaptive, and risk management tooling.
CMO - Sesha Kanthamraju A Disney veteran with over 15 years leading marketing and communications for gaming and content across businesses, Sesha joins gDEX to lead the marketing and communications strategy and rollout. He worked across industries including media, advertising agencies to include BBDO India, technology firms like HCL, fintech, financial services and ESG. At Disney, he launched numerous games accross console to mobile and then to online and social including the hugely successful Disney Infinity series, Where's my water, Club Penguin and built fan communities for Star Wars and Marvel across the region. He co-founded Green Vision, an NGO in India that has worked on environmental awareness and sustainability programs since 1992.
Senior/Lead Software Engineer - Julian Muro Julian is a passionate gamer and developer with over a decade's experience in this industry. He worked for best-in-class brands and many fan-favorite IPs such as Sega, Pokemon, Konami, Sony, Square Enix, Terminator, Final Fantasy, Assassin's Creed, and Call of Duty. At gDEX, he is working on creating the world's most innovative platform for the gaming community. He has been deeply involved in Blockchain development for the past seven years and naturally integrated his passion for video games by combining both worlds. To that end he developed one of the first DeFi based blockchain web games ever made and has helped create many high-level NFT marketplaces that have generated millions in sales.
VP of Digital Technology - Dan Crane As a passionate technologist and digital innovator, Dan has been at the cutting edge of technology for more than 20 years now. From both working in and founding tech startups, to his work at the C-level of large corporations, Dan has the breadth of experience one rarely sees in this space, while still maintaining his thirst for the next big idea. At gDEX, Dan leads the team's digital thinking and helps connect gen Z with the best-in-world experiences being built here. At Tatts Group ($7Bn MC), an Australian top 50 company, Dan led digital teams as Chief Online Officer as well as CEO of their innovation division, with the responsibility of all online product development, digital innovation, and marketing. He built the team from 20 to 80 strong and grew their annual online turnover to more than $1bn.
Head of Games - Ian Tan Gamer of 15 years and in GameFi and crypto for the past couple of years. Ian successfully built a leading and award-winning SEA esports agency with footprints across more than 20 countries. He leads the mandate to bring in the world's best games onto the gDEX platform. Ian drove partnerships with a portfolio of leading gaming companies such as Riot Games, Tencent Games, Moonton (owned by Bytedance), Bandai Namco, Blizzard and many more creating high scaling adoption programs and campaigns for user acquisition, partnerships, and community growth. He played an integral role in creating the major Web3 Play to Earn Esports tournament "GalAxie Cup" with Axie Infinity, FTX, AAve Grant, that GuildFi won.
Head of Guilds & Ecosystem - Adrian Sim A Guild Founder & GameFi Advisor to Star Symphony, Lorcan Gaming, Lambda Society. As a previous entrepreneur, Adrian successfully grew his digital localization company to be the go-to service provider for China Literature, Bilibili, Xiaomi, and more. He embraced the Web3 agenda by co-founding two play-to-earn guilds over the years; The Lambda Clan, an offshoot of Lambda Society that has paid out millions to over 600 scholars worldwide, and Lorcan Gaming, a competitive gaming guild that focuses on organizing Web3 esports events. At gDEX, Adrian is the voice of all guilds in constantly challenging the team to build stronger experiences for all. Adrian has organized education programs onboarding Web2 gamers to Web3 and crypto in his guilds and is also a fervent advocate of being a degen.
Head of Partnerships - Cher Chung Cher is a crypto evangelist who comes from traditional M&A in fortune-500 corporations. She leads the strategic partnership opportunities at gDEX working with internal and external stakeholders. She has actively managed investor relations, strategic partnerships, capital investments and business development activities in the blockchain industry since 2017. Cher has dynamic expertise in the digital assets business, specifically in crypto mining, token launches, CEX & DEX listings, venture capital, custodian services and media. She provided token advisory, led investor rounds and is a shareholder in a number of cutting-edge initiatives like NFT, DeFi and Web3 projects.
Head of Marketing - Rohit Kundliwal A crypto marketer since 2017, Rohit formerly held positions across marketing and community with WazirX (acquired by Binance), and was a strategic consultant in Fortune-500 companies. He brings in a unique marketing expertise into gDEX and is mandated to strengthen the community engagement for the platform.
He has experience managing some of the largest crypto ambassador programs and communities, producing crypto content on YouTube, helped launch India's first crypto merch store by a CEX, and managed some of the biggest influencer marketing programs in crypto.
Product Manager - J.B. Andrew A true gamer at heart, J.B. has over eight years' experience in the gaming industry, and is incredibly passionate about gaming products, indie gamer development, and is now focusing on the Metaverse & NFTs. He is currently obsessed with making the gDEX Metaverse a platform of many firsts for gamers everywhere. As a Gaming Product Manager and Certified PMP, he started his career working for Japanese publishers, conducting the product development and release management of over 150 Japanese games for Western release including Go! Go! Nippon! and the original Higurashi: When They Cry Series, on various platforms such as Sony Playstation 3, the portable mobile game platform Sony Vita, and Steam.
About gDEX Metaverse:
The gDEX (Decentralized Finance Gaming Platform Exchange) is a revolutionary Play to Earn platform powering gamers, creators, and guilds in the Metaverse. gDEX Metaverse acts as a unified GameFi layer enabling interoperability across the metaverse which hosts a suite of robust chain agnostic no-coding needed tools and DeFi fueled GameFi token economy for gamers to maximize the value of their effort, for creators to create and onboard games easily, and for guilds to manage and grow their guilds like never before — all attached to their unique metaverse passport.
Join the gDEX Metaverse community:
Website - https://gdexmetaverse.com/
Discord - https://discord.gg/gdexmetaverse
Twitter - https://twitter.com/gDEXMetaverse
Telegram - https://t.me/gdexmetaverse
Telegram News Channel - https://t.me/gdexmetaversenews
Medium - https://gdexmetaverse.medium.com/
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/gdexmetaverse
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/gdex-metaverse/
Write in for queries and interviews to: rohit@gdexmetaverse.com
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SOURCE gDEX METAVERSE | https://www.wkyt.com/prnewswire/2022/06/06/gdex-metaverse-announces-its-global-leadership/ | 2022-06-06 10:02:16 | 1 | https://www.wkyt.com/prnewswire/2022/06/06/gdex-metaverse-announces-its-global-leadership/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers in several Democratic-controlled states are advocating sweeping voter protections this year, reacting to what they view as a broad undermining of voting rights by the Supreme Court and Republican-led states as well as a failed effort in Congress to bolster access to the polls.
Legislators in Connecticut, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey and New Mexico have introduced voting rights measures, while Michigan’s secretary of state is preparing a plan.
Among other things, the proposals would require state approval for local governments to change redistricting or voting procedures, ban voter suppression and intimidation, mandate that ballots are printed in more languages, increase protections for voters with disabilities, ensure the right to vote for those with previous felony convictions and instruct judges to prioritize voter access when hearing election-related challenges.
The measures are taking a much wider approach than legislation targeting a single aspect of voting or elections law. They seek to implement on a statewide basis many of the protections under the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, a law that many Democrats and voting rights groups say is being stripped of its most important elements.
If the legislation is enacted, the states would join California, New York, Oregon, Washington and Virginia in having comprehensive voting rights laws.
“It’s up to states now to ensure that the right to vote is protected,” said Janai Nelson, president of the the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
Maryland’s proposal includes a requirement for local voting changes to receive preapproval, mirroring core provisions of the federal law that was struck down by the Supreme Court a decade ago.
Maryland was not among the states, mostly in the South, that was covered under the provision known as preclearance before the court ended it. But lawmakers there saw it as important because of persistent concerns over how districts for local governing bodies have been drawn, said Morgan Drayton, policy and engagement manager at Common Cause Maryland.
“A lot of our maps here are drawn behind closed doors, and there’s not a lot of input from the public that’s able to be given,” she said. “So this would do a lot to make these processes more transparent.”
In Maryland’s Baltimore County, a lawsuit claimed the county council’s map packed most Black voters into a single district. The state legislation would require jurisdictions in Maryland with a history of voter discrimination to have redistricting and election changes cleared by the state attorney general.
Democratic state Del. Stephanie Smith, a co-sponsor of the legislation, said that despite Maryland’s racial diversity and history of diversity in its political leadership, “access to the ballot and equitable representation is uneven.”
“This bill strengthens our commitment to voting access and protections at a time of great stress on our democratic institutions,” she said.
Proposals in Michigan and New Mexico address harassment against election workers and voters, especially those in minority communities. One of several bills in New Mexico would protect election officials, from the secretary of state to county and municipal elections clerks, from intimidation. That would be defined as inducing or attempting to induce fear, and a violation would be punishable as a fourth-degree felony punishable by up to 18 months in prison.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, said she will seek similar protections for voters, including prohibiting firearms within a certain distance of polling places.
“We need an explicit ban on voter suppression and intimidation,” she said.
Connecticut’s legislation would expand language assistance for voters who speak, read or understand languages other than English. Language assistance is covered under the federal law, but only specifies protections for Spanish-speakers and for Asian, Native American and Alaska Native language minorities.
Ballots offered in Arabic, Haitian Creole and other languages also are needed, said Steven Lance, policy counsel at the national NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
A language would be covered if the group speaking it is more than 2% of the citizens of voting age in a particular municipality or the group includes more than 4,000 citizens of voting age, under Connecticut’s legislative proposal.
Residents also would have the right to ask the secretary of state to review whether a certain language should be covered, Lance said.
In New Jersey, advocacy organizations are pushing to expand voting rights legislation to include more groups that would be specifically protected from discrimination, including the state’s sizable Arab American population.
“A reality is the federal VRA was originally crafted in 1965, and while there have been other bills in the decade since, the VRA doesn’t reflect the diversity of the population of New Jersey in 2023,” said Henal Patel, law & policy director at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice.
Some state voting rights bills also seek to create databases for information that has not always been readily available, such as polling place locations, voting rules and redistricting maps. The bills also would specify that state judges interpret voting laws in a way that ensures people maintain their right to vote.
Democrats in Minnesota are pushing numerous voting changes, including restoring voting rights to felons as soon as they are released from prison, allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to preregister so they are ready to vote as soon as they turn 18 and automatically registering people to vote when they obtain or renew their driver’s licenses.
Passing state voting rights legislation is only half the battle, said state Sen. Jennifer McClellan, a Virginia Democrat who introduced a state voting rights act that passed in 2021 when Democrats controlled both houses of the Legislature and the governor’s office.
McClellan noted that ensuring voting rights historically was a bipartisan issue, but said Republicans are now focused on “fighting phantom voter fraud” — making this year’s Virginia legislative elections all the more important.
“The entire General Assembly is up for election this year, and I think that’s going to be a big theme in the election — that if we want to protect our progress on voting rights, we’re going to need to make sure that Democrats keep the Senate and regain the majority in the House,” McClellan said.
McClellan won a special election this past week to fill an open seat in the U.S. House, where she will make history as the first Black woman to represent the state in Congress. | https://www.kxnet.com/news/national-news/democratic-led-states-seek-to-bolster-voter-protections/ | 2023-02-25 23:24:27 | 1 | https://www.kxnet.com/news/national-news/democratic-led-states-seek-to-bolster-voter-protections/ |
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MORE SPORTS BETTING STORIES | https://www.nj.com/betting/2023/03/massachusetts-online-betting-is-here-claim-close-to-4000-in-bonuses-from-top-sportsbooks.html | 2023-03-10 16:50:41 | 0 | https://www.nj.com/betting/2023/03/massachusetts-online-betting-is-here-claim-close-to-4000-in-bonuses-from-top-sportsbooks.html |
Her death has shocked the entertainment world. Just Tuesday Lisa Marie Presley was attending the Golden Globe Awards, celebrating *** biopic of her legendary father Elvis. But Thursday the 54 year old was rushed from her home in los Angeles California to *** hospital. Her mother, Priscilla confirmed her death. It is with *** heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my Beautiful daughter, Lisa Marie has left us. She was rock and roll royalty from the moment she was born in 1968, Lisa Marie was an only child and beloved by her father. He passed away when she was just nine years old, but his influence and music were *** constant presence. I've been there all my life, so it's not something that I now listen to it, it's different, although, you know, I might listen closer or um but I I I've remained consistent on the fact that I've always been an admirer has always influenced me. *** singer songwriter in her own right Lisa Marie's music career never reached the level of her father's, but she did release several successful albums. She was also *** constant celebrity fixture, aided by her headline, making marriages to Michael Jackson and actor Nicolas Cage. Her life was marked by tragedy early and continued to be plagued by struggles. She was open about her battle with addiction and she lost her only son, Benjamin to suicide when he was 27 Lisa Marie. Presley survived by her mother, Priscilla and her three daughters
Mourners at Graceland to bid farewell to Lisa Marie Presley
Updated: 2:04 PM EST Jan 22, 2023
Hundreds of people gathered on the front lawn of Graceland on a gray, chilly Sunday morning in Memphis to mourn the death and remember the life of Lisa Marie Presley, who died earlier this month.Some mourners held flowers as they waited for the service to begin under the tall trees on the lawn of Graceland, the home where Lisa Marie lived as a child with her father, Elvis Presley. The mansion, which Lisa Marie Presley owned, has been turned into a museum and tourist attraction that hundreds of thousands of fans visit each year to celebrate the life and music of Elvis, who died in 1977.The property in south Memphis was a place of sadness and somber memories on Sunday. Presley, a 54-year-old singer-songwriter dedicated to her father's legacy, died Jan. 12, hours after being hospitalized for a medical emergency.The service began with the singing of "Amazing Grace" by Jason Clark & The Tennessee Mass Choir."We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for the love, compassion and support you have shown our family during this difficult time," said a message from the Presley family written on the program for the service. "We will always be grateful."Among those expected to speak or sing during the service were Lisa Marie Presley's mother, actress Priscilla Presley; her daughter, actress Riley Keough; Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York; and singers Billy Corgan, Alanis Morissette and Axl Rose.After the service, mourners will make a procession through Graceland's Meditation Garden, where she is being laid to rest.Video below: Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson pay tribute to Lisa Marie Presley
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Hundreds of people gathered on the front lawn of Graceland on a gray, chilly Sunday morning in Memphis to mourn the death and remember the life of Lisa Marie Presley, who died earlier this month.
Some mourners held flowers as they waited for the service to begin under the tall trees on the lawn of Graceland, the home where Lisa Marie lived as a child with her father, Elvis Presley. The mansion, which Lisa Marie Presley owned, has been turned into a museum and tourist attraction that hundreds of thousands of fans visit each year to celebrate the life and music of Elvis, who died in 1977.
The property in south Memphis was a place of sadness and somber memories on Sunday. Presley, a 54-year-old singer-songwriter dedicated to her father's legacy, died Jan. 12, hours after being hospitalized for a medical emergency.
The service began with the singing of "Amazing Grace" by Jason Clark & The Tennessee Mass Choir.
"We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for the love, compassion and support you have shown our family during this difficult time," said a message from the Presley family written on the program for the service. "We will always be grateful."
Among those expected to speak or sing during the service were Lisa Marie Presley's mother, actress Priscilla Presley; her daughter, actress Riley Keough; Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York; and singers Billy Corgan, Alanis Morissette and Axl Rose.
After the service, mourners will make a procession through Graceland's Meditation Garden, where she is being laid to rest.
Video below: Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson pay tribute to Lisa Marie Presley | https://www.wesh.com/article/lisa-marie-presley-graceland-mourners-bid-farewell/42611193 | 2023-01-22 19:55:03 | 1 | https://www.wesh.com/article/lisa-marie-presley-graceland-mourners-bid-farewell/42611193 |
WASHINGTON — Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador agreed to spend $1.5 billion over the next two years to improve “smart” border technology during meetings Tuesday with President Joe Biden — a move the White House says shows neighborly cooperation succeeding where Trump administration vows to wall off the border and have Mexico pay for it could not.
A series of agreements the two countries hammered out as their leaders spoke called for several other concrete moves, including expanding the number of work visas the U.S. issues, creating a bilateral working group on labor migration pathways and worker protections and welcoming more refugees. Both also pledged to continue joint patrols for Mexico and Guatemala to hunt human smugglers along their shared border.
But the Biden administration hailed securing border funding from Mexico after years of failed attempts by former President Donald Trump.
“Borders that are more resilient, more efficient, and safer, will enhance our shared commerce,” Biden and López Obrador said in a joint official statement. “We are committed like never before to completing a multi-year joint U.S.-Mexico border infrastructure modernization effort for projects along the 2,000-mile border.”
The agreements came after López Obrador began the discussions by talking for more than half an hour as reporters looked on. His far-ranging discourse touched on everything from American drivers heading south for cheaper prices at the pump at Mexican gas stations to the New Deal politics of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He also chiding conservatives and said the U.S. and Mexico should reject the “status quo” on the border.
López Obrador said both countries “should close ranks to help each other” amid spiking inflation and border challenges brutally underscored by 53 migrants who died last month after being abandoned in a sweltering tractor-trailer on a remote back road in San Antonio.
“Increasing inflation impacts the well-being of families in both our countries, and requires strong, immediate, and concerted action,” the joint statement said. “That is why we have committed to jointly combat inflation by accelerating the facilitation of bilateral trade and reducing trade costs.”
Though in the past he’s not shied away from U.S. criticism, López Obrador struck a positive tone with Biden while heaping praise on Vice President Kamala Harris.
“So happy to be here at the White House once more,” López Obrador said.
Biden was equally conciliatory, saying, “I see, we see Mexico as an equal partner” and shrugging off differences of opinion on policy with López Obrador: “You and I have a strong and productive relationship and I would argue a partnership.”
That was a departure from last month, when López Obrador declined Biden’s invitation to the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles after unsuccessfully urging the U.S. to include the leaders of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela — all countries with anti-democratic regimes.
The Mexican leader also has called U.S. support for Ukraine in its war with Russia “a crass error” and criticized the U.S. for moving more swiftly to provide military funding to Ukraine than financial aid to Central America.
Speaking of the migrant deaths in Texas — which included people from Mexico and Central America — Biden said “we know we have to meet these challenges together.” He said the U.S. and Mexico agree on the need to increase opportunities for legal migration, especially since more workers can help alleviate U.S. labor shortages and potentially help calm rising prices.
RELATED: Memorial growing at site where more than 50 migrants died inside tractor-trailer in San Antonio
“This is a proven strategy that fuels economic growth as well as reduces irregular migration,” Biden said.
Immigration has been a political flashpoint for Biden as top Republicans have pointed to a rising number of people from Mexico and Central America crossing the southern U.S. border illegally while slamming the administration and top Democrats for not doing more to slow it. López Obrador acknowledged those criticisms, but said the situation at the border will require solutions, not just politics.
“The way out is not through conservatism. The way out it through transformation,” he said. “Transform, not maintain the status quo.”
Tuesday’s was the second in-person meeting between Biden and López Obrador at the White House. First lady Jill Biden hosted Mexican first lady Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller during this spring’s White House celebration of Cinco de Mayo.
In the agreed upon announcements released Tuesday night, both Mexico and the U.S. pledged joint actions to modernize and improve infrastructure along key parts of their border, enhance law enforcement cooperation against fentanyl smuggling and promote clean energy.
Biden also said that a “major anti smuggling operation” against fentanyl traffickers has been underway since April and had led to more than 3,000 arrests, and that both countries would continue to cooperate. In addition to the pilot program exploring more avenues for legal migration, Biden noted that the U.S. has already worked to expand visa programs for workers from Mexico and Central America.
Despite broad agreement on legal migration efforts, though, the Biden administration was less clear about how much it urged Mexico to stop people heading through its territory to then cross into the U.S. illegally. That was a key demand of Trump and his hardline immigration policies.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who has been tasked with exploring the root causes of immigration across Latin America, also hosted López Obrador for a Tuesday breakfast. Speaking with Mexico’s president outside the Naval Observatory, which is the vice president’s residence, Harris referenced visiting his country previously.
“The time that I spent with you in Mexico was so special to me,” she said, noting the “friendship that has been so important to both nations.”
“She is our friend,” López Obrador said. “But also a woman with principles. An intelligent woman. Honest. She is a partisan of equality. So I congratulate the American people because they have a first order vice president.” | https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/news/nation-world/mexico-agrees-to-invest-smart-border-technology/507-341a7923-c58f-482b-b91f-d92858e48eff | 2022-07-13 14:32:30 | 1 | https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/news/nation-world/mexico-agrees-to-invest-smart-border-technology/507-341a7923-c58f-482b-b91f-d92858e48eff |
PITTSBURGH, Dec. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "I wanted to create a way to assist people with creating the life that they imagine by indulging in virtual experiences, scents, and sounds," said an inventor, from Hopewell Junction, N.Y., "so I invented the I- EN VISION. My design offers a more immersive way to fully envision your desired reality."
The invention provides an improved way to create a vision board. In doing so, it offers multi-sensory effects for exploring your inner-self. As a result, it assists with manifesting the lifestyle, soul mate, home or other possessions desired. It also allows the user to practice meditation in a soothing environment. The invention features a unique design that is easy to use so it is ideal for consumers embracing a New Age lifestyle and individuals who practice meditation and yoga. Additionally, it is producible in design variations.
The original design was submitted to the National sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 21-CPC-675, InventHelp, 217 Ninth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, or call (412) 288-1300 ext. 1368. Learn more about InventHelp's Invention Submission Services at http://www.InventHelp.com.
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SOURCE InventHelp | https://www.weau.com/prnewswire/2022/12/16/inventhelp-inventor-develops-multi-sensory-vision-board-cpc-675/ | 2022-12-16 18:25:27 | 1 | https://www.weau.com/prnewswire/2022/12/16/inventhelp-inventor-develops-multi-sensory-vision-board-cpc-675/ |
YICHANG, China, June 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "Qu Yuan belongs not only to Yichang City, but also the world and all mankind," Wang Li, vice governor of central China's Hubei Province and top official of Yichang City, said emotionally as he addressed the opening ceremony of the 2022 Qu Yuan's Hometown Dragon Boat Culture Festival held on June 2 in Yichang.
Yichang is the hometown of Qu Yuan, a well-known poet and a minister of the State of Chu during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC), whose death was closely related with the origin of China's Dragon Boat Festival, a day traditionally marked with dragon boat races and eating Zongzi, a pyramid-shaped dumpling made of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves.
After the opening ceremony, a grand original performance named "China in the songs of Chu Kingdom" was staged. Fifteen programs in various forms, including song and dance, drum performance, acrobatics and rap, presented a cultural audio-visual feast to audiences at home and abroad, according to the Publicity Department of Yichang Municipality.
On June 3, a total of 16 teams with over 400 participants from Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Guangdong and other provincial regions competed in a dragon boat race in Yichang's Zigui County with the backdrop of the Three Gorges Dam to celebrate the traditional Chinese festival.
Yichang's Dragon Boat Culture Festival activities seek to present the city's rich cultural deposits related with Qu Yuan. In addition to the opening ceremony, a dragon boat race, an investment match-making meeting, folk performances and other activities, the first Qu Yuan culture research international forum, the annual meeting of the Chinese Association of Qu Yuan, a global collection of works on Qu Yuan from young writers and other activities were also held.
As a national Dragon Boat Festival event, the Qu Yuan's hometown Dragon Boat Culture Festival has been held six times, with an average of 150,000 visits each year. In 2009, the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival, with Qu Yuan's hometown Dragon Boat Culture Festival as its main content, was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Therefore, Dragon Boat Festival has become a thousand-year-old cultural event and a cultural symbol with global influence in Qu Yuan's hometown of Yichang.
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SOURCE Publicity Department of Yichang Municipality | https://www.wlbt.com/prnewswire/2022/06/06/central-chinas-yichang-city-holds-qu-yuans-hometown-dragon-boat-culture-festival/ | 2022-06-06 04:50:33 | 1 | https://www.wlbt.com/prnewswire/2022/06/06/central-chinas-yichang-city-holds-qu-yuans-hometown-dragon-boat-culture-festival/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — This year’s midterm elections are playing out as a strange continuation of the last presidential race — and a potential preview of the next one.
Donald Trump, who refused to exit the stage after his defeat and continues to rally his supporters with lies about voter fraud, has spent months raging against Joe Biden, reshaping down-ballot campaigns that normally function as a straightforward referendum on the incumbent president.
The result is an episode of political shadowboxing with little precedent, as the current president and his immediate predecessor — and possible future challenger — crisscross the country in support of their party’s candidates.
Even as he faces multiple investigations, including a criminal probe into the handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Trump has been holding raucous rallies in battleground states, where he alternates between touting his handpicked candidates and denouncing his enemies. He belittles and excoriates Biden while lying, as he did in Ohio last month, that “we didn’t lose” the last election.
Biden has so far steered clear of some of the tightest midterm races, instead focusing on fundraisers and official events where he draws contrasts between Democratic and Republican policy agendas. He often avoids direct references to “the last guy,” but on Saturday in Oregon, Biden warned that “Trump controls the Republican Party.”
Sometimes the two men travel to the same places, such as when they visited Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, within days of each other, a reflection of the narrow political map that will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.
“It’s remarkably unusual,” said Jeffrey Engel, founding director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University, who strained to think of any comparison in previous election cycles.
“Without exception, since the Great Depression” — Republican Herbert Hoover tried to plot a path back to power despite losing to Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932 — “we have not had a former president who believed they still had a viable political career ahead of them,” he said.
Neither Trump nor Biden has formally announced they will run again. Trump has come close to declaring his candidacy, and Biden has said he intends to seek a second term.
If they face off again, the competition between them could become one of the longest and impactful political duels in American history, spanning several years and multiple elections.
Voters seem to have little appetite for a rematch.
A recent AP-NORC poll shows only about 3 in 10 Americans want either Biden or Trump to run for president in two years. Just 5 in 10 Democrats want Biden to seek a second term, while 6 out of 10 Republicans hope to see Trump seek the presidency again.
Engel said another battle between Biden and Trump would likely prove dispiriting.
“What that fundamentally means is our country is not moving forward,” he said. “I have not met anybody who relishes that campaign.”
However, it’s clear that both men see their fortunes tied to the other.
When CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Biden whether he’s the only one who could fend off his predecessor in another campaign, the president sidestepped the question but expressed confidence about his chances.
“I believe I can beat Donald Trump again,” he said.
Trump would take issue with the use of the word “again” — he continues to spread the lie that Biden only took office through voter fraud.
It’s an integral part of Trump’s political message, and he never fails to bring it up at rallies for Republican candidates who have endorsed his false views on the last election. Sometimes the rhetoric dives even deeper into conspiracies, a reminder that another campaign could represent an even sharper break with reality.
In Arizona, during his most recent rally, Trump darkly suggested that Biden is surrounded by “vicious, very smart people” who are “pulling strings.”
“No one thought this could happen in our country, and it all happened because of a rigged and stolen election,” he said.
The former president has also tightened his embrace of the QAnon conspiracy theory, which portrays Trump as battling sinister, hidden forces.
Using his Truth Social platform, Trump shared an image of himself wearing a Q lapel pin overlaid with the words “The Storm is Coming,” referencing his eventual victory over opponents who would be tried — or even executed — on live television.
People close to Trump have said they believe a strong performance by Republicans in November will further encourage Trump to run again in two years, as he has been openly teasing for months.
In addition to his rallies, which earn candidates local media attention and fire up the Republican base, Trump has been helping candidates in other ways, holding fundraisers and tele-rally calls on their behalf. Most significantly, last week, his new super PAC, MAGA Inc., reserved nearly $5 million in airtime for ads in key states attacking the opponents of his favored candidates.
The first round of ads from the group notably do not feature Trump or even mention his name. Republicans have expressed frustration that Trump was hoarding small-dollar donations for himself and refusing to help the candidates he had pushed voters to nominate, despite sitting on an enormous war chest.
But Mike DuHaime, a longtime Republican strategist, isn’t sure the outcome of the midterms will make a difference in Trump’s plans for the next presidential race.
“He’ll take credit for every win and deflect blame for every loss,” he said.
Trump has claimed, as he did in Pennsylvania last month, that the midterms are “a referendum on the corruption and extremism of Joe Biden and the radical Democrat party.”
But DuHaime said Trump has prevented that from happening by injecting himself into this year’s races, providing a boost to Biden, whose poll numbers remain underwater as voters express concerns about the economy.
“Trump is no ordinary president, nor did he really seem to care about the party,” he said. “He seems to care about himself more than the party that put him in office.”
Biden’s circle has a similar view. An adviser, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations, said those around Biden see the midterms as having become more of a choice than a referendum. Trump’s presence on the trail, the adviser said, is seen as helping make Democratic points for them.
Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster, said the only thing more helpful would be if Trump announced another presidential campaign.
“He’s getting dangerously close to that,” she said.
Biden has deferred any announcement about his own candidacy until after Election Day, keeping his focus on the midterms.
Like other incumbent presidents in an election year, Biden has blended his political and governmental duties as voting begins.
He stopped in Colorado on Wednesday to designate the first national monument of his administration, fulfilling the wishes of the state’s senior Democratic senator, Michael Bennet, who is seeking reelection this year. Although Bennet is favored to win, he’s facing a concerted challenge from Joe O’Dea, a Republican businessman.
___
Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in New York and Hannah Fingerhut in Washington contributed to this report.
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the midterm elections at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections.
___
This story has been corrected to show the Colorado senator’s surname is Bennet, not Bennett. | https://fox59.com/news/politics/ap-politics/ap-for-biden-and-trump-2022-is-2020-sequel-and-2024-preview/ | 2022-10-17 19:02:23 | 1 | https://fox59.com/news/politics/ap-politics/ap-for-biden-and-trump-2022-is-2020-sequel-and-2024-preview/ |
It's been about two weeks since a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon entered American airspace late last month. In that time China's response has shifted from conciliatory to indignant, and now, as the fallout continues, to outright confrontational.
While China's increasingly hardline stance plays to its domestic audience, it's also served to expose the inconsistencies and inherent contradictions in Beijing's messaging -- severely damaging its credibility, analysts say.
On Monday, Beijing accused Washington of "illegally" flying high-altitude balloons over its airspace more than 10 times since last year, calling the US the "world's largest surveillance empire."
The claim -- made without any detail or evidence -- was swiftly denied by the White House, which described the allegation as "the latest example of China scrambling to do damage control."
The accusation marks a notable escalation in China's response, and stands in stark contrast to its initial attempt at crisis management. Beijing offered a rare expression of "regret" soon after the discovery of the balloon over Montana, claiming the device was a civilian research airship blown off course.
But the political and diplomatic repercussions have prevented the balloon incident from drawing to a close as quickly as Beijing might have hoped.
When it became apparent the controversy would continue to dominate US headlines and public attention, Beijing's contrition turned to ire.
After American fighter jets shot down the balloon on February 4, China's Foreign Ministry accused the US of "overreacting" and "seriously violating international practice."
The following week, as American officials revealed more information on what they call the spy balloon and the vast surveillance program behind it, Chinese state media blamed the US for engaging in "political performance art" and "hyping up" the "China threat."
Now, Beijing appears to be going on the offensive with its counter-claim about US balloon intrusion.
Collin Koh, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, described China's claims as "a sort of one-upmanship tit-for-tat against Washington's accusations."
"It appears more like Beijing is trying to also portray itself as a victim of US surveillance, instead of being painted over the past week as an aggressor," he said.
On Monday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson also accused the US of frequently sending warships and planes to carry out close-range reconnaissance against China, which the spokesman claimed amounted to a total of 657 times last year -- and 64 times this January in the South China Sea.
Drew Thompson, a senior research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, called China's latest tactic "a large case of what-aboutism."
"They're not addressing the gross violation of US sovereignty that occurred with the surveillance balloon over Montana. They are trying to see perhaps some sort of false equivalency but they're they're struggling to do that. I think they're largely signaling their own population to ensure that they're not overly caught up in the contradiction of China's position," he said.
"And it's been quite contradictory. And it's largely directed towards the domestic audience, which is why I think it lacks credibility with the other countries."
Thompson, a former US Defense Department official, said the US military does use balloons, both tethered and high-altitude, for surveillance, but they are "very careful" to make sure they do not go into other countries' airspace unless it's a cooperative operation.
The US has trained using balloons for surveillance with allies and partners, including with the Philippines in 2022 as part of their annual joint military exercises, according to Thompson.
"'Everybody spies' is a poorly considered trope that does not justify China's intrusion in other countries' airspace. How countries conduct surveillance and reconnaissance matters, just as respect for international law, and the Law of the Sea matters," he said.
Sovereignty over the air
China did not provide any details of the alleged incursions of US balloons into its airspace -- when and where they occurred, or whether it responded in any way at the time.
The accusation is also complicated by how China defines its airspace, especially given its contested territorial claims in the South China Sea, experts say.
A country's sovereign airspace is the portion of the atmosphere that sits above its territory, including its territorial waters that extend 12 nautical miles from its land. Above the ocean beyond the 12 nautical mile limit is considered international airspace, where commercial and military aircraft -- including balloons -- are allowed to engage in overflight without seeking permission, said Donald Rothwell, a professor of international law at Australian National University.
But Koh, the military expert in Singapore, said Beijing doesn't necessarily draw distinction between national airspace and international airspace in practice.
"In the past and till recently, the Chinese military had challenged foreign military aerial activities in the international airspace in such manner as though it's national airspace," he said, citing the 2001 collision between a US Navy spy plane with a Chinese fighter jet over the South China Sea as an example.
Koh, who specializes in maritime security and naval affairs in the Indo-Pacific, said existing Chinese official positions espoused on the contested South China Sea clusters, such as the Spratly Islands, did not explicitly highlight the status of the airspace over the claimed waters and terrestrial features, even though the airspace over Chinese-occupied features are claimed as national airspace.
"In recent years, the Chinese military has also been challenging foreign military aerial activities over the Spratlys, including those run by the Filipinos when they flew close to the Chinese-occupied outposts," he said.
Conflicting island and maritime claims in the South China Sea can well extend into the skies, as what China defines as its airspace above the islands and waters it claims as its own may not be recognized by other countries, such as the United States.
China has also undertaken significant land reclamation and built at least seven artificial islands in the South China Sea. But according to international law, an artificial island does not give any airspace sovereignty, Rothwell said.
"One possible interpretation of what China has said is that the United States has launched surveillance balloons over and within the South China Sea -- close to one of those artificial or disputed islands claimed by China, and China has identified those as examples of breaches of Chinese airspace," Rothwell said. "But of course, the United States would come back and say: 'Well, we actually don't recognize Chinese sovereignty over these features.'"
In addition to existing territorial disputes, the definition of national airspace is also complicated by the fact that the upper limit of the sovereign airspace is not completely settled under international law.
In practice, it generally extends to the maximum height at which commercial and military aircraft operate, according to Rothwell. Concorde, a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner, operated at 60,000 feet (18,300 meters), setting a precedent for how high national airspace may extend to, he said.
The Chinese balloon was hovering at 60,000 feet when it was spotted in Montana, according to US officials, placing it squarely in US airspace. China did not clarify at what altitudes the alleged incursions of US balloons occurred.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.albanyherald.com/news/china-goes-on-the-offensive-as-balloon-fallout-threatens-to-damage-credibility/article_b26c001e-c18d-5244-ac97-c0edf8a329d7.html | 2023-02-14 11:10:05 | 1 | https://www.albanyherald.com/news/china-goes-on-the-offensive-as-balloon-fallout-threatens-to-damage-credibility/article_b26c001e-c18d-5244-ac97-c0edf8a329d7.html |
U.S. Senate and House members proposed a new no-fly list for unruly passengers on Wednesday, an idea that was pushed by airline unions but failed to gain traction last year.
The legislation would let the Transportation Security Administration ban people convicted or fined for assaulting or interfering with airline crew members.
It would be separate from the current FBI-run no-fly list, which is intended to prevent people suspected of terrorism ties from boarding planes.
The number of incidents involving unruly passengers dropped sharply last year after a judge struck down a federal requirement to wear masks on planes. However, incidents serious enough to be investigated by federal officials remained more than five times higher than before the pandemic.
“The violent incidents have not stopped,” said Cher Taylor, a Frontier Airlines flight attendant who said she witnessed a passenger attack another in 2021 in Miami and walk away before police arrived. At a news conference outside the Capitol Taylor said “Strong penalties are needed to curb violent and unacceptable behavior. Bad behavior should not fly.”
Civil libertarians vowed to oppose the measure. They say the FBI no-fly list is not transparent and unfairly targets people of color, and that the new list would have the same problems. They also say that the Federal Aviation Administration is cracking down on bad behavior, and that reports of unruly passengers are declining.
“If Congress wants to further reduce air-rage incidents on aircraft, it should look at forcing the airlines to make flying a less miserable experience,” said Jay Stanley, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union.
The new measure was introduced by Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Reps. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Penn.
The lawmakers said the bill includes guidelines for notifying people that they are being placed on the list, and how to appeal. The bill would let TSA decide how long a person would be banned from flying on commercial planes.
Similar legislation failed to get a hearing in Congress last year. Supporters hope their chances have improved because of high-profile incidents like that involving a passenger who stabbed at a flight attendant with a broken-off spoon this month.
Individual airlines maintain lists of passengers they have banned but resist sharing names with other airlines, partly out of fear they could violate laws against cooperation among competing carriers. | https://www.koin.com/news/business/ap-business/congress-to-consider-new-no-fly-list-for-unruly-passengers/ | 2023-03-30 17:57:46 | 0 | https://www.koin.com/news/business/ap-business/congress-to-consider-new-no-fly-list-for-unruly-passengers/ |
NEW YORK, June 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Weiss Law is investigating possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law by the board of directors of USA Truck, Inc. ("USA Truck" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: USAK), in connection with the proposed acquisition of the Company by DB Schenker. Under the terms of the merger agreement, the Company's shareholders will receive $31.72 in cash for each share of USA Truck common stock owned. The transaction is valued at approximately $435 million.
If you own USA Truck shares and wish to discuss this investigation or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, visit our website:
https://www.weisslaw.co/news-and-cases/usak
Or please contact:
Joshua Rubin, Esq.
Weiss Law
305 Broadway, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10007
(212) 682-3025
(888) 593-4771
stockinfo@weisslawllp.com
Weiss Law is investigating whether (i) USA Truck's board of directors acted in the best interests of Company shareholders in agreeing to the proposed transaction, (ii) the $31.72 per-share merger consideration adequately compensates USA Truck's shareholders, and (iii) all information regarding the sales process and valuation of the transaction will be fully and fairly disclosed. Notably, at least one analyst set a price target for the Company of $39 per share, $7.28 above the per-share merger consideration.
Weiss Law has litigated hundreds of stockholder class and derivative actions for violations of corporate and fiduciary duties. We have recovered over a billion dollars for defrauded clients and obtained important corporate governance relief in many of these cases. If you have information or would like legal advice concerning possible corporate wrongdoing (including insider trading, waste of corporate assets, accounting fraud, or materially misleading information), consumer fraud (including false advertising, defective products, or other deceptive business practices), or anti-trust violations, please email us at stockinfo@weisslawllp.com
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SOURCE Weiss Law | https://www.kold.com/prnewswire/2022/06/27/shareholder-alert-weiss-law-investigates-usa-truck-inc/ | 2022-06-27 22:09:23 | 1 | https://www.kold.com/prnewswire/2022/06/27/shareholder-alert-weiss-law-investigates-usa-truck-inc/ |
Judges still hold hearings, lawyers confer and offices are open, but the Bexar County Courthouse gets a lot quieter when Fiesta swirls outside.
Jury trials — and the daily summoning of hundreds of prospective panelists — will grind to a halt Thursday and won’t resume until May 1.
Once they start again, “I anticipate that week to be very busy,” Central Jury Bailiff Julieta Schulze said.
It’s a tradition that was well-established when she started working for Bexar County in 2012, dating from years when a downtown carnival closed Dolorosa Street, she said Wednesday as she prepared the “last big jury call” before the 10-day festival shuts things down.
Like a lot of courthouses across the country, no jury panels are called the week of Thanksgiving or the last two weeks of December, either. But Fiesta makes San Antonio different.
There’s that Rey Feo coronation outside, for starters. Food trucks in Main Plaza catering to the parade crowds. And the already tight parking situation at the courthouse becomes nearly impossible.
Normally, Schulze sends out 1,500 jury summons each Monday through Thursday, hoping for 550 to 600 people to appear each day once the exemptions and excuses kick in.
“Thank goodness, Bexar County residents seem to understand (the importance of) jury service, and that they have to come. It’s a court order,” she said. “We have a good turnout.”
People who receive a jury duty summons in the mail should “read the form carefully,” Schulze advises, as the questionnaire can be done online, which can save them time.
“You can go online, fill out the questionnaire, but remember to hit 'submit,' and all of the information will be in the system,” she said.
They still have to appear in person at the time designated on the card, but a barcode can get them on a jury list immediately, Schulze said.
Otherwise, prospective jurors must fill out their questionnaires in the Central Jury Room in the Cadena Reeves Justice Center and stand in line for an electronic device to take in their information.
ezavala@express-news.net | Twitter: @elizabeth2863 | https://www.expressnews.com/news/article/bexar-county-jurors-get-recess-service-fiesta-17905963.php | 2023-04-19 17:48:34 | 1 | https://www.expressnews.com/news/article/bexar-county-jurors-get-recess-service-fiesta-17905963.php |
Ohio senators introduce bipartisan bill to end death penalty
The death penalty could be abolished in Ohio under upcoming bipartisan legislation announced Tuesday
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The death penalty could be abolished in Ohio under upcoming bipartisan legislation announced Tuesday — the latest in what has been years of effort to end capital punishment in the state.
State senators from both sides of the aisle called for an end to the practice, citing the financial blow to taxpayers to keep an inmate on death row, the lack of lethal injection drugs that has led to an unofficial moratorium on executions in the state, the danger of executing an innocent person and questions over a state's right to end a life.
“This isn’t a Republican or Democratic issue," said bill sponsor Sen. Nickie Antonio, a Lakewood Democrat. ”No matter what a person’s reason for supporting this legislation, it’s critical for our own collective humanity."
The proposal is far from new. Antonio and GOP Sen. Steve Huffman of Tipp City introduced the measure last session. It failed to get any traction, as it has for several legislative sessions despite support from some of the majority Republicans.
But growing public opposition to the death penalty has Antonio hopeful this time around, she said at Tuesday's press conference, as does a fresh General Assembly that includes a dozen Senators who support ending the death penalty.
First-term Republican Sen. Michelle Reynolds said she backs the measure because she is “pro-life” and believes human life should not be used as a bargaining chip.
“Life is our most precious gift, and our statutes should uphold and uplift this,” Reynolds said.
It's not clear where legislative leadership could take the bill. GOP Senate President Matt Huffman — Steve Huffman's cousin — supports the death penalty, though he previously said he's open to debate and discussion on the topic. Republican House Speaker Jason Stephens also said he was open to further debate in Legislature.
Currently, Ohio has an unofficial moratorium on capital punishment, after GOP Gov. Mike DeWine instructed lawmakers to find an alternative method to lethal injection, citing the state's inability to obtain the needed drugs. He has delayed several executions since.
The state's last execution was July 18, 2018, when Ohio put to death Robert Van Hook for killing David Self in Cincinnati in 1985. Ohio currently has 134 people on death row, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center.
The Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association opposes the legislation, calling it “dangerous” and saying it would cut Ohio's “worst criminals” a break.
Republican Attorney General Dave Yost, a supporter of the death penalty, said in a statement that the bill provides a platform to discuss a needed overhaul of Ohio's capital punishment system, calling it “a farce and a broken promise of justice.”
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Samantha Hendrickson is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. | https://www.cleveland19.com/2023/03/29/ohio-senators-introduce-bipartisan-bill-end-death-penalty/ | 2023-03-29 16:39:39 | 0 | https://www.cleveland19.com/2023/03/29/ohio-senators-introduce-bipartisan-bill-end-death-penalty/ |
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Jason Cook trainee and 36-1 longshot Three Technique overwhelms the field in the final stretch to win the first Knicks Go Stakes. | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/36-1-longshot-three-technique-wins-knicks-go | 2023-06-28 14:42:03 | 0 | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/36-1-longshot-three-technique-wins-knicks-go |
MAYFLOWER, Ark. – S.W.A.T. Team, Drug Task Force, and several police agencies flooded into Mayflower Monday afternoon after an attempted robbery ended in gunfire.
Police said they arrested the man within an hour but had to go to great extremes to get the suspect in custody.
Mayflower PD said it was just before 1 p.m. Monday afternoon when they responded to an apparent armed robbery, with one person shot on East Ridge Road.
Lexa Price witnessed it all first-hand as it happened in the driveway of his home.
“I don’t know it just happened so fast,” Price said.
A quiet Monday afternoon, interrupted by gunfire, after an alleged attempted robbery happened on East Ridge Rd.
“I hear gunshots out here and I come out here and Josh Miller and my buddy Ivy are running around the truck,” Price stated.
According to police, it all began when the suspect, Joshua Miller, tried to rob the man as he was working outside of Price’s home.
There was a scuffle and Miller shot the victim.
When police arrived at the home, Miller was nowhere to be found.
“He just fled on foot, not in a vehicle or anything. He got within less than a mile from the house,” Criminal Investigation Unit for Mayflower Police Lieutenant Taylor Decker said.
“We thought he went down through the backyard, but he jumped the freeway,” Price said. “I was like y’all want me to help you find him? Can I run him over if I see him.”
Police said they had to cross the interstate with the K-9 officers, and at the road where it all happened, there was a heavy law enforcement presence, consisting of over five agencies, including State Police and the S.W.A.T. Team.
“At one time, we had a man running around with a gun, we didn’t know where he was, so we were asking people to shelter in place lock their doors, stay inside,” Decker said.
Now as Leza steps back to process what happened in his driveway, he said it is a scary world to live in.
“I can’t believe all of the shootings going on, everyone is so quick to shoot somebody, all the shootings that has happened,” Price said.
Police said the suspect had no relation to the victim and that the suspect was semi local.
Miller was arrested and being charged with attempted first-degree murder, terroristic act, aggravated robbery, and other felony and misdemeanor charges. | https://www.kark.com/news/local-news/mayflower-man-recounts-robbery-and-shooting-of-friend/ | 2023-07-25 05:00:35 | 0 | https://www.kark.com/news/local-news/mayflower-man-recounts-robbery-and-shooting-of-friend/ |
SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 7, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Couchbase, Inc. (NASDAQ: BASE), the cloud database platform company, today announced financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended January 31, 2023.
"We delivered another strong quarter of sustained growth along with substantial operational progress in fiscal 2023," said Matt Cain, Chair, President and CEO of Couchbase. "This is a direct result of great execution across the company, which we are particularly pleased with despite this more challenging macro environment. As we begin fiscal 2024, we remain sharply focused on delivering top-line growth, increasing Capella adoption, driving further sales and marketing efficiency and improving profitability."
Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2023 Financial Highlights
- Revenue: Total revenue for the quarter was $41.6 million, an increase of 19% year-over-year. Subscription revenue for the quarter was $38.1 million, an increase of 16% year-over-year.
- Annual recurring revenue (ARR): Total ARR as of January 31, 2023 was $163.7 million, an increase of 23% year-over-year, or 24% on a constant currency basis. See the section titled "Key Business Metrics" below for details.
- Gross margin: Gross margin for the quarter was 85.7%, compared to 88.2% for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022. Non-GAAP gross margin for the quarter was 86.3%, compared to 88.7% for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022. See the section titled "Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures" and the tables titled "Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Results" below for details.
- Loss from operations: Loss from operations for the quarter was $18.5 million, compared to $12.7 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022. Non-GAAP operating loss for the quarter was $9.9 million, compared to $9.1 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022.
- Cash flow: Cash flow used in operating activities for the quarter was $10.2 million, compared to $2.7 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022. Capital expenditures were $1.6 million during the quarter, leading to negative free cash flow of $11.8 million, compared to negative free cash flow of $2.7 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022.
- Remaining performance obligations (RPO): RPO as of January 31, 2023 was $165.9 million, an increase of 3% year-over-year.
Full Year Fiscal 2023 Financial Highlights
- Revenue: Total revenue for the year was $154.8 million, an increase of 25% year-over-year. Subscription revenue for the year was $142.9 million, an increase of 23% year-over-year.
- Gross margin: Gross margin for the year was 86.9%, compared to 88.0% for fiscal 2022. Non-GAAP gross margin for the year was 87.6%, compared to 88.4% for fiscal 2022.
- Loss from operations: Loss from operations for the year was $69.3 million, compared to $56.3 million for fiscal 2022. Non-GAAP operating loss for the year was $41.3 million, compared to $45.5 million for fiscal 2022.
- Cash flow: Cash flows used in operating activities for the year were $41.2 million, compared to $41.6 million in fiscal 2022. Capital expenditures were $5.6 million during the year, leading to negative free cash flow of $46.8 million, compared to negative free cash flow of $42.4 million in fiscal 2022.
Recent Business Highlights
- Announced the Couchbase Capella Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS) offering on Azure, allowing customers to improve alignment with applications and support hybrid and multi-cloud strategies from a single platform. Microsoft Azure customers worldwide gain access to Capella to take advantage of the scalability, reliability and agility of Capella on Azure to drive application development and shape business strategies.
- Announced a newly enhanced Independent Software Vendor (ISV) partner program that provides training, certifications, migration support and resources to cost-efficiently help ISVs modernize applications.
- Recognized in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Cloud Database Management Systems, December 2022.
- Appointed Fidelma Butler as Chief People Officer to lead the people function. Butler brings a wealth of experience and leadership, with a focus on scaling SaaS teams and building award-winning company culture, and was previously a vice president at Zendesk.
Financial Outlook
For the first quarter and full year of fiscal 2024, Couchbase expects:
The guidance provided above is based on several assumptions that are subject to change and many of which are outside our control. If actual results vary from these assumptions, our expectations may change. There can be no assurance that we will achieve these results.
Couchbase is not able, at this time, to provide GAAP targets for operating loss for the first quarter or full year of fiscal 2024 because of the difficulty of estimating certain items excluded from non-GAAP operating loss that cannot be reasonably predicted, such as charges related to stock-based compensation expense. The effect of these excluded items may be significant.
Conference Call Information
Couchbase will host a live webcast at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time (or 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time) on Tuesday, March 7, 2023, to discuss its financial results and business highlights. The conference call can be accessed by dialing 877-407-8029 from the United States, or +1 201-689-8029 from international locations. The live webcast and a webcast replay can be accessed from the investor relations page of Couchbase's website at investors.couchbase.com.
Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems, December 2022
GARTNER and Magic Quadrant are registered trademarks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's Research & Advisory organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
About Couchbase
Modern customer experiences need a flexible database platform that can power applications spanning from cloud to edge and everything in between. Couchbase's mission is to simplify how developers and architects develop, deploy and consume modern applications wherever they are. We have reimagined the database with our fast, flexible and affordable cloud database platform Capella, allowing organizations to quickly build applications that deliver premium experiences to their customers – all with best-in-class price performance. More than 30% of the Fortune 100 trust Couchbase to power their modern applications. For more information, visit www.couchbase.com and follow us on Twitter @couchbase.
Couchbase has used, and intends to continue using, its investor relations website and the corporate blog at blog.couchbase.com to disclose material non-public information and to comply with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Accordingly, you should monitor our investor relations website and the corporate blog in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings and public conference calls and webcasts.
Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
In addition to our financial information presented in accordance with GAAP, we believe certain non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors in evaluating our operating performance. We use certain non-GAAP financial measures, collectively, to evaluate our ongoing operations and for internal planning and forecasting purposes. We believe that non-GAAP financial measures, when taken together with the corresponding GAAP financial measures, may be helpful to investors because they provide consistency and comparability with past financial performance and meaningful supplemental information regarding our performance by excluding certain items that may not be indicative of our business, results of operations or outlook. Non-GAAP financial measures are presented for supplemental informational purposes only, have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for financial information presented in accordance with GAAP and may be different from similarly-titled non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies. In addition, other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate similarly-titled non-GAAP financial measures differently or may use other measures to evaluate their performance, all of which could reduce the usefulness of our non-GAAP financial measures as tools for comparison. Investors are encouraged to review the related GAAP financial measures and the reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures (provided in the financial statement tables included in this press release), and not to rely on any single financial measure to evaluate our business.
Non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating loss, non-GAAP operating margin, non-GAAP net loss attributable to common stockholders and non-GAAP net loss per share attributable to common stockholders: We define these non-GAAP financial measures as their respective GAAP measures, excluding expenses related to stock-based compensation expense, employer taxes on employee stock transactions and restructuring charges. We use these non-GAAP financial measures in conjunction with GAAP measures to assess our performance, including in the preparation of our annual operating budget and quarterly forecasts, to evaluate the effectiveness of our business strategies and to communicate with our board of directors concerning our financial performance.
Beginning with the first quarter of fiscal 2023, we have excluded employer payroll taxes on employee stock transactions, which is a cash expense, from our non-GAAP results. These payroll taxes have been excluded from our non-GAAP results because they are tied to the timing and size of the exercise or vesting of the underlying equity awards, and the price of our common stock at the time of vesting or exercise may vary from period to period independent of the operating performance of our business. Prior period non-GAAP financial measures have not been adjusted to reflect this change, and the effect of this change is not material for any period previously presented.
Free cash flow: We define free cash flow as cash used in operating activities less additions of property and equipment, which includes capitalized internal-use software costs. We believe free cash flow is a useful indicator of liquidity that provides our management, board of directors and investors with information about our future ability to generate or use cash to enhance the strength of our balance sheet and further invest in our business and pursue potential strategic initiatives.
Please see the reconciliation tables at the end of this press release for the reconciliation of GAAP and non-GAAP results.
Key Business Metrics
We review a number of operating and financial metrics, including ARR, to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate business plans and make strategic decisions.
We define ARR as of a given date as the annualized recurring revenue that we would contractually receive from our customers in the month ending 12 months following such date. Based on historical experience with customers, we assume all contracts will be automatically renewed at the same levels unless we receive notification of non-renewal and are no longer in negotiations prior to the measurement date. ARR also includes revenue from consumption-based cloud credits of Couchbase Capella products. ARR for Couchbase Capella products in a customer's initial year is calculated as described above; after a customer's initial year it is calculated by annualizing the prior 90 days of actual consumption, assuming no increases or reductions in usage. ARR excludes revenue derived from the use of cloud products only based on on-demand arrangements and services revenue. ARR should be viewed independently of revenue, and does not represent our revenue under GAAP on an annualized basis, as it is an operating metric that can be impacted by contract start and end dates and renewal dates. ARR is not intended to be a replacement for forecasts of revenue. Although we seek to increase ARR as part of our strategy of targeting large enterprise customers, this metric may fluctuate from period to period based on our ability to acquire new customers and expand within our existing customers. We believe that our ARR is an important indicator of the growth and performance of our business. We updated our definition of ARR beginning in the first quarter of fiscal 2023 to include revenue from consumption-based cloud credits of Couchbase Capella products by annualizing the prior 90 days of actual consumption, assuming no increases or reductions in usage, and updated in the third quarter of fiscal 2023 to clarify that the 90-day actual consumption methodology is only used after a customer's initial year. The reason for these changes is to better reflect the ARR for Couchbase Capella products following the launch of Couchbase Capella in fiscal 2022. ARR for prior periods have not been adjusted to reflect these changes as they are not material to any period previously presented.
We also attempt to represent the changes in the underlying business operations by eliminating fluctuations caused by changes in foreign currency exchange rates within the current period. We calculate constant currency growth rates by applying the applicable prior period exchange rates to current period results.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are based on management's beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to management. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, quotations of management, the section titled "Financial Outlook" above and statements about Couchbase's market position, strategies and potential market opportunities. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or our future financial or operating performance. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical facts and, in some cases, can be identified by terms such as "anticipate," "expect," "intend," "plan," "believe," "continue," "could," "potential," "remain," "may," "might," "will," "would" or similar expressions and the negatives of those terms. However, not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including factors beyond our control, which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks include, but are not limited to: our history of net losses and ability to achieve or maintain profitability in the future; our ability to continue to grow on pace with historical rates; our ability to manage our growth effectively; intense competition and our ability to compete effectively; cost-effectively acquiring new customers or obtaining renewals, upgrades or expansions from our existing customers; the market for our products and services being relatively new and evolving, and our future success depending on the growth and expansion of this market; our ability to innovate in response to changing customer needs, new technologies or other market requirements; our limited operating history, which makes it difficult to predict our future results of operations; the significant fluctuation of our future results of operations and ability to meet the expectations of analysts or investors; our significant reliance on revenue from subscriptions, which may decline and, the recognition of a significant portion of revenue from subscriptions over the term of the relevant subscription period, which means downturns or upturns in sales are not immediately reflected in full in our results of operations; and the impact of geopolitical and macroeconomic factors and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Further information on risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from forecasted results are included in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that we may file from time to time, including those more fully described in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended October 31, 2022. Additional information will be made available in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 31, 2023 that will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which should be read in conjunction with this press release and the financial results included herein. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of this date. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons if actual results differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements.
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Additions continue growth of IgniteTech software library
AUSTIN, Texas, July 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- IgniteTech™, the company "Where Software Goes to Live™," today announced a transition of two software products from the ESW Capital portfolio to IgniteTech. Two solutions previously managed under the DevGraph Business Unit, FogBugz and ScaleArc, have transitioned to IgniteTech effective immediately.
FogBugz is an easy-to-use project management system for agile development teams. It supports numerous project management methodologies — including Scrum, Kanban, or Scrumban — with a lightweight design and customization to easily integrate with any project management workflow.
"FogBugz has been trusted for decades by hundreds of thousands of developers," said Eric Vaughan, CEO of IgniteTech. "We're excited to be the new home for this legendary solution and diverse customer base."
The second solution transitioning is ScaleArc, a database load balancer that boosts performance and overcomes scaling limits. It simplifies the process of managing databases and database migrations while preventing service outages and downtime. IgniteTech was involved in the initial acquisition of the ScaleArc company on Jan 18, 2018.
"I'm thrilled to welcome ScaleArc customers back to IgniteTech," said Vaughan. "ScaleArc is an incredibly powerful tool, used by customers with the highest performance and reliability demands — including one of the world's largest securities exchanges — and it's exciting to drive innovation forward for the customer base who depends on its performance."
These new additions will continue the Company's record growth in 2021 and 2022, as the IgniteTech software library now houses over 60 solutions across all industries, markets, and technologies.
The transition is also good news for all existing IgniteTech customers because it adds two additional titles available to them at no additional cost under IgniteTech Unlimited — the groundbreaking, Netflix-style licensing model that gives every customer access to the entire IgniteTech enterprise solution portfolio at no additional cost. Watch the video here to quickly understand the incredible value this program offers.
The IgniteTech team will communicate changes directly to customers, if any; however, a smooth and effortless transition should be expected. Any questions regarding this change can be sent to success@ignitetech.com.
IgniteTech is one of the world's leading enterprise software companies. Founded in 2010, IgniteTech is an innovative, privately-held company and a member of the ESW Capital group of companies. Building on its corporate vision, "Where Software Goes to Live™," IgniteTech grows exclusively through acquisitions. The Company continues to deliver on its promise of revitalizing enterprise software through the three pillars of the IgniteTech corporate vision: 1) to save and stabilize the software and businesses it acquires; 2) to continuously innovate and transition products to the AWS cloud; and 3) to add unlimited value with its one-of-a-kind, Netflix-style software subscription, which provides customers access to all products in IgniteTech's solution suites.
For Media Inquiries:
media@ignitetech.com
For Business Inquiries:
success@ignitetech.com
All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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DETROIT (AP) _ The winning numbers in Sunday evening's drawing of the Michigan Lottery's "Daily 3" game were:
6-7-4
(six, seven, four)
DETROIT (AP) _ The winning numbers in Sunday evening's drawing of the Michigan Lottery's "Daily 3" game were:
6-7-4
(six, seven, four) | https://www.seattlepi.com/lottery/article/Winning-numbers-drawn-in-Daily-3-game-17282736.php | 2022-07-04 00:40:29 | 1 | https://www.seattlepi.com/lottery/article/Winning-numbers-drawn-in-Daily-3-game-17282736.php |
Alexandria "Lexi" Aniyah Rubio was looking forward to playing volleyball when she got to junior high. She dreamed of going to law school one day, and she loved astrology, butterflies, and the color yellow.
These elements of Lexi's personality now surround a freshly painted portrait of her on the side of a cream-colored building in downtown Uvalde, TX. The building faces the parking lot where Lexi's mom, Kimberly Rubio, used to park for work. She still passes it regularly when she goes out for a run.
"It'll be a place where I can remember her, but it'll be a happy place, not like the other places in town," Kimberly says. Lexi's dreams and aspirations are captured in this mural because she didn't have the chance to make it to law school, or even junior high.
She was finishing fourth grade when she was killed in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in May. She was one of the 19 children and two teachers killed that day – victims who are now also being memorialized in murals like Lexi's. Now, three months after the shooting, families of victims and survivors are grappling with its consequences and the decision to send kids back to school for the first time since the tragedy.
Kimberly, along with her husband, Felix Rubio, are trying to cope with their loss by keeping the memory of their 10-year-old alive. They describe her as hardworking and ambitious.
"Lexi was a quiet child, shy, smart, appreciative of life and anything that comes her way," Felix says. "Her athletic ability, we were just seeing what was coming about from her."
Lexi played softball and basketball, and had tried soccer earlier on. She was also interested in politics even at her young age, according to Kimberly.
And since the shooting, her parents have turned to activism.
Activism in the face of loss
This summer, Kimberly and Felix rallied in Washington, D.C. with survivors and families from Highland Park, Ill. – where seven people were killed and dozens were injured during a July 4th parade shooting – and have met with lawmakers to call for a federal ban on assault-style weapons.
The Rubios also testified before Congress shortly after the shooting on measures to prevent gun violence, and in their home state, they marched to the capitol in Austin last month during a rally organized by March for Our Lives.
"It's been difficult because we don't even want to get out of bed some days," Kimberly says. "But it's also necessary, and I know that we would love to say that it isn't political, but it is. That's our country. So we need change and that's just the way you go about it."
Besides a federal ban on assault-style rifles — just like the one that killed their daughter — the Rubios are asking state lawmakers to raise the minimum age for those seeking such weapons, from 18 years to 21.
"I've heard a few elected officials on board with that. We'll see, I guess," Kimberly says.
For Kimberly, being on the frontlines of activism is new. She says she much prefers being on the other side of the microphone because she used to work as a journalist for the local paper, the Uvalde Leader-News. Fighting for gun control legislation keeps her busy these days, and often distracts her from the unthinkable grief she and her family have been enduring.
Immediately after the shooting, Kimberly says, she thought about the rest of her kids. "We still have children here that we have to fight for. And then, I just kept thinking of other moms, really. I don't want anybody to feel the way I feel," she says.
For many of the families NPR spoke to in Uvalde, including the Rubios, "closure" doesn't seem feasible at this point. But Kimberly and other community members say understanding exactly what happened on May 24 may bring them one step closer to healing.
There have been calls for transparency around the federal investigation into the shooting at Robb Elementary, and there are several other ongoing investigations. District Attorney Christina Mitchell told NPR, "I can see where they see, as a community, there's a lack of transparency."
"It's going to take us a long time to heal," she says. "It's going to take us a long time to figure out what went wrong, individually, the agencies, the school, the community ... but it will get done."
For the Rubios, the pending autopsy report is also essential for a full understanding of what happened to their daughter. "That's a priority for us," Kimberly says. "That has answers: did she pass immediately? Did she suffer?"
And the Rubios want the world to remember their Lexi.
"The only way she lives is through us ... I want people to know what happened here and to join us so that it doesn't happen in their community," Kimberly says.
Preparing for a new school year after tragedy
Along with their loss, Kimberly and Felix have grappled with the same decision as other parents in Uvalde: sending their children back to classes after the tragic ending of the last school year.
For now, their children are going back to the classrooms. Their youngest son was at Robb Elementary the day of the shooting, and they had debated whether or not to send him back to school in person. They ultimately decided to try it out but have enrolled him in virtual school as a back-up option.
"I think it means something to them to kind of go back to their routine, to see their friends," Kimberly says. "We want what's best for them, so if that's what they feel is best, we're behind them and just also pushing for security; making sure that they're safe."
Safety is top of mind for many parents in town, and the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District has responded to the shooting with some security upgrades: putting up 8-foot fences around each campus, adding 500 security cameras, and spreading 33 Texas State troopers across campuses.
But Kimberly says these changes aren't enough for her to feel completely safe sending her kids back. Even a heavy police presence on campuses is not enough, she says, because even when hundreds of police officers responded to the shooting on May 24, more than an hour passed before the gunman was confronted.
"I don't think we'll ever feel comfortable with our kids being anywhere that isn't inside my home," Kimberly says. "I think about that a lot, because with school right now, but they'll go off to parades, concerts, a grocery store; where are they safe?"
The Rubios have even moved to a new house after the shooting, and safety became a priority when choosing the location. Their new home is near the junior and high schools.
"All of our kids will eventually be in this area, so if something ever happens again, we thought, 'Well, they can run home,'" Kimberly says.
Returning to school after witnessing, and surviving, the shooting
Oscar and Jessica Orona had to start reckoning with sending their 10-year old son, Noah, to school weeks ago because they opted for a private school that has been in session since mid-August. Noah was in one of the classrooms that was massacred at Robb Elementary. He was shot twice. In addition to his ongoing physical recovery, his parents say he isn't the same boy they dropped off that May morning at school.
"We kind of take everything one day at a time. We make tentative plans, because we're not sure how he's going to be feeling or if something is going to trigger him that day," Oscar says.
Even the simplest changes to their lives are telling. Jessica and Oscar say they used to take showers around the same time at night, but now, Noah prefers if they take turns so he can be with at least one parent at all times he's home.
Noah is going to Sacred Heart Catholic School this year, thanks to a scholarship awarded to 30 students who were impacted by the shooting at Robb Elementary. "He feels safe there, they were the first school that embraced enhanced security," Oscar says. Sacred Heart's principal, Joseph Olan, told NPR that the school was in the process of replacing windows and doors with ballistic grade materials, door locks are being upgraded, and new cameras have already been installed.
For the Oronas, the relatively smaller class sizes at Sacred Heart is a selling point. "He'll get more attention, which I think he's going to need. And I think he's going to do well. At least that's what our hopes are," Oscar says. The Oronas are eager to see how Noah will do in a new school environment as the year progresses. But they worry that loud sounds, or simply being in a school environment, could remind him of what happened on May 24.
Oscar says that some counselors have mentioned the possibility of Noah living with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. After all, Noah has endured unthinkable trauma: in addition to being shot twice, he was forced to lay on his classroom floor for more than an hour among his slain teachers and classmates. "I can't even begin to imagine that myself, much less a 10-year-old having to go through that," his father says.
Kayla Davis, a counselor with the newly established Uvalde branch of the Children's Bereavement Center, told NPR she's hearing similar concerns from children who survived the shooting, and their family members.
"Going back to school, fire drills, lockdown drills — anything that can remind them of what happened can put them back in that survival state," she says.
Uvalde, which is near the U.S. border with Mexico, also has a long history of car chases and school drills related to heavy police activity in the area. In her counseling sessions with families affected by shootings, Davis says she even avoids using the word "trigger" because of its association with guns.
Beyond the immediate concerns around how Noah will fare in school, Jessica and Oscar also worry about their son's long-term future. "We're worried if he's going to be able to survive and live on his own. And go off to college or whatever his ideal is," Oscar says.
Alongside a physical and mental recovery, a financial reality
Taking care of Noah now involves multiple doctor's visits, physical therapy, and counseling appointments each month. Though all the recovery-related services Noah receives are local now, for more than two months, the Oronas had to travel about 90 miles to San Antonio for many of them.
Jessica is primarily responsible for taking Noah to appointments and had to cut her work hours to accommodate them. Oscar works fewer hours than before the shooting, too. But they went back to work a week after Noah returned home from the hospital. "Because we know we have to work to pay our bills," Oscar says.
All of this has put a financial strain on Oscar and Jessica as they navigate an already stressful period. "There's a lot of money that has been distributed, donated to assist us and to assist the deceased. And we don't see a lot of that because there's a bureaucracy that we have to deal with," Oscar says.
The funds available to families of victims and survivors involve an often-dizzying web of bureaucracy. Several people who spoke to NPR expressed confusion about how to access the various funds overseen by state and local governments.
When NPR asked Uvalde's City Manager, Vince DiPiazza, about the bureaucracy families say they are facing, he suggested they should turn to non-governmental organizations for more immediate help. "For instance, the ministerial Alliance, the volunteer fire department, the American Legion," are some of the organizations DiPiazza says have been "able to more quickly turn the money around" than government-run funds.
The Oronas are grateful to the donations that have been pouring in from private donors to Uvalde. Oscar's daughter also set up a GoFundMe page for their family in the wake of the shooting, but they plan to leave that money untouched until Noah is older. "That's our base-building for when he gets to be 18, 19."
'They say we're the lucky ones. We don't feel lucky'
When speaking of the shooting, Oscar's eyes occasionally well up and his voice breaks, but Jessica says she tries not to show too much emotion. "We have to be strong for him," she says, gesturing to Noah sitting nearby, playing his Nintendo Switch.
The Oronas say that one of the hardest parts of their new reality is guilt. They have acquaintances, friends, and even relatives who lost loved ones on May 24, including Lexi Rubio's family (Oscar is Felix Rubio's uncle). Both Oscar and Jessica emphasized never wanting to take attention away from families of victims. Oscar says, "We were guilty because our son survived amidst all this carnage and everything. We were asking ourselves, 'Why? How did our son survive?'"
Jessica says their faith in God has been fundamental in their coping process. But they battle certain perceptions. "I think what a lot of people don't realize is that they say that we're the lucky ones. We don't feel lucky," Oscar says. "We want him to grow up and have a healthy, normal life, [but] we also have to prepare that maybe that's not going to happen."
The Oronas say they are trying to focus on moving forward from what happened to their community and to their son. They do that not only by advocating for Noah, but by helping foster the parts of him that they still very much recognize and love. "He is a funny kid, always trying to make us laugh. A smart aleck sometimes," says Jessica. "He loves Pokemon. He loves to draw and paint. So I think all of that, the way he used to be, will be one day. Because we're not going to let this rule our lives. We're going to go forward and overcome."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.kunm.org/npr-news/2022-09-10/three-months-after-the-tragedy-in-uvalde-this-is-how-these-families-are-coping | 2022-09-10 10:16:41 | 0 | https://www.kunm.org/npr-news/2022-09-10/three-months-after-the-tragedy-in-uvalde-this-is-how-these-families-are-coping |
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A drive-by shooting in central London wounded two children and four women, police said Sunday.
The Metropolitan Police said officers were called Saturday afternoon to a church in the Euston area where a private memorial service was taking place. Police believe gunmen fired shotgun pellets from a moving car outside the church.
“People came here to attend a funeral, to be with friends and loved ones and mourn together. Instead, they were the victims of a senseless act of violence,” police superintendent Jack Rowlands said.
A 7-year-old girl remained hospitalized Sunday with life-threatening injuries, and a 12-year-old girl sustained a leg injury, the police department said.
The Rev. Jeremy Trood told the BBC he heard a bang and people “sheltered in the church until the police said they can leave.”
Shootings in London are uncommon. Mayor Sadiq Khan described Saturday's daytime attack as a “deeply distressing incident.”
Police said an investigation was underway. | https://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/7-year-old-seriously-wounded-in-London-drive-by-17719328.php | 2023-01-15 14:17:27 | 0 | https://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/7-year-old-seriously-wounded-in-London-drive-by-17719328.php |
Imagine if when you got sick, you knew exactly what you were sick with, and therefore had an idea of how it spreads and how to treat it. That could be a reality in the future with the prevalence of at-home testing for other viruses beyond COVID.
Dr. Lisa Maragakis is a professor of medicine and infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She says the convenient and easy-to-use at-home tests for COVID-19 were a game changer during the pandemic.
"And this really raises the question of why we don't have more widespread at-home testing for other respiratory viruses like influenza or respiratory syncytial virus RSV," Dr. Maragakis said.
The so-called 'tripeldemic' of COVID-19, influenza and RSV last year brought to light the need for at-home testing for other viruses.
"One new challenge in respiratory virus season is having co-circulation of influenza, RSV and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19," Dr. Maragakis said. "And since we do have treatments that are different for the different viruses, we do need to know and cannot make the kind of empiric decisions or diagnoses that we used to be able to make in past flu seasons."
Dr. Maragakis says the science is there to create these types of tests, but they aren't widely available yet. Global life sciences company Labcorp announced last year emergency-use authorization from the FDA for an at-home collection kit that simultaneously detects COVID-19, influenza, or RSV.
You can order one online that will be shipped to your house free of charge if you have insurance. Without insurance, it's $169 dollars.
However, it's not a rapid test. It's a PCR test that you send to a lab, so it takes several days to get results. As at-home testing becomes more prevalent, Dr. Maragakis says public health leaders will need to take new challenges into consideration.
"We know, right now, that the publicly reported numbers for COVID-19 are just the tip of the iceberg because so many people are being diagnosed by these at-home tests and those data don't flow into the reported numbers," Dr. Maragakis said.
Dr. Maragakis says one solution could be developing a way for people to self report data from at-home tests. The other limitation is that not everyone may use the test correctly, and results could be inaccurate. Until health companies can provide convenient at-home tests for other viruses, Dr. Maragakis says your health care provider still offers the most precise test results. | https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/national/at-home-testing-for-viruses-could-become-a-new-norm | 2023-01-24 16:56:31 | 0 | https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/national/at-home-testing-for-viruses-could-become-a-new-norm |
Americans will get a little more time to share Netflix passwords with family members as the streaming video service announced Wednesday changes in several other countries.
The changes affect customers in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain. Netflix previously made changes in Latin America. The changes mean that users must set up their primary internet connection.
Netflix’s standard service will allow for two simultaneous streams, as customers can create up to five profiles. The company said customers in the same household can continue watching simultaneous streams.
They also say customers can continue using Netflix while on vacation.
Those in countries affected by the change can add an extra member subaccount for up to two people they don’t live with — each with a profile.
At some point, these changes could impact U.S. customers.
"Part of it is just what we call casual sharing, which is people could pay, but they don't need to, and so they're borrowing somebody's account," said Gregory K. Peters, Netflix co-CEO. "So our job is to give them a little bit of a nudge and to create features that make transitioning to their own account easy and simple."
Analysts at Cowen Inc. estimate that by adding in that extra fee for account-sharing users in North America, Netflix could make an additional $721 million in revenue this year. | https://www.kivitv.com/news/national/netflix-announces-crackdown-on-password-sharing-but-not-yet-for-us-customers | 2023-02-08 20:05:14 | 1 | https://www.kivitv.com/news/national/netflix-announces-crackdown-on-password-sharing-but-not-yet-for-us-customers |
(The Center Square) – Attorney General Ashley Moody and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement are encouraging Floridians to help fight the opioid crisis by participating in National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday.
Floridians are encouraged to properly dispose of expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs by going to local, safe drop-off locations from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Doing so, officials say, could prevent medications from falling into the wrong hands, fueling addiction or resulting in an overdose death.
“Addiction can begin with medications in your medicine cabinet, so I’m encouraging Floridians to join our fight to end the opioid crisis by disposing of expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs,” Moody said in a Thursday news conference. “These drugs could fall into the wrong hands – fueling addiction and even causing an overdose death. That is why it is so important to participate in National Drug Take Back Day, because this simple action could save a life.”
Florida Department of Law Enforcement Tampa Bay Special Agent in Charge Mark Brutnell said, “Today’s drugs are the deadliest I’ve seen in my law enforcement career. We are seeing drugs that look like prescription pills, but instead contain deadly levels of opioids. With this in mind, it is more important than ever to properly dispose of unused and expired prescription medicines to deter drug abuse.”
At a press conference held at the Lakeland Police Department, Moody, Lakeland Police Chief Sammy Taylor, Jr. and other law enforcement officials joined forces to promote Drug Take Back Day in Florida when over 200 drop-off sites will be open to receive unwanted or unused prescription medications.
“The Lakeland Police Department has been participating in the safe disposal of prescription medications for many years and are committed to providing any service we can to get these unused and expired medications out of households,” Taylor said. “This program is one where everyone can make a difference and do their part.”
State and local law enforcement agencies are working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, which launched national Drug Take Back Days. The DEA’s website has a tool that helps Americans locate a collection site near them by typing in their zip code.
Year round, Floridians can find drop-off locations as Florida’s DoseOfRealityFL.com website, which also provides comprehensive information about opioid misuse, and links to support resources.
During the 23rd Drug Take Back Day last October, 4,340 law enforcement officers nationwide provided assistance at 4,902 collection sites. They collected 324 tons of prescription drugs, the DEA reported, or 647,163 pounds.
“Too often, unused prescription drugs find their way into the wrong hands,” the DEA warns. “That’s dangerous and often tragic. That’s why it was great to see thousands of folks from across the country clean out their medicine cabinets and turn in – safely and anonymously – a record amount of prescription drugs.”
This article First appeared in the center square | https://blackchronicle.com/floridians-encouraged-to-participate-in-national-prescription-drug-take-back-day-florida/ | 2023-04-22 06:59:57 | 1 | https://blackchronicle.com/floridians-encouraged-to-participate-in-national-prescription-drug-take-back-day-florida/ |
JERUSALEM (AP) — The family of a Palestinian-American man who died earlier this year after he was detained by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank said Wednesday they would reject Israel’s settlement offer.
Israel’s Defense Ministry said earlier this week that it had agreed to pay out the family of 78-year-old Omar Assad, who died handcuffed and blindfolded while detained by Israeli soldiers — a rare move to close a case that has sparked sharp condemnation from Washington.
Assad was born in the Palestinian town of Jiljilya but spent about 40 years in the United States. He became a U.S. citizen before he returned to his hometown in 2009 to retire with his wife.
Under the deal, Assad’s family would receive 500,000 shekels, or about $141,000 to drop its court case against the state, the ministry said.
Nawaf Assad, Omar’s brother who splits his time between Virginia and Illinois, said he had instructed their family lawyer to rebuff Israel’s proposal.
“We are not interested in dropping the case for any reason,” Assad told The Associated Press. “No money can replace my brother for his children, for his grandchildren who still call out for him ... for his wife who thinks he’s home every time her doorbell rings.”
Questions remain about what happened to Assad after he was detained by Israeli forces at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli army said troops later unbound his hands and left him face-down in an abandoned building.
Assad was pronounced dead at a hospital after other Palestinians who had been detained found him unconscious. A Palestinian autopsy showed that he died from a heart attack brought on by injuries sustained while he was detained.
The Israeli military reprimanded a senior officer and removed two others from leadership roles after its own investigation concluded that Assad's death resulted “from a moral failure and poor decision-making on the part of the soldiers.” It was a rare acknowledgement of error from a military that has long come under criticism for rarely holding soldiers accountable.
Assad's family said they would reject Israel’s settlement so they could continue to push the U.S. to conduct its own independent investigation. Several members of Congress have also called for an American probe.
“If we close the deal, the U.S. government will close the (case),” Assad, his brother, said. “We want justice.” | https://www.mrt.com/news/article/Family-of-dead-Palestinian-American-rebuffs-17504745.php | 2022-10-12 19:23:16 | 1 | https://www.mrt.com/news/article/Family-of-dead-Palestinian-American-rebuffs-17504745.php |
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – Brandon Crawford is hunched over, hands on his knees as watches the defensive linemen cycle through a drill.
Crouching in an athletic stance, one lineman rolls a yoga ball to his partner that’s standing a few feet in front of him. The second guy explodes his hips outward as he catches the ball. Back and forth they go.
“Again!” one of the coaches shout.
Crawford remains silent, observing the linemen who repeat the same drill for several minutes. His focused gaze is similar to the one he had towards opposing offensive linemen during his playing days at Ball State.
Over a decade removed from his college football career, Crawford is wearing cardinal red again as an assistant defensive line coach at North Side High School. North Side’s coaching staff knows all about Crawford’s accolades during his playing days.
As for the players themselves? They just know Crawford as “Coach.”
What good is it to have information, and you sit down and hold it, and you never share it with anyone?
Brandon Crawford
Crawford’s football journey started at nine years old when he played in Fort Wayne’s Metro Football League. He eventually played at South Side High School, graduating in 1996.
Football took a back seat when Crawford joined the Marine Corps three years later. He learned much during that time, lessons that paid dividends long after his service ended.
“You have to lead by example, then you have to set the standard that you want,” Crawford said. “At the same time, you have to adhere to that standard. You can’t just have lip service, say something and do something different.”
After Crawford was discharged in 2003, he was hoping to continue his education in college. During a visit to Ball State, Crawford recalled watching a football game at Scheumann Stadium. He was itching to be on the gridiron again.
“Man, I should get out there and play with those guys,” Crawford recalled. “I think I could do it. I think I still got it.”
A decade removed from playing organized football, Crawford met with Ball State’s coaching staff to look into an opportunity to walk on with the team. After working with the university’s strength and conditioning staff, Crawford was offered a walk-on spot at 30 years old.
It turned out an old dog could learn plenty of new tricks.
“I wanted to be an asset, or someone that could add to the program,” Crawford said. “My mindset going in was I was going to push myself and do the best that I could every day, and wherever that put me, I would accept that.”
Crawford became a 3-year starter during his college football career, racking up 15 sacks and nine forced fumbles while being named to the All-MAC second team in his final two years. As a team, Crawford helped the Cardinals win 26 games during his 4-year span, earning a bowl bid in two of those seasons.
Thomas Tyree, North Side’s defensive coordinator, saw first-hand the impact that Crawford brought at Muncie. The two were teammates at Ball State during the 2007 season, Crawford’s second year.
“Once he understood his job, he was able to lead all the athletes so that they felt comfortable to play their best, because he was always there to help them,” Tyree said.
With his playing days behind him, Crawford knew he had to give back to the game in some way.
“What good is it to have information, and you sit down and hold it, and you never share it with anyone?” Crawford said.
The former Cardinal got in touch with BJ Johnson, who earned the head coaching job at North Side prior to the 2021 season. Crawford agreed to help out the defense as an assistant coach.
Crawford’s time is precious, between his full-time job, raising a family, and coaching. Whatever experience he can draw on, from his time at South Side, to the Marines and Ball State, he’s willing to share it with his players.
“In life, there’s certain things you need to succeed and certain ways you need to be as a person in order to be successful in the world that we live in,” Crawford said.
With the players adjusting to Johnson, Crawford and the rest of the staff, North Side stumbled to a 2-7 finish last fall. Now that the players and coaches are more comfortable with one another, Crawford notices a different mindset from the defensive line. They’re curious, making sure they’re getting the details right instead of nodding to whatever the coaches tell them.
“They know when (Crawford’s) speaking to them, that it comes from a genuine place,” Tyree said.
“They trust him, because they know he loves them.”
The days wind down until North Side opens their season against Snider. Crawford remains off to the side, coaching up linemen as they get a breather between reps. Like all those years ago at South Side and at Muncie, Crawford is still paying attention to the details. | https://www.wane.com/high-school-sports/crawfords-crew-former-cardinal-marine-writing-next-football-chapter-at-north-side/ | 2022-08-18 18:56:32 | 1 | https://www.wane.com/high-school-sports/crawfords-crew-former-cardinal-marine-writing-next-football-chapter-at-north-side/ |
One person is dead and seven others are wounded after a shooting at a graduation party in Clarendon County, South Carolina, the sheriff's office there said.
"At least 60-70 rounds" were fired after two cars approached the lawn party, with one of them driving onto the lawn, where about 150 people were gathered Saturday night, the Clarendon County Sheriff's office said in a release.
The victims include a 12-year-old, a 14-year-old, two 15-year-olds, a 17-year-old, a 32-year-old and a 36-year-old. The 32-year-old woman died from her injuries Sunday morning, the sheriff's office said.
It is unclear if shots were fired at specific people or at random, according to the release, but officers believe the incident to be gang-related.
It is also unclear whether anyone attending the party returned fire, according to the release.
There have been at least nine mass shootings in the country since Friday, including one in Philadelphia where three were killed and 11 wounded, and one in Chattanooga, Tennessee, that left three dead and 14 wounded.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 246 mass shootings in the United States this year, defined as incidents in which four people or more are shot, not including the shooter.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wlfi.com/news/national/1-person-is-dead-and-7-others-were-wounded-after-a-shooting-at-a-south/article_ecac7ccc-e266-50d1-8acb-1726f32a6a53.html | 2022-06-06 02:44:01 | 1 | https://www.wlfi.com/news/national/1-person-is-dead-and-7-others-were-wounded-after-a-shooting-at-a-south/article_ecac7ccc-e266-50d1-8acb-1726f32a6a53.html |
PARIS (AP) — The Latest on the French Open tennis tournament (all times local):
2:35 p.m.
Rafael Nadal didn’t get his preference on the timing of his blockbuster quarterfinal match against top-ranked Novak Djokovic at the French Open.
The 13-time champion at Roland Garros wanted a day match Tuesday to avoid the slightly slower conditions on the clay courts at night. But organizers have made it the marquee night match on Day 10, scheduled to start at 8:45 p.m., after negotiating with rights-holding broadcasters to ensure all viewers in France can watch coverage of the the match for free.
Nadal got through a five-set win over Felix Auger-Aliassime in the fourth round on Sunday to set up a record 59th matchup against Djokovic.
He has an overall win-loss record of 109-3 at Roland Garros. Two of those three losses in Paris came against Djokovic, including in last year's semifinals.
Nadal won the Australian Open in January for a record 21st men's Grand Slam title, breaking a tie with Djokovic and Roger Federer. Djokovic missed the tournament after being deported from Australia because he wasn't vaccinated against COVID-19.
___
2 p.m.
Veronika Kudermetova reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory over Madison Keys, ending the chances of four American women reaching the last eight at the French Open for the first time in two decades.
Keys, who reached the semifinals at Roland Garros in 2018 and the quarterfinals the following year, dominated the opening set but lost rhythm after Kudermetova took a bathroom break before the second set.
She held and then broke Keys’ serve to take a 2-0 lead in the second, which she served out on her seventh set point.
Kudermetova broke in the opening game of the third set after being down 40-0 and, with the exception of a service break in the fourth game, controlled the rest of the match.
Kudermetova hadn’t been past the third round in singles at any of her previous 12 major tournaments. Keys was a runner-up at the 2017 U.S. Open and was coming off a semifinal run at the Australian Open.
Keys and Jessica Pegula went into the fourth round hoping for wins to ensure four American women in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros for the first time since 2002. Sloane Stephens and Coco Gauff have already advanced on the other side of the draw.
Pegula was playing Irina-Camelia Begu later Monday.
___
12:40 p.m.
Daria Kasatkina has matched her best performance in a major by reaching the quarterfinals at the French Open with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Camila Giorgi.
The 20th-seeded Kasatkina saved a break point as she served for the match and clinched it on back-to-back unforced errors from Giorgi.
She will next play either Madison Keys or Veronika Kudermetova.
“I’m excited about the quarterfinals at Roland Garros, most important," said Kasatkina, who reached the quarterfinals at the French Open and Wimbledon in 2018. "It doesn’t matter who is on the other side of the net.”
___
12:05 p.m.
The International Tennis Federation has awarded Stan Smith its highest honor, the Philippe Chatrier Award.
Smith won the singles titles at the U.S. Open in 1971 and Wimbledon the following year, and also won five Grand Slam doubles titles and was part of seven Davis Cup winning teams for the United States.
The award, named after the former ITF president, was introduced in 1996 and recognizes people who have made significant contributions to the sport.
Off the court, Smith established his Stan Smith shoe brand in the 1970s and had coaching roles with the USTA, working with players including Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati and Michael Chang.
"(Smith) has made an enormous contribution to tennis on and off the court for more than half a century and it is an honor to recognize his achievements,” ITF President David Haggerty said in a statement.
The award will be officially presented Monday at the ITF World Champions Awards in Paris.
Smith, who was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987, said he was joining a “great list of people who have done great jobs on the court but also off the court.”
“It is also very special because I knew Philippe Chatrier well, and he has done so much for the game,” Smith said.
___
11:10 a.m.
Action at Roland Garros is underway on Day 9 with Daria Kasatkina playing Camila Giorgi in a fourth-round match on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Madison Keys is scheduled to open play on Court Philippe Chatrier against No. 29 Veronika Kudermetova.
Wins for Keys and for 11th-seeded Jessica Pegula over Irina-Camelia Begu would ensure four U.S. women in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros for the first time since 2002. Sloane Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion, and 18-year-old Coco Gauff have already advanced.
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek will be chasing a 32nd consecutive win when she plays Zheng Qinwen. Swiatek is aiming to equal the third-longest win streak on the women’s tour since 2000. Venus Williams leads that list with 35 in 2000, followed by Serena Williams with 34 in 2013 and Justine Henin with 32 in 2008.
In men’s fourth-round matches, 2021 runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas will meet Holger Rune of Denmark and U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev has a night match against 33-year-old Marin Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion.
___
More AP Tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Credit: Michel Euler
Credit: Michel Euler
Credit: Christophe Ena
Credit: Christophe Ena
Credit: Christophe Ena
Credit: Christophe Ena
Credit: Michel Euler
Credit: Michel Euler
Credit: Brian Horton
Credit: Brian Horton | https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/french-open-updates-kudermetova-beats-keys-to-reach-qfs/226XKVUM3RHBFDMFS4MAB2DE5A/ | 2022-05-30 13:32:55 | 1 | https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/french-open-updates-kudermetova-beats-keys-to-reach-qfs/226XKVUM3RHBFDMFS4MAB2DE5A/ |
HONG KONG, May 8, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- mōziware today announced a partnership with TeamViewer, a leading provider of remote connectivity and workplace digitalization solutions, to deliver an ultra-lightweight head-mounted computing solution with an unparalleled user experience, revolutionizing remote collaboration and mobile work for frontline industrial workers.
TeamViewer Frontline's industrial AR solutions are now fully supported on moziware's next-gen wearable computer cimō. By harnessing the two companies' collective technological prowess, the partnership will help deliver next-level AR digital solutions that fuses cutting-edge hardware interaction with seamless software optimization to support the digital transformation of industries worldwide.
mōziware's CEO, Dr. Bo Li, stated, "Our partnership with TeamViewer holds immense value as it bolsters our brand recognition, accelerates our business expansion, streamlines our product strategy, and solidifies our dedication to the global growth of cimō. We are confident that this partnership will not only underline each company's market position but also set the stage for future technological breakthroughs in the realm of AR digital solutions."
Both companies share a common mission of exploring, innovating, and expanding the application of AR digital solutions across various industries, with practical, cost-effective, and immersive end-to-end solutions. For more information about the mōziware and TeamViewer partnership, please visit moziware.io.
About mōziware
mōziware is a pioneer in accelerating digital transformation through leading-edge wearable technologies and solutions for the industrial sector and beyond. Its mission is to create an ecosystem of solutions that leverage AR, AI, and IoT technologies to empower executives and frontline workers to make smarter, safer, and faster decisions, resulting in increased productivity, improved safety, optimized workflows, and reduced costs.
About TeamViewer
TeamViewer is a leading global technology company that provides a connectivity platform to remotely access, control, manage, monitor, and repair devices of any kind – from laptops and mobile phones to industrial machines and robots. Although TeamViewer is free of charge for private use, it has more than 625,000 subscribers and enables companies of all sizes and from all industries to digitalize their business-critical processes through seamless connectivity. Against the backdrop of global megatrends like device proliferation, automation and new work, TeamViewer proactively shapes digital transformation and continuously innovates in the fields of Augmented Reality, Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence. Since the company's foundation in 2005, TeamViewer's software has been installed on more than 2.5 billion devices around the world. The company is headquartered in Göppingen, Germany, and employs more than 1,400 people globally. Further information can be found at www.teamviewer.com.
Media Contact:
Ms. Yao Gu
Marketing Director, mōziware
Email: info@moziware.io
Patrick Pickhan
PR Manager EMEA & Product Communications, TeamViewer
Email: Patrick.Pickhan@teamviewer.com
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SOURCE moziware | https://www.kalb.com/prnewswire/2023/05/08/mziware-teamviewer-join-forces-offer-integrated-ar-digital-solutions-globally/ | 2023-05-08 09:42:19 | 1 | https://www.kalb.com/prnewswire/2023/05/08/mziware-teamviewer-join-forces-offer-integrated-ar-digital-solutions-globally/ |
Florida pastor charged after masturbating on Starbucks patio, sheriff says
Published: Jun. 29, 2022 at 10:37 AM CDT|Updated: 49 minutes ago
KISSIMMEE, Fla. (Gray News) – A pastor in Florida is facing charges after police say he was caught masturbating on the patio of a Starbucks.
The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office said the incident happened May 9, but Enginio Dali Muniz-Colon was just arrested and charged on Monday.
Upon investigation, detectives found that Muniz-Colon previously had similar charges from incidents that happened in the same area.
Muniz-Colon was arrested and taken to the Osceola County Jail on a $1,000 bond.
He was charged with exposure of sexual organs.
The sheriff’s office said he is a pastor in Kissimmee and teaches online ministry classes.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wafb.com/2022/06/29/florida-pastor-charged-after-masturbating-starbucks-patio-sheriff-says/ | 2022-06-29 16:27:11 | 0 | https://www.wafb.com/2022/06/29/florida-pastor-charged-after-masturbating-starbucks-patio-sheriff-says/ |
HAVRE, Mont. (AP) — When Alicia Navarro disappeared in 2019 from her home in a Phoenix suburb days before her 15th birthday, she left a signed note for her family promising she would return.
“I will be back, I swear,” the note read. “I’m sorry.”
Believing she would keep her promise, Jessica Nunez never stopped searching for her daughter.
She paid for a billboard ad in Mexico that featured a photo of her daughter for a year. She bought 10 more ads in Las Vegas. She spoke at events and gave media interviews to raise awareness. She left flyers all around Glendale — at salons, truck stops, parks.
Nunez’s yearslong search came to an end Sunday when her daughter, now 18, walked into a small-town Montana police station near the Canadian border and identified herself as the missing teenager.
Police said Navarro told them she hadn’t been harmed, wasn’t being held, and could come and go as she pleased. She does not face any criminal charges, they added.
Investigators are now trying to determine what happened to Navarro after she disappeared and how she ended up in Havre, Montana, more than 1,300 miles (2,090 kilometers) from her home.
A spokesperson for the Glendale police said Friday that no one has been taken into custody in Navarro’s disappearance. Officer Gina Winn declined to say whether investigators know how long Navarro was in Montana.
Glendale police Lt. Scott Waite said at a news conference Wednesday they were looking into all the possible scenarios that could have led to Navarro’s disappearance, including kidnapping.
Over the years, Nunez had raised concerns that Navarro, who was diagnosed with autism, may have been lured away by someone she met online.
In Havre — a town of about 9,200 people surrounded by farmland and north of the Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation — Navarro’s story had residents buzzing even though most had never seen or heard of her. It also piqued interest when a team of heavily armed law enforcement officers entered an apartment and took a man into custody just a few blocks from the Havre police station Wednesday night, witnesses told The Associated Press.
As many as 10 uniformed and undercover officers showed up at about 8 p.m. and took him away in handcuffs. The man had been living in the apartment, said Rick Lieberg, who lives across the street.
A young woman later emerged from the apartment — one of six units in an aging building in a residential neighborhood — who Lieberg said he had not previously seen. The woman resembled a photograph of Navarro that was released by police, he said.
Jonathan Michaelson, who lives next door, said he was questioned Wednesday night by a plainclothes police officer from Arizona who asked whether he had ever seen a girl at the apartment next door. He said he had not.
“If she was in that apartment, I’m surprised I never saw her,” Michaelson said.
A person who works at the Dollar Tree in Havre, Jeff Hummert, said he saw a young woman resembling a photograph of Navarro last year in a city park just up the street from the apartment raided by police Wednesday. She was walking alone and carrying a plastic Walmart bag, Hummert said.
Theories about how Navarro came to be in Montana topped the conversation Friday among the regulars at a coffee shop inside Gary & Leo’s IGA, a grocery store in downtown Havre. With scant details from authorities, most of the talk — about Navarro’s possible destination and whether she was being coerced — was conjecture, said former county Coroner Steve Sapp, who joined the discussion.
“When you’re in law enforcement, all these different stories about what happened make it hard to tell which story is really true,” Sapp said. “I would really like to know more.”
Nunez declined an interview request. But for years, she had documented her efforts to find her daughter on a Facebook page titled “Finding Alicia” and an audio podcast. In an emotional video viewed more than 200,000 times since it was posted Wednesday, Nunez told her tens of thousands of followers: “For everyone who has missing loved ones, I want you to use this case as an example. Miracles do exist. Never lose hope and always fight.”
Nunez had amassed a loyal following on social media throughout the years while sharing inspirational quotes, photos of Navarro as a young child and posts addressed directly to her daughter.
“Alicia I know you will fulfill what you promised,” Nunez wrote in one post. “You will be back.”
People across the U.S. reached out to the Arizona mother to ask how they could help, creating an informal network of volunteers. They shared photos and information through the Facebook page.
Glendale police said this week that they received thousands of tips over the years.
In a short video clip that Glendale police said was taken shortly after Navarro arrived at the Montana police station, she can be heard telling authorities, “No one hurt me.” In another short video, Navarro thanked the police.
“Thank you for offering help to me,” she said.
___
Yamat reported from Las Vegas. | https://www.localsyr.com/news/national/ap-arizona-mom-never-stopped-looking-for-her-missing-daughter-she-showed-up-4-years-later-in-montana/ | 2023-07-29 00:37:41 | 1 | https://www.localsyr.com/news/national/ap-arizona-mom-never-stopped-looking-for-her-missing-daughter-she-showed-up-4-years-later-in-montana/ |
With Support from Collaborators AT&T, HP, and Oracle, MedWand Aims to Increase the Efficiency and Equity of Healthcare Provision in Underserved Regions and Lower Overall Costs of Service
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On opening day of CES 2023, MedWand Solutions Inc. launched the Urban-Rural Healthcare Alliance, a ground-breaking program designed to support increased access to clinical quality healthcare via partnerships between cities and surrounding rural areas. With support from collaborating companies including AT&T, HP, and Oracle, MedWand aims to break down geographical and staffing barriers to increase the efficiency and equity of healthcare provision in underserved rural and inner-city communities.
"What started as a multi-sensor device to enable doctors to examine patients remotely via the internet has developed into an entire ecosystem that, when appropriately administered, provides a bridge to universal access to high-quality healthcare and health equity," said Robert Rose, MedWand President & CEO.
Rose adds, "Our Urban-Rural Healthcare Alliance transforms what has been understood as telemedicine by absorbing the provider-to-patient video conference into a greater whole that addresses critical issues such as clinical staff shortages, health equity, and overall cost to patients, providers, and payers. It is just the start of how MedWand can be deployed to support tele-triage and remote patient monitoring—all integrated with existing healthcare provider workflows and software."
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), up to 3.5 billion people—almost half the world's population—lack access to the health services needed, with almost 100 million people pushed to extreme poverty each year because of out-of-pocket expenses [1]. Leading the way in delivering virtual healthcare solutions to clinicians and patients, MedWand's VirtualCare platform provides advanced hub-and-spoke telemedicine services to connect an urban medical center with multiple rural, or inner-city communities, equipped with MedWand Mobile Clinics.
Facilitating the mission to enable clinical examinations from any location at any time, customizable MedWand Clinics, VirtualCare platform, and Command Center monitoring station are complemented by IoT connectivity from AT&T, mobile computing devices from HP, and cloud infrastructure services from Oracle.
Introduced at CES, the innovative MedWand Command Center monitoring station provides a single point of monitoring for up to 1,200 patients. The Command Center allows clinicians to establish triggers to warn of excessive variance for captured vitals, and if patients are part of a daily monitoring regime, vital trend charts can be displayed. The Command Center also acts as a communications hub between supervising clinicians and in-field medical assistants or nurses. When a field worker needs to communicate with a supervising clinician, the Command Center can immediately convert an ongoing on-site exam into a full virtual consultation, complete with video conferencing and remote monitoring.
As the U.S. leader in IoT with more than 100M connected devices [2], AT&T helps MedWand meet the needs for robust internet-based communication for MedWand's Mobile Clinics irrespective of their location. "Now more than ever, connectivity is emerging as a vital technology for the healthcare industry to provide equitable care, reduce costs and improve patient outcomes," said Joe Drygas, AT&T VP of Public Sector, Government, Education & Medical Solutions. "Our work with MedWand is another example of how our reliable and highly secure IoT connectivity is helping remove barriers that might keep someone from getting healthcare."
Providing rugged Android OS tablet and desktop computing systems that MedWand Clinics operate on, HP helps MedWand meet critical operational reliability requirements in healthcare.
Hosting the MedWand VirtualCare platform, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) provides a comprehensive set of cloud services, including Oracle Autonomous Database, with robust operational security for sensitive medical data. "We're absolutely committed to providing cloud technologies that improve care access and drive informed decisions. With the MedWand VirtualCare platform running on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, we're helping to increase access to healthcare in underserved markets and to reduce the cost burden on patients," said Chris Gandolfo, Senior Vice President, Cloud Venture, Oracle.
MedWand recently gained FDA 510(k) clearance and is now commercially available in the US and other select countries, providing internet-based clinical exams as a core component of a medical provider's healthcare solution. Transforming the capabilities of telemedicine, MedWand is available in Mobile Clinic, Ruggedized Mobile Clinic, and Desktop Clinic configurations to meet a wide range of high mobility or fixed installation requirements. By enabling real-time vitals capture and live monitoring from any location with access to the internet, MedWand provides the missing link in the delivery of high-quality healthcare, irrespective of geographical distance.
When patient care depends on telemedicine, choose MedWand. More information on the Rural-Urban Healthcare Alliance is to be announced later. For information on the MedWand system and MedWand Solutions, Inc. visit www.medwand.com.
References
[1] Tracking Universal Health Coverage: 2017 Global Monitoring Report, World Bank, WHO. 2017
[2] As of 3Q2022
MedWand Solutions, Inc. delivers digital healthcare technologies that enhance the accessibility and quality of healthcare services for clinicians and patients, regardless of location. MedWand was created by a team of physicians and engineers to enhance the quality and accessibility of health care services regardless of physical location. The company offers its MedWand device and Virtual Care Clinic solutions for a wide range of applications that include hospitals, field clinics, nursing homes, schools, and workplaces, wherever Internet access is available.
We help more than 100 million U.S. families, friends and neighbors, plus nearly 2.5 million businesses, connect to greater possibilities. From the first phone call 140+ years ago to our 5G wireless and multi-gig internet offerings today, we @ATT innovate to improve lives. For more information about AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), please visit us at about.att.com. Investors can learn more at investors.att.com.
Oracle offers integrated suites of applications plus secure, autonomous infrastructure in the Oracle Cloud. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), please visit us at oracle.com.
Oracle, Java, and MySQL are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation.
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SOURCE MedWand Solutions, Inc. | https://www.weau.com/prnewswire/2023/01/06/medwand-solutions-inc-launches-urban-rural-healthcare-alliance-ces-2023/ | 2023-01-06 18:36:40 | 0 | https://www.weau.com/prnewswire/2023/01/06/medwand-solutions-inc-launches-urban-rural-healthcare-alliance-ces-2023/ |
With the hot July sun beating down, Josh Kumin headed south on 13th Street, heat sensor in hand.
He stopped, just past the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, and took his first reading: 102.8 degrees.
Kumin was one of more than 100 people who participated in a one-day study to learn more about where extreme heat poses the greatest risk in Boulder. The city, which conducted the study in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, is one of 18 across the country participating this year in the urban heat mapping initiative.
The effort was conducted Friday, which organizers determined to be one of the hottest days of the year as well as a dry day with little to no cloud coverage.
Some volunteers drove in their cars, collecting data with high-resolution sensors mounted to record the temperature every second as long as the vehicle is going 35 miles per hour or slower.
Others, including Kumin, walked or rode their bikes to collect data.
“I didn’t even realize these tools were even available to capture this data. It’s really interesting,” he said. “I think I’ve just typically thought of temperature as being pretty constant in the area.”
The fact that temperature can be different in one area, depending on what’s growing naturally and what buildings and structures are there, is something Kumin said he’d never really considered.
But conversations with Adam Hall changed that.
Hall, a graduate student at the University of Colorado Boulder, helped coordinate Friday’s study as part of a university capstone project.
“I always knew urban heat is an issue; just growing up in a city and experiencing how much hotter our cities are compared to the area just outside,” he said.
“Thinking spatially about environmental hazards is something I really enjoy,” Hall added.
Generally speaking, he is expecting areas with impervious surfaces such as concrete or asphalt to be much hotter than those with grass or water. The data is also certain to influence Boulder’s urban forest expansion goal, allowing the city to target planting trees in areas with the highest heat.
The more official data that can be replicated is being collected by those in cars, Natural Climate Solutions Policy Advisor Brett KenCairn acknowledged.
But those traversing the streets by bike and foot had an important role, too, he noted.
“The other approach that we’ve created is more of an experiential opportunity for people, but we think that it has some potential down the road for being a way that we can do some simple citizen science year over year to watch these numbers,” KenCairn said.
It’s also a good way for older adults and children to participate, he said.
The study is part of the newly launched Cool Boulder campaign, which looks to expand natural climate solutions in order to impact the more stringent set of climate targets the Boulder City Council adopted in 2021.
The campaign includes three action areas: pollinator pathways, connected canopies and absorbent landscapes. These efforts will help cool temperatures, foster biodiversity and hold more carbon, water and thermal energy within particular landscapes.
In addition to providing the city with information that can improve its climate readiness, Boulder will provide the data collected Friday to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory so it can be used to help create new heat models for the Earth. | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/07/24/boulder-climate-team-volunteers-look-to-better-understand-urban-heat/ | 2022-07-24 20:11:35 | 0 | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/07/24/boulder-climate-team-volunteers-look-to-better-understand-urban-heat/ |
WFO NEW YORK CITY Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Monday, May 16, 2022
_____
AREAL FLOOD ADVISORY
Flood Advisory
National Weather Service New York NY
621 PM EDT Mon May 16 2022
...FLOOD ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 745 PM EDT THIS EVENING...
* WHAT...Flooding caused by excessive rainfall is expected.
* WHERE...A portion of southeast New York, including the following
counties, Kings (Brooklyn), New York (Manhattan) and Queens.
* WHEN...Until 745 PM EDT.
* IMPACTS...Minor flooding in low-lying and poor drainage areas.
Water over roadways. Overflowing poor drainage areas.
* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...
- At 621 PM EDT, Doppler radar indicated heavy rain due to
thunderstorms. Minor flooding is already occurring in the
advisory area. Between 0.5 and 1 inch of rain has fallen.
- Some locations that will experience flooding include...
Flushing, Crown Heights, Laguardia Airport, Jackson Heights,
Forest Hills, Astoria, Lower East Side, Whitestone, Brooklyn
Heights, Long Island City, Park Slope, Woodside and
Greenpoint.
- http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood
deaths occur in vehicles.
_____
Copyright 2022 AccuWeather | https://www.sfchronicle.com/weather/article/NY-WFO-NEW-YORK-CITY-Warnings-Watches-and-17177240.php | 2022-05-16 23:40:36 | 1 | https://www.sfchronicle.com/weather/article/NY-WFO-NEW-YORK-CITY-Warnings-Watches-and-17177240.php |
Delivers positive adjusted EBITDA of $0.3 million up $0.9 million year-over-year
Pro customer revenue increases to 88.2% of third quarter revenues, up 5.6% quarter-over-quarter
and up 19.6% year-over-year
BuildDirect reports in US dollars and in accordance with IFRS
VANCOUVER, BC, Nov. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - BuildDirect.com Technologies Inc. (TSXV: BILD) ("BuildDirect" or the "Company") a growing omnichannel building material retailer, today announced its financial results for the Third Quarter 2022 ("Q3 2022").
"I am pleased to report that BuildDirect continues to grow its Pro Customer base, increasing Pro revenue 5.6% quarter over quarter, and maintaining its positive adjusted EBITDA" said Shawn Wilson, CEO of BuildDirect. "Our strategic execution is delivering value with revenues reaching $22 million, of which 88.2% are Pro-based. We also recorded our third consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA, largely due to our push to reallocate resources to Pro customers and to drive acquisition synergies. Looking forward to the fourth quarter of 2022, we will continue to hone our fixed costs and marketing strategies to pursue continued improvement of the Company's overall profitability and growth prospects and leverage our omnichannel business to service growing industry segments and pursue product opportunities for our professional contractor customers."
"In Q3 2022 the Company made cost reductions which are expected to result in approximately US $2 million in annualized operating expense savings. The cost reductions were primarily focused within the BuildDirect ecommerce business as the Company continues to shift its focus to the Pro market segment. The cost reductions are not expected to significantly impact our Pro market segment and will improve overall profitability" said Matt Alexander, Interim-CFO of BuildDirect.
Third Quarter 2022 Financial Highlights
Q3 2022 Highlights
- Q3 2022 Pro revenue reached $19.4 million, representing 88.2% of total revenue at the quarter end. Pro revenues grew 5.6% quarter-over-quarter and 19.6% year-over-year due to increased strategic focus on driving Pro market share.
- Adjusted EBITDA in Q3 2022 reached $0.3 million, increasing $0.9M year-over-year. BuildDirect achieved improvements in the adjusted EBITDA primarily by reallocating resources to the Pro market.
- In September 2022, BuildDirect completed a non-brokered private placement offering of 6,847,830 common shares issued at a price of CDN$0.46 per common share for total gross proceeds of USD2,469,916 (CDN$3,150,000).
Actual results may differ materially from BuildDirect's financial outlook as a result of, among other things, the factors described under "Forward-Looking Statements" below.
BuildDirect's unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes, and the Management's Discussion and Analysis, for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022 are available on the Company's website at www.BuildDirect.com. and on the Company's SEDAR profile available at www.sedar.com.
Third Quarter 2022 Financial Results Conference Call
BuildDirect will host a conference call and webcast to discuss the Company's financial results at 9:30 am EST on Wednesday, November 16, 2022. To access the telephonic version of the conference call, participants can dial (888) 664-6392 (North America Toll-Free) or (416) 764-8659. Upon entering the confirmation ID: 61124202, participants will be entered directly into the conference.
Alternatively, the webcast will be available live on the Investor Relations section of BuildDirect's website at https://ir.builddirect.com/events-and-presentation
Among other things, BuildDirect will discuss long-term financial outlook on the conference call and webcast, and related materials will be made available on the Company's website at https://ir.builddirect.com/events-and-presentation. Investors should carefully review the factors, assumptions, risks and uncertainties included in such related materials concerning such long-term financial outlook.
An audio replay of the call will be available approximately two hours after the completion of the live call until 8:59 pm EST on November 23, 2022. The audio replay will be accessed by dialing (888) 390-0541 (North America Toll-Free) or (416) 764-8677 (Toronto) with entry code: 124202#. In addition, an archived webcast will be available on the Investor Relations section of the Company's website at https://ir.builddirect.com/events-and-presentation.
Advisory Services
BuildDirect has retained Gilcrest Advisory Inc. ("Gilcrest") to broaden the Company's reach within the investment community and provide market making services to maintain orderly trading in the Company's securities. Gilcrest has been engaged for an initial three month period expiring on February 16, 2023, which may be extended by mutual agreement, and will be paid a monthly fee of $6,000 CAD plus applicable taxes. Gilcrest and the Company are unrelated and unaffiliated entities, but Gilcrest and/or its clients may have an interest, directly or indirectly, in the securities of the Company. Gilcrest is a Canadian advisory service firm offering advice and services on investor relations and market making synergies. Gilcrest has agreed to comply with all applicable securities laws and the policies of the TSXV in providing the above services.
About BuildDirect
BuildDirect (TSXV: BILD) is a growing omnichannel building material retailer. BuildDirect connects North American home improvement B2B and B2C organizations, and homeowners with quality building materials and services through its robust global supply chain network. BuildDirect's growth trajectory, strong product offering, and proprietary heavyweight delivery network are delivering value today, solidifying its position as an innovative player in the home improvement industry. For more information, visit www.BuildDirect.com.
Forward-Looking Information:
This press release contains statements which constitute "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"),including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company with respect to future business activities and operating performance. Forward-looking statements are often identified by the words "may", "would", "could", "should", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" or similar expressions. These statements reflect management's current beliefs and expectations and are based on information currently available to management as at the date hereof.
Forward-looking statements in this press release may include, without limitation, statements relating to the impact of resource reallocation and acquisition synergies, honing of fixed costs and marketing strategies, BuildDirect's overall profitability and growth prospects, the pursuit and servicing of growing industry segments and product opportunities, the impact of cost reductions including, without limitation, with respect to adjusted EBITDA, and the maintenance of positive adjusted EBITDA.
Forward-looking statements involve significant risk, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Among those factors are changes in consumer spending, inflation, availability of mortgage financing and consumer credit, changes in the housing market, changes in trade policies, tariffs or other applicable laws and regulations both locally and in foreign jurisdictions, availability and cost of goods from suppliers, fuel prices and other energy costs, interest rate and currency fluctuations, retention of key personnel and changes in general economic, business and political conditions and other factors referenced under the "Risks and Uncertainties" section of our MD&A. These forward-looking statements may be affected by risks and uncertainties in the business of the Company and general market conditions, including COVID-19.
These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this press release reflect the Company's expectations, estimates or projections concerning future results or events based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made, the Company cannot assure readers that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release, and BuildDirect assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.
Reference is made in this press release to the following non-GAAP measures: Adjusted EBITDA. These non-GAAP measures are commonly used by investors and other interested parties to evaluate our financial performance and are employed by the Company to measure its operating and economic performance and to assist in business decision-making. These non-GAAP measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. These measures are provided as additional information to complement those IFRS measures by providing further understanding of the results of operations from management's perspective. Accordingly, these measures should not be considered in isolation nor as a substitute for analysis of the financial information reported under IFRS. Refer also to appendix tables, "Third Quarter 2022 Financial Highlights" and "Q3 2022 Highlights" of this press release as well as our Management's Discussion and Analysis for definitions and reconciliations of non-IFRS measures to the nearest IFRS measures.
Contact Information:
Matt Alexander, Interim CFO
BuildDirect IR
1-778-382-7748
ir@builddirect.com
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
NON-IFRS MEASURES
We define EBITDA as net income or loss before interest, income taxes and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA removes fair value adjustment of convertible debt and warrants, fair value adjustment of inventory, restructuring expenses, non-recurring bad debt expense, foreign exchange gains and losses, and share-based compensation items from EBITDA. We are presenting these measures because we believe that our current and potential investors, and many analysts, use them to assess our current and future operating results and to make investment decisions. Management uses these measures in managing the business and making decisions. EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA are not intended as substitutes for IFRS measures.
Condensed Consolidated Interim Statement of Financial Position
(Unaudited)
(Expressed in United States dollars)
Condensed Consolidated Interim Statement of Operations and Comprehensive Loss
(Unaudited)
(Expressed in United States dollars)
Condensed Consolidated Interim Statement of Cash Flows
(Unaudited)
(Expressed in United States dollars)
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SOURCE BuildDirect.com Technologies Inc. | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/11/16/builddirect-reports-third-quarter-2022-financial-results/ | 2022-11-16 12:10:26 | 0 | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/11/16/builddirect-reports-third-quarter-2022-financial-results/ |
Uvalde schools’ police chief resigns from City Council
UVALDE, Texas (AP) — The Uvalde school district’s police chief has stepped down from his position in the City Council just weeks after being sworn in following allegations that he erred in his response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School that left 19 students and two teachers dead.
Chief Pete Arredondo told the Uvalde Leader-News on Friday that he has decided to step down for the good of the city. He was elected to the council on May 7 and was sworn in on May 31, just a week after the massacre, in a closed-door ceremony.
“After much consideration, I regret to inform those who voted for me that I have decided to step down as a member of the city council for District 3. The mayor, the city council, and the city staff must continue to move forward without distractions. I feel this is the best decision for Uvalde,” Arredondo said.
Arredondo, who has been on administrative leave from his school district position since June 22, has declined repeated requests for comment from The Associated Press. His attorney, George Hyde, did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment Saturday.
On June 21, the City Council voted unanimously to deny Arredondo a leave of absence from appearing at public meetings. Relatives of the shooting victims had pleaded with city leaders to fire him.
The Uvalde City Council released a statement Saturday saying members couldn’t comment because they had not received official notification from Arredondo of his intent to resign.
“While it is the right thing to do, no one from the City has seen a letter or any other documentation of his resignation, or spoken with him,” the council members said. “When the City receives confirmation of Councilman Arredondo’s resignation, the City will address the Council place vacancy.”
Representatives of Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin have not responded to AP’s requests for comment.
Col. Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, told a state Senate hearing last month that Arredondo — the on-site commander — made “terrible decisions” as the massacre unfolded on May 24 , and that the police response was an “abject failure.”
Three minutes after 18-year-old Salvador Ramos entered the school, sufficient armed law enforcement were on scene to stop the gunman, McCraw testified. Yet police officers armed with rifles stood and waited in a school hallway for more than an hour while the gunman carried out the massacre. The classroom door could not be locked from the inside, but there is no indication officers tried to open the door while the gunman was inside, McCraw said.
McCraw has said parents begged police outside the school to move in and students inside the classroom repeatedly pleaded with 911 operators for help while more than a dozen officers waited in a hallway. Officers from other agencies urged Arredondo to let them move in because children were in danger.
“The only thing stopping a hallway of dedicated officers from entering room 111 and 112 was the on-scene commander who decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children,” McCraw said.
Arredondo has tried to defend his actions, telling the Texas Tribune that he didn’t consider himself the commander in charge of operations and that he assumed someone else had taken control of the law enforcement response. He said he didn’t have his police and campus radios but that he used his cellphone to call for tactical gear, a sniper and the classroom keys.
It’s still not clear why it took so long for police to enter the classroom, how they communicated with each other during the attack, and what their body cameras show.
Officials have declined to release more details, citing the investigation.
Arredondo, 50, grew up in Uvalde and has spent much of his nearly 30-year career in law enforcement in the city. | https://kion546.com/news/ap-national-news/2022/07/02/uvalde-schools-police-chief-resigns-from-city-council/ | 2022-07-02 19:49:00 | 1 | https://kion546.com/news/ap-national-news/2022/07/02/uvalde-schools-police-chief-resigns-from-city-council/ |
Whale safety research planned near East Coast wind farms
By WAYNE PARRY
Associated Press
SEASIDE PARK, N.J. (AP) — As dead whales continue to wash ashore on the U.S. East Coast, officials and academics in New Jersey, New York and elsewhere are planning a wide array of monitoring and research aimed at preventing harm to the animals during construction and operation of offshore wind farms. An initiative announced last year is launching numerous projects to establish a baseline of current ocean conditions, with plans for monitoring while wind farms are built and operated. The $26 million program is funded by offshore wind companies. Three federal scientific agencies say there is no evidence linking offshore wind activities to whale deaths. | https://kion546.com/news/ap-national-news/2023/03/02/whale-safety-research-planned-near-east-coast-wind-farms/ | 2023-03-02 23:09:24 | 1 | https://kion546.com/news/ap-national-news/2023/03/02/whale-safety-research-planned-near-east-coast-wind-farms/ |
TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese court on Wednesday found three former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Company not guilty of negligence over the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdowns and subsequent deaths of more than 40 elderly residents during their forced evacuation.
The Tokyo High Court ruling upheld a 2019 lower court decision that also acquitted the three former top TEPCO officials noting that a tsunami of that magnitude was unforeseeable.
The case is the only criminal trial related to the nuclear accident that led the former TEPCO executives to face charges.
Minutes after Wednesday’s court session for the verdict opened, supporters held up posters saying: “All found not guilty. Unjust Ruling.”
The court said ex-TEPCO Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, 82, and two other former executives were also not guilty of causing the deaths of 44 elderly patients whose already waning health deteriorated during or after forced evacuations from a local hospital and a nursing home.
The executives were accused of failing to anticipate the massive tsunami that struck the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on March 11, 2011, following a magnitude 9 earthquake, and of failing to take measures that might have saved the plant.
Katsumata and his co-defendants — former vice presidents Sakae Muto, 72, and Ichiro Takekuro, 76 — had consistently pleaded not guilty and maintained that predicting the tsunami was impossible.
Three of the plant’s reactors suffered meltdowns, spreading a massive amount of radiation into surrounding communities and the sea, causing tens of thousands of residents to lose their homes, jobs and community ties.
The defendants had been charged by a civil prosecution panel. During trials, prosecutors demanded five-year prison sentences for each executive, accusing them of failing to do enough to guard against the threat of a large tsunami despite knowing the risk.
Prosecutors argued that TEPCO could have prevented the disaster had the plant installed sufficient safety measures before the tsunami.
The acquittal disappointed and angered dozens of Fukushima residents and their supporters who attended the ruling or rallied outside the court.
They found the ruling especially disappointing because it came after a series of divisive court decisions. One last July said the disaster could have been prevented if TEPCO had taken better safety measures, ordering top executives to pay more than 13 trillion yen ($99 billion). The Supreme Court in June, however, said the disaster was unforeseeable and dismissed compensation demands by thousands of residents.
Prosecutors have said TEPCO was conducting a tsunami safety review following a 2007 earthquake in Niigata in northern Japan that damaged another TEPCO plant, and the three former executives routinely participated in that process. In March 2008, a TEPCO subsidiary projected that a tsunami as high as 15.7 meters (47 feet) could hit Fukushima, prompting the company to consider building seawalls, but the executives allegedly delayed the idea to avoid additional spending.
Government and parliamentary investigations have said TEPCO’s lack of a safety culture and weak risk management, including an underestimation of tsunami risks, led to the disaster. They said TEPCO colluded with regulators to disregard tsunami protection measures.
The company has said it could have been more proactive with safety measures, but that it could not anticipate the massive tsunami that crippled the plant. | https://www.seattletimes.com/business/japan-court-again-acquits-ex-execs-over-fukushima-disaster/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-01-18 08:54:56 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/business/japan-court-again-acquits-ex-execs-over-fukushima-disaster/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of International Business Machines Corporation ("IBM" or the "Company") (NYSE: IBM). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980.
The investigation concerns whether IBM and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.
On October 16, 2018, post-market, IBM issued a press release announcing its preliminary results for the third quarter of 2018. Among other items, IBM reported revenue of $18.8 billion, representing a decline of 2%, as well as slowing growth in its Strategic Imperatives segment.
On this news, IBM's stock price fell $10.57 per share, or 7.63%, to close at $128.04 on October 17, 2018.
Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com.
CONTACT:
Robert S. Willoughby
Pomerantz LLP
rswilloughby@pomlaw.com
888-476-6529 ext. 7980
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SOURCE Pomerantz LLP | https://www.kfyrtv.com/prnewswire/2023/01/20/shareholder-alert-pomerantz-law-firm-investigates-claims-behalf-investors-international-business-machines-corporation-ibm/ | 2023-01-20 05:34:04 | 0 | https://www.kfyrtv.com/prnewswire/2023/01/20/shareholder-alert-pomerantz-law-firm-investigates-claims-behalf-investors-international-business-machines-corporation-ibm/ |
ATLANTA — Anthony Santander homered from both sides of the plate, including a grand slam, and Cedric Mullins also went deep as the Baltimore Orioles won for the 14th time in 17 games, 9-4 over the Atlanta Braves on Friday night.
Santander homered from the right side against Fried in the fourth to put Baltimore ahead to stay. Then, batting lefty in the seventh against Joe Jimenez, he delivered his first career grand slam to turn what had been a tight game into a rout.
Fried (2-1) had allowed only one earned run over his first four starts and came in with an 18-inning scoreless streak. But the long ball and two throwing errors by the Braves ace led to his worst outing of the season.
The Orioles took care of Fried’s scoreless streak with an unearned run in the third, taking advantage of the pitcher’s errant pickoff throw.
Baltimore blew it open with a seven-run seventh. Mullins ignited the outburst with a 390-foot shot down the right-field line that nearly reached the Chop House restaurant.
After Fried’s second throwing error of the game handed the Orioles a 4-1 lead, Jimenez took over with the bases loaded. Santander cleared them with a 397-foot shot into the right-field seats.
Fried was charged with seven runs, five earned. His ERA climbed from 0.45 to 2.08.
Hot-hitting Sean Murphy drove in all four Atlanta runs, three of them on an eighth-inning homer.
In paper, at least, it looked like a pitching mismatch. Kremer (3-1) had a 6.67 ERA after surrendering at least four earned runs in all but one of his starts.
But the right-hander breezed through a Braves lineup that had scored 26 runs in a three-game sweep at Miami, surrendering six hits, walking two and striking out three.
Baltimore improved to 22-10, surpassing the Braves (22-11) for the second-best record in the big leagues. Only AL East-leading Tampa Bay is ahead of the Orioles at 27-6.
TRAINER’S ROOM
The Braves made a flurry of moves before the game. RHP Raisel Iglesias was activated from a rehab assignment and will presumably work toward taking over the closer role that was his until he was shut down in the final week of spring training with shoulder inflammation. ... SS Braden Shewmake was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett and made his big league debut after IF Ehire Adrianza went on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Tuesday, with right elbow inflammation. ... OF Michael Harris missed his second straight game with a jammed knee. ... C Travis d’Arnaud, who has been out nearly a month with a concussion, began a rehab assignment at Gwinnett.
UP NEXT
RHP Kyle Bradish (1-1, 6.14 ERA) goes for the Orioles on Saturday against Atlanta RHP Spencer Strider (4-0, 2.57).
___ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/mlb/2023/05/05/orioles-braves/91eeb55e-ebb3-11ed-869e-986dd5713bc8_story.html | 2023-05-06 02:42:09 | 0 | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/mlb/2023/05/05/orioles-braves/91eeb55e-ebb3-11ed-869e-986dd5713bc8_story.html |
Powell likely to be pressed on whether Fed will slow hikes
WASHINGTON (AP) — Looming over the Federal Reserve meeting that ends Wednesday is a question of intense interest: Just how high will the Fed’s inflation-fighters raise interest rates — and might they slow their rate hikes as soon as next month?
The Fed on Wednesday is expected to announce a hefty three-quarter-point hike in its key short-term rate — its fourth straight — which will lead to still-higher loan rates for many businesses and consumers. What many Fed-watchers hope is that Chair Jerome Powell will hint at a news conference that the central bank may ease the pace of its hikes, perhaps to a half-point in December and two quarter-point hikes next year.
Even at that more moderate pace, the central bank’s benchmark rate would reach 4.75% to 5%, which would be its highest range since 2007, up from the current 3% to 3.25%. Fed officials have stressed that they need to sharply raise rates to tame inflation, which reached 8.2% in September from 12 months earlier, barely below a 40-year high. Chronic inflation has also become a central point of attack for Republicans against Democrats in the midterm congressional elections.
So far this year, the Fed has raised its key rate five times in an aggressive pace that has sent borrowing rates surging across the economy and heightened the risk of a recession. The home market, in particular, has been badly bruised as a consequence. The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage, just 3.14% a year ago, surpassed 7% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported. Sales of existing homes have dropped for eight straight months.
One reason the Fed’s policymakers might feel they can soon slow the pace of their rate hikes is that some early signs suggest that inflation could start declining in 2023. Consumer spending, squeezed by high prices and costlier loans, is barely growing. Supply chain snarls are easing, which means fewer shortages of goods and parts. Wage growth is plateauing, which, if followed by declines, would reduce inflationary pressures.
Still, the job market remains consistently strong, which could make it harder for the Fed to cool the economy and curb inflation. On Tuesday, the government reported that companies posted more job openings in September than in August. There are now 1.9 available jobs for each unemployed worker, an unusually large supply.
A ratio that high means that employers will likely continue to raise pay to attract and keep workers. Those higher labor costs are often passed on to customers in the form of higher prices, thereby fueling more inflation.
If Powell does signal Wednesday that the Fed may lift its foot slightly off the economic brakes, it could spark a rally in stock and bond prices. Such higher asset prices, though, might then fuel more spending just when the Fed wants to cool things down to throttle inflation.
To offset any potential burst of optimism, the Fed may signal at its next meeting in December that it expects to add at least another rate hike early next year. That would serve to make borrowing even more expensive and would further heighten the risk of a recession.
Ultimately, economists at Goldman Sachs expect the Fed’s policymakers to raise their key rate to nearly 5% by March. That is above what the Fed itself had projected in its previous set of forecasts in September.
For now, many Fed officials have said they see few signs that inflation is easing in any sustainable way. They point, in particular, to so-called core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy costs and is considered a good reflection of underlying price pressures.
“We need to see actual progress in core inflation and services inflation,” Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, said recently. “And we are not seeing it yet.”
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wistv.com/2022/11/02/powell-likely-be-pressed-whether-fed-will-slow-hikes/ | 2022-11-02 10:48:09 | 0 | https://www.wistv.com/2022/11/02/powell-likely-be-pressed-whether-fed-will-slow-hikes/ |
Diversity: A long way to go on the Board of Directors
Despite the fact that important steps have been taken in terms of diversity at the corporate level, much remains to be done in this area.
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July 21st, 2022Although it was recently known that Latinos are represented on 60% of the boards of F10 companies, in the aspect of diversity related to boards of private companies, a lot of commitment is still needed to materialize this type of culture at the corporate level.
LCDA is Moving the Needle–Latinos represent the current & future market growth as 2 in 10 Americans & contributing 25% of the nation’s GDP. With the recent appointment of #LCDAMember, R. Martin Chavez, to the Alphabet Inc. Board, #Latinos are now represented on 60% of F10 boards! pic.twitter.com/Z63u2rw3l4
— Latino Directors (@LatinoDirectors) July 25, 2022
On this same subject, Mandy Wright, senior editor of Directorship magazine and NACD BoardTalk, highlights in an article, published on the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) website, the study conducted by Him For Her and Crunchbase in 2021 on diversity on private company boards.
According to the report, only 14% of the positions on the boards of the best-funded private organizations are held by women, and close to 40% of the companies studied do not have them on their boards.
The study also indicates that only 19% of private company board positions studied are held by men of color, and only 3% by women of color.
Wright also underscores the findings of the 2021 US Spencer Stuart Board Index, highlighting the large gap between levels of diversity on public and private company boards, especially with respect to gender.
According to the report, women make up 30% of board positions at S&P 500 firms, but only 10% of these positions are held by women from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups.
Barriers to Diversity
“There are also limitations in defining diversity itself,” Wright points out, referring to scenarios where the concept is limited to specific communities, leaving groups historically considered diverse outside the law.
Wright specifically points to the case of California's AB 979, which mandated that boards have or explain why they do not have members from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups or the LGBTQ+ community, excluding other groups with other unique perspectives.
“While the law targeted public companies headquartered in the state, this is one example of a prominent definition of board diversity that is incomplete. When the definition is narrow, as when skills criteria and directors’ networks are narrow, the results of searching for diversity will be narrow, too,” said Wright.
How to Move Forward on the Path to Diversity in Boards?
Wright outlines six steps to try to move forward effectively in the implementation of boards that strongly support diversity as a means to build better companies.
1. Official policies: The implementation of measures to demand diversity in corporate boards, although companies do not like external mandates, are a way to open a broader path in this search.
“As of Sept. 30, 2021, women held 1,844 California public company board seats compared to 766 seats in 2018, when SB 826 was first signed into law,” said Neeti Dewan, board member of the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce—Atlanta and Symmr, and chair of Global Platinum AdvantEdge.
2. Director mentality: Beyond policies or mandates that demand diversity in the boards, this will not be effective if it is not appropriated with conviction by each of the directors.
Wright noted: “Most people have seen the studies that demonstrate that diversity improves performance and boosts innovation, not to mention that it allows companies to better connect with employees and customers. But when it comes to adding diversity to the board, some private companies may find their directors asking, ‘why fix something that’s not broken’?”
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3. The Pipeline: This highlights the importance of promoting diverse workers to the highest ranks within investment firms, as well as executives in the most well-funded private companies, thus seeking to increase their share of investor and executive board positions.
“It’s an intercompany effort. As the boards of investment firms and private companies pay closer attention to the talent pipeline in and below the C-suite, they and other private company boards will benefit from the improved pool of diverse talent,” said Alicia Syrett, chair of Digimarc, founder of Madam Chair, and founder and CEO of Pantegrion Capital.
4. The search criteria: Considering that only 24% of C-suite positions in public and private companies are held by women, the exclusive criteria of "CEO experience" must be expanded if it seeks to promote diversity in the directories.
“Limiting the pool of talent to only CEOs will lead to complaints of there not being enough qualified women to fill board roles—a common, but inaccurate, conclusion. Critical skills for board work such as financial, technology, human resources, innovation, and other expertise are honed in many other leadership roles,” underlined Wright.
5. Networks: Directors can also take it upon themselves to diversify their networks, including by engaging with groups such as the Latino Corporate Directors Association (LCDA), the Executive Leadership Council, and Out Leadership.
6. Transparency: Making information about who sits on private company boards public on their websites would help hold companies accountable and promote diversity as a board standard.
“You don’t need to be a CEO to be able to serve on these boards, because the way our economy is changing, the way our businesses are changing, and the way [stakeholder] needs are changing, you don’t have to be a CEO. There are so many other specific qualities that a board leader needs to bring to the table,” highlighted Dewan.
Open The Link———–>>> 𝘄𝘄𝘄.𝗡𝗲𝘁𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗵𝟭.𝗖𝗼𝗺
Open The Link----------->>> 𝐖𝐰𝐰.𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐒𝐢𝐭𝐞𝟐𝟒.𝐂𝐨𝐦 | https://aldianews.com/en/leadership/corporate/search-diversity | 2022-08-02 18:01:17 | 1 | https://aldianews.com/en/leadership/corporate/search-diversity |
2 busloads of migrants dropped off near VP Harris’ residence
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two buses of migrants from the U.S.-Mexico border were dropped off near Vice President Kamala Harris’ home in residential Washington on Thursday morning in the bitter political battle over the Biden administration’s immigration policies.
It wasn’t immediately clear which Republican leader had sent them. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has been busing migrants out of Texas to cities with Democratic mayors as part of a political strategy this year because he claims there are too many arrivals over the border to his state. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey also has adopted this policy, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also got in on the act recently. It was first dreamed up by former President Donald Trump.
About two dozen men and women stood outside the U.S. Naval Observatory at dawn, clutching clear plastic bags of their belongings brought with them over the border, before moving to a nearby church. Harris’ office had no immediate comment.
After migrants seeking asylum cross the U.S.-Mexico border, they spend time in a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility along the border until they are generally released into the U.S. to wait out their cases. Republicans say Biden’s policies encourage migrants to vanish into the U.S.; Democrats argue the Trump-era policy of forcing migrants to wait out their asylum cases in Mexico was inhumane.
DeSantis flew two planes of immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday. And last week, Abbott sent about 75 migrants to Chicago.
Follow AP’s coverage on immigration at: https://apnews.com/hub/immigration
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.kxii.com/2022/09/15/2-busloads-migrants-dropped-off-near-vp-harris-residence/ | 2022-09-15 14:31:39 | 1 | https://www.kxii.com/2022/09/15/2-busloads-migrants-dropped-off-near-vp-harris-residence/ |
Willie Nelson honored with Texas educational endowment
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Weeks after winning more Grammys, Willie Nelson is getting a new kind of honor: a university endowment in Texas.
The 89-year-old country music icon, who in the 1980s helped launch the Farm Aid benefit concerts, is the namesake of the new Willie Nelson Endowment for Uplifting Rural Communities at the University of Texas’ LBJ School of Public Affairs, the school announced Wednesday.
The endowment will fund research and student fellowships benefiting rural and farm communities. The “Always on My Mind” singer has raised more than $70 million for family farm owners through Farm Aid, according to the school, which also plans to honor the Texas native at a May gala.
“Willie Nelson is a national treasure who gained fame through his sheer musical talent and won hearts as someone who truly cares about the lives of his fellow Americans,” Larry Temple, Chairman of the LBJ Foundation Board of Trustees, said in a statement.
At the Grammys last month, Nelson’s won best country album for “A Beautiful Time” and best country solo performance for “Live Forever.” He has won a dozen Grammys over the course of his career.
He will receive the LBJ Foundation’s Liberty and Justice for All award, joining a list of recipients that include former U.S. presidents, members of Congress and the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.newschannel6now.com/2023/03/22/willie-nelson-honored-with-texas-educational-endowment/ | 2023-03-22 18:01:18 | 1 | https://www.newschannel6now.com/2023/03/22/willie-nelson-honored-with-texas-educational-endowment/ |
The eCommerce Platform Is Leveraging its Ultra-Popular Wellness Blog, Read By Millions, to Educate on Healthy Heart Habits
PASADENA, Calif., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- iHerb, a global leader in health and wellness, is supporting American Heart Month this February, by providing consumers with resources to help support healthy living and maintain a healthy heart.
"Our heart is an incredible organ. In an average lifetime, it beats steadily over 2.5 billion times and pumps a stunning 100 billion gallons of blood through our body! The importance of supporting heart health is obvious. Knowing this, iHerb is ramping up efforts to educate consumers on the many effective ways to support heart health through diet, lifestyle, and the proper use of heart-healthy dietary supplements." Dr. Michael Murray, iHerb's Chief Scientific Advisor.
The following are suggestions to help support cardiovascular health , which you can read in full on the iHerb blog, an excellent resource for all things health and wellness.
1. Exercise: A regular exercise routine, specifically a combination of resistance or weight training and aerobic exercises, has been shown to benefit heart health. Studies demonstrate that exercise helps to enhance the function of mitochondria, improve the integrity of arteries, and even release myokines, small proteins that may help improve muscle function, including heart muscle.
2. Proper Nutrition: Research shows that some nutrient-dense, heart-healthy diets may be more beneficial in supporting heart health than others. One of those diets is the Mediterranean diet that consists of whole grains, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, spices, olive oil, and fruits.
3. Stress Reduction: Reducing stress may be one way to support heart health, such as having a daily meditation or mindfulness practice.
4. Using Nutrients to Support Heart Health: Dietary supplements such as antioxidants and phytochemicals may help support heart health. For example, CoQ10, Beet Root Extract, Amino Acids and Omega 3-6-9. For the full list of recommended supplements, visit the full blog post!
More healthy living guidance, specifically in support of American Heart Month, from iHerb's team of health contributors can be found at https://www.iherb.com/blog/heart-health. Launched in 2017, iHerb's blog has over 1,500 articles from over 100 credentialed contributors, from M.D.s and N.D.s to Dermatologists, Registered Dietitians, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialists, and more – garnering over 10 million visitors in 2022 alone.
About iHerb: We are the largest eCommerce retailer dedicated to the Vitamins, Minerals, Supplements, or VMS, category, with a growing presence in other areas of consumer health and wellness. Trusted by millions in over 185 countries, we offer a curated portfolio of branded and innovative third-party and proprietary products at the best possible value, conveniently delivered directly to our customers. https://www.iherb.com/
Media Contact: iHerb@behrmanpr.com
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SOURCE iHerb | https://www.kmvt.com/prnewswire/2023/02/14/iherb-supports-american-heart-month-with-wealth-expert-content-supporting-cardiovascular-health/ | 2023-02-14 14:29:37 | 1 | https://www.kmvt.com/prnewswire/2023/02/14/iherb-supports-american-heart-month-with-wealth-expert-content-supporting-cardiovascular-health/ |
Eric B. and Rakim's "I Ain't No Joke" rock my headphones when I load into MLB The Show 23. The track, with its ruthless audacity and punchy braggadocio, sets the tone for what's certainly my favorite sports video game experience to date.
I scroll through a list of mythic players in baseball, making my way to one of the coldest Brooklyn Dodgers to ever lace up: the great Jackie Robinson. It's a joy thats immeasurably enhanced by the newest feature added to MLB The Show's franchise for the first time — Storylines: The Negro Leagues.
Bringing history to life
MLB The Show has been around since 2006, making its debut on the PlayStation 2 (though it's now available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 & 5, and Xbox One & Series X/S). Like other sports games, The Show lets you play as your favorite teams, stacked with real players from the past and present. Now, the series is honoring the pioneering Black athletes who ushered in The Negro National League.
Storylines mode provides players with short, single-player scenarios, each with an objective to complete, like getting at least two hits with Jackie Robinson or earning four runs with Hank Thompson. It's labeled as the franchise's first "season" of storylines, indicating that more additional baseball heroes could be added in the future.
This crown jewel in MLB The Show 23 comes from a partnership between San Diego Studio and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Bob Kendrick, the museum's president, works to preserve and share the legacy and undeniable impact of the sport's greatest legends from the Negro Leagues. Led by Hall of Famer Andrew "Rube" Foster in 1880, Black baseball players created the first of these leagues to combat segregation and Jim Crow laws that made it near-impossible to play professionally.
This new mode includes eight chapters, each focused on a special player from the Negro Leagues. They're all carefully curated with brief historical insights from Kendrick and engaging original artwork that tell a deeper story of breaking racial barriers.
Past and Present
The eight legends featured in Storylines include Leroy "Satchel" Paige, Hilton Smith, Andrew "Rube" Foster, Hank Thompson, Jordan "Buck" O'Neil, Jackie Robinson, John Donaldson, and Martin Dihigo.
After completing a chapter, each of the players featured in Storylines becomes available for use in the fantasy, dream-team mode Diamond Dynasty (Jackie Robinson was my must-have, considering the immaculate plate vision he added to my squad).
Playing through "Satchel" Paige and Hank Thompson's stories reminded me of the cultural shift in baseball that was influenced by their gloves. Like MLB The Show 23's cover athlete, Miami Marlins second baseman Jazz Chisholm, Jr., whose euro-step home run celebration continues to draw the awe, and ire, of fans and commentators alike.
In fact, the opening video in The Show 23 also features Chisholm, Jr. flanked by a jazz band, talking about the collaborative musical artform and its impact on the sport itself. The video quickly charts the transformative moments that make baseball worth playing. "Back in the Bahamas on the sandlots, I played to play," the rising star shares.
The inclusion of a mode where players relegated to second-class citizens finally get their roses is a triumphant standard — it marks the need for robust conversation about the forgotten histories of Black players in baseball.
An overdue addition
While changes to the pitching interface and rules have been top of mind for many players going into MLB The Show 23, fans also wanted deeper single-player experiences that go beyond things like Franchise mode (where players can manage their own team). Sports games have had a history missing the mark on single-player content and instead gone all-in on multiplayer features. The Show's Storylines definitely change that.
The game also features a killer soundtrack, which only builds on the hype of seeing someone like Hilton Smith or Martin Dihigo stretch, swing, and loosen up while Big K.R.I.T. booms through the stadium's speakers. But while the music might be modern, the historical details are authentic.
The jerseys of the Kansas City Monarchs and Chicago American Giants fit players loosely, complete with vintage ball caps. The crowds and stadiums match the aesthetics of the era, and the Storylines chapters are queued up like episodes from a streaming platform — they automatically play after several seconds unless you press the back button.
All in all, the inclusion of the new Storylines mode opens the door to a future where more Negro League legends could get their due. And that makes for a thrilling game.
James Perkins Mastromarino contributed to this story. contributed to this story
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.knkx.org/2023-03-30/mlb-the-show-23-review-negro-leagues-storylines-are-a-tribute-to-baseball-legends | 2023-03-30 16:27:46 | 1 | https://www.knkx.org/2023-03-30/mlb-the-show-23-review-negro-leagues-storylines-are-a-tribute-to-baseball-legends |
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A South Dakota prosecutor who was overseeing an investigation into Gov. Kristi Noem’s use of state government aircraft announced Tuesday that the investigation found nothing to support a criminal prosecution.
Hughes County State’s Attorney Jessica LaMie said in a short statement that there was “no basis to pursue” any actions on the allegations that the Republican governor had misused the state plane or that the plane’s flight records had been altered. She called an allegation that flight records had been tampered with “frivolous.”
Noem, a potential 2024 White House contender, had used the plane to attend events hosted by political organizations in 2019. Former Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, a Republican, had filed a complaint on the plane’s use to the state’s Government Accountability Board. And the board in August requested the state’s Division of Criminal Investigation to probe Noem’s use of the plane.
State law bars the aircraft from being used for anything other than state business.
Noem used the state plane six times to fly to out-of-state events hosted by political organizations, including the Republican Governors Association, Republican Jewish Coalition, Turning Point USA and the National Rifle Association. Raw Story, an online news site, first reported the trips, which the governor’s office defended as part of her work as the state’s “ambassador” to bolster the state’s economy.
Noem also argued that Ravnsborg filed the complaint as political retribution. She had pushed for Ravnsborg to resign for his conduct surrounding a 2020 car crash in which he struck and killed a pedestrian. Ravnsborg was impeached and removed from office earlier this year.
“An independent prosecutor has confirmed what we have known all along. This was nothing but a political attack in retaliation from a disgraced attorney general,” said Ian Fury, a spokesman for Noem’s reelection campaign.
LaMie said she had informed the Government Accountability Board of her decision and referred the matter back to it. She said she would not comment further on the investigation.
LaMie was tasked with overseeing the investigation after Attorney General Mark Vargo recused himself. He was appointed by Noem after Ravnsborg was removed from office. | https://www.conchovalleyhomepage.com/news/political-news/ap-politics/ap-south-dakota-prosecutor-no-charges-for-noems-airplane-use/ | 2022-10-26 02:40:33 | 0 | https://www.conchovalleyhomepage.com/news/political-news/ap-politics/ap-south-dakota-prosecutor-no-charges-for-noems-airplane-use/ |
A top Twitter official confirmed that some content enforcement work on the platform has been frozen following Elon Musk’s purchase of the company, which was finalized late last week.
Yoel Roth, the head of safety and integrity for Twitter, tweeted on Tuesday in response to a Bloomberg story that reported many staffers for the website had their access to content moderation tools frozen after the acquisition.
“This is exactly what we (or any company) should be doing in the midst of a corporate transition to reduce opportunities for insider risk,” Roth said. “We’re still enforcing our rules at scale.”
Bloomberg reported that hundreds of staff members on the trust and safety team usually have access to tools to remove posts with misinformation or hate speech, but that number has dropped to 15.
Musk has received widespread attention and has faced controversy for emphasizing few limits to free speech on the platform, leading some to believe he will be less likely to have tweets spreading disinformation taken down.
The Washington Post reported that racist and antisemitic tweets quickly spread on Twitter after Musk completed his $44 billion deal to take over the company.
Musk has described himself as a “free speech absolutist.” But he told advertisers in a letter on Thursday that Twitter cannot become a “free-for-all hellscape.”
Roth tweeted on Monday that Twitter has been focused on addressing a surge in hateful content on the platform since Saturday, removing more than 1,500 accounts and reducing views of these posts to near zero. He said impressions do not tell the entire story and that the company is going to continue to invest in policy and technology to improve its abilities.
Musk received backlash after he tweeted and deleted a link to an article espousing a right-wing conspiracy theory about the circumstances of the Friday attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). | https://www.wowktv.com/hill-politics/twitter-official-some-content-enforcement-work-frozen-after-musk-acquisition/ | 2022-11-01 18:13:15 | 1 | https://www.wowktv.com/hill-politics/twitter-official-some-content-enforcement-work-frozen-after-musk-acquisition/ |
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NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — China’s new foreign minister, Qin Gang, has sidestepped a new call by the African Union for permanent representation on the United Nations Security Council during his visit to Ethiopia.
Speaking at the opening of the Chinese-built headquarters of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, Qin instead emphasized China’s partnership with Africa in security and economic development.
African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat told a joint press conference that Africa’s lack of permanent representation on the Security Council is a “burning issue” considering that most issues on the council agenda are related to African countries.
“It is unacceptable that others decide in the place of others. It is not fair. We need a new order at the international level which will respect the interests of others,” he said.
China is one of the council’s five permanent members.
Qin, who was appointed in December, is on his first overseas visit as foreign minister and is beginning a weeklong trip to Africa. He will also visit Gabon, Angola, Benin and Egypt.
China’s foreign ministers for more than three decades have started their terms by visiting Africa, whose population as a continent rivals China’s. China has invested heavily in infrastructure in African countries, including roads, railways and hospitals.
Qin rejected the idea that China is competing in Africa with the United States, which last month sought to reassert its influence with a U.S.-Africa summit in Washington.
“What Africa needs is solidarity and cooperation, not block competition. No one has the right to force African countries to take sides,” Qin said.
The AU Commission chair said, “Africa refuses to be considered to be an arena of exchange of influence. ... We are open to cooperation and partnership with everybody, but our principles, our priorities and our interests have to be respected. The partnership we have with China is based on these principles.” | https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/China-FM-on-Africa-visit-sidesteps-call-for-UN-17710067.php | 2023-01-11 12:28:52 | 0 | https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/China-FM-on-Africa-visit-sidesteps-call-for-UN-17710067.php |
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Affiliates of Harbor Group International, LLC ("HGI"), a privately owned international real estate investment and management firm, today announced the acquisition of The Vermont, a high-rise multifamily community in Los Angeles' Koreatown submarket. Image Capital, LLC, partnered with HGI on the transaction. The acquisition adds to HGI's growing footprint in Southern California, following the acquisition of three multifamily communities in Long Beach in July 2022 and marking its tenth investment in the region.
Built in 2014, The Vermont comprises 464 apartment units across two high-rise towers perched above 31,000 square feet of retail space. The two towers are connected by a 7th floor sky lobby that features a library lounge, a club lounge, and a fitness center. The community also includes a six-level parking structure with separate entrances for residents and retail guests.
The Vermont features several defining characteristics and amenities that differentiate it from other apartment complexes in the neighborhood. In addition to the sky lobby, the community's 7th floor offers nearly 27,500 square feet of outdoor space, including a resort-style pool and spa, yoga garden, dog parks, and multiple dining and entertaining areas. Interior units feature floor-to-ceiling windows that provide expansive views of the Hollywood sign, Downtown LA, and the Griffith Observatory.
HGI plans to implement a $22.3 million capital improvement plan to enhance the community, renovating common areas, interior hallways and upgrading select units. HGI's investment activity on the West Coast has now exceeded $1 billion in the past twelve months.
"The Vermont offers the central location and expansive amenities today's residents seek when choosing a home," said Greg Heller, Managing Director, HGI. "Through this acquisition and investment, we see a significant value-add opportunity, positioning the community to better compete with newer, Class A properties in the neighborhood."
The parties in the transaction were represented by Cushman & Wakefield., Inc. Marc Renard, Executive Vice Chair of the firm's Capital Markets Group who led the team stated "The Vermont received interest from around the globe by investors that recognized the compelling cost basis versus new construction, the prospects for accretive additional property upgrades and the strong support for above national average rent growth driven by the numerous 'knowledge' based employment centers that surround the asset."
Located at one of Los Angeles' busiest intersections, the community offers convenient access to various destinations throughout the city. The LA Metro Rail's Wilshire/Vermont subway station is directly across the street from The Vermont and easily connects residents to employers in nearby Downtown LA. Planned expansions to the Metro Rail will soon connect residents to other job centers throughout the city, including Century City, Beverly Hills and Westwood.
About Harbor Group International
Harbor Group International, LLC, and its affiliates control an investment portfolio of $19 billion including 5.0 million square feet of commercial space throughout the United States and the United Kingdom and 61,000 apartment units in the United States. In addition to its corporate headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, HGI maintains offices in New York, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and Tel Aviv.
Media Contacts:
Morgan McGinnis
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SOURCE Harbor Group International, LLC | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/11/15/harbor-group-international-adds-southern-california-multifamily-portfolio/ | 2022-11-15 23:01:19 | 0 | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/11/15/harbor-group-international-adds-southern-california-multifamily-portfolio/ |
ATLANTA — Georgia voters on Tuesday are set to decide the final Senate contest in the country, choosing between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican football legend Herschel Walker after a four-week runoff blitz that has drawn a flood of outside spending to an increasingly personal fight.
This year's runoff has lower stakes than the two in 2021, when victories by Warnock and fellow Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff gave Democrats control of the Senate. The outcome of Tuesday's contest will determine whether Democrats have an outright 51-49 Senate majority or control a 50-50 chamber based on Vice President Kamala Harris’ tiebreaking vote.
The runoff brings to a close a bitter fight between Warnock, the state's first Black senator and the senior minister of the Atlanta church where Martin Luther King Jr. preached, and Walker, a former University of Georgia football star and political novice who has waged his bid in the mold of former President Donald Trump.
A victory for Warnock would solidify Georgia's status as a battleground heading into the 2024 presidential election. A win for Walker, however, could be an indication that the Democratic gains in the state might be somewhat limited, especially given that Georgia Republicans swept every other statewide contest last month.
In that election, Warnock led Walker by about 37,000 votes out of almost 4 million cast but fell shy of a majority, triggering the second round of voting. About 1.9 million votes already have been cast by mail and during early voting, an advantage for Democrats whose voters more commonly cast ballots this way. Republicans typically fare better on voting done on Election Day, with the margins determining the winner.
Last month, Walker, 60, ran more than 200,000 votes behind Republican Gov. Brian Kemp after a campaign dogged by intense scrutiny of his past, meandering campaign speeches and a bevy of damaging allegations, including claims that he paid for two former girlfriends’ abortions — accusations that Walker has denied.
Warnock, whose victory in 2021 was in a special election to serve out the remainder of GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson's term, sounded a confident note Monday during a packed day of campaigning. He predicted that he had convinced enough voters, including independents and moderate Republicans who supported Kemp, that he deserves a full term.
“They’ve seen that I will work with anybody that helps me to do good work for the people of Georgia,” said the 53-year-old senator. “I think they’re going to get this right. They know this race is about competence and character.”
Walker campaigned Monday with his wife, Julie, greeting supporters and offering thanks rather than his usual campaign speech and full-throated attacks on Warnock.
“I love y’all, and we’re gonna win this election,” he said at a winery in Ellijay, comparing it to championships he won as an athlete. “I love winning championships.
Warnock's campaign has spent about $170 million on the campaign, far outpacing Walker's nearly $60 million, according to their latest federal disclosures. But Democratic and Republican party committees, along with other political action committees, have spent even more.
The senator has paired his push for bipartisanship with an emphasis on his personal values, buoyed by his status as senior pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church. And, beginning with the closing stretch before the Nov. 8 general election, Warnock added withering takedowns of Walker, using the football star’s rocky past to argue that the political newcomer was “not ready” and “not fit” for high office.
Walker, who used his athletics fame to coast to the GOP nomination, has sought to portray Warnock as a yes-man for President Joe Biden. Walker has sometimes made the attack in especially personal terms, complete with accusing Warnock of having his “back bent” and “being on his knees, begging” at the White House — a searing charge for a Black challenger to level against a Black senator about his relationship with a white president.
A multimillionaire businessman, Walker has inflated his philanthropic activities and business achievements, including claiming that his company employed hundreds of people and grossed tens of millions of dollars in sales annually, even though later records indicate he had eight employees and averaged about $1.5 million a year. He has suggested that he’s worked as a law enforcement officer and said he graduated college, though he has done neither.
Walker was also forced to acknowledge during the campaign that he had fathered three children out of wedlock whom he had never before spoken about publicly — in direct conflict with Walker’s yearslong criticism of absentee fathers and his calls for Black men, in particular, to play an active role in their kids’ lives.
His ex-wife has detailed violent acts, saying Walker once held a gun to her head and threatened to kill her. Walker has never denied those specifics and wrote of his violent tendencies in a 2008 memoir that attributed the behavior to mental illness.
Warnock has countered with his individual Senate accomplishments, touting a provision he sponsored to cap insulin costs for Medicare patients while reminding voters that Republicans blocked his larger idea to cap those costs for all insulin-dependent patients. He hailed deals on infrastructure and maternal health care forged with Republicans Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida, mentioning those GOP colleagues more than he did Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer or other Democrats in Washington.
After the general election, Biden, who has struggled with low approval ratings, promised to help Warnock in any way he could, even if it meant staying away from Georgia. Bypassing the president, Warnock decided instead to campaign with former President Barack Obama in the days before the runoff election.
For his part, Walker was endorsed by Trump but avoided campaigning with him until the campaign’s final day: The pair conducted a conference call Monday with supporters, according to a Republican National Committee spokesperson.
Walker’s candidacy is the GOP’s last chance to flip a Senate seat this year. Dr. Mehmet Oz of Pennsylvania, Blake Masters of Arizona, Adam Laxalt of Nevada and Don Bolduc of New Hampshire, all Trump loyalists, already lost competitive Senate races that Republicans once considered part of their path to a majority.
Walker has differentiated himself from Trump in a notable way. Trump has spent two years falsely claiming that his loss in Georgia and nationally was fraudulent, despite the fact that numerous federal and local officials, a long list of courts, top former campaign staffers and even his own attorney general have all said there is no evidence of the fraud he alleges.
At his lone debate against Warnock in October, Walker was asked whether he’d accept the results even if he lost. He replied with one word: “Yes.” | https://www.11alive.com/article/news/politics/elections/warnock-walker-georgia-runoff-senate/85-fcd0540c-c085-40ae-bc73-a0fc5bde6e3b | 2022-12-06 14:06:12 | 1 | https://www.11alive.com/article/news/politics/elections/warnock-walker-georgia-runoff-senate/85-fcd0540c-c085-40ae-bc73-a0fc5bde6e3b |
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The Boston Red Sox face the St Louis Cardinals in MLB action at Fenway Park on Saturday. First pitch is at 7:15 p.m. ET.
The Cardinals will send Dakota Hudson (4-3, 3.29 ERA) to the mound, pitting him against Kutter Crawford (1-1, 5.74 ERA) for the Red Sox.
This betting analysis for Cardinals vs. Red Sox, which features our best bet of the game, is courtesy of BetMGM and powered by Dimers.
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St Louis Cardinals vs. Boston Red Sox
Game details
- Who: St Louis Cardinals vs. Boston Red Sox
- When: Saturday, June 18, 2022
- Time: 7:15 p.m. ET
- Where: Fenway Park
Betting odds
- Run Line: Red Sox +1.5 (-175), Cardinals -1.5 (+155)
- Moneyline: Red Sox -115, Cardinals +102
- Total: Over/Under 10 (-105/-115)
Odds and lines are best available at time of publishing and subject to change.
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Cardinals vs. Red Sox betting preview
Using trusted data and machine learning, Dimers has simulated Saturday’s Cardinals vs. Red Sox game 10,000 times.
Dimers’ independent predictive analytics model, better known as DimersBOT, gives the Red Sox a 52% chance of defeating the Cardinals.
Elsewhere, according to DimersBOT, the Red Sox (+1.5) are a 64% chance of covering the run line. The Over/Under total of 10 runs is a 53% chance of going Under.
Predictions and probabilities are correct at time of publishing and subject to change.
Cardinals vs. Red Sox best bet
Our best bet for Cardinals vs. Red Sox in MLB on Saturday is Red Sox +1.5 (-175).
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Saturday’s action between the Cardinals and Red Sox in MLB at Fenway Park is scheduled to start at 7:15 p.m. ET.
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Yankees vs. Blue Jays prediction, betting odds for MLB on Saturday | https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/betting/2022/06/cardinals-vs-red-sox-prediction-betting-odds-for-mlb-on-saturday.html | 2022-06-18 16:49:10 | 1 | https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/betting/2022/06/cardinals-vs-red-sox-prediction-betting-odds-for-mlb-on-saturday.html |
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s Republican Party is trying to learn from internal strife over last year’s failure to endorse in premier primary contests and, this year, it is putting its clout on the line by issuing endorsements ahead of Tuesday’s primary election.
Republicans are now putting up big bucks to try to ensure their endorsed candidate isn’t beaten in this year’s top-of-the-ticket race for an open seat on the state Supreme Court presidential battleground state.
Leading figures in the GOP say there was an urgent and concerted effort to resume endorsing to help ensure the party’s nominees are strong enough to compete against Democrats in a general election in politically moderate Pennsylvania.
“We can’t get into a train wreck like we had last year,” said Doug McLinko, a state party committeeman who is vice chair of the Bradford County GOP. “We have to put up the best candidates.”
Last year, a stampede of candidates for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat and open governor’s office confronted the state Republican Party.
Riven by loyalties to candidates, party committee members stepped aside without endorsing in a nine-person field for governor and seven-person field for U.S. Senate.
That primary election produced two winners. Dr. Mehmet Oz, the heart surgeon-turned-TV celebrity from New Jersey, won the party’s nomination for Senate while state Sen. Doug Mastriano won the nomination for governor. Both then lost convincingly in the fall general election amid a disappointing election nationally for Republicans.
Finger-pointing ensued, with critics blaming a failure to endorse with helping produce nominees who were too weak to win a general election.
The arguments gave new resolve for the party to get involved in primaries again, even from some whose candidates didn’t win the endorsement.
“‘Lesson learned’ pretty much sums it up,” said Jackie Kulback, who chairs the Cambria County Republican Party.
In February, GOP committee members overwhelmingly endorsed Carolyn Carluccio, a Montgomery County judge.
Challenging her in the primary is Patricia McCullough, a judge on the lower statewide Commonwealth Court who is a second-time candidate for state Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court race won’t tilt the balance of power, but it could help Republicans narrow the gap on a panel that currently has four justices elected as Democrats and two as Republicans.
Party officials acknowledge that their endorsement does not guarantee Carluccio victory.
McCullough, 66, ran against the party endorsement for state Supreme Court in 2021 and lost, but ran against the party endorsement in 2009 for Commonwealth Court and won.
And some party officials worry she could beat Carluccio, 62, in an off-year primary contest where turnout is light and voters know little, if anything, about the candidates.
Asked what Carluccio needs to do to win, Rob Gleason — a former GOP state chair — said, “spend a lot of money.”
Party allies are lining up with cash.
The Republican State Leadership Committee disclosed spending $600,000 on TV ads, including one attacking McCullough. A political action committee funded largely by suburban Philadelphia billionaire Jeffrey Yass kicked in $250,000 for fliers.
All told, Carluccio’s campaign and its allies have reported spending more than $1.1 million to help her. McCullough, who says she does not raise money from lawyers and lobbyists, has reported raising less than $20,000 total.
McCullough has some backers.
At least two county parties — Lycoming and Berks — have peeled off and endorsed McCullough, while other county parties have welcomed her into their events to speak.
Also backing McCullough is Mastriano, who easily won last year’s GOP primary for governor despite being heavily outspent. He went on to lose November’s general election to Democrat Josh Shapiro by 15 percentage points.
The durability of the GOP’s renewed favor for endorsing is another question.
To some extent, it was easier to endorse in this year’s contests for statewide judicial seats. There were fewer candidates, for one, than last year’s races for governor and U.S. Senate.
A new test of unity will come early next year, when party members may have to confront contested primaries in 2024’s election for president, U.S. Senate and an open state attorney general’s office.
“The rug-cutting time will be this January,” Gleason said, “when we need to decide whether we’re going to have endorsements for president and all the way down.” | https://www.mcall.com/2023/05/11/pennsylvania-gop-puts-clout-back-on-line-in-primary-after-losing-22-senate-governor-races/ | 2023-05-11 13:34:46 | 1 | https://www.mcall.com/2023/05/11/pennsylvania-gop-puts-clout-back-on-line-in-primary-after-losing-22-senate-governor-races/ |
Boulder should highs in the 80s with a chance of rain today, according to the National Weather Service.
Today’s forecast calls for increasing cloudiness with a high of 88 and an overnight low of 62. There is a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1 p.m.
Thursday’s forecast calls for showers and thunderstorms with a high of 77 and an overnight low of 61. The chance of rain is 90%.
Friday’s forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies with a high of 80 and an overnight low of 59. There is a 70% chance of rain and thunderstorms after 1 p.m.
Five-day forecast
Check out what weather is in store for the Boulder County area here
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See what Boulder’s weather is like now at the National Center for Atmospheric Research here | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/07/27/boulder-weather-forecast-16/ | 2022-07-27 14:17:37 | 1 | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/07/27/boulder-weather-forecast-16/ |
MLB to pay minor leaguers $185 million to settle lawsuit
NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball agreed to pay minor leaguers $185 million to settle a federal lawsuit alleging violations of minimum wage laws, a case that progressed through the courts for eight years without reaching a trial.
The proposed settlement, announced May 10, was filed Friday with the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, where Chief Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero is expected to grant his approval.
“This settlement is a monumental step for minor league players toward a fair and just compensation system,” Garrett Broshuis, the players’ lead lawyer and a former minor league pitcher, said in a statement. “I’ve seen first-hand the financial struggle players face while earning poverty-level wages — or no wages at all — in pursuit of their major league dream.”
If approved, $120,197,300 will be split among the players, $55.5 million will go the the players’ lawyers and up to $5.5 million will cover reimbursement costs of the suit.
Also, $450,000 will be for the costs of administering the settlement, $637,000 will go to incentive awards for the player representatives in the suit, $400,000 for a contingency fund and $2,315,000 for a payment under the California Private Attorney General Act, which allows penalties for violating state labor code.
“We are only in the second year of a major overhaul of the 100-year-old player development system and have made great strides to improve the quality of life for minor league players,” MLB said in a statement. “We are proud that minor league players already receive significant benefits, including free housing, quality health care, multiple meals per day, college tuition assistance for those who wish to continue their education and over $450 million in annual signing bonuses for first-year players.”
“We are pleased we were able to come to a mutually agreeable resolution but are unable to comment on the details until the agreement is formally approved by the court.”
As part of the proposed settlement, MLB agreed to rescind any prohibitions against teams paying wages to minor league players outside of the season.
‘”MLB will also issue a memorandum to the clubs advising the clubs that they must compensate minor league players in compliance with wage-and-hour laws in effect in Arizona and Florida during spring training, extended spring training, instructional leagues, and the championship season in those states, including any minimum wage laws that apply,” the proposed settlement said.
The suit was filed in 2014 by first baseman/outfielder Aaron Senne, a 10th-round pick of the Marlins in 2009 who retired in 2013, and two other retired players who had been lower-round selections: Kansas City infielder Michael Liberto and San Francisco pitcher Oliver Odle. They claimed violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and state minimum wage and overtime requirements for a work week they estimated at 50 to 60 hours.
Spero wrote in a pretrial ruling in March that minor leaguers are year-round employees who work during training time and found MLB violated Arizona’s state minimum wage law and was liable for triple damages. Spero also ruled MLB did not comply with California wage statement requirements, awarding $1,882,650 in penalties.
He said minor leaguers should be paid for travel time to road games in the California League and to practice in Arizona and Florida.
“For decades, Major League Baseball’s 30 team owners have openly conspired to underpay minor league baseball players,” Advocates for Minor Leaguers executive director Harry Marino said in a statement. “Players are required to provide between six and nine months of free labor each year. Today’s settlement announcement is an acknowledgment of, and an important first step toward remedying, that injustice.”
Advocates for Minor Leaguers has pressed Congress to investigate treatment of minor leaguers and to further limit baseball’s antitrust exemption.
In 2017, the players suing were defined as those with minor league contracts who played in the California League for at least seven straight days starting on Feb. 7, 2010, or Feb. 7, 2011, depending on state or federal claims; those who participated in spring training, extended spring training instructional leagues in Arizona starting Feb. 7, 2011; and those who participated in spring training, extended spring training instructional leagues in Florida starting Feb. 7, 2009.
The settlement explained how the legal fees were determined.
“A fee award of 30% of the common fund is reasonable given the risk class counsel took in bringing this novel wage-and-hour case, the effort they put into litigating the case for eight years through a lengthy appeal and until the eve of trial, and the excellent result achieved,” the settlement said.
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wagmtv.com/2022/07/15/mlb-pay-minor-leaguers-185-million-settle-lawsuit/ | 2022-07-16 00:08:44 | 0 | https://www.wagmtv.com/2022/07/15/mlb-pay-minor-leaguers-185-million-settle-lawsuit/ |
The major political conference is underway in Beijing. President Xi Jinping, who is also the party's general secretary, has delivered a major speech outlining the party's goals.
Copyright 2022 NPR
The major political conference is underway in Beijing. President Xi Jinping, who is also the party's general secretary, has delivered a major speech outlining the party's goals.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.apr.org/2022-10-16/why-you-should-pay-attention-to-the-chinese-communist-partys-congress | 2022-10-16 22:22:49 | 1 | https://www.apr.org/2022-10-16/why-you-should-pay-attention-to-the-chinese-communist-partys-congress |
Actor Melissa Joan Hart said she and her husband helped a class of kindergartners that was fleeing the Nashville school shooting earlier this week.
Hart said in a video posted on Instagram Tuesday that her children attend a school next to the private Christian Covenant School. She said she and her husband had been headed to her kids’ school conferences Monday when they helped some students get away from the shooting that killed six people.
“We helped a class of kindergartners across a busy highway,” she said, her voice breaking, “that were climbing out of the woods — that were trying to, um, escape the shooter situation at their school. So we helped all these tiny little kids cross the road and get their teachers over there, and we helped a mom reunite with her children.”
Hart said she had moved to Nashville from Connecticut and that her kids had attended a school near Sandy Hook Elementary when 26 children were shot and killed there in 2012.
“This is our second experience with a school shooting with our kids being in close proximity. Luckily we are all OK,” she said.
She said she recorded the video Monday, but it was too raw to post that day.
“I don’t know what to say anymore,” she said. “Enough is enough.”
A spokesperson for Hart, who has starred in sitcoms including “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” didn’t immediately return a message from The Associated Press seeking further comment. | https://www.wivb.com/entertainment-news/melissa-joan-hart-says-she-helped-tiny-kids-flee-shooting/ | 2023-03-30 18:42:26 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/entertainment-news/melissa-joan-hart-says-she-helped-tiny-kids-flee-shooting/ |
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Police in California are not immune from civil lawsuits for misconduct that happens while they investigate crimes, the state Supreme Court ruled this week, overruling a precedent made by lower courts that had helped protect law enforcement from litigation for decades.
The justices on Thursday unanimously rejected an argument by Riverside County that its sheriff’s deputies couldn’t be sued for leaving a man’s naked body lying in plain sight for eight hours while officers investigated his killing.
California law protects police from being sued for any harm that happens during a prosecution process — even if the officer acted “maliciously and without probable cause.” Now, the Supreme Court says police can be sued for misconduct during investigations.
The ruling cites previous case law that defined investigatory actions as those before charges are filed.
“The potential for factual overlap between investigations and prosecutions does not justify treating them as one and the same,” Justice Leondra Kruger wrote in the ruling.
Kruger noted the court issued a similar ruling in 1974. But in 1994, a state appeals court adopted a broader interpretation to shield police from lawsuits stemming from conduct during investigations. Lower courts have been relying on that ruling to dismiss misconduct lawsuits against law enforcement that did not involve prosecutions.
A lawyer representing Riverside County in the case did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
This particular case centered on Jose Leon, who was shot and killed by a neighbor in 2017 southeast of Los Angeles in Riverside County. Shortly after sheriff’s deputies arrived at the shooting, they heard several gunshots nearby and dragged Leon’s body behind a police vehicle, causing his pants to fall down and exposing his genitals, according to the lawsuit. His wife Dora Leon sued the county for negligence and emotional distress, saying police had left her husband’s naked body in plain view for hours. The case was dismissed by lower courts that ruled state law provides immunity to law enforcement officers and agencies for police conduct during investigations.
The Supreme Court reinstated Dora Leon’s lawsuit. Kruger wrote that the lower courts’ decision was wrong, saying police investigations cannot be interpreted as part of the prosecution process.
Many local police departments have routinely argued that they are immune from damage claims “the moment a police officer arrives on the scene of a crime,” said Richard Antognini, a lawyer representing Leon.
If the Supreme Court had ruled in favor of the county, “it would have essentially immunized them for almost anything,” he said.
The recent ruling helps remove an obstacle for victims seeking damages from police misconduct, Antognini said. California laws still provide immunity to certain aspects of police investigations.
The ruling was praised by John Burris, a California civil rights attorney who has represented more than 1,000 victims of police misconduct across the country.
“This should have a positive impact on police reform, because now the law has spoken,” Burris said. “Police should be trained and be better informed as to what their obligations are.”
___
Associated Press writer Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia contributed to the report. | https://www.pahomepage.com/news/police-in-california-arent-immune-from-certain-misconduct-lawsuits-high-court-rules/ | 2023-06-24 22:23:25 | 0 | https://www.pahomepage.com/news/police-in-california-arent-immune-from-certain-misconduct-lawsuits-high-court-rules/ |
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