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timestamp[us, tz=UTC]date 2022-04-01 01:00:57
2022-09-19 04:34:04
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CHEYENNE – A New Zealand-based fencing and wire machinery manufacturer has decided its North American hub will be located in Cheyenne.
UMC Technology Ltd. specializes in the manufacturing of wire fence fabrication machinery. The company recently released a patented new product: the Fence Lokk Machine, or FLM, series.
"Their FLM machine is the only fabricated fence machine in the world capable of producing two different types of fence knot with the same machine," a news release from economic development organization Cheyenne LEADS explained. "Combining decades of experience and innovation, UMC has been able to deliver a high-speed, versatile, state-of-the-art machine with integrated safety and wide-ranging functionality."
This new machine was the "result of widespread consultation with the fencing industry," and created a fencing machine that saves time and money for manufacturers, the news release said.
The company's Cheyenne location – its first in the U.S. – will create 10 jobs, with more planned in the future, according to the release.
The announcement was made Friday by Gov. Mark Gordon at the Cheyenne LEADS annual meeting and banquet, held at Little America Hotel & Resort.
The facility will be located in the Cheyenne LEADS-owned North Range Business Park just west of Cheyenne. UMC plans to begin construction of the 20,000-square-foot facility this summer.
"After the decision was made to set up a North America location, and careful consideration was given, UMC made the decision to choose the state of Wyoming for its manufacturing and sales facility," the release said.
The company's leadership apparently identified many similarities between New Zealand and Wyoming.
"The people are very friendly and hardworking, and the geography similar," UMC CEO Mark Ullrich said in the release. "We felt right at home from the first visit to Cheyenne last year."
Company leaders met with LEADS on their first visit to Cheyenne in late 2021, according to the release.
"It wasn’t long after that initial meeting we committed to Cheyenne," Ullrich said. "There was a lot of support from the LEADS staff, along with the LEADS board to make our move to Cheyenne a reality."
The manufacturing company "intends to be an American company, and fully immerse themselves in the community and commit to the people in the area," the release said.
"UMC Technology Ltd. is a perfect fit for Cheyenne and the state of Wyoming," Cheyenne LEADS CEO Betsey Hale said in the release. "UMC is a family-owned company that provides quality jobs, great benefits and will be an active member of the community."
Mayor Patrick Collins told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle on Monday that the company's move "validates" the city's efforts to become an attractive location for business and for manufacturing. He emphasized LEADS' role in attracting and working with businesses looking to expand or relocate, calling the economic development entity the city's "biggest cheerleader."
Collins also mentioned the announcement last November that sporting goods manufacturer Wright & McGill, producer of Eagle Claw fishing tackle, would open a plant in Cheyenne in the coming years. LEADS was also instrumental in that arrangement.
"When (CEO Mark Ullrich) articulated the reasons he wanted to come to Cheyenne, to me, that's just such an important victory for us," the mayor said. "What I think is going to happen is, the more of these (businesses) we get, the more the story gets out there that people need to look at Cheyenne."
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https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyomingbusinessreport/industry_news/manufacturing/new-zealand-machinery-manufacturer-coming-to-cheyenne/article_6308f2ca-ba88-11ec-aeb5-9f8d9852e0e8.html
| 2022-04-12T18:31:31Z
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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is visiting corn-rich Iowa on Tuesday to announce he’ll suspend a federal rule preventing the sale of higher ethanol blend gasoline this summer, as his administration tries to tamp down prices at the pump that have spiked during Russia’s war with Ukraine.
Most gasoline sold in the U.S. is blended with 10% ethanol. The Environmental Protection Agency will issue an emergency waiver to allow widespread sale of 15% ethanol blend that is usually prohibited between June 1 and Sept. 15 because of concerns that it adds to smog in high temperatures.
Senior Biden administration officials said the move will save drivers an average of 10 cents per gallon at 2,300 gas stations. Those stations are mostly in the Midwest and the South, including Texas, according to industry groups.
The move comes as Biden is facing growing political pressure over inflation, as new data Tuesday showed prices are rising at the fastest pace in more than 40 years, driven in part by soaring energy prices during the Russia-Ukraine war. The Labor Department said Tuesday that its consumer price index jumped 8.5% in March from 12 months earlier, the biggest year-over-year increase since December 1981.
Gas prices accounted for more than half of the monthly jump in prices. Food and housing costs also climbed in March in ways that could weigh on families. Inflation began to accelerate last year amid robust hiring after the passage of Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, a challenge for U.S. consumers that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine then amplified.
Administration officials said the EPA has begun analyzing the “emergency” step of allowing more E15 gasoline sales for the summer and determined it is not likely to have significant on-the-ground air quality impacts. That’s despite some environmentalists long arguing that more ethanol in gas increases pollution, especially during warmer summer months.
Biden is to announce the move at a biofuel company in Menlo, west of Des Moines. Iowa is the country’s largest producer of corn, key to producing ethanol.
The waiver is another effort to help ease global energy markets that have been rocked since Russia invaded Ukraine. Last month, the president announced the U.S. will release 1 million barrels of oil per day from the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve over the next six months. His administration said that has helped to slightly reduce gas prices lately, after they climbed to an average of about $4.23 a gallon by the end of March, compared with $2.87 at the same time a year ago, according to AAA.
“Not only is this decision a major win for American drivers and our nation’s energy security, it means cleaner options at the pump and a stronger rural economy,” Emily Skor, CEO of the biofuel trade association group Growth Energy, said in a statement.
Members of Congress from both parties also had urged Biden to grant the E15 waiver.
“Homegrown Iowa biofuels provide a quick and clean solution for lowering prices at the pump and bolstering production would help us become energy independent once again,″ said Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley. He was among nine Republican and seven Democratic senators from Midwestern states who sent Biden a letter last month urging him to allow year-round E15 sales.
The trip will be Biden’s first as president to Iowa, where his 2020 presidential campaign limped to a fourth-place finish in the state’s technologically glitchy caucus.
After bouncing back to win the Democratic nomination, Biden returned for a rally at the Iowa state fairgrounds four days before Election Day 2020, only to see Donald Trump win the state by 8 percentage points.
Biden heads back to the state at a moment when he’s facing yet more political peril. He’s saddled with sagging approval ratings and inflation at a 40-year high while his party faces the prospect of big midterm election losses that could cost it control of Congress.
The president also planned to promote his economic plans to help rural families struggling with higher costs, while highlighting the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law enacted last fall. The law includes money to improve internet access, as well as for modernizing wastewater systems, reducing flooding threats and improving roads and bridges, drinking water and electric grids in sparsely populated areas.
“Part of it is showing up in communities of all sizes, regardless of the results of the last election,” said Jesse Harris, who was a senior adviser to Biden’s 2020 campaign in Iowa and directed get out the vote and early voting efforts for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008.
Harris said most presidents who visit Iowa typically go to the state’s largest cities. Hitting an area like Menlo, part of Guthrie County, which backed Trump over Biden by 35 percentage points in 2020, “does speak to the importance the administration places on infrastructure broadly but also infrastructure in rural and smaller communities.”
The Biden administration plans to spend the coming weeks pushing billions of dollars in funding for rural areas. Cabinet members and other senior officials will travel the country to help communities get access to money available as part of the infrastructure package.
“The president is not making this trip through a political prism,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. “He’s making this trip because Iowa is a rural state in the country that would benefit greatly from the president’s policies.”
Still, administration officials have long suggested that Biden travel more to promote an economy that is rebounding from the setbacks of the coronavirus pandemic. The number of Americans collecting unemployment has fallen to the lowest levels since 1970, for example.
But much of the positive jobs news nationally has been overshadowed by surging gas, food and housing prices that have offset wage gains.
“Maybe a trip back to Iowa will be just what Joe Biden needs to understand what his reckless spending, big government policies are doing to our country,” Iowa Republican Party Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said in a statement.
After Iowa, Biden will visit Greensboro, North Carolina, on Thursday.
Psaki blamed Russia’s war in Ukraine for helping to drive up gas prices and said the administration expects the consumer price index for March to be “extremely elevated” in large part because of it.
The EPA has lifted seasonal restrictions on E15 in the past, including after Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The Trump administration allowed for selling E15 in the summer months two years later but had the rule struck down by a federal appeals court.
A group representing petroleum refiners blasted the move, saying the only emergency was Biden’s dropping poll numbers.
“We are right there with the administration on wanting to see relief for consumers at the pump, but an unlawful executive order is not how to solve the problem,″ said Chet Thompson, president & CEO of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers.
Emergency fuel waivers are meant to be short-term solutions to supply disruptions from disasters such as a hurricane, Thompson said. The new waiver “is politics, not a real solution for drivers.”
___
Associated Press writer Matthew Daly contributed to this report.
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https://www.kitv.com/news/business/biden-waiving-ethanol-rule-in-bid-to-lower-gasoline-prices/article_4b28fafc-ba73-11ec-9664-3701d37e4708.html
| 2022-04-12T18:56:44Z
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KIAMBU COUNTY, Kenya (AP) — Monica Kariuki is about ready to give up on farming. What is driving her off her 10 acres of land outside Nairobi isn’t bad weather, pests or blight — the traditional agricultural curses — but fertilizer: It costs too much.
Despite thousands of miles separating her from the battlefields of Ukraine, Kariuki and her cabbage, corn and spinach farm are indirect victims of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion. The war has pushed up the price of natural gas, a key ingredient in fertilizer, and has led to severe sanctions against Russia, a major exporter of fertilizer.
Kariuki used to spend 20,000 Kenyan shillings, or about $175, to fertilize her entire farm. Now, she would need to spend five times as much. Continuing to work the land, she said, would yield nothing but losses.
“I cannot continue with the farming business. I am quitting farming to try something else,” she said.
Higher fertilizer prices are making the world’s food supply more expensive and less abundant, as farmers skimp on nutrients for their crops and get lower yields. While the ripples will be felt by grocery shoppers in wealthy countries, the squeeze on food supplies will land hardest on families in poorer countries. It could hardly come at a worse time: The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said last week that its world food-price index in March reached the highest level since it started in 1990.
The fertilizer crunch threatens to further limit worldwide food supplies, already constrained by the disruption of crucial grain shipments from Ukraine and Russia. The loss of those affordable supplies of wheat, barley and other grains raises the prospect of food shortages and political instability in Middle Eastern, African and some Asian countries where millions rely on subsidized bread and cheap noodles.
“Food prices will skyrocket because farmers will have to make profit, so what happens to consumers?” said Uche Anyanwu, an agricultural expert at the University of Nigeria.
The aid group Action Aid warns that families in the Horn of Africa are already being driven “to the brink of survival.”
The U.N. says Russia is the world’s No. 1 exporter of nitrogen fertilizer and No. 2 in phosphorus and potassium fertilizers. Its ally Belarus, also contending with Western sanctions, is another major fertilizer producer.
Many developing countries — including Mongolia, Honduras, Cameroon, Ghana, Senegal, Mexico and Guatemala — rely on Russia for at least a fifth of their imports.
The conflict also has driven up the already-exorbitant price of natural gas, used to make nitrogen fertilizer. The result: European energy prices so high that some fertilizer companies “have closed their businesses and stopped operating their plants,” said David Laborde, a researcher at the International Food Policy Research Institute.
For corn and cabbage farmer Jackson Koeth, 55, of Eldoret in western Kenya, the conflict in Ukraine was distant and puzzling until he had to decide whether to go ahead with the planting season. Fertilizer prices had doubled from last year.
Koeth said he decided to keep planting but only on half the acreage of years past. Yet he doubts he can make a profit with fertilizer so costly.
Greek farmer Dimitris Filis, who grows olives, oranges and lemons, said “you have to search to find” ammonia nitrate and that the cost of fertilizing a 10-hectare (25-acre) olive grove has doubled to 560 euros ($310). While selling his wares at an Athens farm market, he said most farmers plan to skip fertilizing their olive and orange groves this year.
“Many people will not use fertilizers at all, and this as a result, lowers the quality of the production and the production itself, and slowly, slowly at one point, they won’t be able to farm their land because there will be no income,” Filis said.
In China, the price of potash — potassium-rich salt used as fertilizer — is up 86% from a year earlier. Nitrogen fertilizer prices have climbed 39% and phosphorus fertilizer is up 10%.
In the eastern Chinese city of Tai’an, the manager of a 35-family cooperative that raises wheat and corn said fertilizer prices have jumped 40% since the start of the year.
“We can hardly make any money,” said the manager, who would give only his surname, Zhao.
Terry Farms, which grows produce on 2,100 acres largely in Ventura, California, has seen prices of some fertilizer formulations double; others are up 20%. Shifting fertilizers is risky, vice president William Terry said, because cheaper versions might not give “the crop what it needs as a food source.″
As the growing season approaches in Maine, potato farmers are grappling with a 70% to 100% increase in fertilizer prices from last year, depending on the blend.
“I think it’s going to be a pretty expensive crop, no matter what you’re putting in the ground, from fertilizer to fuel, labor, electrical and everything else,” said Donald Flannery, executive director of the Maine Potato Board.
In Prudentopolis, a town in Brazil’s Parana state, farmer Edimilson Rickli showed off a warehouse that would normally be packed with fertilizer bags but has only enough to last a few more weeks. He’s worried that, with the war in Ukraine showing no sign of letting up, he’ll have to go without fertilizer when he plants wheat, barley and oats next month.
“The question is: Where Brazil is going to buy more fertilizer from?” he said. “We have to find other markets.″
Other countries are hoping to help fill the gaps. Nigeria, for example, opened Africa’s largest fertilizer factory last month, and the $2.5 billion plant has already shipped fertilizer to the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico.
India, meanwhile, is seeking more fertilizer imports from Israel, Oman, Canada and Saudi Arabia to make up for lost shipments from Russia and Belarus.
“If the supply shortage gets worse, we will produce less,” said Kishor Rungta of the nonprofit Fertiliser Association of India. “That’s why we need to look for options to get more fertilizers in the country.”
Agricultural firms are providing support for farmers, especially in Africa where poverty often limits access to vital farm inputs. In Kenya, Apollo Agriculture is helping farmers get fertilizer and access to finance.
“Some farmers are skipping the planting season and others are going into some other ventures such as buying goats to cope,” said Benjamin Njenga, co-founder of the firm. “So these support services go a long way for them.”
Governments are helping, too. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last month that it was issuing $250 million in grants to support U.S. fertilizer production. The Swiss government has released part of its nitrogen fertilizer reserves.
Still, there’s no easy answer to the double whammy of higher fertilizer prices and limited supplies. The next 12 to 18 months, food researcher LaBorde said, “will be difficult.″
The market already was “super, super tight” before the war, said Kathy Mathers of the Fertilizer Institute trade group.
“Unfortunately, in many cases, growers are just happy to get fertilizer at all,” she said.
___
Asadu reported from Lagos, Nigeria, and Wiseman from Washington. Contributing to this story were: Tatiana Pollastri in Sao Paulo, Brazil; Debora Alvares in Brasilia, Brazil; Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi; Lefteris Pitarakis in Athens; Jamey Keaten in Geneva; Joe McDonald and Yu Bing in Beijing; Lisa Rathke in Marshfield, Vermont; Dave Kolpack in Fargo, North Dakota; Kathia Martínez in Panama City; Christoph Noelting in Frankfurt; Fabiola Sánchez in Mexico City; Veselin Toshkov in Sofia, Bulgaria; Tarik El-Barakah in Rabat, Morocco; Tassanee Vejpongsa and Elaine Kurtenbach in Bangkok; Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem; Edie Lederer at the United Nations; and Aya Batrawy in Dubai.
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https://www.kitv.com/news/business/russian-war-worsens-fertilizer-crunch-risking-food-supplies/article_4f13d270-ba75-11ec-87f6-6bc89e77df15.html
| 2022-04-12T18:56:50Z
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NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are bouncing back on Wall Street Tuesday, and the areas of the market most beaten down in recent days are leading the way.
The S&P 500 was 1% higher following back-to-back losses driven by worries about the economic collateral damage as the Federal Reserve tackles high inflation more aggressively. A report on Tuesday morning showed inflation last month was again at its highest level in generations, driven by soaring gasoline prices in particular, but the reading was relatively close to economists’ expectations.
Another faint silver lining was that inflation wasn’t as bad as economists expected, when ignoring the costs of food and fuel. While it’s laughable to ask households to forget soaring prices at the gasoline pump and the grocery store, the Federal Reserve pays more attention to what’s called “core inflation” while setting policy because it’s less volatile. And core inflation on a month-over-month basis moderated to its slowest level since September.
“Hopefully this is as bad as it gets,” said Brian Jacobsen, senior investment strategist at Allspring Global Investments.
“The risk is that a red hot labor market grows cold under the force of those higher food, fuel, and financing costs. This is a time when economic resilience will be tested.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 209 points, or 0.6%, at 34,517, as of 10:27 a.m. Eastern time. A rebound for technology stocks drove the Nasdaq composite 1.6% higher.
Stocks in recent days have been trading in the opposite direction of Treasury yields, which have climbed to their highest levels since well before the pandemic. Yields jumped as investors brace for the Federal Reserve to hike short-term rates at a faster pace than typical and to aggressively pare its trove of bonds, whose buildup helped keep longer-term rates low.
But Treasury yields pulled back on Tuesday immediately following the inflation report. The 10-year yield sank to 2.70% from 2.77% late Monday. It was as high as 2.83% overnight, before the inflation report’s release. The 10-year yield nevertheless remains well above the 1.51% level where it began the year.
A measure of nervousness among stock investors also fell immediately after the inflation report.
Stocks elsewhere around the world were lower or mixed, as unease continues to hang over markets about the war in Ukraine, Chinese efforts to contain COVID outbreaks and where inflation and interest rates are heading.
In Asia, South Korea’s Kospi fell 1%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 1.8% and stocks in Shanghai climbed 1.5%. In Europe, Germany’s DAX lost 0.4%, the French CAC 40 slipped 0.3% and the FTSE 100 in London dropped 0.7%.
The price of U.S. crude oil climbed 5.8% to $99.73, keeping the pressure on high inflation. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 5.7% to $104.14.
Higher interest rates from the Federal Reserve would slow the economy, which would hopefully knock down high inflation. Consumer prices were 8.5% higher in March than a year earlier, accelerating from February’s 7.9% inflation rate and the highest since 1981. To bring it down, the Fed revealed in the minutes from its latest meeting that it’s prepared to hike short-term rates by half a percentage point, double the usual amount, at some upcoming meetings, something it hasn’t done since 2000.
The worry is the Federal Reserve may be so aggressive about hiking interest rates that it forces the economy into a recession.
Higher interest rates also put downward pressure on all kinds of investments, with those seen as the most expensive hardest hit. That’s because when investors are earning more in interest to own relatively safe bonds, they’re less willing to pay higher prices for riskier stocks. Technology and other high-growth stocks that have been some of the stock market’s biggest recent winners have been in the spotlight in particular.
On Tuesday tech stocks were the strongest force lifting the S&P 500, as Apple, Microsoft and Nvidia all rose at least 1%.
More swings may be in store for stocks as companies prepare to report their earnings for the first three months of the year. Delta Air Lines, JPMorgan Chase and other big-name companies will kick off the reporting season on Wednesday.
Earnings were able to stay at record levels through the end of last year as companies raised prices for their products and services enough to protect their profit margins. But the further acceleration of inflation may be straining that formula.
American Airlines Group said Tuesday that it expects to report slightly better revenue for the first quarter than it earlier expected. But it also said that it expects to report cost trends at the higher end of the range it had previously forecast, after ignoring fuel expenses and some other items.
The airline’s stock rose 0.7%.
While they can swing sharply for many reasons in the short term, stock prices tend to track the path of corporate profits over the long term.
___
AP Business Writer Joe McDonald contributed.
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https://www.kitv.com/news/business/silver-lining-in-inflation-report-helps-send-stocks-higher/article_8b538b32-ba6f-11ec-b385-bf9782838dbf.html
| 2022-04-12T18:56:56Z
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation soared over the past year at its fastest pace in more than 40 years, with costs for food, gasoline, housing and other necessities squeezing American consumers and wiping out the pay raises that many people have received.
The Labor Department said Tuesday that its consumer price index jumped 8.5% in March from 12 months earlier, the sharpest year-over-year increase since December 1981. Prices have been driven up by bottlenecked supply chains, robust consumer demand and disruptions to global food and energy markets worsened by Russia’s war against Ukraine. From February to March, inflation rose 1.2% , the biggest month-to-month jump since 2005.
Across the economy, the year-over-year price spikes were widespread in March. Gasoline prices have rocketed 48% in the past 12 months. Used car prices have soared 35.3%, though they actually fell in February and March. Bedroom furniture is up 14.7%, men’s jackets suits and coats 14.5%. Grocery prices have jumped 10%, including 18% increases for both bacon and oranges.
Even excluding volatile food and energy prices, which have driven overall inflation, so-called core inflation jumped 6.5% over the past 12 months, the biggest such increase since 1982.
The March inflation numbers were the first to capture the full surge in gasoline prices that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. Moscow’s brutal attacks have triggered far-reaching Western sanctions against the Russian economy and have disrupted global food and energy markets. According to AAA, the average price of a gallon of gasoline — $4.10 — is up 43% from a year ago, though it has fallen back in the past couple of weeks.
The escalation of energy prices has led to higher transportation costs for the shipment of goods and components across the economy, which, in turn, has contributed to higher prices for consumers.
The latest evidence of accelerating prices will solidify expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates aggressively in the coming months to try to slow borrowing and spending and tame inflation. The financial markets now foresee much steeper rate hikes this year than Fed officials had signaled as recently as last month.
“The Fed will be pressing firmly on the brake pedal — not just pumping the brakes — in an effort to slow demand and bring the inflation rate back down,” said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.
Even before Russia’s war further spurred price increases, robust consumer spending, steady pay raises and chronic supply shortages had sent U.S. consumer inflation to its highest level in four decades. In addition, housing costs, which make up about a third of the consumer price index, have escalated, a trend that seems unlikely to reverse anytime soon.
Economists point out that as the economy has emerged from the depths of the pandemic, consumers have been gradually broadening their spending beyond goods to include more services. A result is that high inflation, which at first had reflected mainly a shortage of goods — from cars and furniture to electronics and sports equipment — has been emerging in services, too, like travel, health care and entertainment.
The expected fast pace of the Fed’s rate increases will make loans sharply more expensive for consumers and businesses. Mortgage rates, in particular, though not directly influenced by the Fed, have rocketed higher in recent weeks, making home buying more expensive. Many economists say they worry that the Fed has waited too long to begin raising rates and might end up acting so aggressively as to trigger a recession.
For now, the economy as a whole remains solid, with unemployment near 50-year lows and job openings near record highs. Still, rocketing inflation, with its impact on Americans’ daily lives, is posing a political threat to President Joe Biden and his Democratic allies as they seek to keep control of Congress in November’s midterm elections.
The American public’s expectation for inflation over the next 12 months has reached its highest point — 6.6% — in a survey the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has conducted since 2013.
Once public expectations for inflation rise, they can be self-fulfilling: Workers typically demand higher pay to offset their expectations for price increases, and businesses, in turn, raise prices to cover their higher labor costs. This can set off a wage-price spiral, something the nation last endured in the late 1960s and 1970s.
Economists generally express doubt that even the sharp rate hikes that are expected from the Fed will manage to reduce inflation anywhere near the central bank’s 2% annual target by the end of this year. Luke Tilley, chief economist at Wilmington Trust, said he expects year-over-year consumer inflation to still be 4.5% by the end of 2022. Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he had forecast a much lower 3% rate.
Inflation, which had been largely under control for four decades, began to accelerate last spring as the U.S. and global economies rebounded with unexpected speed and strength from the brief but devastating coronavirus recession that began in the spring of 2020.
The recovery, fueled by huge infusions of government spending and super-low interest rates, caught businesses by surprise, forcing them to scramble to meet surging customer demand. Factories, ports and freight yards struggled to keep up, leading to chronic shipping delays and price spikes.
Critics also blame, in part, the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion March 2021 stimulus program, which included $1,400 relief checks for most households, for helping overheat an already sizzling economy.
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https://www.kitv.com/news/business/us-inflation-jumped-8-5-in-past-year-highest-since-1981/article_35255f5c-ba6e-11ec-896e-1f2d072d7c13.html
| 2022-04-12T18:57:02Z
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HONOLULU (KITV4) - Partly cloudy skies with passing windward and mauka showers, isolated showers leeward. Highs 83 to 88. Trade winds 10 to 20 mph.
Moderate to locally breezy trade winds will stick around as a high-pressure system to the north of the Hawaiian Islands over the next seven days. Expect periods of passing showers favoring the windward and mountain areas of each island with higher chances in the overnight to early morning hours.
Unstable cloud bands from a dissipated cold front will drift into the islands from the north on Saturday and Sunday producing increasing rainfall coverage over all islands.
A series of small northwest swells will move through the islands during the next 7 days, keeping north shore surf from going flat most days.
Fresh to strong trades over and far upstream of the islands will generate trade wind swell that will keep above average surf along east facing shores through Wednesday. Surf will drop to near average levels during the second half of the week into the weekend.
Several overlapping south swells will keep south shore surf elevated today. Surf will then decrease back to seasonal levels Wednesday through Friday, before trending back up over the weekend.
Do you have a story idea? Email news tips to news@kitv.com
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https://www.kitv.com/news/local/tuesday-weather-breezy-trade-winds-passing-windward-and-mauka-rain/article_ad049ad0-ba6c-11ec-9cf9-e7a1889ca505.html
| 2022-04-12T18:57:08Z
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NEW YORK (AP) — Police are searching for a gunman who filled a rush-hour subway train with smoke and shot multiple people Tuesday, leaving wounded commuters bleeding on a Brooklyn platform as others ran screaming.
Officials said the gunfire wounded at least five people, and at least 11 in all were injured in some way in the attack at the 36th Street station in the borough’s Sunset Park neighborhood.
A train rider’s video shows smoke and people pouring out of a subway car. Wails erupt as passengers run for an exit as a few others limp off the train. One falls to the platform, and a person hollers, “Someone call 911!” In other video and photos from the scene, people tend to bloodied passengers lying on the platform, some amid what appear to be small puddles of blood, and another person is on the floor of a subway car.
“My subway door opened into calamity. It was smoke and blood and people screaming,” eyewitness Sam Carcamo told radio station 1010 WINS, saying he saw a gigantic billow of smoke pouring out of the N train once the door opened.
According to multiple law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation, preliminary information indicated that the suspect who fled was a man wearing a construction vest and a gas mask.
Investigators believe the suspect deployed a smoke device before opening fire, one of the law enforcement officials said. Investigators are examining whether the suspect may have used that device in an effort to distract people before shooting, the official said.
Fire and police officials were investigating reports that there had been an explosion, but the police department tweeted that there were “no active explosive devices at this time.” Multiple smoke devices were found on the scene, said mayoral spokesperson Fabien Levy, who confirmed the initial shooting injury count.
At least 11 people were being treated at two local hospitals. No MTA workers were physically hurt, according to a statement from the Transport Workers Union Local 100.
Juliana Fonda, a broadcast engineer at WNYC-FM, told its news site Gothamist she was riding the train when passengers from the car behind hers started banging on the door between them.
“There was a lot of loud pops, and there was smoke in the other car,” she said. “And people were trying to get in and they couldn’t, they were pounding on the door to get into our car.”
President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland were briefed on the incident, as was Gov. Kathy Hochul. New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who is isolating following a positive COVID-19 test on Sunday, was briefed at the mayor’s residence.
The incident happened on a subway line that runs through south Brooklyn in a neighborhood about a 15-minute train ride to Manhattan. Local schools, including Sunset Park High School across the street, were locked down.
Danny Mastrogiorgio of Brooklyn had just dropped his son off at school when he saw a crush of passengers, some of them wounded, running up the subway stairway at the nearby 25th Street station in panic. At least two had visible leg injuries, he said.
“It was insane,” he told The Associated Press. “No one knew exactly what was going on.”
Allan Lee was running his business, Cafe Nube, when a half-dozen police cars and fire vehicles suddenly converged on the block that contains the 36th Street station.
“Then they started ushering people that were on the block to the adjacent block and then closed off the subway entrance” near the cafe’s door, he told the AP. When he noticed bomb squad officers and dogs, he was certain it was no everyday subway problem.
A sea of emergency lights was visible from at least a dozen blocks away, where a police cordon was set up.
New York City has faced a spate a shootings and high-profile incidents in recent months, including on the city’s subways. One of the most shocking was in January when a woman was pushed to her death in front of a train by a stranger.
Adams, a Democrat a little over 100 days into his term, has made cracking down on crime — especially on the subways — a focus of his early administration, pledging to send more police officers into stations and platforms for regular patrols. It wasn’t immediately clear whether officers had already been inside the station when the shootings occurred.
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Associated Press reporters Michael Balsamo in Washington and Michelle L. Price and Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report.
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https://www.kitv.com/news/national/gunman-opens-fire-on-brooklyn-subway-at-least-11-injured/article_962d507c-ba76-11ec-b6c5-e31c2cec19b6.html
| 2022-04-12T18:57:14Z
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A person holds flags during the Bans Off Oklahoma Rally on the steps on Oklahoma state Capitol in Oklahoma City, Tuesday, April, 5, 2022. (Sarah Phipps/The Oklahoman via AP)
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill into law on Tuesday that makes it a felony to perform an abortion, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, as part of an aggressive push in Republican-led states across the country to scale back abortion rights.
The bill, which takes effect 90 days after the Legislature adjourns next month, makes an exception only for an abortion performed to save the life of the mother. Abortion rights advocates say the bill signed by the GOP governor is likely to face a legal challenge.
Its passage comes as the conservative U.S. Supreme Court considers ratcheting back abortion rights that have been in place for nearly 50 years.
Under the bill, anyone convicted of performing an abortion would face up to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine. It does not authorize criminal charges against a woman for receiving an abortion.
Sen. Nathan Dahm, a Broken Arrow Republican now running for Congress who wrote the bill, called it the “strongest pro-life legislation in the country right now, which effectively eliminates abortion in Oklahoma.”
Abortion rights advocates say the bill is clearly unconstitutional.
“It has never been more obvious that politicians are using tricks and games to pass these harmful laws,” Dr. Ghazaleh Moayedi, an obstetrician and gynecologist in Texas and Oklahoma and a board member at Physicians for Reproductive Health, said in a statement. “Oklahoma legislators are trying to ban abortion from all sides and merely seeing which of these dangerous, shameful bills they can get their governor to sign.”
Similar anti-abortion bills approved by the Oklahoma Legislature and in other conservative states in recent years have been stopped by the courts as unconstitutional, but anti-abortion lawmakers have been buoyed by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to allow new Texas abortion restrictions to remain in place.
The new Texas law, the most restrictive anti-abortion law in the U.S. in decades, leaves enforcement up to private citizens, who are entitled to collect what critics call a “bounty” of $10,000 if they bring a successful lawsuit against a provider or anyone who helps a patient obtain an abortion.
Several states, including Oklahoma, are pursuing similar legislation this year.
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https://www.kitv.com/news/national/oklahoma-governor-signs-bill-to-make-abortion-illegal/article_e44dbe4a-ba71-11ec-bbfa-3bb7d4fe6817.html
| 2022-04-12T18:57:20Z
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EPA Probes Environmental Justice in Louisiana Projects
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is investigating whether Louisiana’s health and environmental agencies discriminated against Black residents in connection with air pollution from existing and proposed facilities between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
The director of EPA’s civil rights compliance office, Lilian Dorka, recently notified environmental groups and the state about the investigation of Louisiana’s departments of health and environmental quality.
It involves two complaints. Both accuse the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality of paying too little attention to environmental justice; one also accuses the state Department of Health.
The complaints involve at least seven existing plants and two huge planned projects in two parishes in the industrial corridor between Louisiana’s largest cities.
The two in planning are a $9.4 billion Formosa Plastics complex in St. James Parish and a $400 million grain terminal in St. John the Baptist Parish. Existing plants include the Denka Performance Elastomers plant, which the Japanese company bought in 2015 in St. John.
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality officials believe the agency’s permit process is unbiased, press secretary Gregory Langley told The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate. “LDEQ handles all issues with a fair and equitable approach,” he added. “LDEQ will work with EPA to resolve this matter.”
Steven Russo, general counsel for the Louisiana Department of Health, told the newspaper, “We take these concerns very seriously. We have received the complaint in full from EPA and are reviewing it closely.”
In January, Administrator Michael Regan said EPA will make surprise inspections of industrial sites suspected of causing health problems through air and water pollution.
Environmental groups call the southeast Louisiana industrial corridor “Cancer Alley.”
“Nearly every census tract between Baton Rouge and New Orleans has … a higher estimated cancer risk from air toxics than at least 95% of U.S. residents,” said a complaint from Tulane Environmental Law Clinic against the environmental department.
The department needs to set policies and procedures “that address and prevent the disproportionate burden of air pollution suffered by Black communities,” Professor Lisa Jordan, the law clinic’s director, said in an email to The Associated Press.
The complaint alleges that air emission permits approved for the grain terminal and chemical complex are part of a pattern dating back at least to 2016 and involving permits for at least six existing plants.
The clinic represents several groups fighting plans for the grain terminal, which they say is likely to release fine particle pollution.
Greenfield Chief Executive Officer Cal Williams told the newspaper Friday that the terminal’s emissions would be below EPA’s most stringent air quality standards.
Earthjustice and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which filed a complaint against both state departments, have complained that Denka’s plant — the only U.S. facility making chloroprene — continues to release the carcinogen and that other nearby plants emit cancer-causing ethylene oxide.
The health department failed to give predominantly Black residents in St. John information about health threats from Denka’s emissions, according to the complaint filed for the Concerned Citizens of St. John and the Sierra Club.
Their complaint also says the “Sunshine Project” complex planned near Donaldsonville by Formosa Plastics Group member FG LA LLC would release particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, volatile carbon monoxide, benzene, formaldehyde and ethylene oxide.
“The Sunshine Project has been thoroughly vetted and approved by parish and state bodies because it relied on sound science in design and met all regulatory criteria,” spokesperson Janile Parks said in a statement emailed to the AP.
Denka spokesman Jim Harris said state tumor registry figures don’t show “widespread elevated cancer rates in St. John the Baptist Parish.”
State agencies “consider real science rather than sensational pseudo-studies,” he told the newspaper.
According to a 2014 National Air Toxics Assessment by the EPA, the individual lifetime cancer risk from both chloroprene and ethylene oxide was at the rate of 2,000 cases per 1 million people — the nation’s highest rate — near the Denka plant.
Denka’s chloroprene emissions have dropped dramatically since the company agreed to install new equipment in 2018. But during the past year, levels at several local monitoring sites have been above the EPA cancer risk level of 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter.
Denka has asked EPA to reconsider its listing of chloroprene as a likely human carcinogen, based on a company-sponsored peer-reviewed study.
Dorka said her office will look into whether DEQ runs its air pollution control program in ways that either have the intent or effect of subjecting individuals to racial discrimination, and into the state’s handling of Denka’s permits.
It will also review whether the health department has provided information about health threats from Denka and other nearby sources of pollution, she wrote.
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https://www.bizneworleans.com/epa-probes-environmental-justice-in-louisiana-projects/
| 2022-04-12T19:10:09Z
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Gov. Edwards, Cleco Announce $900 Million Emissions Reduction Project
BATON ROUGE, La. (press release) — Gov. John Bel Edwards and Cleco Corporate Holdings president and CEO Bill Fontenot announced the company will invest $900 million to significantly reduce carbon emissions at the largest of its nine electric generation units in the state, Madison-3 at Brame Energy Center in Lena, Louisiana.
Cleco Power, a regulated electric public utility that serves 291,000 customers in 24 Louisiana parishes, will build a carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) facility to remove and compress 95% or more of the CO2 emitted by Madison-3 and permanently store it in geological formations under the site. The company has named the project “Diamond Vault,” and estimates it will create 30 to 40 direct new jobs and an average of 1,100 construction jobs in central Louisiana over a three-year period.
“Today’s announcement is an important milestone on Louisiana’s path to a cleaner energy future,” Gov. Edwards said. “Our state has attracted significant investment in the construction of new facilities that minimize emissions. Cleco’s investment reduces existing emissions, which moves us even more rapidly toward our goal of Net Zero emissions by 2050. I applaud Cleco’s initiative, and challenge other businesses in the state to be aggressive in their response to Louisiana’s Climate Action Plan. Doing so will strengthen our environment and our economy, especially in our rural communities.”
Cleco secured a $9 million congressional appropriation, to be administered and disbursed by Louisiana Economic Development, to help defray the cost of a front-end engineering and design (FEED) study. After the study, Cleco plans to raise capital funding of approximately $900 million through tax credits, Department of Energy grants and private equity investment.
“Cleco’s Project Diamond Vault will ensure a clean and sustainable power solution for Cleco customers, while creating and retaining jobs for the communities we serve,” Fontenot said. “In Louisiana, we have the natural resources, the ingenuity, the geology, the people and the infrastructure to transform the power industry as we know it. Cleco is thankful for the support of Gov. Edwards, Sen. Cassidy, Louisiana Economic Development and other Louisiana leaders.”
The FEED study is expected to be complete by the end of 2023. Permitting, which follows an environmental impact and public review process, is expected to be complete during the second half of 2025. Construction would begin immediately thereafter and commercial operations are planned to begin no later than 2028.
“Cleco’s Diamond Vault project positions both the company and the region for new leadership roles in the emerging green energy economy,” Louisiana Central president and CEO Jim Clinton said. “The potential for job, wealth and enterprise creation could trigger a new era of growth and prosperity for the region. Diamond Vault can be a breath of fresh air for the planet, a growth driver for Cleco, and a big opportunity for our people and businesses.”
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https://www.bizneworleans.com/gov-edwards-cleco-announce-900-million-emissions-reduction-project/
| 2022-04-12T19:10:16Z
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Jazzfest Foundation Announces Class Got Brass Winners
NEW ORLEANS (press release) — The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation’s Class Got Brass competition took place on April 3, 2022 outside of the George and Joyce Wein Jazz & Heritage Center.
Middle and high school students from across Louisiana registered for the competition to create New Orleans-style brass band ensembles competing in a second line-style parade for a select group of celebrity judges.
Celebrity judges included Kerry Brown, Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes, Barbara Lacen Keller, Kevin Louis of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Leslie Cooper of WWOZ 90.7 FM, and Leon “Kid Chocolate” Brown.
The competition was emceed by LeBron “LBJ” Joseph, anchor of Moving New Orleans Forward on WGNO. Grand marshals were Carol Harris aka Babydoll Kit of the N’awlins D’awlins Babydolls and Uncle Clyde, ambassador of the Original Wild Tchoupitoulas Mardi Gras Indians.
Class Got Brass is presented by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation in partnership with the Preservation Hall Foundation.
Schools in the Advanced Category who received $1,000 for participating include Edna Karr High School, L W Higgins High School, and Young Audiences Charter School.
Schools in the Beginner Category who received $1,000 for participating include Belle Chasse Academy, Riverdale High School, ReNEW Dolores T. Aaron Academy, Fannie C Williams Charter School, Kenner Discovery Health Sciences Academy, Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary School of Literature and Technology, Ridgewood Preparatory School, and Tom Benson School.
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https://www.bizneworleans.com/jazzfest-foundation-announces-class-got-brass-winners/
| 2022-04-12T19:10:22Z
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NOMAR Announces Annual Awards Winners
NEW ORLEANS (press release) — The Commercial Investment Division (CID) of the New Orleans Metropolitan Association of Realtors (NOMAR) hosted its annual awards banquet on Thursday, April 7, 2022 at the Ye Olde College Inn Grande Hall.
The CID awards program included over 1,000 transactions and a combined $990 million in real estate activity by its members in 2021.
The program included the “Deal of the Year,” selected by an independent blue-ribbon committee. The winners were Michael Siegel from Corporate Realty and Barry Spizer from SRSA Commercial Real Estate for their role in Tulane University’s lease of the Charity Hospital building on Tulane Avenue in downtown New Orleans.
“As an organization, we’ve very proud of our members’ contributions to the economic development of not just New Orleans, but the entire region,” said CID president Melissa Warren of Stirling Properties. “It’s important to us that they are recognized for their hard work, their professionalism, and their contributions to economic development and to the community as a whole.”
Awards were given for the top sale and lease in each of six asset classes: retail, office, industrial, land, multifamily, and special purpose. Achievement awards were also given to producers who earned from $2 million to over $15 million in credit volume for 2021.
In addition, the Rising Star award was presented to Mignon Richard from NAI Latter & Blum. Recently retired NOMAR CEO Missy Whittington was given the annual Service to the Industry Award for her over 40 years of service to the real estate industry.
“Sometimes real estate agents and brokers can be overlooked when considering a city or region’s economic drivers,” said CID president-elect Mike Mito of Re/Max Commercial Brokers. “The expertise and experience they bring to the table on behalf of their clients is invaluable.”
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https://www.bizneworleans.com/nomar-announces-annual-awards-winners/
| 2022-04-12T19:10:28Z
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Palmettos on the Bayou Names Ross Dover Executive Chef
NEW ORLEANS (press release) — Chef Ross Dover joins Palmettos from Restaurant August in New Orleans, where he was executive chef for three years and executive sous chef for two years.
Dover previously served as executive sous chef for the Johnny Sanchez Restaurant in New Orleans for two years, working directly with Aarón Sánchez, an award-winning chef, TV personality and cookbook author.
“It’s a dream come true to work in this spectacular waterfront setting surrounded by cypress and oak trees,” said Dover. “It’s the perfect setting to enjoy classic Louisiana dishes such as our duck and andouille gumbo, inspired by my grandmother’s recipe, or our contemporary take on fried gulf oysters served with a sweet chili aioli.”
Dover plans to offer seasonal menus focusing on locally sourced ingredients. The spring menu features crawfish, oysters, fresh squash, morel and chanterelle mushrooms, salads with local heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, and strawberries.
“Chef Ross brings an energy and expertise to Palmettos that is very exciting,” said Palmettos owner/operator, Duffel Ramirez. “We’re all about the Louisiana experience and providing a beautiful place for locals or visitors alike to enjoy the food and culture of our area.”
For more information or to book a reservation please visit www.palmettosrestaurant.com, or call 985-643-0050.
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https://www.bizneworleans.com/palmettos-on-the-bayou-names-ross-dover-executive-chef/
| 2022-04-12T19:10:34Z
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The Best Of: Biz Talks
For almost 100 episode, the “Biz Talks” podcast has brought listeners beyond the pages of Biz New Orleans magazine. From infrastructure to the aftermath of COVID-19, each week Kim Singletary and Rich Collins interview community leaders about the topics impacting most the city and southeast Louisiana.
This week, we wanted to highlight a few of our popular episodes over the last two years.
Episode 25: Meeting The Needs Of New Orleans Families
In late 2020, Melissa Tyler, development director for the New Orleans Women & Children’s Shelter, talked with Kim Singletary about the challenges of meeting the needs of New Orleans families in need and shares some surprisingly easy ways you can help.
Episode 65: STEM NOLA Goes Global
Could New Orleans become known as the place to be for STEM education? Dr. Calvin Mackie, founder of the nonprofit STEM NOLA, thinks so. In July 2021, Dr. Mackie spoke with Biz Talks about the first STEM NOLA Innovation center and what going global means for New Orleans.
Episode 77: Crystal Hot Sauce CEO Pepper Baumer Has Been Feeling the Heat
In this late 2021 chat with Alvin Adam “Pepper” Baumer III, he shares the big lesson he learned from aunt and great aunt Ti Martin and Ella Brennan about handling adversity, how his leadership differs from his dad’s, and the surprising way the hot sauce industry has begun mirroring the beer industry.
Episode 95: Ochsner’s Warner Thomas Talks About How Pandemic, Storms Have Changed Healthcare
Over the last two years, Ochsner Health and other healthcare providers have navigated an extraordinary set of challenges related to the pandemic and extreme weather events. In this episode, Warner Thomas, the president and CEO of Ochsner, discussed the lessons learned in the process and how they will change the healthcare industry going forward.
As we come to our 100th episode, we look forward to continuing the conversations with local business leaders and all of our “Biz Talks” listeners.
You can listen to all episodes of “Biz Talks” on Apple Podcast, Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, Google Podcasts and more.
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https://www.bizneworleans.com/the-best-of-biz-talks/
| 2022-04-12T19:10:40Z
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UNO Survey Shows Low Job Approval for Gov. Edwards, Sen. Kennedy
NEW ORLEANS — The University of New Orleans’ Survey Research Center conducted a live interviewer telephone survey of 325 registered voters in Louisiana. Respondents were asked to rate the job performances of Governor John Bel Edwards and the state’s two US Senators John Kennedy and Bill Cassidy.
Respondents were randomly selected for the sample from the Louisiana Secretary of State’s voter file and the survey response rate was 7%. UNO released the results of the survey, noting that the sample size yields a margin of error of +/- 5.4% with 95% confidence.
The results are as follows:
- Less than 40% of respondents approve of Governor Edwards’ job performance.
- One-third of registered voters in the state gave Senator John Kennedy a positive job approval rating.
- One-third of respondents disapprove of the job performance of Senator Bill Cassidy
Click here to view the full survey.
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https://www.bizneworleans.com/uno-survey-shows-low-job-approval-for-gov-edwards-sen-kennedy/
| 2022-04-12T19:10:46Z
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Fentanyl behind doubling of teen overdose deaths over past decade, study says
Published: Apr. 12, 2022 at 2:44 PM EDT|Updated: 48 minutes ago
(CNN) – More and more teens are overdosing on fentanyl, according to new research.
Adolescent drug overdose deaths doubled from 2010 to 2021, according to a study published Tuesday in the Medical Journal JAMA.
The research says there were about 500 adolescent overdose deaths in 2010 and more than 1,100 in 2021.
Fentanyl was involved in more than 75% of deaths in 2021.
Researchers say the increase isn’t because more teens are using drugs. It’s because drug use is becoming more dangerous.
Annual drug overdose deaths for all ages have reached record highs in the U.S. recently.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/04/12/fentanyl-behind-doubling-teen-overdose-deaths-over-past-decade-study-says/
| 2022-04-12T19:33:16Z
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Yelp to cover travel expenses for workers seeking abortions
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Yelp will cover the travel expenses of employees who must travel out of state for abortions, joining the ranks of major employers trying to help workers affected by new restrictions in Texas and other states.
The benefit announced Tuesday covers all 4,000 employees at the online review service, but seems most likely to have its biggest immediate impact on its 200 workers in Texas, which has passed a law banning abortions within the state after six weeks of pregnancy.
“We’ve long been a strong advocate for equality in the workplace, and believe that gender equality cannot be achieved if women’s healthcare rights are restricted,” said Miriam Warren, Yelp’s chief diversity officer.
Other states, including Oklahoma, are also are clamping down on abortions, prompting Yelp, based in San Francisco, and several other companies to draw up policies aimed at helping their workers get reproductive health care in other states.
Last month Citigroup, based in New York, disclosed plans to cover the travel expenses of any of its more than 220,000 employees, thousands of whom work in Texas, who travel to another state for an abortion.
The two largest U.S. ride-hailing services, Uber and Lyft, last year announced they will pay the legal fees for drivers who could get sued under the new Texas law for transporting a passenger to an appointment for an abortion.
The policies expose companies to potential backlash from those who support abortion restrictions, but they could be an advantage for employers with a footprint in states like Texas in an increasingly competitive job market.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/04/12/yelp-cover-travel-expenses-workers-seeking-abortions/
| 2022-04-12T19:33:26Z
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Babysitter arrested after putting 4-year-old boy in dryer, police say
LAKE COUNTY, Fla. (Gray News) -A babysitter in Florida has been accused of putting a child who was under her care in a dryer.
Authorities in Lake County, Florida, report Amber Christine Chapman, 35, has been charged with aggravated child abuse.
Investigators say that a 4-year-old boy was taken to the UF Health Leesburg Hospital on Feb. 1 and told medical staff that “Miss Amber” had put him in the dryer with towels, and he spun around.
Staff noted multiple areas of bruising on the boy’s head, back and both ears, as indicated by police.
In a recorded interview with the child on Feb. 7, police said the boy told them that Chapman placed him in the dryer, closed the door, and he spun around. The boy also said Chapman opened the door, closed it again, and then went around again.
On Feb. 2, the boy was examined at the Children’s Advocacy Center, according to police. Injuries were found on the boy’s head, abdomen and back.
The team was unable to determine if being placed in the dryer caused the boy’s injuries, but the team told police that the injuries to his back, face, forehead and ears were consistent with what he had told doctors of what had happened.
Police said the boy had frequently been watched by Chapman in the past.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/04/12/babysitter-accused-putting-4-year-old-dryer-child-sent-hospital-police-say/
| 2022-04-12T21:04:30Z
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Gilbert Gottfried, standup comic and actor, dies at 67
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gilbert Gottfried, the actor and legendary standup comic known for his raw, scorched voice and crude jokes, has died. He was 67.
Gottfried died from recurrent ventricular tachycardia due to myotonic dystrophy type II, a disorder that affects the heart, his publicist and longtime friend Glenn Schwartz said in a statement.
“In addition to being the most iconic voice in comedy, Gilbert was a wonderful husband, brother, friend and father to his two young children. Although today is a sad day for all of us, please keep laughing as loud as possible in Gilbert’s honor,” his family said in a statement posted on Twitter.
Gottfried was a fiercely independent and intentionally bizarre comedian’s comedian, as likely to clear a room with anti-comedy as he was to kill with his jokes.
He first came to national attention with frequent appearances on MTV in its early days and with a brief stint in the cast of “Saturday Night Live” in the 1980s.
Gottfried also did frequent voice work for children’s television and movies, most famously playing the parrot Iago in Disney’s “Aladdin.”
He was particularly fond of doing obscure and dated impressions for as long as he could milk them, including Groucho Marx, Bela Lugosi and Andrew “Dice” Clay.
In his early days at the club the Comedy Store in Hollywood, the managers would have him do his impression of then-little-known Jerry Seinfeld at the end of the night to get rid of lingering patrons.
Gottfried was especially beloved by his fellow comedians and performers.
“I am so sad to read about the passing of Gilbert Gottfried,” actor Marlee Matlin said on Twitter. “Funny, politically incorrect but a softie on the inside. We met many times; he even pranked me on a plane, replacing my interpreter.”
“Seinfeld” actor Jason Alexander tweeted that “Gilbert Gottfried made me laugh at times when laughter did not come easily. What a gift.”
Gottfried was born in Brooklyn, the son of a hardware store owner and a stay-at-home mom. He began doing amateur standup at age 15.
“Gilbert’s brand of humor was brash, shocking and frequently offensive, but the man behind the jokes was anything but,” Gottfried’s friend and podcast co-host Frank Santopadre said in a statement. “Those who loved and him were fortunate enough to share his orbit knew a person who was sweet, sensitive, surprisingly shy and filled with a childlike sense of playfulness and wonder.”
Gottfried is survived by his wife Dara, sister Karen, 14-year-old daughter Lily and 12-year-old son Max.
“In addition to being the most iconic voice in comedy, Gilbert was a wonderful husband, brother, friend and father to his two young children. Although today is a sad day for all of us, please keep laughing as loud as possible in Gilbert’s honor,” his family said in a statement posted on Twitter.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/04/12/comedian-gilbert-gottfried-dies-long-term-illness/
| 2022-04-12T21:04:37Z
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Concord students participate in Alcohol Awarness Month
ATHENS, W.Va. (WVVA) - Monday evening, local college students found a way to spread the word about Alcohol Awareness Month.
Students with Concord University identified the Athens Deli-Mart- the only convenience store in the area- as a “hot spot.” To help stop underage drinking, the students placed stickers on all the store’s alcoholic beverages to serve as not only a reminder but also as a warning.
Candace Harless with Community Connections says the message to stop underage drinking can be more impactful when delivered by younger individuals.
“It’s very important for youth to be involved with prevention, especially with alcohol use, tobacco use and any other substance use,” she said. “They’re just kind of a voice for their peers. You know, youth are more likely to listen to other peers and we have a great group of Concord students that are ready to go out and be that voice.”
Alcohol Awareness Month will last until the end of April. All month long, entities and organizations nationwide will work to increase awareness and understanding of the nation’s number one public health problem.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/04/12/concord-students-participate-alcohol-awarness-month/
| 2022-04-12T21:04:43Z
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COVID-19, overdoses pushed US to highest death total ever
NEW YORK (AP) — 2021 was the deadliest year in U.S. history, and new data and research are offering more insights into how it got that bad.
The main reason for the increase in deaths? COVID-19, said Robert Anderson, who oversees the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s work on death statistics.
The agency this month quietly updated its provisional death tally. It showed there were 3.465 million deaths last year, or about 80,000 more than 2020′s record-setting total.
Early last year, some experts were optimistic that 2021 would not be as bad as the first year of the pandemic — partly because effective COVID-19 vaccines had finally become available.
“We were wrong, unfortunately,” said Noreen Goldman, a Princeton University researcher.
COVID-19 deaths rose in 2021 — to more than 415,000, up from 351,000 the year before — as new coronavirus variants emerged and an unexpectedly large numbers of Americans refused to get vaccinated or were hesitant to wear masks, experts said.
The coronavirus is not solely to blame. Preliminary CDC data also shows the crude death rate for cancer rose slightly, and rates continued to increase for diabetes, chronic liver disease and stroke.
Drug overdose deaths also continued to rise. The CDC does not yet have a tally for 2021 overdose deaths, because it can take weeks of lab work and investigation to identify them. But provisional data through October suggests the nation is on track to see at least 105,000 overdose deaths in 2021 — up from 93,000 the year before.
New research released Tuesday showed a particularly large jump in overdose deaths among 14- to 18-year-olds.
Adolescent overdose death counts were fairly constant for most of the last decade, at around 500 a year, according to the paper published by the Journal of the American Medical Association. They almost doubled in 2020, to 954, and the researchers estimated that the total hit nearly 1,150 last year.
Joseph Friedman, a UCLA researcher who was the paper’s lead author, called the spike “unprecedented.”
Those teen overdose deaths were only around 1% of the U.S. total. But adolescents experienced a greater relative increase than the overall population, even though surveys suggest drug use among teens is down.
Experts attributed the spike to fentanyl, a highly lethal drug that has been cut into heroin for several years. More recently it’s also been pressed into counterfeit pills resembling prescription drugs that teens sometimes abuse.
The total number of U.S. deaths often increases year to year as the U.S. population grows. But 2020 and 2021 saw extraordinary jumps in death numbers and rates, due largely to the pandemic.
Those national death trends affect life expectancy — an estimate of the average number of years a baby born in a given year might expect to live.
With rare exceptions, U.S. life expectancy has reliably inched up year after year. But the CDC’s life expectancy estimate for 2020 was about 77 years — more than a year and a half lower than what it was in 2019.
The CDC has not yet reported its calculation for 2021. But Goldman and some other researchers have been making their own estimates, presented in papers that have not yet been published in peer-reviewed journals.
Those researchers think U.S. life expectancy dropped another five or six months in 2021 — putting it back to where it was 20 years ago.
A loss of more than two years of life expectancy over the last two years “is mammoth,” Goldman said.
One study looked at death data in the U.S. and 19 other high-income countries. The U.S. fared the worst.
“What happened in the U.S. is less about the variants than the levels of resistance to vaccination and the public’s rejection of practices, such as masking and mandates, to reduce viral transmission,” one of the study’s authors, Dr. Steven Woolf of Virginia Commonwealth University, said in a statement.
Some experts are skeptical that life expectancy will quickly bounce back. They worry about long-term complications of COVID-19 that may hasten the deaths of people with chronic health problems.
Preliminary — and incomplete — CDC data suggest there were at least 805,000 U.S. deaths in about the first three months of this year. That’s well below the same period last year, but higher than the comparable period in 2020.
“We may end up with a ‘new normal’ that’s a little higher than it was before,” Anderson said.
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The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/04/12/covid-19-overdoses-pushed-us-highest-death-total-ever/
| 2022-04-12T21:04:50Z
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Newborn surrendered to hospital staff under ‘safe haven’ law
GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina/Gray News) – A newborn was handed over to officials in South Carolina under protection of the state’s Safe Haven for Abandoned Babies Act.
The Greenwood County Department of Social Services is caring for the baby, who was given to medical professionals at Self Regional Medical Center.
According to social services, the baby boy was born April 8 weighing 6 pounds and 3 ounces.
The child was turned over to hospital staff two days after he was born. Social services officials said the baby will be placed in a foster home.
South Carolina’s Safe Haven for Abandoned Babies Act, also known as Daniel’s Law, allows a mother to surrender her unharmed newborn baby at a designated location without punishment. Babies up to 60 days old can be surrendered under this law.
“Daniel’s Law is intended to save babies,” the website of the South Carolina Department of Social Services reads. “It is not intended to hurt or punish anyone. It provides a safe option for mother and baby.”
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/04/12/newborn-surrendered-hospital-staff-under-safe-haven-law/
| 2022-04-12T21:04:57Z
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Photographer arrested after taking inappropriate pictures of young girl, police say
Published: Apr. 12, 2022 at 4:40 PM EDT|Updated: 24 minutes ago
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS/Gray News) – A photographer in South Carolina was arrested Friday after deputies said they received a report of him taking inappropriate photographs of a young girl, according to police.
The Richland County Sheriff’s Department said Gregg Martin, 53, groomed the child and gave her illegal substances while she was under his care.
Police did not disclose the victim’s exact age but confirmed she is a minor.
Martin has been charged with engaging a child under 18 for sexual performance and unlawful conduct toward a child.
The sheriff’s department is asking anyone else who feels they have been a victim of Martin to contact them at (803)-576-3000.
Copyright 2022 WIS via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/04/12/photographer-arrested-after-taking-inappropriate-pictures-young-girl-police-say/
| 2022-04-12T21:05:04Z
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The rain chance will lower, and temperatures will be higher into Wednesday
Wednesday will be the warmest day of the week
A stalled frontal boundary to our north will continue to push north as a warm front into this evening, As a result, we’ll see continuous, warm, southwesterly wind flow overnight and into Wednesday. We could see a few stray showers this evening, but most will be dry, and we should see some more breaks in the clouds through sundown. Temps will be warmer than average tonight, holding in the 50s for most.
Wednesday will bring increasing clouds throughout the day, and we’ll be rather warm and muggy for early Spring! Highs will top off in the 70s for most of Wednesday afternoon. We’ll be a bit breezy at times, and could see a stray shower or two, but most will stay rain-free tomorrow. Wednesday night looks mainly cloudy and mild still with lows again in the mid-50s to low 60s.
A cold front will then enter the picture on Thursday, bringing a renewed chance of rain. We look to see scattered showers (and perhaps a few embedded thunderstorms as well) Thursday morning (especially between the hours of 8AM-12 PM). This won’t be a wash-out though, and highs will still be seasonable, in the 60s for most. We should see a bit more sun break out by Thursday afternoon- again, we’ll just be occasionally windy as the front passes by.
Friday looks dry, mainly sunny, and pleasant, with highs in the upper 50s-mid 60s.
The holiday weekend (whether you are observing Passover or Easter) is looking mainly fair, with a mix of sun, clouds, and the slim chance for a few pop-up showers. We’ll otherwise stay seasonable, with highs in the upper 50s-mid 60s through the weekend, and cool overnight lows in the upper 30s-mid 40s.
Next week, we look cooler and unsettled for a while at a glance....stay tuned!
BLUEFIELD, W.Va. (WVVA) -
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/04/12/rain-chance-will-lower-temperatures-will-be-higher-into-wednesday/
| 2022-04-12T21:05:11Z
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VIDEO: Officer injured after metal luggage rack goes through patrol car’s windshield
MESA, Ariz. (KNXV) - A detective in Arizona is recovering after a scary incident over the weekend while he was behind the wheel.
Part of a metal luggage rack went through Mesa Police Department Det. Nick Cureton’s patrol car’s windshield as he was driving on the highway.
“I saw the item coming through the windshield and didn’t really have a lot of time to react,” Cureton said.
The officer said he didn’t know what item initially came through his windshield, but the piece of metal sent glass flying into his eyes.
“It hit me in the ribs as it ended up wedging itself between my left arm and my ribs,” Cureton said.
The luggage rack ended up bruising Cureton, who said he had to bring his car to a stop during the incident immediately.
“I tried to slow my car down as best as I could. After a while came to a complete stop, I threw my lights on, put my car in park, took a couple of deep breaths and then just tried to figure out if that item had actually gone into me or was just resting alongside me,” Cureton said.
Officials with Arizona’s Department of Transportation report debris on the roads is a problem and something the team continues to combat.
“It is so important for safety’s sake to ensure that any large items you’re hauling somewhere are safely secured and strapped to your vehicle,” said Ryan Harding, with ADOT.
Representatives with Arizona’s Department of Public Safety said driving with an unsecured load is illegal, and drivers can face citations and hefty fines.
According to the department, more than 300 drivers have been cited each year for failing to secure their load over the last three years, but nearly 150 yearly collisions have still occurred.
“It comes to those questions: ‘Would I feel safe driving behind my vehicle as it is, or would I be nervous?’” Harding said.
Cureton said he was taken to the hospital after last week’s incident, but he is recovering and hopes his story can help prevent future issues.
“I think it’s definitely a responsibility of all the drivers that are going to be out there to make sure that they secure whatever is in their vehicles to try and stop this from happening,” Cureton said.
Copyright 2022 KNXV via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/04/12/video-officer-injured-after-metal-luggage-rack-goes-through-patrol-cars-windshield/
| 2022-04-12T21:05:19Z
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Wyoming County native reacts to appointment to W.Va. Supreme Court of Appeals
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WVVA) - A Wyoming County native is getting ready to take her seat on the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
C. Haley Bunn is the daughter of a coal mining engineer who spent much of her childhood traveling across West Virginia, Kentucky, and Australia with her family for her father’s work.
The Oceana-native later graduated with honors from WVU and the WVU School of Law.
“I started going to games when I was in the womb and started taking my kids when they were in the womb. There wasn’t a question about going anywhere else and I’m glad I was able to stay in West Virginia for that,” said Bunn in an interview with WVVA News on Tuesday.
Bunn started her career at the Law Offices of Steptoe and Johnson in Charleston and later went to work as a federal prosecutor for the state. From there, she worked her way up from handling cases involving street level drug dealers to eventually going after the health care providers fueling the opioid epidemic.
“As people in Wyoming County and other parts of the Southern part of the state know, the opioid crisis has devastated so many people’s way of life and really threatened our way of life. It was a wonderful place to grow up and still is a wonderful place to live but the opioid crisis threatens that way of life.”
After returning to work for Steptoe and Johnson, she is now ready to take her seat on the West Virginia Supreme Court, where she said she will be guided by a single principle.
“My commitment is to the rule of law. It’s the glue that holds our society together and it’s the reason I started in the legal practice to begin with.”
On the Supreme Court, she hopes to serve as a role model for other young women hesitant to take that next step.
“I wanted to be on the bench and threw my name in the ring to be an inspiration to young girls and young women. This is a family accomplishment and a Southern West Virginia accomplishment. I’m just so happy to be able to serve the state in this way.”
Bunn will be filling the unexpired term of Justice Evan Jenkins, who recently returned to private practice. She said she plans to run for the seat when it is up again in 2024.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/04/12/wyoming-county-native-reacts-appointment-wva-supreme-court-appeals/
| 2022-04-12T21:05:28Z
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NEW YORK (AP) — Police are searching for a gunman who filled a rush-hour subway train with smoke and shot multiple people Tuesday, leaving wounded commuters bleeding on a Brooklyn platform as others ran screaming.
Officials said the gunfire wounded at least five people, and at least 11 in all were injured in some way in the attack at the 36th Street station in the borough’s Sunset Park neighborhood.
A train rider’s video shows smoke and people pouring out of a subway car. Wails erupt as passengers run for an exit as a few others limp off the train. One falls to the platform, and a person hollers, “Someone call 911!” In other video and photos from the scene, people tend to bloodied passengers lying on the platform, some amid what appear to be small puddles of blood, and another person is on the floor of a subway car.
“My subway door opened into calamity. It was smoke and blood and people screaming,” eyewitness Sam Carcamo told radio station 1010 WINS, saying he saw a gigantic billow of smoke pouring out of the N train once the door opened.
According to multiple law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation, preliminary information indicated that the suspect who fled was a man wearing a construction vest and a gas mask.
Investigators believe the suspect deployed a smoke device before opening fire, one of the law enforcement officials said. Investigators are examining whether the suspect may have used that device in an effort to distract people before shooting, the official said.
Fire and police officials were investigating reports that there had been an explosion, but the police department tweeted that there were “no active explosive devices at this time.” Multiple smoke devices were found on the scene, said mayoral spokesperson Fabien Levy, who confirmed the initial shooting injury count.
At least 11 people were being treated at two local hospitals. No MTA workers were physically hurt, according to a statement from the Transport Workers Union Local 100.
Juliana Fonda, a broadcast engineer at WNYC-FM, told its news site Gothamist she was riding the train when passengers from the car behind hers started banging on the door between them.
“There was a lot of loud pops, and there was smoke in the other car,” she said. “And people were trying to get in and they couldn’t, they were pounding on the door to get into our car.”
President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland were briefed on the incident, as was Gov. Kathy Hochul. New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who is isolating following a positive COVID-19 test on Sunday, was briefed at the mayor’s residence.
The incident happened on a subway line that runs through south Brooklyn in a neighborhood about a 15-minute train ride to Manhattan. Local schools, including Sunset Park High School across the street, were locked down.
Danny Mastrogiorgio of Brooklyn had just dropped his son off at school when he saw a crush of passengers, some of them wounded, running up the subway stairway at the nearby 25th Street station in panic. At least two had visible leg injuries, he said.
“It was insane,” he told The Associated Press. “No one knew exactly what was going on.”
Allan Lee was running his business, Cafe Nube, when a half-dozen police cars and fire vehicles suddenly converged on the block that contains the 36th Street station.
“Then they started ushering people that were on the block to the adjacent block and then closed off the subway entrance” near the cafe’s door, he told the AP. When he noticed bomb squad officers and dogs, he was certain it was no everyday subway problem.
A sea of emergency lights was visible from at least a dozen blocks away, where a police cordon was set up.
New York City has faced a spate a shootings and high-profile incidents in recent months, including on the city’s subways. One of the most shocking was in January when a woman was pushed to her death in front of a train by a stranger.
Adams, a Democrat a little over 100 days into his term, has made cracking down on crime — especially on the subways — a focus of his early administration, pledging to send more police officers into stations and platforms for regular patrols. It wasn’t immediately clear whether officers had already been inside the station when the shootings occurred.
___
Associated Press reporters Michael Balsamo in Washington and Michelle L. Price and Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report.
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https://www.kitv.com/gunman-opens-fire-on-brooklyn-subway-at-least-11-injured/article_962d507c-ba76-11ec-b6c5-e31c2cec19b6.html
| 2022-04-12T21:20:23Z
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Turbulence in the oil market continued on Tuesday, with crude prices soaring back above $100 a barrel on concerns about a loss of supply of oil from Russia and signs that lockdowns in China may be easing.
US crude jumped 7% to $100.84 a barrel in recent trading. Brent crude, the world benchmark, gained 6.2% to $104.62 a barrel.
The sharp gains come after oil prices fell on Monday to the lowest level since the beginning of the war in Ukraine in part due to worries about China's Covid lockdowns hurting demand for energy.
Although Covid cases in Shanghai remain high and most of the city remains in lockdown, officials began lifting lockdown measures in some neighborhoods on Monday.
"That demand destruction event may be coming to an end. We are taking those first baby steps," said Robert Yawger, vice president of energy futures at Mizuho Securities.
At the same time, OPEC on Tuesday slashed its forecast for Russian oil production in 2022 by 530,000 barrels due to the war in Ukraine and penalties imposed on Moscow. OPEC upgraded its projection for US output this year, but only by 260,000 barrels per day.
Meanwhile, there are concerns about how to replace Russian oil sidelined by the conflict.
The leader of OPEC warned European Union officials on Monday that current and future sanctions and other voluntary actions against Russia could cause the loss of 7 million barrels per day of Russian oil, Reuters reported.
"Considering the current demand outlook, it would be nearly impossible to replace a loss in volumes of this magnitude," OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo said, according to a copy of his speech seen by Reuters.
Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at the Oil Price Information Service, described the 7 million barrel figure from OPEC as "apocalyptic" in terms of the impact on prices. The International Energy Agency previously warned Russia could be forced to limit output by 3 million barrels per day in April.
The European Union on Tuesday reiterated its call for "oil and gas producing countries to act in a responsible manner" and to "examine their ability to increase deliveries to international markets."
"OPEC has a key role to play," said European Commission spokesperson Adalbert Jahnz.
Kloza said the wild swings in oil prices partially reflect a lack of participation in the market.
"This is very similar to 2008," Kloza said, referring to the year oil prices surged to record highs.
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| 2022-04-12T21:20:29Z
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HONOLULU (KITV4) -- COVID-19 is surging in some parts of the US, but in Hawaii, health officials are celebrating some good news in the fight against the pandemic. April 11 marks the first time in almost two years there are zero COVID-19 patients in intensive care units statewide.
"The fact that the ICU numbers are going down despite having more freedoms, if you will, and less restrictions is really a good news," said Jim Ireland, director of the Honolulu Emergency Services Department. "Still a lot of tragedy that COVID brought, but the more we get behind us, the better I think really for everybody."
When health officials first began tracking COVID ICU admissions in August 2020, there were 40 patients in critical condition.
The state hit an ICU peak of more than 100 coronavirus patients during the Delta surge on Sept. 2, according to the Healthcare Association of Hawaii.
"At least for Hawaii we seem to have a lot of protection in the community," said Hilton Raethel, president and CEO at the Healthcare Association of Hawaii. "There are still people wearing the masks observing public health measures."
But in other parts of the nation, COVID-19's now surging. Philadelphia reinstated its indoor mask rule Monday to curb rising cases.
And there are at least 19 people in Oahu hospitals with COVID.
"There's none at least today in danger of dying," Ireland added.
The low level of COVID-19 infections is expected to last for a while in the community.
"The evidence is telling us right now Hawaii's in good shape," Raethel said.
The state lifted the indoor mask mandate at the end of March. And Governor David Ige said today he's not planning to reinstate the rule -- but may consider it in the future if necessary.
Kristen joined KITV4 in March 2021 after working for the past two decades as a newspaper reporter. Kristen's goal is to produce meaningful journalism that educates, enlightens and inspires to affect positive change in society.
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https://www.kitv.com/news/coronavirus/hawaii-pandemic-milestone-no-covid-19-cases-in-the-icu-for-the-first-time/article_b47baa6c-ba15-11ec-899c-470d2221d870.html
| 2022-04-12T21:20:35Z
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A subway passenger put on a gas mask, deployed a gas canister and then began shooting as a train pulled into a Brooklyn subway station on Tuesday morning, leaving 10 commuters with gunshot wounds, authorities said.
The suspect, who remains at large, was described as a 5-foot-5-inch Black man with a heavy build wearing a green construction vest and a gray hooded sweatshirt.
Five of the 10 people shot were in critical but stable condition, and six others were injured due to smoke inhalation, shrapnel and panic in the attack, FDNY First Deputy Commissioner Laura Kavanaugh said. None of the injuries are believed to be life threatening, NYPD commissioner Keechant Sewell said.
Sewell said there are no known active explosive devices on trains. The attack is not being investigated as an act of terrorism but authorities have not ruled anything out, she said.
The mass shooting occurred just before 8:30 a.m. when the Fire Department of New York was called to the 36th Street subway station in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood for a report of smoke.
First responders encountered gunshot victims throughout the subway station and others who had been injured in the ensuing chaos. The suspect shot people on the train and on the platform, Sewell said. A gun was recovered in the 36th Street station, two law enforcement sources told CNN.
The mass shooting comes amid a rise in shootings in New York over the past two years and a particular rise in violence on the subway that has become a focus of Mayor Eric Adams' administration.
Transit crime, broadly, is up 68% compared to last year, numbers that are closer to where they were at pre-pandemic levels. A total of 617 crimes were reported this year, compared to 367 through the same period last year, according to an NYPD summary of statistics current through Sunday.
Witnesses says smoke engulfed train
Yav Montano told CNN he was on the Manhattan-bound N express subway train heading to work when a smoke grenade or smoke bomb went off and he heard what sounded like fireworks. The train was between stations at the time, so panicked passengers tried to move to another train car to get further away from the smoke, he said.
"The whole car was engulfed in smoke," he said. "I couldn't even use my mask anymore because it was black with smoke. It was ridiculous."
About 40 to 50 people were on the train at the time, he said. He was not sure how many were injured but said he saw a lot of blood on the floor of the train. When the train arrived to the 36th Street station, the passengers fled off the train onto the platform in a rush.
Brooklyn resident Will Wylde was on the subway on Tuesday morning when he heard commotion in the train car next to him. People started banging on the door between subway cars -- which are often locked -- to try to get through, he said.
A video taken by Wylde shows people rushing off the subway train after it pulls into the station. Smoke pours from the car where the shooting took place, and people are heard screaming, the video shows. An individual is seen helping an injured and bleeding person dressed in a blue hoodie off the train. Another man hobbles off the train shortly after, the video shows.
Police told the public to avoid the area of 36th Street and 4th Avenue in Brooklyn, where a large presence of emergency responders gathered.
Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood is located in the southwest part of the borough and has a significant number of residents who are Asian and Hispanic. Each group makes about a third of its more than 135,000 residents, according to US Census data.
The southern part of the neighborhood has emerged as Brooklyn's Chinatown due to its growing population of immigrants from the Fujian province in China.
Tuesday's subway attack is the second mass shooting, defined as at least four people shot, in Brooklyn this year and the fourth in New York State, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The first Brooklyn mass shooting of the year was on January 13 at a Brooklyn event hall.
Including Tuesday's shooting, there have been 131 mass shootings in America this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit that tracks gun death and injury. Those shootings left 141 people dead and 547 people wounded.
More than 360 people have been shot this year in New York, in 322 shooting incidents, according to data reported by NYPD through Sunday.
According to the data, shootings in the city have increased by 8.4 percent from 297 to 322 compared to last year. The number of people injured in those shootings increased from 332 to 363, or 9.3, from 2020 to 2021.
Over the last two years, shootings in New York are up 72.2 percent, and shooting victims up 70.4 percent.
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| 2022-04-12T21:20:41Z
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DALLAS (AP) — The federal requirement to wear face masks on airplanes and public transportation is scheduled to expire next week, and airline executives and Republican lawmakers are urging the Biden administration to let the mandate die.
The fate of the rule — and consideration of an alternate “framework” of moves to limit the spread of COVID-19 — was under discussion Monday within the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Officials described it as a close call.
“This is a decision that the CDC Director Dr. (Rochelle) Walensky is going to make,” White House coronavirus-policy adviser Dr. Ashish Jha said Monday. “I know the CDC is working on developing a scientific framework for how to answer that. We are going to see that framework come out I think in the next few days.”
Jha said that extending mask mandate again is “on the table.”
The administration gave the rule a one-month reprieve in March so that public-health officials would have time to develop alternative methods of limiting the transmission of COVID-19 during travel.
The mask mandate is the most visible vestige of government restrictions to control the pandemic, and possibly the most controversial. A surge of abusive and sometimes violent incidents on airplanes has been attributed mostly to disputes over mask-wearing.
Critics have seized on the fact that states have rolled back rules requiring masks in restaurants, stores and other indoor settings, and yet COVID-19 cases have fallen sharply since the omicron variant peaked in mid-January.
“The American people have seen through the false logic that COVID-19 only exists on airplanes and public transportation,” Republicans on the House and Senate transportation committees said Friday in a letter to the administration.
However, a recent uptick in cases could provide reason for the CDC to keep the mask rule a bit longer.
After a steep, two-month decline, the seven-day rolling U.S. average of new reported COVID-19 cases has turned slightly higher in recent days, although from relatively low levels.
Several prominent officials have contracted the virus, including the 82-year-old House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who tested positive for the virus last week after appearing – without a mask – at a White House event with President Joe Biden. Also last week, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo disclosed that they had tested positive after a gathering that was quickly dubbed a super-spreader event.
Airlines began requiring masks in 2020, months before the government mandate was issued days after President Joe Biden’s inauguration. Airlines faced financial ruin because of the pandemic, and the masks and other measures such as blocking middle seats were meant to reassure frightened passengers that flying was safe from the virus.
In December, the CEO of Southwest Airlines was forced to walk back a comment that masks didn’t do much to improve health safety in the cabin because planes have strong air filters.
Travelers have returned — the number of Americans getting on planes surged past 2 million a day in March — and airlines think they can sell plenty of seats without the mask rule.
“My flight attendants are begging us to stop this,” Frontier Airlines CEO Barry Biffle said. “Every day it’s causing all of these incidents on board, and it’s frustrating and it’s dangerous. You’re asking a 24-year-old flight attendant to explain it to someone who is mad” about the rule.
Unions that represent flight attendants once supported the mask rule but are now neutral. Union officials say their members are divided.
Executives of 10 airlines including American, Delta, United and Southwest wrote to Biden last month, urging the White House to drop the mask rule and a requirement that international travelers test negative for COVID-19 before flying to the U.S. “Much has changed since these measures were imposed and they no longer make sense in the current public health context,” the executives said.
Airlines for America, a trade group representing those big airlines, and three other industry organizations made a similar appeal to Dr. Jha on Friday. They pointed to recent CDC guidance which found that the most Americans no longer need to wear masks indoors because hospitalization rates in their communities are relatively low.
Savanthi Syth, an airline analyst for Raymond James & Associates, said there are some people who will feel uncomfortable flying with fellow passengers who aren’t wearing masks, but there could be others who have avoided flying because they’re not comfortable wearing one for a long flight.
“I expect the vast majority of passengers and flight attendants will welcome the change (if the rule is dropped), given that it is consistent with most other areas of everyday life,” Syth said. She said any impact on travel demand will be small, and that airlines would get a much bigger boost from elimination of the testing requirement on inbound international travelers.
Chris Lopinto, co-founder of travel site ExpertFlyer.com, said that because of the recent uptick in COVID-19 cases, it might be wise to keep the mask mandate until cases subside again.
“I don’t think there would be a material effect on demand either way, considering airlines can barely keep up with the demand they already have,” he said.
Most congressional Democrats continue to support the mask mandate. A leading liberal, Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass, urged the CDC and the Transportation Security Administration to keep the rule in place, saying that the virus and variants remain a threat to seniors and people with weakened immune systems or disabilities.
The political calculus could be shifting, however. Last month, eight Democrats broke with the White House and joined Senate Republicans in a symbolic vote against the mask mandate. Four of those Democrats face difficult re-election races in November, and the party is unlikely to keep control of the Senate if any of them lose.
___
Associated Press White House reporter Zeke Miller contributed to this report.
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https://www.kitv.com/news/national/mask-rule-for-planes-and-trains-still-up-in-the-air/article_4d63dec2-ba7d-11ec-a5fc-ab156484d9a5.html
| 2022-04-12T21:20:47Z
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A comet with a nucleus larger than the state of Rhode Island is heading our way, but Earth is in no danger of a "Don't Look Up" situation, astronomers say.
Although comets are most recognizable for their streaming tails, which can stretch for millions of miles, the heart of a comet is its solid nucleus. This nucleus is made of ice and dust, which forms a dirty snowball.
While most of the known comet nuclei measure a few miles across, astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope spotted Comet C/2014 UN271 with a nucleus that reaches 85 miles across. That's more than twice the width of Rhode Island.
This nucleus is about 50 times larger than those of other comets, and it has an estimated mass of 500 trillion tons, which is 100,000 times greater than the mass of a typical comet.
The comet is moving at 22,000 miles per hour from the edge of our solar system and will make its closest approach to us in 2031. But it will never get closer than one billion miles away from the sun -- just a little farther than the distance between Earth and Saturn.
The comet was discovered by astronomers Pedro Bernardinelli and Gary Bernstein as they looked through archival images taken by the Dark Energy Survey at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. The comet was first observed in 2010 and is also known as Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein in honor of its discoverers. Since then, astronomers have observed the comet with ground and space-based telescopes.
In January, researchers used the Hubble Space Telescope to take five photos of the comet. The images are part of a new study published Tuesday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
"This comet is literally the tip of the iceberg for many thousands of comets that are too faint to see in the more distant parts of the solar system," said study coauthor David Jewitt, a professor of planetary science and astronomy at the University of California, Los Angeles, in a statement. "We've always suspected this comet had to be big because it is so bright at such a large distance. Now we confirm it is."
Comets are relics from the early days of the solar system, icy leftover pieces from when the planets were forming. The gravity of the largest planets kicked comets out to the Oort Cloud, and the cloud is now the home of distant comets on the edge of our solar system that extends out into deep space. Comets travel back toward the sun when their orbits experience the gravitational tug of passing stars.
In a few million years, Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein's orbit will return it to the Oort Cloud.
"This is an amazing object, given how active it is when it's still so far from the Sun," said lead author Man-To Hui, assistant professor at the Macau University of Science and Technology in Taipa, Macau, in a statement. "We guessed the comet might be pretty big, but we needed the best data to confirm this."
The research team used Hubble data to distinguish the comet's nucleus from the coma, or the dusty envelope that surrounds a comet as it gets closer to the sun.
The heat of the sun warms the comet as it approaches, causing parts of it to sublimate, or transition from a solid to a gas. This cloudy coma is why comets look fuzzy when we see them through telescopes.
The team's analysis not only revealed the size of the nucleus, but also the fact that it's darker than coal, Jewitt said.
The comet experiences a 3-million-year-long, oval-shaped orbit. It's now less than two billion miles from our sun.
Astronomers hope that studying Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein could reveal more about the Oort Cloud, first hypothesized by Dutch astronomer Jan Oort in 1950. The cloud remains a theory because it's too distant to be observed, so the largest structure in our solar system is essentially invisible.
NASA's Voyager spacecrafts won't reach the inner Oort Cloud for another 300 years -- and it could take them 30,000 years to pass through it. But each comet that approaches the sun reveals more details about their mysterious home.
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| 2022-04-12T21:20:53Z
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https://www.heraldandnews.com/klamath/90th-birthday/article_2b1a0d4c-b440-537b-93ad-d3450256fc8d.html
| 2022-04-12T21:34:55Z
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For anyone who enjoys any of Oregon’s state parks or the coast, this is important.
You have until 5 p.m. Friday, April 15, to offer your opinion on new rules regulating drones at our state’s most cherished and iconic geographic sites.
In 2021, with the guidance and assistance of Kenji Sugahara, CEO and president of Drones Service Providers Alliance, an advocacy organization for “around 20,000 commercial drone users,” the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department secured legislation (SB 109) to create new rules governing drone use in state parks.
Sugahara and Chris Havel, the department’s assistant director, told legislators that the bill was needed because of increased conflicts between drone users, the public, and wildlife.
But in a strange twist, the proposed rules could put even more drones in the air with even less ability to inform, regulate, or enforce laws that could minimize conflict.
Under these rules, recreational drone operators could launch their unmanned craft from anywhere in a state park that is not designated otherwise. No permit, no education, no oversight is required.
The “prohibition zones” described in the rule would be designated sometime in the future for each of the 280 parks, and include campgrounds and possibly areas of particular scenic, cultural, or wildlife sensitivity.
But prohibition zones do not mean drones can’t fly over or around these particular areas. Havel says once in the air, the FAA has jurisdiction. He said that even if areas such as bird nesting sites are protected by other laws, it is difficult to find local offending operators. Basically, say critics of the new rule, if a drone can launch most anywhere, then they will be able to fly most anywhere.
And that is just what drone operators are aiming for.
Across the country drone operators are working to free up airspace in places traditionally considered off limits to their fast-flying cameras.
Sugahara says Oregon has an opportunity to be “a national model” for widespread access to natural areas. He hopes if Oregon relaxes its rules, states like Colorado that now outlaw drones in most state parks will follow suit.
Sugahara thinks eventually, as technology makes drones quieter and easier to track and identify, drones will be so common they will be just a normal part of our landscape.
Sugahara was one of two private drone representatives on the Parks and Recreation Department’s rulemaking advisory committee. That committee met twice, once in November and once in January.
At the first meeting the two drone representatives were the only recreational advocates present. The lack of anyone from the conservation community, the state Fish and Wildlife Department, or representatives from other recreational uses such as hiking or climbing, may explain why Sugahara was able to convince government attendees to abandon the state parks proposal. That proposal followed similar rules adopted by the agency to limit conflict between other competing interests, like bikers versus hikers.
By designating drone takeoff and landing areas, the state could limit a drone’s range and ostensibly limit the conflict that tends to ensue between drones and wildlife and traditional recreationists.
But it didn’t take long into the two-hour meeting for Sugahara to convince fellow advisory board members that relegating drone takeoff and landing to specific sites would amount to “an outright ban.”
Instead, the committee agreed to Sugahara’s more “reasonable” approach to allow drones to take off and land from anywhere in a state park or on the coast except for designated sites and campgrounds.
“The difference may seem insignificant but it’s not,” said Joe Liebezeit, staff scientist for the Audubon Society.
Liebezeit and one other conservation representative were invited to attend the final meeting of the advisory committee after it was clear the state had not lived up to its commitment to the Legislature to create a committee composed of a “broad range” of interests. Liebezeit came into that meeting hoping to salvage the original proposal.
“We are not against drones. But since the state can’t control where drones fly, the best thing we can do to protect sensitive areas and traditional recreational use is to control where they take off and land. Limit that and you limit conflict and harm to our parks and to visitor experience,” he said.
Liebezeit said he was told by state parks staff that the original proposal was a no go.
For a growing number of people in Oregon, news that you may soon be able to fly your drone over almost any place in a state park or along the coast may sound amazing.
Dave Messina, president and CEO of the FPV Freedom Coalition, a drone users advocacy group, called the rule “the dream of FPV flyers and pilots.”
The State Parks and Recreation Department told lawmakers it would find a way to balance the values of its users. It’s now up to the people who were not invited to the table to speak up about whether they think the state’s proposed drone rules protect their values.
The Parks and Recreation Department extended the public comment period on the proposed rule changes to this Friday. Citizens can also testify before the state Parks and Recreation Commission, scheduled for 9:45 a.m. Wednesday, April 13, at The Oregon Garden in Silverton. People can sign up to testify online, and can either appear in person or testify via the internet.
Naseem Rakha is a former public radio reporter, news show host and commentator. She is an author of the novel "The Crying Tree," which was inspired by her time covering two executions in Oregon. Naseem spends her time hiking, climbing, rafting and photographing areas throughout the American West.
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https://www.heraldandnews.com/klamath/as-drones-proliferate-oregon-parks-agency-is-considering-new-rules/article_34e49eeb-2f71-5b80-b076-e84661c29a6a.html
| 2022-04-12T21:35:01Z
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https://www.heraldandnews.com/klamath/bridging-the-urban-rural-culture-gap/article_551242f7-7be8-5267-85dd-2ec899f1f02e.html
| 2022-04-12T21:35:07Z
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State officials have taken the first step towards crafting a new health care plan to ensure medical care for tens of thousands of low-income Oregonians.
Gov. Kate Brown announced Monday the appointment of 13 people to a new task force that will develop a plan by September. The appointees have expertise in health equity, health insurance, union activities, Medicaid coverage, hospital care, behavioral health care and dentistry.
The plan will be needed when the federal health emergency ends this year. When that happens, the state will have to confirm that everyone on the Oregon Health Plan, the state’s Medicaid program, still meets the income requirements of no more than $1,563 a month for one person and $3,191 for four.
The Oregon Health Authority suspects that as many as 300,000 people no longer qualify and could lose coverage. These people are the “churn” population – people who cycle on and off Medicaid with changes in their income. They are not people who would normally buy coverage on the health insurance marketplace.
The new insurance – the “bridge plan” – would insure individuals who make up to $2,832 a month or $5,782 for a family of four. The state would like the plan to be available by the end of the year to cover them when they’re booted off Medicaid.
“We are appreciative of the work the Bridge Program Task Force will carry out to give guidance to us in designing an equity-centered program to extend coverage to more people in Oregon,” Patrick Allen, health authority director, said in a statement. “There are many questions about how a bridge program might work, and by centering the voices of people with lived experience and expertise, we believe we’ll end up with a better program.”
The first meeting of the task force is scheduled for Tuesday, April 19.
With the expansion of Medicaid during the pandemic, Oregon raised its insured rate from 94% to 95.4%, adding tens of thousands of people.
The state wants as many people insured as possible to curb rising health care costs. When people have health insurance, they get earlier care, helping to stem medical problems before they become serious, or they are treated for chronic conditions. Without insurance, people often turn to the most expensive care: the emergency room.
That’s in part why state Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, D-Portland, and an internist at Oregon Health & Science University, favored approving the plan during February’s legislative session. It would save the state money, she said.
But Sen. Fred Girod of Stayton, who joined a minority of Republicans in voting against the plan, worried that it could mean millions of dollars in unforeseen costs.
The cost of the health insurance would be covered by the federal government if it meets national standards and agrees that federal subsidies can be used to pay for the plan, which essentially would amount to a broadening of Medicaid.
The task force is in charge of determining what services it will offer. Medicaid is free and covers everything, from vision to dental to behavioral health.
Eric Hunter, president and CEO of Portland-based CareOregon, a Medicaid insurer, will be on the task force along with Adrienne Daniels, interim director of Integrated Clinical Services at the Multnomah County Health Department. Daniels is on the Medicaid Advisory Committee. Brown also appointed William Johnson, president of Moda Health, a commercial health insurer, and Lindsey Hopper, executive vice president of PacificSource Health Plans, which serves patients on Medicaid and commercial insurance. Brown also appointed:
• Low-income worker specialist: Alicia Temple, legislative advocate, Oregon Law Center, to represent low-income workers
• Health equity experts: Keara Rodela, community and public health programs supervisor, Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization, and Jonathan Frochtzwajg, public policy and grants manager, Cascade AIDS Project
• Health insurance exchange expert: Sharmaine Johnson Yarbrough, enrollment and engagement specialist, Wallace Medical Concern
• Union member: Kirsten Isaacsson, research director, SEIU, Service Employees International Union Local 49
• Hospital executive: Dr. John Hunter, executive vice president, Oregon Health & Science University
• Health provider: Dr. Antonio Germann, clinic medical director and family physician, Salud Medical Clinic and Pacific Pediatrics
• Behavioral health expert: Heather Jefferis, executive director, Oregon Council for Behavioral Health
• Dentistry expert: Matthew Sinnot, senior director of government Affairs and contracts, Willamette Dental Group
The task force will be co-chaired by Rep. Rachel Prusak, D-Tualatin, and Steiner Hayward. Rep. Cedric Hayden, R-Roseburg and Bill Kennemer, R-Canby, will also be on the panel. The government representatives are: Allen; Fariborz Pakseresh, director of the Human Services Department; Andrew Stolfi, director of the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs, which oversees health insurers; and Stefanny Caballero, who is on the state Health Policy Board.
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https://www.heraldandnews.com/klamath/oregon-takes-first-step-towards-keeping-tens-of-thousands-on-health-care-coverage/article_f0851894-4ac3-5390-a256-c6b0eb4c989d.html
| 2022-04-12T21:35:13Z
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En route to the airport from their Bainbridge Island home early on April 1 for a long-planned trip to a wedding in Tampa, Fla., the Abarbanel family received a notification from Alaska Airlines: Their flight was canceled.
That weekend and in the days after, a pilot shortage at Alaska caused hundreds of such last-minute flight cancellations that fueled anger among tens of thousands of passengers delayed or stranded.
The chaos was the last straw for the Abarbanels, who said they had three previous Alaska flights this year either canceled or changed at short notice.
Having abandoned all hope of reaching Alaska customer service — with a hold time of 10 hours — they finally got to Tampa on Monday via alternate flights they booked for themselves on Delta and JetBlue. They paid substantial additional hotel and rental car expenses and lost two nights already paid for in a beachfront condo.
“Our journey planned well ahead turned into the trip from hell,” Mary Beth Abarbanel, a retiree who traveled with her husband and adult son, wrote in an email “Longtime Alaska customer, with a bank of money and miles. Alaska is now losing our business.”
The airline may have a long climb to get above the clouds now shrouding its reputation for warm and reliable service.
Series of unfortunate events
Constance von Muehlen, Alaska’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, attributed the schedule meltdown to a series of one-off setbacks over several months.
The surge of the omicron variant of the coronavirus and the snowstorm in December delayed the flow of pilots from the airline’s training pipeline, she said, and created “a unique confluence of events.”
“We should have recognized this sooner and made the necessary schedule adjustments,” she conceded in an email to employees on Tuesday.
Yet the pilot union, the Air Line Pilots Association, had long warned management a staffing crisis was coming.
“We started late last fall, then going into the events in December with the snowstorm, saying, ‘You are not properly staffed,’ “ Will McQuillen, ALPA’s Alaska council chairperson, said in an interview. “This airline should have the elasticity to be able to respond to these events. It’s running too lean.”
Executives at Alaska dismiss this as labor posturing during the protracted and increasingly bitter pilot contract negotiations.
Yet a video of an internal Alaska pilot meeting shows Alaska executives, two weeks before the meltdown on April 1, were keenly aware of the imminence of an acute pilot shortage and the threat of chaos.
At that mid-March meeting, one employee asked: “Reserve coverage for next month appears to be insufficient to staff the airline. What’s the plan?”
Pilot pipeline broken
John Ladner, vice president of flight operations, responded that pilots resigning to join other airlines had reduced the number of reserve pilots on call to fill gaps in scheduling.
“We are seeing attrition. You’re definitely seeing the impact with the low number of reserves that we have periodically,” Ladner told his pilots. “April is looking like it’s going to be a difficult month.”
Still, no urgent action was taken to stanch the deluge of cancellations that hit April 1.
In the aftermath of that disaster, Alaska said it will now proactively reduce its flying schedule by 2% through June “to match our current pilot capacity” of about 3,100 pilots. That’s about 24 flights per day, freeing up 24 flight crews for redeployment.
With that, the airline hopes to avoid more day-of-flight cancellations.
“We will let you know in advance if your itinerary is impacted by these schedule adjustments,” the airline promised travelers in a statement on its website last week.
As for the distress caused to stranded passengers last weekend, von Muehlen said, “we’re deeply sorry for the challenges that they might have had.”
Alaska is short not only of pilots but also of flight attendants and customer service reps.
In a March 28 video staff meeting, an employee cited frustration among overworked reservation agents who because of the long wait times were “taking verbal abuse not bad enough to hang up on a guest but enough to put agents in tears and even to the point of quitting at a high rate.”
Ironically, the staff shortages hit the carrier just over a week after management touted expansive growth plans at its annual Investor Day in New York.
Management’s growth story, claiming Alaska can emerge from the pandemic stronger than ever and capture bigger markets, is aimed at raising the stock price.
In New York, the leadership projected Alaska will grow its seat capacity between 4% and 8% annually through 2025 and by the end of next year will be flying 24 more mainline jets than it had at the start of this year. Since Alaska must hire 12 pilots for every extra plane it adds to the fleet, that’s close to 300 additional pilots needed for that expansion alone, not accounting for retirements and attrition.
In an interview in early March, Nat Pieper, Alaska’s senior vice president responsible for the jet fleet and finances, said the current industrywide pilot shortage is a concern given the airline’s growth aspirations.
“We’ve got the balance sheet to do it. We’ve got airplanes coming,” said Pieper. “But you’ve obviously got to have crew to be able to do that.”
All U.S. airlines are facing challenging labor shortages as air travel recovers. All cut staff during the steep pandemic downturn and some employees did not return.
Some pilots close to the retirement age of 65 chose to quit early during the pandemic. At Alaska, 137 of its most experienced veterans elected early retirement out of about 3,100 total pilots.
Making the situation worse at Alaska, the shortage means pilots have lots of options and Alaska has seen significant attrition this year as pilots left to join other carriers.
In the first three months of the year, 27 line pilots left for other airlines. In addition, 22 hired as pilots but who had not completed their training jumped ship to another carrier.
There’s also a significant no-show factor for those pilot training classes, as candidates accept an offer when Alaska calls, then switch when a different airline makes an offer.
“A couple of weeks prior to class, pilots are backing out of offers,” Scott Day, system chief pilot at Alaska, told the pilots in that mid-March pilot meeting with Ladner. Day added that Alaska is now overfilling the classes by about 10% to compensate for this attrition.
ALPA’s McQuillen said Friday five more pilots resigned in the past week to go elsewhere, bringing the total to 54 pilots who have moved to greener pastures so far this year.
Last year, 43 Alaska pilots resigned in the entire 12 months and in pre-pandemic years, as pilots switched airlines for family reasons or geographic location, a figure of around 20 resignations was more typical, McQuillen said.
Contract talks at an impasse
The union says the level of attrition is evidence that Alaska has fallen behind the major airlines not only in pilot pay but in the crew scheduling rules that determine if a pilot’s work schedule is flexible or not.
And they complain that management won’t commit to limits on the percentage of flights flown by smaller regional jets flown by lower-paid pilots — which they see as a long-term threat to career security.
In the current deadlocked contract talks, both sides expect the pilot pay to be raised to the current market level at other airlines. It’s the “quality of life” crew scheduling and career security issues that are blocking a deal.
Pilots “will gravitate towards the carrier that offers the greatest quality of life and career security,” said McQuillen.
Hundreds of pilots turned out to picket for a new contract at Alaska’s Seattle base near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on April 1 and more than 1,000 took part across its network hubs.
While many passengers assumed the flight cancellations were a result of this show of disaffection, that’s not the case. Those were off-duty pilots. There’s no strike.
The company clarified on its website that “This informational picket was not the cause of our cancellations.”
Instead, von Muehlen and Jeff Severns, managing director of flight operations training, cited the big shortfall in the new-hire pilots who graduated from Alaska’s training program for April 1 compared to the expected number.
“We started new hires in October, really filled the schoolhouse November, December, and then every month thereafter,” Severns said. “When Omicron hit in December ... we saw delays with students in the schoolhouse down sick with omicron, with instructors not being available.”
He added that the operational portion of the training for new-hire pilots, when they fly along with a very experienced pilot, was impacted by the December weather delays and cancellations.
The result was Alaska had 63 fewer pilots ready to fly on April 1 than was planned for when the schedule was set in January.
The union believes the problems run deeper. McQuillen said the no-show rates for training and the loss of pilots to other airlines “has nothing to do with omicron or weather.”
When the pilot contract bargaining continued this week before a federal mediator, the talks went nowhere and broke off a day early on Thursday. The impasse seems worse than ever.
Ladner in a message to the pilots that night complained of “ALPA’s unwillingness to find common ground.”
“To be candid, we are unsure of our next steps and are waiting to hear from our mediator,” Ladner wrote.
The union sent out an even stronger message. Though federal labor law makes it extremely difficult for airline pilots to strike — the government can impose a cooling off period and even force a settlement — McQuillen hinted that might lie ahead.
“It’s our strong recommendation that Alaska pilots prepare financially for a much bigger fight to achieve our collective goals,” he wrote to his members.
McQuillen on Saturday clarified that “a strike might lie ahead if legally sanctioned.”
He said via email that if the federal mediator decides “that the two parties are at an impasse, he can release us to a 30-day cooling off period. Following that... and only then... are we legally allowed to strike.”
Filling in the shortages
The 2% reduction in flying over the next few months should “see us back on track,” said Alaska spokesperson Alexa Rudin.
“We’re calibrating our capacity to match the number of pilots,” she said. “The next time you go to fly, you can expect us to be reliable and your flight will go on time.”
Acknowledging that the crew shortage should have been flagged earlier, von Muehlen said the pilot crew planning team must now report directly to her.
And responding to the widespread anger over the customer service phone delays, she said that passengers affected by a cancellation should not call the regular support numbers. She said a phone number provided on the cancellation notification is a special line for which “the hold times are minutes.”
Von Muehlen said Alaska has hired 388 pilots since October. These largely come from regional airlines flying smaller jets or turboprop planes and take several months to train.
Alaska is training more pilot trainers for the new-hire classes and more check pilots for the operational training. Von Muehlen said she expects 30 new hires to graduate and become line pilots this month.
A complication is that because Alaska is phasing out its Airbus A320 jets, it has about 350 A320 pilots who will have to be retrained in batches to fly Boeing 737s.
This takes up scarce training resources. Alaska currently has just one 737 MAX full flight simulator. By the summer it expects to have three.
At the March 28 employee meeting, von Muehlen said 360 newly hired and trained flight attendants would join the line on April 1.
“I certainly expect the flight attendants to be in a much better place by June,” she said. “Likewise, for our pilots, I expect that by the summer we will be in a better place.”
Rudin said Alaska will work with all passengers whose travel plans were ruined to sort out compensation for extra expenses and the trouble caused.
“I’ve checked with our care team and they feel very confident that they’re working with all of our guests who are impacted,” she said. “I think we’re in good shape there.”
Yet Alaska’s customer support remains glacially slow. The online chat function at the airline website on Friday cited a response time of one hour and hold time on the customer service phone line was 5 to 7 hours.
As for the Abarbanels, after about two hours on the phone from Florida, “mostly on hold,” Alaska booked them on a flight home Sunday.
“They sent me a single coupon for a $100 discount, good for one year,” Mary Beth Abarbanel said via email. “Reservations said they could not tell us what was refunded and what was not.”
For that, she was told she needs to contact customer service.
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https://www.heraldandnews.com/klamath/pilots-picketing-travel-chaos-from-pilot-shortage-just-part-of-alaska-airlines-headaches/article_66c25a91-f9d0-5731-94a3-04a602c4c038.html
| 2022-04-12T21:35:19Z
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U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden says it’s time for Congress to lift federal cannabis restrictions dating back more than 80 years to the Great Depression.
The Oregon Democrat made his statement after the House approved similar legislation April 1, the second time it has done so in 18 months. Wyden, who is chairman of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, has been working on his own version with New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. They released a draft last summer, and plan to introduce legislation after Congress returns from its Easter recess. It is known as the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, also an Oregon Democrat, has been a champion of both House bills to do away with federal restrictions that have existed since 1937. The bills are known as the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act.
Under a 1970 law known as the Controlled Substances Act, the federal government classified marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug with no medical value, similar to heroin. It did so after then-President Richard M. Nixon declared a “war on drugs” that even its proponents concede has largely failed.
In a statement issued after the House vote, Blumenauer said:
“As we mark 50 years of the devastating War on Drugs, it is past time for Congress to catch up with the public and majority of states who have legalized some form of cannabis, and pass legislation to decriminalize the adult use of recreational cannabis.”
Blumenauer was a 24-year-old state representative in 1973, when Oregon became the first state to make possession of 1 ounce or less punishable as an infraction — comparable to a traffic offense — and a maximum fine of $100. Oregon voters approved a medical-use law in 1998 and full legalization in 2014, although Colorado and Washington preceded it.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Oregon is among 18 states in which marijuana is legal for medical and recreational use. Twenty-nine other states have full medical marijuana programs or allow use of cannabis components with low or no psychoactive chemicals that induce intoxication. Only Idaho, Kansas and Nebraska bar public access to any form of cannabis, other than hemp, whose status was changed by a federal law in 2018.
“Ending federal cannabis prohibition is urgent business,” Wyden said in a tweet. “I congratulate the House on passing this bill and I urge my Senate colleagues to support my legislation … It’s past time for Congress to listen to the will of the voters.”
Senate roadblock
But the latest legislation, whether it’s the House bill or Wyden’s draft bill, faces a highly uncertain future in an evenly divided Senate — where 60 votes are needed to pass something that is not budget-related or an executive or judicial appointment.
During a speech April 6 in support of Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, Wyden criticized Republicans who say that matters such as abortion rights should be left to states as a conservative majority on the high court appears poised to restrict or overturn its 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade.
“If Republicans believed in states’ rights, they’d respect the right of Democratic states to pass gun safety laws. They’d respect the right of states to legalize marijuana. They’d respect the right of states to ensure we have clean air and water,” Wyden said. “But Republicans oppose all of those priorities, challenge those laws in federal court and undermine them in Congress.”
The Senate did pass cannabis legislation of its own on March 24. But the bill (S 253) simply streamlines applications for research and encourages the Food and Drug Administration to develop cannabis-derived medicines. The bill went to the House on a unanimous-consent vote; there was no roll call.
House action
The latest House bill (HR 3617) went to the Senate on a 220-204 vote mostly along party lines. Just three Republicans joined Democrats to vote for it; two Democrats voted with Republicans against it.
A similar bill passed the House in a December 2020 post-election session. Its chief significance was that it was a step toward ending cannabis prohibition that has been in effect since 1937, when Congress made possession of it illegal unless someone paid a tax for federal permits that were unavailable.
That bill did not come to a vote in the Senate.
The House has passed another bill (HR 1996), known as the SAFE Act, almost a year ago to remove barriers that cannabis-related businesses face in using the banking system. The barriers force those business to conduct many transactions in cash with all the problems that ensue. A 321-101 vote, with all Democrats in favor and Republicans split 106-101, sent that bill to the Senate, where it have not moved.
Blumenauer had this to say after the latest House vote:
“The MORE Act decriminalizes cannabis at the federal level and provides restorative justice for communities which have suffered from the disproportionate and deliberate enforcement of cannabis prohibitions. Today’s vote to pass the MORE Act in the U.S. House of Representatives is one step to ending the deplorable, misguided War on Drugs. It is also a critical turning point.
“I have spent time talking to parents of children with seizure disorders, veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), small businesses, and the very communities who have been unfairly impacted by the War on Drugs, and they all agree: The federal government must end the failed prohibition on marijuana.
“Today’s passage of the MORE Act brings us one step closer to winning the fight.”
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https://www.heraldandnews.com/klamath/wyden-it-s-time-to-end-federal-restrictions-on-cannabis/article_eeaac94f-eea4-5b69-b787-11904675cd9a.html
| 2022-04-12T21:35:25Z
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https://www.heraldandnews.com/news/local_news/cops-keep-up-search-for-man-who-allegedly-assaulted-deputy/article_52cdb468-f3ea-5d43-a8e6-f7598b4bb62c.html
| 2022-04-12T21:35:32Z
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Oregonians broadly support funding educational programs, yet respondents to a recent statewide survey generally expressed a lack of support for their local school boards.
Only 36% of those polled said they feel their school board represents their values and beliefs. Another 38% said they don’t feel represented by their local school board and 26%, said they were unsure.
Oregon Values & Beliefs Center’s latest survey, which polled 1,563 Oregon residents ages 18 and older, found that Democrats are more likely than Republicans to voice support for the school board in their area. Respondents who are higher income — earning $100,000 or more annually — and those who have more education are more likely to feel represented by their school boards than those with less income and education.
The 26% of respondents who said they were “unsure” about their local school boards indicated a lack of familiarity with the work and decisions of elected education officials, but that isn’t the case everywhere.
Last year saw a public rift between school leadership and residents in Newberg, where a school board voted to ban staff from displaying political or controversial flags, apparel and images, such as Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ pride flags, on school district property. A few months after that vote, the school board fired its superintendent without cause.
Fallout from the controversial board decisions led to an unsuccessful but close recall effort against Newberg School Board members Dave Brown and Brian Shannon in January. The election revealed a sharp public divide on whether the school board was representing its community, with 52% of voters opposed to the recall and 48% voting in favor.
A large number of respondents cite political influences in their disapproval of their local school board.
“School boards have become too political,” one Yamhill County Republican noted. “They should focus on education, not social justice and political indoctrination.”
A Deschutes County Republican respondent said: “The school board is focused on social issues, culture and indoctrination. They do not take the steps to improve education only making supporting programs that fit their agenda. This is done to the detriment of learning.”
But another Deschutes County survey taker, a Democrat, said her school board was “not doing enough to support POC & LGBT community. Racism, sexism, & homophobia are rampant in Bend & concerns by parents are ignored. … They talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk.” POC stands for people of color.
In Clackamas County, Cris Waller said her local school board was “taken over by conservatives” in the last election.
“I’ve heard from people I know about what a disheartening time it is to be a school board because of the relentless pressure from right-wing groups,” Waller said when reached by Pamplin Media Group. She said that the same groups that have been taking over school board meetings have been taking over Clackamas In Washington County, one woman said voters in her community “managed to keep crazy, fringe characters” off the school board. “However, they are banging at the door to get in with their white-pride, Christian-zealot fervor.”
Kwee Heong Tan, also of Washington County, said his local school board “cares about admin and non-education areas like artificial grass, while textbooks are old, and emphasis on AP subjects are reduced due to lack of teachers.”
While Oregonians are split on whether they are being served and represented by local school leadership, the survey shows broad support (70% or higher) for an array of taxpayer- funded family support services like tutoring, sports, after-school clubs, children’s health care and youth mental health services.
County’s board of commissioners.
Even those services that garnered the least support, like culturally inclusive learning materials and required cultural awareness and implicit-bias training for school staff, showed 70% of those polled felt they were valuable.
When it comes to supporting child care and early learning programs, particularly for children with special needs or disabilities, more than half (56%) of Oregonians say it’s “very important” to offer child care and learning programs. More than 86% of those polled said it’s somewhat or very important to fund programs for special needs children.
Similarly, 79% said it was somewhat or very important to make child care more affordable for families through additional government funding.
“Women are more likely than men to express strong support for using taxpayer funds to bolster early learning and childhood programs and services,” the values and beliefs center noted in its summary of survey results. “Lower-income residents are also more supportive.”
Still, residents are mixed on how to pay for those services. In Multnomah County, which enacted new tax measures in 2020, and in Portland, specifically, which now has the highest state and local combined income-tax rate in the nation, higher-income earners are feeling the squeeze.
“I currently pay over $500 per month in property tax. I get a little over $1,000 from SS. I am raising my grandchildren. Do the math,” one woman in Multnomah County, who identifies as a Democrat with a “somewhat liberal” social ideology, told surveyors. “I cringe at the thought of all these well-meaning projects being proposed, knowing full well it will be property taxes that pay for it. Then all the 20-30 yearolds voting it all in and then whining about high rent.”
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https://www.heraldandnews.com/poll-oregon-school-boards-have-low-public-support/article_6019b65e-3002-527e-b1bf-a56ad296c6f1.html
| 2022-04-12T21:35:38Z
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https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/power-in-laramie-restored-after-2-hour-outage/article_ee4c1d21-f4b9-56fb-99f4-06f26f605fcf.html
| 2022-04-12T22:08:32Z
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Boomerang page plan, April 13 Apr 12, 2022 32 min ago Comments Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Save Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Save BOOMERANG page plan for WEDNESDAY, April 13 A1Tease 1: BUSY TUESDAY Power outage impacts nearly 7,700 in Laramie; spring storm closes I-80, Page A3Tease 2: , Page B1MAIN PACKAGE: She’s all the buzz: Local high schooler to compete at international science fair, Abby (Photos)City rental housing registration begins, Abby (file photo) – strip across topLaramie-based guardsman is Soldier of the Year, Staff (photo) – down 1 sideNursing shortage continues in Wyoming, WNE (file photo) A2STANDALONE: Cleanup patrolToday/tomorrow from APWhat’s happening?WeatherCorrections policy A3Power in Laramie restored after 2-hour outage, Staff (map)I-80 between Laramie and Cheyenne re-opens, Staff (photo)Worth noting briefs (short)Jumps from A1A4 OPINIONSyndicated cartoonSimpson column (Wyoming voices)All entities should follow city’s report (Wyoming editorial)A5 – can move ads to A7 if you wantObitsAround Wyoming briefsVol. 142 No. 73 A6-A7 OUTDOORSGrizzly managers worried about 399 and cubs, WNE (photo)Ruling on eagle deaths divides wind power industry, WNE (mug)Local advocates for more black bear support, research, WNE (photo)Praying for precipitation: Dry conditions spark fire concern, WNEGame and Fish AIS inspection stations open this spring, StaffA8 NATIONAP stuffA9 UKRAINEWar stuffA10People asking for postmortem COVID tests to pay for funerals, WNE Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Save Tags Photo Staff Outage Wind Power Commerce Zoology Military Printing Recommended for you Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. comments powered by Disqus Trending Now Jury finds Cheyenne day care worker guilty of manslaughter Some Cheyenne Regional employees upset by handling of Kronos hack Sweetwater County school bus hits light pole at Frontier Mall in Cheyenne, no one hurt Laramie County Sheriff’s Office identifies suspect killed in exchange of gunfire with deputy Laramie County Sheriff’s deputy shot, suspect killed Saturday afternoon after robbery at LCCC Latest Special Section Our Faces To view our latest Special Section click the image on the left. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. 2022 Wyoming Legislature Updates Sign up to receive daily headlines on the 2022 Wyoming Legislature session. News Updates Would you like to receive our daily news? Sign up today! News Updates - Laramie Boomerang Want to keep updated on news headlines? Sign up today! News Updates - Rawlins Times Would you like to receive our daily news? Sign up today! News Updates - Wyoming Business Report Would you like to receive our daily news? Sign up today! You must select at least one email list. Please enter a valid email address. Sign up Manage your lists
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https://www.wyomingnews.com/townnews/commerce/boomerang-page-plan-april-13/article_13286dc7-df42-525a-aad7-5783f5ff14d2.html
| 2022-04-12T22:08:38Z
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POWELL — The road through the Lamar Valley was dry and tacky last week. Despite some recent snow, most of the landscape within view of the open road was already exposed and parched.
Conditions in Yellowstone National Park are expected to be volatile this coming season after a winter with relatively little precipitation — definitely less snow than last year, according to the park’s top climate specialist.
Ann Rodman, Yellowstone National Park’s climate coordinator, arrived at Mammoth Hot Springs for her first position in 1988. She watched about 100 square miles of the east side of the park burn that year; the scars on the landscape are still visible 34 years later.
Rodman has been watching the park change and is worried about a repeat of the ’88 season as the world’s first national park continues to be hit with extreme drought.
“The lack of soil moisture and precipitation can set us up for a big fire season,” she said Thursday.
Rodman prefaced the statement by saying Yellowstone’s fire season will all depend on rain events as it moves into warmer months, but if last year is any indication of what is to come, northwest Wyoming could be in for a long, frustrating summer.
“I’m sure everybody’s going to be paying attention as we go into the summer months,” she said, “especially if we continue to have lower than normal precipitation, warmer temperatures and the snowpack melts early.”
Rodman has been accumulating climate jobs for the past three decades. As people retire, she adds duties to her job description.
Currently she manages the Geographic Information System for the park, monitors soundscapes and air quality and runs several climate monitoring sites in an attempt to anticipate what kind of impacts the changing climate will have on resources in the park.
Rodman also follows weather station and snowpack telemetry reports, looking for long term trends.
What she is seeing is disturbing.
Weekly snow water equivalent reports delivered by the National Resources Conservation Service assign percentages above or below normal based on a 30-year median. This year has already seen significantly less moisture than last.
The NRCS transitioned into a new 30-year median in January — updating the reference period for median and normal calculations from 1981-2010 to 1991-2020 — so percentages involve different parameters from past reports.
Current snow water equivalents in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem are only running between 70-75% of the 30-year median. But what’s missing from the reports are long-term percentages, Rodman said.
“If we were comparing the normal that they used in the 1971 to 2000 period — comparing the amount of snow we have now to that normal — you’d be at 42%,” she said. “They’ve changed the 30-year period they’re talking about, which can be super confusing when you’re trying to think about climate change and trends, because, you know, every 10 years we change what normal means.”
How a long-term drop in precipitation affects the park and the surrounding ecosystems can change environments well into the future.
“There’s no question that climate change is putting us on a trajectory to have conditions that will support more and larger fires,” Rodman said.
It won’t be like this every year.
“Some years will be wet, some years will be dry,” she said.
But over time, she warned, “it’s not out of the question” that fires like the park suffered in 1988 could potentially happen every decade.
The question Rodman is trying to answer is how species of animals and plants will change along with an extended period of drought. The park may no longer support the same populations or species of wildlife, she said, and even the grasses could change.
Fire-ravaged ground is ideal for invasive species like cheatgrass, which isn’t a good food source and dries early in the year, possibly promoting more fires.
“Cheatgrass is really good at taking advantage of that early season moisture and can do it better than some of the native species. And with these earlier seasons, it just kind of sets things up for cheatgrass to do better,” Rodman said.
Something to be aware of for this coming season is the high possibility that streamflows will be very low and the park and surrounding areas may reduce or close fishing, much like last year.
Current predictions aren’t rosy.
“I’m sure the park management is going to be looking at that and paying attention as we get into June,” Rodman said.
But as scientists make forecasts, they also are forced to hedge even their best bets.
“Forecasts of any kind, of course, are not perfect,” NRCS hydrologist Jim Fahey noted in the Wyoming Basin and Water Supply Outlook Report earlier this month.
While the long term trends point to many future hardships, this summer season in the park could surprise scientists and be wet.
“Some of this is going to depend on what kind of rain we get in the next two months,” Rodman said. “We only know what happens.”
The lack of snow and the diminished need to plow will make it easier for Yellowstone crews to open several roads to the public on Friday.
Beginning at 8 a.m., select roads in Yellowstone — West Entrance to Old Faithful, Mammoth Hot Springs to Old Faithful (via Norris), Norris to Canyon Village — will open for the summer season; the road from the North Entrance to Mammoth Hot Springs to the Northeast Entrance remains open year-round.
The East Entrance and the road from Canyon to Lake Village are set to open May 6, with all roads open by May 27.
In announcing the schedule, the National Park Service noted that the plans are “weather permitting.”
This story was published on April 12, 2022.
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https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyomingbusinessreport/industry_news/agribusiness/praying-for-precipitation-dry-conditions-spark-fire-concern/article_3ad44368-baab-11ec-b92a-4f41dc9e73b1.html
| 2022-04-12T22:08:44Z
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CASPER — Nursing staff shortages persist in Wyoming. But there are a number of ways people are trying to turn that around.
Nationwide nursing shortages preceded the pandemic. COVID-19 just made it a lot worse.
A June 2021 survey by the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living found that up to 94% of nursing homes and 81% of assisted-living communities had experienced staff shortages in the prior month.
“One of the most frightening and immediate areas of shortage is occurring in Wyoming long-term care and assisted living facilities with a lack of (Certified Nursing Assistants),” said Lori Hart, Wyoming State Board of Nursing Executive Director.
Hart said she spoke to a nurse during the peak of COVID who was part of a two-person staff managing a 24/7 emergency room.
“Most of us are understanding when Arby’s has to close early because they don’t have enough staff . What happens when a rural ER faces this issue? A long term care unit?” she asked. “In the light of public safety, nurses pushed past personal exhaustion and did what had to be done.”
Some nurses, she said, turn to substance abuse to cope with the workload.
There are a number of ways to tackle nursing shortages. Hart said joining the Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) Compact, which was created in 2020, could help.
That would allow advanced practice registered nurses to hold one multi-state license. They could use that license in any of the states that are part of the compact.
Right now only three states have joined: Utah, North Dakota and Delaware. The compact won’t be enacted until there are seven member states.
“This is an important area to consider in the next few years to assure seamless transition between states (including telehealth),” Hart said.
Wyoming already has experience with compacts. It joined the Nursing Licensure Compact in 2018. The idea is pretty much the same; now Wyoming nurses can have one license to practice in any compact state. To date, 39 states have joined.
Wyoming Hospital Association President Eric Boley said these compacts have been “successful as all get out,” particularly for bringing in more nurses during the pandemic.
Another obvious solution to address nursing shortages is upping nurse salaries.
Monster. com lists a median salary of $15.41 an hour, so for a 40 hour week, that would come out to be over $30,000 per year. Salary.com says they earn about $28,600 a year.
Intuit estimates that the average annual salary for CNAs in Wyoming is about $27,500. To compare, the average wage at Walmart is $16.40, which comes out to be about $34,000 a year.
Another part of the solution may be increasing salaries for nurse educators, who often earn less than practicing nurses despite their required master’s degree.
Some states have passed legislation to retain and recruit nurse educators. Washington, for example, passed a 2019 bill that appropriated $60.8 million toward increasing nurse educator and high-demand program faculty salaries at community and technical colleges.
That was after the Washington Center for Nursing and the Council of Nursing Education in Washington State found low pay to be the primary reason nurse educators thought about leaving their positions, according to an article from the Washington State Nurses Association. At the time, more than 800 qualified nursing school applicants were turned away each year because of faculty shortages.
Increasing salaries could help Wyoming tap into its pool of unemployed or part-time nurses.
The Wyoming State Board of Nursing and Wyoming Workforce Services partnered during the pandemic to try to identify nurses who had worked less than 4 quarters in 2020. They made a list that could help facilities find nurses and CNAs who might not be working.
“Nurses and CNAs both in Wyoming and across the nation are experiencing extreme fatigue as well as frustration in their jobs,” Hart said. “Perhaps an equally important question to consider is what can Wyoming do to keep licensed nurses and certified CNAs providing care?”
This story was published on April 12, 2022.
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https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyomingbusinessreport/industry_news/economy_and_labor/nursing-shortage-continues/article_1fa93a44-baab-11ec-a277-9bf8f077f6fc.html
| 2022-04-12T22:08:51Z
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Child with autism dies 2 months after adoption
WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH/Gray News) - Aaron Carter was 6 years old when he left his foster family to go live with his newly adoptive parents. Two months later, he died.
KWCH investigative reporter Alex Flippin spent the last year asking questions about the death, about who failed the child and what needs to be done so it doesn’t happen again to someone else.
When Aaron came to stay with foster parents Jamie and Tina Miller just before his third birthday in April 2017, any communication at all was unthinkable. He only started to learn to communicate when he was 5 years old.
“When we got him, they said he was ‘normal,’ but there was absolutely something terribly wrong,” Tina Miller said. “He would go along the wall and run his hand down it and just follow and just circled the entire day, nonstop. And he didn’t talk.
“He didn’t look at you, and if he did, he looked right past you like you didn’t exist.”
He was a boy with autism who had made his way into the foster care system after a rough start to life. The Millers tried their hardest to give Aaron what he needed, even when he had no way to tell them.
“He didn’t have any form of communication,” Jamie Miller said. “If he got upset, he would yell and scream or throw a tantrum, but that’s the only way he could voice any of his feelings or opinion or anything was by throwing a tantrum. He was definitely a challenge.
“The most, I would say he was the most difficult child I was ever around, but he taught me the most of being a parent of any child I’ve been around.”
As foster parents, the couple estimate they have welcomed somewhere between 30 and 50 children into their home. They currently have 10 kids, and three of them are adopted.
Jamie Miller said when they first brought Aaron home, they had decided not to adopt him.
“After he’d been here for three years, we started rethinking that,” he said.
“I said, ‘I can’t let him go,’” Tina added. “(Jamie) was like ‘I’m glad you said that. I feel same way.’”
The Millers worked to find Aaron the therapy experts say was paramount to his development. Three years in, gone was the little boy who looked right through you.
They developed important routines and took precautions for his safety. Aaron began wearing a helmet to protect him during tantrums. It wasn’t the “normal” they may have been used to, but it was a new normal that they say was working.
He learned to communicate, both verbally and by using a special iPad. He helped with chores, at least as much help as any child his age could.
The dream of making Aaron a permanent part of the family, though, was wiped away by the reality of what it would take to do that.
“(Aaron) was assigned a case manager, so I was able to call her. And I asked her, I said ‘Well what if he was to be adopted, what services will carry over’?” Tina Miller said.
The Millers said they learned that if they adopted Aaron, they could not afford to provide what he needed. Shortly after, a Wichita couple said they could.
Jamie Miller said they were believers, lifting Aaron up in prayer every day and hoping when he went to his new family it would be what he needed.
The couple were young and recently married. They had three dogs and other pets but no children.
The Millers met them, shared dinner and then Aaron had some overnight stays to their home. Jamie and Tina Miller said they saw red flags.
“It was apparent immediately that they weren’t interested in the consistency and doing the things that we knew, we had proved over those years, that he needed,” Jamie explained.
The Millers say the couple felt Aaron didn’t need the helmet he wore to protect him during outbursts. The routine Aaron had come to rely on, they say, wasn’t followed during his visits to the couple’s home.
A pre-adoption family assessment by the Kansas Department of Children and Families, obtained by KWCH, stated one of the prospective parents struggled with methamphetamine and amphetamine addiction.
That parent also had a history of being “quick to anger.” The other parent struggled when people were disrespectful, the assessment stated.
The adoption process continued, and overnight visits with the Wichita couple continued as well.
The Millers said he left them Dec. 18, 2020, on what was supposed to be a four-day weekend with the couple before coming back to them for Christmas.
“But he never he never came back home,” Jamie Miller said.
The Millers say Aaron got sick, and he stayed in Wichita over concern it may have been COVID-19.
By Feb. 16, 2021, he was gone. An adoption specialist delivered the unthinkable news to his foster parents.
“She said that Aaron passed away. He is deceased. That’s pretty much all I heard, and I was just screaming at her on the phone,” Tina said. “I was just like, ‘I knew it. I knew this would happen. You all killed him. You put him there. You knew he didn’t belong there.’ And like, ‘He never should have left.’”
The person on the other end of the phone then asked if the Millers would like to bury Aaron at the state’s expense. They had no idea what they would learn by saying yes.
“His face looked horribly deformed,” Tina explained. “He just had bruises all over his face.”
“Every visible part that we could see was bruised,” Jamie added.
The Department of Children and Families summary of Aaron’s death is seven sentences in length. The autopsy reads that Aaron “had a tantrum” while taking a bath and hit his head on the tub.
It also details 68 other injuries covering his entire body. No cause of death is listed.
There is an open investigation by Wichita police, and DCF will not discuss the case. The foster agency, St. Francis Ministries, did not respond to requests for comment, nor did the couple who planned to adopt Aaron.
Aaron’s foster parents said they are angry at the state, who they say set a young couple up for failure.
“The people that made the decision to move Aaron should have known, should have had the training, should have had the experience to know this isn’t going to go good,” Jamie said. “There were so many blatant things, blatantly obvious things that said, ‘No, no, no, no, no.’ And everybody said, ‘Yes, yes, yes.’
“I feel like he died to keep other people safe, because there are so many kids out there that could end up just like him if things don’t change.”
The people he leaves behind are left to wonder what happened and what needs to change so that it doesn’t happen again. What can the state do to set up parents, prospective parents and kids like Aaron to live and thrive?
“I firmly believe that Aaron won, because he’s in heaven now, and he can talk, he can communicate, he can ride a horse. He liked horses. He can do anything he wants to, so he won. That’s the way I see it see it,” Jamie Miller said.
In the second upcoming part of this story, KWCH sat down with an expert in the field of autism research to hear about current challenges in the state dealing with autism within the foster care system and what needs to change.
Copyright 2022 KWCH via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/04/12/child-with-autism-dies-2-months-after-adoption/
| 2022-04-12T22:36:44Z
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Juvenile prisoner escapes guard on the way to Tennessee hospital, recaptured in Georgia
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV/Gray News) - A sheriff’s office in Georgia on Tuesday morning recaptured a juvenile prisoner who escaped custody while on the way to a Tennessee children’s hospital Monday evening.
On Saturday, police in Nashville, Tennessee, said the teen led officers on a chase after he reportedly stole a Ford Raptor truck.
Police deployed spike strips to stop the vehicle, leading the juvenile to jump from the moving truck before crossing the spikes. The truck crashed and the teen sustained injuries, WSMV reported. Police said he was put in a neck brace before he was arrested and taken to a juvenile detention center in Nashville.
On Monday night, authorities said the juvenile was complaining of seizures. He was then transported by ambulance to a Nashville children’s hospital, accompanied by a guard.
While he was being taken out of the ambulance, authorities said the 16-year-old freed himself from his restraints and ran off toward a nearby intersection where an armed accomplice was waiting in a black Chevy Avalanche, which was reported as stolen. He then jumped into the getaway truck and sped off.
Sometime later, police found the Avalanche truck on fire.
After abandoning the truck, police said the teen and his accomplice carjacked a gold Chevy Malibu outside of an apartment complex. This vehicle was also found crashed and unoccupied by police sometime later.
Around 5 a.m. early Tuesday morning, the Nashville Police Department said the juvenile was arrested along with 22-year-old Tunisia Carey by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia. The two were traveling in Carey’s Nissan Altima when they were apprehended after a traffic stop in Cartersville, Georgia.
Carey and the juvenile remain in custody in Georgia and will be transferred back to Nashville this week, according to WSMV.
Detectives are working to identify each person who contributed to the teen’s escape.
Nashville authorities said they intend to charge the juvenile as an adult.
Copyright 2022 WSMV via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/04/12/juvenile-prisoner-escapes-guard-way-tennessee-hospital-recaptured-georgia/
| 2022-04-12T22:36:51Z
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Pay it forward: Daughter paying off mother’s house after winning $1M lottery prize
PENSACOLA, Fla. (Gray News) - A Florida woman says she plans to “pay it forward” with her recent lottery winnings.
Tenesia Hollins, 41, of Pensacola, Florida, became the Florida Lottery’s latest millionaire as officials said she claimed a $1 million prize from the new 500X THE CASH Scratch-Off game on April 6.
Hollins said she purchased her winning ticket from a Winn-Dixie supermarket. According to lottery officials, the retailer will receive a $2,000 bonus commission for selling the winning scratch-off ticket.
Lottery officials said that the 41-year-old chose to receive her winnings as a one-time, lump-sum payment of $820,000.
When asked what she plans to do with her winnings, Hollins told lottery representatives that the first thing she wants to do is pay off her mother’s house.
“She’s done so much for me growing up; this is the least I can do for her,” Hollins said.
Lottery officials said the 500X THE CASH scratch-off game features the largest prize of a $25 million jackpot for scratch-offs in the state, and the game has the best odds to become an instant millionaire.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/04/12/pay-it-forward-daughter-paying-off-mothers-house-after-winning-1m-lottery-prize/
| 2022-04-12T22:37:00Z
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KAUAI (KITV)- A sticky situation is unfolding between a fragile species and a land development company.
Residents are trying to fight off a developer who plans to build a housing development - with nearly 300 new homes - in an area near where amphipods and endangered spiders have lived for generations.
The Kauai Cave Wolf spider is one of the top 6 most endangered spiders in the world. Its food, the amphipod, is endangered too. Now, local residents are worried that one of the few places where the spider can live is also in danger of becoming extinct.
Crews are now preparing the land where the new homes will be, but close by, the Kauai Cave wolf spider and its food source live. The dwellings are unique: caves and the lava tubes below them house the little amphipods.
The amphipod is a shrimp-like creature that cleans up decaying plant matter on the island. "What would happen if this species was completely wiped out from the lava tubes? What would happen if the amphipods completely died out? They are a critical part of the habitat of the caves," said Elizabeth Okinaka, Save Koloa founder.
Making the situation more sensitive is the tiny size of the amphipod, and the fact the spider has no eyes. It feels around for its food. "These spiders, they stand no chance. They cannot run fast. These amphipods cannot move fast. This heavy multiple machinery is on site. They are directly above one of the most fragile ecosystems in the world," said Okinaka.
There are only two current sites the spiders live, and four where the amphipods live. These species may be present on or in the vicinity of the housing development, according to a letter from the U.S. Department of the Interior. The letter also states that the project area being developed by Meridian Pacific Limited does not contain critical habitat for those endangered species. A spokesperson responded by saying they received a grading permit after the letter was received.
"We're trying to push for more surveys to be done," said Okinaka. Residents are also concerned about the possibility of cultural aspects being destroyed, as well as what's being done to the habitat. Meridian Pacific released a statement saying studies have concluded there are no archeological site on the property, and that U.S. Fish and Wildlife does not require the project to obtain any permits.
A biological survey also concluded that there are no natural habitats of protected species on the property, despite the letter from the Department of the Interior. "How can we know whatever is underneath, or what is on top? This could include the spiders, cultural sites, etc. How can we know?," said local resident Ana Mo Des.
Meridian says the letter from the Department of the Interior suggest if workers find a cave, they should stop and contact Fish and Wildlife for guidance. The company says they intend to follow that suggestion.
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https://www.kitv.com/news/business/sticky-situation-in-kauai-as-developer-and-locals-spar-over-cave-wolf-spider/article_77ecf582-ba9d-11ec-b3ed-4bf012e801d9.html
| 2022-04-12T23:35:01Z
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https://www.kitv.com/news/crime/man-79-suffers-serious-burn-injuries-in-suspected-arson-fire-in-chinatown/article_a816f906-ba98-11ec-991c-abfa08d8f07d.html
| 2022-04-12T23:35:07Z
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LIHUE, Kauai (KITV4) – Some Kauai voters were mailed the wrong Election Notification postcard, the Elections division reported on Monday. The county’s mailing vendor, Edward Enterprises, made the error.
Anyone who received a voter notification postcard addressed to someone unknown or someone who is no longer at the address is asked to write “NOT AT THIS ADDRESS” and place the notification postcard back in the mail. The United States Postal Service will return the misaddressed postcard to the Elections Division, the returned postcard will be used to update the corresponding voter’s registration record.
Edward Enterprises reported that they will absorb all costs to remail the 2022 Election Notification postcard to every registered voter. No taxpayer funds will be used to remail the postcards.
“We take full responsibility for this error and will absorb all costs to complete another county-wide mailing of the 2022 Election Notification postcards. We hope this commitment to the voters of Kauai will help to rebuild the trust and confidence in the elections process,” Edward Enterprises said in a statement.
The Election Notification postcards will be mailed later in the week of April 11, and should begin arriving in households early April 18.
Do you have a story idea? Email news tips to news@kitv.com
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https://www.kitv.com/news/local/kauai-voters-received-incorrect-election-notification-postcard-error-to-be-corrected-by-vendor/article_da0d861e-ba98-11ec-9346-1348b293d9f5.html
| 2022-04-12T23:35:13Z
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Gilbert Gottfried, a comedian and film and television actor with a distinctly memorable voice, has died after a long illness, his family announced on Tuesday.
He was 67.
"We are heartbroken to announce the passing of our beloved Gilbert Gottfried after a long illness. In addition to being the most iconic voice in comedy, Gilbert was a wonderful husband, brother, friend and father to his two young children. Although today is a sad day for all of us, please keep laughing as loud as possible in Gilbert's honor," his family wrote in a post on Twitter.
CNN has contacted Gottfried's publicist for further comment.
He was known for his grating voice and blue comedy
Though audiences know him by his grating tone, it wasn't yet his signature when he debuted as a cast member on "Saturday Night Live" for one season from 1980 to 1981, one of a few seasons without Lorne Michaels at the helm. He mostly performed stand-up throughout the '80s, regularly appearing on Howard Stern's radio show.
Though he had a bit part in the '80s hit "Beverly Hills Cop 2," Gottfried's celebrity rose in the 1990s. Throughout the decade, he employed his signature scream-speak in parts in animated films like "Aladdin," as the mouthy macaw Iago, as well as live-action comedies like "Problem Child," in which he played a scheming adoption agency employee.
In the 2000s and 2010s, Gottfried appeared in voice roles on series like "Family Guy" and as a contestant or "talking head" on reality series, including "Celebrity Wife Swap." (He swapped wives with the late Alan Thicke.)
In his stand-up comedy, though, Gottfried's style was filthy and delivered at a high decibel (perhaps you've heard him tell the famously blue "Aristocrats" joke). He also broached extremely sensitive topics head on, recalling in a 2012 opinion piece for CNN about a 9/11 joke he made during a roast of Hugh Hefner in Manhattan just days after the attacks (his audience didn't appreciate it). In the same piece, he defended tweets he posted about the 2011 tsunami in Japan as "silly" and "dumb," though those tweets later led Aflac, for whom he provided the voice of its mascot duck, to fire him.
"I have always felt comedy and tragedy are roommates," he wrote for CNN at the time.
Gottfried's envelope-pushing, blue material was right at home during several Comedy Central roasts of celebrities such as former President Donald Trump in 2011.
Even when audiences weren't seeing him on screen as often, he made his voice readily available. For nearly a decade, he'd interviewed comedy and entertainment figures on his podcast, "Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast." A new episode was released earlier this month.
Numerous fellow comedians and former co-stars of Gottfried paid tribute on social media.
"Gilbert Gottfried was never not funny," comedian Dane Cook wrote. "He was a lovely guy, always friendly & made many people happy."
"Gilbert Gottfried made me laugh at times when laughter did not come easily. What a gift," actor Jason Alexander wrote in a tweet.
"Nobody was funnier than @RealGilbert on a roll," writer and director Judd Apatow shared. "He could put you into convulsive hysterics. He was also the sweetest man. His podcast is a comedy treasure. What a terrible loss. "
The-CNN-Wire
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https://www.kitv.com/news/national/gilbert-gottfried-comedian-and-actor-has-died/article_c6147499-d1f4-5f51-8478-bacf881dd497.html
| 2022-04-12T23:35:20Z
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Biden: Russia’s war in Ukraine amounts to ‘genocide’
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday said Russia’s war in Ukraine amounted to “genocide,” accusing President Vladimir Putin of trying to “wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian.”
“Yes, I called it genocide,” he told reporters in Iowa shortly before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington. “It’s become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian.”
At an earlier event in Menlo, Iowa, addressing spiking energy prices resulting from the war, Biden had implied that he thought Putin was carrying out genocide against Ukraine, but offered no details. Neither he nor his administration announced new consequences for Russia or assistance to Ukraine following Biden’s public assessment.
WARNING: Videos may contain graphic content.
Biden’s comments drew praise from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had encouraged Western leaders to use the term to describe Russia’s invasion of his country.
“True words of a true leader @POTUS,” he tweeted. “Calling things by their names is essential to stand up to evil. We are grateful for US assistance provided so far and we urgently need more heavy weapons to prevent further Russian atrocities.”
Biden said it would be up to lawyers to decide if Russia’s conduct met the international standard for genocide, as Ukrainian officials have claimed, but said “it sure seems that way to me.”
“More evidence is coming out literally of the horrible things that the Russians have done in Ukraine, and we’re only going to learn more and more about the devastation and let the lawyers decide internationally whether or not it qualifies,” he said.
Just last week Biden had he did not believe Russia’s actions amounted to genocide, just that they constituted “war crimes.”
During a trip to Europe last month, Biden faced controversy for a nine-word statement seemingly supporting regime change in Moscow, which would have represented a dramatic shift toward direct confrontation with another nuclear-armed country. “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Biden said.
He clarified the comments days later, saying: “I was expressing the moral outrage that I felt toward this man. I wasn’t articulating a policy change.”
Past American leaders often have dodged formally declaring bloody campaigns such as Russia’s in Ukraine as genocide, hesitating to trigger an obligation under an international genocide convention that requires signing countries to intervene once genocide is formally identified. That obligation was seen as blocking President Bill Clinton from declaring Rwandan Hutus’ killing of 800,000 ethnic Tutsis in 1994 as genocide, for example.
—
Miller reported from Washington. AP writer Ellen Knickmeyer contributed.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/04/12/biden-russias-war-ukraine-amounts-genocide/
| 2022-04-13T00:07:57Z
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VIDEO: School district bus driver makes stop at liquor store while on duty, witness says
LAMAR COUNTY, Miss. (WDAM/Gray News) - A video on social media is gaining attention in the Mississippi area when it comes to a bus driver seemingly making an unscheduled stop at a local shopping center.
WDAM reports it obtained a video from April 7 that showed a Lamar County School District bus driver walking out of a liquor store with what a witness called a bottle in his hand and then getting back on the bus and driving away.
The Lamar County School District Supt. Steven Hampton issued the following statement regarding the video:
“On Thursday, April 7th, a concerned citizen made us aware of a situation where we had an employee use a school district bus for a personal reason. We have investigated this incident and have found it to be true. We have taken disciplinary actions against this employee that are in line with our policies.”
School officials have not released any further immediate information about the incident.
Copyright 2022 WDAM via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/04/12/video-shows-school-district-bus-driver-making-stop-liquor-store-while-duty/
| 2022-04-13T00:08:04Z
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If you go
Thursday, April 21, 7 p.m.
Tickets: Adults $10, Seniors/Military $8, Students $5
Call 884-LIVE today to reserve your ticket now!
Subhead:
A film premiere and discussion with Jason Hardrath at the Ross Ragland
The Ross Ragland Theater is excited to present the next film in our Science on Screen series — Journey to 100. Featuring the accomplishments of Bonanza resident and P.E. Teacher, Jason Hardrath. Film Premiere/Q&A will be held Thursday, April 21, at 7 p.m. at the Ross Ragland Theater in Klamath Falls.
Teasingly called the “energizer bunny,” Jason Hardrath suffered the trials, tribulations and difficult expectations of his family and peers growing up with ADHD. He learned to channel that energy in the 7th grade by setting physical goals both great and small to clear his cluttered and impulsive mind. Journey to 100 showcases how Hardrath channels that same energy today as a P.E. teacher at Bonanza Elementary School.
Hardrath is the first person to log 100 FKTs (fastest known times) of rigorous, often dangerous physical tests in the extreme conditions of the outdoors. Journey to 100 captures Hardrath’s drive and energy to complete his 100th FKT, and the most difficult physical challenge of his career yet. For his 100th FKT, he set out to tackle The Bulger List: Washington state’s 100 tallest peaks. He accomplished his goal climbing all 100 peaks in just 50 days.
Journey to 100 continuously shows Hardrath's wild passion for the extreme physical tests he puts himself through. He is also just as enthusiastic about providing his students and community with outdoor programs and opportunities. He fundraised with community members to build fun outdoor activities at his school which included a rock-climbing wall. He was also the first teacher in Klamath County to integrate skateboards into elementary PE.
In 2021 the KTA received nearly $10,000 in support of the Bike Skills Park that was installed at Moore Park. Hardrath connected the Klamath Trails Alliance with Athletic Brewing's "Two for the Trails" Grant Program and helped significantly to achieve their fundraising goal. Hardrath continues to this day to guide students on mountain hikes throughout Klamath County.
After the film premiere, Hardrath will lead a discussion more in-depth on his perilous journey featured in Journey to 100 and his plans to encourage and inspire his community through outdoor programs and opportunities.
Visit the theater’s website at www.ragland.org to purchase tickets online and learn more about the theater. The box office is open 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday or two hours before show time the day of any show
If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Natalie Portales at (541) 887 – 8638, or email development@ragland.or
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https://www.heraldandnews.com/klamath/science-on-screen-presents-journey-to-100/article_b1db1bca-4d21-5afb-b395-ef6f0f099bb0.html
| 2022-04-13T00:20:59Z
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SEATTLE (AP) — Washington Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz says the state has launched a new program to save 10,000 acres of forest land as a carbon reserve. The Seattle Times reported the state will lease the trees as carbon credits to emitters of greenhouse gases that cause global warming. In the first 10 years, the DNR hopes to sell 900,000 credits reducing carbon emissions to the atmosphere by the equivalent of 2 billion vehicle miles traveled. Money from the leases will compensate beneficiaries of state trust lands, including the school construction fund. A total of 3,750 acres is being set aside now. The program is launching with protection of forests in Whatcom, Thurston, King and Grays Harbor counties.
SEATTLE (AP) — Washington state has launched a new program to save 10,000 acres of forest land as a carbon reserve.
The Seattle Times reports the state intends to lease the trees as carbon credits to emitters of greenhouse gases that cause global warming. The DNR is partnering with Finite Carbon, a developer and supplier of carbon offsets, which will verify the effectiveness of the offsets.
Purchasers are expected to be larger corporations seeking to achieve reductions in their carbon emissions, said Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz, adding that in the first 10 years of the program, the DNR hopes to sell 900,000 credits reducing carbon emissions to the atmosphere by the equivalent of 2 billion vehicle miles traveled.
Money from the leases in these forests will compensate beneficiaries of state trust lands, including the state school construction fund, and money for hospital districts, library districts and more.
In addition to the 840,000 acres of DNR-managed trust land designated for conservation, the 10,000-acre carbon reserve adds a bit more acreage off-limits to harvest, about 0.5% of the state's forested trust lands. But as climate change threatens the planet, these trees are more valuable living than as lumber, Franz said.
Sequestering carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping gas, in trees which use it as food to grow, helps blunt the worst effects of climate change. Globally, forests absorb about a third of all the carbon emissions annually from the burning of fossil fuels.
"I have a big belief that with climate change here, we need to save our forests to truly save ourselves," Franz said.
The DNR has come under increasing criticism for harvesting such trees, which are not protected under its old-growth policy but nonetheless have high ecological value.
A total of 3,750 acres is being set aside now, with the balance yet to be identified for preservation in phase two.
The program in Washington is launching with protection of forests in Whatcom, Thurston, King and Grays Harbor counties.
DNR trust lands generate about $180 million a year for schools and counties across the state.
Franz predicted the carbon leases would generate tens of millions of dollars for schools, colleges and local services that state trust lands support.
Peter Goldman, director and managing attorney of the nonprofit Washington Forest Law Center, called the reserve "green lipstick on a pig" because it sets some state lands aside for conservation while other state legacy forests are still being cut down.
"It's great, who could be against it," he said of the reserve. "But is she just trying to pour cold water on the political heat she is taking on these sales?"
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https://www.heraldandnews.com/klamath/state-to-preserve-10-000-forest-acres-as-carbon-reserve/article_59f7e75f-2445-5360-aaed-c565585e3d96.html
| 2022-04-13T00:21:05Z
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United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary
People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
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https://www.heraldandnews.com/news/local_news/substitute-teacher-coach-faces-sex-abuse-charges/article_2b531ad4-42e1-568f-b247-9b0a3afa1394.html
| 2022-04-13T00:21:12Z
|
Wind gusts 45 to 55 mph out of the northwest are expected to
continue late this afternoon...until sunset across southeast
Wyoming and the southern Nebraska Panhandle. This includes
Cheyenne, Pine Bluffs, Kimball, and Scottsbluff. Strong cross
winds will be hazardous to light weight and high profile vehicles,
including campers and tractor trailers. Use caution if traveling.
To plant a tree in memory of Janice Erb as a living tribute, please visit Tribute Store.
Janice Lorene Erb 1940-2022 Janice Lorene Erb, 81, of Riverton WY passed away on March 16, 2022. Janice was born December 25, 1940 in Lyons, Kansas to Ronel and Ethel "Jackie" (Norris) Golden. She was the eldest of two daughters, growing up in Cheyenne and attending Central High School. Janice married her first husband and high school sweet heart, William J. Walls on November 26, 1958. Through this marriage, they were blessed with four daughter: Rhonda, Robin, Rolinda (Ole), and Rolene (Tuttie). After her girls were in school, she worked as a server at Little America in Cheyenne. A few years later, she met the love of her life, Daniel W. Erb and they married March 28, 1975. Together they had two sons: Michael and Daniel Erb. Janice loved her family and had a passion for nurturing small children. She lovingly operated a daycare for several years. She loved to be in the company of others, and will be remembered for always helping those in need. She was proceeded in death by her infant daughters Ronna Lee Walls and Baby Girl Walls, a granddaughter Gynnette Slemmons, parents, Ronel and Jackie Golden, her beloved husband Daniel W. Erb and her sister, Donna French. Janice is survived and will be greatly missed by her children Rhonda Bobian, Robin Erb, Rolinda Slemmons, all of Cheyenne WY, Rolene (Doug) Halbmaier of Aladdin WY, Michael Erb of Texas and Daniel (Dorea) Erb of Riverton WY, her 18 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren. Cremation has taken place at Davis Funeral Home Inc. of Riverton WY and a celebration of life will be later this summer.
To plant a tree in memory of Janice Erb as a living tribute, please visit Tribute Store.
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https://www.wyomingnews.com/milestones/obituaries/erb-janice-lorene/article_54c04183-e41f-53e5-9578-e29d85c13287.html
| 2022-04-13T01:19:55Z
|
Wind gusts 45 to 55 mph out of the northwest are expected to
continue late this afternoon...until sunset across southeast
Wyoming and the southern Nebraska Panhandle. This includes
Cheyenne, Pine Bluffs, Kimball, and Scottsbluff. Strong cross
winds will be hazardous to light weight and high profile vehicles,
including campers and tractor trailers. Use caution if traveling.
Marvin LeRoy Jones 1940-2021 Marvin LeRoy Jones aged 80 passed away peacefully at home in Cheyenne, WY November 11, 2021. LeRoy was born December 4, 1940, in Fort Lupton, Colorado to Marvin Hiram Jones and Floy Lorean Jones (Carter). LeRoy was a truck driver for over 30 years and retired to pursue a truck stop ministry for professional drivers. LeRoy was first married to Judy Ann Remington April 15, 1961. Together they had four children, Wade Jones (Kathy) of Spring, TX, Saundra Elliott of Great Falls, MT, Shad Jones of Midwest City, OK, and Keli LaConte (Greg) of Keensburg, CO. LeRoy and Judy divorced in 1975 and in 1976 he met his second wife Kathryn Marie Schafer. They married February 28, 1976 and had two daughters. Bonnie Smith (Daniel) and Kathryn Kij (David) both of Cheyenne, WY. LeRoy has 9 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. No service was held. Cremation has taken place.
To plant a tree in memory of Marvin Jones as a living tribute, please visit Tribute Store.
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https://www.wyomingnews.com/milestones/obituaries/jones-marvin-leroy/article_b3bb84b8-30e9-5fb9-9044-9694c3f60dc5.html
| 2022-04-13T01:20:01Z
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United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary
People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
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https://www.wyomingnews.com/milestones/obituaries/lemons-gloria/article_fea2eac4-c430-56d4-b6ab-896b607af04a.html
| 2022-04-13T01:20:08Z
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Country
United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary
People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
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https://www.wyomingnews.com/milestones/obituaries/meyers-angela-r/article_b86f7d6f-a775-50ba-97aa-b72059540067.html
| 2022-04-13T01:20:14Z
|
Country
United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary
People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
|
https://www.wyomingnews.com/milestones/obituaries/turner-bonnie/article_66a19fad-b610-5613-b0c5-592883ebbc68.html
| 2022-04-13T01:20:20Z
|
Wind gusts 45 to 55 mph out of the northwest are expected to
continue late this afternoon...until sunset across southeast
Wyoming and the southern Nebraska Panhandle. This includes
Cheyenne, Pine Bluffs, Kimball, and Scottsbluff. Strong cross
winds will be hazardous to light weight and high profile vehicles,
including campers and tractor trailers. Use caution if traveling.
To plant a tree in memory of Carnelia Weiss as a living tribute, please visit Tribute Store.
Carnelia Weiss 1927-2022 Carnelia (Connie) was born to Frank and Stancie Larchick on January 11, 1927, in Loup City, NE, where she grew up on a farm with five sisters and one brother. She and Jack Weiss were married on August 31, 1949, and three children were born to this union. Carnelia owned a beauty salon for 16 years during which time she made countless friends. Her other talents and interests were many. She played the piano and accordion, enjoyed decorating, gardening, playing Canasta and was a fierce Chinese checkers rival. She took pleasure in painting later in life, her favorite work was "Jesus knocking at the door" (Rev. 3:20). Carnelia was involved in nursing home and jail ministries. It became a tradition at Christmas time to gift visitors staying at the Comea Shelter. She joyfully involved herself in church activities, particularly enjoying the Frontier Days parade floats. One such creation, a scale replica of the Wyoming State Capitol, sits in a museum in Wheatland. They won "Outstanding Float" that year! On April 6th at 95 years of age, Carnelia closed her eyes at Davis Hospice and awoke in glory. Surely, Jesus greeted her and said, "Well done good and faithful servant." Carnelia was preceded in death by Jack and their son Randy, parents, and siblings . Survivors include Bruce Weiss, Cheyenne; Colleen (Bob) Dunn, Beatrice, NE; Daughter-in-law, Amy Weiss. Grandchildren: Hayes, Emily, Chloe Dunn; Kyle (Lindsay) Weiss, Keith (Tracy) Weiss, Danielle (Steven) Schoeber. Great grandchildren: Kelsey, Abby, Cole Weiss; Desmin Andrew and Jace Weiss (May 2022). Carnelia is also survived by many beloved nieces and nephews who always took the time to keep in touch with her. Carnelia often said, "I have truly been blessed."
To plant a tree in memory of Carnelia Weiss as a living tribute, please visit Tribute Store.
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https://www.wyomingnews.com/milestones/obituaries/weiss-carnelia/article_cde821db-2460-5010-a6b5-a625301f8ff8.html
| 2022-04-13T01:20:26Z
|
Wind gusts 45 to 55 mph out of the northwest are expected to
continue late this afternoon...until sunset across southeast
Wyoming and the southern Nebraska Panhandle. This includes
Cheyenne, Pine Bluffs, Kimball, and Scottsbluff. Strong cross
winds will be hazardous to light weight and high profile vehicles,
including campers and tractor trailers. Use caution if traveling.
To plant a tree in memory of Joseph Zumbrun as a living tribute, please visit Tribute Store.
Joseph Woodrow Zumbrun 1954-2021 Joseph Woodrow Zumbrun, age 67, passed away December 8, 2021 in Ft. Collins, Colorado. Joe was born March 16, 1954 to Woodrow K. and Arleen M. Zumbrun in Cheyenne. Joe is survived by his sons, Joseph and Jason, and his siblings who miss his beautiful spirit: Monica, Vicki, Tom, Dave, and Jean along with their spouses/significant others. He is survived by numerous nieces, nephews and grandchildren. Joe is also survived by his loving companion, Kathy. Joe attended St. Mary Schools and East High School. He was employed by the Union Pacific Railroad and worked as an engineer until his retirement. Joe loved being outdoors: camping, boating, fishing, hunting and golfing with family and friends. Joe loved people and treasured the laughter of those he loved. A Celebration of Life will be held on Sunday, May 15 at 10:00 a.m. at the Cheyenne Kiwanis Community Center.
To plant a tree in memory of Joseph Zumbrun as a living tribute, please visit Tribute Store.
|
https://www.wyomingnews.com/milestones/obituaries/zumbrun-joseph-woodrow/article_4052e845-4fe5-552d-b07e-69a9b1a4103d.html
| 2022-04-13T01:20:33Z
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CHEYENNE – A resolution stating support for community forums and initiatives encouraging kindness, civility, cooperation and respectful dialogue was unanimously passed Monday night by the Cheyenne City Council.
It was sponsored by council member Michelle Aldrich following the approval of a bias-crimes ordinance last month, which punishes malicious harassment based on factors such as race, sexual orientation and more. Aldrich was the only council member to vote no on the ordinance, not because she disagreed with the intent, but because she said it did not address the root of the issue.
"I think you can hold people accountable, (but) I'm not sure that local laws are the way to do it," she said. "I think it has to really become part of our culture and our community."
She told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle she brought forward the additional resolution because she didn't want government officials to think they had done their job by only passing the ordinance and walking away from the conversation. She hopes to address community bias, discrimination and inclusivity through building relationships and strong communication.
“I wanted to make sure that we continue to support the conversation, activities and the things that are going on in the community to further the discussion about not only why these things are happening in our community, but why they’ve happened historically in our community,” the Ward 3 representative said. “And how we can take action in order to change that.”
Aldrich was not alone in her desire to make a statement on the issue, and “recognize that modeling civility and kindness are important for everyone, especially young people in our community.” Members of the public came forward at the meeting to share their support for the resolution.
“I’m sure that you would have to agree that this resolution has been beautifully crafted to clearly speak to the challenge of inclusivity and equality, which council has set to constituency back in February with the introduction of the harassment ordinance,” resident Sandra Payne said. “Your people have heard your admonishments, and now we plead with you, our leadership, to hang tough with us, and guide us through the next phase of this process.”
She asked council members to vote yes to the resolution because it was a next step in growing as a community, which other residents said was necessary through dialogue.
“By passing this resolution, you’d be telling us, the public, that you are interested and you personally support citizens coming together in cooperative initiatives like the recent unity forum,” resident Bob Wilson said, “and other efforts and initiatives that would reduce divisiveness, and help everyone feel safe and valued.”
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https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/city-council-passes-resolution-encouraging-civility-and-respectful-dialogue/article_0f6586f8-3ceb-529a-93d4-ce97b6c51aa9.html
| 2022-04-13T01:20:39Z
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CHEYENNE – Local stakeholders came before the Cheyenne City Council on Monday to advocate for the business proposals they hope to see come to fruition.
Ten applicants presented their visions for the one available retail liquor license to City Council members over the past few weeks, and this was the first opportunity for public comment from community members. While there was support for many of the ideas brought forward, only one will be chosen at the end of April to receive the license.
The restriction is set by state law, which city government officials and entrepreneurs have criticized throughout the application process. They have also brought it to the attention of the Wyoming Legislature. At a Management Council meeting last Friday, lawmakers listened to the concerns and approved retail liquor licenses as an interim topic for the Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee.
But one applicant at the City Council meeting said getting it on the agenda wasn’t enough, and residents should stand together to change the process.
“Stand united to bring some common sense to our liquor licenses, perhaps providing different types of licenses,” said April Brimmer Kunz, who has previously served in the state Legislature. “Please, let your legislators know how the antiquated liquor licenses are hurting economic development in the state of Wyoming that we desperately need.”
As an applicant, Brimmer Kunz was in the minority of speakers who appeared during the public testimony, and she did not advocate for her own business venture. Many of the owners seeking the license let community members share their thoughts on the proposals, and only one idea received negative feedback from a stakeholder.
Jeremy Bay shared research on the relationship between gambling and suicide risk, as well as additional contributors, such as financial difficulties, employment challenges and emotional distress. He also said gamblers had high rates of alcohol and substance abuse disorders within the community.
“I ask that as you consider this liquor license, that alongside the revenue for the community, you also consider the human impact and the cost of medical care that it may result in,” he said.
Although many proposals were not discussed at the meeting, all of the other stakeholders who testified only had high praise to give, especially for projects impacting the downtown's West Edge district. The three frontrunners based on public comment were the Old Cheyenne Elevator, Railspur and Ace’s Range, as no others were endorsed openly.
All three are designed for community gathering, drinks and entertainment, with unique needs for the retail liquor license. Owners of the Old Cheyenne Elevator hope to host food trucks, sell local spirits, and renovate the historically blighted property into a West Edge campus.
“They’ve proven that they can take this iconic space and rehabilitate it to something that is of duty and value to this part of town,” Blossom Yoga Studio owner Jill Lovato said. “I’m really excited about the family aspect of their proposal, and I’m really excited to think about having people also drawn to the property. It will, no doubt, benefit my business, and businesses that are located right there.”
Railspur is another proposal located near 15th Street. It would turn the current West Edge Collective building into a coffee bistro by day and a trendy bar by night. West Edge Collective and Micro Pop-Up Concepts developers want to not only include food trucks and a beverage boutique, but host events and provide a concert space.
“The Railspur is a convergence of two development opportunities that are going to be incredible for downtown Cheyenne: the 15th Street Railway Project and the Reed Avenue Rail Corridor Project,” a lifelong resident said. “And I believe that Railspur will not only blossom in this location, but will add to the continued growth of these two areas.”
The final proposal to receive considerable public support was Ace’s Range, which will provide entertainment through high-caliber golfing and shooting simulators. Members of the Brimmer Kunz family are co-owners and want to sell alcohol without a bar and grill, although they will allow customers to order food from surrounding local businesses. They received support from the golfing community, as well as families looking for a unique experience.
“This is precisely the opportunity that, since I’ve been here, we really haven’t had,” Brian Murray said. “And I go down at least 100 miles south of the border to find that in neighboring states.”
Residents will have two more opportunities to share their perspective on the proposals – April 20 and April 25.
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https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/stakeholders-advocate-for-select-retail-liquor-license-proposals/article_b3d4a06d-e17d-5167-966c-f0e2e3a6612f.html
| 2022-04-13T01:20:45Z
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https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/wanted-your-yellowstone-memories-favorite-places/article_7297993e-ecce-55e3-8635-f0e6e99d7807.html
| 2022-04-13T01:20:51Z
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ROCK SPRINGS -The Rock Springs Main Street/Urban Renewal Agency (URA) is collaborating with Casey Kuckert Consulting to continue their initiative aimed at helping women entrepreneurs in Sweetwater County. “Ladies That Lunch” are regular conversations that can help build professional and personal networks for support and business growth for Sweetwater County business owners and managers.
Participants can enjoy lunch while meeting other business owners in the area. This is a time to not only network with other business owners but also have real discussions about business issues. Each meeting will focus on a different business-related topic.
“Ladies That Lunch” will continue in April - Tuesday, April 26 at 12 noon at Coal Train Coffee Depot (501 S Main Street, Rock Springs). Anyone is welcome to attend and there is no cost to attend although participants are responsible for their own meals. Participants are encourage to RSVP for the event by calling the Rock Springs Main Street/URA office at 307-352-1434.
The April conversation will feature Kristen Ellifritz, MBA, a Financial Advisor for Eagle Strategies, LLC. Agent, New York Life Insurance Company. During this focused conversation, Kristen will:
· Provide information to understand your current financial situation and future financial needs
· Empower women to make informed financial decisions
This seminar is for informational purposes only. Neither New York Life Insurance Company nor any of its agents are in the business of giving tax, legal or accounting advice. Attendees should consult their own professional advisors to determine the appropriateness of any course of action. Any discussion of investment products is informational only and not intended as a solicitation of those types of products.
According to URA Board Chairwoman, Maria Mortensen, “small businesses drive America’s growth and women are making their marks in this sector of the economy.”
“We wanted to give women-owned business owners an opportunity to network and discuss important issues they may be facing,” Mortensen added.
“The lunchtime discussions have been a wonderful way to connect and we’re excited to continue them this month,” Mortensen concluded.
Organizer Casey Kuckert brought the idea to the Rock Springs Main Street/URA to help support business owners and their growth in the community. She hopes this event brings women business owners together “to encourage collaborating with each other and building strong relationships.”
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/women-business-owners-are-invited-to-ladies-that-lunch/article_18b68a3c-7f5a-5415-8522-223e28f92819.html
| 2022-04-13T01:20:57Z
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CODY — Black bears have been a source of passion for Joe Kondelis Jr. ever since he started hunting the species.
“The species drove me to want to know more,” he said. “I didn’t know a lot about it and I found it really interesting; no one taught a lot about bear hunting and biology.”
Kondelis is president and one of the founders of the Western Bear Foundation, an all-volunteer nonprofit officially started in 2010, dedicated to the protection and development of bears, bear habitat and bear hunting in the United States. He said their goal is to advocate for the conservation of the species from the viewpoint of hunters.
“Not a lot of organizations out there that are focused on better hunting and protecting those rights and give focus on black bears,” Kondelis said.
Kondelis said black bears are often overshadowed by their contentious cousin the grizzly, an animal many have sought to delist from Endangered Species Act protection and be allowed to hunt, two efforts others from the conservation community have actively fought. These debates have triggered countless lawsuits and millions of dollars spent supporting different approaches to conserving the species.
“There is so much time and money spent on the grizzly, people forgot about the black bear,” Kondelis said. “At the end of the day, money talks.”
There are black bears in nearly every U.S. state, Mexico and Canada, and Kondelis said people need to recognize and celebrate the resiliency of this animal.
He and WBF also tackle grizzly bear issues and fully support state-management of the grizzly and delisting it from the ESA, advocating for sustainable hunting of the species. Kondelis said he would like the black bear used as a case example for how a grizzly bear hunting season could be effectively managed.
The black bear is currently hunted in 28 states including Wyoming, where it can be harvested statewide and is offered in spring and fall hunting seasons.
While both bears are omnivores, the black bear relies less on hunting meat for its diet. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the American black bear at the lowest risk for endangerment because of its widespread distribution and a large population, estimated at twice all other bear species combined.
WBF aims to grow bear hunting and its advocate base by bringing more youth into the sport and also provide opportunities for veterans and the disabled to go hunting, partnering with Wyoming Disabled Hunters to provide track chairs.
“The barrier to entry into bear hunting is pretty big,” Kondelis said to the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission during its meeting in Cody on March 19.
Kondelis recently took a combat veteran, who had three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, black bear hunting last year. He did the same with a woman who grew up in a troubled home.
In January the Bear Foundation hosted its first banquet, in partnership with the Wyoming Wildlife Federation, drawing 240 attendees to the Cody Cattle Company. The event raised $14,000 for the Bear Foundation, which Kondelis said he turned over the very next day to the University of Wyoming for continuation of its black bear research.
In 2020 there were 5,367 bear tags sold in Wyoming, with about 4,800 made up by in-state residents, accounting for roughly $500,000 in revenue for G&F.
Since 2011 there has been a 31% increase in black bear tags sold, with a 25% increase in harvests. Kondelis said 537 black bears were harvested in 2020.
“I don’t think a lot of people expected it to be that much,” he said.
Kondelis and his volunteers have been studying and tracking black bears in the wild, performing what he describes as some of the “most forefront research” of the species. Many of their projects are performed in collaboration with the G&F’s large carnivore and Bearwise teams, including the donation of $75,000 over three years to help fund black bear population and diet monitoring. This study is now well into its third year and is a collaborative effort of the Bear Foundation, Game and Fish, and University of Wyoming to study the vulnerability of the species under harvest management as opposed to initiating bait sites.
“By just doing some of the collar work and the hair collection we can utilize that and get so much information on black bear populations,” Kondelis said. “These population studies will be helpful when we’re looking at season settings and determining if we need to harvest more bears, if there’s more bear hunting opportunity or maybe less.”
With $20,000 spent in GPS collars, Western Bear was also able to start collaring bears in 2018. Using collars, the group tracked the travel patterns of nine bears, developing a grid that helped identify where to put hair collection sites. Nine hair collection sites were installed last summer in the Bighorn Mountains that provided 739 individual collections of bear hair. He said hair collection is critical as it helps balance against an over-reliance on harvest data.
Kondelis said a similar project will be started soon in the Laramie Range, and it is their goal to initiate this project in every Wyoming mountain range to better understand black bears statewide.
“Many of these sites are remote, so it is an incredible amount of work to get to these and you have to do it once a week,” Kondelis said. “Oftentimes you are hiking or driving extensive amounts of time.”
A recent expedition in the Bighorns took them across vast snowy plains on snowshoes to replace an aging tracking collar wrapped around the neck of a black bear sow that was first collared two years ago and now has cubs. Kondelis said this bear has provided a plethora of information and assisted their efforts to better understand black bear populations.
WBF is also studying the interaction of black and grizzly bear cohabitation in areas like the Absaroka Front and Teton County where the grizzly bear population has been expanding.
Conflict mitigation is another priority for the organization, and it has helped put up fencing to block black and grizzly bears from harming cattle, supported bear spray giveaways, installed bear boxes, and provided information on how to reduce human-bear conflicts. The group’s first project was to provide labor for the installation of electric fencing at the Clark Landfill.
They also provide public service announcements educating the public on how to travel in bear country.
“That’s not only (to) hunters,” Kondelis said. “It’s people that travel into this area and the Jackson area in the summertime and have no idea what they’re doing and really don’t have knowledge on how to recreate in bear country safely.”
Mistakenly harvesting a grizzly bear is a crime that comes with a hefty fine and suspension of hunting privileges. Kondelis said his organization puts out PSA messaging to help explain the physical differences between black and grizzly bears to help prevent these incidents from happening.
WBF is a national organization and is also initiating a number of projects in the Eastern U.S., Kondelis reported to the G&F commission.
At the March 18 meeting, Kondelis, who works with state agencies throughout the country, complimented the efforts taken by G&F to manage large carnivores in Wyoming.
“Without a doubt, this is the best department I’ve got to deal with,” he said. “They’re doing more for large carnivores in this state than most states wish they could do.”
For more information on the Western Bear Foundation visit westernbearfoundation.org/.
This story was posted on April 11, 2022
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https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyomingbusinessreport/industry_news/agribusiness/local-advocates-for-more-black-bear-support-research/article_482d1526-baab-11ec-a66b-afcffb0d5068.html
| 2022-04-13T01:21:04Z
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AP source: DOJ denies panel details in Trump records probe
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department declined a request this week from the House oversight committee to disclose the contents of records that former President Donald Trump took to his Florida residence after leaving the White House, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The move could serve as a setback for Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform as it was ramping up its investigation into Trump’s handling of sensitive and even classified information during his time as president and after he left the White House. It remains unclear what implications the decision could have for the panel’s probe, which was announced in March.
The Justice Department’s decision is part of an effort to protect confidential information that may compromise an ongoing investigation, according to the person, who was not authorized to discuss the matter by name and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The development was first reported Tuesday by The Washington Post.
The National Archives had referred the matter of Trump’s handling of those records to the Justice Department earlier this year. Because of that, the DOJ is asking the National Archives not to share information related directly to it, including the contents of the 15 boxes that Trump took to his Mar-a-Lago residence.
The notice to the committee comes days after its chair, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., accused the Justice Department of “obstructing” the panel’s expanded investigation by preventing the release of information from the National Archives.
The Justice Department has not formally announced it is investigating Trump’s handling of the records, but letters between the committee and the department seem to indicate that investigators are taking steps toward it.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department declined a request for comment Tuesday.
In addition, the FBI has taken steps to begin examining the potential mishandling of classified information related to the documents in the boxes, according to two other people familiar with the investigation who were not authorized to discuss it by name and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. It wasn’t clear exactly what work investigators had done so far or what additional steps they were planning to take.
In a letter to the National Archives last month, Maloney made a series of requests for information she said the committee needs to determine if Trump violated federal records laws over his handling of sensitive and even classified information. In response, the general counsel for the archivist wrote on March 28 that “based on our consultation with the Department of Justice, we are unable to provide any comment.”
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Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/04/13/ap-source-doj-denies-panel-details-trump-records-probe/
| 2022-04-13T01:39:11Z
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Elon Musk accused of breaking law while buying Twitter stock
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Elon Musk’s huge Twitter investment took a new twist Tuesday with the filing of a lawsuit alleging that the colorful billionaire illegally delayed disclosing his stake in the social media company so he could buy more shares at lower prices.
The complaint in New York federal court accuses Musk of violating a regulatory deadline to reveal he had accumulated a stake of at least 5%. Instead, according to the complaint, Musk didn’t disclose his position in Twitter until he’d almost doubled his stake to more than 9%. That strategy, the lawsuit alleges, hurt less wealthy investors who sold shares in the San Francisco company in the nearly two weeks before Musk acknowledged holding a major stake.
Musk’s regulatory filings show that he bought a little more than 620,000 shares at $36.83 apiece on Jan. 31 and then continued to accumulate more shares on nearly every single trading day through April 1. Musk, best known as CEO of the electric car maker Tesla, held 73.1 million Twitter shares as of the most recent count Monday. That represents a 9.1% stake in Twitter.
The lawsuit alleges that by March 14, Musk’s stake in Twitter had reached a 5% threshold that required him to publicly disclose his holdings under U.S. securities law by March 24. Musk didn’t make the required disclosure until April 4.
That revelation caused Twitter’s stock to soar 27% from its April 1 close to nearly $50 by the end of April 4′s trading, depriving investors who sold shares before Musk’s improperly delayed disclosure the chance to realize significant gains, according to the lawsuit filed on behalf of an investor named Marc Bain Rasella. Musk, meanwhile, was able to continue to buy shares that traded in prices ranging from $37.69 to $40.96.
The lawsuit is seeking to be certified as a class action representing Twitter shareholders who sold shares between March 24 and April 4, a process that could take a year or more.
Musk spent about $2.6 billion on Twitter stock — a fraction of his estimated wealth of $265 billion, the largest individual fortune in the world. In a regulatory filing Monday, Musk disclosed he may increase his stake after backing out of an agreement reached last week to join Twitter’s board of directors.
Jacob Walker, one of the lawyers that filed the lawsuit against Musk, told The Associated Press that he hadn’t reached out to the Securities and Exchange Commission about Musk’s alleged violations about the disclosure of his Twitter stake. “I assume the SEC is well aware of what he did,” Walker said.
An SEC spokesperson declined to comment.
The SEC and Musk have been wrangling in court since 2018 when Musk and Tesla agreed to pay a $40 million fine to settle allegations that he used his Twitter account to mislead investors about a potential buyout of the electric car company that never materialized. As part of that deal, Musk was supposed to obtain legal approval for his tweets about information that could affect Tesla’s stock price — a provision that regulators contend he has occasionally violated and that he now argues unfairly muzzles him.
Musk didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment posted on Twitter, where he often shares his opinion and thoughts. Alex Spiro, a New York lawyer representing Musk in his ongoing dispute with the SEC, also didn’t immediately respond to a query from The Associated Press.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/04/13/elon-musk-accused-breaking-law-while-buying-twitter-stock/
| 2022-04-13T01:39:18Z
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Police warn parents of scary ‘Huggy Wuggy’ character in children’s media online
(Gray News) – While Disney may offer plenty of movies, videos and games that are safe for unsupervised children, not all kids’ content is as safe as it seems.
Police are now warning the parents of susceptible kids of a fearsome character that has been making its way into content geared towards children.
The Lafayette County Sheriff’s Office in Wisconsin looked at the origins of “Huggy Wuggy” and shared their findings in a post on Facebook.
The character, which resembles a lanky, blue-furred teddy bear with razor sharp teeth, comes from a recent survival horror video game called “Poppy Playtime.”
In the game, the player controls the former employee of an abandoned toy factory, who has come back to the company’s location to investigate what happened to all of the staff who mysteriously vanished.
As the player explores, their character encounters various enemies, including Huggy Wuggy.
The game was originally rated for ages 8 and above but was updated to 12 or above for containing scary images and scenarios, such as toys coming to life and wanting to harm the children they belong to.
The character has made its way from this independently developed video game into fan-made videos on websites like YouTube.
The sheriff’s office says the videos they want to warn parents about are featured on a number of YouTube channels, including those on this list compiled by the sheriff’s office:
- GameToons
- SamToons
- GH’s
- Monster School Story
- Game My
- Secret4Studio
- HornStromp 3D
- Siren Studio
- Bunny Games
- Slime Channel
The sheriff’s office says the videos include, but are not limited to, offensive language, cartoon representations of alcohol use, blood, stabbings, decapitations, attempted murder, murder and the bloody aftermath of a car crash.
Police are urging parents to monitor their children’s use of YouTube and other video sharing social media platforms for content that may be inappropriate or too intense for their viewing.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/04/13/police-warn-parents-scary-huggy-wuggy-character-childrens-media-online/
| 2022-04-13T01:39:25Z
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‘We haven’t received a dime’: New homeowners say squatters have taken over their house
LAS VEGAS (KVVU) - A Las Vegas-area family says squatters have taken over a home they recently purchased.
A four-bedroom, 2,700-square-foot home was supposed to be a dream home for Jen Larsen, her mother, Donna Edmonds, and three kids, but it has turned into nothing short of a nightmare.
“My mom and I decided to buy a house together about two months ago because both of our rents were going to go up dramatically, about $500 apiece,” Larsen said.
But someone they say isn’t paying the mortgage on their new home is inside their property and not leaving.
“We gave the seller seven days to move out because they said they needed the money from the sale of the house to move everything out,” Larsen said.
However, during that week, Larsen and her mother said somehow somebody else moved in and has lived in the home ever since.
“The two of us scrimped and scraped to get this, and we were so excited. Now, I can’t eat. I can’t sleep. It’s been really stressful,” Edmonds said.
The women have a deed for the property with a closing date of March 4, but they have never been able to occupy the home.
FOX5 reports a news crew went to the home’s front door to ask the people living inside for their side of the story, but no one answered while the crew was there.
A woman at the property later emailed FOX5, writing she has a legal lease with the home’s former owner that runs until July 2. However, a copy of the lease was not immediately shared.
“My kids and I will be homeless. Meanwhile, this woman is living in the home that we paid for and living there for free. We haven’t received a dime,” Larsen said.
Larsen and her mother did not immediately report if they have notified authorities.
Copyright 2022 KVVU via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/04/13/we-havent-received-dime-new-homeowners-say-squatters-have-taken-over-their-house/
| 2022-04-13T01:39:34Z
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A Maui man's most recent claim to fame is creating the Hawaiian language version of Wordle, but Keola Donaghy's love affair with 'olelo Hawai'i goes back decades. In fact, he says it's a big reason why he's Aging Well.
This is Hulihua, the Hawaiian language version of the popular game Wordle, released in February. It's the latest in a long line of Hawaiian endeavors that 61-year-old Keola Donaghy's produced since he started studying 'olelo Hawai'i in the '90s at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo.
That includes consulting with Apple, Google, and Microsoft to install Hawaiian language keyboards on their operating systems, phones, or search engines; and co-founding Ulukau, the Hawaiian Electronic Library, in 2012. It is said to be the largest and most used repository of digital indigenous language in the world.
Donaghy says it was so important for him get a Hawaiian keyboard installed on this major platforms because "Hawaiian language is not simply reserved the taro patch, the beach, or the context in which it was traditionally used. It has a place in modern society. We're in a golden age of language learning because of the technology."
But before he understood the words, he sang them.
"Hawaiian music is what drew me to Hawaiian language in the first place. I was performing on Maui with various people," Donaghy said.
Donaghy is an assistant music professor at University of Hawai'i's Maui College, a voting member for the Grammy awards, and has written or produced songs for many local stars.
"When I learned Hawaiian it was like opening a third eye. It rewired my brain in the way I could look around and see the island and Hawaii in a different way. Street signs, place names, beaches - every one of these places, their names have meanings, and those connect to stories of historical events," he said.
He's hoping others will derive the same enjoyment from learning the language.
"My outlook on the world really changed through learning 'olelo Hawai'i," he said. "My life has revolved around 'olelo Hawai'i, music, and technology; it's worked different parts of my brain. I'm always getting a mental workout."
He and his wife live with their daughter and grandson, which he says also keeps them young.
"We benefit from his youth and enthusiasm. He benefits from learning from his tutu," smiled Donaghy.
Diane is KITV4’s weekend evening anchor and weekday reporter. She hosts the Aging Well series on Tuesday evenings at 5, 6, and 10 p.m. She is a mother, a cat owner, and a yogi.
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https://www.kitv.com/kakou/aging-well-maui-man-says-love-of-hawaiian-language-keeps-him-young/article_516f0814-a8e6-11ec-8ca7-23f560c54d89.html
| 2022-04-13T01:39:38Z
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KAUAI (KITV)- A sticky situation is unfolding between a fragile species and a land development company.
Residents are trying to fight off a developer who plans to build a housing development - with nearly 300 new homes - in an area near where amphipods and endangered spiders have lived for generations.
The Kauai Cave Wolf spider is one of the top 6 most endangered spiders in the world. Its food, the amphipod, is endangered too. Now, local residents are worried that one of the few places where the spider can live is also in danger of becoming extinct.
Crews are now preparing the land where the new homes will be, but close by, the Kauai Cave wolf spider and its food source live. The dwellings are unique: caves and the lava tubes below them house the little amphipods.
The amphipod is a shrimp-like creature that cleans up decaying plant matter on the island. "What would happen if this species was completely wiped out from the lava tubes? What would happen if the amphipods completely died out? They are a critical part of the habitat of the caves," said Elizabeth Okinaka, Save Koloa founder.
Making the situation more sensitive is the tiny size of the amphipod, and the fact the spider has no eyes. It feels around for its food. "These spiders, they stand no chance. They cannot run fast. These amphipods cannot move fast. This heavy multiple machinery is on site. They are directly above one of the most fragile ecosystems in the world," said Okinaka.
There are only two current sites the spiders live, and four where the amphipods live. These species may be present on or in the vicinity of the housing development, according to a letter from the U.S. Department of the Interior. The letter also states that the project area being developed by Meridian Pacific Limited does not contain critical habitat for those endangered species. A spokesperson responded by saying they received a grading permit after the letter was received.
"We're trying to push for more surveys to be done," said Okinaka. Residents are also concerned about the possibility of cultural aspects being destroyed, as well as what's being done to the habitat. Meridian Pacific released a statement saying studies have concluded there are no archeological site on the property, and that U.S. Fish and Wildlife does not require the project to obtain any permits.
A biological survey also concluded that there are no natural habitats of protected species on the property, despite the letter from the Department of the Interior. "How can we know whatever is underneath, or what is on top? This could include the spiders, cultural sites, etc. How can we know?," said local resident Ana Mo Des.
Meridian says the letter from the Department of the Interior suggest if workers find a cave, they should stop and contact Fish and Wildlife for guidance. The company says they intend to follow that suggestion.
A Kauai County spokesperson issued the following statement to KITV4:
“This is an issue dating back to a 1970s Zoning Permit. The developer had a legal claim against the county to dispute unfulfilled conditions of its zoning permit, related to affordable housing.
The county ultimately accepted a settlement payment from the developer to avoid lengthy and costly litigation. This settlement was approved by the County Attorney’s office and the County Council.
The approximately $5.2 million payment will be used exclusively to create affordable housing. There was no known community outrage at the time of this settlement in 2020.”
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https://www.kitv.com/news/business/kauai-residents-fighting-to-stop-housing-development-they-say-is-threatening-endangered-spider-species/article_77ecf582-ba9d-11ec-b3ed-4bf012e801d9.html
| 2022-04-13T01:39:44Z
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COVID-19 case numbers have begun to edge up in the United States, and nearly all of them are caused by the Omicron subvariant BA.2.
According to the latest estimates from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, BA.2 caused 86% of new Covid-19 cases nationwide last week.
In some ways, this feels like a familiar place. Cases are going up again. At least one major city is reinstating its mask mandate. Broadway shows have canceled some performances.
But there continue to be reasons for optimism.
Despite BA.2's near-complete takeover from two other circulating Omicron subvariants, BA.1 and BA 1.1, US hospitalizations are at record low levels, and they continue to drop. Deaths also continue to fall.
Even though those numbers tend to lag behind case counts, the US hasn't seen a steep increase in infections. Whether that's likely to happen is still an open question.
Even Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, doesn't know what BA.2 will do. As a nation, transmission has to get down to a level that's "low enough that it doesn't disrupt our population or the economy, our daily economic, workplace and social lives, which means it has to be low enough that it isn't a serious threat to the health of the nation," he says. He doesn't know if we're out of the woods.
"We are certainly seeing the beginning of a surge of new infections," Fauci said. "It depends on how high we go up in the surge, and it depends on whether the surge is associated with an increase in severe disease.
"I can't say where we are right now, because we're transitioning," he said.
Cases rising regionally
Across the nation, Covid-19 cases have ticked up 24% from where they were two weeks ago, and the US is now averaging about 38,000 cases a day. This is a jump from last week, probably because Florida recently reported a two-week backlog. Even so, it's one of the lowest daily rates since July.
State by state, however, the picture is more mixed. Cases are rising in 25 states, falling in 16 and holding steady in nine others.
Cases are rising fastest in the Northeast, the region of the US that has the most BA.2 transmission.
On Monday, Philadelphia became the first major US city to announce a return to indoor mask requirements. Cases have climbed 50% there over the past 10 days, pushing the city over the threshold that triggers the mask mandates.
"I suspect that this wave will be smaller than the one we saw in January," Dr. Cheryl Bettigole, Philadelphia's public health commissioner, said Monday.
"But if we wait to find out and to put our masks back on, we'll have lost our chance to stop the wave."
Several universities, including Johns Hopkins, American, George Washington and Georgetown, have also reinstated indoor masking.
New York City had been reconsidering its mask requirements for preschoolers, but with cases rising in the city, Mayor Eric Adams recently said masks would be continue to be required for the youngest children, who had higher rates of hospitalizations during Omicron than in previous waves.
Beyond case counts, which may be a less reliable pandemic metric because testing numbers have dropped, coronavirus levels in wastewater are telling a largely reassuring story.
Wastewater monitoring is considered a reliable warning of what's on the way. US numbers are trending up slightly but are still at one of the lowest levels seen since July, according to Biobot Analytics, a company that analyzes wastewater samples from across the country.
Different countries, different stories
The situation with BA.2 here appears to be a departure from the one seen in the UK and Europe.
According to the variant-tracking website Covariants.org, the Netherlands was near the peak of its BA.2 wave when the subvariant reached 83% of infections there in the second week of March. Switzerland was also close to its BA.2 peak when the subvariant reached 80% of infections in mid-March. After falling for weeks, cases in the UK had doubled from a low point on February 25 and would soon reach the height of the BA.2 wave when the subvariant was causing 88% of cases there between March 7 and March 21.
The BA.2 experience in the US looks a lot more like what happened in South Africa. In the second and third weeks of February, when BA.2 was responsible for about 88% of transmission there, cases made a slight bump up but then continued to fall over the month of March.
"I've been cautiously optimistic about BA.2 because of the trends that it's not been as exponential a rise in cases, like we saw when Omicron first emerged," said Pavitra Roychoudhury, who studies the spread of infectious diseases at the University of Washington's School of Medicine.
She said the tidal wave of Omicron that hit the US over the winter has left a lot of immunity in its wake. We're also more vaccinated and boosted as a country than we've ever been -- though health officials say we could do a lot better on boosters.
Some are heeding that warning. The pace of vaccination has roughly doubled over the past two weeks as more people seek out second boosters.
An average of about 502,000 vaccine doses have been administered each day over the past week, according to CDC data. That's up from about 219,000 doses a day on March 29, when the CDC and the US Food and Drug Administration authorized a second booster shot for people 50 and older, though the CDC isn't specifically counting second boosters.
"That might be explaining our somewhat more optimistic outlook compared to places like the UK, where there was a significant surge and it was associated with BA.2," Roychoudhury said.
BA.2 in the UK
Overall during the pandemic, health officials have pointed to the UK as a harbinger of things to come in the US, but that kind of extrapolation may be getting harder to do as the populations develop different types and degrees of immunity.
After a wave of cases caused by Omicron's BA.1 subvariant that peaked in January and then fell, the UK saw a second increase in cases and hospitalizations with BA.2. That wave peaked in late March, and since then, cases have been on a steep decline.
Adam Kucharski, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine who tracks infectious disease outbreaks, believes that the BA.2 wave in the UK was at least partly due to the timing of its booster campaign.
The UK began offering booster shots, or third vaccine doses, in mid-September, just a few days before the US did. But more people got them: In the UK, 68% of people over the age of 12 who are eligible for a booster dose have gotten one; in the US, that number is just 45%, according to the CDC.
Many people in the UK who got a booster in September or October still had high antibody protection when Omicron arrived.
Antibodies are the first line of defense in an infection. They act quickly to contain the spread of a virus through the body. Antibodies are highest in the first few months after vaccination and decline over time. But even after they've dropped off, the body retains its immune memory to vaccines and can gear up quickly to make more if it's infected.
Omicron was identified in late November, when many in the UK were still within the window of highest protection from their booster doses.
"I think we were fortunate that the boosters, in the short term at least, provided quite a lot of protection," Kucharski said.
People who'd had recent boosters had such good immunity that if even if they got infected with BA.1, they might not have known it because their symptoms were so mild. It was likely that they weren't contributing to transmission, Kucharski thinks, so boosters did a good job of holding down Omicron's rampant spread through the UK over the winter.
Fast-forward three months, however, and many people who'd gotten boosters as recommended were six months past their shots. Studies show that antibody levels decline four or five months after the third dose, so their protection against infection was probably much lower just as BA.2 arrived on the scene.
And now, Kucharski says, with BA.2, even the boosted group began getting "mild, mild symptoms or enough to detect that and test positive" and be counted as a case.
As immunity waned, BA.2 crept in
Whether the US will see a fresh wave of cases from BA.2 will depend a lot on two things, Kucharski said: the current level of immunity in the population and our behavior.
About half of those who are eligible for a booster dose in the US have had one, and millions more were infected by Omicron, giving an estimated nearly 95% of Americans some degree of protection against the coronavirus, according to the CDC.
But for those who have lost their immunity over time because protection from their original two-dose vaccinations have waned or because they were infected a year or more ago with an older variant, the virus might find a way to spread.
"I think if BA.2 can find susceptibility, that will translate into growth in cases," Kucharski said.
But he stresses that a lot will depend on what Americans do right now.
"I think the question is what happens in the meantime, if actually booster campaigns and other things line up, then that might offset [the subvariant]. But I think based on what we're seeing a lot of countries in Europe, if there's susceptibility, either because people haven't had a booster or they had it a while ago, then that can translate into growing epidemic," he said.
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| 2022-04-13T01:39:50Z
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HILO, Hawaii (KITV4) -- Three people believed to have aided a Big Island father in abducting his 11-month-old daughter from the Wailoa State Park on Saturday turned themselves over to police.
Authorities have also charged Randall Santos II with first-degree custodial interference in connection with the case.
Santos is accused of taking his daughter, 11-month-old Alixea Fernandez-Santos, during a trip to Wailoa State Park on Saturday. Investigators said Santos does not have custody of Alixea due to a valid family court order.
Monika Santos, 50, Paul Abiley Jr., 31, and Journee Cortez, 25, turned themselves in at the Hilo Police Station, Saturday night, police said. After questioning, all three were released pending further investigation.
Police said Cortez was also arrested for third-degree assault as part of this investigation and an outstanding warrant of arrest for an unrelated incident. She was charged for criminal contempt of court and released after posting $150 bail.
On Sunday, police said Cortez brought Alixea to the Pahoa Police Station. Later that same evening, Santos also turned himself in at the Pahoa station.
Alixea was in good health and was placed into the custody of Child Welfare Services to, who will determine her safest living situation.
On Monday, Santos was charged with first-degree custodial interference and two counts of violation of a temporary restraining order. He remains behind bars on $7,000 bail pending his first court appearance on Tuesday, April 12.
Matthew has been the digital content manager for KITV4 since September 2021. Matthew is a prolific writer, editor, and self-described "newsie" who's worked in television markets in Oklahoma, California, and Hawaii.
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https://www.kitv.com/news/crime/alleged-accomplices-arrested-father-charged-in-connection-to-big-island-missing-infant-case/article_b129a2fa-babb-11ec-a095-df6d332e6189.html
| 2022-04-13T01:39:56Z
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A credit card used to rent a U-Haul cargo van helped New York investigators quickly identify the suspect who allegedly deployed a gas canister and then opened fire on a Brooklyn subway sending nearly 30 people to city hospitals, two law enforcement sources told CNN Tuesday.
The shooter, who dropped the credit card as he fled the scene was still on the loose Tuesday night, was described by authorities as a 5-foot-5-inch Black man with a heavy build who was last seen wearing a green construction vest and a gray hooded sweatshirt.
Authorities said investigators were able to obtain an image of the suspect from a cellphone video shared by an eyewitness.
Shortly after 2 p.m., NYPD commanders put out an Arizona license plate number and ordered all officers and detectives to be on the lookout for the van, according to two internal emails reviewed by CNN. The truck was located in the Gravesend section of Brooklyn a few hours later, two law enforcement officials told CNN.
The NYPD's bomb squad is responding to the Brooklyn scene where the U-Haul truck was found, a law enforcement source told CNN.
U-Haul said it is working with authorities.
Tuesday's shooting left at least 29 people injured, who were treated at three nearby hospitals for injuries, none of which are life-threatening, according to hospital representatives.
Of the injured, 10 people were shot, while others were treated for smoke inhalation, shrapnel and panic in the attack, FDNY First Deputy Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said.
The mass shooting occurred just before 8:30 a.m. as a Manhattan-bound N train neared the 36th Street subway station in Brooklyn's Sunset Park, a working-class neighborhood far from the city's tourist hubs. Witnesses riding the subway said smoke filled the train as it moved between stations, causing havoc aboard, and trails of blood were visible on the floor.
The suspect shot people on the train and on the station platform, NYPD commissioner Keechant Sewell said. First responders arrived to the station and found gunshot victims and others injured in the chaos.
Anthony Valentino, who lives a block from the subway station, said he saw emergency responders outside his home and so went out to find people bloodied and in shock.
"I saw two people holding up a man who was all bloodied, blood all over his hands, and he was in shock, walking like a zombie before sitting to the floor," Valentino said. "I felt horrible for him."
The incident comes amid a rise in shootings in New York over the past two years and a particular rise in violence on the subway that has become a focus of Mayor Eric Adams' administration. Transit crime, broadly, is up 68% compared to last year, numbers closer to where they were at pre-pandemic levels, according to an NYPD summary of statistics current through Sunday.
The photo gallery below contains graphic images. Viewer discretion is advised.
A gun was recovered in the subway station, two law enforcement sources told CNN. It's not clear if it was the gun used in the attack.
Investigators recovered multiple high-capacity magazines from the scene, three law enforcement officials said. Two officials said they believe the gun jammed during the shooting. Investigators also recovered fireworks and gunpowder at the scene, two law enforcement sources told CNN.
Sewell said there are no known active explosive devices on trains. The attack is not being investigated as an act of terrorism but authorities have not ruled anything out, she said.
The city tweeted later Tuesday because of the MTA disruptions, the NYC Ferry is waiving fares on the South Brooklyn route for the rest of the day and will "provide additional service during the evening commute."
Witness says he sat next to shooting suspect
Hourari Benkada, 27, told CNN he was sitting next to the subway shooting suspect on the "N" train Tuesday morning and was shot in the back of his knee while trying to flee.
"I feel shocked, I feel shaky, I don't know if I can ever ride a train," Benkada, a lifelong New Yorker, told CNN after coming out of surgery.
Benkada, a Housekeeping Manager at the New Yorker Hotel, said he got on the last car of the N train and sat next to a man with a duffel bag who was wearing an MTA vest. The man then left off a "smoke bomb" and started shooting about 20 seconds after the train took off, Benkada said.
Benkada said he was focused on helping a pregnant woman, who he feared would get hurt as people rushed to the front of the car to avoid the shooter, when he got shot, describing it as "the worst pain of my entire life."
He explained the bullet hit him in the back of his knee and came out the other side. Doctors told him the bullet grazed his kneecap. He is expected to walk on his own after several weeks on crutches.
Benkada said he heard other people in pain but was unable to see them or the suspect because of the smoke.
Yav Montano told CNN he was on the express train heading to work when smoke filled the subway car and he heard what sounded like fireworks. The train was between stations at the time, so panicked passengers tried to move to another train car to get further away from the smoke, he said.
"The whole car was engulfed in smoke," he said. "I couldn't even use my mask anymore because it was black with smoke. It was ridiculous."
About 40 to 50 people were on the train at the time, he said. He was not sure how many were injured but said he saw a lot of blood on the floor of the train. When the train arrived at the 36th Street station, the passengers fled off the train onto the platform in a rush.
Photojournalist Derek French told CNN Tuesday he leveraged his Red Cross first aid training to help victims.
"Nobody was expecting it," he said, explaining he had just stepped off the express N train after conductors said it was out of service.
As French moved toward the front of the train, he noticed the platform getting significantly less crowded, but significantly more smoky. Then, he saw a pool of blood, and victims nearby. At first, French said he thought they had been stabbed, but soon realized they'd been shot.
After snapping a few photos, French said he put his camera bag down and went to help the four victims he remembered were laying on the ground. While helping them, French also discovered he himself had been shot in the ankle and was bleeding.
"I used my windbreaker to make an additional tourniquet as far up the limb as possible to slow it or ensure that another gunshot that I don't see is restricted from blood flood," he said.
A video taken by a subway rider shows people rushing off the train after it pulls into the station. Smoke pours from the car where the shooting took place, and people are heard screaming, the video shows. An individual is seen helping an injured and bleeding person dressed in a blue hoodie off the train. Another man hobbles off the train shortly after, the video shows.
Surveillance video from within the station may not be available. A preliminary review indicates there was some sort of malfunction with the camera system at the station, Adams told WCBS Radio 880 AM. There are almost 10,000 cameras in the MTA system including almost 600 cameras on the Brooklyn section of where the attack took place, MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber told CNN's Jake Tapper.
"We're going to work with the NYPD to capture all that video to find out where this criminal may have come in or out of the system," Lieber said. "And we're also just reviewing with everybody who is involved, all of the information."
The NYPD activated the city's "Unified Victim Identification System" (UVIS) Tuesday in response to the subway shooting, the department tweeted. The UVIS is a "disaster management system that manages and coordinates all of the activities related to missing persons reporting and victim identification" and enables "centralized communications and data collection processes," according to an official city guide on the system.
The system was previously used in response to various emergencies in New York City, including the East Harlem building explosion and Hurricane Sandy. It was also activated in April 2020, so New Yorkers could file a report about a friend or loved one who may have gone missing due to Covid-19.
Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood is located in the southwest part of the borough and has a significant number of residents who are Asian and Hispanic. Each group makes about a third of its more than 135,000 residents, according to US Census data. The southern part of the neighborhood has emerged as Brooklyn's Chinatown due to its growing population of immigrants from the Fujian province in China.
Shootings on the rise in New York
The shooting comes as violence in New York City and across the US has increased since the Covid-19 pandemic, reversing a decades long decline.
In New York, more than 360 people have been shot this year in 322 shooting incidents, increases of about 8% and 9% from last year, respectively, according to data reported by NYPD through Sunday. Over the last two years, shootings in New York are up 72.2 percent, and shooting victims up 70.4 percent.
Tuesday's subway attack is the second mass shooting, defined as at least four people shot, in Brooklyn this year and the fourth in New York State, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The first Brooklyn mass shooting of the year was on January 13 at a Brooklyn event hall.
Lieber, the MTA chair and CEO, said New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Adams made commitments very early on in the new year to keeping the city's subway system safe.
"They have put more officers both on the platforms and on the train where people feel vulnerable," Lieber explained, "And there are, you know, there's an enormous effort to reach out to some of the people who for whatever reason have been sheltering in the subway system."
In February New York City unveiled a comprehensive plan, dubbed The Subway Safety Plan, aimed at combating crime and addressing homelessness in the subway system to expand response teams of health, police and community officials across the city.
Mayor Adams emphasized the entire nation is witnessing a high level of violence, not only New York City.
"We're facing is a problem that is hitting our entire nation right now and that is why this is a national response," Adams told CNN's Dana Bash. "We need a national response to this issue."
Including Tuesday's shooting, there have been 131 mass shootings in America this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit tracking gun death and injury. Those shootings left 141 people dead and 547 people wounded.
As a result of the attack, the Brooklyn Nets told fans to expect an "increased security presence" at Tuesday night's postseason play-in tournament game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Barclays Center, the team tweeted Tuesday.
"Your safety and security is our top priority, and we are working closely with our law enforcement partners," the tweet read. "Fans should plan to arrive early and expect an increased security presence at Barclays Center."
Mass transit systems in the US increased patrols and asked the public to report anything unusual in the wake of the attack. In California, both the Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) have either increased police presence at stations or are on "heightened alert" as a result of the incident in New York.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled FDNY First Deputy Commissioner Laura Kavanagh's last name.
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| 2022-04-13T01:40:02Z
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| 2022-04-13T01:40:08Z
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KULA, MAUI (KITV4) – Haleakala National Park will host special programs throughout National Park Week beginning Saturday, April 16 through Sunday, April 24, 2022.
National Park Week runs Saturday, April 16 through April 24, and includes Earth Day on April 24.
On Saturday, April 16, the Park will waive entrance fees. Sunrise reservations are still required from 3 to 7 am and can be obtained by visiting recreation.gov.
For more information about upcoming events at Haleakalā National Park visit: www.nps.gov/hale.
Haleakalā National Park will partner with the Maui Nui Seabird Recovery Project to co-host ʻUaʻu Night on Saturday, April 16, from 7 to 9 pm at the Haleakalā Visitor Center. The event will offer night-vision goggles and thermal imaging cameras for spotting ʻuaʻu, or Hawaiian petrel. Staff and volunteers will be available to answer questions about the bird species special to Hawaii.
On April 20, keiki of all ages can participate in Junior Ranger Days from 10 am to 1pm at the Kīpahulu Visitor Center, and on Saturday, April 23, at the Park Headquarters Visitor Center. All fourth-grade students can obtain a voucher for a free pass at Every Kid Outdoors, and pick up the pass in the park. Passes are good through August 2022.
For Earth Day activities on April 22, visitors can from participate at Hosmer Grove from 10 to 2 at Hosmer Grove. Visitors can extend their experience with Earth Day Every Day activities, while learn about your role in protecting our shared planet.
Do you have a story idea? Email news tips to news@kitv.com
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https://www.kitv.com/news/local/haleakala-national-park-in-maui-to-celebrate-national-park-week-with-free-entry-events-and/article_e1dbccd8-bac1-11ec-96f8-f3985d4d3a4a.html
| 2022-04-13T01:40:15Z
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Lori Vallow appears in court in Lihue, Hawaii on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020. A judge ruled that bail will remain at $5 million for Vallow, also known as Lori Daybell, who was arrested in Hawaii over the disappearance of her two Idaho children. Vallow requested a hearing so the judge would consider a reduced bail. After the judge denied the request, her defense attorney, Craig De Costa, left, said she is waiving an extradition hearing, which had been scheduled for March 2. Kauai Prosecutor Justin Kollar said he will work with Idaho authorities on logistics for her departure. (Dennis FujimotoThe Garden Island via AP, Pool)
(CNN) -- An Idaho judge ruled Monday that Lori Vallow is mentally fit to stand trial on charges related to the deaths of her two children, according to court documents.
Vallow is "restored to competency and is fit to proceed," Judge Steven W. Boyce said in his order.
Vallow and her husband Chad Daybell were indicted on murder charges in May 2021 in the deaths of Vallow's children, Tylee Ryan, 17, and Joshua "JJ" Vallow, 7.
Daybell pleaded not guilty to the charges, but after a court ordered psychological evaluation, Lori Vallow was declared "not competent to proceed."
Tylee and JJ had gone missing in September 2019 and Vallow and Daybell married two months later.
In June 2020, law enforcement officials found the remains of the children on Daybell's property in Fremont County, Idaho.
Monday's order said Vallow would be transferred from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare and remanded to the custody of the Fremont County Sheriff before her arraignment April 19.
Charges over former spouses' deaths
Daybell and Vallow also each face charges related to the deaths of their former spouses.
Daybell is charged with murdering his ex-wife, Tammy, who was initially believed to have died in her sleep in October 2019, less than three weeks before he married Vallow. He has pleaded not guilty.
Vallow is facing a charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in Tammy Daybell's death.
Vallow has also been charged with one felony count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of her former husband, Charles Vallow, who was fatally shot in July 2019.
According to a probable cause statement released by police in Chandler, Arizona, in July 2021, Lori's brother, Alexander Cox, called 911 on July 11, 2019, to report he had shot and killed his former brother-in-law,
Cox told investigators he acted in self-defense after a physical altercation with Charles Vallow, police said. Cox died in December 2019, according to prosecutors.
Police said in the statement that Lori Vallow had discovered her former husband was planning an intervention over fears for his children's safety and his death was premeditated.
According to the statement, Lori Vallow had "radical beliefs" including that she was an "exalted Goddess" and that she and Daybell were "directed to lead 144,000 people in preparing for the end of the world."
Daybell has not been charged in Charles Vallow's death.
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https://www.kitv.com/news/local/idaho-judge-rules-lori-vallow-is-mentally-fit-to-stand-trial-on-charges-related-to/article_2000347e-bac5-11ec-86fe-37166cb9dc70.html
| 2022-04-13T01:40:21Z
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(CNN) -- A credit card used to rent a U-Haul cargo van helped New York investigators quickly identify a person of interest who allegedly deployed a gas canister and then opened fire on a Brooklyn subway sending nearly 30 people to city hospitals, two law enforcement sources told CNN Tuesday.
The shooter, who dropped the credit card as he fled the scene was still on the loose Tuesday night, was described by authorities as a 5-foot-5-inch Black man with a heavy build who was last seen wearing a green construction vest and a gray hooded sweatshirt.
Authorities said investigators were able to obtain an image of the shooter from a cellphone video shared by an eyewitness.
Shortly after 2 p.m., NYPD commanders put out an Arizona license plate number and ordered all officers and detectives to be on the lookout for the van, according to two internal emails reviewed by CNN. The truck was located in the Gravesend section of Brooklyn a few hours later, two law enforcement officials told CNN.
The van was rented on Monday from a U-Haul store in Philadelphia, according to company records obtained by CNN. The rental agreement obtained by CNN shows the U-Haul reservation was made Wednesday, and was scheduled to be picked up Monday at 2:01 p.m. The van was supposed to be rented for two days, according to the reservation.
A 62-year-old man, Frank James, was listed as the renter of the van, and he was identified as a person of interest, said Chief James W. Essig, NYPD chief of detectives, during a Tuesday night news conference. Frank James has addresses in both Wisconsin and Philadelphia, Essig said.
"We don't know if Mr. James has any connection to the subway, that's still under investigation," Essig said.
The NYPD's bomb squad is responding to the Brooklyn scene where the U-Haul truck was found, a law enforcement source told CNN.
U-Haul said it is working with authorities.
NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said there are possibly some social media postings connected to James in which he mentions homelessness, New York and Mayor Eric Adams. The mayor's security detail was heightened out of an abundance of caution, Sewell said.
Live updates: Multiple people shot in Brooklyn
Tuesday's shooting left at least 29 people injured, who were treated at three nearby hospitals for injuries, none of which are life-threatening, according to hospital representatives.
Of the injured, 10 people were shot, while others were treated for smoke inhalation, shrapnel and panic in the attack, FDNY First Deputy Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said.
The mass shooting occurred just before 8:30 a.m. as a Manhattan-bound N train neared the 36th Street subway station in Brooklyn's Sunset Park, a working-class neighborhood far from the city's tourist hubs. Witnesses riding the subway told investigators the gunman opened two smoke grenades, brandished a 9 mm handgun and fired at least 33 times striking 10 people -- seven men and three women -- Essig said.
Those 10 people were moved to area hospitals. An additional 13 people were injured via smoke inhalation, falling down or panic attacks, Essig said.
The suspect shot people on the train and on the station platform, Sewell said. First responders arrived to the station and found gunshot victims and others injured in the chaos.
Later at the scene, investigators found a Glock 9 mm handgun, three extended magazines, two detonated smoke grenades, two non-detonated smoke grenades, a hatchet and a U-Haul key, Essig said. The key led to authorities finding the van in Brooklyn.
Two officials said they believe the gun jammed during the shooting. Sewell said there were no known active explosive devices on the train. The attack is not being investigated as an act of terrorism, but authorities have not ruled anything out, she said.
The photo gallery below contains graphic images. Viewer discretion is advised.
Anthony Valentino, who lives a block from the subway station, said he saw emergency responders outside his home and so went out to find people bloodied and in shock.
"I saw two people holding up a man who was all bloodied, blood all over his hands, and he was in shock, walking like a zombie before sitting to the floor," Valentino said. "I felt horrible for him."
The incident comes amid a rise in shootings in New York over the past two years and a particular rise in violence on the subway that has become a focus of Mayor Eric Adams' administration. Transit crime, broadly, is up 68% compared to last year, numbers closer to where they were at pre-pandemic levels, according to an NYPD summary of statistics current through Sunday.
The city tweeted later Tuesday because of the MTA disruptions, the NYC Ferry is waiving fares on the South Brooklyn route for the rest of the day and will "provide additional service during the evening commute."
Witness says he sat next to shooting suspect
Hourari Benkada, 27, told CNN he was sitting next to the subway shooting suspect on the "N" train Tuesday morning and was shot in the back of his knee while trying to flee.
"I feel shocked, I feel shaky, I don't know if I can ever ride a train," Benkada, a lifelong New Yorker, told CNN after coming out of surgery.
Benkada, a Housekeeping Manager at the New Yorker Hotel, said he got on the last car of the N train and sat next to a man with a duffel bag who was wearing an MTA vest. The man then left off a "smoke bomb" and started shooting about 20 seconds after the train took off, Benkada said.
Benkada said he was focused on helping a pregnant woman, who he feared would get hurt as people rushed to the front of the car to avoid the shooter, when he got shot, describing it as "the worst pain of my entire life."
He explained the bullet hit him in the back of his knee and came out the other side. Doctors told him the bullet grazed his kneecap. He is expected to walk on his own after several weeks on crutches.
Benkada said he heard other people in pain but was unable to see them or the suspect because of the smoke.
Claire Tunkel, 46, told CNN she took off her jacket and tied it around the leg of a man who suffered a gunshot wound from Tuesday's subway shooting in Brooklyn. Tunkel, who went to the hospital for smoke inhalation, said several gunshot victims were laying on the floor of the subway platform after the train arrived at the station.
"One of the guys who was shot, his leg was bleeding pretty bad, so I took off my jacket and tied it around his leg," she said.
Tunkel was in the subway car where the shooting took place and described the scene as chaotic. While she couldn't see anything because of the smoke, she said she heard people crying out for help and others who said they were bleeding.
"You couldn't see anything, but you could feel it," she said. People were rushing to the front of the car, and some fell to the ground, she noted. "You could feel the bodies."
Yav Montano told CNN he was on the express train heading to work when smoke filled the subway car and he heard what sounded like fireworks. The train was between stations at the time, so panicked passengers tried to move to another train car to get further away from the smoke, he said.
"The whole car was engulfed in smoke," he said. "I couldn't even use my mask anymore because it was black with smoke. It was ridiculous."
About 40 to 50 people were on the train at the time, he said. He was not sure how many were injured but said he saw a lot of blood on the floor of the train. When the train arrived at the 36th Street station, the passengers fled off the train onto the platform in a rush.
Photojournalist Derek French told CNN Tuesday he leveraged his Red Cross first aid training to help victims.
"Nobody was expecting it," he said, explaining he had just stepped off the express N train after conductors said it was out of service.
As French moved toward the front of the train, he noticed the platform getting significantly less crowded, but significantly more smoky. Then, he saw a pool of blood, and victims nearby. At first, French said he thought they had been stabbed, but soon realized they'd been shot.
After snapping a few photos, French said he put his camera bag down and went to help the four victims he remembered were laying on the ground. While helping them, French also discovered he himself had been shot in the ankle and was bleeding.
"I used my windbreaker to make an additional tourniquet as far up the limb as possible to slow it or ensure that another gunshot that I don't see is restricted from blood flood," he said.
A video taken by a subway rider shows people rushing off the train after it pulls into the station. Smoke pours from the car where the shooting took place, and people are heard screaming, the video shows. An individual is seen helping an injured and bleeding person dressed in a blue hoodie off the train. Another man hobbles off the train shortly after, the video shows.
Surveillance video from within the station may not be available. A preliminary review indicates there was some sort of malfunction with the camera system at the station, Adams told WCBS Radio 880 AM. There are almost 10,000 cameras in the MTA system including almost 600 cameras on the Brooklyn section of where the attack took place, MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber told CNN's Jake Tapper.
"We're going to work with the NYPD to capture all that video to find out where this criminal may have come in or out of the system," Lieber said. "And we're also just reviewing with everybody who is involved, all of the information."
The NYPD activated the city's "Unified Victim Identification System" (UVIS) Tuesday in response to the subway shooting, the department tweeted. The UVIS is a "disaster management system that manages and coordinates all of the activities related to missing persons reporting and victim identification" and enables "centralized communications and data collection processes," according to an official city guide on the system.
The system was previously used in response to various emergencies in New York City, including the East Harlem building explosion and Hurricane Sandy. It was also activated in April 2020, so New Yorkers could file a report about a friend or loved one who may have gone missing due to Covid-19.
Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood is located in the southwest part of the borough and has a significant number of residents who are Asian and Hispanic. Each group makes about a third of its more than 135,000 residents, according to US Census data. The southern part of the neighborhood has emerged as Brooklyn's Chinatown due to its growing population of immigrants from the Fujian province in China.
Shootings on the rise in New York
The shooting comes as violence in New York City and across the US has increased since the Covid-19 pandemic, reversing a decades long decline.
In New York, more than 360 people have been shot this year in 322 shooting incidents, increases of about 8% and 9% from last year, respectively, according to data reported by NYPD through Sunday. Over the last two years, shootings in New York are up 72.2 percent, and shooting victims up 70.4 percent.
Tuesday's subway attack is the second mass shooting, defined as at least four people shot, in Brooklyn this year and the fourth in New York State, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The first Brooklyn mass shooting of the year was on January 13 at a Brooklyn event hall.
Lieber, the MTA chair and CEO, said New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Adams made commitments very early on in the new year to keeping the city's subway system safe.
"They have put more officers both on the platforms and on the train where people feel vulnerable," Lieber explained, "And there are, you know, there's an enormous effort to reach out to some of the people who for whatever reason have been sheltering in the subway system."
In February New York City unveiled a comprehensive plan, dubbed The Subway Safety Plan, aimed at combating crime and addressing homelessness in the subway system to expand response teams of health, police and community officials across the city.
Mayor Adams emphasized the entire nation is witnessing a high level of violence, not only New York City.
"We're facing is a problem that is hitting our entire nation right now and that is why this is a national response," Adams told CNN's Dana Bash. "We need a national response to this issue."
Including Tuesday's shooting, there have been 131 mass shootings in America this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit tracking gun death and injury. Those shootings left 141 people dead and 547 people wounded.
As a result of the attack, the Brooklyn Nets told fans to expect an "increased security presence" at Tuesday night's postseason play-in tournament game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Barclays Center, the team tweeted Tuesday.
"Your safety and security is our top priority, and we are working closely with our law enforcement partners," the tweet read. "Fans should plan to arrive early and expect an increased security presence at Barclays Center."
Mass transit systems in the US increased patrols and asked the public to report anything unusual in the wake of the attack. In California, both the Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) have either increased police presence at stations or are on "heightened alert" as a result of the incident in New York.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled FDNY First Deputy Commissioner Laura Kavanagh's last name.
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| 2022-04-13T01:40:27Z
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HONOULU (KITV4) – Hawaii residents 60 and older are invited to use their language skills for an inaugural Kupuna Spelling Bee presented by Alaska Airlines this summer.
The event is both a fundraising activity to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association Hawaii, and a way for kupuna to sharpen and utilize their cognitive skills in a friendly competition.
Competition will take place in three age categories: Category 1 - Seniors 60 to 69 years; Category 2 - Seniors 70-79 years; Category 3 - Seniors 80 years and above
“We encourage senior living facilities, churches, schools, businesses and clubs on all the islands to organize a preliminary contest and help to recruit seniors to participate,” says Justin George, director of development for the Alzheimer’s Association Hawaii.
Preliminary spelling bees will be held in May and June and can follow a variety of formats, from traditional in-person competitions to the use of electronic media such as Zoom. The two top winners in each category from each preliminary spelling bee will advance to compete for prizes at the 2022 statewide Kupuna Spelling Bee on Oahu on Saturday, July 23.
As the presenting sponsor, Alaska Airlines is providing the Grand Prize winner a pair of roundtrip tickets to anywhere Alaska Airlines flies.
Organizers and prospective participants can register at kupunaspellingbee.com. The registration fee is $10 per person. All Hawaii residents ages 60 years and above are eligible to participate.
The idea for the Kupuna Spelling Bee originated with 16-year-old Iolani School junior, who won his own spelling bee as a fifth grader at Puu Kukui Elementary School on Maui. Riley Regan, along with his parents, Lynn Araki-Regan and Keith Regan, are leading the organizing efforts for the spelling bee.
“Research shows that older adults who view themselves as lifelong learners tend to have sharper cognitive skills. Preparing for a spelling competition can hone those skills,” says Riley Regan.
For sponsorship and prize donation information, contact the Regan family here.
For information on conducting a preliminary spelling bee or to reach the Alzheimer’s Association, contact Justin George at jmgeorge@alz.org or 808-518-6654.
Do you have a story idea? Email news tips to news@kitv.com
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https://www.kitv.com/news/local/kupuna-spelling-bee-scheduled-for-summer-to-benefit-alzheimers-association/article_69dff566-baa7-11ec-908e-834010a47a12.html
| 2022-04-13T01:40:33Z
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| 2022-04-13T01:40:39Z
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The dream season continues for the University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine basketball team, as one of their own is now slated for the big leagues.
Leading her team to the Big Dance, shattering school records, and claiming this year's title of "Big West Conference Player of the Year," Amy Atwell is now just the second in UH history to go-pro following Monday night's WNBA draft.
Surrounded by teammates, during this year's selection show, Atwell will join all time great Judy Mosley, as a Manoa representative in the league.
Headed to the the Los Angeles Sparks, Atwell was chosen in the third round, claiming the 27th overall pick. She concludes her sixth season with the Wahine leaving her legacy as the golden girl from beyond the arc.
Picking up 205 career three pointers, 76 of which came just this past season, she holds both the University's career three point record and the single season record.
Atwell joins WNBA all-stars including the Ogwumike sisters--Erica Wheeler-- and Brittney Sykes.
Wahine Head Coach Laura Beeman basking in Atwell's accomplishment says she recognizes the continuous work it will take for Amy to make it at the next level.
"So I think it was probably this summer going into this season is where it was like Amy could actually make a roster," Beeman explained. " Her work begins now, you know getting to the pros is not what's hard. Staying, making it as a pro and then staying as a pro is what is hard. "
Beeman added that, not only does this set a precedent for the next generation of female hoopers, but she hopes it will also inspire the remaining Wahine on the current UH roster to work that much harder.
She says in Atwell's success, she hopes the girls will truly recognize the potential they have as individuals and as a collective squad to do the same thing, make it at the next level.
Erin found her passion in journalism from a young age, watching her dad on the news. He taught her the importance of meeting, learning, and sharing people's stories.
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| 2022-04-13T01:40:45Z
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Port Huron to put up security cameras at 9 city park sites
Security cameras will soon be up at nine popular Port Huron parks and other facilities in a push, officials said, to ward off bad actors.
“Let the word go forth: Our parks will be monitored and videotaped,” City Manager James Freed told City Council members Monday night. “So, should someone decide to make a poor life decision and try to vandalize a piece of our equipment, they will be found and prosecuted.”
The city will spend $90,883 to put cameras and connectivity equipment at Lakeside and Lighthouse parks, Court Street and Sanborn pools, Knox Field, and Palmer Park, as well as the Pine Grove Park bathrooms and Sanborn Park trail. A canal crossing between cemeteries in the city was also identified, though Freed added the project to construct one was out to bid but not slated for work this year.
“These will also target all of our parks with high population areas, big crowds,” Freed said, “so if some issues were to arise here, we could review the footage, as well."
Council members signed off on the effort, which will be paid for mostly with American Rescue Plan funds with a $30,000 contribution toward risk mitigation coming from the city’s insurer.
It also comes after several years of continued park improvements across Port Huron, and Parks and Recreation Director Nancy Winzer said she hoped the camera system will help protect those community assets.
Winzer, who wasn’t present at Monday’s meeting, didn’t put a number on the frequency of reported damage but said, “We have had some vandalism in the parks.” Freed said cameras would be about deterrence and prevention.
New concessions and restrooms went in at Pine Grove two years ago, as did new restrooms and other improvements at Lighthouse Beach last year. Knox has also had targeted efforts with neighborhood residents’ input on equipment and other features added to the park over several years, while Palmer Park’s community center is one of the areas slated for needed upgrades in the future using ARP COVID stimulus funds.
“(They get) a lot of use and we want to make sure it stays in good working condition,” Winzer said of park facilities. “We’re lucky in a lot of the parks, the neighborhoods keep a good eye on the parks for us.”
When asked about smaller parks Monday, Freed said not all were as frequented as the larger assets, nor did they have the electrical connectivity needed for cameras.
The city manager said they were able to use the ARP funds on park security cameras as they’d bolster the safety of those spaces, which community members use for the betterment of their health.
Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.
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https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/2022/04/12/port-huron-put-up-security-cameras-9-city-park-sites/7291407001/
| 2022-04-13T02:39:03Z
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Jeffery Heaslip throws 10 strikeouts as Marine City baseball rolls Port Huron
MARINE CITY — Jeffery Heaslip diligently sharpened his pitching during the off-season. Now he gets to show everybody what's he's been working on.
The junior tossed a gem to lead the Marine City baseball team past Port Huron, 10-0, in six innings at home Tuesday afternoon.
Heaslip threw five scoreless innings and tallied 10 strikeouts while allowing just one hit for the Mariners, who improved to 1-2. Eric Whiting (three innings, four strikeouts, three runs) took the loss for the Big Reds, who fell to 0-1.
"(Our fielding) really helped me out," Heaslip said. "I trusted that defense behind me so I could just pound the zone. Once I start feeling the curveball and it starts working, then I get more comfortable. Then you can pound the zone with a fastball and the comeback with a curveball."
"Jeff had good velocity today to get ahead with his fastball," Marine City coach Daryn Letson said. "And then he had good bite on his slider. He knows he's still got to work on some things but he's worked really hard this winter. He's gonna have a really good season."
"We've got young players and we're doing some rebuilding," Port Huron coach Tony Moncrief said. "Those first three innings were really good. But we're gonna go back to the drawing board and work a little bit harder this week."
It was a pitcher's duel for the first three innings. After Heaslip struck out the side in the top of the second, Whiting pitched his way out of a jam in the bottom half of the inning.
With runners at the corners and only one out, the Big Reds' ace retired the next two batters via strikeout and flyout.
"(Whiting) is a good pitcher," Moncrief said. "His fastball was really popping today and he threw a little curveball which looked good also."
But the Mariners' offense broke through with one out in the third. A sacrifice fly from Nolan Distelrath (two runs, two hits, RBI) sent Anthony Ruffino home to score the game's first run.
Marine City then loaded the bases after a Port Huron fielding error. That allowed Josh VandeVyver (two hits, three runs) to score from third on a sacrifice fly from Zach Tetler (one hit, two RBIs).
The Mariners added one more run in the inning when Wyatt Walker (one run, two RBIs) reached home plate on a passed ball.
"Our prior two games ... we left a lot of guys on base," Letson said. "So we'll just continue to work on timely hitting."
That wasn't an issue this time for Marine City, as it scored 10 runs on seven hits. The Mariners tacked on three more runs in the fifth inning before scoring four in the sixth to force the mercy rule.
With league play set to begin next week, both coaches see value in these early non-conference games.
"You can do some different things," Letson said. "We've been able to mix up the lineup a little bit and get a lot of kids on the mound."
"Nobody wants to lose," Moncrief said. "But the way I look at these first few games is like (spring) training — especially with the weather and the way it's been too. We've got some time before our first league game next Tuesday."
The Big Reds will open the MAC Blue schedule at Harrison Township L'Anse Creuse that afternoon. As for the Mariners, they'll visit Warren Mott on Monday to begin MAC Gold play. First pitch for both games is at 4 p.m.
"It's good," Letson said of getting the team's first win. "We're a little bit of a work in progress. I think when the dust settles and we get to that point in the season we'll be a pretty competitive team.
Contact Brenden Welper at bwelper@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendenWelper.
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https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/sports/2022/04/12/jeffery-heaslip-throws-10-strikeouts-marine-city-baseball-port-huron/7286112001/
| 2022-04-13T02:39:09Z
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Presidential approval ratings, while certainly dependent on outside factors and the realities of the political climate, are not totally impossible to predict.
Milestones that occur on a regular basis throughout the political year, for instance, typically provide a boost to the president. The State of the Union address reliably boosts approval numbers. The “rally around the flag” effect, which often sparks unity when the nation experiences geopolitical strife, similarly pushes polling numbers north. President George W. Bush’s approval numbers shot from roughly 50 percent to around 90 percent in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
History and conventional political wisdom suggest that President Biden’s numbers should have some momentum at the moment, having delivered his State of the Union address and engaged in high-level diplomacy related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Despite these tailwinds, last week saw Biden’s approval rating dip to its lowest level yet.
The media are flummoxed by this dynamic. Pundits at the Washington Post, CNN and MSNBC assert that Biden isn’t getting credit with voters for the things he’s doing for the country. They point to relatively steady markets and robust job postings as evidence of the strength of our economy. They adopt pollyannaish tones about high gas prices and seem unconcerned about inflation. They insist that despite the abysmal approval numbers, voters love the policies the Biden administration is pushing.
Pardon me for my skepticism, but one can’t help but suspect that the prior president wouldn’t have received so much credit for such poor polling numbers. Many in the media are eager to write off the current administration’s poor polling as a symptom of an uninformed electorate. If only people were more thoughtful, they seem to assert, Biden would be riding historical highs instead of weathering shocking lows.
This predilection is just the latest signal of growing disconnect between the political pundit class and the rank-and-file voter.
Occam’s razor — a principle that states that one should not make more assumptions than the minimum needed — suggests that the simplest answer is typically the best answer.
Rather than subjecting themselves to endless contortions in an effort to understand poor polling, perhaps the media should take Occam’s razor to heart: the president’s polling numbers are bad because a majority of voters disapprove the steps his administration is taking, and they feel that the country is heading in the wrong direction.
There. Was that so hard?
There are plenty of signals that those in power don’t share the media’s skepticism about the polling as midterm elections approach. Politicians and officials across the party’s ideological spectrum — from the far-left to the center-left — appear more than a little concerned about the way these polling numbers will translate to the ballot box in November. Many fear it may already be too late to avert an “electoral tsunami” this fall.
There is no secret remedy or silver bullet that will address the Democrats’ fears. But a realistic assessment of the root of the problem certainly wouldn’t hurt. The fact of the matter is that by continually playing to the “elite” in the media and talking-head class, the Democratic Party has further alienated a growing majority of voters whose priorities simply don’t align with those espoused on TV.
These voters spoke up last November when they put Republicans like Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin in power. They speak up every day in polling that shows growing support for generic Republican candidates at the federal level. And without an exceedingly surprising reversal of circumstances in the coming weeks and months, they’re likely to speak up in even greater numbers during the midterm elections.
Odds are, the pundits will likely watch in shock yet again as election returns come in. They’ll wonder why purple states are turning red and blue states are turning purple.
The answer isn’t as complicated as they might like to think. Poor policy leads to poor polling, and we can look no further than last week’s numbers for confirmation of this simple fact.
ABOUT THE WRITER
Dan K. Eberhart is a Republican donor and CEO of Canary, an oilfield service company. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.
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https://www.heraldandnews.com/klamath/don-t-overthink-bad-potus-polling/article_6f0c51c0-eda1-54ea-935d-695dd5fe618b.html
| 2022-04-13T02:53:02Z
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When it comes to water in the Klamath Basin, there are seemingly no right answers.
After the Bureau of Reclamation announced Monday it was going to release 50,000 acre-feet of water to the Klamath Project for limited irrigation, both Native Americans and those in the agricultural community decried the move.
The Klamath Water Users Association estimated the total was about 15% of what farmers and ranchers need to grow crops and raise livestock in one of the driest years on record in the basin.
But that was 50,000 acre-feet more than what the local tribes would’ve preferred, as they fight to protect the sucker fish and Coho salmon, which are both listed under the Endangered Species Act.
Ernest Conant, the regional director of reclamation’s California-Great Basin Region, admitted “there are no winners in this critical year as all interests are suffering — fisheries, farmers, tribes and waterfowl alike.”
The Klamath Tribes sent out a news release calling it “perhaps the saddest chapter yet in a long history of treaty violations visited upon us by the United States.”
“We were pretty angered,” said Donald Gentry, the chairman of the Klamath Tribes. “We’d been in contact with the Bureau of Reclamation and the new (Biden) administration and had some really good communication. Then for them to turn around and do this ... it seems against the spirit of the Endangered Species Act and the treaties with the tribes.”
Upper Klamath Lake’s water must be kept at a federally mandated 4,142 feet for sucker fish to spawn in April and May. Monday’s announcement would keep the lake level at no less than 4,139.2 feet through July 15, nearly three feet below the minimum.
“There’s not enough water to meet the needs,” Gentry said. “We believe the priority should be everything to protect the endangered fish.”
Gentry said the C’waam (Lost River sucker) and Koptu (shortnose sucker) have special meaning to his tribe.
“They were created here,” he said. “Created to take care of us, bless us and provide for us ...
“We feel like the importance of the fish is being marginalized. That our fish aren’t as important as the agriculture. It’s a heartbreaking place to be.”
Gentry said he hopes to avoid a repeat of 2001, when the water issue reached such a boiling point the U.S. government sent federal marshals to maintain the peace during a drought year as farmers threatened to breach the head gates.
“I don’t want to create problems for the ag community,” Gentry said. “But we have to take a strong position to protect our fish so we don’t lose them forever.”
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https://www.heraldandnews.com/klamath/klamath-tribes-decry-water-decision/article_b87daedc-25aa-5a74-9834-f63af2901fb8.html
| 2022-04-13T02:53:05Z
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Supporters of opening up Oregon primary elections to nonaffiliated voters are trying to qualify a constitutional amendment for the November ballot that would accomplish that. The effort is a long shot, and it’s unfortunate that it’s even necessary — especially given the changing face of the state’s electorate.
Last month, for the first time, voters not affiliated with any political party edged out registered Democrats as the most numerous bloc in the state. Nonaffiliated voters have outnumbered Republicans for some time.
That means Democratic and Republican candidates must compete for those voters as well as their own to win general elections. But nonaffiliated voters don’t have any say in choosing those major-party candidates in primary elections.
Although primary elections are conducted at taxpayer expense, the political parties determine who may vote in them. Nothing would prevent the Democratic and Republican parties from allowing independent voters to participate, but they have refused to do so.
That’s understandable on one level. The Legislature and Congress are traditionally controlled by one party or the other, and party officials are naturally reluctant to allow non-party members any say in who will appear on the November ballot.
But limiting primary participation to voters who represent a shrinking share of the electorate only serves to perpetuate the partisan divide that makes many voters feel government does not represent them.
It is no small irony that the Democrats are the party most responsible for the growth in independent voters. A 2015 law passed with heavy Democratic support automatically registers people who get or renew driver’s licenses as nonaffiliated voters. Those newly registered get a postcard in the mail allowing them to choose a party instead it they wish. But people who weren’t registered to start with aren’t generally inclined to be strongly partisan.
The rationale for that law was to increase participation in elections. And yet the one step that would do the most to accomplish that — opening up primaries — gets no support from either major party.
The proposed constitutional amendment would simply state that publicly funded elections for state and federal office would be open to all qualified candidates and voters regardless of party affiliation or non-affiliation. It would not apply to presidential primaries or county commissioner races.
The details would be left up to the Legislature. In some states, nonaffiliated voters may request a Democratic or Republican ballot, but they have to choose one or the other. California and Washington have top-two primaries. Alaska has adopted a ranked-choice system.
Backers of the amendment must collect 150,000 signatures by July 8 to qualify for the November ballot, but they have little money to pay petition gatherers.
Meanwhile, nonaffiliated voters determined to have a say in the May primary can change their registration by April 26, but they have to choose one party or the other. They can change back after the primary if they wish.
Few voters are dedicated enough to go to the trouble. It would be better if they were allowed to participate, but that will depend on either a vote of the people or a change of heart by party officials.
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https://www.heraldandnews.com/klamath/open-primary-amendment-faces-uphill-battle/article_095314c7-309c-5b12-944c-53aef4376a39.html
| 2022-04-13T02:53:07Z
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https://www.heraldandnews.com/news/man-fatally-shot-by-police-in-parking-lot/article_dc9ca2bb-0c2e-5bb5-bbcf-bd1f5bb5da00.html
| 2022-04-13T02:53:07Z
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Concord University hosts reentry simulation, gives look into life after imprisonment
ATHENS, W.Va. (WVVA) - On Tuesday, Concord University Criminology students learned what life is like for former prisoners. The university held its first re-entry simulation at the campus in Athens.
During the event, students gained firsthand experience of getting a job, navigating probation, obtaining documents and more as a previously incarcerated individual.
Lori Pace, a Criminology Instructor at Concord, says the simulation allows participants to see some of the 800 challanges former imprisoned people face when they re-join society. As criminology students, Pace says today’s participants were able to walk in the shoes of those who they may encounter in the field following graduation.
“This practical experience is just invaluable for my students,” she shared. “They’ll long forget my lectures but they will remember this for a long time.”
Concord University partnered with West Virginia Reentry Councils for the simulation. It was open to faculty, staff, students and community members.
The simulation was created by Ashley Lough, the Reentry and Community Outreach Coordinator with the U.S. Attorney’s office. Lough was present on Tuesday, helping Concord faculty coorinate the experience.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/04/13/concord-university-hosts-reentry-simulation-gives-look-into-life-after-imprisonment/
| 2022-04-13T03:06:24Z
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Former teacher accused of raping student several times over two years
BROOKLINE, Mass. (Gray News) - A former Massachusetts teacher was arrested Monday and facing several charges in connection with an alleged sexual assault against a student.
The Brookline Police Department reported it arrested 36-year-old Larry Chen after a former student told officers about sexual assaults that occurred over the course of two years.
Chen was a teacher in Brookline, Massachusetts, from 2013 through his resignation in 2018, according to police. The sexual assaults allegedly occurred in a classroom at the Heath School in Brookline, starting in 2016 and continuing into 2018.
According to police, the accuser was a student of Chen’s and was 12 years old when the abuse allegedly started.
Authorities said Chen is charged with 18 counts of aggravated statutory rape, rape of a child under the age of 16, indecent assault and battery on a person under 14.
Brookline police said Chen has an active tutoring business called School Beyond School LLC, and a warrant was requested for his arrest.
Anyone with additional information about Chen or the case was asked to contact Brookline police at 617-730-2222.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/04/13/former-teacher-accused-raping-student-several-times-over-two-years/
| 2022-04-13T03:06:31Z
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Princeton non-profit raises awareness during Child Abuse Prevention Month
PRINCETON, W.Va. (WVVA) - April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and one local non-profit in Mercer County is working to raise awareness within the community.
Childwelfare.gov defines the goal of this month’s designation as recognizing the importance of families and communities working together to strengthen the family unit and prevent child abuse and neglect.
Child Protect of Mercer County, a Children’s Advocacy Center, strives to meet this goal year-round but amps up its efforts in April.
”April is Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month and we have several events going this month to raise awareness to this matter,” shares Allie Lambert, a Forensic Interviewer for the non-profit. “It’s just to spread awareness that child abuse does happen here in Mercer County. It’s not something that our small towns are immune to.
“We help child and family survivors of child abuse. We provide advocacy services for forensic interviewing, therapy. We are really just a one-stop-shop to help these children and their families on their jounrey through healing.”
Throughout April, Child Protect will be selling $20 t-shirts. The proceeds will directly impact children and families in Mercer County. Last year, they raised nearly $5,000 and staff says, this year, they have already surpassed that amount with weeks left in the campaign.
On Friday, April 29, the center will host a Children’s Memorial Flag Day at noon and on Saturday, April 30, they will host an Awareness Walk at the Courthouse at 10 a.m.
Additionally, they are handing out blue pinwheels to local businesses and community partners as a way to show support.
To learn more about these upcoming events or to purchase a t-shirt, call Child Protect at 304-425-2710.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/04/13/princeton-non-profit-raises-awareness-during-child-abuse-prevention-month/
| 2022-04-13T03:06:38Z
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Richlands public addresses council on rising utility bills
RICHLANDS, Va. (WVVA) - Richlands residents filled up town hall Tuesday evening for a public hearing on utility bills among other issues.
Many residents pay utility bills to the town which include water, sewage trash collection and electricity. Many say they’ve seen massive rate hikes in recent months, some ranging from $600 to near $1,000.
At Tuesday’s public hearing many spoke out about just that.
“A lot of people here live on social, fixed income,” said Morgan Earp. “So they can’t afford all these high prices. Not to mention the high electricity rate. Imagine that combined with higher water, sewer and also garbage.”
“The problem we’re seeing now as a community are symptomatic of decisions that were made 20 years ago,” said Blake Ray.
Only two council members were present for Tuesday’s hearing. A council session was scheduled to take place following the hearing, but adjourned after some debate as a quorum was not present.
WVVA was unable to speak with council members for this story due to time and scheduling restraints. We will continue to follow developments.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wvva.com/2022/04/13/richlands-public-addresses-council-rising-utility-bills/
| 2022-04-13T03:06:45Z
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Casper Star-Tribune
CASPER – The sentencing of a wind energy company recently in the deaths of at least 150 eagles has brought renewed focus to the complicated relationship between wind turbines and birds.
A subsidiary of NextEra Energy, the world’s biggest generator of wind and solar power, pleaded guilty to three deaths of bald and golden eagles in Wyoming and New Mexico. It also acknowledged that more than 100 other eagles had been killed across 50 of its 54 wind farms, primarily during collisions with turbine blades, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
Killing bald and golden eagles without a federal permit violates the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, a 1918 law that prohibits the take – killing, capturing, selling, trading or transport – of protected migratory bird species. The subsidiary, ESI Energy, was ordered by a federal judge in Cheyenne to pay more than $8 million in fines and restitution, spend up to $27 million on mitigation measures during a five-year probationary period and pay an additional $29,623 per bald or golden eagle killed or injured during that time.
It will also be required to apply to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for eagle take permits at every facility where deaths have been documented.
“This agreement holds ESI and its affiliates accountable for years of unwillingness to work cooperatively with the Service and their blatant disregard of wildlife laws,” Edward Grace, assistant director of the agency’s office of law enforcement, said in a statement.
But NextEra President Rebecca Kujawa believes wind farms are being unfairly targeted.
The federal government’s interpretation of the law typically “makes building and operating a wind farm into which certain birds may accidentally fly a violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act,” Kujawa said in a statement, “even when the wind farm was developed and sited in a way that sought to avoid avian wildlife collisions.”
Not everyone agrees.
The Fish and Wildlife Service issues permits to developers of wind farms and other industrial projects for the unintentional take of eagles and other protected species. To secure such permits, companies must conduct extensive site studies, use those findings to minimize impacts, and commit to other mitigation and conservation measures.
“You do have good actors out there,” said John Burrows, a conservation advocate at the Wyoming Outdoor Council. “You have some companies that are really doing it right, putting a ton of money in studies and resources that minimize wildlife conflict and site in really responsible locations. And then you have others who, for some reason or another, take what look like shortcuts.”
According to the Department of Justice, ESI “deliberately elected” not to seek eagle take permits for the facilities where eagles were killed, apparently to save money, but “in fact took eagles, without any permits authorizing that take.”
ESI isn’t the first company to be penalized for not securing eagle take permits in Wyoming. A Duke Energy subsidiary pleaded guilty in 2013 to the unpermitted deaths of golden eagles and other protected birds at two of its Wyoming wind farms. In 2014, a subsidiary of PacifiCorp – the parent company of Wyoming’s largest electric utility – did the same.
Technically, eagle take permits are optional. That’s how ESI and other companies managed to build wind farms without them – and why many environmental groups, including the Wyoming Outdoor Council and the National Audubon Society, want permitting to be mandatory.
“A lot of this could have been prevented with a bit more due diligence up front and taking some of the suggested advice seriously,” Burrows said.
To some Wyoming wind developers, however, seeking an eagle take permit ahead of construction – rather than risking a lawsuit and modifying the wind farm retroactively – seemed like the obvious choice.
Power Company of Wyoming has spent millions of dollars on eagle conservation at its Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project, the largest proposed wind power facility in the country, according to Kara Choquette, the company’s communications director.
The company rearranged its planned turbine locations to avoid spots it found to have high eagle activity, even when that meant sacrificing some of the area’s best wind resources. It plans to turn off certain turbines at times when eagles are expected to be most vulnerable, ensure the birds have food sources a safe distance from the turbines and pay for other eagle protections, like safer power lines, outside the project area.
“We will have people whose job it will be to basically look for any instances of avian mortality,” Choquette said. They’ll be trained and tested on their ability to find dead birds on the landscape, she added, “and we hope that they come up empty handed every day.”
While wind farms are a recognized cause of death among bald and golden eagles, they’re not the biggest. And the many precautions taken by Power Company of Wyoming – along with plenty of continued federal oversight to ensure things go as planned – give the Fish and Wildlife Service confidence to allow the occasional eagle death.
For wind farm developers, eagle conservation requires “a significant commitment of time and resources, for sure,” Choquette said.
But when companies involve the Fish and Wildlife service in projects from the start, she said, “it’s possible to do both, and, working together, you can do both.”
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https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/from_the_wire/ruling-on-eagle-deaths-divides-wind-power-industry/article_65c46244-792d-53f7-babd-12b3b037fdc9.html
| 2022-04-13T04:09:32Z
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CHEYENNE – A team from the 90th Explosive Ordnance Disposal flight assigned to F.E. Warren Air Force Base were scheduled to conduct a series of controlled detonations Tuesday to render the scene of a totaled HUMVEE safe following a fire while the vehicle was transiting Highway 71 near the city of Kimball, Nebraska, on Monday.
Nebraska State Patrol closed the highway in the interest of public safety during the detonations. Security forces airmen from the 790th Missile Security Forces Squadron at F.E. Warren remained on scene to secure the vehicle, according to a news release from the base.
Security forces airmen assigned to the 790 MSFS safely egressed the vehicle near mile marker 23 after noticing flames while transiting the highway. However, they were unable to remove ammunition, including 40 mm grenades, from the burning vehicle due to the intensity of the flames.
The airmen quickly contacted local emergency responders and established a safety cordon. The Kimball sheriff and fire departments, as well as Nebraska State Patrol and Department of Transportation, all responded to the scene. Kimball County emergency officials extinguished the flames from the vehicle and nearby grass and field areas following the fire. No injuries were reported in the incident.
The cause of the fire is unknown at this time, and the incident is under investigation.
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https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/base-personnel-detonate-totaled-humvee-near-kimball/article_fd788317-a99e-52dd-be7e-82287a0c069a.html
| 2022-04-13T04:09:38Z
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., has joined more than 70 of her colleagues in introducing a bipartisan resolution recognizing the important role of the stepped-up basis in preserving family owned farms, ranches and small businesses.
A long-standing provision in the tax code, the stepped-up basis prevents heirs from paying capital gains taxes on inherited assets such as land, equipment or buildings, according to a news release from Cheney's office.
"The stepped-up basis is an important provision of our tax code that helps farmers, ranchers and small businesses pass their assets on from generation to generation," Cheney said in the release. "Our agriculture industry and small businesses have suffered during this pandemic, and should not be saddled with more government overreach and higher capital gains taxes."
The resolution is supported by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, American Farm Bureau Federation, National Corn Growers Association, American Soybean Association, USA Rice, National Grange and National Council of Farmer Cooperatives.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 98% of farms are family owned. If the stepped-up basis is eliminated, 66% of all mid-sized farms would see an increased tax liability.
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https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/cheney-colleagues-seek-to-protect-family-owned-farms-ranches/article_6b1bf3e8-d7fc-53a7-a0db-8757353455bc.html
| 2022-04-13T04:09:44Z
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People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
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https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/cheyenne-job-fair-to-be-held-april-26-on-the-lccc-campus/article_a91a144d-c136-5287-90cf-a6a524f83357.html
| 2022-04-13T04:09:50Z
|
Country
United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary
People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
|
https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/city-council-ward-3-to-hold-city-council-and-coffee-open-house/article_bd5a9746-e8e8-5631-ae3e-24fe60d675a7.html
| 2022-04-13T04:09:57Z
|
Country
United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary
People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
|
https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/ukraine-to-be-focus-of-presentation-panel-discussion-at-lccc/article_56770f1f-084f-530f-b0c4-510a435134a9.html
| 2022-04-13T04:10:03Z
|
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