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This large pile of rubble on South 9th Street just south of the Interstate 80 corridor between 9th and 3rd streets in Laramie is an example of blight areas the city is singling out as potential targets for an urban renewal authority.
Laramie City Council has passed a resolution targeting places withing city limits as potetial blight areas, which could be helped if the city were to have an urban renewal authority. This house is on the corner of North 4th and Clark streets on the way to LaBonte Park.
This large pile of rubble on South 9th Street just south of the Interstate 80 corridor between 9th and 3rd streets in Laramie is an example of blight areas the city is singling out as potential targets for an urban renewal authority.
Greg Johnson/Boomerang
Laramie City Council has passed a resolution targeting places withing city limits as potetial blight areas, which could be helped if the city were to have an urban renewal authority. This house is on the corner of North 4th and Clark streets on the way to LaBonte Park.
LARAMIE – The City Council gave the green light to a resolution acknowledging blight conditions, recognizing a need for redevelopment. Passed last week, it is the first step in the process of creating an urban renewal authority.
A URA could provide new avenues of funding to make improvements in some places tagged as “blighted areas.” A study by Fort Collins engineering consulting firm Ayres Associates focused on three areas of blight in Laramie.
Dead-end roads and trash piles were identified along the 3rd Street corridor between Interstate 80 and 9th Street. Dilapidated buildings and lack of storm drainage were ID’ed along Snowy Range Road between I-80 and Cleveland Street. Some areas include city property.
The next step is to bring an ordinance to the council, which can approve it over the course of three readings, said Assistant City Manager Todd Feezer. Then, the city would search for five members to appoint to the URA. The group would elect officers, adopt bylaws and begin to review project plans.
If the process goes according to plan, the URA would begin its first project in the spring, Feezer said.
City staff said that a URA would try to work with property owners and the private sector to create projects stakeholders agree are beneficial for the community. “I think we’re going to get a better product and get more involvement from the community if we do work with private enterprise,” City Manager Janine Jordan said.
One reason the city is looking to seek development through a URA and tax increment financing is because of a decrease in one-time funding from the Wyoming Legislature, Jordan said.
“I think there’s a history of projects where this type of structure would have served Laramie well,” said Mayor Paul Weaver. “I think it’s unwise to count on the availability of one-time funding being available for projects in the community.”
A first reading of the ordinance is expected to come to the City Council in October.
For a longer version of this news article, see the website of the Laramie Boomerang, which is affiliated with the Wyoming Tribune Eagle: WyomingNews.com/laramieboomerang
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https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/laramie-moves-forward-with-exploring-ura/article_4ba5177a-355e-11ed-9c82-ebcb3b536720.html
| 2022-09-16T15:27:04Z
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https://www.wyomingnews.com/today-tomorrow/article_7f6ffe20-35be-11ed-b90e-a7154833524f.html
| 2022-09-16T15:27:10Z
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Company discontinues nicotine gummies after FDA warning
(CNN) - A company that made illegal flavored nicotine gummies has discontinued the item following a warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The FDA sent a letter last month to VPR Brands, the name behind Krave Nic, warning the company was not authorized to make, sell or distribute such products.
The agency said the gummies were particularly concerning because they resemble kid-friendly candy products and they can cause severe nicotine toxicity or even death in young children.
The gummies contained one milligram of nicotine and came in three different flavors, such as “blue razz” and “cherry bomb.”
Krave said the tobacco-free products were meant for adults.
The FDA said such gummies are “a public health crisis just waiting to happen among our nation’s youth.”
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.
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https://www.whsv.com/2022/09/16/company-discontinues-nicotine-gummies-after-fda-warning/
| 2022-09-16T15:38:57Z
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JMU and Grottoes working to make Grand Caverns a geoheritage site
GROTTOES, Va. (WHSV) - What began as a simple research partnership between James Madison University and the Town of Grottoes has now grown into a project drawing national attention.
“It started like a simple collaboration and started getting more form. JMU offered to make a three-dimensional map of the commercial part of Grand Caverns,” Assistant Professor of Geology and Environmental Science Dr. Angel Garcia said.
Through LiDAR or ‘Light detecting and ranging technology, Dr. Garcia and his students completed the map and also opened the door for another project -- working to establish Grand Caverns as a geoheritage site.
“Geoheritage uses the geological aspect as a central theme to tie up different pieces of heritage with the purpose of showcasing what are those things together,” Dr. Garcia explained.
The heritage at Grand Caverns is rich. At over 200 years old, it is the oldest operating show cavern in the United States, and even contains signatures on its walls dating back to the Civil War.
Combining scientific finds like rock formations and the rich history of Grand Caverns is a small part of the process of becoming an official geoheritage site.
According to Grottoes’ Parks and Tourism Director, the process to become a geoheritage site under the guidelines from the National Park Service can take about five years. It involves gathering data and statements of the caverns’ significance and rarity on state, local, and national levels.
“That puts us on a much bigger stage and that actually becomes a powerful economic driver for the entire area. It matters a lot to the town of Grottoes, matters certainly to Grand Caverns. But this starts to reach into Augusta County, and Rockingham County, and the Shenandoah Valley,” Grottoes Parks and Tourism Director Austin Shank said.
On top of the economic draw, both Dr. Garcia and Shank agree that the educational opportunities for all ages in the caverns and the Valley as a whole are plenty.
“Professional researchers, educators, it (the caverns) will bring that part as a home for that interaction to happen,” Dr. Garcia said.
“It transformed and met with the times and became electrified and so we’re continuing that legacy as we move forward and it’s a big driver,” Shank said.
Grand Caverns is open for tours by reservation from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from April 1st to October 31st. Between November 1st and March 31st, the caverns are open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
You can find more information here.
Copyright 2022 WHSV. All rights reserved.
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https://www.whsv.com/2022/09/16/jmu-grottoes-working-make-grand-caverns-geoheritage-site/
| 2022-09-16T15:39:03Z
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Meeting Queen Elizabeth not once, but twice!
Lindsay B. Reynolds was the Chief of Staff to fmr. First Lady Melania Trump. She met the queen on two recent occasions.
Published: Sep. 16, 2022 at 10:10 AM EDT|Updated: 13 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - As the world prepares to say its final goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II, Gray Television’s Washington News Bureau sat down with Lindsay B. Reynolds who met the queen twice. Reynolds, the Chief of Staff to Melania Trump, visited and received tours of Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace. She also served as the White House point of contact for the planning of the 2019 State Visit. In her interview, Reynolds shares what it was like to meet the Royal Family.
Copyright 2022 Gray DC. All rights reserved.
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https://www.whsv.com/2022/09/16/meeting-queen-elizabeth-not-once-twice/
| 2022-09-16T15:39:10Z
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Migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard to be moved to mainland
EDGARTOWN, Mass. (AP) — Migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard on the orders of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will be moved Friday to housing on a military base on Cape Cod, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said.
The Republican governor said the move to the mainland would be voluntary. Baker praised residents and officials on Martha’s Vineyard for taking care of the nearly 50 migrants after their unexpected arrival on Wednesday but said the island lacks the resources to house the migrants for the long-term.
At Joint Base Cape Cod, the migrants will be given dormitory-style housing, food and services, Baker said. Families will be given separate housing.
Authorities have not said what will happen to any migrants who choose not to make the move to Cape Cod.
The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency will coordinate efforts to help the migrants. Baker said the state will also activate up to 125 members of the National Guard to assist in the relief effort.
Joint Base Cape Cod houses a Coast Guard base as well as facilities for other branches of the armed services.
Upon arrival in Martha’s Vineyard, where former President Barack Obama has a home, the migrants were provided with meals, shelter, health care and information about where to find work.
The vacation island south of Boston, whose year-round residents include many blue-collar workers, appeared to absorb the dozens of arrivals, who are mostly from Venezuela, without a major hitch.
“We are grateful to the providers, volunteers and local officials that stepped up on Martha’s Vineyard over the past few days to provide immediate services to these individuals,” Baker said in a statement emailed to reporters Friday. "
Joint Base Cape Cod contains facilities for the U.S. Coast Guard and other branches of the armed services and has provided emergency housing in the past, as it did for Louisiana residents fleeing the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The governors of Texas and Arizona have sent thousands of migrants on buses to New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., in recent months. But the latest surprise moves — which included two flights to Martha’s Vineyard Wednesday paid for by Florida — reached a new level of political theater that critics derided as inhumane.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the flights to Martha’s Vineyard were part of an effort to “transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations.” The Republican’s office didn’t answer questions about where migrants boarded planes and what they were told about the trip.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.whsv.com/2022/09/16/migrants-flown-marthas-vineyard-be-moved-mainland/
| 2022-09-16T15:39:16Z
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Woman accused of killing man she met through social media, authorities say
RANKIN COUNTY, Miss. (WLBT/WDAM/Gray News) – A woman from Nashville was charged with the murder of a man from Mississippi she met through social media, according to police.
Authorities said Sierra Inscoe, 20, and Carson Sistrunk, 24, met online and had planned to meet in person, WLBT reports.
Sistrunk was reported missing Sept. 6, but WDAM reports that his body was discovered last week at an oil well site by a worker who noticed tire tracks.
Jefferson Davis County Sheriff Ron Strickland said Sistrunk had been shot.
Authorities said Inscoe became a suspect in Sistrunk’s killing after being stopped by an officer while she was driving a vehicle that belonged to Sistrunk.
Agents with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation arrested Inscoe on Sunday. The agency issued a warrant for her arrest for a felony taking of a motor vehicle charge out of Rankin County.
Inscoe was denied bond during her initial court appearance Wednesday.
Although Inscoe is being charged with murder in Jefferson Davis County, she is currently being held at the Rankin County Detention Center.
Copyright 2022 WLBT and WDAM via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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https://www.whsv.com/2022/09/16/woman-accused-killing-man-she-met-through-social-media-authorities-say/
| 2022-09-16T15:39:23Z
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NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ActionIQ, the leader in customer experience (CX) solutions, today announced that it was named an Overall Leader, Product Leader and Innovation Leader in the 2022 Leadership Compass on Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) by KuppingerCole Analysts AG. The Leadership Compass report analyzes CDP solutions on the market to give an overview of the market positions of the vendors and the functionality of the solutions.
The AIQ CX Hub is a collection of powerful and fully configurable modular solutions that gives all enterprise teams direct but controlled self-service access to customer data to create audiences and orchestrate customer experiences at scale.
"It is clear that the ActionIQ CX Hub has been designed with a strong focus on the customer experience: both the experience of the members of an organization that work with the solution and the customers of such organizations who will benefit from the enhanced customer experience facilitated by the Customer Experience Hub," said Roland Bühler, leading analyst and author of the KuppingerCole report.
To cite the 2022 Leadership Compass, the AIQ CX Hub "is easy to use and is ideal for non-technical users (such as marketers). The intuitive graphical user interface is easy to understand and to manage all the functions without the need for a data analyst. In particular, the built-in connectors for a huge variety of third-party systems can be used in a highly intuitive "plug-and-play" manner."
Further on AIQ, "The segmentation of customer audiences can be done in a very convenient way, using drag and drop functionality. Calculations, such as the audience size, and further analytics are made in real-time. ActionIQ Customer Experience Hub has a strong focus on customer activation. It includes a highly intuitive and powerful customer orchestration tool that enables the creation of intelligent customer journey setups in a very smart way using the graphical user interface."
"We are very proud to be named an Overall Leader, as well as Product and Innovation Leader by KuppingerCole," said Tasso Argyros, Co-Founder and CEO at ActionIQ. "The AIQ CX Hub is the only solution that can combine historical customer profile with real-time events to orchestrate impactful, personalized customer experiences, and rapid growth of our customer base, combined with exceptional customer retention, speak to the superiority of our solution."
The AIQ CX Hub comprises four modular solutions — CDP, Audience Center, Journey Management and Real-Time CX — designed to help brands give business teams the freedom to explore and action on customer data, while helping technical teams extend and enhance existing technology investments to manage data governance, costs and performance. The AIQ CX Hub flexibly integrates with any data source or channel, and gives organizations the freedom to purchase a CDP from AIQ or use their own in-house solution.
The AIQ CX Hub has also scored Positive or Strong Positive in the Security, Functionality, Interoperability and Usability product categories of the report.
The Overall Leader rating is based on the combination of product, innovation and market leadership, while Product Leadership is determined by the functional strength of the CDP solution and the overall capabilities and completeness of services. When it comes to Innovation Leadership, "innovative companies take a customer-oriented upgrade approach, delivering customer-requested and other cutting-edge features, while maintaining compatibility with previous versions," according to KuppingerCole.
The 2022 KuppingerCole Leadership Compass on CDPs can be found here.
AIQ brings order to CX chaos. Our Customer Experience Hub empowers everyone to be a CX champion by giving business teams the freedom to explore and action on customer data while helping technical teams extend and enhance existing technology investments to manage data governance, costs and performance. Enterprise brands such as Autodesk, M&T Bank, The New York Times, Neiman Marcus, Hertz and many more use our CX Hub to drive growth through extraordinary customer experiences. Learn more at actioniq.com.
Media Contact
Brianne Fortuna
Hudson Cutler for ActionIQ
bfortuna@hudsoncutler.com
+1-315-404-5756
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE ActionIQ
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https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/16/actioniq-named-overall-product-innovation-leader-kuppingercole-leadership-compass/
| 2022-09-16T15:39:29Z
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- Existing, single-family home sales totaled 313,540 in August on a seasonally adjusted annualized rate, up 6.1 percent from July and down 24.4 percent from August 2021.
- August's statewide median home price was, $839,460 up 0.7 percent from July and up 1.4 percent from August 2021.
- Year-to-date statewide home sales were down 14.9 percent in August.
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A brief retreat in mortgage rates that created a slightly more favorable lending environment provided a window of opportunity for California homebuyers and perked up home sales in August for the first time in five months, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) said today.
Infographic: https://www.car.org/Global/Infographics/2022-08-Sales-and-Price
Closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California totaled a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 313,540 in August, according to information collected by C.A.R. from more than 90 local REALTOR® associations and MLSs statewide. The statewide annualized sales figure represents what would be the total number of homes sold during 2022 if sales maintained the August pace throughout the year. It is adjusted to account for seasonal factors that typically influence home sales. August's sales pace was up 6.1 percent on a monthly basis from 295,460 in July and down 24.4 percent from a year ago, when 414,860 homes were sold on an annualized basis. August's monthly sales increase was higher than the long-run average of 0.4 percent for a July-August period in the past 43 years and marked the first monthly sales increase in five months.
"California's housing market stabilized briefly as a temporary reprieve on mortgage rates in July and early August brought buyers into the market," said C.A.R. President Otto Catrina, a Bay Area real estate broker and REALTOR®. "Active listings have passed their annual peak, and while homes are taking slightly longer to sell, the share of homes seeing price reductions has also stabilized to near pre-pandemic levels. In fact, price growth in August actually picked up on both a monthly and annual basis, and pending sales suggest a bounce-back for homes priced $2 million and above."
California home prices stabilized in August as the statewide median price increased on both a monthly basis and yearly basis, but at a less-than-2-percent growth pace. The statewide median price edged up 0.7 percent in August to $839,460 from the $833,910 recorded in July and was up 1.4 percent from the $827,940 recorded last August. The year-over-year price gain was the smallest in more than two years. The nominal price increase was attributed partly to a change in the mix of sales in August. With sales in the million-dollar price segment rising 6.8 percent from the prior month, the August statewide median price also pushed up slightly by 0.7 percent from July.
"It's encouraging to see that August's sales pace rebounded above an annualized 300,000 units sold," said C.A.R. Vice President and Chief Economist Jordan Levine. "Although we do not expect a rapid bounce-back because the Fed is expected to continue raising interest rates to get inflation under control, the monthly increase in closed and pending sales suggests that the market may have already priced in most of the rate increases to date. Still, buyers will continue to grapple with rising costs of borrowing, which will keep home sales below the 350,000 annualized pace for the remainder of the year."
Consumer optimism bounced back as interest rates declined in early August, according to C.A.R.'s monthly Consumer Housing Sentiment Index. Conducted in early September, the share of respondents who believed it was a good time to buy a home rose month-over-month for the third straight month to 19 percent, pushing the Housing Sentiment Index to 59, but was significantly lower than the Index of 72 in August 2021. Meanwhile, those who believed it was a good time to sell a home continued to decline to 56 percent, dropping sharply from 72 percent in August 2021. With interest rates moving upward since mid-August, housing sentiment will likely reverse direction next month. In fact, two-thirds (64%) of consumers believed that the overall economic conditions in California would not improve in the next 12 months, and three-quarters (75%) believed that interest rates would rise in the next 12 months.
Other key points from C.A.R.'s August 2022 resale housing report include:
- At the regional level, sales continued to fall sharply from last year, but the declines in August moderated slightly from the prior month. Three of the five major regions continued to drop by more than 25 percent from last year, with the Central Coast region dipping the most at 30.6 percent year-over-year. The San Francisco Bay Area (-29.1 percent) and Southern California (-28.8 percent) also dipped more than 25 percent from last year, but the declines were less severe compared to the drops recorded in July. The Central Valley (-22.1 percent) and the Far North (-10.5 percent) had the smallest sales declines of the five major regions, but both continued to fall year-over-year by double-digits.
- All but four counties tracked by C.A.R. posted sales drops from last August 2022. Of the 47 counties that experienced a year-over-year sales decline, 30 counties suffered a plunge of more than 20 percent. San Benito County recorded the biggest sales drop from last August at -68.2 percent, followed by Sonoma (-40.3 percent), and Monterey (-35.8 percent). Counties that experienced a sales decline decreased an average of -23.4 percent in August. Four counties recorded a sales increase from a year ago, with Plumas gaining the most at 43.3 percent. Siskiyou (11.9 percent), Del Norte (9.1 percent) and Nevada (2.2 percent) were the other three counties that recorded an annual sales increase. For the first eight months of 2022, sales in San Benito had the sharpest decline at -31.2 percent, while Yuba (8.4 percent) continued to post the best sales performance of all counties compared to last year.
- For the first eight months of 2022, sales in San Luis Obispo continued to drop the sharpest at -28.9 percent, while Yuba (17.7 percent) continued to post the best sales performance of all counties compared to last year.
- More than two-thirds of all California counties experienced a year-over-year increase in their median prices, but their growth rates have been decelerating in the past three months. Seven counties continued to record double-digit growth rates in their median prices from a year ago but was fewer than the 31 counties recorded in May. Napa (29.2 percent) had the biggest price gain of all counties, followed by Sutter (14.8 percent) and Kern (14.5 percent). Fifteen counties registered a dipped in their median prices from a year ago, with Tehama dropping the most at -13.8 percent, followed by San Francisco (-11.6 percent) and El Dorado (-7.3 percent).
- Housing supply in California improved from a year ago but tightened slightly from the prior month as housing demand rose in August. The statewide Unsold Inventory Index (UII) increased to 2.9 months in August 2022 from 1.9 months a year ago. Weaker housing demand, however, continued to be the primary factor for the improvement in the index. With both closed sales and pending sales slowing by more than 20 percent, active listings have been staying on the market longer, resulting in a year-over-year surge of 57.1 percent in homes for sale in August.
- Forty-seven of the 51 counties tracked by C.A.R. recorded an increase in active listings on a year-over-year basis in August, a slight increase from July's 46 counties. Three counties had triple-digit year-over-year gains in homes for sale, with Yuba leading the pack again with a surge of 162.4 percent from a year ago, followed by Placer (105.6 percent) and Mendocino (100.0 percent). Despite an overall improvement in housing supply conditions, four counties experienced a dip in active listings from last year. Active listings in Del Norte dropped the most at -56.0 percent, followed by Plumas (-5.9 percent), Sonoma (-2.9 percent), and Lassen (-1.0 percent).
- The median number of days it took to sell a California single-family home was 19 days in August and 9 days in August 2021.
- C.A.R.'s statewide sales-price-to-list-price ratio* was 98.4 percent in August 2022 and was below 100 percent for the first time since June 2020. The statewide sales-price-to-list-price ratio was 102.8 percent in August 2021.
- The statewide average price per square foot** for an existing single-family home was $406, up from $395 in August a year ago.
- The 30-year, fixed-mortgage interest rate averaged 5.22 percent in August, up from 2.84 percent in August 2021, according to Freddie Mac. The five-year, adjustable mortgage interest rate averaged 4.36 percent, compared to 2.42 percent in August 2021.
Note: The County MLS median price and sales data in the tables are generated from a survey of more than 90 associations of REALTORS® throughout the state and represent statistics of existing single-family detached homes only. County sales data is not adjusted to account for seasonal factors that can influence home sales. Movements in sales prices should not be interpreted as changes in the cost of a standard home. The median price is where half sold for more and half sold for less; medians are more typical than average prices, which are skewed by a relatively small share of transactions at either the lower end or the upper end. Median prices can be influenced by changes in cost, as well as changes in the characteristics and the size of homes sold. The change in median prices should not be construed as actual price changes in specific homes.
*Sales-to-list-price ratio is an indicator that reflects the negotiation power of home buyers and home sellers under current market conditions. The ratio is calculated by dividing the final sales price of a property by its last list price and is expressed as a percentage. A sales-to-list ratio with 100 percent or above suggests that the property sold for more than the list price, and a ratio below 100 percent indicates that the price sold below the asking price.
**Price per square foot is a measure commonly used by real estate agents and brokers to determine how much a square foot of space a buyer will pay for a property. It is calculated as the sale price of the home divided by the number of finished square feet. C.A.R. currently tracks price-per-square foot statistics for 50 counties.
Leading the way…® in California real estate for more than 110 years, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (www.car.org) is one of the largest state trade organizations in the United States with more than 217,000 members dedicated to the advancement of professionalism in real estate. C.A.R. is headquartered in Los Angeles.
August 2022 County Sales and Price Activity
(Regional and condo sales data not seasonally adjusted)
r = revised
August 2022 County Unsold Inventory and Days on Market
(Regional and condo sales data not seasonally adjusted)
r = revised
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SOURCE CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.)
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https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/16/august-home-sales-price-notch-higher-amid-temporary-rate-reprieve-car-reports/
| 2022-09-16T15:39:36Z
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THE DOWNTOWN COLLECTION IS AVAILABLE NOW
STONEY CREEK, ON, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Baffin is proud to introduce the Downtown Collection, a series of winter boots for all.
Inspired by those who brave the cold of winter in the city, the Downtown Collection introduces modern footwear made with proven technology, comfort, and warmth for all users. The new collection, which features two men's fit styles and three women's fit styles, is a fashion-forward but function first range that contains a combination of Baffin proprietary technology that is comparable to comprehensive utility styles. A winter boot disguised as a shoe, the Downtown Collection provides the same confidence in cold-climate protection as Baffin's substantial winter boots.
The Downtown Collection features two men's fit styles, TAVERN and DISTILLERY and three women's fit styles, LIBERTY, YORKVILLE and HIGHPARK; all available in brown and black leather.
With uppers made from soft, outback leather and wool lining, an Ultralite high-rebound midsole and Polar Rubber® outsole, the Downtown Collection provides comfort and slip-resistance made to endure cold and slick conditions.
The collection features Baffin's Fixed-Fit multi-layer inner boot system, with proprietary technology including:
- Thermaplush™ soft, next-to-foot wicking layer for warmth
- Form-fitting B-Tek™ Foam lining for comfort
- B-Tek™ Heat lightweight 4-channel hollow-fibre insulation for high-loft breathability in a broad range of temperatures
- Fixed frost plate to return heat while reflecting the cold for temperature regulation.
The Downtown Collection is Northern Rated in Baffin's Real-World Testing™ (RWT™) evolution, which helps recommend cold-comfort levels associated with Baffin footwear. Northern Rated Products have been proven from rivers and glaciers across the North. With B-Tek™ Dry Waterproof Breathable technology, the collection will protect from the elements, while providing lightweight comfort for active lifestyles.
"At Baffin we are passionate about exploring the world around us in the cold, whether that means trekking to the North Pole or adventuring in our own neighbourhoods, in parks and trails or on city streets. We're excited to introduce the Downtown Collection to our growing range of lifestyle winter boots," says Mark Hubner, Senior Vice President, Commercial at Baffin. "Inspired by city-dwellers who roam the streets of their downtown core, hop on streetcars, and embrace the cold with every step they take. This collection is made to reach a new audience of customer, who may not need a heavy-duty winter boot everyday but wishes to have the same warmth and comfort. Style is important, but function is always first."
The Downtown Collection is available now on Baffin.com and in select outdoor retailers in North America.
Baffin Ltd. is an innovative, leading outwear company based in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada with a core focus on technically advanced, innovative footwear and high-performance apparel. Baffin designs, develops, and field tests footwear in the most demanding environments on the planet and is focused on being a global leader in footwear and apparel within the Outdoor, Industrial and Hunt and Fish categories. Baffin Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Canada Goose Holdings Inc.
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| 2022-09-16T15:39:42Z
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New experience for contingent talent puts worker privacy front and center and allows companies to better meet DEI goals
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Beeline, the independent leader in software solutions for sourcing and managing the global extended workforce, today announced an upcoming talent experience which will enable contingent workers to create a private account and take full control of how they are represented in the workforce, allowing them to self-report and maintain their own PII (personally identifiable information). Beeline will be the first and only Extended Workforce Platform to offer contingent workers a private account with this level of autonomy and privacy control.
"Talent is central to the extended workforce and individual privacy is paramount in the workplace. Our new experience will enable talent to take an active role in the process and trust that their data is protected," said Colleen Tiner, SVP Product Strategy of Beeline. "Additionally, establishing this trusted relationship directly with workers increases the accuracy of data collected, which means companies can truly measure and understand diversity in the context of their recruitment process and active workforce."
Mark Farmer, External Talent Lead, Accenture, said, "The new talent-focused experience addresses the challenges of increased data privacy regulations and gives that control to the rightful owner, the talent."
Historically, vendor management systems (VMS) have put the burden of managing talent information on staffing companies as part of the sourcing process. With new privacy regulations underway, suppliers and MSPs need a solution that relieves them of the burden and risk of inputting the information while improving the reliability of the data without disrupting the supplier-candidate relationship.
"As the leading provider of workforce solutions, AGS applauds Beeline's initiative to build and host the tools needed for talent to opt-in and provide data for safe-keeping, thereby removing any risks for us as we continue to help clients deliver on the personal and business imperative of achieving their DEI goals," said Cory Hansen, Regional Vice President, North America, Allegis Global Solutions (AGS).
"Beeline's new talent experience is a huge step forward in accurately managing diversity metrics. I spent 15 years on the client side using multiple VMS systems and was never able to provide conclusive demographics around our non-employees due to concerns around co-employment," said Dan Khublall, Director, Product Strategy, Beeline. "I am excited to see our clients leverage this information to gain transparency and shape hiring manager behavior which ultimately impacts the company's diversity footprint."
The new experience will continue to be tested with select clients and partners throughout this year leading to an official launch in 2023. Once launched, Beeline will introduce the industry's first diversity talent index in partnership with Consciously Unbiased.
Beeline is the world's largest independent provider of solutions for sourcing and managing the complex world of contingent labor, enabling companies to increase profitability and flexibility by utilizing an agile mix of employee and non-employee talent.
Our software helps procurement, sourcing, and human resources professionals optimize costs, reduce risks, and add value to their services procurement and contingent workforce programs.
We have the deepest, most seasoned team of contingent workforce solution professionals. From our locations around the world, we deliver innovative technology, end-to-end global and localized customer engagement services, and value-added capabilities which help many of the world's largest enterprises meet their most critical talent needs. To learn more, visit beeline.com.
Contacts
Jessica Ashcraft
Vice President of Marketing, Beeline
marketing@beeline.com
Ann Warren
awarren@clearedgemarketing.com
770.328.8384
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https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/16/beeline-announces-new-experience-giving-extended-workers-full-control-over-personal-data/
| 2022-09-16T15:39:49Z
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CHINO HILLS, Calif., Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As of September 12, 2022, California Regional MLS (CRMLS) is pleased to announce the promotion of Sarah Trent Miranda to CRMLS Chief Relationship Officer. Sarah has led the company's Education and Product Development departments since 2015 and recently became the Director of Business Development for Venture MLS, a new VC firm built by CRMLS to serve brokers, agents, and MLSs.
Sarah will be accountable for the performance and effectiveness of the company's member focused departments including Customer Care, Education, Broker Resources and Member Engagement. She will continue to be deeply involved with aligning business development strategy for CRMLS and the Venture MLS initiative.
On announcing the promotion, CRMLS's CEO Art Carter stated, "With her in-depth knowledge of our industry, consistent professionalism, dedication, and passion to succeed, Sarah [Trent Miranda] brings a lot to the table for CRMLS. I am confident Sarah will excel in her new position. It is always the best feeling in the world to reward someone for their hard work and growth."
With over two decades of experience as a licensed real estate salesperson and a background in practicing real estate, Sarah has excelled in vetting new products, pursuing cutting-edge technology, and forming solid business relationships while at CRMLS.
"I am honored to step into this executive leadership role at CRMLS as we look to deliver on our strategic goals focused on better serving our brokers, agents, and consumers," said Sarah when asked about her promotion.
She added, "CRMLS's current momentum is unquestionable, from the technology solutions we're developing internally, to Venture MLS, and the REdistribute initiative. Our team is working incredibly hard to introduce highly dependable solutions to the real estate industry, and I'm thrilled to be a part of it!"
CONTACT: art@crmls.org.
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| 2022-09-16T15:39:56Z
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Season Two Content Features Brand Integrations
NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- 'Designer Home Tours', the YouTube media brand that gives an inside look into the luxury design world launches its second season today, September 16th, 2022. The channel hit 1M views across its videos in the first 100 days and the second season will debut the company's first brand partnerships with companies including The Rug Company and Artistic Tile.
A variety of geographies and property types will be toured through Season Two; ranging from beach houses in New Jersey and the Hamptons to family homes in Dallas, Seattle and San Francisco. Designers include the industry's marquee names such as Vicente Wolf, Sasha Bikoff, Brain Paquette, WorkshopAPD and Ghislaine Viñas and are designed for audiences interested in learning more about the thought, ideas and problem solving that goes into creating a well designed home. Christina Kim, a designer in New Jersey will tour a beach house for the launch episode today, and additional episodes will launch each week for the following 12 weeks.
This new media opportunity has proved a powerful one for brands, who are interested in utilizing video but see little opportunity in the editorial space. While the series has been exclusively shot on an iPhone, the company invests in professional editors overseen by Executive Producer Ammar Shallal, and has launched strategic YouTube workshops for brands looking to create content that performs on the channel.
"The pace of Designer Home Tours' growth has been impressive to see, and it speaks to the quality of the content and to the public's thirst for this type of programming. It's a natural fit for Artistic Tile, and just the sort of authentic platform we are seeking in our advertising," said Michael Epstein, President and Chief Marketing Officer of Artistic Tile.
"We were happy to see the success of Season One and are excited to continue to explore what great content looks like in the design space - that includes more episodes focused on brands and their stories as well as showhouses" says Laura Bindloss, founder of Designer Home tours and New York based public relations and social media agency, Nylon Consulting.
The series will release episodes weekly.
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https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/16/designer-home-tours-launches-second-season-after-reaching-over-1m-views-first-100-days/
| 2022-09-16T15:40:03Z
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The new home essential portable power station is now available on the EcoFlow webstore and Amazon.
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- EcoFlow, an eco-friendly energy solutions company, today launched EcoFlow DELTA 2 on the EcoFlow webstore and Amazon, with special launch deals to mark the occasion. Customers who purchase the new portable power station in the first week of sale will receive a free DELTA 2 Waterproof Bag, while additional coupons will be distributed on EcoFlow's Facebook community and during EcoFlow's YouTube livestreaming event.
Officially unveiled at IFA 2022 in early September, DELTA 2 quickly made headlines in the IFA community and wider media, including CNN, Frandroid, Make Use Of, and Techaeris. In the firm belief that DELTA 2 is a genre-transcending product which will positively impact the way we all live, EcoFlow has decided to give something back to consumers to celebrate its launch.
"The DELTA 2 portable power station is an essential appliance for every modern-day family, especially amid rising energy costs and frequent grid failures," said Bruce Wang, CEO of EcoFlow. "One of EcoFlow's core principles is to give back to our users and the environment by delivering reliable, renewable energy solutions to as many households as possible. DELTA 2 represents the perfect opportunity for us to do just that."
DELTA 2 retails at $999 and can be purchased standalone from the EcoFlow webstore and Amazon, while bundles including the DELTA 2 Extra Battery and combinations of EcoFlow's portable solar panels are also available. From September 16th through 23rd, customers who purchase DELTA 2 will also get a DELTA 2 Waterproof Bag, retailing at $69, for free. Meanwhile, users who have joined EcoFlow's Facebook community group can utilize exclusive coupons of up to 10% off when purchasing DELTA 2. In addition, for US consumers, EcoFlow will hold a DELTA 2 livestreaming event on September 16th to share product details and insights, along with 10% off coupons applicable on Amazon.
In related news, EcoFlow has revealed that DELTA 2's use of LFP batteries will be replicated in the company's future product development, and that a new LFP-powered portable power station series will be released in the coming months.
"LFP batteries are a more stable and longer-lasting alternative to traditional batteries which are a major development in the energy sector," said Wang. "EcoFlow is among the first in the industry to commit to LFP batteries, as we aim to provide greater energy independence for modern families to counter growing energy insecurity."
About EcoFlow
EcoFlow is a portable power and renewable energy solutions company. Since its founding in 2017, EcoFlow has provided peace of mind to customers in over 100 markets through its DELTA and RIVER portable power stations and eco-friendly accessories. EcoFlow's mission is to reinvent the way the world accesses energy by creating quieter, lighter, and longer-lasting renewable power sources.
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| 2022-09-16T15:40:09Z
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ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa., Sept. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Elizabethtown College has been ranked in several notable categories in the 2022-23 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges lists including being named 22nd (third in Pennsylvania) out of 175 institutions in the Regional Universities (North) list. The College is now classified under this new list based on the growth of our graduate programs. (In 2021-22, Elizabethtown College was ranked #117 on the National Private Liberal Arts Colleges list).
"This year's U.S. News & World Report rankings reinforce the exceptional academic programs, vibrant student life experience, and innovative research and real-world experiences we offer all students at Elizabethtown College," Elizabethtown College President Betty Rider said.
In its 38th year, the U.S. News & World Report rankings evaluate more than 1,450 colleges and universities on up to 17 measures of academic quality. In all Elizabethtown College was recognized for the following:
- Best Regional Universities (North): #22 (Tie)
- Best Value Schools (Regional Universities - North): #13
- Best Undergraduate Engineering - No Doctorate: #87 (Tie)
- Social Mobility Among Regional Universities (North): #155 (Tie)
- A+ Schools for B Students (Regional Universities - North)
This year, Elizabethtown College added more high-demand majors including Healthcare Administration as a new bachelor's program along with new minors in Marketing, Medical Humanities, and Technical Communications. The new programs add to already highly sought-after programs like Occupational Therapy, Engineering, Biology, Business, Education, Humanities, and Political Science.
U.S. News publishes the Best Colleges rankings each year to provide prospective
students and their families with data and information on factors such as
graduation rates, social mobility, and graduate indebtedness.
View Elizabethtown College's U.S. News & World Report rankings profile page.
Learn more about Elizabethtown College or attend an Open House on Saturday, Oct. 1 or Saturday, Nov. 12. Register today!
Elizabethtown College, located in southcentral Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is a private coed institution offering more than 50 health, science, engineering, political science business, communications, fine art and music, humanities, and education degrees. Discover more: etown.edu.
U.S. News & World Report is the global leader in quality rankings that empower consumers, business leaders and policy officials to make better, more informed decisions about important issues affecting their lives and their communities. A multifaceted digital media company with Education, Health, Money, Travel, Cars, Real Estate, News and 360 Reviews platforms, U.S. News provides rankings, independent reporting, data journalism, consumer advice and U.S. News Live events. More than 40 million people visit USNews.com each month for research and guidance. Founded in 1933, U.S. News is headquartered in Washington, D.C.
Keri Straub
Associate Vice President for Marketing and Communications
Elizabethtown College
(717) 725-6907
straubk@etown.edu
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| 2022-09-16T15:40:16Z
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Company President Takes Helm of Leading Electric Aircraft Manufacturer
ARLINGTON, Wash., Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Eviation, a global manufacturer of all-electric commuter aircraft, today announced the appointment of Gregory Davis as Chief Executive Officer. Davis will remain President of Eviation as he takes on the additional role of CEO. A licensed commercial pilot and accomplished engineer, Davis brings over 15 years of experience in progressive leadership roles within the aerospace industry. Davis has served as President of Eviation since May 2021, and was appointed interim-CEO in February 2022.
"Gregory has a profound understanding of aerospace engineering and a true passion for aviation that will propel Eviation forward as we continue to pioneer electric flight," said Allen Page, Chairman at Eviation. "Gregory has been deeply involved in all aspects of the company's business strategy and day-to-day operations over the last year. Under his leadership, the team has made incredible strides in preparing the Alice, our all-electric commuter aircraft, for its imminent first flight, as well as toward our objectives of FAA certification and commercialization."
Prior to his role at Eviation, Davis served as Vice President of Customer Service and Product Support for Viking Air Limited, a global leader in utility aircraft services and manufacturer of Series 400 and Guardian 400 Twin Otter aircraft. Before this, he served in an engineering role at Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group, one of the largest privately owned and independent aerospace and defense companies. Under Davis' leadership and expertise, Eviation is building a new category of sustainable aircraft that challenges the limits of air travel and creates new market opportunities.
"I am extremely proud to take on the role of CEO at Eviation as we work to shape the future of flight, and create a new era of transportation that is both environmentally and economically sustainable," said Eviation President and CEO Gregory Davis. "Eviation's groundbreaking work in the aviation industry has positioned the company as a market leader, and I am inspired to be at the forefront of innovation with the potential for such positive impact."
Gregory holds a Bachelor's degree and Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering from Carleton University, and an MBA from the University of Calgary.
Based in Washington State, Eviation Aircraft Inc. develops and manufactures efficient electric aircraft to deliver a competitive and sustainable solution for the regional mobility of people and goods. Its electric propulsion units, high-energy-density batteries, mission-driven energy management, and innovative airframe are designed from the ground up for electric flight. Please visit us at www.eviation.co.
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| 2022-09-16T15:40:23Z
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LOS ANGELES, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Schall Law Firm, a national shareholder rights litigation firm, reminds investors of a class action lawsuit against TG Therapeutics, Inc. ("TG Therapeutics" or "the Company") (NASDAQ: TGTX) for violations of §§10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Investors who purchased the Company's securities between January 15, 2020 and May 31, 2022, inclusive (the ''Class Period''), are encouraged to contact the firm before September 16, 2022.
If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate.
We also encourage you to contact Brian Schall of the Schall Law Firm, 2049 Century Park East, Suite 2460, Los Angeles, CA 90067, at 310-301-3335, to discuss your rights free of charge. You can also reach us through the firm's website at www.schallfirm.com, or by email at bschall@schallfirm.com.
The class, in this case, has not yet been certified, and until certification occurs, you are not represented by an attorney. If you choose to take no action, you can remain an absent class member.
According to the Complaint, the Company made false and misleading statements to the market. TG Therapeutics' clinical trials for Ublituximab and Umbralisib revealed concerns about the benefit-risk ratio and overall survival data for the drugs. Based on these issues, it was unlikely that the Company would achieve FDA approval for the Umbralisib MZL/FL NDA, the U2 BLA, the U2 sNDA, or the Ublituximab RMS BLA in their current form. The Company overstated the commercial prospects of Ublituximab and Umbralisib. Based on these facts, the Company's public statements were false and materially misleading throughout the class period. When the market learned the truth about TG Therapeutics, investors suffered damages.
Join the case to recover your losses.
The Schall Law Firm represents investors around the world and specializes in securities class action lawsuits and shareholder rights litigation.
This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and rules of ethics.
The Schall Law Firm
Brian Schall, Esq.,
www.schallfirm.com
Office: 310-301-3335
info@schallfirm.com
The Schall Law Firm
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https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/16/final-deadline-alert-schall-law-firm-encourages-investors-tg-therapeutics-inc-with-losses-100000-contact-firm/
| 2022-09-16T15:40:30Z
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A longtime provider of student transportation steps in to fill the gap and stands ready to assist with other routes
PORTLAND, Ore., Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, First Student, the leader in home-to-school transportation in the Northwest, announced it has agreed to assume 30 school bus routes initially awarded to its competitor Student Transportation of America (STA), acknowledging it could not provide the district with sufficient drivers or buses to fulfill the terms of the contract awarded in April 2021.
First Student has agreed to cover the routes for STA for the entire school year and has shared with the district that it is ready to help assume additional routes. In April 2021, Portland Public Schools split the school transportation between First Student and STA. Earlier this month, First Student also agreed to cover routes for Seattle Public Schools after Zum announced it could not provide adequate buses or drivers to fulfill its obligation to the district.
First Student had been the primary school bus transportation provider for the students at Portland Public Schools for more than 20 years.
"Being the largest school bus transportation provider in North America, this showcases our ability to quickly adapt and immediately assume these routes," said Justin Cox, First Student's area general manager. "We are proud to support our student passengers in Portland. Because of our extensive training and development of our people, getting these additional routes allows more of our dedicated drivers to provide safe and reliable school bus transportation."
First Student is the nation's largest provider of student transportation services, providing 5 million student journeys a day, and a fleet of more than 44,000 buses. First Student is a leader in the move toward vehicle electrification as a pillar of commitment to sustainability.
About First Student
First Student is the leading school transportation solutions provider in North America, providing the best start and finish to every school day. With a team of highly trained drivers and the industry's strongest safety record, First Student delivers reliable, quality services, including full-service transportation and management, special-needs transportation, route optimization, and scheduling, maintenance, and charter services with a fleet of about 44,000 buses. For more information, please visit firststudentinc.com
Contact: Scott Gulbransen
513-419-8646
Mark Firmani
mark@firmani.com
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https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/16/first-student-assume-30-portland-school-bus-routes-previously-awarded-competitor-student-transportation-america/
| 2022-09-16T15:40:37Z
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PITTSBURGH, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "My daughter enjoys having a snack while riding home from school. I thought there should be a convenient way for her to sanitize her hands first," said an inventor, from Powder Springs, Ga., "so I invented the CLEAN. My design would offer an alternative to stopping to wash hands with a bottle of water."
The invention provides an effective way to clean hands before eating a snack on-the-go. In doing so, it eliminates the need to find a sink for washing hands. As a result, it helps to prevent the transfer of germs and viruses and it provides added convenience and peace of mind. The invention features a compact and portable design that is easy to use so it is ideal for households, students, workers, fast-food outlets, etc. Additionally, it is producible in design variations.
The original design was submitted to the Atlanta sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 21-ALL-2823, 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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| 2022-09-16T15:40:44Z
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PITTSBURGH, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "I wanted to create a cooler with a convenient hand-washing station for picnickers, campers, beach goers, and and workers that work in remote locations and don't have hand washing capabilities," said an inventor, from Lancaster, Ohio, "so I invented the CLEAN COOLER. My design enables you to wash your hands at remote locations and it could help to reduce the spread of germs before eating and preparing food."
The invention provides an improved design for a cooler. In doing so, it ensures that a supply of clean water and a soap solution is readily available. As a result, it enables users to wash/sanitize hands before eating and it increases personal hygiene and safety and helps prevent the spread of infectious diseases. The invention features an inventive design that is easy to use so it is ideal for outdoor enthusiasts, campers, etc.
The original design was submitted to the Cincinnati sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 21-CCT-4700, 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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| 2022-09-16T15:40:51Z
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PITTSBURGH, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "I wanted to create an improved wagon transport and hitch-mounted cargo tray that can be used to transport items behind the car as well as to your desired location," said an inventor, from Thrumont, Md., "so I invented the HITCH MOUNTABLE CARRIER WAGON. My design would eliminate the need to remove the items from the cargo tray and reload them into the wagon."
The invention provides a convenient way to transport various items and cargo on the exterior of a vehicle and over a variety of terrain. In doing so, it eliminates the need to purchase a separate wagon-style transport and a hitch-mounted vehicle cargo tray. As a result, it increases maneuverability and it reduces physical strain. The invention features a space-saving design that is easy to apply and use so it is ideal for outdoor enthusiasts, campers, beach vacationers, tailgaters, etc. Additionally, a prototype is available.
The original design was submitted to the Baltimore sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 21-BDH-131, 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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| 2022-09-16T15:40:58Z
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PITTSBURGH, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "I wanted to create a quick and easy way to find the opening on a beverage cup lid at night or during the early morning hours," said an inventor, from Fairhaven, Mass., "so I invented the FLUORESCENT COFFEE CUP/ LID. My design would eliminate the hassle of turning the cup in order to find the lid opening."
The patent-pending invention provides an improved design for a beverage cup lid. In doing so, it offers an easier way to determine the position of the lid's opening at night or in dimly lit areas. As a result, it could help to prevent spills. The invention features an eye-catching design that is easy to use so it is ideal for households, food and beverage establishments, travelers, etc. Additionally, it is producible in design variations.
The original design was submitted to the Boston sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 21-BEC-169, 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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| 2022-09-16T15:41:04Z
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PITTSBURGH, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "I wanted to create a way to perform a variety of strength-training/weightlifting workouts without having to purchase or transport a large set of free weights or a home gym system," said an inventor, from Chicago, Ill., "so I invented the PORTABLE WEIGHT WATER BAG. My design allows you to easily keep up with a workout program while away from home or traveling."
This patent-pending invention provides a convenient portable weight for fitness/exercise enthusiasts. In doing so, it offers a space-saving alternative to traditional weights and dumbbells. As a result, it enables the user to engage in a variety of weight training exercises at various locations and it increases strength, convenience and safety. The invention features a portable and adjustable design that is easy to use and transport so it is ideal for fitness/exercise enthusiasts, travelers, etc. Additionally, it is producible in design variations.
The original design was submitted to the Chicago sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 21-CCP-1518, 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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| 2022-09-16T15:41:11Z
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PITTSBURGH, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "I needed a way to keep my grandchildren safely seated during my wedding," said an inventor, from Baltimore, Md., "so I invented the HUGGIE VEST. My design prevents little children from running around during dinner or other special occasions and it eliminates the need for parents to contain them every second."
The invention provides an effective way to support and secure a young child in any chair with a back. In doing so, it prevents the child from getting up and running around. As a result, it enhances safety and convenience and it offers an alternative to holding the child on your lap. The invention features a practical design that is easy to use so it is ideal for households, restaurants, special events, etc. Additionally, it is producible in design variations and a prototype is available.
The original design was submitted to the Baltimore sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 21-BTM-2782, 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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| 2022-09-16T15:41:18Z
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NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Attorney Advertising -- Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC notifies investors that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Twitter, Inc. ("Twitter" or the "Company") (NYSE: TWTR) and certain of its officers, on behalf of all persons and entities that purchased, or otherwise acquired Twitter securities between August 3, 2020 and August 23, 2022, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"). Such investors are encouraged to join this case by visiting the firm's site: www.bgandg.com/twtr.
This class action seeks to recover damages against Defendants for alleged violations of the federal securities laws.
The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company's business operations and prospects. Specifically, the complaint alleges that: (1) Twitter knew about security concerns on their platform; (2) Twitter actively worked to hide the security concerns from the board, the investing public, and regulators; (3) contrary to representations in SEC filings, Twitter did not take steps to improve security; (4) Twitter's active refusal to address security issues increased the risk of loss of public goodwill; and (5) as a result, Defendants' statements about Twitter's business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.
A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to review a copy of the Complaint you can visit the firm's site: www.bgandg.com/twtr or contact Peretz Bronstein, Esq. or his Law Clerk and Client Relations Manager, Yael Nathanson of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC at 212-697-6484. If you suffered a loss in Twitter you have until November 14, 2022 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC represents investors in securities fraud class actions and shareholder derivative suits. The firm has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors nationwide. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
Contact:
Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC
Peretz Bronstein or Yael Nathanson
212-697-6484 | info@bgandg.com
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| 2022-09-16T15:41:25Z
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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- JBM® Institutional Multifamily Advisors brokers the sale of The Point at Bella Grove – a Class A, 180-unit, mid-rise style, multifamily community. Built in 2017, the Property sits on a 9.55 acre +/- site. Comprised of six residential buildings, two of which are four-story, elevator-serviced, the Property features a range of one, two, and three-bedroom floorplans averaging 916 square feet.
JBM® Chairman & CEO, Jamie May, comments, "I'd like to congratulate both buyer and seller on another JBM® Class A transaction. The continued rent growth projections, migration patterns, location, and physical plant drove tremendous interest in this mid-rise asset despite inflationary measures and a challenging interest rate environment. We are seeing larger players chasing lower loan to value ratios in order to lock in historical rates compared to just a few years ago."
The Point at Bella Grove offers a first-class amenity package, including a resort-style swimming pool; brick paver sundeck; a vibrant resident clubhouse with lounge, business center, and coffee bar; outdoor summer kitchen with two gas grills, poolside pergolas, and fire pit; exterior lounge with gas fireplace and couches; a 24-hour, state-of-the-art fitness center overlooking the pool; dog park with pet wash station; valet trash; and garages and storage units for rent.
This Class A property features modern, open-concept floorplans with luxury faux wood plank flooring; chef-inspired kitchens with designer 42" espresso cabinetry with brushed nickel hardware, subway tile backsplash, granite countertops, kitchen island and breakfast bar, energy efficient, stainless-steel appliances with ice maker, under cabinet lighting, and a deep, single basin stainless-steel sink with brushed nickel, pulldown, gooseneck faucet; 9' ceilings; and walk-in closets.
Ranked #3 in the U.S. for annual effective rent growth, Sarasota has benefited tremendously from the influx of new residents to Florida. Ideally located right off University Parkway in Sarasota, the Property offers numerous locational benefits. The Point at Bella Grove is located near the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, the University Park Medical Campus, and to the region's predominate retail destination – University Town Center. According to Esri, within one-mile, average household income is over $94K and the average net worth is more than $1.1 million.
JBM® is the #1 ranked boutique brokerage firm in the U.S.A. Despite only transacting in Florida, JBM® was ranked the #12 multifamily broker by sales volume throughout the entire U.S.A. according to Green Street's mid-year 2022 rankings. Amongst brokers with multiple transactions, JBM® ranks #1 for Highest Average Sold Price across the country.
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| 2022-09-16T15:41:32Z
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BOSTON, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Below is the August 2022 Monthly Update for the Liberty All-Star Equity Fund. (NYSE: USA)
Liberty All-Star Equity Fund
Ticker: USA
Monthly Update, August, 2022
Investment Approach:
Fund Style: Large-Cap Core
Fund Strategy: Combines three value-style and two growth-style investment managers. Those selected demonstrate a consistent investment philosophy, decision making process, continuity of key people and above-average long-term results compared to managers with similar styles.
Investment Managers:
Value Managers:
Aristotle Capital Management, LLC
Fiduciary Management, Inc.
Pzena Investment Management, LLC
Growth Managers:
Sustainable Growth Advisers, LP
TCW Investment Management Company
New Holdings
None
Holdings Liquidated
Elanco Animal Health, Inc.
Sun Communities, Inc.
The net asset value (NAV) of a closed-end fund is the market value of the underlying investments (i.e., stocks and bonds) in the Fund's portfolio, minus liabilities, divided by the total number of Fund shares outstanding. However, the Fund also has a market price; the value at which it trades on an exchange. If the market price is above the NAV the Fund is trading at a premium. If the market price is below the NAV the Fund is trading at a discount.
Performance returns for the Fund are total returns, which includes dividends, and are net of management fees and other Fund expenses. Returns are calculated assuming that a shareholder reinvested all distributions. Past performance cannot predict future investment results.
Performance will fluctuate with changes in market conditions. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data shown. Performance information shown does not reflect the deduction of taxes that shareholders would pay on Fund distributions or the sale of Fund shares. Shareholders must be willing to tolerate significant fluctuations in the value of their investment. An investment in the Fund involves risk, including loss of principal.
Sources of distributions to shareholders may include ordinary dividends, long-term capital gains and return of capital. The final determination of the source of all distributions in 2022 for tax reporting purposes will be made after year end. The actual amounts and sources of the amounts for tax reporting purposes will depend upon the Fund's investment experience during its fiscal year and may be subject to changes based on tax regulations. Based on current estimates a portion of the distributions consist of a return of capital. These estimates may not match the final tax characterization (for the full year's distributions) contained in shareholder 1099-DIV forms after the end of the year.
All data is as of August 31, 2022 unless otherwise noted.
Liberty All-Star® Equity Fund
1-800-241-1850
www.all-starfunds.com
libinfo@alpsinc.com
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| 2022-09-16T15:41:39Z
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BOSTON, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Below is the August 2022 Monthly Update for the Liberty All-Star Growth Fund, Inc. (NYSE: ASG)
Liberty All-Star Growth Fund, Inc.
Ticker: ASG
Monthly Update, August, 2022
Investment Approach:
Fund Style: All-Cap Growth
Fund Strategy: Combines three growth style investment managers, each with a distinct capitalization focus (small-, mid- and large-cap) selected and continuously monitored by the Fund's Investment Advisor.
Investment Managers:
Weatherbie Capital, LLC
Small-Cap Growth
Congress Asset Management Company, LLP
Mid-Cap Growth
Sustainable Growth Advisers, LP
Large-Cap Growth
New Holdings
Xometry, Inc.
Holdings Liquidated
Cerence, Inc.
The net asset value (NAV) of a closed-end fund is the market value of the underlying investments (i.e., stocks and bonds) in the Fund's portfolio, minus liabilities, divided by the total number of Fund shares outstanding. However, the Fund also has a market price; the value at which it trades on an exchange. If the market price is above the NAV the Fund is trading at a premium. If the market price is below the NAV the Fund is trading at a discount.
Performance returns for the Fund are total returns, which includes dividends, and are net of management fees and other Fund expenses. Returns are calculated assuming that a shareholder reinvested all distributions. Past performance cannot predict future investment results.
Performance will fluctuate with changes in market conditions. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data shown. Performance information shown does not reflect the deduction of taxes that shareholders would pay on Fund distributions or the sale of Fund shares. Shareholders must be willing to tolerate significant fluctuations in the value of their investment. An investment in the Fund involves risk, including loss of principal.
Sources of distributions to shareholders may include ordinary dividends, long-term capital gains and return of capital. The final determination of the source of all distributions in 2022 for tax reporting purposes will be made after year end. The actual amounts and sources of the amounts for tax reporting purposes will depend upon the Fund's investment experience during its fiscal year and may be subject to changes based on tax regulations. Based on current estimates no portion of the distributions consist of a return of capital. These estimates may not match the final tax characterization (for the full year's distributions) contained in shareholder 1099-DIV forms after the end of the year.
All data is as of August 31, 2022 unless otherwise noted.
Liberty All-Star® Growth Fund, Inc.
1-800-241-1850
www.all-starfunds.com
libinfo@alpsinc.com
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| 2022-09-16T15:41:46Z
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Located on the Iconic Las Vegas Strip, Lids' New Two-Story Flagship is the Retailer's Largest Concept Store to Date
LAS VEGAS, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, global sports retailer, Lids announced the opening of its new flagship store on the iconic Las Vegas Strip. The new two-story Lids location is the retailer's largest concept store to date at 12,000 square feet.
Lids' Las Vegas Flagship will offer a wide range of licensed apparel and headwear options, becoming a premier destination for both residents and visiting fashion and sports enthusiasts. The store boasts unique features available only in this location such as a digital exterior façade, shop in shops from a variety of sports leagues, two large-scale LED screens designed to showcase prime time games, and upcoming in-store athlete signings and other initiatives. The expansive store will house over 50,000 units of fashion and sports merchandise, including officially licensed product representing Sin City's top local teams like the Las Vegas Raiders, Las Vegas Golden Knights, Las Vegas Aces and more. This Lids location will also feature autographed NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, WNBA and collegiate merchandise from Fanatics Authentic and Upper Deck in a dedicated section.
"Opening our newest and largest Lids store to date in the heart of Las Vegas was an obvious choice for us as the area is a shopping destination known around the world," said Britten Maughan, President at Lids. "The new Flagship offers ample product offerings to residents and visitors alike, no matter your team affiliation, whenever you're shopping on The Strip. Furthermore, it's a look at what's still to come from Lids as we continue to expand Lids' footprint domestically and abroad."
The new Flagship will continue to offer a wide variety of licensed and branded merchandise, as well as specialty products and memorabilia. The store will also feature Lids' signature Custom Zones, which allow consumers the opportunity to custom-embroider a product of their choice in-store. The stores will also carry apparel brands such as Nike, adidas, Under Armour, Fanatics, Retro Brand, Champion, Colosseum, Antigua, Mitchell & Ness, and more, as well as Wincraft, Tervis, and Funko, and headwear brands '47, Pro Standard, and New Era.
In celebration of the store's grand opening, Lids will be hosting a full week of grand opening activations open to the public from October 3rd through October 7th. Further details will be announced at a later date.
The new location marks further brick and mortar expansion by Lids, as the retailer recently announced its new collegiate product focused retail concept, Lids University, in July. Lids operates several concept stores including Locker Room by Lids and team-specific stores such as Yankees Clubhouse and Dodgers Clubhouse. Lids also counts the National Hockey League (NHL), National Basketball Association (NBA), and Paris Saint Germain (PSG) as partners as it runs several of each league and team's respective U.S. and international Flagship store locations. To date, Lids operates over 1,500 stores throughout North America, Europe, and Australia. Lids continues to be the world's largest retailer specializing in the sale of officially licensed, branded, and fashion headwear, with over 30 million hats sold annually.
Lids' Las Vegas Flagship is conveniently located on the Las Vegas Strip at 3791 S Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas, NV 89109.
Media Contact
Christy Distefano: christy@berkcommunications.com
Lids Sports Group is the largest licensed sports retailer in North America, selling fan and fashion-oriented headwear and apparel across the North America, Europe and Australia through over 1,500 retail locations. Indianapolis-based Lids Sports Group carries officially licensed and branded gear aimed at empowering customers to represent their unique and individual style, team, passion and fun. Lids Sports Group operates stores under the Lids, Locker Room by Lids, Fanzz, Yankees Clubhouse Shops, Dodgers Clubhouse, Cardinals Clubhouse, and numerous other nameplates. Lids also has locations within select Macy's department stores nationwide. To find a retail location near you visit blog.lids.com or join the #LidsLoyal on Instagram (@lids), Facebook (@lids), Twitter (@lids), or LinkedIn.
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| 2022-09-16T15:41:53Z
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DRESHER, Pa., Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ascensus—whose technology and expertise helps millions of people save for retirement, education, and healthcare—announced the results of the Newport/PLANSPONSOR Executive Benefits survey report and have found that employers are increasingly turning to nonqualified retirement plans to attract and retain key talent and senior leaders. The report can be downloaded here.
The biannual report represents the retirement industry's broadest and most comprehensive employer view of nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC) plans, and tracks insights and trends from hundreds of the nation's leading firms.
"With easily accessible compensation data, prevalent remote work opportunities, and improved video meeting technologies, employers must evaluate benefit offerings that will attract top talent," said Mike Shannon, Newport's senior vice president, nonqualified consulting. "This year's survey revealed a fundamental shift towards offering a nonqualified plan as a critical benefit to retain key talent and attract senior leaders in today's highly competitive talent marketplace," Shannon noted.
Key findings:
- The survey revealed a substantial increase in the number of nonqualified plans being implemented for small and mid-sized companies ($500 million of revenue) in order to stay competitive and ahead of the compensation and benefits curve. (50% in 2020 vs 80% now).
- Plan sponsors are more often using corporate-owned life insurance (COLI) as a financing strategy due to sizable asset/liability management advantages, (63% in 2020 vs 77% now), as well as a combination of COLI and mutual funds.
- Virtually all plan sponsors (91%) outsource some or all of their plan management to a third-party administrator (TPA) based on the need for a high degree of customization and flexibility as well as the IRC 409A risk mitigation required for plan recordkeeping and administration. (This is up from 86% in 2020).
- Fifty-seven percent of employers are using compensation (base salary and total compensation) to determine eligibility, up from 37% in Newport's previous survey in 2020.
The questionnaire was developed jointly by PLANSPONSOR and Newport and sent to a cross-section of organizations, including PLANSPONSOR subscribers, Fortune 1000 companies, and various other l for-profit and tax-exempt companies. Data collection included responses from 350 unique companies and organizations. The report can be downloaded here.
Shannon noted that employers leverage the benchmark data from the report with executive leadership when considering plan design features. Additionally, financial advisors use the report to help their clients benchmark plans and offer insight into current market competitiveness. The value of the data is enhanced by Newport's in-depth analysis, observations, and annotations by its expert nonqualified plan consultants.
"Ascensus and Newport completed our merger in April of this year and this report represents one of the earliest examples of our ability to bring even greater insights and expertise to a broader group of clients, advisors, and partners," said David Musto, president and CEO of Ascensus. "It's just one component of our long-term commitment to the nonqualified and qualified retirement market segments and a valuable tool for employers striving to strengthen and maintain their key and leadership ranks."
About Ascensus
Ascensus is a market-leading enabler of tax-advantaged savings—providing technology, services, and expertise that help more than 15 million people save for retirement, education, and healthcare.
We are a premier savings program service provider, third-party administrator, and government savings facilitator. Our platforms, industry knowledge, and data-based insights enhance the growth and success of our partners, their clients, and savers through co-branded, private-labeled, and governmental partnerships.
Ascensus offers comprehensive qualified and nonqualified retirement plan solutions, third-party retirement plan administration, 529 education and ABLE savings program administration, health savings and COBRA administration, corporate- and bank-owned life insurance solutions, and fiduciary and total rewards services.
The company's brands include Ascensus; Newport, an Ascensus company; PAi, an Ascensus company; and FuturePlan by Ascensus. Ascensus has more than $706 billion in assets under administration and employs more than 5,600 associates as of June 30, 2022.
For more information, visit ascensus.com and newportgroup.com.
About PLANSPONSOR
PLANSPONSOR is the nation's leading authority on retirement issues and benefits programs. PLANSPONSOR provides comprehensive news and commerce services dedicated solely to helping America's retirement benefits decision makers navigate the complex world of retirement plans and benefit programs on behalf of their employees or clients. PLANSPONSOR is an Institutional Shareholder Services publication. For more information, please visit http://www.plansponsor.com.
About Institutional Shareholder Services
Founded in 1985, Institutional Shareholder Services group of companies (ISS) empowers investors and companies to build for long-term and sustainable growth by providing high-quality data, analytics and insight. ISS, which is majority owned by Deutsche Börse Group, along with Genstar Capital and ISS management, is a leading provider of corporate governance and responsible investment solutions, market intelligence, fund services, events and editorial content for institutional investors and corporations, globally.
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| 2022-09-16T15:42:04Z
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MYRTLE BEACH, S.C., Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Rob Cheng, CEO of American cybersecurity firm PC Matic, issued the following statement applauding recent cybersecurity language included in the FY-2023 Senate Homeland Security Appropriations bill:
"PC Matic applauds recent language included in the FY-2023 Senate Homeland Security Appropriations bill in which the important coordination between the Critical Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their work to provide further recommendations and best practices for thwarting ransomware and nation-state attacks is commended.
"The language, which also encourages CISA and NIST to ensure current and new standards for federal departments and agencies 'dually consider[s] new and emerging cybersecurity strategies and protective technologies' such as Application Whitelisting or Application Allowlisting, is ever-important as our national security continues to become increasingly reliant on digital and cyber-technologies amidst a rapidly evolving cyber-threat landscape.
"At a time when it is more imperative than ever for CISA and NIST to be well coordinated, PC Matic commends the United States Senate for highlighting this critical issue, and particularly applauds Senator Lindsey Graham for his commitment to advancing proactive cybersecurity best practices and strategies.
"There is more work to be done to make America's cybersecurity great, but this is a great first step in the right direction."
The FY-2023 Homeland Security Appropriations bill may be found here.
An explanatory statement on the FY-2023 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill may be found here.
More information on PC Matic may be found here.
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| 2022-09-16T15:42:11Z
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ALIQUIPPA, Pa., Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- PGT Trucking Inc., a multi-service transportation firm offering flatbed, dedicated, international and specialized services, is expanding their operations in Laredo, Texas, with the purchase of land to build a state-of-the-art logistics center. The custom facility will include a full-service operations center, modern driver amenities and a truck maintenance shop, providing a regional base for over 70 local drivers. Completion of the new facility is slated for December 2023.
PGT proudly supports the continued development of the city of Laredo and its local communities. Laredo is the primary hub for international shipments, and PGT's centrally-located facility will help further their operational reach, which already includes more than 4,000 cross-border loads annually. The 7.73-acre property, fifty percent larger than PGT's current terminal, is located in the Pinnacle Industry Center, just minutes from the main I-35 highway and international bridges for commercial traffic.
"This is an exciting move for PGT," stated Sergio Villarreal, PGT Trucking's Manager of Southwest Regional Operations. "We're looking forward to growing our relationships and strengthening partnerships in the south to support our customers' international shipping needs. Our new facility in Laredo will elevate PGT's service offerings for our drivers, customers and local community."
PGT opened their first facility in Laredo in 1995, and they have successfully operated in the region for more than 25 years.
PGT Trucking, Inc., is a multi-service transportation firm offering flatbed, dedicated, international and specialized services. PGT is the leader in progressive freight transportation and fleet evolution, exceeding customer expectations with a strong focus on the Future of FlatbedSM. At PGT Trucking, "Safety is Everyone's Job – All the Time." Visit www.pgttrucking.com.
Contact: Katie Irvine, PGT Trucking
Phone: 724.987.1812 Email: kirvine@pgttrucking.com
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| 2022-09-16T15:42:17Z
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LONDON, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- REVIV President and CEO Sarah Lomas today announces that Sela Al Asadi CEO of REVIV UAE will be joining the company's Board of Directors.
Based out of LA and Dubai, Sela's global reach will be instrumental in the strengthening of REVIV's precision nutrition proposition in the market. Sela's approach towards innovation in skincare and wellness, driven by an extensive wealth of knowledge and experience, will drive forward global research and development, as the company expands its products and services portfolio in the coming years.
Sela co-founded and managed multiple state of the art cosmetic and wellness facilities in the UAE since 2000. Graduating with honors with a degree in Biochemistry and Computer Information Science from Queens University in Canada, she has been able to bridge the gap between technology, wellness and skincare.
Sela initially invested in bringing REVIV to the UAE in 2017 going on to become the CEO of REVIV UAE after expanding her clinic network in the country.
Sela says: "I became interested in REVIV in 2017 while I was researching a wellness partner that would complement the strenuous lifestyle of the executive and athletic world. It was apparent to me that my clientele had an increased demand for wellness optimization which was not being resolved at a conventional medicine level. That's where REVIV came in! Together, we have lived up to our goal to support our clients by keeping their immune systems healthy year-round, by preventing infection and disease and by optimizing energy levels, through our proprietary nutritional solutions.
"I am therefore excited to now be joining the Board of Directors at REVIV, to utilise my knowledge and expertise, as we prepare to launch disruptive technologies across multiple vertical sectors, to drive forward REVIV's global ambitions."
Sarah Lomas, President and CEO of REVIV, says: "The appointment of Sela is exciting as her experience and expertise will help REVIV Global realise the wealth of opportunity to expand our product portfolio across the globe. Our ambitious plans, including a tech-based approach towards precision nutrition, will solidify our position as the number one IV drip therapy company in the world."
About REVIV
REVIV is a life science led provider of nutritional health solutions, and their goal is to be the only personalized nutritional health company that offers precision nutrition solutions, using big data coupled with AI, to evidence that nutrition can have a positive impact on medical conditions or disease. REVIV's vision is to pioneer the democratization of nutrition-based treatments which will reduce disease, extend life and allow people to live better and healthier lives.
For more information about REVIV Global visit our website: www.revivme.com or email Emma Robertson on erobertson@revivme.com, +447398213452
Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1900706/Reviv_New_CEO_UAE.jpg
Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1759112/REVIV_Logo.jpg
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| 2022-09-16T15:42:24Z
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Richard Walker brings to Bain his deep expertise on web3, metaverse, digital assets, technology strategy and transformation
NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bain & Company announced today that web3 and metaverse expert Richard Walker will join the firm as a partner in the Financial Services practice in the New York office and co-lead the global scaling of Bain's web3 and metaverse services. As a leading thinker and practitioner in this space, Richard brings deep expertise in navigating how web3 has the potential to introduce new opportunities across a variety of sectors. He has deep experience having recently led web3 projects for global banks, regional banks, hedge funds, payments companies and digital asset natives.
Prior to Bain, Richard was practice head for blockchain and digital assets at another global business consulting firm. With nearly 30 years of consulting experience across the Americas and EMEA, much of his work has been serving major financial institutions and helping them with technology and operations strategies to understand and leverage the latest disruptive technology for competitive advantage.
"Web3 is a priority for our clients and has broad implications across sectors," said Bain & Company's Thomas Olsen, global co-lead of the web3 and metaverse practice. "Richard's experience working with blockchain, digital assets and leading web3 projects for multiple financial institutions will help us scale our support to clients as they navigate the opportunities and challenges that web3 can present."
While web3 has the potential to introduce new opportunities, it will also impact cost structures and profit pools. Tokenization, blockchain payment rails and decentralized finance (DeFi) are pushing financial institutions to rethink business models and market structures. Digital rights ownership (NFTs) will enable consumer brands to reimagine loyalty programs, engagement and brand experience. Moreover, the metaverse will change the way people engage with technology and commerce, propelling companies to rethink how they interact with customers in new virtual environments.
"We are enthusiastic about helping our clients unpack the implications that web3 and the metaverse have on their industry and business," said Bain & Company's Gene Rapoport, global co-lead of the web3 and metaverse practice. "Richard has a long track record of helping financial institutions evaluate ways web3 technology could present opportunities and threats, and chart a course for long-term value generation."
In addition to his client work, Richard will be an active member of the Veterans at Bain affinity group. He holds an undergraduate degree in Computer Information Systems from Chapman University in Orange, California.
For a complete list of Bain's web3 leaders and services, click here.
Editor's Note: For any questions or to arrange an interview, please contact Dan Pinkney at dan.pinkney@bain.com or +1 646-562-8102.
Bain & Company is a global consultancy that helps the world's most ambitious change makers define the future.
Across 65 cities in 40 countries, we work alongside our clients as one team with a shared ambition to achieve extraordinary results, outperform the competition, and redefine industries. We complement our tailored, integrated expertise with a vibrant ecosystem of digital innovators to deliver better, faster, and more enduring outcomes. Our 10-year commitment to invest more than $1 billion in pro bono services brings our talent, expertise, and insight to organizations tackling today's urgent challenges in education, racial equity, social justice, economic development, and the environment. We earned a platinum rating from EcoVadis, the leading platform for environmental, social, and ethical performance ratings for global supply chains, putting us in the top 1% of all companies. Since our founding in 1973, we have measured our success by the success of our clients, and we proudly maintain the highest level of client advocacy in the industry.
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| 2022-09-16T15:42:31Z
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn., Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Mollenhour Gross, LLC (MG) announced today that Mark Prybell has been hired as the new President of its portfolio company, RoomOne Solutions, LLC (RoomOne).
Prybell, a former Navy pilot, will be transitioning from his role as Director and Category Leader of Business Electronics at Amazon, where he has spent the last ten years.
"We're thrilled Mark has chosen to lead the RoomOne enterprise," said MG President, Ryan Connor. "Having driven and led significant growth at one of the most remarkable companies in the world over the last decade, his professional experience speaks for itself. But more than that, Mark is a great fit for RoomOne because of his curiosity, integrity, servant leader qualities, and his strong commitment to personal and professional growth for himself, and all those around him."
RoomOne, headquartered in Knoxville, refurbishes, distributes, and services packaged terminal air conditioners (PTACs), related parts and accessories, energy management systems, and access controls. MG has been involved in the PTAC industry since 2018, with the acquisition of Knoxville-based PTAC Inc. Since that time, RoomOne has quickly established itself as a leading partner to its growing pool of valued customers, ranging from the largest hospitality brands in the world to independent small-business owners.
RoomOne's high-growth trajectory, market opportunity, and existing team were big attractions for Prybell. "The team at RoomOne has built something special, and we'll be working hard to capitalize on our strong forward momentum," said Prybell. "I'm humbled that MG has entrusted me with this opportunity to continue to exceed our customers' expectations."
MG wishes to recognize and thank Knoxville entrepreneur Larry Bodie for serving as Interim President of RoomOne during the executive search process. "The last few months have been a lot of fun," Bodie said. "The team continues to grow and develop every day. I can't wait to see what the future has in store for RoomOne under Mark's leadership."
RoomOne Solutions, LLC is a nationwide provider of PTAC (packaged terminal air conditioner) units, accessories, and supporting services to the hospitality, managed care, and residential apartment markets. Headquartered in Knoxville, TN, RoomOne is a unique combination of e-commerce retail, enterprise sales, refurbishment production, and field services. For more information, visit www.roomonesolutions.com.
Established in 2004 by Jordan Mollenhour and Dustin Gross, Mollenhour Gross is a private holding company with permanent capital based in Knoxville, TN. Its decentralized and autonomous portfolio companies are engaged in a variety of industries, including hospitality, e-commerce order fulfillment, real estate, software, aerospace parts, and more. For more information, visit https://www.mollenhourgross.com/
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https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/16/roomone-solutions-llc-announces-new-president/
| 2022-09-16T15:42:38Z
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Introduced to attendees at the thINK Ahead 2022 Conference in Boca Raton, FL
MELVILLE, N.Y., Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Inkjet printing is faster, more flexible, and more colorful than ever before, opening up new opportunities for designers who work with print and even designers who didn't think that print had a place in their world. With the ability to change every color and every image to cater to an audience of one while embedding off-ramps to online content or augmented reality, design possibilities are endless. With this in mind, Canon Solutions America, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Canon U.S.A., Inc., and thINK, an independent community of Canon Solutions America production print customers, are pleased to announce Designers Guide to a New Generation Inkjet, authored by inkjet design experts, Elizabeth Gooding and Mary Schilling.
This third edition of the Designer's Guide series provides relevant information for agency and in-house designers looking to optimize their work for production. The guide is also intended to help designers understand and embrace the creative potential of the latest generation of inkjet presses by making readers aware of where inkjet fits in the overall print design ecosystem and how its unique characteristics open up a range of opportunities to make designs more flexible, colorful, and impactful. Schilling notes, "This version of the guide expands on available media, color capabilities and finishing, to highlight the latest inkjet capabilities. Since many designers are now familiar with the inkjet basics, we have elaborated on the best-practices design workflow for working with inkjet presses." The restructured guide is organized by design tasks and will direct readers on how to deliver results in print segments like direct mail, publishing, marketing communications, and customer care.
"One major differentiator of inkjet production is cost-effective personalization and versioning," says Gooding. "In the latest version, we have emphasized the project planning process and opportunities to drive value with designs that run exclusively on an inkjet press, or a combination of inkjet and other processes." Due to the increased speed of the latest inkjet presses, the guide drives home the importance of design efficiency enabled through an understanding of the connection between media, press, and the specific capabilities of one's print provider. Readers will have useful information about inks, media, color gamut values, image formats, finishing, inkjet design principles and best practices, as well as several downloadable tools at their fingertips.
"It is our priority to educate our customers on the creative potential of the latest generation of inkjet presses. Canon's inkjet presses have not only raised but redefined the bar for print quality and flexibility with media capabilities. Now it's time to raise the bar on print design," said Francis McMahon, executive vice president, Production Print Solutions, Canon Solutions America. "Regardless of if you are new to inkjet or are a veteran inkjet user, we encourage you to explore the Designers Guide to a New Generation of Inkjet to learn more about how to create and deliver best-of-the-best designs for marketing communications and graphic arts projects."
To get a closer look at the new Designer's Guide to a New Generation of Inkjet and learn of some of the highlights within the book, please click here to view a video from thINK Ahead 2022 with author Elizabeth Gooding, Inkjet Insights and Sheri Jammallo, senior marketing advisor, Canon Solutions America, Production Print Solutions.
Canon Solutions America, Inc. provides industry leading enterprise, production, and large format printing solutions, supported by exceptional professional service offerings. Canon Solutions America, Inc. helps companies of all sizes discover ways to improve sustainability, increase efficiency, and control costs in conjunction with high volume, continuous feed, digital and traditional printing, and document management solutions. A wholly owned subsidiary of Canon U.S.A., Inc., Canon Solutions America, Inc. is headquartered in Melville, NY and has sales and service locations across the U.S. For more information on Canon Solutions America, please visit csa.canon.com.
Canon is a registered trademark of Canon Inc. in the United States and elsewhere. All other referenced product names and marks are trademarks of their respective owners and are hereby acknowledged.
© 2022 Canon Solutions America, Inc. All rights reserved.
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https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/16/think-canon-solutions-america-launch-designers-guide-new-generation-inkjet/
| 2022-09-16T15:42:44Z
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NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- InvestorsObserver issues critical PriceWatch Alerts for GMBL, T, CSX, PFE, and DLTR.
To see how InvestorsObserver's proprietary scoring system rates these stocks, view the InvestorsObserver's PriceWatch Alert by selecting the corresponding link.
- GMBL: https://www.investorsobserver.com/lp/pr-stocks-lp-2/?symbol=GMBL&prnumber=091620225
- T: https://www.investorsobserver.com/lp/pr-stocks-lp-2/?symbol=T&prnumber=091620225
- CSX: https://www.investorsobserver.com/lp/pr-stocks-lp-2/?symbol=CSX&prnumber=091620225
- PFE: https://www.investorsobserver.com/lp/pr-stocks-lp-2/?symbol=PFE&prnumber=091620225
- DLTR: https://www.investorsobserver.com/lp/pr-stocks-lp-2/?symbol=DLTR&prnumber=091620225
(Note: You may have to copy this link into your browser then press the [ENTER] key.)
InvestorsObserver's PriceWatch Alerts are based on our proprietary scoring methodology. Each stock is evaluated based on short-term technical, long-term technical and fundamental factors. Each of those scores is then combined into an overall score that determines a stock's overall suitability for investment.
InvestorsObserver provides patented technology to some of the biggest names on Wall Street and creates world-class investing tools for the self-directed investor on Main Street. We have a wide range of tools to help investors make smarter decisions when investing in stocks or options.
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https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/16/thinking-about-buying-stock-esports-entertainment-atampt-csx-corp-pfizer-or-dollar-tree/
| 2022-09-16T15:42:52Z
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NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- InvestorsObserver issues critical PriceWatch Alerts for SONN, BAC, INTC, CSCO, and META.
To see how InvestorsObserver's proprietary scoring system rates these stocks, view the InvestorsObserver's PriceWatch Alert by selecting the corresponding link.
- SONN: https://www.investorsobserver.com/lp/pr-stocks-lp-2/?symbol=SONN&prnumber=091620226
- BAC: https://www.investorsobserver.com/lp/pr-stocks-lp-2/?symbol=BAC&prnumber=091620226
- INTC: https://www.investorsobserver.com/lp/pr-stocks-lp-2/?symbol=INTC&prnumber=091620226
- CSCO: https://www.investorsobserver.com/lp/pr-stocks-lp-2/?symbol=CSCO&prnumber=091620226
- META: https://www.investorsobserver.com/lp/pr-stocks-lp-2/?symbol=META&prnumber=091620226
(Note: You may have to copy this link into your browser then press the [ENTER] key.)
InvestorsObserver's PriceWatch Alerts are based on our proprietary scoring methodology. Each stock is evaluated based on short-term technical, long-term technical and fundamental factors. Each of those scores is then combined into an overall score that determines a stock's overall suitability for investment.
InvestorsObserver provides patented technology to some of the biggest names on Wall Street and creates world-class investing tools for the self-directed investor on Main Street. We have a wide range of tools to help investors make smarter decisions when investing in stocks or options.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE InvestorsObserver
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https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/16/thinking-about-buying-stock-sonnet-biotherapeutics-bank-america-intel-corp-cisco-systems-or-meta/
| 2022-09-16T15:42:59Z
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NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- InvestorsObserver issues critical PriceWatch Alerts for ADBE, MSFT, NVDA, AMD, and GOOGL.
Click a link below then choose between in-depth options trade idea report or a stock score report.
Options Report – Ideal trade ideas on up to seven different options trading strategies. The report shows all vital aspects of each option trade idea for each stock.
Stock Report - Measures a stock's suitability for investment with a proprietary scoring system combining short and long-term technical factors with Wall Street's opinion including a 12-month price forecast.
- ADBE: https://www.investorsobserver.com/lp/pr-options-lp-2/?symbol=ADBE&prnumber=091620227
- MSFT: https://www.investorsobserver.com/lp/pr-options-lp-2/?symbol=MSFT&prnumber=091620227
- NVDA: https://www.investorsobserver.com/lp/pr-options-lp-2/?symbol=NVDA&prnumber=091620227
- AMD: https://www.investorsobserver.com/lp/pr-options-lp-2/?symbol=AMD&prnumber=091620227
- GOOGL: https://www.investorsobserver.com/lp/pr-options-lp-2/?symbol=GOOGL&prnumber=091620227
(Note: You may have to copy this link into your browser then press the [ENTER] key.)
InvestorsObserver provides patented technology to some of the biggest names on Wall Street and creates world-class investing tools for the self-directed investor on Main Street. We have a wide range of tools to help investors make smarter decisions when investing in stocks or options.
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https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/16/thinking-about-trading-options-or-stock-adobe-microsoft-nvidia-advanced-micro-devices-or-alphabet/
| 2022-09-16T15:43:06Z
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ST. LOUIS, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ulrich medical USA, Inc., a privately held medical device company focused on developing and commercializing musculoskeletal implant technologies in the United States, today announced it will relocate its US headquarters to Plano, Texas. Its current location is in Chesterfield, Missouri.
"We believe it's in the best strategic interest of the company to make this move, which supports ulrich medical USA's strategy for profitable growth as we help our customers and distributors achieve new heights and beyond," said President and CEO, Hans Stover.
The combination of the recent Sales Agency Agreement with a premier global orthopedic leader and continued organic growth are driving the need for a larger facility. Therefore, the decision was made to expand in a more business-friendly environment like that of Texas. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex was an easy choice, as it has an abundance of well-educated, talented people and attractive communities which should support ulrich medical USA's growth objectives for years to come. The company will begin transitioning its headquarters to Plano in the first quarter of 2023.
About ulrich Medical USA
ulrich medical USA is privately held, celebrating its 110th year as a family-owned company. Recognized as a leader in vertebral body replacement, ulrich is dedicated to remaining independent and continuing to develop a complete spine solutions portfolio that results in superior patient outcomes for years to come. ulrich medical's global headquarters is in Ulm, Germany.
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https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/16/ulrich-medical-usa-announces-corporate-relocation-dallas-fort-worth-metroplex/
| 2022-09-16T15:43:14Z
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IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- WNC, a leading provider of investment, asset management and development services in the affordable housing industry, announced today it has closed WNC Institutional Tax Credit Fund 53, L.P. (Corp 53), a low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) fund totaling $153.4 million in equity.
Corp 53 raised the $153.4 million in equity from a total of nine institutional investors. The closure of the fund brings WNC's total equity raise since inception to more than $7 billion.
"WNC has spent more than five decades working alongside investment partners to provide safe, high quality, and affordable housing to families in need across the nation," said WNC Executive Vice President of Investor Relations Christine Cormier. "We are pleased to announce the closing of Fund 53 which raised significant equity that will further our mission to alleviate the affordable housing crisis in our country."
Equity from the fund will be used to construct and renovate more than 1,300 affordable housing units across 16 properties in Alaska, California, Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Texas and Washington DC. The properties include multifamily and senior housing in urban, suburban and rural areas. Some of the housing units are set aside for special populations including veterans; homeless, formerly homeless or at-risk of homelessness; and mobility, hearing and visually impaired residents.
Corp 53 welcomed three new investors and five new development partners. Included in the projects that will be funded by the fund are RFW Apartments and Junegrass Place. RFW, or Refuge for Women, Apartments in Lancaster, Kentucky, will provide affordable homes for 24 families with a special targeted population of women who have been the victims of sex trafficking, sexual exploitation or domestic abuse. Junegrass Place in Kalispell, Montana, will be comprised of two adjacent properties that will consist of 138 multifamily units and provide several community amenities, including a clubhouse, fitness center, playground, picnic area and walking paths.
The fund will create approximately 2,060 jobs and the aggregate economic impact is expected to generate more than $314 million in local income tax and other government revenue. Out of Corp 53's 1,300 units, 61% are located in difficult to develop areas and/or qualified census tracts and 46% are located in majority minority tracts.
WNC, founded in 1971 and headquartered in Irvine, Calif., is a national investor in affordable housing and community development initiatives. The firm has acquired approximately $15.2 billion of assets totaling in excess of 1,700 properties in 48 states, Washington D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. WNC's investor base exceeds 19,500 institutional and retail clients, including Fortune 500 companies, multinational banks, and insurance companies. Additional information is available at www.wncinc.com.
Contact:
Damon Elder
Spotlight Marketing Communications
949.427.1377
damon@spotlightmarcom.com
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https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/16/wnc-fund-53-raised-153-million-institutional-lihtc-equity-develop-renovate-over-1300-affordable-housing-units/
| 2022-09-16T15:43:21Z
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Early Thursday evening, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene shared a video on Twitter of her in a heated exchanged about gun control with three young activists outside the Capitol earlier that day.
In the tweet, Greene, a Georgia Republican, also wrote, "These foolish cowards want the government to take away guns & the rights of parents to defend their children in schools."
Roughly 25 minutes later, Marianna Pecora, who was one of the people arguing with Greene in the video, replied: "Did she literally just tweet out the video of her kicking me?"
Video shows a heated conversation on gun control
Pecora, 18, is the deputy communications director for Voters of Tomorrow, a group focused on youth voter turnout. She and others from her group were in Washington, D.C., this week to lobby for youth rights.
In the 2:54 minute clip, Pecora appears to have walked in front of Greene to ask, "How does the second amendment prevent gun violence?" while filming the congresswoman's reaction.
Greene responded, "Excuse me, out of the way, excuse me," to which Pecora begins to stumble and said, "Oh my God." Later, Pecora moves out of the way and accuses the congresswoman of kicking her.
The video does not directly show physical contact between Pecora and Greene.
The sides don't agree on what happened
Nick Dyer, Greene's communications director, told NPR that the allegation that Greene kicked Pecora was "absolutely ridiculous" and called it a "lie."
Pecora told NPR she is physically fine, but "a little shaken" emotionally.
"It's incredibly disheartening to me that a member of Congress has so little respect for the people of our country that she finds it acceptable to turn to trying to hurt them," she wrote in an email.
On Thursday evening, Santiago Mayer, the executive director of Voters of Tomorrow who was also involved in the verbal altercation, said, "To answer the most prevalent question about pressing charges: we're talking to our legal team and keeping our options open."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-09-16/marjorie-taylor-greene-shares-a-video-in-which-she-appears-to-kick-a-youth-activist
| 2022-09-16T15:43:27Z
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For Quinn Christopherson, storytelling is something of a family affair. The musician, who grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, attributes his knack for it to his heritage: His mother is Ahtna Athabascan and his father is Iñupiat, and Christopherson says telling stories is central to his family's traditions. He started writing a lot of poems as a kid; at 20, his dad bought him a guitar and he began writing songs. But really, he says, he traces it back to his grandmother. "My grandma would tell us stories, and sometimes they would be so short," he once said in an interview. "She would almost say nothing, but we got a whole world view out of, like, five words."
The first song I ever heard of Christopherson's was, in fact, a tribute to his grandmother: "Mary Alee," a sweet, moving folk song he entered into the 2018 Tiny Desk Contest. As it turns out, he's a keen inheritor of her impressive economy of language. On Write Your Name In Pink, his debut album, collections of charming details — childhood friends, hole-in-the-wall bars, a father-daughter bowling league — thread together to reveal moving, complicated stories of growth, pain and possibility.
After gigging in the Anchorage scene for a few years, Christopherson's big break came courtesy of a song he wrote called "Erase Me," which won the 2019 Tiny Desk Contest. Christopherson came out as a trans man in his mid-20s, and "Erase Me" is about his gender transition. It's a song about how much more seriously people took him when they knew him to be a man — and how it gave him a new perspective on the decades of disrespect and misogyny he'd experienced before. "Nobody interrupts me / Nobody second guesses my opinion," he sings about this new era of his life, after spending decades being "so used to pulling the short stick." The song navigates a complicated form of privilege: "Passing, to me," he's said about the song, "feels like I'm being rewarded for my own erasure." A new studio version of the track closes Write Your Name In Pink, Christopherson's debut album — a fitting end to a collection of songs that try to make peace with the hand life has dealt, that function as plainspoken reminders that, while our past selves are inescapable, so too is the possibility of welcome transformation.
Write Your Name In Pink also turns a sharp but compassionate eye towards Christopherson's childhood. Addiction is a constant presence in these songs; Christopherson was impacted by his mother's experience with addiction over many years, and both he and his sister — the subject of a devastating song he released in 2019 — have battled addiction too. "Uptown," an unsettlingly buoyant, sleek song on Write Your Name In Pink, is about blacking out to forget your problems. "Headed uptown, driving drunk," goes the chorus, which ends with Christopherson repeating the line, "I don't like who I am." "Bubblegum" traces his life ages six to 26. At 17, he's breaking rules and getting high, "abandoned alone"; in his early 20s, he's doing lines in the bathroom and "treating women badly." "I don't know who I am," he repeats throughout the song — sometimes mournfully, sometimes nonchalantly, a statement of self-abnegation one moment and a declaration of freedom the next.
Christopherson got sober when he was 23, though that led to a new kind of emotional crisis, a flooding back of emotions that drinking had helped him numb. He thought a lot about his relationship with his mother and the impact her addiction had on both of them — how it had, as he put it, "ruined both our lives at the time." He wrote a lot of angry, resentful songs during that time; eventually, though, his feelings started to evolve. "I finally realized my mother had been through a lifetime of trauma before she put me through mine," he said in a TEDx talk about his songwriting. He explains that shift plainly, but it's no small task; to really internalize that truth takes an astonishing slog through the muck of emotional growth, and there's evidence of that painful process in many of these songs. "Neighborhood," a poignant track on Write Your Name In Pink about his childhood, is a result of that period of reevaluation. "I was waiting around / As children do," he sings to his mother over minimal synth chords, "Never knew what I would eat for dinner / I never found out what was eating at you." His heart breaks for her, but also for his younger self, holding onto the memories of neighborhood bike rides to preserve some sense of normalcy.
The backdrop of that reality, though, sweetens other moments on the record. On "Simple," Christopherson dreams about buying his mom a condo when she's spending the "last of [her] cash on a midtown motel." "We don't have much we relate on," he sings, "We talk about our clothes / You've got that good blouse, those nice jeans / Match your anklet with your toe rings." Later in the song, they run into a friend, a sad-eyed parent who's trying to do right by his children, and Christopherson's voice swells with emotion as he sings about that dad's time with his kids every other week. On "Celine," another standout from Write Your Name In Pink, Christopherson remembers being home with a babysitter while his mom sings karaoke at a local bar. She needs a night out, and he knows it. "You came back so proud," he sings. Everyone at karaoke agreed she sounded "just like Celine," he sings, glowing with pride in the song's chorus. "Neighborhood" ends with a recent voicemail from Christopherson's mom — she wants to know about an upcoming tour, and hopes to see him before he heads out. In these songs, Christopherson turns his full attention to the tiny yet monumental details in the lives of the people around him — recognizing that it matters for their efforts, however imperfect, to be affirmed.
Elsewhere on the record, Christopherson looks back at his youth and highlights other necessary, if fractured, kinships that sustained him. On "Evelene," a magnetic track whose shimmery production explodes like fireworks against a dark sky, he and a childhood friend watch each other make the same romantic mistakes; they recognize each other's growing pains, even if they can't save each other from hurt. "True Friend" recounts the sense of freedom and risk in leaving home, and turns into a celebration of solidarity after a creep gets between him and a confidante: "You're a true friend," he sings, "We were just kids / I don't know what you told that man, but I never seen him again." The friendship might not have lasted forever, but Christopherson appreciates its impact: "We still turned out alright," he sings, "I hope you and your kid live a good life."
When Christopherson's songs focus on the present, they celebrate the work and rewards of creating his own family. "Take Your Time" is a paean to being out on the road, but it's mainly a song of commitment to his musical partner, Nick Carpenter — a loving urge, over downtempo guitar, to Carpenter to slow down and take in everything they've accomplished together. "Thanks," the album's opener, is a love letter to Christopherson's wife, an unhurried accounting of his gratitude for the life they've built together. "I don't know what I was looking for," he sings, "but I knew when I found you." "Kids" is a wishlist for their future children: ambitious, grateful, good sports who know how to cook. These songs are not entirely free from the darkness that informs his more painful work: They're still laced with doubt and insecurity and bad dreams. But they find relief in patiently cataloging the goodness that surrounds him. Christopherson's songs, like his grandmother's five-word worldview, strip away distractions to highlight the most precious, most pertinent facets: the things we carry with us from our past; the small moments of compassion we share with each other; the places that shape us — reminding us how this attention to detail can help us look through our pain to love and see each other more clearly.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-09-16/on-quinn-christophersons-debut-album-stories-of-growth-emerge-in-monumental-details
| 2022-09-16T15:43:33Z
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Here at Life Kit, we're all about growth and forward motion – both for our audience and for ourselves. So please join us in welcoming our new host Marielle Segarra to the Life Kit neighborhood! A regular host has long been a goal for our show, and we're thrilled to have Segarra lead the charge as we enter our next chapter.
Segarra joins NPR from Marketplace, where she covered money, finance and how the economy connects to our daily lives. Over the years, she's reported on the lack of paid family leave in the U.S., the role of makeup during a pandemic and the jarring experience of returning to the office in August 2020.
Her interests include yoga, running in her neighborhood park and finding new ways to get in touch with her Puerto Rican, German and Polish ancestry. She is based in New York City.
I talked to her about her hopes for this new role, her self-care routine and our joint love of Gilmore Girls. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What do you like most about Life Kit?
Life Kit is honest and vulnerable. Each episode feels like a kindness. The hosts are telling you: you're not alone. We've taken the time to figure out how to help you. We've got your back.
That's a lovely way to put it. Any favorite episodes?
Lately, episodes that have helped me be more present in my body. The episode on how to take a break from the internet reminded me that it's good to be away from my phone and unavailable sometimes.
The interview with Jenny Odell on how to pay attention to your surroundings was helpful to listen to before going on my recent trip to Paris. That episode inspired me to absorb what was in front of me with all of my senses, and then let that lead me to new places instead of being stuck to a map or a schedule. I was able to appreciate the experience more deeply.
You've reported on money, finance and the economy for over a decade. How did this beat change your attitude about the topic?
It helped me make the most prudent financial decisions I could while not having a lot of money. Suddenly, I could speak the language. Things like my health insurance plan, for example, started to make more sense to me.
That's one of the reasons I like to talk about money. Now that I have the keys to this locked door – and previously came from a place where I didn't understand it – I want to help people.
Is there anything from that world you hope to bring to Life Kit?
I'd love to do a personal finance series to help people tackle credit card bills or do their own taxes for free using IRS forms, not services like TurboTax or H&R Block. When you fill out your own tax forms, you start to understand more about how our tax system works and how to save money in the future.
A lot of our episodes center around self-care topics. What are your rituals for filling up your cup?
I have a morning ritual that involves an ancestral altar in my room that I'm looking at right now, actually. It has [photos of] different family members, the perfume stopper from my grandmother's perfume bottle. Every morning I say hello to [my ancestors]. I say their names. My family helps ground me, and doing this ritual helps me come back to myself.
Any life hacks you've been super into lately?
Bring zip-lock bags when you travel. You'll definitely use them — for that apple core or your socks that got wet in the rain or whatever other unexpected things that might need to be contained in plastic.
What were you like when you were a kid? Did you always want to be a journalist?
I was definitely that kid who would record herself giving fake broadcasts [of the news]. I won this essay-writing contest when I was in fifth grade and got a gift certificate to [the electronics store] P. C. Richard & Son. And so I bought a little tape recorder and used it to record interviews with people.
I also watched a lot of Gilmore Girls and I thought Rory Gilmore was the best.
I loved that show, too. Rory was a great writer and ended up becoming a journalist.
I thought I'd join my college newspaper like she did, but instead I joined the alt-rock radio station and that's how my audio journey began.
And now here you are at NPR! What's some career advice that helped you get to this point?
Just be yourself. Write like yourself, bring your authentic self when it's appropriate, and bring your ideas, even if they make you feel a little bit vulnerable.
Tune in to Life Kit on Monday to catch Segarra's first episode. And join us in welcoming her to the team. Send a message to her by emailing lifekit@npr.org with the subject line "For Marielle."
The digital story was edited by Malaka Gharib. We'd love to hear from you. Leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or email us at LifeKit@npr.org.
Listen to Life Kit on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or sign up for our newsletter.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-09-16/the-morning-ritual-that-keeps-our-new-life-kit-host-grounded
| 2022-09-16T15:43:39Z
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Bed, Bath & Beyond releases store closure list
(Gray News) - Bed, Bath & Beyond has released an updated list of the stores it will close this year.
The document named more than 50 stores designated for closure so far this year. The list was included in the company’s news release on Thursday giving details about when its second quarter earning results will be released.
The national retailer announced at the end of last month it will close about 150 stores and lay off about 20% of its workers in an attempt to improve the company’s performance.
Bed, Bath & Beyond has been hurt by a slump in sales. It also faced challenges brought on during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the temporary closure of stores and supply-chain issues, the Associated Press reported.
As of May, it operated 955 stores, including 769 Bed Bath & Beyond stores, 135 buybuy Baby stores and 51 stores under the names Harmon, Harmon Face Values or Face Values. The retailer had about 32,000 employees in February.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/09/16/bed-bath-beyond-releases-store-closure-list/
| 2022-09-16T16:21:08Z
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Company discontinues nicotine gummies after FDA warning
(CNN) - A company that made illegal flavored nicotine gummies has discontinued the item following a warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The FDA sent a letter last month to VPR Brands, the name behind Krave Nic, warning the company was not authorized to make, sell or distribute such products.
The agency said the gummies were particularly concerning because they resemble kid-friendly candy products and they can cause severe nicotine toxicity or even death in young children.
The gummies contained one milligram of nicotine and came in three different flavors, such as “blue razz” and “cherry bomb.”
Krave said the tobacco-free products were meant for adults.
The FDA said such gummies are “a public health crisis just waiting to happen among our nation’s youth.”
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/09/16/company-discontinues-nicotine-gummies-after-fda-warning/
| 2022-09-16T16:21:14Z
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Husband who planned murder-for-hire plot against wife released on $100,000 bail, officials say
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO/Gray News) – A Kentucky man was arrested after officials say he was planning to hire someone to kill his wife.
According to an arrest citation from the Warren County Sheriff’s Office, Jeffery Young, 51, sought out a confidential informant to kill his wife with the goal of not becoming a suspect.
The informant provided detectives with information and two audio recordings with Young from Sept. 6 and 12. During the first recording, detectives said Young explained several ways he thought the murder-for-hire plot could play out.
The first recording indicated that Young would take his wife to a “trashy” bar where he would get her drunk. Someone would then begin an altercation with her, in which they, “could then shoot her and take off,” the citation said.
They also spoke about staging a robbery at his wife’s place of business, the citation states.
In the second recording, Young told the informant that he visited his wife’s place of business the week before to assure there were no cameras.
The informant told detectives Young had been giving him money to fix their getaway car. He reportedly paid the informant $400 to get new tires and promised he would get more money to fix the windshield.
Detectives arrested Young on Tuesday and charged him with solicitation to murder.
Young was booked into the Warren County Regional Jail but released on a $100,000 bond the following day.
Copyright 2022 WBKO via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/09/16/husband-who-planned-murder-for-hire-plot-against-wife-released-100000-bail-officials-say/
| 2022-09-16T16:21:21Z
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Migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard to be moved to mainland
EDGARTOWN, Mass. (AP) — Migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard on the orders of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will be moved Friday to housing on a military base on Cape Cod, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said.
The Republican governor said the move to the mainland would be voluntary. Baker praised residents and officials on Martha’s Vineyard for taking care of the nearly 50 migrants after their unexpected arrival on Wednesday but said the island lacks the resources to house the migrants for the long-term.
At Joint Base Cape Cod, the migrants will be given dormitory-style housing, food and services, Baker said. Families will be given separate housing.
Authorities have not said what will happen to any migrants who choose not to make the move to Cape Cod.
The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency will coordinate efforts to help the migrants. Baker said the state will also activate up to 125 members of the National Guard to assist in the relief effort.
Joint Base Cape Cod houses a Coast Guard base as well as facilities for other branches of the armed services.
Upon arrival in Martha’s Vineyard, where former President Barack Obama has a home, the migrants were provided with meals, shelter, health care and information about where to find work.
The vacation island south of Boston, whose year-round residents include many blue-collar workers, appeared to absorb the dozens of arrivals, who are mostly from Venezuela, without a major hitch.
“We are grateful to the providers, volunteers and local officials that stepped up on Martha’s Vineyard over the past few days to provide immediate services to these individuals,” Baker said in a statement emailed to reporters Friday. "
Joint Base Cape Cod contains facilities for the U.S. Coast Guard and other branches of the armed services and has provided emergency housing in the past, as it did for Louisiana residents fleeing the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The governors of Texas and Arizona have sent thousands of migrants on buses to New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., in recent months. But the latest surprise moves — which included two flights to Martha’s Vineyard Wednesday paid for by Florida — reached a new level of political theater that critics derided as inhumane.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the flights to Martha’s Vineyard were part of an effort to “transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations.” The Republican’s office didn’t answer questions about where migrants boarded planes and what they were told about the trip.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/09/16/migrants-flown-marthas-vineyard-be-moved-mainland/
| 2022-09-16T16:21:29Z
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Tropical Storm Fiona bringing heavy rains to Puerto Rico
MIAMI (AP) — Tropical Storm Fiona was forecast to move across the Caribbean’s easternmost islands Friday night before slowing to a spot just south of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico late Saturday and Sunday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
Friday’s forecast increased the estimated rainfall totals for the affected islands, to as much as a foot (30 centimeters)in places across eastern and southern Puerto Rico and 16 inches (41 centimeters) in the eastern Dominican Republic. That much rain may cause flash floods and mudslides in higher terrain, and life-threatening surf possible as Fiona’s winds blow ashore, the Miami-based center said.
The Atlantic Hurricane Season’s sixth named storm was sustaining top winds of about 50 mph (85 kph) when an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft measured its progress Friday morning, the center said. Little change in strength is forecast during the next few days.
At 11 a.m. EDT on Friday, Fiona was moving at 14 mph (22 kph), about 135 miles (215 kilometers) east of Guadeloupe. Tropical storm warnings were in effect for the Leeward Islands, St. Maarten, Guadaloupe, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and a tropical storm watch was issued for Dominica and British Virgin Islands.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/09/16/tropical-storm-fiona-bringing-heavy-rains-puerto-rico/
| 2022-09-16T16:21:36Z
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Virginia lawmaker pushes for lower insulin prices for all Americans
Millions of people who buy insulin with private health insurance will not see their costs capped by the new Inflation Reduction Act.
WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - The Biden administration held a celebration this week in honor of the president signing the Inflation Reduction Act. However, millions of Americans who need lifesaving healthcare are feeling left out of the festivities.
“This law is for you,” said President Joe Biden Tuesday at the White House. The president said the Inflation Reduction Act is “the single most important legislation passed in this Congress” and “one of the most significant laws in our nation’s history.”
“But it doesn’t do enough,” said Aaron Turner-Phifer, director of health policy at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
According to its website, the JDRF “is the leading global organization funding type 1 diabetes research.” Turner-Phifer thinks the Inflation Reduction Act takes important steps to lower insulin costs but much more needs to be done to ensure everyone has access to affordable insulin.
“We’re also calling for the immediate passage, passage of the INSULIN Act, which does two important things. It confers the out-of-pocket cap protections on the commercial side as well as on the Medicare side. It also incentivizes lowering list prices so everyone benefits,” said Turner-Phifer.
The Inflation Reduction Act will cap insulin costs for Medicare patients at $35 a month starting next year. Yet, the idea of making insulin cheaper for diabetics with private insurance, also known as the INSULIN Act, was blocked by Senate Republicans.
Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), who voted for the bill, said she is disappointed the broader proposal did not get more support.
“I think it’s an important step to demonstrate the value and the impact that capping insulin will have, this first step among seniors. And certainly I’m going to keep continuing to ensure that insulin is affordable for people of all ages,” said Spanberger.
Meanwhile, the AARP is thrilled about the savings the law will have for seniors and the organization is now focused on making sure the Inflation Reduction Act is properly implemented.
“This is going to be a really big change to the way pharmaceuticals are priced in this country. And we don’t have much time to get it done. So we want to make sure it gets done and that gets done right,” said Bill Sweeney, senior vice president of government affairs.
Turner-Phifer says the JDRF is continuing to have conversations with senators to try and gather more support for the INSULIN Act because it is a “life or death issue.” The bill previously received bipartisan support but came up three votes short.
Copyright 2022 Gray DC. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/09/16/virginia-lawmaker-pushes-lower-insulin-prices-all-americans/
| 2022-09-16T16:21:43Z
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Woman accused of killing man she met through social media, authorities say
RANKIN COUNTY, Miss. (WLBT/WDAM/Gray News) – A woman from Nashville was charged with the murder of a man from Mississippi she met through social media, according to police.
Authorities said Sierra Inscoe, 20, and Carson Sistrunk, 24, met online and had planned to meet in person, WLBT reports.
Sistrunk was reported missing Sept. 6, but WDAM reports that his body was discovered last week at an oil well site by a worker who noticed tire tracks.
Jefferson Davis County Sheriff Ron Strickland said Sistrunk had been shot.
Authorities said Inscoe became a suspect in Sistrunk’s killing after being stopped by an officer while she was driving a vehicle that belonged to Sistrunk.
Agents with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation arrested Inscoe on Sunday. The agency issued a warrant for her arrest for a felony taking of a motor vehicle charge out of Rankin County.
Inscoe was denied bond during her initial court appearance Wednesday.
Although Inscoe is being charged with murder in Jefferson Davis County, she is currently being held at the Rankin County Detention Center.
Copyright 2022 WLBT and WDAM via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/09/16/woman-accused-killing-man-she-met-through-social-media-authorities-say/
| 2022-09-16T16:21:49Z
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Endangered okapi calf born at Oklahoma City Zoo
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (Gray News) – The Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden is celebrating the birth of a rare, endangered okapi calf.
The male calf was born around 3:45 a.m. on Sept. 7 in the zoo’s okapi barn to first-time mom, Kayin.
A video shared by the zoo shows the birth and the moment the calf stood up for the first time, less than an hour later.
The calf, which already weighs 57 pounds, is already meeting milestones like nursing and bonding with his mom.
“We are overjoyed about the arrival of Kayin’s first calf and welcoming this new generation to our okapi family,” Tracey Dolphin, the zoo’s curator of hoofstock and primates, said in a statement. “Kayin is being a very attentive first-time mother and demonstrating exceptional maternal care.”
This marks the seventh okapi calf born at the zoo, the last being Kayin in 2015.
The okapi, native to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa, is the only surviving relative of the giraffe.
The zoo said the endangered okapi is reclusive, earning the nickname “ghosts of the forests.”
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. TMX contributed to this report.
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https://www.whsv.com/2022/09/16/endangered-okapi-calf-born-oklahoma-city-zoo/
| 2022-09-16T16:26:49Z
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Husband who planned murder-for-hire plot against wife released on $100,000 bail, officials say
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO/Gray News) – A Kentucky man was arrested after officials say he was planning to hire someone to kill his wife.
According to an arrest citation from the Warren County Sheriff’s Office, Jeffery Young, 51, sought out a confidential informant to kill his wife with the goal of not becoming a suspect.
The informant provided detectives with information and two audio recordings with Young from Sept. 6 and 12. During the first recording, detectives said Young explained several ways he thought the murder-for-hire plot could play out.
The first recording indicated that Young would take his wife to a “trashy” bar where he would get her drunk. Someone would then begin an altercation with her, in which they, “could then shoot her and take off,” the citation said.
They also spoke about staging a robbery at his wife’s place of business, the citation states.
In the second recording, Young told the informant that he visited his wife’s place of business the week before to assure there were no cameras.
The informant told detectives Young had been giving him money to fix their getaway car. He reportedly paid the informant $400 to get new tires and promised he would get more money to fix the windshield.
Detectives arrested Young on Tuesday and charged him with solicitation to murder.
Young was booked into the Warren County Regional Jail but released on a $100,000 bond the following day.
Copyright 2022 WBKO via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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https://www.whsv.com/2022/09/16/husband-who-planned-murder-for-hire-plot-against-wife-released-100000-bail-officials-say/
| 2022-09-16T16:26:55Z
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Tropical Storm Fiona bringing heavy rains to Puerto Rico
MIAMI (AP) — Tropical Storm Fiona was forecast to move across the Caribbean’s easternmost islands Friday night before slowing to a spot just south of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico late Saturday and Sunday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
Friday’s forecast increased the estimated rainfall totals for the affected islands, to as much as a foot (30 centimeters)in places across eastern and southern Puerto Rico and 16 inches (41 centimeters) in the eastern Dominican Republic. That much rain may cause flash floods and mudslides in higher terrain, and life-threatening surf possible as Fiona’s winds blow ashore, the Miami-based center said.
The Atlantic Hurricane Season’s sixth named storm was sustaining top winds of about 50 mph (85 kph) when an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft measured its progress Friday morning, the center said. Little change in strength is forecast during the next few days.
At 11 a.m. EDT on Friday, Fiona was moving at 14 mph (22 kph), about 135 miles (215 kilometers) east of Guadeloupe. Tropical storm warnings were in effect for the Leeward Islands, St. Maarten, Guadaloupe, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and a tropical storm watch was issued for Dominica and British Virgin Islands.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.whsv.com/2022/09/16/tropical-storm-fiona-bringing-heavy-rains-puerto-rico/
| 2022-09-16T16:27:01Z
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3 children die in Louisiana house fire
Published: Sep. 16, 2022 at 12:45 PM EDT|Updated: 24 minutes ago
GRETNA, La. (WVUE/Gray News) - Three siblings have died after a house caught fire in Louisiana, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.
The fire broke out around 9: 30 a.m. Friday in Gretna.
A 15-year-old girl was pronounced dead on the scene. Officials said a 7-year-old and a 3-year-old were rushed to the hospital where they both died from their injuries.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined. Several agencies responded to the scene.
Copyright 2022 WVUE via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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https://www.whsv.com/2022/09/16/3-children-die-louisiana-house-fire/
| 2022-09-16T17:10:20Z
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Former All-Star catcher John Stearns dies at 71
DENVER (AP) — John Stearns, a four-time time All-Star catcher with the New York Mets, has died after a long battle with cancer. He was 71.
Stearns, who played football and baseball at the University of Colorado, died Thursday night in Denver, according to the Mets.
He passed away less than three weeks after attending an Old Timers’ Day at Citi Field in New York that coincided with the Mets’ 60th anniversary. He was noticeably thin in his Mets jersey on Aug. 27 and waved to the crowd when he was introduced on the field.
“No one played the game with more spirit or determination than John Stearns,” Mets President Sandy Alderson said Friday in a statement. “He literally willed himself to attend Old Timers’ Day last month so he could visit friends and old teammates. Despite his illness, he even managed to step into the batting cage to take a few swings. His nickname, ‘Bad Dude’ couldn’t have been more appropriate.”
Stearns was a complete catcher. He could hit, run and throw out baserunners, nailing almost 38% of those who attempted to steal.
Stearns was a late draft pick as a defensive back by the NFL’s Buffalo Bills in 1973. The Philadelphia Phillies took him second overall that same year and he opted to play baseball.
With Bob Boone behind the plate for the Phillies, Stearns never really had a chance to play in Philadelphia after struggling early with his hitting. After appearing in one game for the Phillies in 1974, he was traded to the Mets as part of the multiplayer deal that sent relief pitcher Tug McGraw to Philadelphia.
Stearns played with the Mets from 1975-84 in a tenure that included frequent battles with injuries. He was named an All-Star in 1977, ‘79, ‘80 and 82. He had a career batting average of .260 in 810 games with 152 doubles, 10 triples and 46 home runs. He also stole 91 bases, including a team-high 25 in 1978.
A former safety and punter in college, Stearns was solid and feisty. Pirates star Dave Parker sustained a broken collarbone in one collision with Stearns in 1978 and future Mets star catcher Gary Carter got into a fight with him after another collision at home in ‘79.
One other incident Mets fans will remember is Stearns tackling one of two fans who ran on the field in 1980 and eluded authorities a little too long for his liking.
After retiring as a player, he served in a number of baseball jobs as a scout with Milwaukee, a bullpen coach for the Yankees, a minor league manager for Toronto and as a scout and coach for the Orioles.
He returned to the Mets as a coach in 2000 for two years under Bobby Valentine and later as a scout and minor league coach.
Stearns became an entertaining figure for a national audience when cameras and microphones memorably caught him shouting in the dugout, “The monster is out of the cage! The monster is out of the cage!” as Hall of Fame slugger Mike Piazza began breaking out of a hitting slump during the 2000 postseason.
“John was such a key part of our staff,” Valentine said. “He had a unique way of lighting a fire under the guys. Every time we spoke by phone, he kept telling me he was going to beat this thing. That was John Stearns to a tee.”
Stearns is survived by his son, Justin, brothers, Richard and William and his sister, Carla.
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-09-16T17:10:27Z
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Adhesion President Barrett Ayers was also awarded RIA Innovator of the Year
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Adhesion Wealth® won two awards at the eighth annual WealthManagement.com Industry Awards on Sept. 8, taking home honors for excellence in Model Marketplaces in the Technology Providers category, and as RIA Innovator of the Year in the Individual RIA Firm Leaders category for President Barrett Ayers. This is the fourth consecutive year Adhesion has won a "Wealthie" for its model marketplace.
"Being recognized in this way, both personally and as a company, is such an honor and is truly a testament to the incredible team we have here at Adhesion Wealth," Ayers said. "I'm proud to work alongside a group of professionals who are eager to solve problems for advisors, always innovating and improving the services we provide. Through Adhesion's customized investment solutions and outsourced managed account capabilities, we are offering RIAs creative, cost-efficient resources that help them to meet clients' unique investment goals. As outsourcing becomes more prevalent, Adhesion is at the forefront of equipping firms with portfolio construction tools that free up advisors' time to spend with clients and grow assets."
The Adhesion Wealth Manager Exchange is the industry's second-largest model marketplace. The marketplace connects investment advisors to a suite of over 4,000 models from nearly 500 institutional asset managers. Over the past two years, the Adhesion Wealth Manager Exchange launched several new initiatives that have provided advisors with greater access to rapid level distribution, offering full technical infrastructure with trading, models, reporting and portals.
Under Barrett's leadership over the last year, Adhesion launched various initiatives: Tax Alpha reporting, which shows investors the value of an advisor's decision to enable active tax management; first to market ability for a fixed income and options overlay within a UMA; Personal Indexes with ESG Overlay, which allows advisors to develop their own Direct Index models that can be run inside a UMA; and lastly, a TAMP solution where managers have a turnkey investment program to distribute their TAMP and models on Adhesion's Managed Account Platform.
For eight years, the WealthManagement.com Industry Awards have honored the firms and individuals who are bringing new innovations to market that make a real difference to the daily activities of financial advisors. This year, 105 awards were given out to 84 recipients from a pool of 225 finalists. Nearly 1,000 entries were received from more than 350 companies.
The winners of the WealthManagement.com Industry Awards were selected from a panel of independent judges made up of top names in the industry and led by WealthManagement.com editor-in-chief David Armstrong. In the Technology Providers category, Model Marketplaces subcategory, Adhesion was selected out of three finalists. In the Individual RIA Firm Leaders category, Innovator of the Year subcategory, Barrett Ayers was selected out of five finalists.
For the full list of recipients, click here: https://www.wealthmanagement.com/wealthies-circle/2022-best-of-best/
Adhesion Wealth® is a leading provider of outsourced investment management solutions for registered investment advisors (RIAs). Adhesion Wealth empowers advisors with the ability to build their own multi-manager (UMA) strategies, access SMA strategies and use other turnkey investment solutions on the Adhesion Wealth Manager Exchange. Adhesion Wealth also provides advisors with personal and direct indexing, tax management, tax transitions, portfolio administration, practice analytics and client reporting. With Adhesion, advisors gain access to a scalable, multi-custodian platform upon which to grow successful practices. Adhesion Wealth is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vestmark, Inc. For more information, call (888) 295-8351 or visit www.adhesionwealth.com.
Media Contact
Siobhan Nolan
JConnelly
(862) 217-9585
snolan@jconnelly.com
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| 2022-09-16T17:10:34Z
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NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- AMDA College of the Performing Arts has earned Playbill's #2 spot as the college with the second most graduates appearing on Broadway in the 2021-2022 Season. Playbill's Big 10 List of the Most Represented Colleges on Broadway is published each year and includes a list of all the graduates for each college who performed in a Broadway show from August 22, 2021 to May 4, 2022.
A distinction of this magnitude confirms AMDA's status as the premier performing arts college with training in musical theatre, acting, acting for camera, dance, and performing arts. AMDA's students receive world class training on AMDA's New York and Hollywood campuses in classrooms and on stages taught by world-renowned faculty who combine industry-focused professional training with academic rigor.
This achievement honors and acknowledges the hard work of AMDA graduates who have turned in show stopping performances in numerous productions including: Aladdin, Waitress, Hamilton, MJ The Musical, Chicken & Biscuits, The Lion King, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, Moulin Rouge!, Take Me Out, Paradise Square, Wicked, Six: The Musical, Macbeth, Freestyle Love Supreme, Hadestown and many more.
AMDA College of the Performing Arts has campuses in the two entertainment capitals of the world: New York City and Hollywood. Founded in 1964, AMDA has been training emerging performing artists in musical theatre, acting, and dance for nearly 60 years and AMDA's training has been adopted as the gold standard of performing arts education by colleges and universities throughout the country, and indeed throughout the world. Notable AMDA graduates include Anthony Ramos (Broadway's Hamilton, In the Heights musical film adaptation), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family, Tony Award Winner for Broadway's Take Me Out), Ray Fisher (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League), Riwan Manji (Schitt's Creek), Madeline Brewer (The Handmaid's Tale, Orange is the New Black), Tyne Daly (Cagney & Lacey, Judging Amy).
For more information about AMDA Graduates, visit the AMDA website: https://www.amda.edu/alumni-videos
Instagram & TikTok: @AMDAOfficial
You can view Playbill's Complete List Here:
https://playbill.com/article/big-10-2022-the-10-most-represented-colleges-on-broadway-in-the-2021-2022-season
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| 2022-09-16T17:10:41Z
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ANAHEIM HILLS, Calif., Sept. 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On September 13, 2022, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed suit against BaronHR, LLC and Radiant Services Corporation, for alleged discriminatory denial of employment based on race, national origin, and sex.
BaronHR denies all allegations of wrongdoing in connection with the EEOC Complaint. The company leads the industry in its service commitments to its clients and supplies leased labor in accordance with its customers' demands. In doing so, BaronHR diligently complies with applicable employment laws governing the industry.
The company will vigorously defend itself against these claims and is confident that it will ultimately be successful in its defense.
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| 2022-09-16T17:10:47Z
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WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Beacon Global Strategies (BGS), a leading strategic advisory firm focusing on global public policy, government procurement, and geopolitical risk analysis, announced four new members to its growing team. Mr. Glenn Gerstell, Lieutenant General Michael S. Groen (U.S. Marine Corps, Ret.), Mr. Paul Kilbride and Mr. Louis Lauter will bring further depth and breadth to Beacon's market leading practices helping companies navigate national security decisionmaking and emerging trends for disruptive technologies.
"BGS continuously strives to provide the highest quality services to its clients, and that requires working alongside the people with the deepest experience in the areas most relevant to our diverse client base," said Andrew Shapiro, a Co-Founder and Managing Director at BGS. "We are excited to welcome these accomplished individuals, who epitomize this effort. Their strategic insights and unique perspectives are already making real differences for our clients, and we feel fortunate to add them to our ever-growing team of elite leaders."
Glenn S. Gerstell joins BGS as Senior Advisor. Prior to joining BGS, Mr. Gerstell served as the general counsel of the National Security Agency (NSA) and Central Security Service (CSS) from 2015 to 2020. He has written and spoken widely on issues at the intersections of technology and national security. Prior to joining the NSA, Mr. Gerstell practiced law for almost 40 years at the international law firm of Milbank, LLP, where he focused on the global telecommunications industry, and served as the managing partner of the firm's Washington, D.C., Singapore, and Hong Kong offices. Mr. Gerstell served on the President's National Infrastructure Advisory Council, which reports to the president and the secretary of homeland security on security threats to the nation's infrastructure, as well as on the District of Columbia Homeland Security Commission. Earlier in his career, he was an adjunct law professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and New York Law School. A graduate of New York University and Columbia University School of Law, Mr. Gerstell is a Senior Advisor (Non-Resident) with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) International Security Program, serves on the Future of Encryption Committee for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine and is an elected member of the American Academy of Diplomacy and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a recipient of the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service, and the NSA Distinguished Civilian Service Medal.
Lieutenant General Michael S. Groen joins BGS as Senior Advisor and will be supporting the National Security Technology Practice. General Groen (U.S. Marine Corps, Ret.) served over 36 years in the U.S. military, culminating his career as the Director of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC), where he led the transformation of U.S. Joint warfighting and departmental processes through the integration of Artificial Intelligence. Prior to his role at JAIC, he served in the Intelligence Community through multiple assignments. He served in the National Security Agency overseeing Computer Network Operations, and as the Director of Joint Staff Intelligence (JSJ2), working closely with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Secretary of Defense, the Defense Intelligence Agency and senior leaders across the Department. He is an experienced Marine commander and multi-tour combat veteran. General Groen is a graduate of Calvin College, and has earned Masters Degrees in Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics from the Naval Postgraduate School.
Paul Kilbride joins BGS as Vice President. Prior to joining Beacon, Mr. Kilbride served as a Professional Staff Member on the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations – Subcommittee on Defense (HAC-D). In this role, he was responsible for overseeing a portfolio that included the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the National Geospatial-intelligence Agency (NGA), the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, and the Military Intelligence Program (MIP). Prior to joining HAC-D, Mr. Kilbride served as a senior program examiner with the Intelligence Programs Branch in the National Security Division of the White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB). From 2012-2018, he oversaw all aspects of the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) budget and, before that, had oversight responsibility for DIA and the MIP. Mr. Kilbride began his career in public service with OMB in 2008 in the Homeland Security Branch, where he oversaw the Federal Emergency Management Agency – to include disaster response, preparedness, and continuity of government activities. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and earned his Master of Public Policy from the University of Chicago's Harris School.
Louis Lauter joins BGS as Vice President. Mr. Lauter joins BGS after serving as the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs, where he advised the Secretary of Defense on all legislative matters, supported the confirmation of political appointees and managed congressional engagement across the Department of Defense. Previously Mr. Lauter served in the Obama Administration in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs from 2015-2017 as the Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs and the team chief for Acquisitions, Technology and Logistics. Prior to joining the Department of Defense, he served as the vice president for congressional and government affairs at CSIS where he led the think tank's outreach to Congress. Before joining CSIS, Mr. Lauter worked for Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and then for Representative Rick Larsen (D-WA) where he led the Congressman's work on the House Armed Services Committee and the U.S.-China Working group. Mr. Lauter is a Senior Associate (non-resident) at CSIS. He holds a Master's degree in international public policy from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a Bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Washington. Mr. Lauter has been awarded both the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service and the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service.
About Beacon Global Strategies
Founded in 2013, Beacon Global Strategies is a leading strategic advisory firm, with over 70 staff and expert advisors, that provides clients an in-depth understanding of national security decision-making to advance objectives and solve problems in Washington and abroad. The Beacon team brings experience informed by their years of service in the White House, State Department, Defense Department, CIA, Justice Department, on Capitol Hill, and in the private sector.
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SOURCE Beacon Global Strategies
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https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/16/beacon-global-strategies-expands-by-adding-four-national-security-professionals-its-growing-team/
| 2022-09-16T17:10:59Z
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Flavor Your Vacay sweepstakes in celebration of National Coffee Day
WATERTOWN, Wis., Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Berres Brothers Coffee Roasters Inc. is helping one lucky coffee lover escape the ordinary and experience all the flavor the world has to offer with a custom vacation (valued at $7,000). Sweepstakes participants can enter online at berresbrothers.com/flavoredcoffeevacay.
The sweepstakes runs during National Coffee Day (September 29) and International Coffee Day (October 1) because a giveaway this sweet deserves some extra celebrating. During the sweepstakes, every online order* at berresbrothers.com automatically receives an entry and participants can additionally enter every week. The sweepstakes closes at 11:59:59 p.m. CST on November 21, 2022. Berres Brothers will randomly select and notify the winner by email.
Berres Brothers batch-roasts coffee beans to create fan-favorite flavors like Highlander Grogg, English Toffee, and French Caramel Cream. These coffees embody international flavors to transport the drinker and elevate their everyday coffee experience.
*NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. For more info, Official Rules and full sweepstakes details, visit berresbrothers.com/vacayofficialrules.
Providing coffee since 1970, Berres Brothers Coffee Roasters has one simple vision: to make great coffees that create a vacation from the ordinary. Veteran- and family-owned, Berres Brothers prides itself on producing astonishingly smooth, consistent coffees that add a little flavor to each drinker's day. Berres Brothers offers over 50 coffees and more than 40 unique flavored varieties that fit each coffee connoisseur's preference. For more information, visit berresbrothers.com or follow along on Facebook and Instagram.
Photography and Video
Download all media-ready photography and video via this link: https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/ZSn5Zw7UuQ
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SOURCE Berres Brothers Coffee Roasters
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https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/16/berres-brothers-coffee-roasters-giving-away-dream-vacation/
| 2022-09-16T17:11:06Z
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"How can one possibly put how grateful they are to have been given the chance to go to school and buy their books, to have the chance to excel and get an education? To be the change they are hoping to make." - BMO Scholarship Funding Recipient
TORONTO, NEW YORK, and LONDON, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - BMO Capital Markets will hold its 18th annual Equity Through Education (ETE) Trading day program on September 20, 2022 at its trading floor locations in Toronto, New York and London. On one trading day every year, BMO donates all North American and European institutional equity commissions to charitable organizations that provide scholarships, bursaries and leadership development to post-secondary students
"BMO's Equity Through Education trading day initiative illustrates our Purpose to Boldly Grow the Good, in business and life," said Dan Barclay, CEO and Group Head, BMO Capital Markets. "For 18 years we've been growing the good for students in need around the world, partnering with charities to raise money to provide financial aid and development programs that promote diversity and inclusion and help promising young people make progress."
ETE partners include The Jackie Robinson Foundation, Imperial College of London, Indspire, Lime Connect, the Loran Scholars Foundation, The Children's Aid Foundation of Canada, the Women in Capital Markets Return to Bay Street Program and the Financial Women's Association (FWA) which, through it's FWA/BMO Capital Markets Baruch Mentorship Program, has been mentoring and developing students for 20 years.
This year BMO has added a new partnership with social mobility charity The Brokerage to provide post-secondary scholarships and internships at BMO's London office for two students every year. The Brokerage has helped more than 85,000 students – many from Black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds -- through education, mentorship and other opportunities over the last 25 years.
"BMO is committed to helping the next generation reach their full potential," said Bill Smith, Head of BMO Financial Group's Capital Markets business for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. "In partnering with The Brokerage, we can help change the trajectories of young people who face barriers to higher education while providing work experience and inspiring students across the world to pursue an education and career in the field of their choice."
Since its inception in 2005, Equity Through Education has raised over C$28 million and helped more than 5000 students achieve their academic potential.
For more information about the program and to hear from some of the scholars, visit BMO Capital Markets' Our Culture web pages.
Serving customers for 200 years and counting, BMO is a highly diversified financial services provider - the 8th largest bank, by assets, in North America. With total assets of $1.07 trillion as of July 31, 2022, and a team of diverse and highly engaged employees, BMO provides a broad range of personal and commercial banking, wealth management and investment banking products and services to more than 12 million customers and conducts business through three operating groups: Personal and Commercial Banking, BMO Wealth Management and BMO Capital Markets.
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SOURCE BMO Financial Group
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https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/16/bmo-capital-markets-trading-floors-toronto-new-york-london-promote-equity-through-education-18th-year-provide-financial-aid-students/
| 2022-09-16T17:11:12Z
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CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bolden Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company developing first-in-class therapeutics to promote neurogenesis for the potential treatment of CNS illnesses, today announced being awarded a Research and Entrepreneurial Development Immersion (REDI) Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant for $406,466 from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) of the National Institutes of Health.
"This REDI award will provide important support to advance our antisense oligonucleotide program and further establish proof of concept in Alzheimer's disease models," said Johnny Page, Co-Founder and CEO of Bolden Therapeutics. The REDI grant mechanism provides bio-entrepreneurship training to facilitate more diverse career options for early-career scientists working in the fields of aging and aging-related diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease. "I am very excited about this opportunity to advance my entrepreneurial skills," said Anne Valat, Ph.D., Principal Scientist of Bolden Therapeutics and Principal Investigator of the REDI SBIR grant. "In addition to exceptional mentorship provided by Bolden's advisors, I will also have the opportunity to complete esteemed entrepreneurial training programs and learn new skills to successfully prepare for the future development of our ASO program."
The SBIR award is entitled 'Entrepreneurial development award for a novel Alzheimer's disease therapeutic' and will support further investigation of antisense candidates in vivo.
Bolden Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing first-in-class therapeutics to treat central nervous system diseases. The company's scientific co-founders, Dr. Justin Fallon and Dr. Ashley Webb have identified a key molecular pathway to stimulate neural stem cells to promote the birth of new neurons (neurogenesis) in the adult brain. The company is developing antisense oligonucleotides to modulate this genetically-validated target. More information about the company can be found at www.boldentherapeutics.com
Bolden's research facilities are based within LabCentral, the premier incubator for next-generation powerhouse biotech startups located in the heart of Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA. Bolden's tenure at LabCentral has been supported by two 'Golden Tickets' from Biogen, providing the company with two years of sponsored laboratory space within this innovative ecosystem.
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SOURCE Bolden Therapeutics, Inc.
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https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/16/bolden-therapeutics-receives-406466-sbir-grant-national-institute-aging-support-development-antisense-oligonucleotides-promote-neurogenesis/
| 2022-09-16T17:11:19Z
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SINGAPORE, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CellResearch Corporation, a Singapore-based biopharmaceutical company today announced it has successfully closed the first Phase I study in CorLiCyte®, a stem cell therapy derived from umbilical cord lining stem cells, with research partners at the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus and ClinImmune Cell and Gene Therapy.
CorLiCyte® is in development for the treatment of a number of serious conditions, with a first target indication of treating diabetic foot ulcer (DFU). In the study protocol nine patients with chronic DFU were treated with CorLiCyte® twice weekly for 8 weeks. None of the patients participating in the study experienced any treatment-related adverse events and all subjects saw a reduction in wound size during the treatment period.
"These results are encouraging and can be used to support further research with CorLiCyte® in future studies, with the potential to address unmet medical needs in treatment of patients with chronic DFUs." said Cecilia Low-Wang, the lead investigator at the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus.
About CorLiCyte®
CorLiCyte® is a live mesenchymal stem cell therapy derived from human umbilical cord lining stem cells, with a proprietary optimised expression of cytokines, growth and cellular factors for the treatment of a number of serious health conditions. In addition to DFU, CRC is pursuing a range of potential indications at pre-clinical stage such as osteoarthritis, venous leg ulcers, chronic inflammatory and autoimmune conditions.
About CellResearch Corporation
CellResearch Corporation (CRC) was founded in 2002 as a contract research provider focusing on skin cells. In 2004, the company made the discovery that the umbilical cord lining of mammals was an abundant source of both mesenchymal and epithelial stem cells. Today, the company owns this technology through a family of patents and holds the rights to commercialise this technology in most major markets globally.
CellResearch Consumer Health (Formerly known as CALECIM® Cosmeceuticals) is a wholly owned subsidiary of CRC and produces an innovative range of skin and hair care products using cord lining stem cell media to power its products. It is used in medical hair and aesthetic clinics for in-office treatments and as part of an at-home anti-aging skincare regime. It is distributed globally through over 600 aesthetic physicians and online via its own website. It has a key distribution partnership with Menarini Group across South East Asia.
CRC partner, Cordlife offers parents the opportunity to bank their child's umbilical cord tissue alongside their cord blood. Cordlife has what is believed to be the largest licensed bank of umbilical cord tissue globally. As cell therapies move into the clinic, Cordlife will have the ability to expand stem cells from a banked umbilical cord for autologous and donor-related uses.
Contact:
Business Development and Investor Relations:
Xavier Simpson
Tel: +65 8815 6139
Email: xaviersimpson@cellresearchcorp.com
www.cellresearchcorp.com
www.calecimprofessional.com
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SOURCE CellResearch Corporation
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https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/16/cellresearch-corporation-crc-announces-positive-results-phase-i-study-corlicyte/
| 2022-09-16T17:11:26Z
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BEIJING, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In his first trip overseas since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese President Xi Jinping went to Central Asia to attend the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), held this year in the Uzbek city of Samarkand.
Calling it "China's most important event of head-of-state diplomacy on the eve of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China," a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that it shows the great importance China attaches to the SCO.
At the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO on Friday, President Xi noted that the SCO has been an important constructive force in international and regional affairs.
He called on the group to uphold the Shanghai Spirit, strengthen unity and cooperation, and promote the building of an even closer SCO community with a shared future.
The Shanghai Spirit carried forward
The Samarkand SCO summit takes place at a time when the world is witnessing the combined impact of a pandemic unseen in a century, a de-globalization trend and other complex factors, with the global economic governance system facing challenges.
The Shanghai Spirit, named after the Chinese city in which the group was founded and as its undergirding values and guidelines, features mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for cultural diversity, and pursuit of common development.
On Friday, Xi said what can be drawn upon from the group's rich practices includes political trust, mutually beneficial cooperation, equality, openness and inclusiveness, and equity and justice, which fully embodies the Shanghai Spirit.
It has been shown that the Shanghai Spirit is the source of strength for the development of the SCO, and also the fundamental guide the SCO member states must continue to follow in the years to come, he said.
"We owe the SCO's remarkable success to the Shanghai Spirit. And we will continue to follow its guidance as we forge ahead," he pledged.
Beyond security
At a time when geopolitical conflict and nontraditional security threats such as extremism and terrorism are on the rise, the SCO plays an important role in safeguarding regional security and joint prosperity. Yet its role goes beyond security.
During his speech, Xi called for the SCO members to strengthen practical cooperation among themselves. He said that China is ready to work with all other stakeholders to pursue the Global Development Initiative proposed by China and jointly promote the Belt and Road Initiative.
At the summit, statements on safeguarding international energy and food security were also adopted. Xi pledged that China will provide developing countries in need with emergency humanitarian assistance of grain and other supplies worth 1.5 billion yuan.
The Chinese president also urged the group to fully implement the cooperation documents in such areas as trade and investment, infrastructure, supply chains, scientific and technological innovation, and artificial intelligence.
Warning against an "obsession with forming a small circle," Xi reiterated the importance of upholding true multilateralism to improve global governance and ensure that the international order is more just and equitable.
Vision for the future
Since its founding in 2001, the SCO has had an extraordinary journey. To date, the organization has eight full members, four observer countries and multiple dialogue partners.
In terms of geographic scope and population, the SCO is the world's largest regional organization, covering approximately 60 percent of the land area of Eurasia and 41 percent of the world's population. Its members accounted for 24 percent of global GDP in 2021, according to the World Bank.
And the SCO is still growing. At Friday's summit, a memorandum of obligations on Iran's full SCO membership was signed; the procedure for Belarus' accession was started; MOUs granting Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar the status of SCO dialogue partners were signed; agreements were reached on admitting Bahrain, the Maldives, the UAE, Kuwait and Myanmar as new dialogue partners.
Noting an increasing number of countries have applied to join the SCO family, the Chinese president said it fully demonstrates the power of the SCO's vision and the widely shared confidence in its future.
In conclusion of his speech, Xi called on all countries to act in the Shanghai Spirit, work for the steady development of the SCO, and jointly build the region into a peaceful, stable, prosperous and beautiful home.
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SOURCE CGTN
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https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/16/cgtn-samarkand-summit-what-china-has-proposed-boost-sco-unity-cooperation/
| 2022-09-16T17:11:33Z
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-- Certain patients were more likely to use telemedicine even with the reopening of in-person appointments, while barriers to telemedicine remained for some families --
PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Researchers from the Epilepsy Neurogenetics Initiative (ENGIN) at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) found that across nearly 50,000 visits, patients continued to use telemedicine effectively even with the reopening of outpatient clinics a year after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, prominent barriers for socially vulnerable families and racial and ethnic minorities persist, suggesting more work is required to reach a wider population with telemedicine.
The findings, which represent the largest study of telemedicine in child neurology to date, were published today by the journal Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology.
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a rapid and unprecedented conversion of outpatient clinical care from in-person visits to remote telehealth visits. While telemedicine had been used to deliver care for specific adult patient populations prior to the pandemic, the effectiveness of telemedicine in child neurology as a novel method of care had not been systematically explored. In a prior study published by Neurology in 2020, CHOP researchers found that patients and clinicians had a high rate of satisfaction with telemedicine and many on both sides were interested in using telemedicine for future visits.
To that end, the study team wanted to determine the long-term impact of telemedicine on child neurology care during the COVID-19 pandemic, factoring in the reopening of outpatient clinics. The observational study was based on a cohort of 34,837 in-person visits and 14,820 telemedicine outpatient visits between October 2019 and April 2021 across a total of 26,399 child neurology patients.
"In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the use of telemedicine visits, but now that telemedicine visits have been established as part of the care we are able to deliver, we had the opportunity to compare them more thoroughly to in-person visits," said the study's first author Michael Kaufman, MS, a data scientist with ENGIN at CHOP. "With data on nearly 15,000 telemedicine visits, we were able to identify trends in how telemedicine was being used by individuals of different demographic backgrounds, neurological conditions and other variables."
The researchers found that telemedicine was a viable option for many patients and was utilized more often than in-person visits for certain patients, such as those with epilepsy and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Other patients, such as those with certain neuromuscular and movement disorders, younger patients, and those needing specific procedures were less likely to receive care by telemedicine.
Additionally, the researchers found that self-reported racial and ethnic minority populations in the study as well as those with the highest social vulnerability – a measure of community resilience to stressors on human health – were less likely to participate in telemedicine visits. Two novel metrics were developed to determine access to telemedicine and track delayed care, which revealed further disparities. Some of the most vulnerable individuals were less likely to activate their online patient portals and were more likely to receive delayed care, compared to less vulnerable individuals.
"Our group has studied telemedicine extensively, and our findings demonstrate how telemedicine has become a standard component of child neurology care for many patients," said Ingo Helbig, MD, a pediatric neurologist at CHOP, director of the genomic and data science core of CHOP's Epilepsy Neurogenetics Initiative (ENGIN) and senior author on this study. "Increased use of telemedicine was prompted by a public health emergency, and so we need to make sure, as these new tools for patient care remain prevalent, that we're continuing to learn about and address disparities in care and optimize access for socially vulnerable families, so that they have the tools necessary should another similar public health crisis occur."
This study was supported by The Hartwell Foundation through an Individual Biomedical Research Award; the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke grants K02 NS112600 and K23 NS102521; the Center Without Walls on ion channel function in epilepsy "Channelopathy-associated Research Center" grant U54 NS108874; the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development through the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (IDDRC) at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania grant U54 HD086984; intramural funds of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia through the Epilepsy NeuroGenetics Initiative (ENGIN); and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health through the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics' (ITMAT) Transdisciplinary Program in Translational Medicine and Therapeutics at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania grant UL1TR001878.
Kaufman et al, "Child neurology telemedicine: analyzing 14 820 patient encounters during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic." Dev Med Child Neurol. Online September 16, 2022. DOI: 10.1111/dmcn.15406.
About Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: A non-profit, charitable organization, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was founded in 1855 as the nation's first pediatric hospital. Through its long-standing commitment to providing exceptional patient care, training new generations of pediatric healthcare professionals, and pioneering major research initiatives, the 595-bed hospital has fostered many discoveries that have benefited children worldwide. Its pediatric research program is among the largest in the country. The institution has a well-established history of providing advanced pediatric care close to home through its CHOP Care Network, which includes more than 50 primary care practices, specialty care and surgical centers, urgent care centers, and community hospital alliances throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey, as well as a new inpatient hospital with a dedicated pediatric emergency department in King of Prussia. In addition, its unique family-centered care and public service programs have brought Children's Hospital of Philadelphia recognition as a leading advocate for children and adolescents. For more information, visit http://www.chop.edu.
Contact: Ben Leach
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
(609) 634-7906
Leachb@email.chop.edu
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SOURCE Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
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https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/16/chop-study-explores-use-telemedicine-child-neurology-largest-study-date/
| 2022-09-16T17:11:40Z
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Leading treatment community hosts roundtable with industry leaders to discuss the critical role that virtual care plays in addressing today's mental health crisis.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Dorm, a young adult mental health treatment community that has been supporting the needs of youth since 2009, teamed up with Zoom Video Communications, Inc. and The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) on September 13th, 2022 to discuss the future of telehealth policy solutions for mental health treatment with leading press representatives.
Coming on the heels of a public health advisory and other reports that sound the alarm about the nation's frightening youth mental health crisis, the roundtable presentation was hosted at The Dorm's Washington, D.C. facility at Dupont Circle as part of a hybrid viewing experience offering a bird's-eye view of telehealth technology in a mental health treatment setting.
"The pandemic ushered in an immediate need to provide virtual mental health care," explained John McGeehan, LCSW, CADC, The Dorm's Founder and CEO. "In our own published COVID-19 observation study we found that in the first 8 months of the pandemic, anxiety scores were up 40% among clients, with female identifying clients 1.5x more likely to have reported a reduced quality of life. These are shocking findings. We're here to show how telehealth has and continues to profoundly impact our population for the better."
Roundtable panelist and The Dorm's Partner and Chief of Clinical Services, Amanda Fialk, PhD, LCSW, LICSW shared that, as a result of virtual and now hybrid treatment options, geographic barriers to continuity of care have been removed -- 20% of Dorm clients are able to maintain care with their treatment team once they graduate college or move, and family involvement in care has increased by up to 10% in the last two years with family group services up 128%. "Studies show that parent participation in adolescent treatment can be positively associated with overall wellbeing and negatively associated with suicidal thoughts and behavior," explained Dr. Fialk. "With virtual care we are better able to serve over 1,700 family members nationwide joining us from 19 different states." Further, Dr. Fialk shared preliminary findings from an ongoing Yale approved IRB, citing: 48% of clients in a Dorm sample felt that their clinician was more approachable in virtual sessions and 41% that they are more comfortable sharing feelings in virtual sessions. "For many clients, virtual care can serve as a powerful bridge to connection and forming a therapeutic alliance," noted Dr. Fialk.
With mounting evidence pointing to the benefits of telemental health to patients, the panelists agreed current hybrid care policies should be kept in place. Kyle Zebley, Senior Vice President of Public Policy at The American Telemedicine Association, highlighted the continued uncertainty over the Federal Public Health Emergency Act set to expire in October, and the importance of "policy permanency" around all the flexibilities that have come about at the Federal Level such as the Ryan Haight Act in-person waiver: "As was vouched during our panel discussion (and by many other leading medical organizations), shared, Zebley, "it is possible to establish an effective provider relationship via telehealth…and when we think about the future of health, it's going to be truly a hybrid model where patients have access to care when and where they need it."
Ron Emerson, Global Healthcare Lead at Zoom, reinforced Zebley's perspective, stating "the fact is, patients like telehealth…and we are seeing a rise in digital-first models in healthcare." According to data that Zoom collected directly from patients regarding their preferred models of care: "We did a study across ten countries with about 7,500 participants in the middle of 2021…over 60% of Americans surveyed who had a telehealth visit within the last six months actually said they wanted a hybrid model of care moving forward."
Together, The Dorm, Zoom and the ATA agree that individuals struggling with mental health and mental illness need access to every form of impactful and effective intervention, with certainty and without barriers to access. This must include unfettered telemental health services.
To learn more about The Dorm, Zoom Video Communications, Inc. and The American Telemedicine Association visit the following links:
About The Dorm
Since 2009, The Dorm's mission has been to guide young adults towards independence through evidence-based clinical therapies, community support and practical skill-building. As a full-service treatment community with locations in New York City, NY and Washington, D.C., they offer a unique approach to caring for young adults that is both therapeutic and holistic. This includes comprehensive day and evening services with individual and group therapy, wrap-around academic support, independent living opportunities and individualized life skills training. The Dorm's expert therapists and practitioners support the community with tailor-made treatment plans that meet them where they are today - virtually, at home, at school, or out in the community. www.thedorm.com.
About Zoom Video Communications, Inc.
Zoom is the leading platform for telehealth in the United States, providing healthcare organizations and clinicians with the ability to act as the communication and virtual care of choice for a variety of applications. In today's dynamic healthcare system, having a multi-purpose platform for all types of communication, whether it be clinical, education or administrative, is key. Zoom's scalable solution allows practices of all sizes to enjoy the same high-level communication and tools as the largest centers of excellence. Zoom has demonstrated its commitment to grow and innovate this technology to better serve the future of healthcare, by connecting patients with their healthcare providers across the country. www.zoom.com
About American Telemedicine Association (ATA)
As the only organization completely focused on advancing telehealth, the American Telemedicine Association is committed to ensuring that everyone has access to safe, affordable, and appropriate care when and where they need it, enabling the system to do more good for more people. The ATA represents a broad and inclusive member network of leading healthcare delivery systems, academic institutions, technology solution providers and payers, as well as partner organizations and alliances, working to advance industry adoption of telehealth, promote responsible policy, advocate for government and market normalization, and provide education and resources to help integrate virtual care into emerging value-based delivery models.
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SOURCE The Dorm
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https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/16/dorm-zoom-american-telemedicine-association-discuss-future-telehealth-solutions-mental-health-treatment/
| 2022-09-16T17:11:47Z
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SHANGHAI, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Acting as a major platform for international procurement, investment promotion, cultural exchanges and open cooperation, the China International Import Expo (CIIE) has been held for four consecutive years and is widely regarded as an international public good, which in turn is good for economic globalization and multilateral trading system.
With a number of companies attending the CIIE for the first time this year, including global metals and mining giant Rio Tinto Group, and Japanese multinational semiconductor company Renesas Electronics Corp, the fifth edition of the CIIE will be held in Shanghai from Nov 5 to10 as scheduled.
In terms of the Business Exhibition, the fifth CIIE will again feature six exhibition areas — Food and Agricultural Products, Intelligent Industry and Information Technology, Medical Equipment and Healthcare Products, Consumer Goods, Trade in Services, and Automobiles.
This year, many organizing agencies from countries such as Norway and Belgium have joined the CIIE network for the first time. These agencies will play an important role in inviting local small and medium-sized enterprises to take part in the expo. Member nations of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) are also planning to participate in the expo.
Over the last few years, the organizers of the CIIE have been establishing subsections within exhibition areas to enhance service standards. The fifth edition will have more new subsections established. For example, a crop seeds subsection and an artificial intelligence subsection will be set up to strengthen communication between businesses and bolster relevant industrial growth.
Subsections dedicated to serving innovation incubation, debuted in 2021 edition, will be established again in the exhibition areas of automobiles, intelligent industry and information technology, and medical equipment and healthcare products. Such subsections will also be present for sports and fashion design.
This year, country exhibitions will be held online with a brand-new look to showcase countries' achievements in cultural, economic, and social fonts.
Since 2018, more than 120 countries in total participated in the country exhibition, showcasing foreign countries' passion for the CIIE.
Be sure to browse the official website of the CIIE for more information about the upcoming fifth edition: https://www.ciie.org/zbh/en/.
Contact: Ms. Cui Yan
Tel.: 0086-21-968888
Email: ciie2022@ciie.org
Website: http://www.ciie.org/zbh/en/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ciieonline
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ciieonline
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SOURCE CIIE
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https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/16/fifth-china-international-import-expo-prepares-open-its-door-worldwide-participants/
| 2022-09-16T17:11:54Z
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Upscale, Fast Casual Dining Powerhouse with House-Crafted Menu Now Open in Happy Valley
HAPPY VALLEY, Ore., Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Capriotti's Sandwich Shop, known for its award-winning, hand-crafted cheese steaks, turkey subs and more, will debut a new location in Happy Valley at 13140 SE 172 Ave Ste 134. on September 16. Capriotti's brings the Happy Valley community its 45-year tradition of slow-roasting whole, all-natural turkeys in-house and hand-pulling them every morning and other favorites like the made-from-scratch meatballs using premium, fresh ingredients.
Capriotti's is known for its wide array of sandwiches including The Bobbie, made with fresh oven-roasted turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing and mayo, the Capastrami, made with hot pastrami, Swiss cheese, Russian dressing and homemade coleslaw and the cheesesteak is made with premium steak, chicken or Impossible plant-based meat and melted cheese plus hot or sweet peppers. The Happy Valley Capriotti's will offer a convenient order-ahead option, in addition to third-party delivery services. The new shop will bring 20 new jobs to the Happy Valley community.
The location will be locally owned by former construction worker, Dale Campbell and his wife Connie. For years, Dale owned a construction company in Phoenix, but decided to sell it when Connie got a new job in Portland. Left wanting to do something other than construction, Dale took the tools he learned from his past and decided to become a franchisee of Capriotti's Sandwich Shop. The location will be Dale's first of three Capriotti's coming to the Portland area in the next three years, with roughly 60 new jobs set to be created across the restaurants.
"To become a franchisee of Capriotti's was a no-brainer," said Campbell. "When we lived in Phoenix for eight years, we absolutely loved the food and concept of the restaurant. My wife has even been a fan of the franchise since she was a teenager living in Delaware. I truly believe that we will offer the people of Happy Valley the best sandwiches and service that Portland Metro has to offer. Just try one and you'll be coming back like I was!"
Happy Valley Capriotti's fans can download the CAPAddicts Rewards app on iOS and Android to earn and redeem rewards and score free food. The restaurant also features online ordering. Capriotti's in Happy Valley offers catering for any event from corporate events to birthday parties with items such as party trays with cold subs, box lunches or a hot homemade meatball bar.
Capriotti's is open from 10 a.m. – 9 p.m. Monday-Sunday. For additional information, visit www.capriottis.com or call the location at 503-482-5323.
About Capriotti's Sandwich Shop
Founded in 1976, Capriotti's Sandwich Shop is an award-winning national franchised restaurant chain that remains true to its 45-year tradition of slow-roasting whole, all-natural turkeys in-house every day. Capriotti's fresh ingredients, homemade subs and unique menu items have won numerous accolades including being named one of the "10 Great Places for a Surprising Sandwich" by USA Today and many "Best of" awards across the country. Capriotti's cold, grilled and vegetarian subs, cheese steaks and salads are available at more than 170 locations across the U.S. Capriotti's signature sub, The Bobbie®, was voted "The Greatest Sandwich in America" by thousands of readers across the country and reported by AOL.com. Capriotti's fans can also download the CAPAddicts Rewards app for iOS and Android, where they can earn and redeem rewards. For more information, visit capriottis.com. Like Capriotti's on Facebook, follow on Twitter or Instagram.
Media Contact: Tyler Scheuermann, Fishman PR | tscheuermann@fishmanpr.com | 847-945-1300 ext. 272
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| 2022-09-16T17:12:01Z
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GARYSBURG, N.C., Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On September 14, 2022, Firefighters from several departments attended a meeting to learn about toxic PFAS found in their turnout gear that could be impacting their health.
The meeting was organized and co-hosted by Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (BREDL) and included a presentation by Kevin Ferrara, a retired US Air Force firefighter, internationally known for his work on this issue. Ferrara commented that "military firefighters were deceived for decades about toxic firefighting foam; leadership knew but said nothing. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when will my doctor tell me I have cancer because of my exposure to toxic PFAS? As veterans and firefighters, we never asked or expected to be sickened by those we trusted to protect us, let alone the protective clothing we wear."
Bryan Brice of The Law offices of F. Bryan Brice, Jr. Brice Legal Firm and Annemarie Pantazis of Wilder-Pantazis Law Group provided additional information regarding legal options, as well as state and federal resources for firefighters and their families. Brice, speaking of chemical companies like Dupont, 3M, and Chemours stated, "We need to hold the chemical companies and those responsible accountable for the high cancer rates and other injuries caused by the unconscionable level of PFAS in firefighter turnout gear."
Therese Vick, North Carolina Healthy Communities Campaign Coordinator for BREDL and the mother of a firefighter said, " Firefighters risk their lives to protect us. The turnout gear they need to protect them should not pose a threat to their health. Our hope is to bring this information to the men and women of the fire service, the public, and decision makers."
#PFAS #firefighters #foreverchemicals
CONTACT: Therese Vick (919) 345-3673 therese.vick@gmail.com
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| 2022-09-16T17:12:07Z
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Talent Insider features targeted news and advice, small business mentorship program, a virtual learning event, and valuable recruiting tools
NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Insider, the global news, business and lifestyle publisher, and Indeed, a leading global hiring platform, today announce the launch of Talent Insider, a new editorial destination for small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) looking to improve how they hire and support new and existing talent.
The interactive editorial hub includes the latest industry news and trends; a video series hosted by Gabrielle Reece, the renowned athlete, best-selling author, and entrepreneur; resources for small business owners and entrepreneurs; a virtual event led by hiring experts; and a hands-on mentorship program for a select group of small businesses chosen by Talent Insider.
Talent Insider features inspiring and informative stories for SMBs to improve how they do business and recruit in today's challenging marketplace. The new vertical combines the news expertise and powerful distribution capabilities of Insider with the industry knowledge, resources, and trusted tools of Indeed.
Emily Canal, senior editor of entrepreneurship and careers at Insider, is editor of Talent Insider. "Hiring has become one of the hardest challenges for most small businesses today," Canal said. "Talent Insider wants to be a one-stop-resource for small and mid-sized businesses seeking to improve and simplify how they discover, hire, recruit and retain top talent. It's a wonderful opportunity to work with a partner like Indeed, given its prominence in the jobs world."
"Our partnership with Insider strengthens our commitment to solve one of the most pressing pain points for small businesses today – hiring and retaining the talent they need to both operate and grow their business," said Judy Nam, VP of SMB Marketing at Indeed. "Together, we want to provide business owners with the tools and resources to help them hire faster, more efficiently and connect them with the right talent from the start so they can spend more time building their business."
Talent Insider's one-on-one mentorship program includes a group of experts who will choose from and mentor a select group of SMBs whose journeys will be documented on the site. The unique and shared challenges faced by these businesses will be used to inform the content of Talent Insider for the site's large audience.
Talent Insider will also feature a live virtual event in the fall that is focused on talent acquisition. HR leaders and small business entrepreneurs will share their advice on how to navigate hiring in today's rapidly-changing economic climate. In addition, the new section will feature an interactive quiz to steer SMBs to the Talent Insider content most relevant to them.
The video series, hosted by Reece, will spotlight one small business, exploring its hiring journey in real-time, and gleaning from it some of the challenges faced along the way and key insights into how to overcome them.
Insider is one of the world's most popular and influential news brands. Launched in 2007 as Business Insider, Insider covers the news and stories of interest to the digital generation, from travel and lifestyle to finance and technology, the subjects that first put Business Insider on the map.
Insider generates more than 220 million unique monthly visitors across the globe and has hundreds of millions of video views each month. Insider has 10 editions around the world in six languages. Insider is a subsidiary of Axel Springer SE.
More people find jobs on Indeed than anywhere else. Indeed is the #1 job site in the world (Comscore, Total Visits, September 2021) and allows job seekers to search millions of jobs in more than 60 countries and 28 languages. Over 3M employers use Indeed to find and hire new employees, making Indeed the largest job site in the U.S., Canada, and the world. More than 250 million users each month search for jobs, post resumes, and research companies on Indeed, and Indeed delivers 2.5X more hires than other branded job sites combined (Among BreezyHR clients, Sources of Hire Report 2021, U.S.). For more information, visit indeed.com.
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| 2022-09-16T17:12:14Z
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PITTSBURGH, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "I wanted to create a non-toxic liquid tool to quickly correct a clog in a wastewater sewage pump that cannot be pulled free using pliers," said an inventor, from Ashtabula, Ohio, "so I invented MAX'S PUMP JUICE. My design would correct the problem in the most efficient manner possible."
The invention provides an effective way to free a wastewater sewage pump that has seized due to rags. In doing so, it eliminates the need to disassemble the wastewater sewage pump. As a result, it saves time and effort and it enables the user to quickly restore normal pump operation. The invention features an efficient design that is easy to use so it is ideal for wastewater treatment facilities. Additionally, a prototype is available.
The original design was submitted to the Cincinnati sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 21-CCT-4706, 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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| 2022-09-16T17:12:21Z
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PITTSBURGH, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "I wanted to create a convenient and accessible device for dispensing personal wipes in the bathroom," said an inventor, from Carol Stream, Ill., "so I invented the WEPPS DISPENSER. My design enables wipes to be easily dispensed with one hand."
The patent-pending invention provides an effective way to dispense wipes within the bathroom. In doing so, it ensures that wipes are easily accessible when needed. As a result, it increases convenience and personal hygiene and it eliminates the need to store a container of wipes on the counter, toilet tank, etc. The invention features a practical and user-friendly design that is easy to install and use so it is ideal for households. Additionally, it is producible in design variations.
The original design was submitted to the Chicago sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 21-CHK-251, 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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| 2022-09-16T17:12:27Z
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PITTSBURGH, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "I wanted to create an improved article of PPE that would prevent droplet or aerosol virus contamination from entering a face mask," said an inventor, from Sandy Springs, Ga., "so I invented THE VIRUS DEFENDER MASK. My design would enhance safety while also allowing users to resume normal activities without risk of infection."
The patent-pending invention provides an improved face mask to protect against COVID-19. In doing so, it prevents the user from inhaling contaminated air. As a result, it enhances safety and it provides added protection and peace of mind. The invention features a protective design that is easy to wear and use so it is ideal for medical workers, members of the labor force, high risk individuals and the general population. Additionally, it is producible in design variations.
The original design was submitted to the Atlanta sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 21-ALL-2862, 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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| 2022-09-16T17:12:34Z
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PITTSBURGH, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "I'm a pickleball coach and I thought there could be an improved case for storing and transporting equipment," said an inventor, from Chicago, Ill., "so I invented the UNIVERSAL PICKLER'S PICKLEBALL PRACTICE BOARD. My design also allows a player to warm up or practice volleying techniques."
The patent-granted invention provides a convenient dual-purpose accessory for pickleball players. In doing so, it enables the user to store and transport a paddle and balls. It also ensures that a rebounding surface is available for practice. The invention features a versatile design that is easy to use so it is ideal for pickleball players. Additionally, it is producible in design variations and a prototype is available.
The original design was submitted to the Chicago sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 21-CHK-247, 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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| 2022-09-16T17:12:40Z
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PITTSBURGH, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "I wanted to create a practical and convenient means for storing and protecting important items during a hurricane," said an inventor, from Lagrange, Ga., "so I invented the KEPITDRI. My design would provide peace of mind knowing that furniture, electronics and other keepsakes are safe against water damage."
The patent-pending invention provides an improved storage unit for use during hurricanes. It can be used to store furniture, electronics, cherished items, etc. As a result, it protects stored items against water damage and mold and it provides added peace of mind. The invention features a waterproof design that is easy to use so it is ideal for households and businesses in areas prone to hurricanes, flooding, etc. Additionally, it is producible in design variations.
The original design was submitted to the Atlanta sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 21-ALL-2895, 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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| 2022-09-16T17:12:47Z
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NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 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:
Advanced Emissions Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADES)'s merger with Arq Limited. If you are an Advanced Emissions shareholder, click here to learn more about your rights and options.
Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation (NASDAQ: OCSL)'s merger with Oaktree Strategic Income II, Inc. If you are a OCSL shareholder, click here to learn more about your rights and options.
STORE Capital Corporation (NYSE: STOR)'s sale to GIC and funds managed by Oak Street for $32.25 per share in cash. If you are a STORE Capital 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.
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Contact Information:
Halper Sadeh LLC
Daniel Sadeh, Esq.
Zachary Halper, Esq.
(212) 763-0060
sadeh@halpersadeh.com
zhalper@halpersadeh.com
https://www.halpersadeh.com
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| 2022-09-16T17:12:54Z
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NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 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:
The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: FBMS)'s merger with Heritage Southeast Bancorporation, Inc. Subject to the terms of the definitive merger agreement, Heritage shareholders would receive 0.965 shares of First Bancshares common stock for each share of Heritage common stock upon the closing of the transaction. If you are a First Bancshares shareholder, click here to learn more about your rights and options.
Global Blood Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: GBT)'s sale to Pfizer Inc. for $68.50 per share in cash. If you are a Global Blood shareholder, click here to learn more about your rights and options.
MVB Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: MVBF)'s merger with Integrated Financial Holdings, Inc. ("IFH"). Under the terms of the merger agreement, IFH shareholders will receive 1.21 shares of MVB Financial common stock for each share of IFH common stock. If you are a MVB Financial 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.
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Contact Information:
Halper Sadeh LLC
Daniel Sadeh, Esq.
Zachary Halper, Esq.
(212) 763-0060
sadeh@halpersadeh.com
zhalper@halpersadeh.com
https://www.halpersadeh.com
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| 2022-09-16T17:13:01Z
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iGaming affiliate company Leadstar Media has now officially been granted authorization to operate in the state of Maryland after being approved as a registered vendor by the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission. Leadstar will be added to Maryland's approved vendors list within a week of approval.
STOCKHOLM, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- This decision allows the company to promote operators coming to Maryland, as sports betting goes live in the state.
The Free State is set to launch online sports betting in the coming months and many major operators have submitted applications to go live themselves. Leadstar will now be able to offer Maryland sports bettors in-depth reviews and exclusive offers from sports betting sites through the several US products they operate, including SportsbooksOnline.com and UnitedGamblers.com.
Leadstar Media is operational in dozens of countries around the world, but sees the United States as a key part of its global strategy moving forward.
Eskil Kvarnström, Leadstar Media CEO said: "While we've been able to grow in many markets all over the world, achieving that level of success in the US has always been a major goal of ours as a company."
"Part of that is, of course, making sure we are available to as many users across the country as possible. Being approved to operate in Maryland will help us provide even more Americans with premium iGaming experiences."
With the recent launch of Kansas sports betting and the decision of the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission, Leadstar Media is now active in 17 states.
"At Leadstar, we strive to provide all players with a seamless betting experience," Kvarnström added. "Expanding our coverage to more states, in addition to the strides our products have made in the past few years, are major factors in achieving that goal."
While there has yet to be an official announcement, Maryland plans to roll out fully legal online sports betting in the coming months.
"We've seen before that being available to users on Day 1 puts us in a great position to provide users with the best betting experience possible, as many of them explore it for the first time. Being approved well ahead of launch will allow us to give users the best answers to their questions."
CONTACT:
Leadstar Media AB
info@leadstarmedia.com
This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com
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| 2022-09-16T17:13:08Z
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HARRISBURG, Pa., Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- LINKBANCORP, Inc. (Nasdaq: LNKB) (the "Company"), the holding company of The Gratz Bank, including its LINKBANK division, today announced the closing of its initial public offering of common stock. The Company sold 4,575,000 shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $7.50 per share. The offering is expected to result in gross proceeds to the Company of approximately $34.3 million. The net proceeds to the Company, after deducting the underwriting discount and estimated offering expenses, are expected to be approximately $31.1 million.
The Company's common stock now trades on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol "LNKB."
Stephens Inc. and Piper Sandler & Co. acted as joint book-running managers. D.A. Davidson & Co. served as co-manager.
The underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase up to 686,250 additional shares of common stock from the Company at the initial public offering price of $7.50, less the underwriting discount, to cover any over-allotments.
A Registration Statement on Form S-1 relating to the shares of common stock (File No: 333-267303) has been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and was declared effective by the SEC on September 13, 2022. The offering has been made solely by means of the written prospectus forming a part of the effective registration statement. Copies of the final prospectus may be obtained from Stephens Inc., 111 Center Street, Little Rock, AR 72201, or by phone at 1-800-643-9691 or Piper Sandler & Co., 1251 Avenue of the Americas, 6th Floor, New York, New York 10020, or by phone at 612-303-8432, or by email at prospectus@psc.com or from D.A. Davidson & Co., 8 Third Street North, Great Falls, MT 59401, Attention: Equity Syndicate or by calling 1-800-332-5915.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell nor the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of the common stock, in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such state or jurisdiction. The common stock purchased in the initial public offering will not be insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency.
About LINKBANCORP, Inc.
LINKBANCORP, Inc. was formed in 2018 with a mission to positively impact lives through community banking. Its subsidiary bank, The Gratz Bank, is a Pennsylvania state-chartered bank serving individuals, families, nonprofits and business clients throughout Central and Southeastern Pennsylvania through 10 client solutions centers of The Gratz Bank and LINKBANK, a division of The Gratz Bank.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes "forward-looking statements," including with respect to the initial public offering. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "might," "should," "could," "predict," "potential," "believe," "expect," "attribute," "continue," "will," "anticipate," "seek," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "projection," "goal," "target," "outlook," "aim," "would," "annualized" and "outlook," or similar terminology. These forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs and expectations of the Company's management and are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond the Company's control. In addition, these forward-looking statements are subject to assumptions with respect to future business strategies and decisions that are subject to change. Actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements as a result of numerous factors. Factors that could cause such differences to exist include, but are not limited to: risks related to fluctuations in real estate values and both residential and commercial real estate market conditions; fiscal and monetary policies of the federal government and its agencies; changes in laws or government regulations or policies affecting financial institutions, including changes in regulatory fees and capital requirements; changes in the level and direction of loan delinquencies and write-offs and changes in estimates of the adequacy of the allowance for loan losses; demand for loans and deposits in our market area; conditions relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the severity and duration of the associated economic slowdown either nationally or in our market areas and the effectiveness of vaccination programs, that are worse than expected; operational risks including, but not limited to, cybersecurity, fraud and natural disasters; the risk that the Company may not be successful in the implementation of its business strategy; changes in prevailing interest rates; credit risk management; asset-liability management; and other risks detailed in the "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements," "Risk Factors" and other sections of the Registration Statement filed with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements presented herein are made only as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect changes in assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events, or otherwise, except as may be required by law.
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| 2022-09-16T17:13:15Z
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SANTA MONICA, Calif., Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Sports Metaverse company LootMogul secured a $200 million investment commitment from Gem Global Yield LLC SCS (GGY), part of GEM, that will expedite the adoption of blockchain gaming for sports organizations and athletes and truly deliver an immersive sports fans experience.
GEM will provide LootMogul with a share subscription facility of up to $200 million for a 36-month term following an equity exchange listing, which will allow LootMogul to draw down funds by issuing equity shares to GEM. LootMogul will control the timing and the maximum size of such drawdowns and has no minimum drawdown obligation.
The funding is expected to help in provide the financial flexibility to help in strategic development plans for LootMogul's metaverse which includes building meta (virtual) sports cities around the world with real world benefits, brands & professional athletes on a true cross metaverse & blockchain (multi-chain) platform on multiple devices such as Oculus, HoloLens, Web, Mobile & Console.
"LootMogul is super excited about this investment commitment from GEM as it empowers athletes, fans and brands to provide an immersive engagement and tools to bridge experiences between web 3 metaverses and real world," said Raj Rajkotia, CEO, LootMogul.
About LootMogul
LootMogul is an athlete-led sports metaverse (web 3 platform) that is powered by virtual real estate, training academies, blockchain games, meta shops for brands and athletes with in-real-life (IRL) rewards. LootMogul is expanding the web3 community by bringing web 2 gamers and sports fanatics to the metaverse. For more details, visit: https://lootmogul.com
About GEM
GEM Digital Limited is a digital asset investment firm. Based in The Bahamas, the firm actively sources, structures, and invests in promising utility tokens listed on over 30 centralized and decentralized exchanges globally.
Global Emerging Markets ("GEM") is a $3.4 billion alternative investment group that manages a diverse set of investment vehicles and has completed over 540 transactions in 72 countries. GEM's investment vehicles provide the group and its investors with a diversified portfolio of asset classes that span the global private investing spectrum. Its family of funds and investment vehicles provide GEM and its partners with exposure to Small-Mid Cap Management Buyouts, Private Investments in Public Equities (PIPEs) and select venture investments. For more information: https://www.gemny.com/
Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1900952/Lootmogul_Gem_PR.jpg
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| 2022-09-16T17:13:21Z
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ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Parry Labs, LLC, a defense technology company accelerating delivery of digital solutions to create a safer more connected world, is showcasing capabilities at the Air and Space Forces Association's 2022 Air, Space and Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, from September 19-21.
Parry Labs delivers software-defined, hardware-enabled mission systems solutions at the tactical edge. Their Stellar RelayTM Family of Systems is an open, scalable, and configurable cloud-based infrastructure for air, land, sea, and space platforms that enables rapid and affordable integration of capabilities including radios, data links, A-PNT solutions, AI/ML solutions, sensor fusion, cyber and electronic warfare effects, precision targeting and more. Another transformational Parry Labs' solution is the Global Expeditionary Miniature Mission Interface (GEMMITM) system, an open, high-performance low-footprint ground control station. GEMMI flies multiple types of Groups 3, 4 and 5 UAS and serves as a high-fidelity training device, PED workstation and communications node connecting disparate aerial and terrestrial networks.
"I am excited for the Parry Labs team to gather with Airmen from across the U.S. Air Force to showcase Parry Labs capabilities at ASC 2022," said CEO John Parkes. "Our Stellar Relay, GEMMI and Digital Engineering Ecosystem are mission-ready solutions that rapidly and affordably deliver capabilities to fly, fight and win both today and tomorrow."
Stellar Relay and GEMMI will be displayed at the Parry Labs booth in the Air Space Cyber 2022 exhibit hall. Visit booth #542 for a demonstration of how both systems support Multi-Domain Operations and Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) at the tactical edge.
About Parry Labs, LLC
Parry Labs is a solutions provider to U.S. Department of Defense and commercial aerospace companies, designing and deploying advanced systems solutions ranging from mission computing and power systems to RF Solutions. Parry Labs is the creator of Stellar Relay hardware and software family of systems, which provides the digital backbone and connectivity for the M2DO environment to exist on any Air, Ground, or Sea platform. Parry Labs has offices in Maryland, Virginia, Alabama, and Texas. For more information about Parry Labs, visit: www.parrylabs.com.
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/parrylabs/
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| 2022-09-16T17:13:28Z
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NORTHBROOK, Ill., Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is a notification from UL Solutions that the Clean-agent Extinguishing Systems identified below bear unauthorized UL Certification Marks for the United States and are shown in photo 1 below. These Clean-agent Extinguishing Systems have not been evaluated by UL Solutions to the appropriate Safety Standards and it is unknown if they comply with any safety requirements.
Although the Clean-agent Extinguishing Systems are marked with Steel Recon Industries Sdn Bhd's brand name "SRI" and UL Certification No. "EX27164", the Clean-agent Extinguishing Systems were not manufactured by nor are affiliated with Steel Recon Industries Sdn Bhd.
The notice does not cover authorized Extinguishing Systems manufactured by Steel Recon Industries Sdn Bhd shown in photo 2 below. Authorized product can be identified by Steel Recon Industries brand name "SRI" embossed on the valve assembly and is also provided with a solenoid actuator and pressure gauge that both bear a UL Recognized Component Mark. The unauthorized product does not display any of these features.
Name of Product: Clean-agent Extinguishing System Units
Remedy: UL recommends that these products be removed from service.
Identification on the Products:
The Clean-agent Extinguishing Systems bear unauthorized UL Certification Marks and the following:
SR-200
FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM
CLEAN AGENT EXTINGUISHING SYSTEM UNIT
EX27164
SRI
Photos:
1. The Clean-agent Extinguishing Systems bearing unauthorized UL Certification Marks covered by this notice are shown in the photographs below:
For photos please visit ul.com
2. Clean-agent Extinguishing Systems bearing authorized UL Certification Marks, not covered by this notice, are shown in the photographs below and are provided for comparison only:
Location: The Clean-agent Extinguishing Systems bearing unauthorized UL Certification Marks, shown in photo 1 were found in Bangladesh. They may be available in other areas.
A global leader in applied safety science, UL Solutions transforms safety, security and sustainability challenges into opportunities for customers in more than 100 countries. UL Solutions delivers testing, inspection and certification services, together with software products and advisory offerings, that support our customers' product innovation and business growth. The UL Certification Marks serve as a recognized symbol of trust in our customers' products and reflect an unwavering commitment to advancing our safety mission. We help our customers innovate, launch new products and services, navigate global markets and complex supply chains and grow sustainably and responsibly into the future. Our science is your advantage.
Release No. 22PN-17
Peyton Zylke
Corporate Communications
UL Solutions
847.226.3483
Peyton.Zylke@ul.com
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SOURCE UL Solutions
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| 2022-09-16T17:13:36Z
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NORTHBROOK, Ill., Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is a notification from UL Solutions that the Information Technology Equipment (I.T.E.) Power Supply shown below bears an unauthorized UL Mark. The I.T.E. Power Supply has not been evaluated by UL Solutions to the appropriate Safety Standards for the risk of fire, electric shock, or injury to persons, and it is unknown if it complies with any safety requirements.
This notice does not cover certain other authorized Power Supplies. MG Electronics is authorized to apply the UL Mark to model ST-242A I.T.E. Power Supplies that incorporate an output cord and are marked with the following electrical rating: Input: 100-240 Vac, 0.8 A, 50/60 Hz Output: 24 Vdc, 1 A.
Name of Product: I.T.E. POWER SUPPLY, ST242A
Units: 7000+ units
Remedy: UL Solutions recommends that you stop using this product.
Manufacturer: MG Electronics
Identification on the Product:
The affected I.T.E. Power Supplies bear the following markings and information and incorporate output screw terminals instead of an output cord:
29UK
E257613
I.T.E. POWER SUPPLY
Model No.: ST242A
Input: 100-240V~50-60Hz, 1.5 A
Output: 24V⎓ 2.0A
Made in China
For photos please visit ul.com
Sold at: Known to be sold at MG Electronics, may have been sold by other retailers.
A global leader in applied safety science, UL Solutions transforms safety, security and sustainability challenges into opportunities for customers in more than 100 countries. UL Solutions delivers testing, inspection and certification services, together with software products and advisory offerings, that support our customers' product innovation and business growth. The UL Certification Marks serve as a recognized symbol of trust in our customers' products and reflect an unwavering commitment to advancing our safety mission. We help our customers innovate, launch new products and services, navigate global markets and complex supply chains and grow sustainably and responsibly into the future. Our science is your advantage.
Release No. 22PN-12
Peyton Zylke
Corporate Communications
UL Solutions
847.226.3483
Peyton.Zylke@ul.com
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SOURCE UL Solutions
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| 2022-09-16T17:13:43Z
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HEILBRONN, Germany, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As globalisation continues, demand for graduates with cross-cultural competences and foreign language skills has grown—and the number of US citizens seeking educational programs abroad has increased in step. Studying abroad pays dividends, too: 97% of study abroad students found employment within 12 months of graduation, compared to only 49% of ordinary graduates.
Responding to this trend, Admitad's service, Univibes, has entered the US market to help American students study abroad. Univibes provides individual support for students who are interested in international education. The team takes their financial situation, chosen subjects, favourite extracurricular activities and GPA and develops a personalised strategy for admission, increasing their chances of success.
The idea has been successful in Europe: thanks to Univibes, thousands of students have received advice and found placements. These students went on to enrol in top state universities in Europe, the USA and Asia in fields such as medicine, architecture, design and engineering.
Top study abroad destinations for American students last year:
- United Kingdom
- Canada
- Germany
- France
- Australia
- New Zealand
Joining academia is difficult: applicants must select the right universities and scholarships, write motivational letters, fill out admission forms and documents correctly, find a good insurance package, look for housing, and more. In a foreign country, these obstacles are all the more difficult to overcome. Unfortunately, students rarely receive comprehensive assistance for these challenges—this is where Univibes' tailored services come in.
Univibes also has a supportive alumni network of more than a hundred graduates who get involved from the very beginning, so students can hear personal stories from alumni who have completed courses similar to theirs.
The Univibes team is focused on helping every candidate receive scholarships and grants on their journey into academia. If for some reason the search is unsuccessful, the payment will be refunded.
Univibes partners with universities, insurance companies and real estate agencies to offer comprehensive support service. Their partners include leading universities like NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands), EU Business School, Munich Business School (Germany), University of Pavia and Luiss (Italy), Ajou University and Soongsil University (South Korea), and many others.
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SOURCE Univibes
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https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/16/univibes-us-students-flock-asian-european-universities-improve-career-prospects/
| 2022-09-16T17:13:50Z
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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- With a commitment to environment and sustainability efforts, Virginia Natural Gas (VNG) is reducing direct greenhouse gas emissions through innovation and the use of its existing safe and reliable infrastructure.
In a recent landmark study released earlier this year by VNG's parent company, Southern Company Gas, consulting firm ICF details pathways for VNG to support Southern Company's goals to reach net-zero direct greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The pathways reveal that the use of the existing safe and reliable natural gas infrastructure is foundational to supporting a net-zero, clean energy future with the greatest consumer affordability.
One of the ways VNG is already reducing emissions is through the modernization of its existing natural gas infrastructure to ensure the continued safety and reliability of the system. Through the company's Steps to Advance Virginia's Energy Program (SAVE), VNG is renewing its natural gas infrastructure by replacing aging pipes with new, more durable materials that are less expensive to maintain and help reduce methane emissions.
"At Virginia Natural Gas, the safe, reliable delivery of natural gas is our top priority as we continue to modernize our pipeline infrastructure throughout our service territory," said Robert Duvall, president of Virginia Natural Gas. "While our current system is safe and has performed well, as technology has advanced, it's critical to continually upgrade our pipeline system. It is more important than ever to make progress in safety and environmental goals simultaneously, keeping our employees' and customers' interests top of mind while also contributing to nationwide and global environmental goals."
Virginia Natural Gas received approval for a plan to expedite the replacement of aging infrastructure by the Virginia State Corporation Commission (VSCC) through the SAVE Act. The program allowed VNG to launch an aggressive multi-year program, replacing nearly 500 miles of the aging pipeline since the program began in 2012, resulting in a more than 27% reduction in methane emissions. Additionally, 100% of the system's low-pressure cast iron pipeline was retired in 2018.
"The amount of pipeline we have replaced and upgraded in our system these past 10 years is the approximate driving distance from Virginia Beach to Savannah, Georgia," said Amanda Bouchonville, SAVE Program manager at VNG. "The new plastic pipes we are installing are more flexible and can better withstand our region's weather extremes. Upgrading this infrastructure will result in reduced maintenance costs, enhanced system reliability, reduced emissions and increased safety for many years to come."
Since 2019, VNG has invested nearly $184 million of the $360 million authorized on SAVE infrastructure projects, and this year, will invest up to $70 million in the community to ensure the reliability and safety of its system and continue to reduce emissions that will contribute to broader emissions reduction goals.
In addition to enhanced safety and reliability, the company expects that accelerating the rate of construction projects will further support both Southern Company's and the state's environmental goals.
"Our SAVE projects will allow us to continue to make substantial capital improvements to modernize our system to ensure safety, durability and reliability for our customers for years to come," added Duvall. "Investing in our infrastructure is important to achieving meaningful environmental progress."
Along with SAVE pipeline modernization projects, other emission reduction efforts at VNG include innovative technologies for environmental work, such as the use of artificial intelligence to predict third-party damages to critical infrastructure and the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for inspections of critical infrastructure, right-of-way assessments, and the inspection of more than 5,500 miles of gas pipeline.
Additionally, VNG is reducing emissions by using innovative cross-compression technologies to capture natural gas removed during operations activities and reinsert it back into the pipeline system for continued use. This results in less gas or methane entering the atmosphere.
"Our sustainability goals and activities align with the key pillars and goals of our parent company, Southern Company Gas," added Duvall. The steps we are taking today are a roadmap for achieving concrete goals, leveraging existing initiatives and exploring opportunities that meet both unique energy demand and emission targets."
About Virginia Natural Gas
Virginia Natural Gas is one of four natural gas distribution companies of Southern Company Gas, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO). Virginia Natural Gas provides clean, safe, reliable and affordable natural gas service to more than 300,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in southeast Virginia. Consistently ranked in the top quartile for customer satisfaction by J.D. Power and Associates, the company also has been recognized by the Virginia Department of Energy (Virginia Energy) and the Virginia Oil and Gas Association for its safety, innovation, environmental stewardship, community outreach and educational programs, and has been named Local Distribution Company of the Year five times since 2015. The company has been ranked by its business customers as one of the most Trusted Business Partners in the utility industry according to Cogent Reports, and a Top Workplaces in Hampton Roads by Inside Business. For more information, visit virginianaturalgas.com and connect with the company on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Nextdoor.
About Southern Company Gas
Southern Company Gas is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE:SO), America's premier energy company. Southern Company Gas serves approximately 4.3 million natural gas utility customers through its regulated distribution companies in four states with approximately 600,000 retail customers through its companies that market natural gas. Other nonutility businesses include investments in interstate pipelines and ownership and operation of natural gas storage facilities. For more information, visit southerncompanygas.com.
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| 2022-09-16T17:13:57Z
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Executive privilege: That’s a principle that has come up a lot in recent years, most recently regarding former President Donald Trump’s efforts to keep documents seized from the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago under wraps.
In the early 1980s, attorneys advising former President Ronald Reagan were looking for their own executive privilege test case, and they found it in Congressional requests for documents from the Environmental Protection Agency regarding a handful of Superfund sites.
They told EPA administrator Anne Gorsuch not to hand over the documents. When she complied, she ended up in more trouble than the White House advisors predicted and in the center of a perfect media storm that put pressure on the Reagan administration to change direction at the EPA.
It wasn’t just Gorsuch who ended up in hot water. By the end of the saga, one of her deputies would end up with a prison sentence.
The fourth episode of Captured breaks down the maelstrom at the EPA over the withheld documents, and what the documents — and the tussle itself — revealed about the inner workings of the agency meant to protect the environment and public health.
Full episode transcript
Scott Tong: ‘I smell a rat.’ When we left you, Congress was starting to get more than a whiff of scandal at the EPA; of polluters guarding the henhouse. And wouldn’t you know it, the more people whisper, the more the news media joins the chase.
Greg Gordon: What got me sort of into the environmental arena was a tip that there was an enormous dioxin problem — dioxin being maybe the most toxic chemical produced by man — in the state of Missouri.
Tong: This is Greg Gordon, long-time investigative reporter in Washington, D.C. And, full disclosure, my journalism professor in college … back in the early ‘90s. Now in the early ‘80s, Greg gets a crash course on this deadly family of chemicals: dioxin. It’s often a byproduct of industrial manufacturing, when a company makes a chemical or it burns something.
Gordon: I was writing for United Press International. I was a young investigative reporter at the time, working in the Washington bureau.
Tong: By 1982, the stench at the EPA is one of the biggest stories in town. Industrial toxins are turning up in neighborhoods all over the country. Yet the agency is slow to clean things up or to punish polluters. And Greg Gordon gets this tip.
Gordon: There was a chemical plant in Southwest Missouri, in the town of Verona.
Tong: During the Vietnam War, the plant produced Agent Orange: a chemical herbicide the Americans used to clear trees and expose the enemy. We now know it is linked to many cancers: Leukemia, lung, prostate. It’s a long list. The making of Agent Orange produced this poisonous byproduct: dioxin.
Gordon: One person described to me that if you had a single drop of dioxin dropped in a swimming pool, it would be toxic.
Tong: So in the early 70s, as Vietnam was still going, this factory in Missouri was — patriotically — making Agent Orange.
Gordon: There was a waste sludge that was in tanks at the plant that they wanted to get rid of. So they hired a truck driver named Russell Bliss and Mr. Bliss mixed the sludge with waste oil and was spraying it all around the state on roads for, for dust control and so forth.
Tong: So here’s what was going on. Dust was getting kicked up on unpaved roads. Towns around the state hired this truck driver named Bliss to spray a liquid cocktail to keep the dust down. Bliss also happened to haul waste for the Agent Orange plant, so he had all this dioxin on his hands, which he stirred into his cocktail. Convenient. But suddenly, more than 40 horses near these roads he was spraying turned up dead. Now, this contamination — it doesn’t become news for a decade.
Gordon: I got this tip and I started checking it, and I found a source in the government in Missouri who told me that this was brewing and there were 35, 50 sites in the state that were contaminated.
Tong: By now it’s 1982. And the timing could not be worse for the agency charged with protecting us from poison in the soil and water — the Environmental Protection Agency — and the two women at the top. Rita Lavelle is the deputy in charge of toxic waste, including the Superfund program to clean up old toxic dump sites. And Anne Gorsuch, who heads the EPA. Already, they’re under fire for purging enemies in the building and for going easy on industry friends of the Reagan White House. And now this. Will they survive? And what will the outcome mean for environmental protection? I’m Scott Tong. And from WBUR Podcasts and Here & Now, this is Captured: A brazen attempt to take over the EPA, and the nerds and pencil pushers who pushed back. Episode 4: Contempt. Okay — from Missouri back to Washington, D.C. now. On Capitol Hill, one of the key players putting the EPA and the Reagan administration in the hot seat is a surprising one: Elliott Levitas is a moderate Democrat from the South from a Republican-leaning district in Atlanta. Not exactly a Reagan hater. Now in 2022 — Levitas is retired and he’s in his 90s, but my goodness, his memory. As Levitas tells it: Back in the 1980s, he was not hunting for an EPA scandal. He was trying to avoid one.
Elliott Levitas: One of the things that I wanted to do as the chairman of this committee was to avoid doing oversight as an autopsy.
Tong: In other words, to prevent a government crisis in the first place. And his staff is asking: ‘What’s going on at the EPA? Is it responding to toxic waste emergencies and waste sites around the country?’ Remember, the agency has this Superfund program to clean up these sites.
Levitas: These staff people who knew their business went over to EPA and were getting these documents and examining them and seeing if there were any patterns that came to light.
Tong: As part of the paper trail, Elliot Levitas’s staff asks for documents on Superfund sites — including the Stringfellow Acid Pits in California. We’ve heard about that site in earlier episodes.
Levitas: All of a sudden, they closed the door and said, ‘We’re not going to let you have any documents.’ And that’s when I smelled the rat.
Tong: Now he’s in a fight.
Levitas: My concern was that they were using the Superfund program, not to enhance environmental protection, but to diminish or abolish it.
Tong: Now, that’s just the suspicions of one Congressional committee. There’s a separate investigation of the EPA at the House Energy and Commerce Committee. And its chair is one of the most feared men in Washington: John Dingell, Democrat of Michigan. Self-styled watchdog. Dingell is actually not loved by environmentalists, either, because he represents Dearborn: The automakers. He gets slammed as ‘Tailpipe Johnny.’ ‘Dirty Dingell.’ But, he is tenacious about scandal at Superfund.
(Soundbite from hearing: Today, the subcommittee continues its inquiry into the administration of the Superfund act and withholding Superfund files from the Congress.)
Tong: Dingell wants documents about the Stringfellow Acid Pits, too. It’s one of the worst sites in the country but mysteriously the cleanup is being delayed. So Dingell starts to wonder: Is there a political cover-up here? Is the EPA asleep at the wheel … on purpose? But the Reagan EPA goes dark on Dingell, too. No documents on Stringfellow. Why no documents? Executive privilege. Sounds familiar, right? OK, quick detour: Executive privilege is what ex-President Trump and key staffers were arguing in the summer of 2022 to avoid talking to the Jan. 6 committee in Congress.
(Soundbite from news coverage: Mr. Cippollone recalled conversations about those chants in the West Wing, but he relied on executive privilege to maintain confidentiality … )
Tong: This is a separation of powers argument. Richard Nixon made it, too: claiming executive privilege to not hand over secret White House audio tapes.
(Soundbite from archival footage: Here are arguments in number 73, 1766 United States of America against Nixon … )
Tong: Nixon lost at the Supreme Court, and those tapes became key evidence in the Watergate scandal that sank him. As far as the Reagan EPA — here’s Dick Frandsen, an investigator for John Dingell. As we’ve been telling you, he has been on the case.
Dick Frandsen: They were going to claim executive privilege over a certain set of documents, but they also did a second thing in addition to starting a constitutional fight with the separate and co-equal branch of government on access to information.
Tong: So this is the White House versus Congress. The Republican administration versus a Democratic House of Representatives. And in the middle of this fight is Anne Gorsuch. She’s the cabinet official in the hot seat who’s actually claiming executive privilege.
Frandsen: The only enforcement mechanism in the process is up the ante, send a subpoena, duces tecum for documents with a return date. That means they have to bring the documents to the committee, right? Failure to bring the documents on the date to show up or bring the documents holds them open to being cited for contempt of Congress.
Tong: Contempt of Congress. That is a Washington mark of shame. When that is threatened, people tend to give in. Henry Kissinger backed down in 1975 when Congress asked for intelligence documents. In fact, up to 1982, no cabinet-level official has ever faced such a charge. Contempt also means possible prosecution and even prison time. That is what Gorsuch faces.
In the middle of this showdown, her notorious deputy commits an awful gaffe. Remember last episode — we told you about Rita Lavelle’s rocky introduction to the agency to oversee toxic waste, including Superfund.
Rita Lavelle: Let me tell ya, EPA was horrific. The people, the employees hated us, were out to actively undermine us.
Tong: She writes this memo about her goals at the EPA that gets to her worldview. And the memo eventually goes public. She writes that most hazardous waste sites have been rendered as benign and that industries today are not dangerous to public health. So there’s a picture: She’s not that worried about toxic chemicals — which may explain Rita’s position on a waste site in Arkansas. The site has PCBs [Polychlorinated biphenyls] — toxic chemicals historically used to make paints, plastics and rubber. Chemicals whose production was federally banned in the 1970s because they’re so poisonous.
(Soundbite from archival news: Polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs. These are toxic compounds, which for the most part cannot be legally disposed of in landfills.)
Tong: The EPA’s regional office in Arkansas asked for federal money to clean this site up. Rita Lavelle rejects it on grounds that kids would have to eat three candy bars’ worth of dirt to get sick from this soil. ‘It’s just a little poison. What’s the big deal?’ Where do we start? First of all, you don’t have to eat poisonous soil to get sick. The stuff emits toxic fumes and pollutes water and plants. And — could the federal government be more dismissive? Anyway, an EPA spokesperson later apologizes for Rita’s poor choice of words. Already, her boss Anne Gorsuch, is trying to contain crises at EPA. Anne worries the episode will further stir up the ire of John Dingell on Capitol Hill; she’ll write this later in her memoir. And the deadline to hand over documents is coming. On Nov. 30, less than a week before she’s supposed to appear in front of Elliot Levitas’s committee Gorsuch’s big boss — that would be the President of the United States — tells her, ‘Fight. Don’t hand them over.’ Anne Gorsuch is conflicted; She actually wants to release the documents. She thinks the executive privilege claim is weak.
(Soundbite of Gorsuch: I think it was very frankly, very poor advice.)
Tong: Still, she stays loyal to the president. And his Justice Department promises to have her back. At least for now. But then, she makes history. The bad kind.
(Soundbite of archival news: The House of Representatives today certified its contempt citation against environmental protection agency chief Anne Gorsuch and referred the matter to the U.S. attorney.)
Tong: Congress votes to hold her in contempt. Elliot Levitas.
Levitas: From the very beginning days, there had never been a cabinet official held in contempt of Congress. Never. And for that to have occurred when it did told me that for whatever reason, this was a matter of extreme importance to the Reagan people and their colleagues.
Tong: This becomes the first, big scandal for the Reagan administration. Yet for Anne Gorsuch and her bosses, it’s gonna get worse. Much worse. After the break.
Tong: By now, the media is swarming around Anne Gorsuch, who we’ve told you hates the media. At The New York Times, reporter Phil Shabecoff is chasing the Anne Gorsuch story.
Phil Shabecoff: She was called to give closed testimony before a House committee investigating the management of the Superfund and there was a big crowd of reporters waiting outside the door and she came out another door down the hall and the whole crowd reporters rushed after her.
Tong: Phil remembers a photographer turning to him.
Shabecoff: And he said to me, ‘When they run after you like that, you’re gone.’ And he proved to be quite prescient. She was gone not long thereafter.
Tong: For the moment, though, Anne seems unfazed. Unrattled. Remember? She’s the Ice Queen. At least according to Dale Russakoff, then a reporter at The Washington Post.
Dale Russakoff: She said, you know, something like, ‘I’m here to do what this president wants us to do.’ And I remember just thinking she was a soldier, you know?
Tong: In an interview, Dale the reporter asks Anne the EPA administrator about the contempt of Congress charges. And Anne just rolls her eyes. This congressional brouhaha — all the politics — so not the point.
Russakoff: It just seemed like she just thought this is a ridiculous place. You know, there’s just way too much sound and fury over, you know, things that really are not central to what the government is about.
Tong: To Anne, what the government is really about is streamlining costs. And protecting the environment efficiently. And at this moment, all eyes are on that dioxin contamination in Missouri, which she flies down to deal with.
By the way, in the middle of all this she gets married, and goes by Anne Gorsuch Burford. How Anne Gorsuch has time to get married and become Mrs. Burford, I have no idea.
Gordon: People began to do sampling and they were discovering dioxin throughout this town now spread all over the place.
Tong: Again, reporter Greg Gordon who’s been on the story in Missouri.
Gordon: And, there were hurried huddles and, you know, meetings and frantic phone calls being made. And the next thing you know, Anne Burford called a news conference and announced that the federal government was buying, purchasing the town of Times Beach so everybody in the town could be made whole and it could be cleaned up.
Tong: That’s right. The EPA buys every home in the town of Times Beach, Missouri. So everyone can move out. The government decides it’s too dangerous to live there. Now, this is a controversial call.
(Soundbite from archival news:
LEWIS REGENSTEIN: It doesn’t make any sense to buy up Times Beach, Missouri, to spend tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer money.
ROBERT MACNEIL: 33 million.
REGENSTEIN: 33 million so far to buy up Times Beach, Missouri, and to evacuate it because it contains levels of one part per billion in some areas and much higher another areas. While at the same time you allow these herbicides 2,4,5-T and Silvex to be sprayed all over the country.)
Tong: In any event, it’s another black mark for the EPA.
(Soundbite from archival news: The EPA has really not been doing the job it should have been doing in this area and many other areas.)
Tong: Another moment for critics to slam the agency for not acting sooner. Now, Greg Gordon’s breaking stories left and right in Missouri, in Washington. And his next one may help sink Rita Lavelle — who made that comment about the candy bars of poisonous dirt. Her staff — as we’ve told you — never liked her. Remember what EPA staff lawyer Ed Kurent said about her?
Ed Kurent: She wasn’t close to being qualified. I might not have hired her as a secretary in my division.
Tong: Recall Rita has a conflict of interest disaster. One of the polluters the EPA is investigating is Rita Lavelle’s old employer: Aerojet. She recuses herself from the case on June 17, 1982. But by then, she has known about Aerojet for two weeks. That’s no-no number one. Number two is lying about it. Rita goes before a congressional committee under oath and says she recused herself immediately after she learned about the conflict. We know this is not true. Remember? In Episode 3? When Ed Kurent told Rita about her conflict way back in May?
Kurent: They needed to understand that, you know, there’s the law and there’s what you want to do. And there are standards by which things get done.
Tong: And that this was all documented by staff scientist Deb Dalton?
Deb Dalton: My job was to write a memo and explain that for legal reasons she needed to recuse.
Tong: To Deb, this is all part of what she compares to the French resistance. EPA employees and their friends on the outside leaking stories and documents to get the facts out. Speaking truth to power, as they see it. And now, Congress asks several of them to speak on the record. So Rita — she’s caught.
Gordon: And suddenly the phone rang and I was told Rita Lavelle may have just perjured herself. I said, ‘What?’ What reporter gets a call like that? It was very unusual. And it was a very reliable source. That’s all I’ll say about the source.
Tong: Can I just say, Greg Gordon can really keep a secret? Not revealing his sources? After 40 years?
Gordon: I wrote a story and my boss has put it on the United Press International wire. And within about an hour, Peter Jennings of ABC read it on the evening news. And a short time after that my phone rang again and it was Rita Lavelle screaming at me.
Tong: Rita claims this call never happened. But you can imagine why she might have been upset. Perjury is a big deal. It’s a felony. You could go to prison. In any event, Rita says she had no intention to lie.
Lavelle: Oh my God. After hours and hours and hours of testimony, that’s all they could come up with? A date discrepancy? And what is the motivation to lie?
Tong: She says she was just confused about her calendar.
Lavelle: I challenge you to remember what you put on your calendar last week.
Tong: I wouldn’t know. Challenge not accepted because I don’t know!
Lavelle: You just committed perjury! Hang ‘im!
Tong: Intentionally or not, she misleads Congress. Under oath. Multiple times. This on top of her kids-eating-toxic-dirt comment, you know, the candy bars. And then, in the course of these hearings, Congress turns up a memo from Rita — ‘the primary constituency of this administration: the business community.’ Sure smells like industry capturing government. In the end, February 1983, Anne Gorsuch Burford asks Rita Lavelle to resign. Or, perhaps forces her.
Lavelle: In the discussion while she’s trying to fire me and tells me I’m fired and she’s already issued the press release that I resigned. She says, ‘Unless you sign it, I’ll blackball you everywhere. You’ll never have a job again.’
Tong: Rita is fired. And you would think the story ends here. Well, Rita Lavelle’s deputies later tell investigators that her underlings then snuck into her office and made off with key documents. Which were later found in her apartment, according to sworn testimony.
(Soundbite of archival news: Rita Lavelle was fired after she declined a Gorsuch request to resign. This triggered an array of congressional investigations into charges Lavelle made sweetheart deals with polluters. And to spend Superfund cleanup money on a political basis. Then a paper shredder was discovered at EPA and an FBI investigation was launched to discover if it had been used to eliminate any of those documents.)
Tong: Now Rita tells us — nope. She knew nothing about documents escaping or aides doing it.
Lavelle: I don’t know what they did after I left, after I was escorted out. I don’t know what they did, but certainly nobody delivered anything to me at my apartment. I don’t know what they did.
Tong: It all looks really bad for the White House. Keep in mind: this is the early 80s, when the EPA and environmental issues — clean air, clean water, protecting endangered species — have huge, bipartisan support from Congress and the American people. So right around then, Elliott Levitas, the Southern Democrat heading an investigation into the EPA remembers getting a call. It’s James Baker, Ronald Reagan’s White House chief of staff. Offering to sacrifice Anne Gorsuch Burford.
Levitas: He says to me, ‘If we give you Anne Gorsuch, Anne Burford, will you drop your investigation?’ And what he was saying is, ‘In exchange for our firing her, the administrator, would you drop the investigation?’
Tong: Let’s underscore what’s on the table here: The Reagan White House is offering to throw its top official at the EPA overboard. And in exchange, it wants Congress to stop the investigations. To back down. This is damage control — an attempt to make this toxic political mess go away.
Levitas: And what I said to him, ‘Mr. Baker, you don’t understand, you don’t get it. I’m not interested in getting rid of Anne Burford. I’m interested in looking at these documents and seeing what they reveal.’
Tong: Levitas hangs up. And puts in a call to Anne, the EPA head.
Levitas: I said, ‘Anne do you realize you are being set up, that they are setting you up, they’re going to get rid of you in return for our ending this investigation?’ And when I said that there was silence on the other end of the line. And after a long silence, she said, ‘I’d like to talk to you in person when I get back in town.’ That was the last communication we had.
Tong: And this is how the Ice Queen gets frozen out. Here’s how she puts it, years later.
(Soundbite of Gorsuch: My father always said, ‘Anne, you never really have to worry about your enemies… It will be your friends who can do you in.’ And in fact, that’s what happened.)
Tong: More, on the final episode of Captured.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-09-16/contempt-how-reagans-epa-head-became-the-1st-cabinet-level-official-cited-for-contempt-of-congress
| 2022-09-16T17:16:21Z
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Former President Ronald Reagan’s first Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Anne Gorsuch, believed that the agency could carry out its duties with a much smaller budget and in a way that interfered less with industry.
But many on her staff thought her approach undermined the mission of the agency: to protect the environment and public health. So they worked with other Washington insiders to leak documents and stir up controversy.
The second episode of “Captured” looks at how critics both in and outside of the agency plotted to turn up the political heat on Gorsuch and the Reagan administration — and how the serious business of environmental regulation even ended up in the funny pages.
Full episode transcript
Scott Tong: If you know Washington, D.C., you may have stumbled across this playground: Turtle Park. It’s been around forever in this nice, leafy neighborhood by American University. And as playgrounds go, I give it an eight, maybe maybe a nine. Mini-slide, swings, monkey bars, playhouse with a mailbox. It’s a big upgrade from 1981, when an unassuming looking mom would come with her 4-year-old boy.
Caroline Isber: The playground had sand and there were concrete turtles.
Tong: Hence the name Turtle Park.
Isber: And he was jumping off the turtles and building sand castles and running around and meeting other children.
Tong: That’s Caroline Isber. She’s a retired environmental policy expert. Back then, she says Turtle Park was a good spot for playdates — and a good rendez-vous point to get inside information.
Tong: And so sometimes who would come to visit you? In some cases, was it people from the EPA, which is pretty far from here?
Isber: Well, they were happy to come. They wanted to get together and I’d say, ‘Meet me in the playground.’
Tong: ‘Meet me in the playground’ — to plot. To fight. To resist. See, Caroline worked environment issues in the Carter White House. And in the early ‘80s, she helps to start this insurgent group. It’s called Save EPA. And Save EPA is meant to stop efforts by the Reagan administration to shrink the agency, or, in her view, to destroy it.
Isber: We thought that the environment was very much under attack. And so the question was, how to defend it? And so we evolved a strategy.
Tong: A strategy that requires Turtle Park as a handoff site. You know, one of those prearranged locations where brown packages manila envelopes with secret information gets passed. And as you can imagine, this town is full of these spots: There’s a footbridge in the Virginia suburbs where an American double agent dropped classified papers and disks for the Soviets. There’s a basement garage near Georgetown where Deep Throat met Woodward and Bernstein during Watergate. Now Turtle Park is not exactly a place where democracy rises and falls with the teeter totters. But to Caroline Isber, the stakes are really high. The issue is air pollution. It’s poison in the water. It’s toxic chemicals seeping into the soil. And whether the Environmental Protection Agency is up to the task.
Isber: I was getting the people who were willing to come in and they always brought me these documents and we would go over the documents and then I would know what I had.
Tong: And what she has is papers suggesting the EPA may get its budget whacked. But here’s the thing: The EPA is still a new agency. It’s just a decade old. And it has a growing mandate to enforce all these new environment laws that Congress has just passed. Most recently, there’s one called Superfund — as we’ve been telling you about. It puts historical polluters on the hook to clean up hazardous waste they have dumped. But now the agency wants less money for all this work?
Isber: So you could analyze what the Office of Air had proposed getting. What the Office of Enforcement, Toxics, Water, Superfund — and how much they’d been cut.
Tong: It smells like regulatory capture; you know, a takeover of a government agency by a powerful ideology of small government or by a powerful industry — or both.
Isber: There will always be a repeat of administrations who do not like the regulations that the Environmental Protection Agency requires and are under pressure from businesses like the oil companies that will do the same thing and try to get rid of these nuisance toxic regulations or lead in gasoline. And that’s exactly what happened.
Tong: So Caroline and her little team at Save EPA jump into action to try to stop this. First of all, by leaking this all to the media.
(Soundbite from archival news: Gutting the Environmental Protection Agency. That is what senators on both sides of the aisle and environmentalists fear if leaked copies of the EPA’s 1983 budget requests are correct.)
Tong: Does this budding insurrection have a chance? Are they on the right side of history? Can they sink the big bosses who may be trying to sink the EPA? I’m Scott Tong. And from WBUR Podcasts and Here & Now, this is Captured: A brazen attempt to take over the EPA, and the nerds and pencil pushers who pushed back. Episode 2: Operation Save EPA. As we speak — I guess as I speak in 2022 — there’s this enduring debate over — and here comes a big, $5 phrase — the ‘administrative state.’ You know, government agencies and how much power they ought to have. After all, the people there are unelected bureaucrats. And to some they can be out of control.
(Soundbite from archival news: A significant decision on how the EPA’s allowed to enforce restrictions to protect the environment. And the question we’re looking at tonight: Can the EPA issue rules capable of reshaping the nation’s electricity grids?)
Tong: Just this summer, the U.S. Supreme Court put limits on the Environmental Protection Agency. No, it ruled, the EPA cannot force power plants to cut CO2 emissions in a certain way.
And the fact is, conservatives have long wanted to rein in the EPA.
Gray: I mean, EPA has gotten involved and proposed a lot of controversial things. Maybe more than its share compared to other agencies.
Tong: Boyden Gray is a conservative stalwart in this town. He’s speaking from his law office at 17th and H. That’s just one block from Lafayette Square. Two from the White House. Boyden Gray has lobbied for petrochemical companies and power plants. He’s on the board of the conservative Federalist Society, which has put several justices on the Supreme Court. And — here’s a mouthful: his name is on the ‘C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University.’ Now, back in the Reagan administration, Gray heads up what’s called ‘regulatory review.’
Gray: The idea was not to get rid of all regulations. It was to see whether they could be pruned, made better, be a more efficient, more cost-effective, more cost-beneficial. So that’s what, that’s what it was for. EPA was, of course, a major part of the review.
Tong: This is the small government dream of the Reagan footsoldier we met in Episode 1: Anne Gorsuch. Remember? the Republican state lawmaker? The self-proclaimed member of the ‘Colorado Crazies’ cabal? She comes to Washington in 1981 to do this regulatory pruning as head of Reagan’s EPA.
(Soundbite of Gorsuch: This will not be business as usual.)
Tong: Pretty quickly, this political appointee makes enemies of her underlings, who nickname her the Ice Queen. As they see it, Anne bullies the staff, plans to fire them — and she cozies up to the oil and gas lobby. Fairly or not, Anne becomes the bogey-woman to an emerging resistance. And one hub of this resistance is Save EPA. Okay, our tour of D.C. now takes us to a small, cramped townhouse. That’s HQ for this shoestring outfit Save EPA. It’s on New Hampshire Ave., just off Dupont Circle. And if you know the town, this is a central gathering spot for lobbyists, policy wonks, government workers, for reporters. With their inside Washington contacts, Save EPA becomes a magnet for, well, all of the above. And their effort starts with a tip at dawn from inside the White House: a guy in the White House budget office calls Bill Drayton. Now, Bill Drayton is a former top EPA official, and he’s with Save EPA.
Bill Drayton: He invited me to come to breakfast at a ridiculously early hour, somewhere out in suburban Maryland, both of which are foreign territory to me.
Tong: Now, Bill Drayton is a driven guy: Harvard, Yale Law, McKinsey consulting and then assistant administrator of the EPA. He’s connected, and he’s stubborn. Bill says the source leaks to him counting on him to do something.
Drayton: And this guy sat me down and said, ‘Something is going on that is attacking the central nervous system of our government.’ In his mind, that’s the budget.
Tong: Budget cuts. Brilliant, really. It’s a backdoor way to undermine an agency that only nerds recognize. Drayton’s source — we’ll call him Geek Throat — says the plan is not to trim EPA, but to slash it.
Drayton: Very, very, very few people were gonna be left in their jobs.
Tong: Drayton is gobsmacked. And he realizes the Reaganites’ strategy: They don’t need the slowpokes in Congress to repeal any laws against polluters. That takes forever. They just need to make the bureaucrats who enforce them disappear.
Drayton: Lobotomy is not too strong a word for what they were planning.
Tong: More, after the break.
Tong: Right around now, some of you are surely thinking, ‘Washington partisanship? Yeah, there’s news.’ Well, in 1981 it was news. In the decade prior, all kinds of bills passed, on workplace safety, political fundraising, consumer product safety, endangered species, social security payments, safe drinking water, nuclear power plant safety. You get the picture? There’s a lot going on. So the idea of whacking away — lobotomizing — a young, growing agency; this blows Bill Drayton away. So his group Save EPA, in their little townhouse, starts [coughing] acquiring budget papers from inside the agency. And that is what Caroline Isber at Turtle Park is doing. And this group has to confirm these documents are legit. They have to bring in the wonks to translate them into regular English, and then they have to explain it all, to journalists like Robert Hager, NBC News. October 15, 1981.
(Soundbite from archival news: Administrator Gorsuch is under fire for a draft budget leaked from her agency. It proposes that by next fall, the agency’s money be cut 43%. Manpower would be cut 40%. Research into the dangers of pollution would be cut 63%. Lawsuits against alleged industrial polluters would be cut 67%. The chairman of the Senate Committee on the Environment, Republican Robert Stafford, said if the figures were accurate, Congress might as well repeal all the laws against pollution.)
Tong: This type of coverage is playing right into Save EPA’s plot to stir up scandal, keep it on NBC News. ‘Keep drawing blood,’ as Bill puts it. Now Bill Drayton is employee number one at Save EPA. Caroline Isber, from Turtle Park, she’s number two. And then they hire a young lawyer named Terry Dunmire as employee number three. But really, that might overstate the organization’s organization. Here’s Terry.
Terry Dunmire: This was totally ad hoc. This wasn’t something that had been blessed by a foundation with an infrastructure, anything. This was totally organic. These internal documents were literally dropped on desks or thrown over the transom during the course of that period of time. And so our job was to take that information and turn it into something that people could actually comprehend and that would be useful.
Tong: Sometimes this work takes a bit of spycraft. Nervous civil servants fear being fired — by the Ice Queen — for leaking.
Dunmire: You know, you develop these underground techniques, right? The apartment building behind my house, the front desk, there was one of the primary drop spots.
Tong: And there was an agency employee living in that building?
Dunmire: Uh huh.
Tong: OK.
Dunmire: Yep. And, and that person had a circle of people that knew to feed that person who, you know, could, I guess, take the bus to the Metro home and leave them at their front desk. And, you know, you get a call and go around the corner and pick it up and keep going.
Tong: And lo and behold, one day Save EPA gets a crucial budget document. It goes by the glorious inside the beltway term of ‘passback.’ The idea is each agency tells the White House how much money it wants for the next fiscal year and then the White House budget office responds with how much money it thinks the agency should get: passes it back. And then, this passback gets leaked to Save EPA. And sure enough, the White House Budget Office wants to slash the EPA’s funding. Caroline Isber at Save EPA remembers getting a call early one morning.
Isber: The phone rings and the fellow says, ‘This is so-and-so. I produce the show. I’m looking for the passback. Do you have it now?’ Somebody must’ve told them to call me; I don’t know who. I mean, I didn’t ask. I said, ‘Yes, I do.’ They said, ‘We have Anne Gorsuch on this morning. Can you fax me? Can you fax it to me?’
Tong: The era of fax.
Isber: The era of fax, which was pretty new. It was sort of, it wasn’t very easy to do. And so I faxed it and then they spent an hour going over it with me because of course you’re right. They didn’t know what it meant. So then Anne Gorsuch comes on. And they interview her and they ask her some key questions. And then to her horror, they put the passback documents up and say, but you said this, and this says that. And she really visibly, unfortunately, she blanched. She was shocked.
Tong: And so the discrepancy was something like Anne Gorsuch says, ‘Oh, well, the budget is going to be this much money. And I’m very happy with it.’ And then the reporter says ‘No, wait a second. We have the latest document that says, actually it’s a lot less money.’ Is that, is that what it was?
Isber: Exactly what it was and they had the details so she could see, she could see up there, the numbers, she couldn’t deny it. And she didn’t know what to do.
Tong: Do you remember how you felt? That’s a big victory for you.
Isber: I hate to say it, but I was thrilled.
Tong: Bam. Blood drawn. And Anne Gorsuch is in the hot seat. Here’s a confrontation in the Senate that was aired on NBC.
(Soundbite from archival news:
Anchor: But Mrs. Gorsuch wouldn’t confirm the documents’ authenticity.
Gorsuch: I don’t know what document this committee has in its possession, nor what its source is.
Anchor: Bringing this from Senator Hart of Colorado.
Hart: There are all kinds of copies of this document, which are your 83 budget requests all over this committee table here. And, um, I don’t think they came from the tooth fairy, you know.)
Tong: Now publicly, Anne is toeing the Reagan party line. You know: Save taxpayer money, let the states regulate, not Washington. Do more with less. This is what Anne came to do: Shrink the government and take less money from taxpayers, who are suffering, by the way, from awful inflation.
Gorsuch: I look towards doing everything we are charged with Congress to do and doing a better job of it. Can we do it with fewer federal resources? Definitely.
Tong: But behind the scenes, there’s tension in the Reagan administration. Anne is privately battling her bosses. Yes, she does want to trim the budget, but not the drastic cuts the White House wants. Her chief rival is the head of the White House budget office, a.k.a., the Office of Management and Budget: David Stockman.
(Soundbite of Stockman: We will have to reduce expenditures and program levels in many areas.)
Tong: Now Stockman, just a year before this, was a congressman from Michigan. And he was one of the only members to oppose the creation of Superfund. He said the federal government should not take on more responsibility.
(Soundbite of Gorsuch: David’s viewpoint was far more pure from a philosophical idealistic standpoint. He was very strongly opposed to the original Superfund.)
Tong: So Anne at the EPA writes David at the White House budget office a spitting letter. She writes the EPA budget cuts smack of ‘a bottom line in search of a reason.’ And this letter — this missive — finds its way to The New York Times. That’s where Phil Shabecoff is breaking a load of stories on Anne.
Shabecoff: She was not anti-environmental at all. She just wanted to come at it from a conservative perspective, trying to find ways to protect the environment without excessive regulation on industry. She was big on urging companies to do voluntary compliance with the environmental laws — you know, which is like telling the foxes to make sure they take good, careful care of the henhouses. But that was her approach and I think she was somewhat sincere about it.
Tong: Thing is, all around the agency are political appointees who are veterans of companies the agency is supposed to regulate. And in the EPA building these political appointees — they have a reputation as far as the career civil servants are concerned. Including Deb Dalton. She’s a lowly scientist working on toxic waste issues.
Dalton: You know, you see a flag lapel pin come into the elevator and you go, oh, let’s just mess with these people.
Tong: Oh, the lapel pins. See, these Reagan appointees are easy to spot. They have this unofficial uniform: They all tend to wear this pin with an American flag. And Deb and her colleagues want them out of their way. So when these ‘lapel pin guys’ step in the elevator, Deb and her colleagues change the subject. They even make up fake environmental cases … to throw them off the scent. And here’s why staffers like Deb are striking back: Their bosses have put some EPA workers on a hit list of people to eliminate. They’re slashing the budget and they keep reorganizing the staff. Which means more bureaucracy and less time for the staff to do their jobs to investigate hazardous waste sites.
Dalton: It was mostly delaying tactics, you know, keep asking questions, keep asking for, you know, did you look at this? Did you look at that? Are you sure that that company sent something poisonous?
Tong: This stalling kinda works, ‘cause environmental enforcement plummets.
(Soundbite from archival news: Information obtained by a Congressional staff aid shows the Environmental Protection Agency referring fewer than 50 charges of environmental law violations in the first nine months after President Reagan took office. That compares to 230 cases last year.)
Tong: You know how they say, ‘know your audience’? Well, Save EPA’s audience here is not just Dan Rather at CBS News, or the American people. It’s Congress, which can investigate, subpoena, showboat. And one very influential guy on Capitol Hill is a lawyer named Dick Frandsen. He’s an investigator at the House Energy and Commerce Committee. And Dick Frandsen gets word — from EPA staff, or perhaps the Save EPA underground, somewhere — that the government, which is supposed to charge companies for polluting, is actually helping them negotiate down the price that companies pay. Take The FIRST Superfund site. It’s in Santa Fe Springs, California. One political appointee at the EPA negotiates with a paint company called Inmont, which is on the hook for cleanup. Dick Frandsen learns that this political appointee…
Dick Frandsen: … had taken it upon himself without notifying the negotiating team from the enforcement office to call Inmont attorney, and give him the agency’s bottom line for settlement.
Tong: If you know anything about negotiating, you’re not supposed to give away your bottom line. But this guy — he gave the company this inside information so the company could get the best deal. This is the ‘kinder, gentler’ Reagan EPA. And when this gets out, to Congress and to the media, it’s a big win for the resistance. And then, this serious business of poison in the water — it gets into the funny pages: as in Doonesbury, the acerbic, counter-culture, Pulitzer-Prize winning comic strip read by millions of Americans in the 1970s and ‘80s.
Dalton: Doonesbury was a really big thing in the ‘80s.
Tong: That’s Deb Dalton again. And in January 1982, Doonesbury features a new character — a fictitious EPA lawyer named Ted Simpson. His job is to go after polluting companies.
Dalton: And it was so exciting because EPA was a pretty obscure agency really, in the scheme of things, and to have an EPA employee be like the main character in a Doonesbury cartoon expressing our frustration, particularly the enforcement group’s frustration with not being able to do our job. And so Ted Simpson was our hero.
Tong: Under Anne Gorsuch and the Reagan administration, this Ted Simpson gets neutered. The comic shows him, balding, bags under his eyes. His feet dangle over the ledge, far above the traffic of D.C.
Dalton: And so he went out on a window ledge and into one of these towers and threatened to jump off unless he was allowed to do his job. And he just sat there on the ledge for two weeks.
Tong: And he was the main character in the strip?
Dalton: Right. And, and so, you know, we were going, ‘Yeah, Ted go! Yay, Ted!’
Tong: Eventually Ted Simpson is talked off the ledge by Anne Gorsuch, the big boss at the EPA. She says, okay I’ll change things. At which point he comes back into the office and Anne goes ‘I lied. You’re fired.’
Dalton: We had this Ted Simpson fan club and we made a shirt that said we were a Ted Simpson fan club.
Tong: They even wear those Ted Simpson shirts around the office. These civil servants, they’re taking this fight to their bosses. Thing is, these little people are about to get a new boss in the Superfund program: a 35-year-old Reagan devotee who comes in and breaks more stuff. Break more norms, and more laws.
Rita Lavelle: They hated me.
Tong: Her name is Rita Lavelle. Next time, on Captured.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-09-16/operation-save-epa-why-and-how-epa-staffers-leaked-documents-during-the-reagan-administrati
| 2022-09-16T17:16:28Z
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The tenure of former President Ronald Reagan’s first Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Anne Gorsuch Burford, ended with firings, resignations from dozens of political appointees, and, for one deputy administrator, a prison sentence.
The scandal paved the way for the return of William Ruckelshaus, who had been the very first EPA administrator under former President Richard Nixon, and was admired by scientists and lawmakers alike.
This leadership change was what many in Washington wanted. A non-profit, Save EPA, worked with staffers within the agency to put political pressure on the White House and redirect the agency. When Reagan appointed someone new to lead the EPA, many people who worked there were thrilled. They even made T-shirts.
But after all of that, how do we ensure a system that effectively regulates industry? In the fifth and final episode of Captured, we explore whether the bureaucrats and government workers who plotted and leaked documents to “save the EPA” ultimately got what they wanted. We look at the costs to the individuals who came to represent an ideology. And we ask what conditions the EPA needs to be effective today.
Full episode transcript
Scott Tong: It’s March, 1983. The vultures are circling around EPA administrator Anne Burford, formerly Anne Gorsuch.
(Soundbite from archival news: The steady drip, drip of stories about the troubled Environmental Protection Agency continued unabated today … )
Tong: One of Anne’s top deputies, Rita Lavelle, has just been fired during a scandal over industry ties. But there’s direct pressure on Anne herself. The EPA administrator has been held in contempt of Congress. You know, that big mark of shame in Washington? And now, her political friends on the bus throw her under it. First, Ronald Reagan’s Department of Justice tells Anne it doesn’t have her back.
(Soundbite from archival news: Angered over a Justice Department announcement that it would no longer represent her before Congress, she lashed out through aides. She claimed she had been left high and dry to defend herself against legal problems that had been created by White House decisions — decisions, she added, that she had not agreed with in the first place.)
Tong: Remember: Anne was following orders from the Justice Department and the White House. They wanted an
executive privilege fight with Congress. A test case.
(Soundbite of Anne: Perhaps the most ill-founded claim of executive privilege this country’s ever been put through.)
Tong: She never liked the idea. But still, she stuck with it. Even so, the Reagan administration deserts her. And then Republicans in Congress walk away too. Here’s Sen. Rudy Boschwitz, interviewed by PBS’s Jim Lehrer.
(Soundbite from archival news:
Jim Lehrer: You don’t care how she goes, as long as she goes and is replaced by a scientist.
Rudy Boschwitz: I don’t care what happens except that the EPA should be made a more effective agency than it now is.)
Tong: This is exactly where Anne’s enemies want her. We’ve told you about this self-styled resistance of EPA staffers and their friends outside the building stirring up this scandal. For two years, they have schemed to inflict political pain on the Reagan administration. Here’s ex-EPA executive Bill Drayton.
Bill Drayton: We had to get to the political people in the White House and convince them ultimately that this is costing you and it’s gonna cost you more.
Tong: Drayton is a key head of the resistance, which is signaling to the White House: If you go easy on polluters, it’s gonna backfire. Because Americans, they care about the environment. Now the casualty, of course, is Anne. But for a moment, Ronald Reagan wavers on her fate. He writes in his diary that her idea — to just give Congress the documents it wants — ‘may have a point.’ Holding back documents, to him, gives the appearance of a cover-up. Reagan almost seems to feel bad for her. But not bad enough.
(Soundbite from archival news: Once again, in a strange turn, the president reiterated his position on her keeping her job, but White House Press Secretary Larry Speakes said the president has not barred his staff from seeking her resignation.)
Tong: By March 10, 1983, Anne Gorsuch Burford is gone.
(Soundbite from archival news:
Reporter: Did you jump or were you pushed?
Anne Burford: I submitted my resignation to the president yesterday afternoon at 5 o’clock.)
Tong: What becomes of Anne? What becomes of Rita? And after they fall, does the system change? I’m Scott Tong. And from WBUR Podcasts and Here & Now, this is Captured: A brazen attempt to take over the EPA, and the nerds and pencil pushers who pushed back. Episode five: permanent capture.
(Soundbite from archival news:
Reporter: But what do you think of the news media coverage of these events and did it contribute to your decision to resign?
Burford: Well on that score, I will tell you that it is difficult to lead a normal life when there are people camped outside my front yard and who follow me during my whole day. I have always tried to conduct business in the open with the windows open with the lights on. And when you have to make sure all your drapes are closed every minute, you can’t go on with your job.)
Tong: Anne will later recall that her teenage son, Neil Gorsuch — you know the one — is angry she quit. ‘You didn’t do anything wrong,’ she’ll recall him saying. ‘You only did what the president ordered. Why are you quitting? You raised me not to be a quitter.’ Of course the quitting of a woman known by subordinates as ‘the Ice Queen’ is celebrated by some.
Deb Dalton: ‘We survived the Ice Queen’s acid reign.’
Tong: That’s EPA scientist Deb Dalton. And she’s saying ‘rain’ spelled R-E-I-G-N. Get it? The reign of Queen Anne? By now you’ve heard from Deb a few times. She was there when the Gorsuch EPA whacked away its own budget. When it made an ‘enemies list’ of critics in the building who got sidelined. When it hollowed out enforcement of environmental rules. Deb felt Anne was a bully and that Rita was inept. And Deb was among the staffers to testify against their bosses, sealing their fates. In the end, Deb and her peers make these congratulatory T-shirts. She still has hers. On the front it reads ‘I survived the Ice Queen’s Acid Reign.’ And on the back:
Dalton: We had all of the Reagan appointees and basically had them crossed off as they were either fired or resigned due to mismanagement.
Tong: One by one, Reagan’s political appointees at the EPA get nudged out after Anne is gone. Elliot Levitas, the Democratic congressman who investigated the whole thing, acknowledges the toll on Anne.
(Soundbite of archival news: If she is a victim at all, she is a victim in the sense that she was made a scapegoat and a sacrificial lamb, and someone has offered her head on a tray instead of dealing with the issues. I think in some respects the administration, it has dealt very unkindly with Mrs. Burford. They were the ones who ordered her not to turn over these documents.)
(Soundbite of Ronald Reagan from archival news: Today, I’m pleased to announce my intention to nominate William D. Ruckelshaus to become the next administrator of the EPA.)
Tong: To clean the slate, Ronald Reagan replaces Anne, the failed D.C. rookie, with an old, experienced Washington hand:
(Soundbite of from archival news: I guess my immediate task, as I see it, is to stabilize EPA)
Tong: More, after the break.
Tong: William Ruckelshaus was actually the very first head of the EPA picked by President Nixon after he created the agency in 1970. Ruckelshaus returns in 1983 to bipartisan support and the love of scientists and staffers alike. So, damage controlled. Time to move on. Right? Except, in scandals like this, for the people who get tossed overboard. We tend not to hear much from them. But Anne writes a book a few years later, in which she vents about her former idol, Ronald Reagan. ‘When congressional criticism about the EPA began to touch the presidency,’ she writes, ‘Mr. Reagan solved his problem by jettisoning me and my people, people whose only ‘crime’ was loyal service … while his staff continues to do some very dirty work.’ She frames Reagan as an environmental pretender.
(Soundbite of Gorsuch: You’ll know that the president never has made a speech or even dedicated a major portion of any speech to the environmental issues of the country.)
Tong: And she goes after Reagan’s lawyers in the White House and at the Justice Department.
(Soundbite of Gorsuch: They had made serious misrepresentations of material facts to the president, to the administrator, EPA to Congress and to the courts. I knew contemporaneously that they were poor lawyers and poor politicians. I didn’t know until just this last month that they were also liars.)
Tong: Here’s what she means: An investigation found the Reagan administration, including its Justice Department, gave Congress ‘false and misleading’ information about a variety of topics during the EPA showdown. This is the same Justice Department that abandoned Anne during the scandal. Congressman John Dingell asked her about this during a hearing.
(Soundbite from archival audio of hearing:
John Dingell: Why did you feel that the Department of Justice would not represent your interests and do so consistently?
Gorsuch: Oh, Mr. Chairman, so many reasons.
Dingell: History has proven your judgment to be correct?
Gorsuch: I guess that’s the best reason of all, but, when we first got into this they consistently said that they would take this case all the way to the Supreme Court and obviously that has not happened or occurred.)
Tong: It appears she’s getting even in public. But it may contribute even more to her isolation. Because Anne’s political career is over. Joel Mintz, a former EPA lawyer, interviews her a couple years after she quits for a book on environmental enforcement.
Joel Mintz: She had a tiny little office in a law firm that did not have her name on the door. She was not named in the firm. So she was in this tiny cramped office and she was chain smoking all the time. I had to change shirts, literally, after the interview.
Tong: To Mintz, she seemed broken. ‘Just kind of a wreck.’ She was totally out of the limelight, and out of politics. She died in 2004 at the 62. Her son told The Washington Post that she spent the remainder of her career practicing law focused on child advocacy in her home state of Colorado. We reached out to her children for this series — one declined, and the two others, including Justice Neil Gorsuch, didn’t respond. There are, of course, many paths to irrelevance. That was Anne’s story. What about Rita Lavelle’s? One of Anne’s top deputies.
You will recall she got fired as Congress was sniffing into a conflict of interest, having to do with her old employer. Rita was convicted of lying to Congress. Perjury. Ultimately, she served four months in prison.
Tong: Are you glad you went to Washington?
Rita Lavelle: No. (Laughs). It would have been much easier had I never done that. It wouldn’t have been as personally expensive to me. I’m basically blacklisted from gainful employment. I very rarely share anything about my background. You’re the first one I’ve talked to in years.
Tong: Rita says she never went back to D.C. Today, she’s in her home state of California working as a tax professional.
Lavelle: I’ve been blessed with a lot of clients up here now who don’t even know who I am. And don’t even care. I’m attempting to pull my life back together. I did have a meeting with Meese.
Tong: Ed Meese was her political benefactor. He became White House counselor and attorney general under Ronald Reagan. Meese met Rita in California politics in the 1970s, and he helped her get jobs in the governor’s office, and later at the EPA in Washington. Years later, Rita is in legal trouble again. And she asks Ed Meese for help.
Lavelle: And, I started crying in front of him. I had written out how I defended him and basically just asked him as a human being to help me. He said, ‘Well, you got to understand, I’m a former attorney general, and I can’t interfere in anything.’ I was just aghast. And I started crying and I said ‘Sir, I’m only asking for one thing, please.’ And he said, ‘Well, I won’t help.’ And then he said, because I had put on weight that ‘Frankly, Rita, you’re looking a little chubby.’ He said, ‘You know, the president does daily weight training. And I thought to myself ‘Well hell, you’re chubbier than I am.’ He says, ‘You’ve got to get that weight off.’ That’s what he said to me! I was just devastated with that conversation.
Tong: We tried to run this account by Ed Meese. He declined to respond. So that’s some of the human cost of these kinds of scandals. But who benefited? For those who worked to topple Rita and Anne — Did they get what they wanted in the end? Did they get cleaner water, free of poisons? Good government that can repel special interests and regulatory capture? I ask this question to various members of the ‘resistance.’ To be sure they were vindicated. And yet, there’s almost always a ‘Yeah, but.’ ‘Yeah, but the fight never ends.’ Here’s Caroline Isber, of the Save EPA group.
Caroline Isber: I was thrilled, but all these years later, I’m a little more cynical. I think we all need to watch for it happening again
Tong: ‘Watch for it happening, again.’ And let’s be real; You don’t have to be cynical to assume Washington is in the pocket of Big Business, Big Oil, Big Tech, Defense contractors. I’ve mentioned I got onto this story in the first place because of eerie parallels to this question of government ‘capture’ in the Trump years.
Isber: The Trump administration and the Reagan administration tried to do almost the exact same thing. They both tried to cut the budget by about a third and they had ambitions to cut the personnel by two-thirds. It’s an attempt to make enforcement impossible.
Tong: And in fact, enforcement did fall in both administrations. Scott Pruitt was President Trump’s first EPA head. Here is his very first speech to the agency staff.
(Soundbite of Pruitt: Regulators exist to give certainty to those they regulate.)
Tong: He is framing the agency’s job not so much about cleaner air or cleaner water or the climate, but about the companies it regulates. Pruitt moved to undo rules on coal plants and car emissions. He pushed President Trump to pull out of the Paris Climate Deal. How different is that from Anne Gorsuch’s EPA letting Dow Chemical suggest edits to a report on Dow Chemical? We’ve told you that story. Or, from Anne lighting up a smoke at the oil industry lobby and declaring she’s ‘here to help’? In fact, her commitment to a leaner EPA with fewer regulators seems to echo — perhaps indirectly — with a new ruling from the Supreme Court curbing the EPA’s ability to regulate coal. One justice, in that case, noted the ‘explosive growth’ in government regulators. He is Anne’s son: Neil Gorsuch.
All of this makes you wonder: Is government capture a feature of government, not a bug? Is this just how the system is? Leif Fredrickson says, ‘yeah, pretty much. It’s built-in.’ He’s a professor of public history at the University of Montana and he curates a program on EPA history. Fredrickson explains that big corporate lobbies and the companies they represent, they dominate the expertise about their industries. They own the data.
Leif Fredrickson: They often hold a lot of the information, which means they hold a lot of the cards about what is true? I mean, what are the effects of these things, what is possible to change, what is not possible to change and so on. And to a certain extent, you know, the agency do their own research and stuff, but they don’t have the capacity to research everything, they have to rely to some extent on these companies themselves that they’re supposed to be regulating. And so, you know, I mean, it provides all kinds of opportunities for these companies to either, perhaps in broad ways,but even in just more subtle ways, to kind of shift the conversation towards, you know, a more conservative approach and so on.
Tong: Industry can dominate the debate. But there’s an even bigger imbalance in the system that experts like Leif talk about a lot. It’s about incentives: Special interests get huge rewards for capturing the government. So they do. Whereas you and I, the general public, we gain very little from pushing back on a few companies. So we don’t. That means the ingredients for capture are always there. Now, before you throw up your hands, keep in mind, Congress can still pass laws that protect the environment, and empower the EPA. For example, the Inflation Reduction Act that was passed in August of 2022 restored a tax on chemical and oil companies, and that money will go to clean up Superfund sites. And Congress can still investigate the way it looked into Anne Gorsuch and Rita Lavelle. It can issue subpoenas, it can hold people in contempt. Just look at the ongoing January 6th hearings.
(Soundbite from archival news: The select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attacks on the capitol will be in order.)
Tong: But our story is mainly about another lever of accountability: the quieter actions of individuals, in government and outside, and sometimes far away from Washington, like Penny Newman.
Penny Newman: I think one of the lessons I’ve learned is that every victory is a temporary victory.
Tong: That’s Penny from episode one. Remember: she’s the mom in Glen Avon, California, whose town gets hit with these toxic floodwaters in the 1970s. Remember the foam in the water?
Newman: Kids had been going to school, they’d been playing in these puddles and, you know, making beards out of the foam that they came across and becoming toxic snowmen.
Tong: Newman has been fighting for her community ever since. She runs a nonprofit now, focused on environmental health. She’s still bugging state and federal officials about the Stringfellow Acid Pits site, which, by the way, is still not totally cleaned up. It’s still on the EPA’s list of the most toxic sites. Now, as climate change delivers bigger storms like Hurricane Harvey in Houston, we will have more floods floating up toxic waste from Superfund sites and likely more public health threats in communities like where Penny Newman lives in Glen Avon, California.
Newman: You have to be vigilant and you have to keep fighting the good fight because at some point people are going to try and backtrack on it and that’s what’s happened here.
Tong: What Penny is onto, I think, is the fragility of not just our ecosystems, but the ecosystem of government.
Newman: For our system to operate, we, as citizens have to be involved all the time and you have to make it part of your life or else someone else is going to make the decisions for you and your family.
Tong: When I think about government ‘capture’, I think about that game capture the flag we played as kids. I loved it. I wonder: If there will always be special interests who plan and deke and run at the flag, whose job is it to scheme and plot and defend the flag? Whose job is to keep poison out of our water?
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-09-16/permanent-capture-what-a-decades-old-scandal-at-the-epa-tell-us-about-power-in-washington-today
| 2022-09-16T17:16:34Z
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The 1970s represented an environmental reckoning for many Americans. At the start of the decade, former President Richard Nixon created the brand-new Environmental Protection Agency.
Congress passed sweeping laws about protecting air and water. And more Americans grew concerned about major health risks from toxic waste in their communities.
But not everyone believed that the federal government should play such a large role in preventing pollution or cleaning it up.
In 1981, former President Ronald Reagan was elected on a platform to rein in government spending and regulation. He appointed a conservative lawmaker from Colorado named Anne Gorsuch to lead the EPA. As soon as she arrived at the agency, Gorsuch began to clash with many of its scientists and lawyers over what the role of the EPA should be.
The first episode of Captured tells the story of what happened when Gorsuch came to the agency and what forces seeded concerns about regulatory capture — when a government agency becomes beholden to an ideology or certain corporate interests — among the EPA staff.
Full episode transcript:
Scott Tong: Spring 1978. Southern California. Rain, and then floods, clobber a working-class town. The town is Glen Avon, about 50 miles east of Los Angeles.
(Soundbite of archival news: Since the heavy damage and destruction in California from almost endless rains, mudslides and floods, the president declared the state of disaster area tonight.)
Tong: “Disaster,” because this happens once a century. And these floodwaters carry this strange gray foam stuff. It’s kind of stiff.
Penny Newman: Kids who’d been going to school, they’d been playing in these puddles and, you know, making beards out of the foam that they came across and becoming toxic snowmen.
Tong: Penny Newman is the mom of two young boys at the time. She’s a first-grade teacher’s aide.
Newman: We saw the kids who were playing in the puddles, that their shoes started disintegrating. Their Levi’s would be falling apart. My youngest son during this time at the elementary school, he’s the one who would come home from school and talk about the tetherball poles standing on top of each other. He was having double vision.
Tong: It turns out, there’s a chemical dump site in the hills above Glen Avon, and it’s filled with oils and sludge. See, for decades, hundreds of companies making engines, aircrafts, lightbulbs, dumped their industrial waste there. We’re talking General Electric, McDonnell Douglas, Sunkist. This site is known as the “Stringfellow Acid Pits.” It was once an old rock quarry that became a toxic pond. And America is full of these sites. They hearken back to our industrial might. Our manufacturing binge of the 20th century. And now to our industrial hangover. So as it pours, back in 1978, this toxic lake starts to rise. It’s about to bust the dam holding it back. So to ease the pressure, local officials release poisonous liquids — enough liquids to fill a pool at the Olympics. And these toxic floodwaters flow down to Glen Avon. Thing is, the officials — they don’t tell anyone. But you know how it goes: Eventually, word leaks out — as it were — to the school superintendent.
Newman: So he decided, well, we needed to set up some kind of an evacuation plan for that school. So they told us teachers in a private meeting that if you hear two bells, take the kids down to the buses to be taken out of the area. If you hear three bells, it will be too late. The dam will have broken, put the kids on top of the desk and hope for the best.
Tong: Hope for the best? It will be too late?
Newman: That’s when we started asking questions. A bunch of us housewives got together and, you know, we started doing research and found the list of chemicals that had been dumped there. We didn’t know all of them. But we knew what [dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane] was, we knew lead. And we knew it shouldn’t be flowing through our community, or we shouldn’t be exposed to it.
Tong: Here’s Penny Newman in an oral history interview.
(Soundbite of Newman in interview: And it wasn’t until later that we started seeing the more long term health issues. And I think it was at that point it hit us that, ‘oh my gosh, this is not going to go away when the exposure stops.’ This has already happened. It’s already started a chain reaction within our bodies, and damage that may not disappear.)
Tong: A decade later, one study suggests that living near Stringfellow has a ‘significant relationship to birth defects.’ Another study finds that residents report high rates of asthma and chest pain in Glen Avon, much higher than the city next door. We should note that direct medical cause and effect is really hard to prove, but still — imagine for a second this is your child, with her whole life ahead of her, exposed to a poison, a carcinogen. Here’s what we know about toxic chemicals: You know, arsenic, benzene, lead, DDT — and those are the pronounceable ones. They show up in pesticides on our fruit, in kitchen drain cleaner, in furniture polish, nail polish remover. And many are linked definitively to cancers and birth defects. So, whose job is it to protect us from all this? Or at the very least … not intentionally release the stuff into our neighborhoods and our playgrounds? Yeah, the government. Well, Penny Newman thinks so.
Newman: I really believed that people in authority did the right thing and that if something were going on, they’d let us know.
Tong: You would think. Now, across the country in 1970s Washington, D.C., there’s this brand new agency called the Environmental Protection Agency. And one of its clear mandates is to keep toxic waste away from humans. Well, we’re gonna dig into a story about how the federal government at the highest levels struggled to protect you and me. We’re gonna learn about powerful businesses. Whistleblowers. Investigators in Congress. Handwritten notes. And executive privilege. That may sound familiar. And eventually, about a top official sent to prison. And we’re gonna ask — how did this happen? What are the forces, and who are the people, that can undermine our institutions? And who protects the institutions? I’m Scott Tong. And from WBUR Podcasts and Here & Now, this is Captured: A brazen attempt to take over the EPA, and the nerds and pencil pushers who fought back. Episode 1: Poison in the water. Around the time toxins are turning up in the water, and in the ground in California, the EPA is getting hammered by this powerful, new ideology sweeping America.
(Soundbite of Reagan: I’ve always felt the nine most terrifying words in the English language are, I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.)
Tong: Cutting red tape. Getting rid of dead weight. That’s part of our story. But another part is the little people — the bureaucrats, scientists, geeks — who rise up against their bosses upstairs.
Deb Dalton: An intellectual version of the French resistance.
Terry Dunmite: Getting documents from EPA in the middle of the night was a really, really daring push of the envelope.
Bill Drayton: The press was absolutely critical.
Deb Dalton: We knew the tunnels of government, and we knew how to use them. We were pretty passionate about what we did.
Tong: This resistance from the inside — this “deep state” if you will — goes back four decades. But the same dynamic exists today. See, I spent several years reporting on industry and the environment and I first heard about this story during the Trump administration. You may remember his first EPA head, Scott Pruitt? Well, he had the agency block pollution rules or slow-walk them. Sideline officials who questioned their bosses. And had a soundproof phone booth built for him, for a mere $43,000 — as in taxpayer dollars. When I asked folks in and around the EPA then, they said, ‘We’ve seen this movie. It’s familiar.’ And that is when they dropped this word: capture. It’s thrown around a lot in D.C. Regulatory capture is when an arm of the government gets taken over, sometimes by an industry. Think Big Tobacco getting permission to market to kids, or casinos making it easier to gamble online or property developers getting to build on the waterfront. And sometimes, this capture comes from a political view that happens to be in fashion. You know, ‘get the government out of my life.’ But back in the 1970s, that wasn’t the prevailing view. Congress and the American people wanted Washington to do more.
(Soundbite of documentary: Deadly chemicals seeping out of a waste dump called Love Canal are blamed for health problems…)
Tong: Now if you, like me, are of a certain vintage, you recall the nightmare of toxic waste dumps. The most notorious one was in a place you’d least expect it: Niagara Falls.
(Soundbite of documentary: The state of New York is now trying to drain off any liquid which seeps out of the canal. But workers made a chilling discovery. They found traces of the dreaded substance dioxin, which is a waste product from the manufacturer of certain herbicides and disinfectants. It is regarded by experts as one of the most lethal substances ever created by man.)
Tong: The government responded, with the support of almost all Americans. See, the 1960s and ‘70s were our environmental awakening. Americans learned about the costs —the long-term costs — of decades of industrial growth. We learned about poisonous pesticides from Rachel Carson’s famous book, ‘Silent Spring.’ We celebrated the first Earth Day.
(Soundbite of news footage: If this day of teach-ins, mock funerals, rallies, marches, speeches and songs does not convince enough of us that the threat to our life on Earth is clear and present, we may have cast a vote for death.)
Tong: And we witnessed the birth of the Environmental Protection Agency, delivered by Richard Nixon, Republican president.
(Soundbite of Nixon: Each of us all across this great land has a stake in maintaining and improving environmental quality, clean air and clean water. These are part of the birthright of every American.)
Tong: And then, presidents from both parties — Nixon, and then Ford and then Carter — sign key environmental laws that are still in effect today, on clean air, safe drinking water, endangered species, hazardous materials, insecticides. And in 1980, Jimmy Carter signs a law to clean up old toxic waste dumps like Love Canal, and those Stringfellow Acid Pits in Southern California. Now, this law goes by the acronym CERCLA, though most people call it Superfund. And the idea is historic polluters pay for cleanup. Now when the law passes, industry is pissed. Think about it: This dumping of waste back in, say, the 1940s and ‘50s was not illegal when they did it. And now they’re stuck with the bill decades later? Rita Lavelle works in communications for the defense company Aerojet General when Superfund passes.
Lavelle: I really did not like the concept of joint and several liability and penalizing corporations that were still in business for the sins of everybody in the past.
Tong: Okay, geek alert: Joint and several liability means one guilty party can be held responsible for the industrial sins of others.
Lavelle: And then also, I really didn’t like the concept that it was sinful for what they did, because a lot of it was accepted practices. Nobody knew the consequences of anything. It’s hard to believe this picture of nefarious fellow employees that, you know, day and night, going out and dumping toxic waste in the river. I mean, that just is not the way it occurred.
Tong: But then, Rita Lavelle and her corporate friends get a savior. More, after a break.
Tong: Just a month after Superfund passes in December 1980, a new man moves into the White House with plans to tame the regulators: Ronald Reagan.
(Soundbite of Reagan: In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. [Applause])
Tong: And at the time, the economy — well, it sucks. Inflation’s 14%. And even though his predecessor Jimmy Carter also questions government rules and their cost, Reagan goes all in.
(Soundbite of Reagan: Now we have no intention of dismantling the regulatory agencies, especially those necessary to protect the environment and assure the public health and safety. However, we must come to grips with inefficient and burdensome regulations that eliminate those we can and reform the others.)
Tong: So to free up American enterprise, as he sees it, Reagan taps a feisty 38-year-old, pro-business lawmaker from Colorado to run the EPA. Her name is Anne Gorsuch.
(Soundbite of Gorsuch: Now I never grabbed a wire hanger to threaten a reporter, but the temptation was there.)
Tong: Anne Gorsuch is part of a group of conservative state representatives in the Mountain West who are allied with the Coors Beer family and its money. Here’s the MacNeil/Lehrer Report:
(Soundbite: The Rocky Mountain News once said in an editorial that she could kick a bear to death with her bare feet. While serving two terms in the Colorado state legislature, she aligned with a group of conservative lawmakers that oppose such things as toxic waste legislation and pollution control and were known as the Crazies.)
Tong: They call themselves the ‘The Crazies.’ Again, this particular ‘Crazy’ is named Anne Gorsuch. If that name rings a bell … yeah, she’s the mom of Neil Gorsuch, now on the Supreme Court. Back in 1981, Neil is a teenager — years before he rules against what he calls the “Goliath” of government regulations. In 2022, he joined a decision to undo EPA climate rules.
(Soundbite of news footage: The Supreme Court capped off a week of landmark decisions yesterday by limiting the EPA’s power to curb carbon dioxide emissions. By a 6-3 vote the court ruled the clean air act, first established in 1963, does not give the EPA the authority to regulate emissions from power plants that contribute to global warming.)
Tong: It sounds an awful lot like Neil Gorsuch’s mom’s approach in the 1980s: To shrink the federal government.
(Soundbite of Gorsuch: Remember regulatory reform, revitalized federalism, and producing greater environmental results and doing it with fewer taxpayers dollars all were within the realm of the possible at EPA.)
Tong: Now, Anne Gorsuch turns heads when she lands in D.C., a town we’ll call “‘ashion backward.’ I can say that since I live here and meet the description. Whereas Anne Gorsuch — she’s glamorous.
(Soundbite of Gorsuch: The Washington Post wrote me up in its style section saying, I look like a ‘young Suzanne Pleshette.’ It was the only nice thing that they ever printed about me.)
Tong: Suzanne Pleshette — Hollywood star, dark eyes, sultry voice. Look her up. Anne gets all these comments on her looks.
(Soundbite of Gorsuch: Now, how that is any way related to the public’s right to know about the environment will remain to me at least forever a mystery.)
Tong: Well, okay then. Down to business. One of Anne’s jobs is to enforce the brand new Superfund law on toxic waste dumps.
(Soundbite of Gorsuch: I accepted that A. the EPA was there, B. that Superfund was there, C. that there was an enormous delegation of responsibilities and said, ‘Okay, now let’s get on with it.’)
Tong: ‘Getting on’ with it takes a newly formed team of experts: environmental lawyers and scientists. One of them is Deb Dalton, a young biologist who comes to the EPA straight out of graduate school to, well, save the planet.
Deb Dalton: There are all these new hires. And so there was just a whole contingent of people my age and most of them weren’t married. And so we could work all we want and we could socialize afterwards and, you know, really throw ourselves into it.
Tong: That’s pretty young, compared to the other bureaucrats in town as it were, right?
Dalton: Oh yeah. Very young agency. Very different in the way that it regarded the job. You know, you worked for [Health & Human Services] or [Health, Education, and Welfare] it was known then, and, you know, they were all sort of middle-aged bureaucrats that, you know, all had wives and kids at home and, you know, come in, did the job. I’m not sure it was the same kind of energy level.
Scott: You were the new kids, then you, the new, exciting kids at the new school.
Dalton: Right. Taking over the new school.
Tong: Deb and her young team make a list of the most toxic sites in the country. And near the top, wouldn’t you know it, is the Stringfellow Acid Pits in Southern California. Deb meets me at the site of the old EPA building where her team got stuck working down in the basement.
Dalton: So when I started, they hadn’t really found enough desks for everybody and they really weren’t sure whether all of us were going to fit in this basement room in a kind of big open, probably was never designed to be offices because the air quality was terrible because of the garage underneath us. So it was kind of fun.
Tong: Yep, environmental protectors breathing bad air. Not to mention a putrid Potomac River a couple blocks away. See, the EPA is a relatively new government agency and it’s renting work space in this low end shopping mall.
Dalton: It had places like, you know, Dunkin’ Donuts and a couple of delis and a Chinese restaurant and the Safeway was all in the middle.
Tong: Still, this is a spritely hazardous waste team Deb is on. They’re young. They form EPA softball teams to play on the National Mall after work. It’s a DC thing. There’s a camaraderie. There’s a shared environmental mission. So, can you see the collision coming? On one hand, there’s this unstoppable force of young, civil servants. And on the other, this immovable object of the big boss, Anne Gorsuch.
Dalton: She was kind of a cold fish. Not warm, not inclusive of staff, pretty, um, pretty disregarding of staff, really disrespecting of staff. She didn’t really want to know.
Tong: She gave that off immediately? Like as soon as you, you pretty quickly you could tell.
Dalton: Yeah. Because past administrators and administrators after her would occasionally do little morale trips where they’d walk around and drop into offices and, you know, shake hands and do the thing. Right?
Tong: Anne Gorsuch knows she has a reputation.
(Soundbite of Gorsuch: I was usually identified in news reports as the ice queen, the dragon lady or the Joan Crawford of the Reagan administration.)
Tong: Joan Crawford, Hollywood diva. Google her, too. The ice queen moniker is what sticks with her staff. And here’s what they’re talking about: In the lobby of the EPA building at the time, there’s this big fish tank.
(Soundbite of Dalton: It was great! It was great. And we would get school groups that would come in and there was like a little, you know, thing for school growth groups and the fish were great. But they soon went away.)
Tong: They went away because Anne Gorsuch hated the tank. Here’s how she described first that fish tank in her book: “I had walked into the lobby of the West Tower, the official entrance to the EPA, and had taken a good look at the gigantic fish tank … the water was grayish, cloudy and murky, and if there were any fish still alive in it, they had wisely donned a protective invisibility…’ So Anne Gorsuch’s first official act? Drain the tank. She writes, ‘Oh, my God. If these people are in charge of keeping my air and water clean, we’re all in trouble.’ Now, to be clear, this switching in and out of new bosses is how elections work. A new president is voted in and appoints people to head departments and agencies. That’s the system. The issue is, when a new boss is tone deaf to the culture in the building.
Kurent: I mean, this was not just another bureaucratic organization. These were people who were dedicated, motivated. All the time I worked there — for the years I was there, I’d never seen anything like it. I couldn’t imagine. You come in on the weekends and half the office would be in the office working on weekends, not getting paid. They’re there working.
Tong: That’s Ed Kurent, also a Superfund enforcer. He’s a lawyer who’s just left the Navy. And at the ripe old age of 33, he is the graybeard in this punchy young office. As he tells it, when Anne Gorsuch first goes to the EPA, he walks up to her at a work party.
Kurent: I said, ‘Well, I’m a lawyer working in hazardous waste enforcement.’ And she looked me in the eye and she took a step and a half back, I mean, a visual step back, and looked me in the eye and said, ‘We’re going to be eliminating your job.’
Tong: By the way, the EPA administrator does not have the authority to do that. But that’s small-government Reaganite speaking. And along the way making enemies with the people. And the fish. Meantime, Anne Gorsuch is making new friends on the outside — with corporate lobbyists. Yeah, those companies supposedly being regulated by the EPA. Here’s an anecdote from Brendan Doyle. He’s an environmental consultant at the time.
Doyle: I went to a luncheon where Anne Gorsuch was giving a speech to the D.C. government affairs committees for the American Petroleum Institute and the Independent Petroleum Producers. And she was really pretty amazing. She came into the room and she sat down and she, you know, shook hands with all the guys. And she was right up there on the dais and she sat down and she lit up a Marlboro, you know, and she said, ‘I’m from EPA and I’m here to help.’
Tong: And then her agency helps all kinds of companies. It lets Dow Chemical suggest edits to an EPA report on Dow Chemical. The company is found to be poisoning rivers in Michigan with dioxin. EPA’s in-house inspector finds that Gorsuch promises an oil refinery it won’t be punished for having too much lead in gas. As for the staff — it turns out EPA managers have a ‘hit list.’ An ‘enemies list’ of assumed, lefty troublemakers who don’t have the same affinity for private industry. Again, Deb Dalton.
Dalton: It was a hit list to kind of like drive them out of the agency, one way or another either out of frustration or by putting them in, you know, Nowheresville or in a program that was going nowhere.
Tong: Because these people were in the way
Dalton: They were in the way.
Tong: By now, Deb and her team are starting to wonder if this is what ‘capture’ looks like. Her bosses don’t seem to want them to do their jobs. As in, enforce the law.
Dalton: They would say ‘kinder and gentler’ was their philosophy of handling industry. You know, we need to educate them as to what they’re going to do. We don’t need to beat them up. We were kinder and gentler.
Tong: And suddenly this powerful new Superfund law, with teeth to go after polluters, seems not so powerful.
Dalton: We’re just sort of like, ‘What? We just got this new law. We can go do all these things!’ And I think we just didn’t believe it.
Tong: These EPA staffers — at first, they’re stunned. Then, they get angry. And that’s when this resistance starts to materialize. An effort to tell the world. Get the word out to Congress and the media. Translation: Time to start leaking.
Isber: That’s what caused this great, uh, surge of information coming out of the agency. She insulted them.
Dunmire: If people psychologically think they’re trying to really do the right thing, they can pull off stunts that are pretty amazing.
Gordon: There were journalists from. you know, television and wire services and newspapers and magazines, and they were all converging on this agency trying to find out what’s going on because more and more stories began to leak.
Dalton: And we’re going ‘Oh my God, these people are crazy.’ If Gorsuch could have dismantled the agency she would have.
Tong: As many EPA workers and their friends see it, an outside virus has invaded. Next time on Captured: The antibodies.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-09-16/poison-in-the-water-when-the-reagan-administrations-epa-met-resistance-from-its-own-staff
| 2022-09-16T17:16:41Z
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During the early days of the first Reagan administration, the divide between the political appointees at the Environmental Protection Agency and the career bureaucrats was stark.
The bureaucrats thought their political counterparts lacked the qualifications and know-how to protect the environment. And many of the political appointees thought the career staff — the scientists, attorneys, and other employees who worked for EPA administration after administration — were overly idealistic and out-of-touch.
So tensions were already high when former President Ronald Reagan nominated Rita Lavelle to head the EPA’s office of toxic waste. Lavelle was a communications professional who had worked with defense contractors and started her career working for Reagan when he was the governor of California. She was skeptical of the brand new Superfund law that was now part of her job. Many of her new colleagues at the EPA disdained her, and she knew it.
Ultimately, Lavelle found so much trouble in Washington that she left, never to return.
This episode of Captured tells the story of how Lavelle came to Washington and what her arrival meant for an already poisonous atmosphere at the agency.
Full episode transcript
Rita Lavelle: This is Rita. Can I help you?
Scott Tong: You’ve probably never heard of Rita Lavelle. I had not. But in the early years of the Reagan administration, Rita Lavelle found herself in the eye of a Washington storm. Over toxic chemicals in our neighborhoods. Over Poison in our water. And regulators getting cozy with polluters. This ended up being the first big scandal of the Reagan administration. And — spoiler alert — Rita Lavelle would end up paying for it. Since then, in the last 40 years, she has hardly talked about this. But thanks to my colleague Grace Tatter, Rita Lavelle talked to us. And it turns out she has a lot to say including about Superfund. That’s a law to clean up hazardous waste and make corporate polluters pay. Rita was in charge of implementing that law.
Lavelle: You asked me my position on this Superfund legislation. I resented them casting nefarious, evildoers as being these businesses that had polluted.
Tong: In fact, Rita Lavelle talked to us for seven hours. Not just about Superfund. She started at the beginning.
Lavelle: I grew up in Pasadena, California, and I’m the oldest of eight children. We were very strong Catholic family. I was always interested in politics.
Tong: A certain flavor of politics.
Lavelle: I supported Reagan. I was known as the radical wing.
Tong: As in very small government. Very big military. Rita’s worldview is shaped by tragedy.
Lavelle: In 1968, my junior year in college, my brother, my next oldest brother, Patrick, was killed in Vietnam and it was very traumatic for me. And I, to this day, blame Lyndon Johnson for pulling back the support of the troops at Khe San, and I feel that my brother was murdered as were a lot of other young men at that point.
Tong: In the late 1960s, Rita Lavelle attends a women’s Catholic college in northern California, which includes some classes at UC Berkeley.
(Soundbite of protests at Berkeley)
Tong: Yeah, that Berkeley. Hub of liberal, radical protests for free speech — and against the Vietnam War.
Lavelle: The leaders of the liberal movements never worked. Never worked. They had money all the way through school. They could go and do these demonstrations. They never really even had to appear in class.
Tong: But Rita Lavelle and her conservative friends … Well they protest the protesters. Naturally.
Lavelle: We were on TV and so forth, countering the movements in the supposedly ‘spontaneous,’ but we knew they weren’t spontaneous demonstrations and they were blowing up with bombs and fires and everything else — banks and industries, quite a bit like Antifa today.
Tong: Eventually, Rita’s work with the College Republicans lands her a job in the office of the Republican governor, Ronald Reagan. And then, after a stint at a defense contractor, she’s asked to follow President Reagan to Washington. It’s 1982. And Lavelle is tapped for the number two job at the EPA: assistant administrator to run this new Superfund program.
(Soundbite from archival video: If there’s a Superfund site in your neighborhood, you’re probably wondering what will happen. How will it be cleaned up, who will pay for the cleanup and what you can do to keep your family and community safe.)
Tong: Superfund is supposed to be used to clean up toxic waste sites and to make polluters pay for their past sins. It’s a big job, and Rita Lavelle is all of 34. She’s got a background in chemistry and industry, sure — but not the environment issues. How is she received in the EPA?
Lavelle: They hated me.
Tong: As we’ve been telling you, the agency is home to this underground resistance. And Rita, this Washington neophyte, has no idea what’s coming. What lines does she cross? How is she betrayed? And what does it mean for the air and water in our neighborhoods? From WBUR Podcasts and Here & Now, I’m Scott Tong, and this is Captured: A brazen attempt to take over the EPA, and the nerds and pencil pushers who pushed back.
Episode 3: Rita. Before Rita Lavelle is even confirmed, someone is calling, ‘Time out.’
Penny Newman: No matter what anybody said, we knew there was a problem. We knew it deep in our soul.
Tong: Remember Penny Newman? She’s the angry, activist mom in southern California whose town has been overrun by toxic chemicals from a nearby dump site called the Stringfellow Acid Pits. She and other parents are terrified their kids are being exposed to carcinogens. By 1982, Penny’s waited years for the government to act. And now this ultra conservative Rita Lavelle is gonna run the clean-up?
Newman: I saw that she had worked with Aerojet and we were very alarmed.
Tong: Rita’s most recent employer is Aerojet General, which made rocket engines for warplanes, missiles and the space shuttle program.
(Soundbite from video: Since reaction power was first applied to flight, Aerojet General has led in rocket propulsion. But furthermore, its concepts and products have carried men ever closer to mastery of seas below and space above.)
Tong: What is not in that promotional audio is that Aerojet is one of hundreds of companies that dumped toxic waste sludge into the Stringfellow Acid pits. Rita worked in communications for the company — which she’s now gonna hold accountable? Fox sighting in the regulatory henhouse.
Newman: It was kind of like, well, here we have this great law, but if it doesn’t get implemented, it’s not any good to us.
Tong: Penny — that angry mom — she ain’t having it. So she and her neighbors scrape up some cash.
Newman: I’d never been in an airplane. I’d never been to D.C. So it was a big undertaking and I was the only one to testify against her at her confirmation hearing.
Tong: So Penny testifies. Nothing happens. Rita Lavelle is confirmed. Welcome to Washington.
Newman: I felt like I was being patted on the head and dismissed in a very patronizing way. So I was pretty disgusted with it. But I still had the belief that, okay, people are put in a place to do their job so they will watch them. And so maybe we’ll be okay.
Tong: But there’s this thing about Washington, and I’ve learned this after living in this town for a very long time. See, when a party wins an election, it doesn’t just control the bully pulpit and pick people to run cabinet agencies. It also tilts how those agencies regulate: who they punish. Whether they punish. How they spend their enforcement money. Or their cleanup money.
Jim Tozzi: Elections means something. Okay?
Tong: That’s Jim Tozzi. In the early 80s he works in the White House budget office in the Reagan administration. Tozzi has a lot of power to block regulations deemed too costly. And later, he’ll become a lobbyist for Big Tobacco and other industries. He’s a Washington graybeard. I’ve talked with him plenty of times over the years, and I met him outside to talk politics and regulations.
Tozzi: I’m 84 years old and I’ve seen all this. And maybe I’ve seen too much. Maybe I’m sort of rationalizing what is, instead of trying to change what is okay, but I don’t think you’re going to change the law of gravity and water goes downhill. And I don’t think you’re going to change the idea that regular elections means something and to the extent they can help the people in their party, they’re going to come first, nor do I think anything’s wrong with it. Elections mean something.
Tong: Yeah, Jim Tozzi? He says the quiet stuff super loud.
Tozzi: Rest assured, I’m not changing my mind.
Tong: That I know.
Tozzi: (Laughs) I know this reporter for a long time.
Tong: So, in comes Rita Lavelle, to run a big new government program in a rather free-market sort of way.
Lavelle: I was an ideologue consistent with their ideology. I could be trusted and they could put me in a position of responsibility and I would perform.
Tong: Now, this is about the time she clashes with this resistance we’ve mentioned in past episodes, of these little people on the EPA staff who know where the tunnels are? Let’s just say a lot of them are skeptical of Rita.
Ed Kurent: Rita Lavelle was basically a stamp licker and an envelope stuffer from wherever she came from out in California.
Tong: Attorney Ed Kurent is working on Superfund enforcement when Rita comes in as his boss. Now, we heard from him earlier: Ed’s the one who went up to the big boss agency head Anne Gorsuch who proceeded to tell him she planned to eliminate his job. And now, his new supervisor is Rita Lavelle.
Kurent: This woman was a bimbo. And I say that without any sexist connotation, but it’s the best way I can describe her.
Tong: Side note — can you say bimbo without being sexist?
Kurent: She didn’t have a clue about what was going on. She was being told what to do. She loved bragging about, ‘I was at the White House the other day, I was at, I was over here. I was up on the Hill.’ She was like living this glorified life that somebody had handed somebody who had been stuffing envelopes on the political trail. And she was totally out of her depth. I mean, totally. She wasn’t close to being qualified. She was, she might have, I might not have hired her as a secretary in my division.
Tong: Oof. Okay, Ed Kurent. We get the picture. But for Rita Lavelle, it gets worse. You may recall what Anne Gorsuch said earlier in the series about women in Washington and their appearances?
(Soundbite of Gorsuch: Now, how that is any way related to the public’s right to know about the environment will remain to me at least forever a mystery.)
Tong: Well here is how Anne talks about Rita in her memoir. Here’s the voice of our colleague at Here & Now, producer Jorgelina Manna-Rea.
Jorgelina Manna-Rea: When I first saw Rita Lavelle, I was not favorably impressed. That may sound cruel, but it is the truth. The woman does not make a favorable physical impression. She is overweight, an unnatural blonde and her appearance is blowsy.
Tong: What? This ‘may sound cruel?’ Can we just cringe collectively at this awful commentary about Rita’s appearance? Talk about a double standard. Tell me the last time you heard this about a man. Anyway, Rita Lavelle knows that her staff is whispering about her.
Lavelle: Everybody was laughing at these Reagan appointees, especially, you know, over cocktails and in the bars because, ‘They were outsiders. They thought they knew how to change things and their positions were stupid. They’re just imbeciles. We have to wait for them to get gone. And then, you know, we’ll be back in charge or we can run them in and they think they’re in charge.’ I mean, it was a very, very, very — oh, it was just awful. It was awful.
Tong: There is, of course, a reason for this pushback. Don’t forget, Rita Lavelle is not even a fan of the environmental law that she’s supposed to enforce. And pretty soon, Rita’s in her own toxic mess. Be right back.
Tong: Maybe you’ve noticed by now. Rita Lavelle — she has this conflict of interest. She’s supposed to punish a company that she worked for. Now in Washington, there’s a way to deal with this. It’s called recusal. Simply put, you step aside. Let others take the wheel. You may remember Jeff Sessions did that.
(Soundbite of Jeff Sessions at a news conference: At my confirmation hearing, I promised that I would do this if a specific matter arose where I believed my impartiality might reasonably be questioned, I would consult with the department ethics officials regarding the most appropriate way to proceed.)
Tong: He supported the Trump campaign in 2016. But later, his Justice Department investigated that very campaign for wrongdoing. So, Jeff Sessions recused himself.
(Soundbite of Jeff Sessions at a news conference: I have now decided to recuse myself from any existing or future investigations of any matter relating in any way to the campaigns for president of the United States.)
Tong: Rita Lavelle, in her confirmation hearings, she promises to recuse herself from any cases involving her old company, Aerojet. Now, zip forward — and this date really matters — zip forward to May 28, 1982. Lavelle’s meeting with her staff about going after companies that dumped waste into the Stringfellow Acid Pits in California. And Ed Kurent tells her that Aerojet is one of those companies.
Kurent: As I hope you understand, I was not a guy who just sat in the corner and swallowed everything that was going on. I mean, I would, I would ask them things that they needed to respond to. They needed to understand that, you know, there’s the law and there’s what you want to do. And there are standards by which things get done.
Tong: Now Ed Kurent doesn’t remember a lot of specifics from that meeting. But — fortunately for us — there is a guy who does.
Dick Frandsen: My duties were involved with the oversight responsibilities of the energy and commerce committee over agencies within their jurisdiction, which included the EPA.
Tong: That’s Dick Frandsen, an investigator in Congress. Last episode, we learned how EPA staffers are feeding him inside info about how the agency is not enforcing rules, and how it’s doling out sweetheart deals to chemical companies and oil refineries. Dick Frandsen and his team will later write up what they learn about Rita Lavelle.
Frandsen: She doesn’t leave the meeting after that. The record shows Ed Kurent, who is a, maybe this senior enforcement official there, caught up with her and talked to her and said, ‘You know, this, this raises the issue for you because it’s Aerojet, in terms of your recusal.’ And she says, ‘Oh yeah.’ Or something. And goes on.
Tong: That will be Rita Lavelle’s undoing. See, she should have recused herself as soon as the conflict came up. But three days after this meeting, according to Frandsen’s committee report,: no recusal. In fact, Lavelle even calls a lawyer at Aerojet, to talk about the EPA’s Stringfellow case. This according to EPA staffers who later testify to Congress.
Deb Dalton: She didn’t have a clue.
Tong: Deb Dalton’s a scientist on the EPA Superfund staff. We’ve heard from her before. And Deb writes a critical memo a couple weeks later.
Dalton: My job was to write a memo and explain that for legal reasons, she needed to recuse. She needed to not read anything about it. And we weren’t going to send her anything about it personally, and that she wasn’t supposed to go hang out with anybody from Aerojet. She wasn’t supposed to tell them anything. And so we actually had a meeting, a number of us, to talk about it, to explain it to her, because she didn’t have a clue. You know, and she’s, she’s like, ‘But these are my former colleagues,’ and we’re going, you know …
Tong: That’s the point.
Dalton: That’s the point, right.
Tong: And yet, Rita finally does recuse herself. But not until four days after this meeting. I asked her: ‘Why the delay?’
Lavelle: Aerojet was never, never cited as a responsible party. It was a total lie. Aerojet was never named as the responsible party.
Tong: Responsible party: The legal term for the polluting companies on the hook for the clean-up. At this point, the government is still investigating who the responsible parties might be.
Tong: Are you saying that there was never any intention to name Aerojet as a responsible party?
Lavelle: And they never did. Sorry to raise my voice, but I’m just so irritated over the whole thing. Basically it was a scheme to get me the heck out of Stringfellow because they weren’t performing, Scott. I wanted some people fired because they weren’t performing on the Aerojet situation and a lot of other situations.
Tong: As Rita sees it, she was set up. That is, her staff didn’t want to clean up Stringfellow. And she did. That’s her version. Now Rita is correct about Aerojet. It wasn’t ultimately named as a responsible party. But the point is, she should’ve left the room as soon as her old employer came up. And she didn’t. And the gears of scandal will soon start to turn. Until then, though, Rita has another big problem.
Lavelle: Have you spoken with Kaufman? He’ll speak to anybody.
Tong: How do you solve a problem like Hugh Kaufman? If you live in D.C., you may have seen him on TV.
(Soundbite from archival news: Better known as Rubber Chicken Man… )
Tong: Rubber Chicken Man. Yeah, let’s explain: Hugh Kaufman is a huge fan of the Washington Nationals baseball team. Full disclosure, so am I. But, I don’t end up on TV the way Hugh Kaufman does.
(Soundbite of Hugh Kaufman from blog: I’ve been following the Nats since the 1940s. And they were always in last place. But then they started to wobble a little bit. So I said, we have to have a chicken sacrifice. I realized that they would throw me out of the stadium if we did a real chicken so I got a rubber chicken.)
Tong: And, yes. To appease the baseball gods, he pretends to sacrifice this pretend chicken. That’s how Hugh gets on TV. And to his credit, that’s just the kind of guy he is even pushing 80 -years -old.
Kaufman: You know, I’m a bit of a hambone.
Tong: Kaufman has spent his career at the EPA, working on toxic waste issues going back to its creation during the Nixon administration. And when he thinks the agency has gone soft, he blabs about it. No matter who’s in charge. One might say Rubber Chicken Man started his whistleblowing career under Jimmy Carter, raising red flags about a toxic site called Love Canal.
(Soundbite from documentary:
Brit Hume: As a matter of official responsibility, how do you characterize that kind of an action and attitude.
Kaufman: Despicable. It’s just, it’s just unconscionable.)
Tong: A guy saying the government is being unconscionable on TV is definitely gonna have Rita Lavelle in his crosshairs. He talks smack to the press about how she’s underqualified — and she is not having it.
Lavelle: Kaufman was running around the country and holding press conferences on his own when supposedly on personal leave, right. And hold conferences and say stuff like, um, ‘EPA is not telling you, but your groundwater and your drinking water is poisoned. And I know this. I’m an EPA official and they’re trying to silence me, but I’m here to help you anyway.’ And he’d go on and on in these press conferences, of course the press eat it up without doing any sort of homework.
Tong: Rita tells me that someone else at the EPA — a former Carter administration appointee — told her to watch out for Hugh Kaufman. And to be honest, based on many interviews, Hugh Kaufman does not seem to have a lot of friends in the agency.
Lavelle: So it was a bipartisan, ‘This idiot has to go.’ So I started looking at this, I went, ‘Oh my God, there’s gotta be some way to silence him or get him to reel it in and start, you know, let’s get him busy.’ I wasn’t out to terminate him so much as I was trying to box him.
Tong: Wasn’t trying to terminate him? Well, Hugh Kaufman goes on a work trip to give a speech in Meadville, Pennsylvania. And according to Kaufman, the Reaganites?
Kaufman: They had agents following me to see if I was doing something illegal or something embarrassing that they could use to shut me up. And they found that I went to a motel with a woman.
Tong: Busted. Hugh Kaufman is having an affair on the EPA’s dime! Now that’s evidence you can use to fire somebody. Mission accomplished.
Tong: They thought they had you.
Kaufman: They thought they had me. Exactly. It was my wife.
Tong: Oops. Not Hugh’s sidepiece. It was his wife. She just has a different last name from him. No funny business. Hugh Kaufman thinks Rita Lavelle is behind all of this. So you can imagine what he thinks of her.
Kaufman: And she was strong, but in a different way. Not intellectually strong, not strong as a person who has a deep understanding of things, but strong, more like a sociopath.
Tong: Rita admits to us that she was trying to dig up dirt on Kaufman to follow up on accusations he had abused his sick leave.
Lavelle: I said, okay, let’s look at his phone records, see what he’s doing, and is any of it on EPA time and blah, blah, blah.
Tong: Ultimately, an investigation by the Labor Department sides with Hugh Kaufman, finding that Rita Lavelle — among others — ordered surveillance of him that interfered with his First Amendment rights. One of the sites Hugh was using his freedom to speak about, back in the summer of 1982, is the site where Rita Lavelle has this conflict of interest: the Stringfellow Acid Pits. By now, Rita has recused herself. So she’s not on the Stringfellow case anymore. But controversy? It sticks around. See, at EPA headquarters, staffers are still working to clean up the site, despite less than ideal office conditions. We’ve told you in previous episodes, these are not deluxe digs. Heidi Hughes [Heidi Hughes Bumpers] is an EPA staff lawyer at the time.
Heidi Hughes Bumpers: Every time it rained, you had to put tarps over your desk because the roof leaked and we had original documents that we were working with original, you know, litigation documents. And you had to make sure that, you know, if you were gone over the weekend and there was a lot of rain that rained didn’t come down.
Tong: Heidi has a bigger mess on her hands: Stringfellow.
Hughes Bumpers: It was a terrible problem. And the, you know, groundwater contamination and the plume that was leaving the site, the toxic materials that were leaving the site in that plume was at some very high concentrations. And it was a site that needed immediate attention.
Tong: By the summer of 1982, Heidi and her colleagues have a detailed plan to clean up the site. But then Anne halts the money.
Hughes Bumpers: There was discussion about delaying that funding until after the November 1982 elections, because they didn’t want the California delegation or the California governor to get credit for the cleanup of the site.
Tong: In other words, they didn’t want to give the Democratic governor, Jerry Brown, a political win on the environment. According to Dick Frandsen, the Congressional investigator, this is how Anne Gorsuch put it.
Frandsen: On Aug. 4, 1982, Administrator Gorsuch, during a luncheon aboard the presidential yacht with senior administration officials reportedly said, ‘I’ll be damned if I’m going to let Brown, the governor of California, take credit for that,’ in reference to the Stringfellow cleanup.
Tong: By now, a lot of committees in Congress have been asking the EPA a lot of questions about Superfund. And the EPA is responding. But when they ask about the delay at Stringfellow , and a few other sites, the information stops. Here’s Congressman Elliot Levitas, a Democrat from Georgia.
Levitas: When the top people in the agency come out of their seclusion in high-rise buildings and take an active role in shutting down or trying to shut down a congressional investigation, you know, something’s wrong. You can smell the rat.
Tong: Congress picks up the chase. That’s next on Captured.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-09-16/rita-when-the-reagan-administration-tapped-an-unlikely-candidate-to-take-care-of-toxic-waste
| 2022-09-16T17:16:47Z
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HOUSTON — A Texas board on Thursday declined a request that George Floyd be granted a posthumous pardon for a 2004 drug arrest made by a now-indicted ex-Houston police officer whose case history is under scrutiny following a deadly drug raid.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles in October 2021 had initially decided to unanimously recommend that Floyd become just the second person in Texas since 2010 to receive a posthumous pardon from the governor.
But before Texas Gov. Greg Abbott could make a final decision in the case, the board in December reversed its decision, saying that "procedural errors" were found in its initial recommendation in Floyd's case and it needed to reconsider more than a third of a group of 67 clemency applications it had sent to Abbott.
"After a full and careful review of the application and other information filed with the application, a majority of the Board decided not to recommend a Full Pardon and/or Pardon for Innocence," the board wrote in a letter it sent Thursday to Floyd's attorney, Allison Mathis, with the Harris County Public Defender's Office in Houston.
In its letter, the board said another request for a posthumous pardon for Floyd could be submitted again in two years. The letter did not specify why the board had denied the request.
The board's decision was first made public Thursday by a reporter with The Marshall Project.
Mathis and a spokesperson for the paroles board did not immediately return emails or calls seeking comment.
Mathis had first submitted the pardon request in April 2021.
Floyd, who was Black, grew up and was laid to rest in Houston. In June 2021, former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison for Floyd's killing, which led to a national reckoning in the U.S. over race and policing.
Years before his May 2020 killing, Floyd was arrested in Houston in February 2004 by former police officer Gerald Goines for selling $10 worth of crack in a police sting. Floyd later pleaded guilty to a drug charge and was sentenced to 10 months in a state jail.
Goines is now facing two counts of felony murder, as well as other charges in both state and federal court, for a deadly 2019 drug raid in which Dennis Tuttle, 59, and his wife, Rhogena Nicholas, 58, were killed.
Prosecutors allege Goines lied to obtain the warrant to search the couple's home by claiming that a confidential informant had bought heroin there. Goines later said there was no informant and that he had bought the drugs himself, they allege. Prosecutors have accused Goines of making up informants in other cases as well.
"We supported George Floyd's pardon because we do not have confidence in the integrity of his conviction. We support clemency because it is appropriate," Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said Thursday.
About 150 drug convictions tied to Goines have since been dismissed by prosecutors. Earlier this month, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered that a fifth conviction tied to Goines be overturned.
Goines has maintained his innocence and his lawyer is fighting the charges.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-09-16/texas-denies-a-posthumous-pardon-for-george-floyd-over-a-drug-charge
| 2022-09-16T17:16:54Z
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What are your chances of catching monkeypox?
It's a question that many people are asking.
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A global outbreak of this infectious disease began in May of this year and has spread to 50 countries – along with some inflammatory headlines and misinformation. While previous cases of monkeypox were typically transmitted from animals (mainly rodents) to people, it is clear now that most cases are the result of human-to-human transmission.
The concerns about catching monkeypox come at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is still in force, with over 300,000 cases reported daily across the globe and over 10,000 deaths per week.
So how can people get a clear idea of what their chances are of contracting monkeypox?
Data for this current outbreak is preliminary and prone to underreporting (which is the case for many infectious diseases, including malaria, cholera and of course COVID-19). Not all states report comprehensive demographic information on monkeypox cases and testing availability to diagnose the disease is limited.
How we crunched the numbers
But there are ways to determine how much of a risk monkeypox poses to the general population and to certain segments of that population.
Risk of disease is typically expressed as 1 out of a larger number. For example, approximately 1 in 8 women are at risk of contracting breast cancer, which is a remarkably high risk factor. Such calculations are typically based upon data collected over the course of a year and in where the number of people contracting the disease is relatively predictable.
When a disease is contagious, the risks can be even higher – or can also be far lower, depending on many issues, like how it spreads.
We don't have a whole year's worth of monkeypox data to look over for this current outbreak. And global case rates were lower in May than they were in August. Since the latter month reflects current spread, we've restricted our monkeypox calculations to available data from mid-July through August when cases began peaking.
Working with Bill Jesdale, an epidemiologist at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, we crunched the U.S. numbers available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to give people a better sense of how to assess the potential impact of monkeypox on their lives. Then we looked at other more familiar diseases and threats so the monkeypox risks could be compared to COVID-19, death in a car crash and shark attacks, which of course are extremely rare (despite their prominence in the media).
What we know about monkeypox
Let's break it all down.
In this current outbreak, experts say that monkeypox is a disease predominantly spread through sexual networks of men who have sex with men. Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men are the high-risk group, and of the roughly 8 million men who have sex with men in the U.S., approximately 1 in every 750 caught monkeypox in the month of August. That group is about 350 times more likely to catch monkeypox than women or heterosexual men who are a part of the low-risk group and whose chances of catching monkeypox last month were about 1 in 260,000.
Gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men were also more likely to catch monkeypox in August than to have been hospitalized with COVID-19 if they were fully vaccinated or to have died in a car crash last year.
Monkeypox is mainly spread among sexual networks where individuals may have multiple sex partners. Indeed, the CDC estimates that half of monkeypox cases in the U.S. are spread through what it characterizes as "one-time sexual partnerships." So the risk is much lower for gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men but do not have multiple partners or who are not sexually active.
And there are ways for the high-risk population to lower the risk. For men who have sex with men, the CDC says that reducing the number of sexual partners and one-time partnerships can greatly lower an individual's risk of catching monkeypox, according to a recently released study. Beyond that, getting vaccinated will also reduce your risk, though vaccination isn't 100% guaranteed to prevent an infection. The CDC (and other global health agencies) have additional information on how you can stay safe.
Now, if you're a parent who's worried about your children catching monkeypox, you can probably take a breather. The CDC reports that 17 children from ages 15 or younger have caught monkeypox in the U.S. last month — out of a population of over 60 million children. So the chances your child will catch monkeypox are about 1 in 3.5 million. That's more likely to happen than being attacked by a shark (roughly 1 in 110 million) but is still highly unlikely.
There is little available information about how those 17 children got monkeypox. In one New York City case, government officials suggest the child got monkeypox from an adult in their household who had the virus but additional details were not provided. Regardless, federal officials are finding that the cases happening outside of the high-risk group aren't leading to ongoing spread.
For people in Nigeria, where it's believed this outbreak of monkeypox began, only about 1 in 2 million people in the general population caught monkeypox from mid-July to mid-August. Even if you're not in the high-risk population here in the U.S., you're still at a higher risk than the average person in Nigeria. Officials from the Nigerian CDC claim that there is currently no evidence of ongoing sexual transmission of monkeypox in the country.
And it's clear when comparing monkeypox to COVID that most people still have a greater risk of being affected by COVID. The CDC estimates that more than half of the U.S. population has had a previous COVID infection. Your risk of being severely affected by COVID moving forward is dependent on your age, vaccination status, and whether you've had a previous infection, but there are still far more daily cases of COVID than there are monkeypox. Roughly 1 in 4,000 vaccinated individuals are ending up in the hospital with COVID each month. That's mostly people who are aged 65 or older. For those under 65 who are vaccinated, the risk of hospitalization is closer to 1 in 10,000.
Now with all that said, it appears that monkeypox cases in the U.S. are beginning to decline and that a slightly greater percentage of cases are occurring in people in the low-risk category for reasons that aren't yet clear. We took that into consideration during our consultation with epidemiologist Bill Jesdale, but he says that the modest shift in the demographic makeup of monkeypox cases is likely a result of how people are reporting their sexual orientation and behaviors — and that the way the disease is being transmitted has not changed.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-09-16/what-are-your-chances-of-catching-monkeypox
| 2022-09-16T17:17:00Z
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KABUL, Afghanistan – In the year since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, they have used their muscle to restrict the education and curiosity of girls. They've been banned from high school, told to cover up and stay home. But in one secret book club in Kabul, about a dozen teenagers are defying the Taliban to continue learning – and along the way have connected to a girl from a different time and place who was also forced to live her life in secret.
"She had hope. She was fighting. She was studying. She was resisting her fate," says Zahra. She's in the basement of a building on a side alley on the outskirts of Kabul where the book club met on a recent August day with two young volunteers who act as facilitators, steering the conversation and asking questions.
Zahra is speaking of Anne Frank.
The girls are reading and discussing the teenager's famous diary, which she began writing at age 13. And they are struck by the parallels: Just like them, Anne was only a kid – one who was starting to learn about the world – when she was forced into hiding because of a violent, oppressive government.
Another book club member summarizes the diary at a facilitator's urging: "In the beginning Anne has a good life, but after Hitler takes over, he places strict laws and regulations against Jews. They go into hiding. They can't make noise. They have to walk softly."
Four volunteers set up this weekly book club for teenage girls shortly after the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August last year.
(NPR is only using the first names of the girls to protect them from any Taliban reprisals for violating the education ban and not identifying the club's organizers, who fear the Taliban could shut down the book club and punish them for educating the girls.)
The origins of the secret book club
The girls in this book club come from a heart-wrenching cohort: Nearly all of them have survived suicide bombings over the past few years. Some were wounded; others suffered psychological harm. Some lost family. They lost friends. They all belong to a persecuted ethnic minority called Hazaras. Living under the Taliban's rule has added to their hardships..
The four volunteers are young men and women who have worked in education and community service for years. They hope the girls will be able to process the events of their own lives through reading and talking about the classics of Persian and Western literature, translated into Farsi.
"We come here, we talk about the books, and then we understand ourselves, our thoughts," says one of the young book club members, Arzou. "It is like, so amazing."
Some of the books are intended to show the girls how other minorities have survived persecution – or not – through personal stories of resistance and suffering, like Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl and The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.
Bringing a Jewish voice to Kabul
It is a remarkable effort in a culture and region where there have been no substantial Jewish communities for decades and where clerics have often maligned Jews, without evidence, as seeking to undermine Muslim communities and Islam itself.
But the Hazara volunteers who lead this book club understand the European Jewish experience differently: a minority that was once unspeakably persecuted as part of the Nazi effort to exterminate the Jewish people, with millions killed, but which has since thrived. They hope the girls will see that too.
Volunteers who facilitate the book club assigned Frank's diary to the girls in late July. They agreed to meet weeks later with NPR to talk about it.
The book, which has been translated into over 70 languages and sold some 30 million copies, was translated into Farsi by a 61-year-old Afghan refugee named Khalil Wedad who lives in the Netherlands.
Wedad said when he first came across the book in a class he attended on Dutch language and culture, he was taken by how Anne Frank's story of a girl in hiding resonated with the experience of many Afghans living through decades of war. He hoped that if he were to translate the book, Afghan girls would see themselves in her story.
Wedad told NPR that he was supported by the Anne Frank House, which oversaw the translation and paid for publishing about 1,500 copies.
"At first it may seem surprising that these girls relate so powerfully to Anne Frank, but for young people who experience terror and oppression who have to hide for their lives, there's somehow comfort to know they're not alone," says Doyle Stevick, executive director of the Anne Frank Center at the University of South Carolina. (The center is the official partner of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam).
"The diary helps us recall our common humanity no matter what our differences may be," Stevick says. "Anne's strong spirited determination not to give into despair has inspired people around the world."
In 2005, after the Farsi edition of the book was published, Wedad said he traveled back to Afghanistan and held small meetings with journalists and civil society activists to introduce the book. He even held readings with Afghan teenage girls.
Wedad said he hadn't heard about the secret book club but was pleased to learn that young Afghan women are finding meaning in Anne Frank's story. "It feels like his mission was kind of fulfilled," Wedad's son Khaled told NPR, translating for his dad, who does not speak English.
'I think Anne Frank is ... a friend for me.'
Arzou, one of the book club participants, said it was the first time they had read the firsthand account of a teenage girl living through extreme hardship. "I think Anne Frank is like, as a friend for me," she said.
"Something is in common with me and Anne Frank," Arzou says. "We are both the victims of war. I mean, Anne Frank is suffering from war and I am too. And Anne Frank cannot go to school, cannot, like go out very freely. And I have the same situation."
Like Anne Frank, Arzou says, "we are just in a dark place and there isn't any light," she says. "And we don't understand what would come after this."
Before the Taliban came to power, Arzou says her grades were so high that she expected to apply to colleges abroad to study computer science. That dream is over.
She's 17, but her hair is streaked with gray – a startling sight set against the pimples on her teenage face. She thinks the grays are because she holds in the suffering she's experienced.
But she says she's learning that other people, like the Jews of Europe, like Anne Frank, lived through worse.
"I found the Anne Frank situation more harder than us," Arzou says. "They cannot go out, and every minute they are thinking of being free, but in the end, they even die. So if I think of my situation. I am very grateful because I have these people that I can share my ideas with. We can gather together and talk about anything that we want."
Another girl, 17-year-old Masouma, wearing a lavender headscarf and purple robe, raises her hand to talk. She says she relates to how Anne Frank faced the real fear that she'd be killed even as she wrote about her typical teenage problems, including her crush on a teenage boy who shared their hiding place and her clashes with her mother.
"I loved the whole book. It was like a friend of mine telling me her pain, her stories. When she called her diary Kitty, I smiled and I imagined that I was Kitty, and that we are best friends," Masouma says smiling.
Masouma is referring to this moment in Frank's diary: "All I think about when I'm with friends is having a good time. I can't bring myself to talk about anything but ordinary everyday things. We don't seem to be able to get any closer and that's the problem. Maybe it's my fault that we don't confide in each other. In any case, that's just how things are, and unfortunately they're not liable to change. This is why I've started the diary."
"To enhance the image of this long-awaited friend in my imagination, I don't want to jot down the facts in this diary the way most people would do, but I want the diary to be my friend, and I'm going to call this friend Kitty."
Masouma says she admires Anne Frank for trying to have a sense of perspective: She was sad because she couldn't go to school in hiding. But she knew it was worse out in the world. She wrote in her diary in 1942 about Jews being transported to camps: "We assume that most of them are being murdered. The English radio says they're being gassed. Perhaps that's the quickest way to die."
And she says, Anne Frank didn't give up on education. She tried to continue her education in secret, even taking a shorthand course by correspondence. Masouma is trying to keep up her education as well.
Despite the Taliban's ban on secondary education for girls, Masouma and other girls were sneaking into a high school that was secretly letting them attend the boys-only classes. They were ducking into the school gate in tiny numbers, hoping they wouldn't be noticed.
"But there were too many of us," Masouma says. She says the school principal feared local Taliban security forces would notice the girls coming in and out, and so they were told to go home. "The girls were all crying," Masouma recalls. "My sister is still traumatized and now she doesn't want to try to get an education."
Masouma and the other girls say they find comfort in Anne Frank's diary, even though they know how it ends. Anne Frank died of typhus in 1945 in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp after her family was betrayed and their hiding place revealed. She was 16.
Zahra, the young woman who described Anne Frank as resisting her fate, says knowing the end didn't depress her at all. "Nobody knows how long I will live, or when I will die," she shrugs. "The only thing you can do is leave something behind for the world that gives your life meaning."
Like Anne Frank, who left behind her diary, published in 1947.
"Right now, the Taliban are in power," Zahra says. "One day, they will be gone. Maybe people will forget what they did to girls like me."
She says that she wants to write a book as Anne Frank did so the world will know about the teenage girls of Afghanistan as well.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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https://www.keranews.org/2022-09-11/anne-franks-words-resonate-in-a-secret-kabul-book-club-for-girls
| 2022-09-16T17:27:03Z
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Updated September 15, 2022 at 3:56 PM ET
One of Ukraine's leading ballet artists is being remembered as a "courageous romantic" after being killed on the battlefield.
The National Opera of Ukraine announced, with "indescribable sadness," the death of Oleksandr Shapoval, one of the company's former principal dancers and a teacher at Kyiv State Choreographic College.
Shapoval died Monday at the age of 48 "under enemy mortar shelling," according to the statement.
"He was the soul of the ballet team," says prima ballerina Christina Shishpor who met Shapoval 22 years ago. She was a teenager when they danced the leads in Swan Lake, their first ballet together. "When I was nervous before going on the stage, he always supported me," she remembers. "He was a reliable partner, a reliable friend, a sincere human being."
Within days of Russia's invasion, Shapoval volunteered to serve in Ukraine's territorial defense, helping to protect Kyiv's Left Bank. He then learned how to launch grenades. According to The National Opera of Ukraine, his unit was recently transferred to one of "the hottest zones" in the war-torn country. Citing the media outlet Ukraina Moloda, The Kyiv Independent reports that Shapoval was killed in the battle of Majorsk in the Donetsk region.
Shishpor was not at all surprised Shapoval volunteered to fight.
"It was to be expected," she says. "Everyone understood that he would give his duty for our people, for our country, for our children. He was always standing on the side of justice. He was a patriot."
Shapoval was an "Honored Artist of Ukraine," an official award given for high achievement in the performing arts. Over the course of 28 seasons, he performed some 30 different roles. "He charmed them with his bright and beautiful, romantic and heroic dance, impeccable skill and deep conviction of every image he created on stage," the company writes.
Renowned Russian-American choreographer Alexei Ratmansky paid tribute to Shapoval on Facebook. Ratmansky's United Ukrainian Ballet Company is made up of some 60 Ukrainian refugee artists.
"Many of our dancers were friends with him, worked or studied with him," Ratmansky writes, "I remember Sasha so well, he danced in my first ballets in Kyiv. He died defending his land with arms in his hands. Eternal memory and gratitude to the Hero!"
Ratmansky also expressed his outrage. "Damn war, damn Russian aggression that brings death and destruction!!"
Another artist with The National Opera of Ukraine, Artem Datsyshyn, was killed in March.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
⚡️Ukrainian National Opera ballet dancer Oleksandr Shapoval killed in combat.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) September 12, 2022
Shapoval, ballet soloist and Honored Artist of Ukraine, was killed near Maiorske, Donetsk Oblast on Sept. 12, said Valentyna Samchenko, deputy editor-in-chief of the Ukraina Moloda media outlet. pic.twitter.com/aohR92cWKY
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https://www.keranews.org/2022-09-13/ukrainian-ballet-dancer-oleksandr-shapoval-is-killed-on-the-battlefield
| 2022-09-16T17:27:09Z
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Gov. Jim Justice signs bill banning most abortions in West Virginia
Published: Sep. 16, 2022 at 12:08 PM EDT|Updated: 2 hours ago
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -West Virginia Governor Jim Justice has signed a bill that places a near total ban on abortion in the state.
He made the announcement this morning during a press conference.
The state legislature passed the bill earlier this week.
The legislation bans abortion except for cases where the embryo or fetus in nonviable, the pregnancy is ectopic, a medical emergency exists, or within eight weeks of a pregnancy caused by sexual assault or incest for an adult (14 weeks for an minor).
The law also prohibits the use of telemedicine to prescribe any drug that would induce an abortion.
Copyright 2022 WSAZ. All rights reserved.
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https://www.whsv.com/2022/09/16/gov-jim-justice-signs-bill-banning-most-abortions-west-virginia/
| 2022-09-16T17:58:13Z
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Moms nationwide share Black daughters’ reactions to ‘The Little Mermaid’ clip
(Gray News) – After Disney released its first teaser trailer for the upcoming live action “The Little Mermaid” starring a Black actress as Ariel, parents shared their young Black daughters’ emotional reactions to seeing the mermaid for the first time.
Disney released the clip last week showing 22-year-old Halle Bailey as Ariel. The decision to cast a Black actress in the role has caused some uproar, with some arguing that Ariel in the original “The Little Mermaid” animated film is white with red hair.
But parents of young Black girls are taking to social media to show the positive impact a Black Ariel has already made on their daughters.
One Oregon mom shared a video on TikTok of her daughter watching the trailer for the first time, with the girl enthusiastically shouting, “She’s Black! Mama! She’s Black!”
Another mom in North Carolina shared a TikTok video of her daughter’s reaction, with the caption, “This made my whole entire day; she loves Ariel!!!” Her daughter watches the trailer with her jaw dropped and immediately says she wants to see the movie.
A mom in Georgia shared a TikTok video of her daughter saying, shocked, “She’s Black!” when seeing the clip for the first time.
Hundreds of similar videos have been shared, with comments on TikTok reading, “That right there is the reason ours babies need to see representation! That was such a beautiful moment for her!” and “I’ve been waiting my entire life for a little mermaid that looks like me.”
“The Little Mermaid” hits theaters May 26.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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https://www.whsv.com/2022/09/16/moms-nationwide-share-black-daughters-reactions-little-mermaid-clip/
| 2022-09-16T17:58:19Z
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https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/former-young-at-heart-head-arrested-for-allegedly-embezzling-2m/article_f8b46976-356c-11ed-9202-bbce99468dfd.html
| 2022-09-16T18:14:10Z
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3 children die in Louisiana house fire
Published: Sep. 16, 2022 at 12:45 PM EDT|Updated: 1 hour ago
GRETNA, La. (WVUE/Gray News) - Three siblings have died after a house caught fire in Louisiana, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.
The fire broke out around 9: 30 a.m. Friday in Gretna.
A 15-year-old girl was pronounced dead on the scene. Officials said an 8-year-old and a 2-year-old were rushed to the hospital where they both died from their injuries.
Family members say the 15-year-old was babysitting her two brothers. Relatives said the victims’ mother is inconsolable.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined. Several agencies responded to the scene.
Copyright 2022 WVUE via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/09/16/3-children-die-louisiana-house-fire/
| 2022-09-16T18:14:11Z
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ROCK SPRINGS — The University of Wyoming American Heritage Center (AHC), along with other entities, is sponsoring the Cowboy State tour of “A Sissy in Wyoming,” a playwright’s reading based on the remarkable life of Wyoming educator, Vietnam veteran, activist and cross-dresser Larry “Sissy” Goodwin, who died in 2020.
The reading will take place in the lobby of the Broadway Theater in Downtown Rock Springs, Oct. 6, at 6 p.m.
Written and read by Los Angeles-based playwright Gregory Hinton , who was born in Montana and raised in Cody, the play is drawn from oral interviews with Sissy’s wife, author and activist Vickie Jones Goodwin. The interview was conducted by AHC Simpson Institute Archivist Leslie Waggener.
“’A Sissy in Wyoming’ is a triumph of will, a cry for courage and a remarkable Cowboy State love story spanning 50 years,” said Hinton.
Hinton, producer of the national education initiative “Out West,” co-founded “Out West in the Rockies” with the AHC in 2015 as a regional LGBTQ archive of the American West.
Additional funding for the statewide tour comes from Wyoming Humanities, the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, the Wyoming Arts Council and the Wyoming State Historical Society. The tour is timed to coincide with National LGBTQ History Month in October.
“Sissy Goodwin was a longtime Douglas resident, technology educator and Air Force veteran. As a father, he knew the importance of setting a good example for his children and standing up for what he believed in,” AHC Director Paul Flesher says. “Sissy was a cross-dresser for many decades and often posed the question why society accepted women wearing jeans, but not men wearing dresses.”
The play debuted as part of Casper’s Nicolaysen Art Museum public programming during the acclaimed 2021 exhibition titled “The Fabric of His Life — The Story of Larry ‘Sissy’ Goodwin.”
“I am so excited to be working with Gregory Hinton and the AHC to travel Wyoming with my husband’s story,” Jones Goodwin says.
All performances are free to the public or for a nominal fee at each venue. A question-and-answer discussion about the themes of “A Sissy in Wyoming” will feature Hinton and Jones Goodwin, along with local moderators, following each reading.
The rest of the statewide schedule is:
Cheyenne, Lincoln Theatre, Sunday, Oct. 2, 3 p.m.
Sheridan Public Library, Monday, Oct. 3, 4 p.m.
Cody, Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Tuesday, Oct. 4, 6 p.m.
Jackson, National Museum of Wildlife Art, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 6 p.m.
Rock Springs, Broadway Theater, Thursday, Oct. 6, 6 p.m.
Riverton, Central Wyoming College, Robert A. Peck Arts Center, Friday, Oct. 7, 6 p.m.
The Rock Springs Main Street/Urban Renewal Agency is charged with the redevelopment of downtown Rock Springs. As part of their mission, there are three standing committees – Business Development, Promotions and Arts and Culture. For more information on the program, contact the Rock Springs Main Street/Urban Renewal Agency at 307-352-1434 or visit their website at downtownrs.com.
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https://www.wyomingnews.com/rocketminer/broadway-theater-hosts-reading-of-a-sissy-in-wyoming/article_f862cf32-3506-11ed-a648-af7bf1d7bfdb.html
| 2022-09-16T18:14:16Z
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