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WASHINGTON, Aug. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA will hold a media teleconference at 2 p.m. EDT Friday, Aug. 19, to announce regions near the lunar South Pole the agency has identified as potential areas for astronauts to land as part of the Artemis III mission, targeted for 2025. This will be the first time astronauts will set foot on the Moon since NASA's Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
Audio of the briefing will livestream on NASA's website.
Within each region, there are several potential landing sites. Each of the selected regions, from which specific landing sites could be selected, is of scientific interest and was evaluated based on terrain, communications, and lighting conditions, as well as ability to meet science objectives. NASA will engage with the broader science community in the coming months to discuss the merits of each region.
Teleconference participants include:
- Mark Kirasich, deputy associate administrator for the Artemis Campaign Development Division, NASA Headquarters
- Jacob Bleacher, chief exploration scientist, NASA Headquarters
- Sarah Noble, Artemis lunar science lead, Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters
- Prasun Desai, deputy associate administrator for the Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
Media who want to participate by telephone must RSVP no later than two hours prior to the start of the event to: vanessa.c.lloyd@nasa.gov.
Through Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and serving as a steppingstone to send astronauts to Mars. NASA selected SpaceX's Starship to provide the human landing system to deliver crew from lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon during Artemis III, which is the first Artemis mission to involve a crewed lunar landing.
For updates, follow along on NASA's Artemis blog at:
https://blogs.nasa.gov/artemis
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SOURCE NASA | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/17/nasa-announce-candidate-landing-regions-artemis-iii-moon-mission/ | 2022-08-18T00:23:17Z |
AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Aug. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --
- The future of electrified muscle: Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Concept
- Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Concept drives like a Dodge, looks like a Dodge and feels like Dodge – and just happens to be a battery-electric vehicle (BEV)
- Three game-changing, patent-pending features make up the core of the Charger Daytona SRT Concept:
- Charger Daytona SRT Concept powered by new 800V Banshee propulsion system
- Concept design revolutionizes the look of a BEV while offering subtle nods to Dodge brand's muscle car legacy
- Illuminated Fratzog badges on front grille and taillamp symbolize electrified future of Dodge while also signifying the brand's commitment to its performance heritage
- Vertical exterior grille details add texture while evoking style of iconic 1968 Dodge Charger
- Concept's interior is modern, lightweight and provides a signature Dodge driver-centric cockpit
- Interior parametric texture, also inspired by 1968 Charger grille detail, unites interior elements while providing connection to the exterior
- Center console includes a unique jet-fighter-inspired cap that flips up to allow engagement of the start button and a pistol-grip shifter design inspired by the past, but with a modern execution
- Panoramic glass roof gives an open-air feel, helping to include rear passengers in the vehicle experience
- Rear hatch and fold-flat rear seats provide unmatched storage capacity for a muscle car
- Cockpit immerses the driver's sensory experience through performance sounds, lighting features and vehicle displays
- With a touch of a steering wheel button the driver can engage Auto, Sport, Track and Drag modes, instantly changing the driving dynamics, display graphics, sound and interior lighting, enhancing the driver experience
- For complete information on Dodge and the brand's Never Lift plan, which provides a 24-month road map to Dodge's performance future, visit Dodge.com and DodgeGarage.com
Dodge is taking a giant step forward on the performance brand's road to an electrified future, revealing the Dodge Charger Daytona SRT, a perception-shattering concept that reimagines what a battery-electric vehicle (BEV) can be. The Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Concept offers a glimpse at the brand's electric future through a vehicle that drives like a Dodge, looks like a Dodge and sounds like Dodge.
The two-door Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Concept was unveiled today at M1 Concourse in Pontiac, Michigan, during the third day of the three-day Dodge Speed Week event series, which featured announcements and reveals of Dodge performance products.
The Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Concept muscles aside the boring BEV paradigm and replaces it with an electrified vehicle unlike any on the road today. A new propulsion system drives the Charger Daytona SRT Concept with performance that exceeds the Dodge brand's famed SRT Hellcat engine, accompanied by an industry-first BEV exhaust sound.
The concept's modern exterior styling incorporates subtle Dodge heritage cues while also exceeding aerodynamic targets. Interior design elements connect to create a driver-centric, immersive experience through sounds, displays and lighting features that change inside and out at the push of a button.
Core to the Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Concept are three game-changing, patent-pending features that will rewrite the rules of the BEV segment:
- R-Wing: A unique aerodynamic pass-through design feature that connects the concept with its iconic Dodge Daytona namesake
- Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust: Industry-first BEV exhaust, can reach 126 dB, making it as loud as a Hellcat-powered Dodge
- eRupt: Multi-speed transmission with an electro-mechanical shifting experience that's pure Dodge
"The Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Concept exists because performance made us do it," said Tim Kuniskis, Dodge brand chief executive officer – Stellantis. "Dodge is about muscle, attitude and performance, and the brand carries that chip on its shoulder and into the BEV segment through a concept loaded with patents, innovations, and performance features that embody the electrified muscle of tomorrow. The Charger Daytona SRT Concept can do more than run the car show circuit; it can run a blazing quarter-mile. And when it comes to product cycles, it outruns Darwin. Charger Daytona does more than define where Dodge is headed, it will redefine American muscle in the process.
"One day ago, the brand's first-ever electrified performance vehicle was unveiled, the all-new 2023 Dodge Hornet. Today, we revealed a peek at our eMuscle future with the Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Concept. When we said it was going to be an electric summer for Dodge, we meant it."
View the full release here.
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SOURCE Stellantis | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/17/performance-made-us-do-it-dodge-charger-daytona-srt-concept-previews-brands-electrified-future/ | 2022-08-18T00:23:23Z |
SAN DIEGO, Aug. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Clairemont Healthcare & Wellness Centre, LLC, doing business as Abby Gardens Healthcare Center (the "Facility"), is a 99-bed Skilled Nursing Facility ("SNF") located at 8060 Frost Street, San Diego, California. The Facility primarily cares for patients admitted from local acute hospitals to assist with nursing and rehabilitation needs and either returning patients to their pre-hospitalization place of living or cares for patients on a long-term basis.
Abby Gardens Healthcare Center (the "Facility") has decided to voluntarily close its skilled nursing facility.
The reason for the closure is two-fold; (1) A purchase and sale agreement has been consummated between the Facility and Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego. It is expected that Rady Children's Hospital will utilize this SNF for the care of pediatric patients after the closure process is completed. (2) The Facility's negative long-term outlook with the current and projected ongoing disruption in the labor market and the inflationary wage pressures.
Pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 1336.2(g) and Assembly Bill (AB) 275 – LTC Facilities Closures, the Facility has received approval on August 12, 2022, for its Closure & Relocation Plan ("Plan") from the California Department of Public Health ("CDPH").
The Facility has communicated and provided the appropriate notices to all required constituents including patients, patient representatives, Long-Term Care Ombudsman, and various other parties affected by this planned closure.
The Facility's Plan will include safe and orderly patient transfers and intends for discharges to be to nearby or local suitable locations over a several month-period beginning in August 2022, with the planned completed relocation and closure process being completed by the end of the year (2022).
Experienced Facility staff and a dedicated Support Team, including specialized engaged consultants, will be involved daily during the Closure and Relocation process to assist in addressing all special needs of the patients with a focus on the post-discharge plan of care and continuum of care.
The Facility and Support Team plan to communicate regularly, if not daily, with CDPH and the local Long-Term Care Ombudsman during this process.
After the closure is completed, Rady Children's Hospital, the largest children's hospital in the State of California, will acquire the property located at 8060 Frost Street, San Diego, and the Skilled Nursing Facility ("SNF"). Rady Children's plans to relocate its current pediatric SNF services to this 8060 Frost Street location as it works through a multi-year plan to improve the hospital campus.
Facility/Company Statement: Jose Lynch, a company spokesperson, explained the decision: "The Abby Gardens employees and caregivers are examples of excellence in healthcare services. We are so proud of the wonderful care they have provided to patients and families over the years. Not only have they achieved the highest quality ratings (CMS "5 Star" Quality Rating) a Skilled Nursing Facility can qualify for, but they have also done this work from the heart and successfully cared for so many patients, typically returning them to their prior level of care prior to admission.
With the ongoing disruption in the labor markets and the current and projected inflationary wage pressures, we believe this is the right decision for our Facility. We are committed to a Closure and Relocation Plan for each current patient that involves each family and employee in the process, and that follows the pattern of excellence this Facility has operated by. Without a doubt, this Plan will be executed with the utmost precision to benefit all those affected by this notice. We have been fortunate to work with Rady Children's Hospital on a plan to transition this Skilled Nursing Facility, after its current closure, to a care facility that has plans to care for the pediatric children in need of this level of care."
Rady Children's Hospital Statement: A spokesperson for Rady Children's Hospital said, "We are grateful to Abby Gardens Center for their collaboration in this transition. The Helen Bernardy Center serves some of the most vulnerable and medically fragile children in our community and we are glad we were able to find a place where we can provide the best care these children and their families deserve."
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SOURCE Abby Gardens Healthcare Center | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/abby-gardens-healthcare-center-announces-planned-closure/ | 2022-08-18T00:23:29Z |
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Aug. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Allspring Income Opportunities Fund (NYSE American: EAD), the Allspring Multi-Sector Income Fund (NYSE American: ERC), the Allspring Utilities and High Income Fund (NYSE American: ERH), and the Allspring Global Dividend Opportunity Fund (NYSE: EOD) have each announced a distribution.
The following dates apply to today's distribution declaration for each fund:
These funds make distributions in accordance with a managed distribution plan that provides for the declaration of monthly distributions (in the case of the Allspring Income Opportunities Fund, the Allspring Multi-Sector Income Fund and the Allspring Utilities and High Income Fund) or quarterly distributions (in the case of the Allspring Global Dividend Opportunity Fund) to common shareholders of the fund at an annual minimum fixed rate of 7% for the Allspring Utilities and High Income Fund, 8% for the Allspring Income Opportunities Fund, 8% for the Allspring Multi-Sector Income Fund, and 9% for the Allspring Global Dividend Opportunity Fund based on the fund's average monthly net asset value (NAV) per share over the prior 12 months. Under the managed distribution plan, distributions are sourced from income and also may be sourced from paid-in capital and/or capital gains. The fund's distributions in any period may be more or less than the net return earned by the fund on its investments and therefore should not be used as a measure of performance or confused with yield or income. Distributions in excess of fund returns will cause the fund's NAV to decline. Investors should not draw any conclusions about the fund's investment performance from the amount of its distribution or from the terms of its managed distribution plan.
The Allspring Income Opportunities Fund is a closed-end high-yield bond fund. The fund's investment objective is to seek a high level of current income. The fund may, as a secondary objective, seek capital appreciation to the extent it is consistent with its investment objective.
The Allspring Multi-Sector Income Fund is a closed-end income fund. The fund's investment objective is to seek a high level of current income consistent with limiting its overall exposure to domestic interest rate risk.
The Allspring Utilities and High Income Fund is a closed-end equity and high-yield bond fund. The fund's investment objective is to seek a high level of current income and moderate capital growth with an emphasis on providing tax-advantaged dividend income.
The Allspring Global Dividend Opportunity Fund is a closed-end equity and high-yield bond fund. The fund's investment objective is to seek a high level of current income. The fund's secondary objective is long-term growth of capital.
For more information on Allspring's closed-end funds, please visit www.allspringglobal.com.
These closed-end funds are no longer available in public offerings and are only offered through broker-dealers on the secondary market. A closed-end fund is not required to buy its shares back from investors upon request. Shares of a fund may trade at either a premium or discount relative to the fund's net asset value, and there can be no assurance that any discount will decrease. The values of, and/or the income generated by, securities held by a fund may decline due to general market conditions or other factors, including those directly involving the issuers of such securities.
Equity securities fluctuate in value in response to factors specific to the issuer of the security. Debt securities are subject to credit risk and interest rate risk, and high-yield securities and unrated securities of similar credit quality have a much greater risk of default and their values tend to be more volatile than higher-rated securities with similar maturities. Foreign investments may contain more risk due to the inherent risks associated with changing political climates, foreign market instability, and foreign currency fluctuations. Risks of international investing are magnified in emerging or developing markets. Funds that concentrate their investments in a single industry or sector may face increased risk of price fluctuation over more diversified funds due to adverse developments within that industry or sector. Small- and mid-cap securities may be subject to special risks associated with narrower product lines and limited financial resources compared with their large-cap counterparts. Each fund is leveraged through a revolving credit facility and also may incur leverage by issuing preferred shares in the future.
The use of leverage results in certain risks, including, among others, the likelihood of greater volatility of the net asset value and the market price of common shares. Derivatives involve additional risks, including interest rate risk, credit risk, the risk of improper valuation, and the risk of noncorrelation to the relevant instruments they are designed to hedge or closely track. There are numerous risks associated with transactions in options on securities.
Allspring Global Investments™ is the trade name for the asset management firms of Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC, a holding company indirectly owned by certain private funds of GTCR LLC and Reverence Capital Partners, L.P. These firms include but are not limited to Allspring Global Investments, LLC, and Allspring Funds Management, LLC. Certain products managed by Allspring entities are distributed by Allspring Funds Distributor, LLC (a broker-dealer and Member FINRA/SIPC). Associated with Allspring is Galliard Capital Management, LLC (an investment advisor that is not part of the Allspring trade name/GIPS firm).
This material is for general informational and educational purposes only and is NOT intended to provide investment advice or a recommendation of any kind—including a recommendation for any specific investment, strategy, or plan.
Some of the information contained herein may include forward-looking statements about the expected investment activities of the funds. These statements provide no assurance as to the funds' actual investment activities or results. Readers must make their own assessment of the information contained herein and consider such other factors as they may deem relevant to their individual circumstances.
PAR-0822-00823
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SOURCE Allspring Global Investments | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/allspring-closed-end-funds-declare-monthly-quarterly-distributions/ | 2022-08-18T00:23:36Z |
SAN FRANCISCO and SUZHOU, China, Aug. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovent Biologics, Inc. ("Innovent") (HKEX: 01801), a world-class biopharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and commercializes high-quality medicines for the treatment of oncology, metabolic, autoimmune, ophthalmology and other major diseases, announces that the first healthy volunteer has been successfully dosed in the Phase 1 study of IBI311, a recombinant anti-insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R) monoclonal antibody.
This study (CTR20221581) is the single dose escalation Phase I study in healthy volunteers aiming to evaluate the safety and tolerability of IBI311 in healthy Chinese subjects after a single dose, thus support the clinical development of IBI311 in active thyroid associated ophthalmopathy (TAO).
IBI311 is a monoclonal antibody targeting IGF-1R developed by Innovent for the treatment of active TAO. By blocking the binding of IGF-1 and IGF-2 to IGF-1R, IBI311 inhibits IGF-1R signaling pathway activation and reduces the expression of downstream inflammatory factors, thereby inhibiting the adipocytosis of orbital fibroblasts (OFs) and the synthesis of hyaluronic acid and other glycosaminoglycans due to the activation of OFs, as well as the inflammatory response, thus reduces disease activity and improve proptosis, diplopia, ocular congestion and edema in patients with active TAO. Currently, no targeted drugs for TAO have been approved in China, while in overseas, teprotumumab is the first and currently only IGF-1R mAb approved by the FDA for the treatment of TAO.
Dr. Lei Qian, Vice President of Clinical Development of Innovent, stated: "At present, there is a huge unmet medical need for TAO because no drug is approved for TAO in China. IBI311 is a recombinant anti-IGF-1R monoclonal antibody developed by Innovent for the treatment of TAO and is also a molecule Innovent actively advance into the clinic in the field of ophthalmology, with extremely high drug-like property. The good safety and biological activity has been preliminarily demonstrated in preclinical studies, including in vivo and vitro studies. The ongoing Phase I study, also the first-in-human trial of IBI311, will evaluate the safety and tolerability of IBI311 in Chinese healthy volunteers and provide the basis for further clinical development. We will accelerate the clinical development of IBI311 in Chinese subjects with TAO in order to obtain regulatory approval as soon as possible in China, which will not only relieve patients' pain, but also greatly reduce patients' economic burden. We will truly uphold our mission of 'To develop and commercialize high-quality biopharmaceuticals that are affordable to ordinary people.'"
About Thyroid Associated Ophthalmopathy (TAO)
TAO is an autoimmune disease involving ocular tissues and is usually associated with Graves' disease (GD). TAO occurs in approximately 25-50% of GD patients and can also be seen in other thyroid diseases, even in euthyroidism[1].
The annual incidence of TAO is estimated to be 16/100,000 in women and 2.9/100,000 in men[2]. According to disease severity, it can be divided into mild, moderate and severe TAO. Although TAO appears to affect women more often, severe cases occur more frequently in men. Patients aged 30-50 years are most commonly affected, and severe cases occur more frequently in patients over 50 years[3]. At present, the pathogenesis of TAO is not fully understood, but several studies have shown that OFs present in muscle fibers, orbital fibrous connective tissue space are key factors leading to orbital soft tissue enlargement in TAO[4].
The natural history of TAO is divided into active and inactive phases[5]. The most common symptoms are dry eye, ocular gritty, photophobia, lacrimation, diplopia, and pressure behind the eye, while typical signs include upper eyelid retraction, eyelid edema, periorbital and conjunctival edema, and proptosis. TAO is usually mild to moderate, and about 3–5% of patients with TAO are severe, manifesting as severe pain, vision-threatening corneal ulcers, or compressive optic neuropathy[6]. In addition to potential effect on vision, TAO can have an extremely severe impact on the patient's appearance, social functionality and quality of life.
The European Graves Orbital Disease Study Group (EUGOGO) guidelines[7] have included the anti-IGF-1R antibody - teprotumumab as second-line therapy for moderately to severely active TAO. For active TAO in China, the currently first-line treatment is intravenous glucocorticoid, which has unsatisfactory improvement in proptosis and the risk of hormone-related systemic side effects; and second-line treatment includes other immunomodulators, which also have issues of unclear improvement of proptosis and other treatment-related risks. For inactive TAO, surgery is often used to intervene the treatment. There is a large unmet clinical need in China
About IBI311
IBI311 is a recombinant anti-IGF-1R antibody developed by Innovent for the treatment of active TAO. IGF-1R is a transmembrane tyrosine kinase receptor that plays a role in development, metabolism, and immune regulation, and is overexpressed in OFs, B, and T cells of thyroid ophthalmopathy in Graves' disease[8]. IBI311 can bind to IGF-1R, block IGF-1R signaling pathway activation mediated by IGF-1 and other related ligands or agonistic antibodies, reduce the expression of downstream inflammatory factors, thereby inhibiting the synthesis of hyaluronic acid and other glycosaminoglycan caused by OFs activation, as well as related inflammatory reactions including tissue congestion and edema; inhibit adipocyte cellularization of OFs, thereby reducing the disease activity of patients with active thyroid ophthalmopathy and improving proptosis, diplopia, ocular congestion and edema and other symptoms and signs.
About Innovent
Inspired by the spirit of "Start with Integrity, Succeed through Action," Innovent's mission is to develop, manufacture and commercialize high-quality biopharmaceutical products that are affordable to ordinary people. Established in 2011, Innovent is committed to developing, manufacturing and commercializing high-quality innovative medicines in the fields of oncology, metabolic, autoimmune, ophthalmology and other major diseases. On October 31, 2018, Innovent was listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited with the stock code: 01801.HK.
Since its inception, Innovent has developed a fully integrated multi-functional platform which includes R&D, CMC (Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls), clinical development and commercialization capabilities. Leveraging the platform, the company has built a robust pipeline of 34 valuable assets in the fields of cancer, metabolic, autoimmune, ophthalmology and other major therapeutic areas, with 7 products approved for marketing in China – TYVYT® (sintilimab injection), BYVASDA® (bevacizumab biosimilar injection), SULINNO® (adalimumab biosimilar injection), HALPRYZA® (rituximab biosimilar injection) , Pemazyre® (pemigatinib oral inhibitor) , NAILIKE(olverembatinib) and Cyramza® (ramucirumab), 3 asset under NMPA NDA review, 4 assets in Phase 3 or pivotal clinical trials, and an additional 20 molecules in clinical studies.
Innovent has built an international team with advanced talent in high-end biological drug development and commercialization, including many global experts. The company has also entered into strategic collaborations with Eli Lilly and Company, Sanofi, Adimab, Incyte, MD Anderson Cancer Center and other international partners. Innovent strives to work with many collaborators to help advance China's biopharmaceutical industry, improve drug availability and enhance the quality of the patients' lives. For more information, please visit: www.innoventbio.com. and www.linkedin.com/company/innovent-biologics/.
Note:
TYVYT® (sintilimab injection) is not an approved product in the United States.
BYVASDA® (bevacizumab biosimilar injection), SULINNO®, and HALPRYZA® (rituximab biosimilar injection) are not approved products in the United States.
TYVYT® (sintilimab injection, Innovent)
BYVASDA® (bevacizumab biosimilar injection, Innovent)
HALPRYZA® (rituximab biosimilar injection, Innovent)
SULINNO® (adalimumab biosimilar injection, Innovent)
Pemazyre® (pemigatinib oral inhibitor, Incyte Corporation). Pemazyre® was discovered by Incyte Corporation and licensed to Innovent for development and commercialization in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
CYRAMZA® (ramucirumab, Eli Lilly). Cyramza® was discovered by Eli Lilly and licensed to Innovent for commercialization in Mainland China.
Disclaimer:
1. This indication is still under clinical study, which hasn't been approved in China.
2. Innovent does not recommend any off-label usage.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain certain forward-looking statements that are, by their nature, subject to significant risks and uncertainties. The words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend" and similar expressions, as they relate to Innovent Biologics ("Innovent"), are intended to identify certain of such forward-looking statements. Innovent does not intend to update these forward-looking statements regularly.
These forward-looking statements are based on the existing beliefs, assumptions, expectations, estimates, projections and understandings of the management of Innovent with respect to future events at the time these statements are made. These statements are not a guarantee of future developments and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond Innovent's control and are difficult to predict. Consequently, actual results may differ materially from information contained in the forward-looking statements as a result of future changes or developments in our business, Innovent's competitive environment and political, economic, legal and social conditions.
Innovent, the Directors and the employees of Innovent assume (a) no obligation to correct or update the forward-looking statements contained in this site; and (b) no liability in the event that any of the forward-looking statements does not materialise or turn out to be incorrect.
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SOURCE Innovent Biologics | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/innovent-announces-first-subject-dosed-phase-1-study-ibi311-anti-igf-1r-monoclonal-antibody/ | 2022-08-18T00:23:42Z |
Football data and analytics startup among top applicants selected for Growth Factory's exclusive accelerator program
SACRAMENTO, Calif., Aug. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Modern Football Technology, a football analytics software company, announced today that it received pre-seed investment from Growth Factory and was selected to participate in the second cohort of the Growth Factory accelerator program. This milestone further validates Modern Football Technology's mission to help football coaches at all levels simplify and elevate their use of technology to an elite level. "As we scouted for Sacramento-based venture backable companies with strong teams, traction, and market timing, MFT rose to the top of our applicant list. With MFT's deep understanding of the problem, Growth Factory and our community of investors, partners and mentors are excited to support Christian and team as they help coaches move from data fatigue to football intelligence and beyond," said Rick Spencer, Managing Partner of Growth Factory Ventures.
"We are proud to join the Growth Factory's community of world-class entrepreneurs," said Christian Masegian, CEO and co-founder of Modern Football Technology. "The sports analytics industry is a multi-billion dollar market, and Modern Football addresses the growing needs of coaches, as the profession is flooded with devices and data."
As a participant, Modern Football Technology will receive pre-seed investment, 12 months of structured support, including office space, back-office services, and mentoring, and will be connected to some of the region's most talented, resourceful, and committed people.
For media inquiries, please contact info@teammofo.com.
About Modern Football Technology: Modern Football Technology is a data management and analytics software company that delivers concise, actionable insights that create competitive advantages on the field and in recruiting. It has developed a software platform that serves as a structure for how coaches collect and extract data. To learn more about Modern Football Technology, visit www.teammofo.com.
About The Growth Factory: The Growth Factory is a nonprofit startup accelerator and venture fund whose mission is to launch and scale high-potential venture-backed companies in the Greater Sacramento region. Growth Factory provides members with capital, tools, and expert mentoring to accelerate founders and their companies from MVP to product-market fit, venture-backed, and beyond. To learn more about Growth Factory, visit www.growthfactory.us.
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SOURCE Modern Football Technology | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/modern-football-technology-accepted-into-growth-factory-receives-investment/ | 2022-08-18T00:23:48Z |
Every once in a while, I read a sentence or paragraph in a book that is so lyrical, so well-crafted — so shockingly perfect — that I have to stop reading and take a short break. I'll blink a few times, and then read the words again.
This happened to me on page after page of Sebastian Barry's heartbreaking World War I novel, A Long Long Way.
A few years ago, my wife and I met Sebastian, a playwright and novelist from Wicklow, Ireland, when we were invited to a weeklong writers' festival in Brisbane, Australia. He was there to talk about his novel chronicling the travails of the Irish — in particular, young Irish soldiers fighting for the British king — during World War I.
We had dinner with Sebastian the night before his talk, and he was ruminating about what to say. He said he didn't want to do the standard book talk; he wanted to make the audience feel something, he wanted to leave an impression.
The next morning, we took seats near the front of the tent, eager to see what Sebastian had decided. A few moments later, he stepped up to the mike. The large audience grew quiet, and Sebastian began to sing "It's a Long Way to Tipperary."
It's a sad song to begin with, about soldiers who must travel far from home, perhaps never to return. And Sebastian sang it sad and slow, in a wavering voice filled with all the emotion he had put into his novel.
No one moved or made a sound. People all around us began to sniffle and cry. Sebastian definitely made an impression.
The truth is, his prose sings, too.
I began reading It's A Long Long Way on the plane ride home from Australia. It's about a young man named Willie Dunne who leaves Dublin in 1914 to fight for the Allies. Stationed on the western front, Willie encounters all the horrors and heartbreaks and madness of that hellish war.
Then, in 1916, an uprising against the British in Ireland changes Irish politics forever. Suddenly, it is a disgrace to be fighting for the King of England.
But Willie Dunne is still in the trenches of France — risking his life, losing his innocence, facing the most unspeakable horrors imaginable — only to be considered a traitor back home.
The story of the Irish during World War I was not a subject I had ever been interested in. But I was completely gripped by Willie's story, that of his fellow soldiers, his family and all the turmoil back home. I knew I was reading something exceptional. Every page of the book manages to portray savage ugliness next to shimmering beauty, in language that made me stop and blink again and again.
I've been buying A Long Long Way for friends and recommending it to everyone I know. I think my son Matt summed it up nicely. Matt is a music producer and sound designer. After he read the book, he called me and said, "It's not like reading a novel. There's music on every page."
You Must Read This is edited and produced by Ellen Silva.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2009-03-15/irish-at-war-poetic-prose-in-a-long-long-way | 2022-08-18T00:31:04Z |
Until I read A Hope in the Unseen, the only celebrity I'd ever stalked was Mick Jagger back in high school. But two decades later, when I finished Ron Suskind's symphonic book about a young man's odyssey from the inner city to the Ivy League, I called in sick to work so that I could read it over again in a single sitting — propped up in bed, phone off the hook, a bowl of cereal disintegrating on my night stand. Then, I tracked down Suskind at the Wall Street Journal and ambushed him.
"Hi. I'm a sycophant. Just give me five minutes," I pleaded. "I'm absolutely floored by your book. Please let me recount the ways to you."
A Hope in the Unseen follows Cedric Jennings — a young black honor student at Washington, D.C.'s Ballou High School, arguably the worst public high school in the country — on his fraught and amazing journey from the crack-ravaged streets of Anacostia through his freshman year at Brown University. Cedric is neither a classic manchild in the promised land nor a reformed drug dealer. He's a geek under siege.
His beginnings, to be sure, are pure ghetto cliche: father in prison for drugs; reckless, immature mother with a predilection for bad men, short skirts and malt liquor; a neighborhood plagued by crack houses and drive-bys.
And yet, when his mother, Barbara, looks down at her miraculous newborn, she pledges: Maybe, if I can save this child, I can save myself, too.
Determined that Cedric will beat the odds, she keeps him on a tight leash. He ping-pongs between a strict Baptist church, a handful of dedicated teachers and his mother's own newfound force of will. After a series of operatic struggles, he finally arrives at Brown. But his story hardly ends there: This gilded world might as well be a foreign country to him.
The mythos of inner-city children surmounting the odds thanks to one inexhaustible teacher or a superhuman single mom is pretty much standard fare these days — particularly given our new president. But what makes Suskind's book so stunning — and such a colossal personal obsession with me — what's made me go out and buy everyone I love a copy with the same fervency that I used to buy them Exile on Mainstreet — is the telling.
Suskind's literary talent is double-barreled. He's a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who lived with the Jennings at close range for several years. But he's also a master storyteller with the lyricism of a poet. He gets under the skin and infiltrates the minds of every single character in Cedric's life. So the story is told directly through their eyes. You don't read it, you experience it viscerally, just as they do. You are transported right from the prison cell where Cedric's father paces, to the ravaged classrooms where Cedric's dogged teachers struggle to maintain order, to the basketball shoes of his classmates who are turning bitter and violent with despair.
When Cedric dashes home trying to avoid the neighborhood gangs, your heart pounds along with his. When he arrives at the Brown bookstore, picks up a biography of Winston Churchill, and panics because he doesn't know who Churchill is — and he knows he should know — you share his rocketing anxiety.
Suskind manages to avoid the icky paternalism that privileged white journalists can easily display toward the poor and minorities. He knows better than to treat Cedric as a specimen; rather, he makes sure that we all become him. The book is nonfiction, yet packs the emotional wallop of a great epic novel. And though there's plenty to extrapolate about social injustice, race, class and public education, there's no editorializing either. A Hope in the Unseen trusts that we'll "get it," simply by reading an astonishing story, told one scene at a time, the way that Homer or the troubadours might have done around a campfire. Except that this tale, of course, is true.
It's a book I'd wished I'd written myself. And I'm happy to call Ron Suskind and tell him this any time.
You Must Read This is produced and edited by Ellen Silva.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2009-03-24/a-journey-from-the-ghetto-to-the-ivory-tower | 2022-08-18T00:31:10Z |
Ask Americans to name the pioneers of transatlantic flight, and many will come up with Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart. But there were others who dared to fly that great distance, and I think the most intriguing member of those early record holders was Beryl Markham.
Markham was a colonial child, born in Britain and raised in Africa, where she met Ernest Hemingway on safari and was rumored to have had an affair with an English prince. She took up flying at a time when most people hadn't even seen planes, became the only professional pilot in Africa and, in 1936, accepted a challenge to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
In early September, Markham set off from England in a tiny turquoise-and-silver plane filled with good luck gifts. She flew for more than 21 hours, survived a crash-landing on an island near Nova Scotia and went on to write her autobiography, West with the Night — the title a reference to the fact that she mostly flew in the dark.
I read her book at age 24, while flying in a plane west from India to begin graduate studies in the United States, and I was immediately — and forever — enthralled. Markham was a woman who wrote about the moments that meant the most to her: hunting barefoot with the Nandi as a child, training race horses, scouting elephants in Africa and, of course, making that daring trip across the Atlantic.
Initially, what intrigued me most about West with the Night were the vignettes of her childhood. Growing up in India, I was used to reading stories by Western authors about landscapes and food I did not know. But here was a young girl whose childhood I could easily imagine, for she too had played with servants, spoke a different language outside the house and killed animals — wild pigs in her case, snakes in mine.
Then there was Markham's portrayal of Africa. Having read foreigners' accounts of India (like Africa, conquered and exoticized), I am quick to sense whether a tale is authentic. And Markham's was exactly that, told with intimate knowledge, understanding and, most importantly, love for a place and its people. Markham wrote "there are many Africas," but she described the "soul of Africa, its integrity, the slow inexorable pulse of its life ... that no outsider, unless steeped from childhood in its endless even beat, can ever hope to experience." Africa, she said, could be "mystic ... wild ... a sweltering inferno ... a photographer's paradise ... a hunter's Valhalla ... an escapist's Utopia" — but to her, it was "just home."
Markham was a woman who went after what she wanted and gave it her all. Her horses won races, and she parlayed the aviation skills she learned as a bush pilot into a dark flight across the Atlantic. And when she sat down to write her memoirs, she produced a dazzling book.
I still have my first copy of West with the Night, now frayed, the pages yellow with age. I read it for the simple beauty of its language, for the vivid depiction of Africa and for the amazing adventures of a woman ahead of her time. I also reach for it whenever I worry that my youthful dream of being a writer is as foolish as reaching for the stars; it is always comforting to read about a woman who sat in a small plane, suspended between earth and sky, simply because she wanted to — and because she could.
You Must Read This is edited and produced by Ellen Silva. Intern Lauren Evans contributed editorial assistance.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2009-03-29/out-of-africa-and-west-with-the-night | 2022-08-18T00:31:17Z |
Prosecutors in Argentina have linked disgraced opera star Plácido Domingo to a criminal group in Buenos Aires that was a front for sexual trafficking, including of minors, as well as other crimes.
Last week, police conducted 50 raids against the BA Group, which operated under the name Buenos Aires Yoga School, and 19 people were arrested.
Numerous broadcast channels in Latin America have been airing excerpts of audio recordings, obtained by wiretap, that include the voice of a man whom authorities claim is Domingo making plans with members of the alleged criminal ring. The dates of these wiretap recordings have not been made public.
Since 2019 more than 20 women have come forward publicly with misconduct claims against Domingo. As a result of those accusations, Domingo parted ways with New York's Metropolitan Opera and resigned from his role as general director of LA Opera in California. In March 2020, Domingo's name was removed from the young artist early career program at the Washington National Opera in Washington, D.C., where he served as artistic director and later general director from 1996 to 2011.
In one excerpt from the wiretap recordings from Argentina, a man whom prosecutors say is Domingo is heard talking to "Mendy," a woman with whom he is allegedly making plans for a sexual encounter. On the tape, the man describes details of his plans to leave a dinner separately from his agents and other representatives, to elude their notice, so that he could meet her. Another excerpt includes "Mendy" calling the alleged leader of the crime ring, Juan Percowicz, to celebrate that she has confirmed plans with the man, whom she refers to as "Plácido."
NPR has reached out to Domingo's representatives for comment but did not immediately receive any response. NPR will update this story with any comments from Domingo.
Now 81 years old, the Spanish-born Domingo was formerly one of opera's most reliably bankable stars and was a household name worldwide thanks to his participation in The Three Tenors alongside the late Luciano Pavarotti and José Carreras.
Domingo's career abroad has survived the sexual misconduct allegations: he has reemerged in recent months for performances across Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, and he remains a brand ambassador for Rolex watches.
In an admiring profile published by Deutsche Welle in Jan. 2021 that hailed his "exceptional career," Domingo declined to address the allegations and said that he preferred to "devote himself to other challenges."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-17/placido-domingo-linked-to-criminal-ring-in-argentina-prosecutors-say | 2022-08-18T00:48:07Z |
A woman at a bookstore in Brattleboro, Vt., put Castle Freeman Jr.'s novel Go With Me in my hand and I took it to be nice. "Yeah I'll probably read five pages," I thought. But once I started, I could not put it down.
The novel begins with a young woman, Lillian, sleeping in her car outside a sheriff's office in a small town in Southern Vermont. Her car's side window has been shattered, and her fist is curled around a paring knife.
Turns out, a local menace not only destroyed Lillian's window; he also slit her cat's throat. He's after Lillian; she needs help; but since she didn't actually see the thug kill her cat, the sheriff says, "I can't arrest him for what he wants to do. That ain't the way it works."
Lillian seeks help in an ancient, dilapidated chair factory, where an old man in a wheelchair spends each day drinking beers with his gnarled cronies. Against her better judgment, she comes away with two men who will help her take on the villain: first a sly, aged fox who lives alone in a house with untold handcrafted pinwheels on the lawn (he'll be the brains of their operation), and second, Nate the Great, a quiet, lanky hulk who does menial chores around the factory. (The popular perception of Nate: "Smarter than a horse. Not smarter than a tractor.")
Go With Me employs the simplest of setups: Ragtag underdogs take on unstoppable evil. On the way, readers get an expertly guided tour of a disappearing Vermont, one that's still occasionally visible behind the touristy sheen of roadside farms and ski lodges. In one running joke, various local landmarks and former stores have now become candle shops.
Writer Freeman not only unpacks the social dynamics of Vermont's picturesque towns; he also takes readers into all the places they don't stop during a fall weekend road trip — that dilapidated bar by the side of the road, the wildcat logging camp, the abandoned school bus that serves as its bunkhouses, the woods of dark myths and bad men and the unspeakable brutalities that take place in the blackest night.
One of the real charming things about this book is how funny it is, full of dark, sly humor. The running commentary provided by the cronies in the chair factory is, by turns, deadpan and infuriating and hilarious. The cronies act as a Greek chorus, helping to fill in histories of the town.
Finally the villain's evil is all but overwhelming, and confrontation is unavoidable. "We can't turn this thing around," says Les, the old man guiding Lillian. "If we do this, we got to finish it. We got to go through. You see that."
Freeman's sentences have been honed to rhythmic perfection in a way reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy — a high compliment, but one that's well-deserved. What McCarthy has done for the dusty plains of the Southwest, Freeman, a resident of Newfane, Vt., does here for the Green Mountains. At a taut, 160 pages, Go With Me is at once wry, primal, epic and impossible to put down.
I'm telling you the same thing I told the writer Richard Price: You must read this.
You Must Read This is edited and produced by Ellen Silva.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2009-04-08/go-with-me-a-wry-journey-deep-into-vermont | 2022-08-18T00:48:07Z |
In her new book The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power, And The Future of the World, Journalist Michelle Goldberg argues that granting reproductive rights to women internationally can help to control overpopulation, banish poverty and slow the spread of AIDS.
Goldberg is also the author of the bestseller Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism. She previously worked as a senior writer for Salon.com and her work has appeared in Rolling Stone, The Guardian and The New Republic. In 2008, The Means of Reproduction won the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award.
Copyright 2022 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air. | https://www.keranews.org/2009-04-13/sex-power-women-and-the-future-of-the-world | 2022-08-18T00:48:14Z |
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Volunteers and committee members for the 2021 Walk to End Alzheimer's planted flowers in Bunning Park for participants to choose before the ceremony. This year, the event will be held at Evers Park in Green River on Friday, Aug. 26, 2022.
ROCK SPRINGS -- Held annually in more than 600 communities nationwide, Walk to End Alzheimer's is the world's largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer's care, support and research.
The Alzheimer's Association Walk to End Alzheimer's is full of flowers, each carried by someone committed to ending this disease. Because like flowers, our participants don't stop when something's in their way. They keep raising funds and awareness for a breakthrough in the fight against Alzheimer's and all other dementia.
The 4th annual Sweetwater County Walk to End Alzheimer's takes place on Friday, Aug. 26, 2022 at Evers Park in Green River (Near gazebo before bridge to Expedition Island)
This year, it will be held in the evening. Registration begins at 5:30 p.m. and the ceremony begins at 6 p.m.
The walk will begin after the ceremony.
Walkers will have the opportunity to walk several laps around Expedition Island or as far as they want to on the Greenbelt.
The EIO Band, a local music group, will be the live entertainment.
Local construction company Searle Brothers will be grilling hamburgers and hot dogs.
Kids carnival games will be on-site with various prizes and raffle items will be available for purchase.
Traditionally, a Promise Flower Garden will be ready for participants as well. During the Walk to End Alzheimer's, participants are given flowers from the Promise Flower Garden which kicks off the ceremony. Each flower represents the personal connection to the disease.
For instance, a blue flower indicates that the individual has Alzheimer's. A purple flower shows others that the individuals had lost someone to Alzheimer's. An orange flower expresses that the individual supports the cause and has a vision of a world without Alzheimer's.
During last year’s event, Justin Spicer, co-chair for the event said, “My firm (Edward Jones Financial) is a national sponsor for this event but I’m personally involved because it runs in my family. It’s important to recognize that everyone has a story – whether it’s someone you’re related to or caring for or someone you work with. Everyone knows someone who has Alzheimer’s.”
Sponsors include: Premier Power Plants, Mission at Castle Rock, Steed Metals, Genesis Alkali, Searle Brothers, Radiant Manufacturing, Deer Trails Assisted Living, Kelly's Convenience Center and the City of Green River.
Participants may re-register at alz.org/walk or register at the walk in person.
Participants are invited to walk by themselves or with a team. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/rocketminer/the-long-good-bye-walk-to-end-alzheimers-kicks-off-in-green-river/article_2cda02c9-2b96-55a3-99aa-0a0a14eb10da.html | 2022-08-18T00:56:15Z |
I'd like to introduce you to the most maddening person I've ever encountered in my life: Bjartur of Summerhouses.
I've known him for 15 years, and he never fails to infuriate me; he is querulous, contrary, hard-hearted and stubborn.
And yet, I find myself drawn to him again and again.
Please do not let the fact that he is fictitious — or Icelandic, or an impoverished sheep farmer — deter you from entering his world, which is brilliantly conjured in the pages of Halldor Laxness' novel Independent People.
When I first opened this book, it was with a feeling of trepidation and a hefty dose of familial obligation. My mother had sent it to me in the mail, accompanied by a note that said "You must read this" — a phrase that was underlined three times. "It's written by Halldor Laxness," she wrote. "He is one of Our People."
My mother was referring to the Icelanders; her parents' families had fled Iceland for North America in the 1800s after a devastating volcanic eruption, but she still referred to all Icelanders as "Our People."
And that is how I came to encounter the flinty yet endearing Bjartur of Summerhouses, a gritty, practical farmer who composes poetry as he strides through blizzards searching for lost sheep.
As the novel opens, Bjartur — who spent 18 bitter years as a servant on another man's farm — is surveying the first thing he has ever owned. It is a dark, dank, turf-roofed farmhouse on a glacial moor, where the family members inhabit one common room upstairs and the sheep, horse, cow and dog occupy the entire first floor.
But this miserable hovel is also Bjartur's palace. The character's sole quest in life — and one of the novel's great themes — is to live as an independent man, in debt to no one. It's a desire that comes with a price, especially in a harsh climate where interdependence is the only means of survival; Bjartur's wife, children and neighbors all bear the brunt of his obsession for independence.
If all of this seems too grim, keep reading. One of the great surprises of the novel is the author's deliciously sardonic humor and marvelous grasp of human foibles at all levels of society.
As a devout fan of Independent People, I'm in excellent company. Annie Proulx calls it "brilliant," one of her 10 favorite books of all time. Jane Smiley says she "can't imagine any greater delight than coming to Independent People for the first time."
A bestseller when it was first published in the U.S. in 1946, Independent People eventually contributed to Laxness winning the Nobel Prize for literature in 1955. Yet if you've never heard of this great masterpiece, you're not alone. Sadly, this marvelous book was out of print in English for over 50 years — possibly because of McCarthy era perceptions about Laxness' communist sympathies.
But now it has been reissued in a beautiful paperback edition, and so I find myself repeating to you the words of my late mother: You must read this!
Perhaps the author Halldor Laxness will become one of your people, too.
You Must Read This is produced and edited by Ellen Silva.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2009-05-03/icelands-stoic-sardonic-independent-people | 2022-08-18T01:00:50Z |
There are certain books that I claim to love and that I recommend to many of my friends, but it's not really love, it's just appreciation.
I know this because there are other books that I do truly deeply love. I love them so much that I can't risk giving them to friends who might not adore them as well — how could I be sure the friendship will survive such a blow? In the end, it seems safer to keep those books for myself.
And yet, it is also a quality of love to want to announce it from the rooftops. So here I am, telling anyone who will listen, of my love for Michael Ondaatje's In the Skin of a Lion.
Many people know Ondaatje as the author of The English Patient, but how many of you are aware that In the Skin of a Lion is a prequel of sorts to that novel? The characters of the young nurse, Hana, and the wounded thief, Caravaggio, both appeared first in this book.
It's a slim novel, fewer than 300 pages, yet the gorgeous writing style is so condensed that it has a degree of richness that few books can match.
It's a book about lovers, but it's also about anarchists and actresses, thieves and bridge-builders, migrants and mavericks.
And it's a book of many moods. There is real anger in it about the way the powerful take advantage of those who work the hardest; there is incredible tenderness between friends and lovers; there are flashes of unexpected humor; and there are some truly heart-stopping moments.
Binding it all together is writing filled with the most glorious, startling images. One of my favorites is the vision of a nun falling off a bridge at night like a "black garbed bird," her plummeting body illuminated by the light spraying down from a flare.
In the world of this novel, there is no small talk, no passages your eye skims over. The characters are full of passion. Unexpected events keep happening without seeming contrived. Tiny details acquire great significance.
It's as though Ondaatje is showing us the world through a magic magnifying glass, which enlarges everything that is vital and interesting, and obliterates all that is dull. When I read it, every nerve ending that has been de-sensitized by an onslaught of news and facts in the "real world" suddenly starts to feel love and anger, terror and wonder more passionately than before.
When sitting down to think about how to convey my love for this book, I tried to calculate how many times I've read it, but I can't. It long ago stopped being one of those books I need to read from beginning to end and instead is a book I keep by my bedside at all times. I have one copy in London and one copy in Karachi, so that no matter which of my homes I'm in, I can enter the intoxicating world Ondaatje creates.
So now I've done it: I've gone public with the object of my affection.
I have to admit — it makes me nervous. If you read the book, maybe you'll tell other people about it. Or maybe, like me, you'll want to keep it for yourself, until the day you can hold it in no longer and then you'll shout it out from the rooftops or over the airwaves.
You Must Read This is produced by Ellen Silva.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2009-05-11/in-praise-of-ondaatjes-gloriously-intoxicating-lion | 2022-08-18T01:00:56Z |
There's a little thing I do when I can't write: When I'm feeling sleepy, when my head is in a fog, I reach across my desk, digging under the piles of unanswered mail, to unearth my copy of Herzog by Saul Bellow. And then I open the book — anywhere-- and read a paragraph.
It always works. Right away I'm restored to full alertness and clarity. Style, in literature, has gone out of style. People think it's just ornament. But it's not: The work that goes into a writer's style, the choices that are taken, the cliches that are chucked, represent a refining of thought and feeling into their purest, most intelligent, most moral form.
Of course, there is a danger, with a great stylist, that the sentences will outclass what the sentences are about. Not with Bellow. Bellow gets the mix between form and content about as right as possible. His sentences pack maximum sensual, emotional and intellectual information into minimum space — all the while generating an involving, deeply moving story.
Published in 1964, Herzog is about a middle-aged college professor, in the midst of an emotional crisis, who begins writing letters: "He had fallen under a spell," Bellow writes, "and was writing letters to everyone under the sun. . . . Hidden in the country, he wrote endlessly, fanatically, to the newspapers, to people in public, to friends and relatives and at last to the dead, his own obscure dead, and finally the famous dead." The book zooms off from there. Herzog goes from New York, to Martha's Vineyard, to Chicago, to the Berkshires, penning his funny, serious, brilliant, self-lacerating, accusatory letters, each one acting like a new screen in a hypertext novel that opens an entirely different piece of his life: his immigrant childhood in Montreal; his indomitable ex-wife Madeleine; his numerous lady friends; his free-falling career, his pain at losing his daughter in divorce. Bellow, the supreme realist, discovered in Herzog a new form — the self-reflexive epistolary novel — without any of the obscurantism or self-preening of so-called "experimental" novels.
Herzog worried that his frantic letter-writing meant he was "out of [his] mind." But, in the last 45 years, his predicament has become universal. Herzog's life resembles the way we live now, where we're forever sending off e-mail and texts, fielding cell phone calls: where we're no longer any one place but everywhere — and nowhere — at once. Our life in shards, randomly returning.
The mark of a truly original work of art is that is gets truer the older it is.
The impulse here is to quote. Every single page of Herzog teems with jokes, apercus, deep-thinker riffs — little genius moves every other sentence. The impulse is to read the entire book out loud. But I've only got a minute here, time to make the pitch but not go nine innings.
So let me say this: If you're in the market for a safe neuro-enhancer, something to break you out of your foggy-headedness, a pill more powerful than Adderall or Provigil, with no side effects other than pleasure, then pick up Herzog and open it — anywhere — and read.
You Must Read This is produced and edited by Ellen Silva.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2009-05-17/head-in-a-fog-reach-for-herzog | 2022-08-18T01:01:02Z |
My Guilty Pleasure is a new series in which writers talk about the books they've loved only secretly — until now.
There are — news flash here — true differences between men and women.
A friend who has twins (one boy, one girl) told me the story of when they were down at a pond, and the young twins spotted a cute little duck.
The little girl said, "I want to pet the duck."
The little boy said, "I want to kill the duck."
I rest my case.
And with that gender gauntlet thrown, let me say to you as a meat-eating, Entourage-watching, sports-loving (OK, I really don't love sports, or actually understand sports) — heterosexual man who can't sit through a single show on Lifetime television, let me loudly proclaim: I, Brad Meltzer, love the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer.
Now this is the part where I'm supposed to make an intellectual disclaimer like: I don't really love it, but I appreciate it for what it is.
But let me be clear here. I love it. I love Twilight. I love Bella, and I love Edward.
I'm not alone. Since it debuted in 2005, the Twilight series has sold over 53 million copies, making it the hottest thing in bookshops since that nerdy kid with the lightning-bolt scar.
But back to what's really important: Me.
I love this story of the gawky, awkward girl who falls in love with the brooding vampire. And I love that she can't get sexual with said vampire because when her blood gets pumping, it'll send him into a frenzy and he'll kill her. (How's that for a prophylactic?)
I love hearing the dark secret histories of how the other vampires were turned into vampires. And I love when Edward gets all huffy with Jacob the werewolf — oh my God, I'm on the verge of writing fan-fic here — but again, in case you missed it, I love this story.
But for the most part, I've told almost no one.
Y'know why?
Because as a man, this book is not supposed to be for me.
I realized this when I went to see the Twilight movie. Yes, I was there. Opening weekend. We got a babysitter for it. And I sat there in the dark with my wife and a roomful of suburban mothers and a smattering of teenage daughters. I counted. There were four other men (all teenagers) besides me. Me. Four dragged-along boyfriends. And the rest women.
But you know who I blame for this?
I blame my fellow men. That's right. I blame all the men out there who point fingers and call things "girlie" and run like spineless cowards whenever something gets embraced by the opposite sex.
It happens all the time. Remember when men were named Terry and Robin and Leslie? And then a few cool girls were named Teri and Robin and Leslie. And what happened? The men ran. Those names were ceded to the women.
To be honest, I can handle that for Leslie. Leslie is just not a cool name (no offense to Leslie Sydelman, who came to my bar mitzvah). But I will not let this stand for Twilight. We'd never dismiss Romeo and Juliet as "just for women." (Yes, I know — I'm not saying it's Shakespeare, and I still think Harry Potter is better — but don't mess up my analogy.) I won't cede Twilight.
And so I challenge — not the men out there; the men are clearly wusses — I challenge the women. Give Twilight to your teenage sons. Give it to your nephews and husbands and other guy types. Tell them it's cool. Tell them they'll like it. Tell them that it'll help them understand women and therefore help them get dates (c'mon, why else do you think I spent so much time with Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret)
And I issue this challenge — not for sexual equality, not to break down gender barriers. I issue it for the most vital reason of all: The sequel is coming, and I'm tired of being the only guy in the movie theater.
"My Guilty Pleasure" is produced and edited by Ellen Silva.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2009-05-26/real-men-read-and-love-twilight-really | 2022-08-18T01:01:08Z |
Authorities investigating human remains at Lake Mead; 5th such discovery this year
LAS VEGAS (KVVU/Gray News) - Authorities are investigating reports of human remains found at Lake Mead earlier this week.
Officials with the Lake Mead National Recreation Area said they are investigating the discovery of skeletal remains found at about 8 p.m. on Monday at Swim Beach.
According to KVVU, rangers set up a perimeter to recover the remains from the lake with help from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police dive team. The Clark County medical examiner was also contacted.
Authorities were reportedly called to the same area earlier this month to investigate another set of remains at Swim Beach.
Lake Mead officials have reported four different discoveries of remains found at the lake so far this year. The Clark County Coroner’s office said two of the partial sets might belong to the same person.
Lake Mead’s water level has plummeted due to recent drought conditions in the southwest.
Copyright 2022 KVVU via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/17/authorities-investigating-human-remains-lake-mead-5th-such-discovery-this-year/ | 2022-08-18T01:10:29Z |
Ruling clears Biden’s 2021 pause on new oil, gas leases
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A judge’s order that forced the Biden administration to resume sales of oil and gas leases on federal land and waters was vacated Wednesday by a federal appeals court in New Orleans.
It was at least a temporary victory for President Joe Biden but the immediate effect was unclear.
The much-heralded climate bill that Biden signed into law Tuesday provides for new drilling opportunities, in a compromise among Democrats, and mandates that several lease sales be held over the next year in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska.
Biden had signed an executive order that suspended new lease sales soon after taking office in 2021. The following March, U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty in Monroe, Louisiana, blocked the policy, siding with more than a dozen Republican-leaning states opposed to Biden’s move.
The appeals court in New Orleans on Wednesday said the judge’s reasons were unclear and sent the case back to him.
“We cannot reach the merits of the Government’s challenge when we cannot ascertain from the record what conduct — an unwritten agency policy, a written policy outside of the Executive Order, or the Executive Order itself — is enjoined,” Judge Patrick Higginbotham wrote for a panel that also included judges James Dennis and James Graves.
Department of the Interior officials were reviewing the decision, spokesperson Melissa Schwartz said. She declined to say whether the climate law made the issue moot.
The practical impacts of the ruling could be minor because of the fossil fuel leasing mandates in the climate law, said Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, which represents oil and gas companies.
The law requires the government to reinstate $192 million in leases in the Gulf of Mexico that were blocked by another court ruling last year. And it requires two more sales in the Gulf and one in Alaska before October 2023. Those sales had been canceled under Biden. The provision reviving them was inserted into the law at the insistence of West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, an advocate for fossil fuels.
Going forward the law says Interior will hold periodic oil and gas lease sales and offer at least 60 million acres (24 million hectares) of offshore parcels and 2 million acres (810,000 hectares) onshore during the prior year before it can approve any renewable energy leases.
“Offshore oil and gas leasing has been protected and will proceed,” said Milito.
Environmentalists remained hopeful that the ruling would prompt the administration to move forward with other changes to the oil and gas leasing program, such as limits on future development including where leasing occurs.
“They may not be able to deliver a full moratorium on leasing, but at least they can exercise more restraint than they could with the injunction in place,” said Jeremy Nichols with the environmental group WildEarth Guardians. “All eyes are going to be on the Interior Department to see what their next move might be.”
Following last year’s injunction from Doughty that forced lease sales to resume, the Biden administration auctioned off more than 2,700 square miles (6,950 square kilometers) of leases in the Gulf of Mexico in November. The sale was later overturned by a federal judge in Washington D.C., who said the government had failed to adequately consider climate change impacts from burning oil and gas from the Gulf.
In June, the administration sold leases on about 110 square miles (285 square kilometers) of federal land, mostly in Wyoming, despite concluding that future emissions from the parcels offered could cause billions of dollars in damages due to climate change impacts. Legal challenges of those sales by environmentalists are pending.
Doughty was appointed to the federal bench by former President Donald Trump. Higginbotham was appointed to the appeals court by former President Ronald Reagan; Dennis, by former President Bill Clinton; Graves, by former President Barack Obama.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/17/ruling-clears-bidens-2021-pause-new-oil-gas-leases/ | 2022-08-18T01:10:36Z |
Trump Org. CFO to plead guilty, testify against company
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s chief financial officer is expected to plead guilty to tax violations Thursday in a deal that would require him to testify about illicit business practices at the former president’s company, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.
Allen Weisselberg is charged with taking more than $1.7 million in off-the-books compensation from the Trump Organization over several years, including untaxed perks like rent, car payments and school tuition.
The plea deal would require Weisselberg to speak in court Thursday about the company’s role in the alleged compensation arrangement and possibly serve as a witness when the Trump Organization goes on trial in October on related charges, the people said.
The two people were not authorized to speak publicly about the case and did so on condition of anonymity.
Weisselberg, 75, is likely to receive a sentence of five months in jail, to be served at New York City’s notorious Rikers Island complex, and he could be required to pay about $2 million in restitution, including taxes, penalties and interest, the people said. If that punishment holds, Weisselberg would be eligible for release after about 100 days.
Messages seeking comment were left with the Manhattan district attorney’s office and lawyers for Weisselberg and the Trump Organization.
Weisselberg is the only person to face criminal charges so far in the Manhattan district attorney’s long-running investigation of the company’s business practices.
Seen as one of Trump’s most loyal business associates, Weisselberg was arrested in July 2021. His lawyers have argued the Democrat-led district attorney’s office was punishing him because he wouldn’t offer information that would damage Trump.
The district attorney has also been investigating whether Trump or his company lied to banks or the government about the value of its properties to obtain loans or reduce tax bills.
Former District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., who started the investigation, last year directed his deputies to present evidence to a grand jury and seek an indictment of Trump, according to former prosecutor Mark Pomerantz, who previously led the probe.
But after Vance left office, his successor, Alvin Bragg, allowed the grand jury to disband without charges. Both prosecutors are Democrats. Bragg has said the investigation is continuing.
The Trump Organization is not involved in Weisselberg’s expected guilty plea Thursday and is scheduled to be tried in the alleged compensation scheme in October.
Prosecutors alleged that the company gave untaxed fringe benefits to senior executives, including Weisselberg, for 15 years. Weisselberg alone was accused of defrauding the federal government, state and city out of more than $900,000 in unpaid taxes and undeserved tax refunds.
Under state law, punishment for the most serious charge against Weisselberg, grand larceny, could carry a penalty as high as 15 years in prison. But the charge carries no mandatory minimum, and most first-time offenders in tax-related cases never end up behind bars.
The tax fraud charges against the Trump Organization are punishable by a fine of double the amount of unpaid taxes, or $250,000, whichever is larger.
Trump has not been charged in the criminal probe. The Republican has decried the New York investigations as a “political witch hunt,” has said his company’s actions were standard practice in the real estate business and in no way a crime.
Last week, Trump sat for a deposition in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ parallel civil investigation into allegations Trump’s company misled lenders and tax authorities about asset values. Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination more than 400 times.
___
Follow Michael Sisak on Twitter at twitter.com/mikesisak. Send confidential tips by visiting https://www.ap.org/tips/.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/17/trump-org-cfo-plead-guilty-testify-against-company/ | 2022-08-18T01:10:43Z |
Shenandoah National Park hosting Night Sky Festival this weekend
LURAY, Va. (WHSV) - This weekend, Shenandoah National Park is hosting a big festival. The 6th Annual Night Sky Festival starts this Friday and lasts through Sunday.
At this festival, there will be many ongoing activities throughout the park. These include special events, presentations, telescopes, and more that can help you learn more about the night sky.
There will even be activities during the daytime which include learning about the sun. Viewing the night sky at the park also creates a better experience than just stargazing in your backyard.
“In the park, you may be experiencing less light pollution than you normally would when you are viewing the stars in the lower valleys, so you’ll have a chance at a more clear image. You might get to see some things you normally don’t get to see all because there is less light there for you to be able to see what’s up in the sky,” said Madison Heiser, a visual information specialist at Shenandoah National Park.
Not only will you be able to learn about the night sky but there will also be programs about nocturnal animals.
Copyright 2022 WHSV. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/18/shenandoah-national-park-hosting-night-sky-festival-this-weekend/ | 2022-08-18T01:12:07Z |
In all the love stories ever told, has there ever been such a recipe for disaster as in the tale of illicit love? Beginning 3,000 years ago, when Zeus, the married King of the Gods, was gallivanting with all his many mistresses, the message was clear: Unconventional trysts are destined to end badly for all concerned.
But how brightly these love affairs burn during their short span! Heroes become spies as they plot their next tryst, and brief encounters take on this huge intensity, where every moment is lapped up in haste and savored for eternity.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2009-05-31/forbidden-pages-books-of-illicit-love-thrill-delight | 2022-08-18T01:19:13Z |
Years ago, when I was leaving my beloved hometown of New York, my father tucked Jack Finney's novel Time and Again into my suitcase. I was heading to graduate school in the Midwest. There, I was supposed to study "high" literary fiction.
Instead, I spent my first week devouring Time and Again.
This cult pop thriller follows the story of Simon Morley, an artist recruited by the U.S. government for a top-secret time travel project. Using self-hypnosis and a famous New York landmark, Morley travels back in time from 1970 to 1882 as an observer, but as soon as he finds himself in 19th century Manhattan, he gets swept up in its magic.
Morley walks down a bucolic Fifth Avenue, the streets are full of horse-drawn carriages and mansions and of course, he becomes infatuated with a young lady from his boarding house before becoming ensnared in a mystery that threatens to cause "the destruction by fire of the entire world." Soon, he's besotted in and with 1882, and so was I.
Time and Again is a fabulous historical novel mixed with Sci-Fi romp, mystery thriller and of course, romance. It's wildly inventive. It's gripping. It's even based on Einstein's unified theories. So, as we say in "Noo Yawk," what's the problem? Why am I embarrassed to love this book?
It's a male bodice-ripper, a macho fantasy of saving a damsel in distress through time travel — a Harlequin Romance for geeks, and it's worst offense? Sentimentality.
New York City in 1882 had monumental problems. But while Morley acknowledges these, they're nothing, he claims, compared to the pollution, war and skyscrapers of 1970. The "good ol' days," in his eyes, really were the good old days. And maybe they were for guys like him. If you were a healthy, wealthy, white, Protestant male, 1882 really was a kinder, gentler place. As for the rest of us? Not so much, I think.
Yet Time and Again sends out a huge valentine to the past. It's nostalgic and there's something deliciously comforting and escapist in its promise of a New York Eden.
Ever since my father gave it to me I've taken pleasure in reading Finney's novel time and again, especially when I'm homesick or blue. But with my 21st century sensibilities, I feel guilty. Like somehow, this New Yorker should know better.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2009-06-30/escape-to-new-york-a-sentimental-trip-through-time | 2022-08-18T01:38:17Z |
A few years ago, I was telling everyone I knew that I wished I could recapture the feeling about literature I had when I was young. Back then, reading great fiction never felt like work — it was a very private kind of joy.
Then a close friend, the writer Daniel Handler, handed me Richard Hughes' 1929 novel A High Wind in Jamaica, which had recently (and beautifully) been republished by The New York Review of Books.
I took the book with me to the Yaddo Artist Colony in upstate New York, where I was at work on a new novel, and one snowy day I read the whole thing in one gulp.
It was remarkable. Tiny. Crazy. I felt just like I did as a kid.
To say A High Wind in Jamaica is a novel about children who are abducted by pirates is to make it seem like a children's book. But that's completely wrong; its theme is actually how heartless children are.
The story begins almost whimsically in Jamaica, with five English children surviving a hurricane. Later on, as the ship is returning to Europe, we enter Treasure Island territory when the vessel is boarded by pirates.
Here's where it gets good, because the pirates and the children begin to switch places. At first the pirates are the brutal ones, drinking heavily and throwing people overboard as pirates will. But the children have such a deformed sense of right and wrong that it's soon the pirates who are frightened of them.
Eventually our heroine, little Emily, murders a man in cold blood — to the pirates' dismay. And when the children are at last rescued to England, our Emily performs one final bit of cruelty as simply as throwing a tea party for her dolls.
Some books inspire one to read, and some inspire one to write; for selfish reasons, I'm always looking for the latter. I'm greedy for fresh storytelling, and that's why I return time and again to A High Wind in Jamaica.
I'm like a thief visiting a rare diamond he dreams one day of stealing, and the passage I would most like to lift comes late in the book, when little Emily, ending her reign of terror, lies bed-bound on the rescue ship with a pet baby alligator on her chest. The two monsters stare into each others' eyes. Then, to Emily's delight, the tiny creature bites her and crawls into her dress to fall asleep.
"It is surprising," we are told, "that she could stand it, as she did, without flinching."
There is a chilling blank space below this sentence, and then this: "Alligators," the narrator informs us, "are utterly untamable."
So, it seems in this astounding little parable, are children; still savage, they simply vanish inside the adults they will become.
A High Wind in Jamaica is like those books you used to read under the covers with a flashlight — only infinitely more delicious ... and macabre.
You Must Read This is produced by Ellen Silva.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2009-07-06/a-delightfully-evil-tale-of-pirates-and-children | 2022-08-18T01:38:23Z |
Popular with gay and lesbian tourists, Provincetown, the bustling summer resort on Massachusetts' Cape Cod, is known for its packed beaches and cute boutiques — not for its crime rate. But looking out at Herring Cove one early morning, alone except for the odd seagull pacing the beach, author Jon Loomis points out the place where the corpse of a cross-dresser was found.
"The first body, Reverend Ron, turns up back in those dunes there wearing a dress, and causes a bit of a stir," says Loomis. "It seemed like a good place to dump a body to me."
A poet and a college professor with an ear for comedy, Loomis is referring to one of the victims who turns up in his fictional detective novel Mating Season.
The book is the author's second mystery set in Provincetown and featuring detective Frank Coffin. In his first book, High Season, Loomis describes the grisly death of real estate developer Serena Hench. As Coffin, the son of a sea captain and Yankee born and bred, searches the victim's beautiful trophy house on the bluffs, he is well aware of the differences between Provincetown's newcomers and natives:
Inside, Coffin found himself thinking like a real estate ad: The cathedral-like spaces of the living area afford panoramic water views. In fact, the banks of floor-to-ceiling windows afforded an almost 360-degree view of the outer Cape: Long Point, the harbor, North Truro and Corn Hill. ... Coffin let himself out, climbed into the Dodge — which bucked and coughed before thundering to life — and backed down the long, steep driveway. Serena's house was less than a mile from Coffin's neighborhood, but she might as well have lived in a different universe. There was no panoramic view from Coffin's house, no Motherwell prints artfully arranged. His windows all looked out at other people's houses, shingled in gray cedar, packed in tight.
Provincetown has changed significantly since its inception as a fishing town; the fishing fleet that once sailed its harbor is long gone. Over on Commercial Street, there's only one townie bar left.
The town has dealt with the clash between newcomers and residents since the Pilgrims swiped corn from the Indians. Now Loomis writes about the undercurrent of tension that runs between the mostly gay summer people and the mostly straight year-rounders; between people who want the gray-shingled old ways preserved and the developers who want to build on every bit of beachfront.
In the books and in reality, the locals are totally dependent upon the summer visitors, who eat in the very good restaurants, shop in the very cute boutiques, buy biscuits at the dog bakery and jam the main street of town.
"The thing you have to think about in this town is that the off-season population is about 3,000 — high season it goes up to about 60,000 on a busy weekend," says Loomis. "It's unsettling in a way, and you want to tell them to go home, but to leave their wallets, because we need the money."
Despite this tension, it all works peacefully in real life: Standing on one beautiful beach, which he identifies as "the family beach," Loomis points: "Further down to our left is the lesbian beach, and way beyond that the gay man's beach. It's a funny little segregation but it seems to work for everyone."
But the novels are a different story; on the page, Loomis heaps up the bodies in this peaceful, playful beach town.
"There's a murder here maybe once every seven or eight years," says Loomis. "They don't happen very often, so when you have a book like my first one that's got four or five bodies in it in the space of a few days, people are like, 'That's kind of crazy.' But it's fiction."
Loomis says Provincetown works for his novels because the town is so crazy in the summer that it's impossible to create a character who is over the top. He notes, as an example, Miss Ellie, a local man with long blond hair and a miniskirt singing show tunes with a karaoke box in front of Town Hall.
As we walk down Commercial Street, tourist Bob Walsh, who overheard our conversation about Miss Ellie, stops us: "I heard you chatting at breakfast this morning about Miss Ellie," he says. "Miss Ellie's had the operation, so she wouldn't want to hear you say it's a fellow."
Loomis says he has a couple more Provincetown thrillers featuring Frank Coffin in the works. They use real events as a starting point, including a fire at the Crown & Anchor, the nightclub that hosts the town's famous drag queen show. The nightclub, which actually burned to the ground a few years ago, has remained a powerful image in Loomis' mind.
"Everyone worried that the entire town was going to go up because these great pieces of burning debris were sort of floating through the air," says Loomis. "We all stood on the beach and watched it burn down, and the drag queens wept because all their beautiful outfits burned up."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2009-07-29/beachcombing-for-bodies-in-loomis-provincetown | 2022-08-18T01:38:29Z |
When I was 8 years old, my father took off. He was a damaged, selfish man, but he had good taste in literature. He left a treasure in our basement, a box of science fiction and fantasy including Ray Bradbury's masterpiece, Fahrenheit 451.
Reading this extraordinary novel in the dark basement, where my brother raised mice and rats to sell to pet stores, I was completely enthralled. Bradbury's world was set sometime in the future, in a society where books were so threatening and dangerous, they were burned. And firemen were there not to save, but to destroy. In Bradbury's repressive society, there were also rebels, people willing to give their lives for books, to risk everything and "become" a book, memorizing it so that it could live on even if it was destroyed.
Bradbury's fictional world is a place of great heart and wisdom, a universe of huge imagination where nothing is off-limits. His work defies classification — it's not science fiction or fantasy or realism, but it has elements of all three. Like the best fairy tales, his stories take you to a place of Once Upon A Time where anything can and does happen.
Bradbury's unique style fused the political, the real and the magical. When I myself was becoming a writer, this daring combination allowed me to consider creating alternative realities in fiction. But it was many years later, in 2001, that Fahrenheit 451 actually rescued me. After 9/11, I experienced serious writer's block. Like so many, I had lost faith in the future. If our world was so perilous, if buildings could tumble and planes fall from the sky, what was the point of writing?
I have always believed that the books of youth stay with us in a unique way. The fairy tales, nursery rhymes and novels we read when we're young become part of our DNA. Perhaps that is why I was led back to Fahrenheit 451 after 9/11. It was a brilliant remedy for restoring my faith. In returning to Bradbury territory, I was reminded of just how important books are. Stories are our personal history. In the end, they're all we have. Soon after, I began writing my own post-apocalyptic fairy tale — the tale of a girl who loses everything, yet comes back to life when she begins to tell her own story, just as I had.
I owe Ray Bradbury a huge debt, one that can never be repaid. A few years ago, I was in Los Angeles, where a librarian told me that Bradbury had done more for the L.A. public library than any other author. I wasn't surprised. When I was given his phone number, I hesitantly called, shy to meet my hero. But Bradbury was exactly as I had imagined him to be: gracious and wise. He gave me another gift when we spoke — the chance to thank him. I could let him know that he had changed this reader and writer's life.
You Must Read This is produced and edited by Ellen Silva.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2009-07-30/bradburys-fiction-reignites-an-authors-faith | 2022-08-18T01:38:36Z |
20-Yard Dash: Central
HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) - Central enters this season after a historic run in 2021.
Last year, the Falcons went 11-2 overall, winning their first ever Region 2B title and reaching the State Semifinals.
This fall, many of those players will be returning to the squad, bringing their experience along with an added layer of confidence. Senior Luciano Retrosi is returning at the placekicker position, where he went 34-for-40 on extra points and 3-for-4 on field goals in 2021.
“We have a lot of rising seniors who played last year,” said Retrosi. “I think that experience will carry over to this year... it’ll be good.”
However, the Falcons will have their hands full this season as the team plays without two star athletes: quarterback Ashton Baker and two-way starter Isiah Dyer, both of whom graduated in 2021.
Further, Head Coach Mike Yew is expecting very tough competition in the Shenandoah District.
“I think our district is going to be the most competitive we’ve seen 5-7 years,” said Yew. “Last season, the kids had the opportunity to play in big games so hopefully that will help this year.”
Yew is entering his 16th season at the helm of the program. The Falcons will be looking to uphold their reputation as a physical team that relies on rough plays while running the ball.
“We’re always knocking heads,” said senior offensive and defensive lineman Gaige Lewis. “We get a lot of our strength from hitting.”
According to senior center and defensive tackle Benji Mullins, the linemen will be crucial in maintaining team morale as the Falcons open their season against Page County next Friday.
“As linemen, it’s important for us to go out there and set the tone,” said Mullins. “We can’t ever be down about the game because we’re helping to keep everyone going.”
Central - 2022 Schedule
8/26 - at Page County*
9/2 - vs. Madison County*
9/9 - vs. East Rockingham*
9/16 - vs. Clarke County*
9/23 - vs. Colonial Beach
9/30 - at Broadway
10/7 - vs. Luray*
10/14 - at Skyline
10/28 - at William Monroe
11/4 - vs. Strasburg*
*Shenandoah District Opponent
Copyright 2022 WHSV. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/18/20-yard-dash-central/ | 2022-08-18T01:52:38Z |
Geomagnetic storm: Northern lights to be visible as far south as Oregon, Pennsylvania
(CNN) - More Americans may get a glimpse of an amazing nature show this week without leaving the U.S.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says several eruptions from the sun over the weekend are headed towards Earth. Those eruptions could cause intense geomagnetic storms as soon as Thursday.
NOAA has issued a geomagnetic storm watch until Friday and reports those storms could shift the aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, further south.
That means if weather permits, people as far south as Pennsylvania, Iowa and Oregon may be able to see the light show.
The agency notes that the geomagnetic storms could also disrupt the electric power grid and select radio and satellite operations.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/18/geomagnetic-storm-northern-lights-be-visible-far-south-oregon-pennsylvania/ | 2022-08-18T01:52:44Z |
The Existing Notes will be exchanged for New Notes with the same coupon and no dilution to shareholders at scheduled maturity versus the Existing Notes and no upfront cost
MIAMI, Aug. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK) today announced that Carnival Corporation (the "Company"), Carnival plc and certain of their subsidiaries (the "Subsidiary Guarantors") have entered into separate, privately negotiated exchange agreements with certain holders of the Company's outstanding 5.75% Convertible Senior Notes due 2023 (the "Existing Notes") pursuant to which the Company will exchange $339 million in aggregate principal amount of Existing Notes for $339 million in aggregate principal amount of new 5.75% Convertible Senior Notes due October 2024 (the "New Notes" and such exchange, the "Exchange").
The New Notes will have the same initial conversion price as the Existing Notes, representing no dilution to shareholders at scheduled maturity versus the Existing Notes, the same coupon and no upfront cost to the Company. As a result of the eighteen-month extension, the New Notes will mature on October 1, 2024 and be fully and unconditionally guaranteed on a senior unsecured basis by Carnival plc and the Subsidiary Guarantors. Following the closing of the Exchange, $183 million in aggregate principal amount of Existing Notes will remain outstanding. The Exchange is expected to close on August 22, 2022, subject to customary closing conditions.
The New Notes were offered pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"). The New Notes and the shares of common stock issuable upon conversion of the New Notes, if any, will not be registered under the Securities Act or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and applicable state laws.
PJT Partners is serving as independent financial advisor to the Company and Carnival plc.
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy the New Notes or any other securities and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration and qualification under the securities laws of such state or jurisdiction. This announcement contains inside information (for the purposes of applicable UK law).
Carnival Corporation & plc is one of the world's largest leisure travel companies with a portfolio of nine of the world's leading cruise lines. With operations in North America, Australia, Europe and Asia, its portfolio features Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, P&O Cruises (Australia), Seabourn, Costa Cruises, AIDA Cruises, P&O Cruises (UK) and Cunard.
Carnival Corporation and Carnival plc and their respective subsidiaries are referred to collectively in this press release as "Carnival Corporation & plc," "our," "us" and "we." Some of the statements, estimates or projections contained in this press release are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions with respect to us, including some statements concerning the financing transactions described herein, future results, operations, outlooks, plans, goals, reputation, cash flows, liquidity and other events which have not yet occurred. These statements are intended to qualify for the safe harbors from liability provided by Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements other than statements of historical facts are statements that could be deemed forward-looking. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about our business and the industry in which we operate and the beliefs and assumptions of our management. We have tried, whenever possible, to identify these statements by using words like "will," "may," "could," "should," "would," "believe," "depends," "expect," "goal," "aspiration," "anticipate," "forecast," "project," "future," "intend," "plan," "estimate," "target," "indicate," "outlook," and similar expressions of future intent or the negative of such terms.
Forward-looking statements include those statements that relate to our outlook and financial position including, but not limited to, statements regarding:
Because forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, there are many factors that could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by our forward-looking statements. This note contains important cautionary statements of the known factors that we consider could materially affect the accuracy of our forward-looking statements and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial position. Additionally, many of these risks and uncertainties are currently amplified by and will continue to be amplified by, or in the future may be amplified by, COVID-19. It is not possible to predict or identify all such risks. There may be additional risks that we consider immaterial or which are unknown. These factors include, but are not limited to, the following:
- COVID-19 has had, and is expected to continue to have, a significant impact on our financial condition and operations. The current, and uncertain future, impact of COVID-19, including its effect on the ability or desire of people to travel (including on cruises), is expected to continue to impact our results, operations, outlooks, plans, goals, reputation, litigation, cash flows, liquidity, and stock price;
- events and conditions around the world, including war and other military actions, such as the current invasion of Ukraine, heightened inflation and other general concerns impacting the ability or desire of people to travel, have led, and may in the future lead, to a decline in demand for cruises, impacting our operating costs and profitability;
- incidents concerning our ships, guests or the cruise vacation industry have in the past and may, in the future, impact the satisfaction of our guests and crew and lead to reputational damage;
- changes in and non-compliance with laws and regulations under which we operate, such as those relating to health, environment, safety and security, data privacy and protection, anti-corruption, economic sanctions, trade protection and tax have in the past and may, in the future, lead to litigation, enforcement actions, fines, penalties and reputational damage;
- factors associated with climate change, including evolving and increasing regulations, increasing global concern about climate change and the shift in climate conscious consumerism and stakeholder scrutiny, and increasing frequency and/or severity of adverse weather conditions could adversely affect our business;
- inability to meet or achieve our sustainability related goals, aspirations, initiatives, and our public statements and disclosures regarding them, may expose us to risks that may adversely impact our business;
- breaches in data security and lapses in data privacy as well as disruptions and other damages to our principal offices, information technology operations and system networks and failure to keep pace with developments in technology may adversely impact our business operations, the satisfaction of our guests and crew and may lead to reputational damage;
- the loss of key employees, our inability to recruit or retain qualified shoreside and shipboard employees and increased labor costs could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations;
- increases in fuel prices, changes in the types of fuel consumed and availability of fuel supply may adversely impact our scheduled itineraries and costs;
- we rely on supply chain vendors who are integral to the operations of our businesses. These vendors and service providers are also affected by COVID-19 and may be unable to deliver on their commitments which could impact our business;
- fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates may adversely impact our financial results;
- overcapacity and competition in the cruise and land-based vacation industry may lead to a decline in our cruise sales, pricing and destination options;
- inability to implement our shipbuilding programs and ship repairs, maintenance and refurbishments may adversely impact our business operations and the satisfaction of our guests; and
- the risk factors included in Carnival Corporation's and Carnival plc's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on January 27, 2022 and Carnival Corporation's and Carnival plc's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on March 28, 2022 and June 29, 2022.
The ordering of the risk factors set forth above is not intended to reflect our indication of priority or likelihood.
Forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as a prediction of actual results. Subject to any continuing obligations under applicable law or any relevant stock exchange rules, we expressly disclaim any obligation to disseminate, after the date of this document, any updates or revisions to any such forward-looking statements to reflect any change in expectations or events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements are based. Forward-looking and other statements in this document may also address our sustainability progress, plans, and goals (including climate change and environmental-related matters). In addition, historical, current, and forward-looking sustainability-related statements may be based on standards for measuring progress that are still developing, internal controls and processes that continue to evolve, and assumptions that are subject to change in the future.
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SOURCE Carnival Corporation & plc | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/carnival-corporation-amp-plc-announces-extension-maturity-339-million-convertible-notes-existing-575-rate/ | 2022-08-18T01:52:50Z |
TAMPA, Fla., Aug. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Dallas Vit has been named Chief Information Officer of Fay Servicing. With over 15 years of experience in the industry, Vit will lead the technology team for the organization, including application development, technology infrastructure, information security, and data management.
"Dallas brings with him a progressive track record in technology solutions coupled with a diverse acumen across capital markets, analytics, asset management, operations, loan servicing, and originations," said Fay Servicing's President Kimberly Hare. "We are thrilled to have Dallas Vit as a part of our team."
Most recently, Vit served as the Chief Information Officer for Roosevelt Management Company, a New York–based investment management firm, where he was instrumental in developing and scaling technology and analytical solutions for Rushmore Loan Management Services. Originally from the Midwest, Vit earned his MBA and BA in Management Information Systems from The University of Northern Iowa.
At Fay, Vit will leverage the breadth and depth of his experience to continue to drive the firm's customer-centric and data driven approach to providing mortgage loan solutions to help borrowers across the country. "We couldn't be happier with this addition. Dallas has a well-rounded background and is a great fit for our team and our businesses," according to CEO Ed Fay.
Vit added, "It's exciting to join a firm with a solid foundation and such diversity in their business model. This team has a great reputation in the servicing business and their ancillary companies give us great opportunities!"
Fay Servicing is a mortgage servicer with more than 130,000 residential and commercial customers across the U.S. Fay employs more than 400 individuals nationwide and is based in Tampa, Florida.
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SOURCE Fay Servicing, LLC | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/dallas-vit-technology-pro-joins-fay-servicing-cio/ | 2022-08-18T01:52:57Z |
BEIJING, Aug. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The China Film Director Center came into being with the era's new and huge developments in China's film and television industry. It is the first film and television industry chain complex created in China after the end of the studio era. In its early stages, this whole-chain film and television complex, which was actualized "from a draft into actual work," participated in the production of a large number of phenomenal Chinese films and nearly 600 movies and television shows, with total box office revenue exceeding RMB ¥100 billion yuan. However, the pandemic forced a stop to many Chinese film markets. What is the current situation with the China Film Director Center?
Xin Zheng, the General Manager of the China Film Director Center stated that during the most serious period of the pandemic in 2020, China Film Director Center still ensured that the post-production of the film Eight Hundred would proceed while taking measures to prevent infection in the crew, guaranteeing the film's successful release.
Zheng said, "Thanks to our smooth operations, the China Film Director Center has had healthy development since its establishment. Our operations make it possible for us to remain calm when times get difficult." When talking about development in the past decade, Zheng said that the Center has stepped out of its own comfort zone by relying on 4 innovative concepts, which not only promote the development of the entire Chinese film industry, but maximize the operational benefits with imagination-driven business growth.
Zheng said that the establishment of the China Film Director Center stemmed from a beautiful "vision." "In 2010, we saw the shortcomings of extensive and technological lag in producing Chinese film and television and hoped to industrialize the industry in China. The first concept we pushed for was creating the first Chinese Hollywood-style film and television industry chain complex." Driven by this idea, the China Film Director Center was established in July 2012, a progressive move in the Chinese film and television industry at the time. Once it was founded, it established a complete industrialized system of pre-planning, creating, shooting, post-production, special effects, etc., and formed a centralized set of operations and production from "a story" to "a film."
During that period, various cultural parks began to spring up, almost like mushrooms after heavy rain. "However, cultural parks must understand culture, understand the needs of culture, and understand how people of a certain culture act. The product attributes of cultural parks are cultural attributes. The China Film Director Center was focused on its first concept: to build a cultural park for the film and television industry, and more importantly, to have the China Film Director Center as the first film and television park in China built by film and television practitioners themselves," stated Zheng, who graduated with a degree in Photography from Beijing Film Academy. The Center's second concept is the direction of the film and television industry, where it aims to progress past the traditional rental-type park operation model. The perception of the industry right now is that its focus is too narrow and "pure."
In order to achieve great heights in this field, the Center's operation team and architects have followed the directors for a long time, learning their needs for space according to each director's working habits and the characteristics of different film and television production companies, essentially creating tailor-made product spaces. Zheng said: "The product spaces we present are at the top of the industry, which naturally attracts an active influx of resources and generates cash flow."
Zheng said that although the Center's product spaces have been perfected, this is only the most basic aspect it has fully refined. "What we are thinking about is how to use the China Film Director Center to present the main characteristics of film and television to the greatest extent possible and create breakthroughs in the industry. At this time, having a huge studio with a total area of 2,000 square meters and no pillars is a major advantage for us, making the China Film Director Center a 'place for cultural events' and 'the place where the brand events take place', which became the third 'concept' of the Center."
The China Film Director Center is home to one of the world's two largest film directors' associations: the China Film Directors Association, bringing together 471 top directors from across the Taiwan Strait and three regions. As the host of the China Film Directors Association Annual Awards Ceremony, the China Film Director Center has become "China's Kodak Cinema." Every year, the star-studded red carpet attracts the attention of the outside world, making the Center quickly transform into an extravagant movie theater. As the first choice for premieres and high-end releases, the Center organizes and executes more than 100 annual corporate meetings, public relations events, product launches and promotions, exhibitions, catwalks, and performing arts shows every year, including TV column recordings, which have led to the Center becoming a thriving business hub.
Regarding the fourth concept, Zheng remarked: "In order to expand the Center's path for the future, we also proposed to focus on the product attributes of cultural products. This is the concept of operating with culture, which is the embodiment of the commercial core value of cultural products." The China Film Director Center has the best production teams in terms of planning, creativity, shooting, post-production, special effects, music, sound, animation, as well as visual effects and visual packaging from the film industry both at home and abroad. The Center integrates resources to operate its film-based business: media content is its main commercial product, and with movie-quality production standards and story structures, hundreds of commercial micro-films, advertisements, promotional films, and image films have been filmed for various brands and institutions, including the first series of commercial brand documentaries in China. The Center has created a precedent in the industry and has made itself a "well-known IP" for audio-visual content. Zheng joked that the commercials produced by the China Film Director Center were essentially a "dimensionality reduction blow" for other advertising companies.
"Without content, there's no media and without media, there's no marketing," said Zheng. "The China Film Director Center respects Universal's business model very much. Universal's film content accounts for 26% of its cash flow income and 74% of its revenue. There's the cash income of the real estate sector, but real estate only accounts for 22% of the price-earnings ratio, and the remaining 78% comes from the content sector. Inspired by this model, China Film Director Center put effort into making a lot of entertainment marketing products, showing the possibilities of the 'movie+' concept, and embedding cultural experience into the products and services for various customers through stars, events, scene implantation, and other means to satisfy consumers. The demand for upgrades in consumption will in turn introduce high-quality customers to the industry chain sector and achieve cross-border integration."
Through the execution of these four concepts, the China Film Director Center has revitalized its resources, has short-term cash flow in its development model, medium-term high-profit projects, and long-term and creative content. Zheng said this: "A healthy company can only thrive when all sectors work together, which is also necessary to avoid the risk of insufficient cash flow that other Chinese film companies experience."
As a result, the China Film Director Center has successfully operated three major business sectors, including the "Comprehensive Film and Television Industry Chain Complex", "Professional Top-Class Content Production", and "360° Entertainment Integrated Marketing." Zheng said that in the future, Chinese films will achieve regional development, and "Chinese video" will become mainstream. For this reason, the China Film Director Center has been actively preparing to welcome the arrival of the next window of opportunity.
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SOURCE China Film Director Center | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/general-manager-china-film-director-center-xin-zheng-how-pandemic-turned-into-foundation-propelling-film-amp-television-industry-new-era/ | 2022-08-18T01:53:04Z |
NEW YORK, Aug. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, announces it has filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of purchasers of the securities of MINISO Group Holding Limited (NYSE: MNSO) pursuant and/or traceable to the registration statement and related prospectus (collectively, the "Registration Statement") issued in connection with MINISO's October 2020 initial public offering (the "IPO"). If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than October 17, 2022.
SO WHAT: If you purchased MINISO securities you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement.
WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the MINISO class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=7814 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email pkim@rosenlegal.com or cases@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than October 17, 2022. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.
WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources or any meaningful peer recognition. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.
DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, the Registration Statement featured false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) defendants and other undisclosed related parties owned and controlled a much larger amount of MINISO stores than previously stated; (2) as a result, MINISO concealed its true costs; (3) the Company did not represent its true business model; (4) defendants, including the Company and its Chairman, engaged in planned unusual and unclear transactions; (5) as a result of at least one of these transactions, the Company is at risk of breaching contracts with Chinese authorities; (6) the Company would imminently and drastically drop its franchise fees; and (7) as a result of the foregoing, defendants' statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.
To join the MINISO class action, go https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=7814 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email pkim@rosenlegal.com or cases@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action.
No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.
Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/.
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Contact Information:
Laurence Rosen, Esq.
Phillip Kim, Esq.
The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.
275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Tel: (212) 686-1060
Toll Free: (866) 767-3653
Fax: (212) 202-3827
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pkim@rosenlegal.com,
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SOURCE Rosen Law Firm, P.A. | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/globally-recognized-rosen-law-firm-encourages-miniso-group-holding-limited-investors-secure-counsel-before-important-deadline-first-filed-securities-class-action-initiated-by-firm-mnso/ | 2022-08-18T01:53:10Z |
Parker Meeks Appointed President and Interim Chief Executive Officer; Replacing Craig Knight
George Gu Transitions to Non-Executive Chairman
ROCHESTER, N.Y., Aug. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyzon Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: HYZN) ("Hyzon" or "the Company"), a leading global supplier of zero-emission fuel cell electric heavy-duty vehicles, today announced the Company's Board of Directors has appointed Parker Meeks, most recently Hyzon's Chief Strategy Officer, as President and Interim Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately, replacing Craig Knight who is also departing from his role as a director of the Company. Mr. Meeks will assume full responsibility for day-to-day management of all business lines and functions reporting to the Company's Board of Directors (the "Board"). The Board plans to initiate a search to identify potential external and internal candidates to serve as the Company's next CEO.
"Parker Meeks has the depth and breadth of experience in the energy, infrastructure, and transportation sectors to provide the leadership and operational expertise Hyzon needs at this critical juncture in the global energy transition. The Board is confident Mr. Meeks brings the right skillset that we need at this time," commented Elaine Wong, Hyzon's Lead Independent Director.
"I am honored that the Board has entrusted me to lead Hyzon," said Parker Meeks. "My priority is to ensure the Company's manufacturing capacity is in place with the ability to scale production efficiently. I believe our core fuel cell technology is a distinct competitive advantage, that will allow us to innovate and introduce high-performance vehicles that support the transition to clean energy."
Additionally, George Gu has transitioned from his executive role with the Company to the non-executive Chairman of the Board. In his role as non-executive Chairman, Mr. Gu will remain available to provide strategic counsel to Mr. Meeks specifically related to R&D initiatives.
About Parker Meeks
Parker Meeks has nearly two decades of experience supporting businesses in the energy, infrastructure, and transportation sectors, including development of emerging energy technologies and supply networks. He has served as our Chief Strategy Officer since June 2021. From November 2018 to January 2021, Mr. Meeks served as President, Infrastructure Sector for TRC Companies, a design and construction management business in transportation, renewable energy and water resources end markets. Prior to that, from February 2012 to October 2018, Mr. Meeks served as Partner of McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting services company that Mr. Meeks joined in July 2005. Mr. Meeks served as the Managing Partner of McKinsey & Company's Houston office from June 2013 to June 2016. Mr. Meeks holds an M.B.A in Finance from William Marsh Rice University and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University.
About Hyzon Motors
Hyzon is a global leader in fuel cell electric mobility, with US operations in the Rochester, Chicago and Detroit areas, and international operations in the Netherlands, China, Australia, and Germany. Hyzon is an energy transition accelerator and technology innovator, providing end-to-end solutions in the transport sector with a focus on commercial vehicles and hydrogen supply infrastructure. Utilizing its proven and proprietary hydrogen fuel cell technology, Hyzon aims to supply zero-emission heavy duty trucks and buses to customers in North America, Europe and around the world to mitigate emissions from diesel transportation, which is one of the single largest sources of carbon emissions globally. The Company is contributing to the escalating adoption of fuel cell electric vehicles through its demonstrated technology advantage, leading fuel cell performance and history of rapid innovation. Visit www.hyzonmotors.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of present or historical fact included in this press release, are forward-looking statements. When used in this press release, the words "could," "should," "will," "may," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "expect," "project," the negative of such terms and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and assumptions about future events and are based on currently available information as to the outcome and timing of future events. Except as otherwise required by applicable law, Hyzon disclaims any duty to update any forward-looking statements, all of which are expressly qualified by the statements in this section, to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release. Hyzon cautions you that these forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the control of Hyzon, including risks and uncertainties described in the "Risk Factors" section of Hyzon's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on March 30, 2022, our Amended Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the SEC on April 6, 2021, and other documents filed by Hyzon from time to time with the SEC. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Hyzon gives no assurances that Hyzon will achieve its expectations.
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SOURCE Hyzon Motors Inc. | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/hyzon-motors-announces-leadership-transition/ | 2022-08-18T01:53:30Z |
New plant-based, limited-ingredient shampoos and conditioners deliver on the brand's mission — providing pets and their parents with the highest quality CBD solutions.
DENVER, Aug. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pet Releaf, the industry's first and leading plant-based pet health brand, is announcing a brand-new line of grooming products ahead of SuperZoo, North America's largest pet retailer event. Formulated by their expert veterinary staff, the new collection includes four plant-powered shampoos and conditioners.
"We are thrilled to enter the grooming category for the first time this year, and give pet parents all-natural, plant-based grooming options for their dogs," said Co-Founder Chelsea Gennings.
The four Skin & Coat Releaf shampoos and conditioners are expertly formulated with all-natural, plant-based ingredients like organic aloe vera extract, organic chamomile, and USDA organic full-spectrum hemp extract with naturally occurring cannabinoids. Pet Releaf's Grooming products are all made in an FDA-registered facility in the U.S.
In an effort to give pet owners a safe, plant-based, limited-ingredient option for their dogs, Skin & Coat Releaf products are hypoallergenic, dye-free, vegan-friendly, Pet PH-balanced, detergent-free, and cruelty-free. Continuing their sustainability efforts, Pet Releaf's new line makes grooming better for pets and the planet.
New products include:
Skin & Coat Releaf Shampoo Itchy & Dry Skin Formula: For dogs that struggle with hot spots, dryness, and scratching, this plant-based shampoo includes ingredients like organic aloe, organic oatmeal, and organic full spectrum hemp extract with CBD to promote healthy, itch-free skin.
Skin & Coat Releaf Shampoo Sensitive Skin Formula: A fragrance-free, plant-based shampoo formulated with organic aloe, organic chamomile, organic calendula, and organic full spectrum hemp extract with CBD, this sensitive formula is designed for dogs of any age sensitive to regular grooming products.
Skin & Coat Releaf 2-in-1 Shampoo and Conditioner: Formulated with organic aloe, kelp, organic oat protein, shea butter, and organic full spectrum hemp extract with CBD, this plant-based shampoo/conditioner is designed for dogs as an easy to use, grooming product.
Skin & Coat Releaf Conditioner Soothing & Silkening Formula: For dogs with coarse or long hair who need a little extra conditioning, this plant-based conditioner includes silk protein, argan oil, and organic full spectrum hemp extract with CBD to give your dog a smooth, silky coat.
To learn more about Pet Releaf, visit petreleaf.com.
About Pet Releaf
Pet Releaf is the original plant-based pet health brand — supporting pets, their parents, and the planet with sustainably made, veterinarian-formulated hemp-based solutions. Since its founding more than a decade ago, the company has led the industry with its commitment to education, transparency, and most of all, effectiveness, and has transformed the lives of more than 4 million pets and their families. Sourced on regenerative farms in Colorado and awarded the NASC quality seal, Pet Releaf's products help reduce discomfort and irritation, support calm behavior and optimal digestion, and promote long-term health and general wellness. Learn more at petreleaf.com.
Media Contact
Miranda Carney
mirandac@petreleaf.com
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SOURCE Pet Releaf | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/pet-releaf-original-plant-based-pet-health-brand-launches-line-cbd-dog-grooming-products/ | 2022-08-18T01:53:36Z |
** Credit Union Branches Accepting Donations of New Backpacks for Local High School Students **
** Each Backpack Donated Equals a Chance to Meet Football Pro Terrell Burgess**
TORRANCE, Calif., Aug. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- UNIFY Financial Credit Union (UNIFY) has launched a school backpack and supply drive in partnership with Los Angeles Rams Safety #26 Terrell Burgess and Walmart to support local high school students.
Through August 20th, UNIFY invites community members to help our students start the new school year ready to learn by dropping off a new backpack and school supplies to select branch locations. Every backpack donation will qualify for an entry to win an in-person meet up with LA world champion Terrell Burgess on August 21, 2022.
UNIFY encourages community members to visit their local Walmart, Walmart.com, or any retailer to purchase a new standard-sized backpack with the following supplies:
A credit union partner with the Los Angeles Rams since 2018, UNIFY will distribute all backpacks and school supplies to students in need in time for the fall school year. More information about UNIFY's Backpack Drive in partnership with Terrell Burgess and Walmart can be found here.
About UNIFY Financial Credit Union
UNIFY Financial Credit Union is one of the nation's leading credit unions, with $3.6 billion in assets and more than 260,000 members across the country. UNIFY has branches nationwide, with regional offices located in Torrance, CA; Las Vegas, NV; Mesa, AZ; and Allen, TX. Please visit UnifyFCU.com for more information.
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SOURCE UNIFY Financial Credit Union | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/unify-financial-credit-union-teams-up-with-football-pro-safety-terrell-burgess-amp-walmart-school-backpack-drive/ | 2022-08-18T01:53:48Z |
WAILUKU, Hawaii (KITV4) -- How much is too much when it comes to tourism? Maui County is considering one measure in the hopes of finding a balance.
In an effort to establish a more definite cap on the number of visitor accommodations throughout Maui County, proposed Resolution 22-70 looks to restrict the development of new hotels and vacation rentals.
Presented to the council earlier this year, the measure was met with great met with great support and opposition.
“Hospitality is work, hospitality is a Hawaiian word. Ho'okipa. This is something that is meaningful to those of us who are from Hawaii and to all of us who call Hawaii home,” said American Hotel and Lodging Association spokesperson Kekoa McClellan.
Since its introduction, Maui County has reached its highest volume of visitors since January 2020.
“We're over capacity. And that's what we're hearing. So our residents have been suffering the impacts of over-tourism,” said Council Vice Chairwoman Keani Rawlins-Fernandez.
Those in favor of the measure emphasize that the county currently stands 16% over its target visitor-to-resident population ratio.
Meanwhile, opponents argue that restrictions would have irreversible economic effects and would compromise the local workforce.
“A space that has been supported by our local construction industry. A space that employs our local people like you and me, our family, our neighbors, 110,000 people in Hawaii,” McClellan said.
Rawlins-Fernandez introduced the measure and says that is not the case.
“Transient vacation rentals that are currently operating as the established cap. The jobs associated with those units should not be affected by the passage of this legislation. Telling hotel workers that their jobs would be lost because of this bill is just a scare tactic,” Rawlins-Fernandez said.
Rawlins-Fernandez says that this piece of legislation was established to address the concerns of residents within Maui County.
If other counties choose to follow suit, that's great. But setting precedent pa'aina wide is not the purpose of this bill,” she said.
Resolution 22-70 will be heard by the Lanai Planning Commission Wednesday night with further hearings by the Maui Planning Commission expected at the end of September. | https://www.kitv.com/news/business/maui-county-considering-measure-to-prevent-over-tourism/article_0317538a-1e91-11ed-9ae5-9f3616fa637d.html | 2022-08-18T02:01:29Z |
HONOLULU (KITV4) -- Two teen boys were arrested after allegedly injuring a woman and stealing her purse.
The alleged incident happened at a business in the Kalihi area, Monday around 10:15 p.m.
According to a report by Honolulu Police (HPD), the two suspects – only identified as a 16-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy – entered the business and approached the victim, a 60-year-old woman.
Police said one of the boys grabbed the woman’s purse while the other boy pointed a weapon at her. Both teens demanded the woman drop her purse before yanking it out of her arms.
The act of yanking the purse away from the woman caused her to fall and injure herself, police said. The severity of the injury was not revealed.
After snatching the purse, the two teens took off on foot. Responding police officers soon located two boys matching the description of the alleged purse snatchers. The teens were positively identified and arrested on one complaint each of first-degree robbery.
Counsel representing the teens has filed to have the charges lowered to second-degree robbery.
The names of the suspects have not been released due to their age.
An update on the condition of the victim has not been given.
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. | https://www.kitv.com/news/crime/honolulu-teens-accused-of-stealing-purse-injuring-60-year-old-woman-in-kalihi/article_62a9a396-1e89-11ed-96b4-37c4bfd6cb64.html | 2022-08-18T02:01:35Z |
Whitney Houston's new album, I Look To You, her first new release since 2002, features work from a variety of songwriters and producers, including R Kelly, Diane Warren and David Foster. I've already read one review of the album that refers to it as "gorgeous," and another that calls it "a return to her classic sound." I disagree. One reason I like this collection of songs so much is that Houston's voice is rougher and more open-throated than it's been since she became a star. And the songs themselves are, in general, less bombastic, more precise and detailed, than her biggest hits.
The disco rhythm of "Million Dollar Bill" doesn't come off as nostalgic or retro or out-of-touch: It quickly establishes itself as a solid R&B background to Houston's singing about a man who makes her feel good. Co-written by Alicia Keys, it's the lead-off cut on I Look To You, and sets the collection's prevailing tone: energetic and positive without being sappy or frantic. Working with her long-time boss and collaborator, Clive Davis, Houston has done something very smart here: She doesn't update her sound with hip-hop beats or street slang. Instead, she stands her ground and retains her own voice, both literally and metaphorically.
Of course, Houston cannot ultimately resist including a few blow-the-roof-off ballads. She waits a while to get around to it, though, until the album's seventh cut. The song is called "I Didn't Know My Own Strength." It's about, you know, "getting through the pain," "holding my head up high" and finding "light out of the dark." It's big, it's florid, but it doesn't tip over-the-top. Its stately piano figures and Houston's vocal restraint keep the song rooted in a way some of her mega-hits were not.
Houston also pulls off something on this album I didn't think I'd want to hear: another version of the Leon Russell oldie "A Song For You." For one thing, she's got the authority to make palatable the song's premise, a big star professing to act like a vulnerable, "normal" person. She and her producers also do a clever thing after that intro — about 90 seconds in, the song bursts into a disco arrangement that gives the chorus an energy that freshens and revitalizes its sentiments.
It's odd to think that Whitney Houston, who's done more than any other contemporary singer to enshrine the "diva" style of pop singing, is currently probably known to young audiences more for her tabloid troubles with drugs and her ex-husband Bobby Brown than for her performances: She's been Beyonce'ed and Mariah'ed to the margins of pop. This album is her way of getting back in the game, and Houston does it with great skill, shrewdness and a paradox: powerhouse humility.
Copyright 2022 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air. | https://www.keranews.org/2009-09-09/whitney-houston-pushing-back-into-pop | 2022-08-18T02:02:22Z |
Capt. Benjamin Tupper has some stories to tell about his work with new Afghan soldiers. His new book, Welcome to Afghanistan: Send More Ammo, details his time as an embedded trainer in the Afghan National Army.
Tupper, a member of the Army National Guard, calls the troops he worked with "The Flip-Flop Army."
"Afghan soldiers — it's a new army. It's a young army," Tupper tells NPR's Renee Montagne. "And there's really no uniformity, per se.
"It wouldn't be uncommon to have some Afghan soldiers jump out of a pickup truck in pursuit of Taliban wearing flip-flops or basketball sneakers, Speedo swim goggles, baseball caps, New York Yankee T-shirts — the gamut."
But, Tupper said, that doesn't keep the soldiers from staying in "fighting form."
"They come from a tradition of individual fighters," Tupper says. "That is how you make your reputation. Individual acts of bravery and courage."
Some of the funniest things happen when your life is on the line and you do something stupid.
In fact, Tupper says he heard many American soldiers say of the Afghan soldiers: "These guys are braver than anybody I've ever seen."
Tupper calls his book a tragicomedy, although he's aware of the danger in calling a book about war a comedy. But Tupper thinks some of the most dangerous moments on the battlefield can also be the most amusing.
"Some of the funniest things happen when your life is on the line and you do something stupid," Tupper says. "And you go back that night, and you sit around the base, and you retell the stories, and you'll never laugh harder."
Tupper maintained a blog during his work with the Afghan National Army. "I found it very therapeutic," he says of the blog.
"And I didn't spare any details. I had to be open and honest about what was going on and what it was doing to me and how difficult it was," Tupper said.
"You know, the Army gave me pills for sleeping, and pills for anxiety and depression — but for me, writing is what worked the most."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2009-09-14/training-a-flip-flop-army | 2022-08-18T02:02:28Z |
Photographer Roy DeCarava, who died Oct. 27 at age 89, dedicated his 60-year career to capturing images of African Americans. His subjects ranged from daily life in his hometown of Harlem to the Civil Rights movement, but his most noted work featured photographs of jazz greats like Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong.
DeCarava studied painting and printmaking at the Cooper Union School of Art and the George Washington Carver Art School before taking up photography in the late 1940s. He returned to those schools to teach in the 1970s.
Tthe first black photographer to win a Guggenheim Fellowship, DeCarava was also awarded the National Medal of Arts. He founded A Photographer's Gallery in an attempt to gain public recognition for photography as a form of art.
In 1996, his work was the subject of a major traveling retrospective organized by the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
This interview was originally broadcast in May, 1996.
Copyright 2022 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air. | https://www.keranews.org/2009-10-30/remembering-roy-decaravas-60-years-of-photos | 2022-08-18T02:17:45Z |
The British sci-fi television series Life on Mars features a police inspector named Sam Tyler who is hit by a car in 2006 and awakens to find himself in 1973, living in a world in which everyone smokes and telephones still have dials. He also finds himself reporting to a fast-talking, chauvinistic boss named Gene Hunt.
Actor Philip Glenister, who plays Hunt, tells Scott Simon that the role is "quite joyous" to take on — particularly insomuch as he's able to get away with behavior that would be frowned upon today.
"[Hunt] gets away with ... a huge amount of things that I — or anybody else — wouldn't be allowed to say, unfortunately, in this day and age," says Glenister.
Though it's technically a sci-fi detective series, Glenister says the show — the inspiration for the ABC series of the same name — also has elements of the great spaghetti westerns.
"I think that Gene basically sees himself as the sheriff of his town, and he's there to kick out the bad guys and embrace the good guys," Glenister says.
One of Glenister's favorite moments in the series comes when Tyler spots a poster of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in Hunt's office. He asks which one Hunt is, to which Glenister's character responds: "All three."
Glenister praises the series' script-writing — which includes lines like "more nervous than a small nun at a penguin shoot" — and defends his character, calling him "a decent guy. ... firm but fair."
Glenister's previous film credits include the 2003 film Calendar Girls. He just finished a project with Woody Allen, and is continuing his role as Hunt in the Life on Mars sequel series Ashes to Ashes. Both seasons of the original BBC series, meanwhile, have recently been released on DVD.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2009-11-07/good-bad-and-ugly-meet-in-life-on-mars | 2022-08-18T02:31:48Z |
In the last few years, some enterprising younger players have reinvented the piano-bass-drums jazz combo. It's not just that these trios play contemporary pop; it's also a shift in attitude. Vijay Iyer's trio doesn't worry about swinging all the time, although the buoyancy of swing inflects its rhythms as much as hip-hop does. Some great pianists treat the instrument as a whispering sylvan harp. But Iyer treats piano — or the piano trio — like a boom box: a rhythm machine. In Stevie Wonder's "Big Brother," Iyer reminds us that jazz versions of radio pop are nothing new, sneaking in a quote from Ramsey Lewis' '60s hit "The In Crowd."
Historicity includes some good Iyer tunes, including a couple of his own oldies, but they're trumped by his readings of fellow composers' stuff. One more way Iyer breaks with tradition — or, rather, reconnects to an older jazz tradition — is by improvising from the melody more than a song's underlying chords. In Leonard Bernstein's "Somewhere," Iyer uses limber touch and timing to surprise you just playing the melody. If that weren't enough, bassist Stephan Crump and drummer Marcus Gilmore ride two separate swing grooves.
Iyer also covers a too-obscure jazz classic, the title track from one of the great un-reissued '70s albums, saxophonist Julius Hemphill's "Dogon A.D." The trio re-orchestrates the arid melody, but catches every rhythmic twist and hiccup in the original; bassist Crump gets the bluesy groan of Hemphill cellist Abdul Wadud.
What's so impressive about Vijay Iyer's trio isn't that it plays venerable standards, forgotten jazz classics or hip-hop-inflected pop — it's that it hears all that as part of a single continuum, material equally adaptable to its methods. That's another way to say that Historicity treats jazz like living music. It's still breathing.
Copyright 2022 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air. | https://www.keranews.org/2009-11-09/losing-jazzs-preconceptions-with-historicity | 2022-08-18T02:31:54Z |
By the time a headline makes it to the front page of The Onion, it has already beaten out up to 800 other headlines vying for the same spot of treasured comedic real estate. So the headlines that made yet another cut — to be featured in The Onion's latest book, Our Front Pages — are pretty much the cream of the satirical crop.
The ironically self-important tome (it's more than a foot tall) promises to entertain readers with "21 Years of Greatness, Virtue and Moral Rectitude" culled from the archives of America's Finest News Source.
Onion story ideas are generated headline first, Onion editors Joe Randazzo and Joe Garden tell NPR's Renee Montagne.
"The headlines come from long periods of desperation, boredom and a fleeting panic that we have to get our assignment done in time for the Monday meeting," explains features editor Garden.
Seeing stupidity everywhere can quickly become a full-time job.
"I've even talked to writers who've told me that it's an obsession," says Randazzo. "Nearly everything that they see, think or do gets instantly reframed into this kind of headline."
So The Onion's stories end up running the gamut from observations about the little injustices of everyday life (Chipotle Employee Just Gave Guy In Front Of You More Rice) to sobering commentary on global events (Hijackers Surprised To Find Selves In Hell).
(Garden says he initially thought that the hijacker headline — which appeared in the issue of The Onion that came out immediately after Sept. 11 — was "too pandering," but it turned out to be a popular and "cathartic" story.)
The Onion's post-Sept. 11 issue led with the headline U.S. Vows To Defeat Whoever It Is We're At War With. It ran alongside Not Knowing What Else To Do, Woman Bakes American-Flag Cake and Hugging Up 76,000 Percent.
There are no truly untouchable topics, Randazzo says. But if the editors choose to tackle a sensitive subject, they try to make sure they aren't "just making jokes about horrible things with no context or no point or no heart."
As for whether The Onion has a moral or political ax to grind, Randazzo doesn't think so.
"I would not say that we are a group of Republicans, but I don't think we're a group of really left-wing liberals either," he says.
It's equal-opportunity mockery, really, Randazzo explains: "We see something ... and say, 'Well, that's kind of stupid. They're acting kind of stupidly here. We should make a joke about that.' "
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2009-11-20/the-onion-mocking-all-who-deserve-it-since-1988 | 2022-08-18T02:32:00Z |
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Eric Fraley 1986-2022 Eric Fraley, 36, of Cheyenne, passed at his home after a short illness. He was born on May 29, 1986, in Wheat Ridge, Colorado to Charlcy (Bunni) Fraley and Wade Fraley. Eric was an avid gamer from the first moment he held that Nintendo controller in his little hands. Eric also volunteered at the local animal shelter, taking the dogs on walks, and playing with them in the dog park there. Early on, Eric aspired to being a chef and worked at that for a few years. He finally found his true calling when he started working with people with intellectual disabilities. Due to his compassion and patience, he created strong bonds with his clients, and considered them family. Both his clients and co-workers thought the world of Eric, and he will be missed terribly. Eric is survived by his mother; maternal aunt, Terisa and her son Coleman; niece, Moira; sister-in-law, Kathryn, paternal aunt, Grace, paternal uncle, Chuck; paternal half-brother, Patrick; half-sister, Charlotte, great uncle, Jack; great aunt, Barbara, and numerous cousins and friends. Eric was preceded in death by his older brother, Charles; father; maternal grandmother, Jan; grandfather, Charles; paternal grandmother Grace. Memorial Service will be at 4:00 p.m., Friday, August 19, in Wiederspahn-Radomsky Chapel. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Cheyenne Animal Shelter, or your favorite charity. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/milestones/obituaries/fraley-eric/article_f7303172-fc35-505a-bd77-66ca44c5c205.html | 2022-08-18T02:33:15Z |
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CHEYENNE – AARP Wyoming and Mountain-Pacific Quality Health are teaming up to offer a teletown hall on brain health at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 23.
Among the experts on the call will be Sara Medley, chief executive officer of Mountain-Pacific and caregiver for a loved one with dementia; Dr. Douglas Kuntzweiler, chief medical officer at Mountain-Pacific; and Stevi Sy, a registered pharmacist and clinical analyst at Mountain-Pacific.
The panel will offer tips and advice to caregivers, as well as provide tips and answer questions to help callers better understand what they can do to keep their brains healthy as they age, according to an AARP news release.
Wyoming Public Radio’s Bob Beck will moderate the TeleTown Hall, which has a format similar to a radio talk show and offers the ability for participants to ask questions to the panelists. AARP Wyoming will call out to its members around 3:55 p.m. that day to find members interested in taking part in the call. If you do not receive a call, but wish to join the presentation, call 1-855-274-1448.
“Keeping our brains sharp as we age is the top concern for AARP Wyoming members, and I think we all know friends and family who have struggled with Alzheimer’s Disease or some other form of dementia,” said Sam Shumway, AARP Wyoming’s state director, in the release. “We are thrilled to be joined by Mountain-Pacific to help us talk about caregiving challenges for those with dementia, as well as how we keep our own brains happy and healthy.” | https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/aarp-wyoming-to-host-teletown-hall-on-brain-health-next-tuesday/article_aca1696e-1e9a-11ed-8144-5717702f040d.html | 2022-08-18T02:33:27Z |
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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 | https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/black-dog-animal-rescue-to-host-third-low-cost-vaccine-clinic-aug-28/article_61b514a0-1e90-11ed-bda7-2331f2e61837.html | 2022-08-18T02:33:33Z |
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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 | https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/city-council-ward-3-to-hold-city-council-and-coffee-open-house-saturday/article_7486bdb2-1e9b-11ed-bba7-9feb0a7325df.html | 2022-08-18T02:33:39Z |
LARAMIE – The University of Wyoming Extension’s fall/winter online Master Gardener training will be offered from Sept. 15, 2022-Feb. 16, 2023. The 16-week course, which includes breaks for holidays, features approximately 48 hours of gardening instruction led by subject matter experts in the UW Extension.
“The course is for anyone with an interest in gardening, from beginning gardeners to experienced gardeners. The focus is all about growing in Wyoming,” said Master Gardener Statewide Coordinator Chris Hilgert in a news release.
Live classes take place via Zoom on Thursdays from 6-9 p.m. Class sessions are also recorded.
Registration for the 2022-23 online training is open until the course begins on Sept. 15. To sign up, visit bit.ly/master-gardener-2022. The registration fee is $150.
Topics include an overview of the training; basic botany; soils and composting; plant propagation; season extension; growing vegetables and herbs; fruit trees and berry crops; site analysis and landscape design; herbaceous plants; woody plants; lawn care; weed management; integrated pest management; diagnosing plant problems; entomology; and volunteering in the Master Gardener program.
Instructors include Hilgert and nine other experts from the UW Extension.
Participants will receive an electronic copy of "Sustainable Horticulture for Wyoming: A Master Gardener Handbook," as well as a variety of other resources provided by instructors. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/registration-opens-for-uw-extension-s-online-master-gardener-training/article_eda5da86-1e99-11ed-a982-ef8adc3b62f1.html | 2022-08-18T02:33:46Z |
CHEYENNE – Attorneys had their final opportunity Wednesday afternoon to argue their respective cases in Laramie County District Attorney Leigh Anne Manlove's disciplinary proceeding, which could lead to the prosecutor being stripped of her law license.
Oral arguments took place Wednesday afternoon before the Wyoming Supreme Court, which then took the case under advisement. Justices will ultimately decide what punishment, if any, is appropriate.
The Wyoming State Bar’s Office of Bar Counsel last year brought charges alleging that DA Manlove had mishandled the prosecution of some cases and fostered a hostile work environment in her office. Following an eight-day hearing in February, a disciplinary panel announced it would recommend she lose her ability to practice law in Wyoming. She also may be on the hook to reimburse the Bar more than $60,000 in costs.
Attorneys on both sides largely reiterated arguments they'd presented before, although they were also subjected to questions from justices. Both attorneys received a total of 30 minutes to speak and answer queries.
Weston Reeves, representing the Office of Bar Counsel, began by stating that this was not a case about separation of powers between the executive branch, represented by the district attorney, and the judicial branch. He said it was also not about prosecutorial discretion – the ability of a prosecutor to decide what cases to pursue – as argued by Manlove, but about a "failure of duty" and lack of candor from an attorney.
He again argued the Bar's position that state budget cuts during the COVID-19 pandemic "had nothing to do with" a series of case dismissals Manlove said were necessary to ensure her understaffed office could use resources to prosecute more serious charges. Instead, Reeves said, these dismissals were necessary because of the district attorney's inability to keep her office staffed, which was a result of her treatment of employees and failure at certain points to pursue replacements.
Stephen Melchior, Manlove's attorney, argued that this case was, in fact, about the separation of powers and prosecutorial discretion. He said the district attorney had taken appropriate steps following drastic budget cuts to try to find solutions, only to be rebuffed and condemned by judges in the county.
This case, he said, "is about, what do you do when a person runs on a political platform in an elected position ... announces the party affiliation, sets forth a platform, comes into office, begins to execute the platform, comes into the executive branch and rubs the judicial (branch) the wrong way? And rubs the Bar Counsel the wrong way?"
In bringing this disciplinary case against Manlove, the Bar chose to ignore state statute, the Wyoming Constitution and "a landmark case" that "specifically addresses many of the issues" in these proceedings, Melchior said.
It's unclear how long it will be before the high court issues a decision. In another recent disciplinary case, it took nearly nine months to decide on a punishment for Becket Hinckley, a former Teton County prosecutor who was suspended from practicing law in Wyoming for three years following several violations of professional conduct rules.
In the Hinckley case, a panel recommended the former prosecutor be disbarred. The Supreme Court ultimately opted to suspend his license.
Manlove, elected as DA in November 2018, did not file to run for a second term. Her current term ends in January.
Melchior told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle following Wednesday's hearing that what the Supreme Court decides in this case will have an effect on every prosecutor in each in Wyoming's 23 counties. This is because it could affect how much judges and the Bar's disciplinary arm can influence policy, personnel and case management decisions of prosecutors, he said.
"This has been an extremely painful experience for Ms. Manlove, and I would want this (for) no prosecuting attorney," Melchior said.
Speaking to a reporter after oral arguments, Reeves said only that he's "happy the Supreme Court is reviewing the case."
Justices' questions
At one point, Justice John G. Fenn said Reeves had focused much of his argument on the "mismanagement component" of the case. He asked the attorney for the Bar when the decision not to prosecute certain cases went from prosecutorial discretion to something in need disciplinary action.
"Where's the line? Where does it become not about prosecutorial discretion?" Fenn asked.
"When there are 1,000 cases dismissed, categories of cases dismissed, categories of cases not prosecuted," Reeves responded.
"Well, according to briefing, we can't really even agree on the number of cases that were dismissed ..." Fenn replied, to which Reeves interjected: "Read the exhibit."
"If the reason given for the dismissal is clearly false," that's when it cross the line, Reeves argued.
Fenn then laid out a hypothetical in which a DA decided not to prosecute marijuana cases, and asked Reeves if that DA is "violating professional rules of responsibility, such that he or she is facing discipline."
"Questions like that are why we have a wise panel of five justices here," Reeves said, adding that the DA has a statutory responsibility to prosecute certain types of cases.
"It seems to me that is not a prosecutorial discretion – that is a failure to perform the duty to the client. I don't care if she got elected – she has the duty to prosecute the cases that come before her in the ordinary course of events," Reeves continued.
Fenn also suggested that, rather than bring a disciplinary case, "if (Manlove) really wasn't doing her job so bad, she theoretically could have been impeached and removed" under the Wyoming Constitution.
Reeves said he wasn't sure to what impeachment avenue Fenn was referring. Instead, Reeves seemed to urge the justices to exercise their oversight duties for ensuring "competent and diligent" legal practice in the state.
Later, during Melchior's arguments, Justice Keith G. Kautz interjected, saying that neither Melchior nor Reeves had yet brought up specific elements of professional conduct violations. Kautz said the justices needed "clear and convincing evidence that those elements were proven."
Directly after Kautz's comment, Melchior argued specifically that Manlove had not demonstrated incompetence in management of her office, and complaints from victims' family members about failing to charge cases came down to prosecutorial discretion. He also denied that Manlove had exaggerated any claims about budget constraints on her office.
At the start of Reeves' rebuttal, Kautz again challenged the attorney to be specific about what rule violations he was arguing, and that counsel needed to show consequences in specific cases.
"Gosh – the consequence to the victims of all the cases that weren't prosecuted," Reeves replied.
"But I didn't see any specific identifications," Kautz said. "You paint (with) a big, broad brush."
Reeves again pointed back to examples given in Bar Counsel's exhibits. He reemphasized his argument that Manlove's dismissals were improper if they were done under "the demonstrably false premise that 'The budget made me do it.'"
It's yet another challenge, Kautz said, to determine whether a statement was knowingly false, or simply an opinion or "an erroneous opinion." Reeves argued that could also be demonstrated by evidence in the case. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/wyo-supreme-court-hears-oral-arguments-in-manlove-disciplinary-case/article_4d3f3f33-3ffd-584e-9c79-e23a0f9baf0d.html | 2022-08-18T02:33:52Z |
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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 | https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/wyoming-game-and-fish-seeks-info-on-sybille-canyon-elk-poaching/article_d1ad348c-1e8f-11ed-9b28-3fd680d3c687.html | 2022-08-18T02:33:58Z |
Sweetwater County -- The Sweetwater County Commission discussed the possibility of creating a county administrator position during the commission meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 17.
This discussion concerning this matter was previously had by the commissioners in executive session.
Commissioner Roy Lloyd said that when the discussion began, the commission was looking at other positions and “it kind of morphed into this.”
“I think that we were at a point that we felt like we could bring it out and have that discussion publicly,” Lloyd said.
Commissioner Lauren Schoenfeld said that there have been some questions from the public concerning this discussion point.
“This discussion never started as a CEO discussion or a CFO discussion. It started as a discussion that maybe there was a gap in a few things that the commission needed to be successful, to be transparent and to effectively communicate with our constituents,”Schoenfeld said.
She also said that the commissioners have had different conversations that led them to believe there may be a need for having some type of county administrator position over the past three years.
“What the exact title and duties of that position would look like is something that we haven’t decided yet,’ Schoenfeld said. “I did reach out in an attempt to gain some information about what other communities are doing across the state. There are four other counties that have county administrators roles. They are all vastly different.
“I don’t believe the intention is to create another position within the county. For me, personally, this is to look at some efficiencies. For me, I believe we need somebody maybe even as a public information officer position in that putting out information, press releases from the commission, sharing information with our department heads and ensuring that everybody is on the same page within the county; not being a supervisor or a boss.”
Commissioner Mary Thoman said that due to it being an election year, she feels that it should be something that is addressed by those who will be elected to the commission.
“I agree with Lauren. There have been gaps in the communication,” Thoman said. “I’m not opposed to the idea of trying to have a PIO position, but I am opposed to a county administrator position,” Thoman said.
Schoenfeld said that she agreed that other commissioners, if elected, should have the chance to weigh in on the decision. However, she said that due to it already taking three years for the current county commissioners to address it further, she doesn’t want to see it be placed “on the back burner.”
Commissioner Jeff Smith agreed with Schoenfeld and said that he thinks the position should be more of a hybrid between an administrator and a public information officer instead of it being a CEO position.
Commissioner Randy “Doc” Wendling said that the county is missing something that would allow it to operate more efficiently. However, he said that he thinks the commission needs to look at the strengths and weaknesses of the county “as a whole” in order to define a job title and description.
“We are missing something in making sure that this county is as strong as it can be. What that is, I don’t know. It may prove to itself that in order for us as a commission to take care of policy, we may have to back away from the middle management stuff that’s taking away from what it takes to be part of that policy making.”
Following the discussion had at this meeting, Lloyd said that the commission will continue to have discussions concerning the position. In addition, the commission will start workshops in order to begin determining a possible job title and description. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/rocketminer/sweetwater-county-commissioners-discuss-possible-county-administrator-position/article_385557d9-50c9-5f3f-983d-a6363e172dcc.html | 2022-08-18T02:34:04Z |
9/11 Tribute Museum, known for ground zero tours, closing
Published: Aug. 17, 2022 at 9:50 PM EDT|Updated: 55 minutes ago
NEW YORK (AP) - A small museum near New York’s World Trade Center dedicated to preserving the memory of the Sept. 11 attacks is closing.
CEO Jennifer Adams says the 9/11 Tribute Museum is closing for good after Wednesday due to financial pressures made worse by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Tribute Museum opened in 2006. It offered tours led by volunteers who had lost a family member or were connected in some other way to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
It was sometimes confused with the much larger Sept. 11 museum that opened in 2014.
Adams says the Tribute Museum will maintain an online presence.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/18/911-tribute-museum-known-ground-zero-tours-closing/ | 2022-08-18T02:45:45Z |
Geomagnetic storm: Northern lights to be visible as far south as Oregon, Pennsylvania
(CNN) - More Americans may get a glimpse of an amazing nature show this week without leaving the U.S.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says several eruptions from the sun over the weekend are headed towards Earth. Those eruptions could cause intense geomagnetic storms as soon as Thursday.
NOAA has issued a geomagnetic storm watch until Friday and reports those storms could shift the aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, further south.
That means if weather permits, people as far south as Pennsylvania, Iowa and Oregon may be able to see the light show.
The agency notes that the geomagnetic storms could also disrupt the electric power grid and select radio and satellite operations.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/18/geomagnetic-storm-northern-lights-be-visible-far-south-oregon-pennsylvania/ | 2022-08-18T02:45:52Z |
US to hold trade talks with Taiwan in new show of support
BEIJING (AP) — The U.S. government has announced talks with Taiwan on a trade treaty in a new sign of support for the self-ruled island democracy claimed by China’s ruling Communist Party as part of its territory.
The announcement Thursday comes after Beijing held military drills that included firing missiles into the seas around Taiwan in an attempt to intimidate the island after a visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the highest-level member of the U.S. government to visit Taiwan in 25 years.
Thursday’s announcement by the U.S. Trade Representative made no mention of tension with Beijing but said the negotiations were meant to enhance trade and regulatory cooperation, a step that would entail closer official interaction.
The United States has no official relations with Taiwan but maintains extensive informal contacts through the unofficial American Institute in Taiwan. Washington is obligated by federal law to see that the island has the means to defend itself.
Taiwan and China split in 1949. The island never has been part of the People’s Republic of China, but the Communist Party says it is obligated to rejoin the mainland, by force if necessary.
The talks also will cover agriculture, labor, the environment, digital technology, the status of state-owned enterprises and “non-market policies,” the USTR said.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/18/us-hold-trade-talks-with-taiwan-new-show-support/ | 2022-08-18T02:46:00Z |
9/11 Tribute Museum, known for ground zero tours, closing
Published: Aug. 17, 2022 at 9:50 PM EDT|Updated: 56 minutes ago
NEW YORK (AP) - A small museum near New York’s World Trade Center dedicated to preserving the memory of the Sept. 11 attacks is closing.
CEO Jennifer Adams says the 9/11 Tribute Museum is closing for good after Wednesday due to financial pressures made worse by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Tribute Museum opened in 2006. It offered tours led by volunteers who had lost a family member or were connected in some other way to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
It was sometimes confused with the much larger Sept. 11 museum that opened in 2014.
Adams says the Tribute Museum will maintain an online presence.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/18/911-tribute-museum-known-ground-zero-tours-closing/ | 2022-08-18T02:46:31Z |
Harrisonburg golfer to represent First Tee in international event
HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) - A Harrisonburg senior will be playing in the event of a lifetime when he takes his golf clubs to Pebble Beach, California this fall.
Toby Corriston will be representing First Tee Shenandoah Valley when he competes in the 2022 PURE Insurance Championship Impacting First Tee held at Pebble Beach Golf Links and Spyglass Golf Course. First Tee helps young athletes develop life skills through the sport of golf.
Corriston will be joining 77 other teenagers from First Tee chapters from around the world.
“I’m very lucky and feel honored to have this opportunity,” said Corriston. “If First Tee wasn’t here, I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today and I probably wouldn’t be golfing.”
Each player will be paired with a PGA TOUR Champions player along with amateurs from the business world. The field of PGA TOUR Champions players features World Golf Hall of Fame Members Bernhard Langer, Mark O’Meara, and Vijay Singh, along with three-time PURE Insurance Championship winner Kirk Triplett.
First Tee participants were selected by a national panel of judges that chose players based on their playing ability and personal growth through First Tee programs.
Corriston has been playing with First Tee Shenandoah Valley for nearly ten years.
“I’ve learned how to represent myself as a person,” said Corriston. “Golf is very much like life, you want to represent yourself in a good way and always show sportsmanship.”
The event will be held on September 23rd-25th and will be broadcast nationally on Golf Channel.
Copyright 2022 WHSV. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/18/harrisonburg-golfer-represent-first-tee-international-event/ | 2022-08-18T02:46:37Z |
US to hold trade talks with Taiwan in new show of support
BEIJING (AP) — The U.S. government has announced talks with Taiwan on a trade treaty in a new sign of support for the self-ruled island democracy claimed by China’s ruling Communist Party as part of its territory.
The announcement Thursday comes after Beijing held military drills that included firing missiles into the seas around Taiwan in an attempt to intimidate the island after a visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the highest-level member of the U.S. government to visit Taiwan in 25 years.
Thursday’s announcement by the U.S. Trade Representative made no mention of tension with Beijing but said the negotiations were meant to enhance trade and regulatory cooperation, a step that would entail closer official interaction.
The United States has no official relations with Taiwan but maintains extensive informal contacts through the unofficial American Institute in Taiwan. Washington is obligated by federal law to see that the island has the means to defend itself.
Taiwan and China split in 1949. The island never has been part of the People’s Republic of China, but the Communist Party says it is obligated to rejoin the mainland, by force if necessary.
The talks also will cover agriculture, labor, the environment, digital technology, the status of state-owned enterprises and “non-market policies,” the USTR said.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/18/us-hold-trade-talks-with-taiwan-new-show-support/ | 2022-08-18T02:46:44Z |
After a quiet release, Kathryn Stockett's first novel, The Help, has slowly become a New York Times best-seller — and has its readers buzzing about its racial themes.
The book features two black housekeepers, Aibileen and Minny, who work for white families in Jackson, Miss. Their worlds are turned inside out when Skeeter Phelan returns home from college with pesky questions about segregation in the South. She asks questions like: Why are black maids subordinated so much they can't use the family bathroom, and yet they're trusted to care for that same family's children?
Stockett was raised in Jackson with a black maid named Demetrie, but she says the book is not autobiographical.
"It's fiction, but some of the facts and the settings and the backdrops — sure, that was Southern life," Stockett tells NPR's Michele Norris. "Having a separate bathroom for the black domestic was just the way things were done. It had faded out in new homes by the time [the] '70s and '80s rolled up. But certainly in my grandmother's time — and when I was growing up, yeah, Demetrie's bathroom was on the side of the house, it was a separate door. Still, to this day, I've never been in that room."
Stockett says the book pays homage to Demetrie, who died in 1986 when Stockett was 16 years old. Stockett says that when she was a child, she thought that Demetrie was "treated like a queen."
What conflicting ideas that we love and embrace these women, and entrust them to raise our children and to feed us and to bathe us, but we keep something as silly as a bathroom separate.
"We all adored her. She didn't have children of her own. When Demetrie got sick, we knew it was our responsibility to take care of her and pay her medical bills. And we embraced that," she says. "But the tricky part is, like so many families in the South, we also expected her to use a separate bathroom, to use separate utensils. What a dichotomy. What conflicting ideas that we love and embrace these women, and entrust them to raise our children and to feed us and to bathe us, but we keep something as silly as a bathroom separate."
Stockett says she thinks about Demetrie all the time.
"I always wonder, like, when would she had taken off her white uniform and had the guts to walk into the white grocery store just as a consumer?" she says. "I don't know, but I think about that a lot. Your white uniform as a black domestic was your ticket anywhere in town."
But Stockett has been criticized for trying to cast how a black maid might feel in a white household — and she says the criticism makes her cringe.
"I'm a Southerner — I never take satisfaction in touching a nerve," she says. "I guess if I'm forced to find a good side, I'm glad that people are talking about an issue that hasn't really been discussed all that much. I'm glad that people are talking about it from the black perspective and the white perspective."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2009-12-23/the-help-author-says-criticism-makes-her-cringe | 2022-08-18T02:46:51Z |
In 2008, the off-Broadway musical Fela! became one of the most talked-about shows in New York. Telling the life story of Nigerian musician and political activist Fela Kuti, the show made the move to Broadway last month and opened to ecstatic reviews. But will this unconventional theater piece speak to a larger audience?
Ben Brantley, chief drama critic for The New York Times, says he was worried about the transition.
"When I heard Fela! was moving to Broadway, I thought, 'That's a mistake.' "
Brantley liked Fela! off-Broadway, but when it moved to Broadway, he changed his mind. He gave the show an all-out rave.
"I think it's pretty much irresistible on Broadway," he says. "And I think what makes it singular is not only that you're talking about a culture based in Yoruban religion and a form of music — Afrobeat — which Broadway has never heard before, but even the way the performers relate to the audience ... They don't sell themselves. There's great energy to them, but there's also a great self-containment. It's like, 'You come meet me. You want to come meet me.' "
It's a good bet that most American audiences have never met the music of Fela Kuti, let alone know about his life or the politics of Nigeria. So it falls on the shoulders of director, choreographer and co-author Bill T. Jones to turn this complicated story into compelling theater. Jones says it starts with the music.
"Fela was, at one point, the most famous musician in Africa," Jones says. "He created this thing called Afrobeat, which was a kind of a recombination of classic jazz. He loved jazz, traditional African music, and American funk and rhythm and blues, all tied together."
Jones says Fela Kuti used that music to protest injustice in his native Nigeria, where the murderous regime arrested him more than 200 times. But Kuti was no saint: He lived the hedonistic life of a rock star. He smoked marijuana; he lived in a compound with 27 women — his "queens" — whom he symbolically married one day.
"I don't know if I would've liked him as a man," Jones says. "But I certainly respect him as a cultural force and an artist."
More Than A Rebel
Jones says Kuti was more than just a bad boy; he also played an important role in the fight for justice in Nigeria.
"I call him a 'sacred monster,' " Jones says, "that any democratically leaning society cannot afford to be without, because he is the one, maybe imperfectly, but he puts his finger on that sore spot. He points at it in impolitic terms. He sets things moving. That's why I'm a fan of his."
To make this artist (who died of AIDS in 1997) live for contemporary audiences, Jones and his design team have turned the Eugene O'Neill Theater into The Shrine — Fela's nightclub in Lagos — complete with colored lights and mirror balls, the Afrobeat band Antibalas onstage, and scantily clad performers dancing in the aisles. Brantley says it works.
"You really do feel as if you're in a nightclub, and a very particular nightclub in a particular place," he says. "You don't feel you've just walked in off Times Square. Theater, at its best, is always supposed to transport us, but this seems to take us to another continent."
Politics And Candy
Audience members at Fela! aren't allowed to be passive. They sing along with songs by following lyrics projected on the set — and, at one point, they get up on their feet and shake their booty ... or, as Kuti would call it, their nyansh.
Sahr Ngaujah, who plays Kuti, encourages the audience to dance.
"Let's just get everybody to participate in moving their nyansh," he says. "And, in this way, they can look at the nyansh of these women and appreciate it — not just from a voyeuristic, you know, pornographic standpoint, but really appreciate the craftsmanship."
Jones says this kind of participation is a deliberate way to bring audiences into the story.
"They have to participate, which is what I think is brilliant about using music in the way Fela did: Music is the weapon," he says. "So now, we all become connected through the music, and we become connected on a primal level."
When the show gets more political and goes to darker personal places, the audience is ready, Ngaujah says.
"Why not give people candy, if that's what you want?" he asks. "They don't have to know it's full of vitamins and minerals, you know what I mean? If it's sweet, they're gonna eat it anyway."
Candy or not, producer Stephen Hendel knows that developing audiences for Fela! isn't going to be easy: He needs to sell three times as many seats a week as he did off-Broadway. So he's enlisted rapper Jay-Z and superstars Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith to lend their names as producers. He hopes Fela! will become a hot ticket, like it was off-Broadway.
"Suddenly, we were just sold out," he says. "Celebrities calling every day, world-famous musicians. We had no tickets. We'd squeeze them in."
Jones says he's already hearing good word of mouth when he stands at the back of the theater.
"It's a fun evening," he says. "Even with all the things that go down in that second act, I heard some people describing it as 'uplifting' the other day. Uplifting? Well, it ends with people bringing coffins into the theater, but I guess that's ... I've also heard people say, 'It made me want to go out and be an activist!' Well, that's good."
Fela! is currently playing at the Eugene O'Neill Theater on Broadway.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2009-12-28/can-afrobeat-musical-fela-move-the-masses | 2022-08-18T02:46:57Z |
Films of Buster Keaton: Music by Bill Frisell
Recorded with his trio in the 1990s, guitarist Bill Frisell's music for three otherwise silent comedies by the amazing Buster Keaton have finally been issued with the contemporary soundtracks. Keaton's moves seem as effortless as Fred Astaire's, and he was a wizard at staging complicated mayhem before the camera. In the film One Week, newlyweds build a prefab house from mismatched parts and wind up with an accidental Cubist masterpiece that spins on its axis in a high wind. Frisell's music is appropriately jocular and offhandedly complex; drummer Joey Baron provides the sound effects for scenes of construction and destruction, tracking every on-screen pratfall and double-take. Matching the film's beats, the trio attains the same headlong, syncopated momentum as Keaton does.
Jazz Icons: Anita O'Day Live in '63 & '70
Jazz musicians can be kinetic on-screen, too. A new DVD of Anita O'Day, filmed in Scandinavia in 1963 and 1970 — and released in the Jazz Icons series — is required viewing for anyone who doubts that singers are real jazz musicians. Even on stage with two accompanists she'd never met before, O'Day instantly takes charge, yanking the trio ahead and using hand signals to orchestrate a performance on the fly. And she's fantastic at breakneck tempos, sometimes lagging so far behind the band, you think she'll never catch up.
Comparing the performances from 1963 and 1970, it's fascinating to hear O'Day re-tackle some of the same tunes after seven years; it shows how even diehard improvisers may repeat certain effects and routines for years.
Jazz Icons: Art Farmer Live in '64
Another standout in the Jazz Icons series is a 1964 BBC TV concert by flugelhorn player Art Farmer. His excellent quartet with guitarist Jim Hall plays a few tunes it never put out on record, so this DVD is valuable for the music alone. Farmer and Hall are prized for their understated lyricism, and there's some sweet slow stuff. But the uptempo middle of the set is a barn-burner, and it's great to hear the flugelhorn wail.
Fred Anderson, 21st Century Chase
There's nothing quite like the excitement of jazz musicians pushing each other. It's even better when you can see it, as on tenor saxophonist Fred Anderson's DVD 21st Century Chase, shot last March at his Velvet Lounge in Chicago. Five cameras put you in — or close to — the action, and if the jumps among multiple angles can get hectic, so can the music. It's loose but decidedly swinging free jazz by three generations of players, spearheaded by tenor-sax elders and friendly sparring partners Anderson and Kidd Jordan.
The saxophonists' fine rhythm trio includes guitarist Jeff Parker and drummer Chad Taylor, two terrific players nurtured by Anderson early on. The fretboard closeups of Parker here (and Jim Hall on the Art Farmer DVD) are boons to guitarists on the lookout for flatted-fifth chords and fresh melodic patterns. As any musicians who ever crowded around a bandstand can tell you, you can learn a lot about music from looking as well as listening.
Copyright 2022 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air. | https://www.keranews.org/2010-01-08/jazz-for-the-eyes-and-ears-bill-frisell-and-more | 2022-08-18T03:01:14Z |
When a co-worker told him that he believed Neil Armstrong's 1969 moon walk actually took place on a Hollywood soundstage, journalist David Aaronovitch was appalled. Aaronovitch had seen the moon landing on TV when he was a kid, and he couldn't believe anyone would think it was a hoax.
"He told me about the photographs that don't make sense, and the stars that aren't there, and the flag flapping in the nonexistent breeze, and so on," Aaronovitch tells Guy Raz.
At the time, Aaronovitch wasn't prepared with evidence to counter his co-worker's claim, but today he is. Aaronovitch spent six years looking into the details behind top conspiracy theories such as the faked Apollo moon landing and has come out with a new book to forensically debunk each of them.
Aaronovitch's rebuttal is called Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History. In the book, Aaronovitch tackles the intriguing question of why well-educated, reasonable people sometimes believe "perfectly ridiculous things." (Read a list, from Aaronovitch's book, of a few of the common characteristics shared by many conspiracy theories.)
"The notion that a large number of people that believe in conspiracy theories are just wackos just simply doesn't fit," he says.
His personal favorite? Aaronovitch says he always liked the conspiracy that Hitler himself set fire to Berlin's Reichstag building in 1933 so that he would have an excuse to suspend civil liberties in Germany.
Aaronovitch says that while researching the book, he discovered "that the Reichstag was set on fire by the single man who said he did it, said all the way through the trial that he was the only person who did it, and went to his execution saying that he didn't understand why everyone was trying to say it was the Nazis or the Communists."
Aaronovitch points out that this is a classic example of Occam's razor — the simplest explanation was actually true.
Aaronovitch says conspiracy theories are fashionable across the globe. And while the one your neighbor insists upon — that the fluoride in the drinking water is actually a mind-control experiment by the government — might be a harmless variation, some have serious consequences.
"If you are to travel in Pakistan, for instance, you will find that a significant proportion of the educated Pakistanis believe that George Bush brought down the twin towers," says Aaronovitch. "And that makes dealing with the [Pakistani] Taliban difficult because they actually don't believe the fundamental premise on which the war against terror was waged."
The conspiracy that Sept. 11 was an inside job is just one example of a theory that has molded our view of history. In his book, Aaronovitch explores almost a dozen other popular conspiracies, such as the secret Zionist world empire, the assassination of Princess Diana, and the Priory of Scion's mission to safeguard the bloodline of Jesus.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2010-01-29/debunking-conspiracy-theories-in-voodoo-histories | 2022-08-18T03:01:20Z |
Governor Glenn Youngkin stops by the Rockingham County Fair
ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, Va. (WHSV) - “I’d like to invite everyone to come to the fair this week and understand why the Rockingham County fair is famous across the country,” Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin said during his visit to the Rockingham County Fair.
The Governor and Virginia’s First Lady Suzanne Youngkin stopped by to engage in the fair fun and food, but still had time to shed light on some of the issues the state is facing.
After the latest legislative session that brought historic amounts of funding to the farming and agriculture industries, Youngkin was asked how the recent passage of the Inflation Reduction Act may impact those in that particular community.
“I think inflation is impacting farmers in Virginia,” he said. “Rising fuel costs and rising fertilizer costs have really put the hurting on folks. I don’t know how the latest bill is going to help farmers, but inflation is the big issue right now. Hardworking Virginians are seeing 4-5-6 thousand dollars stolen from them that’s the silent thief of inflation.”
He pledged to keep working to lower taxes and continue growing the agriculture sector.
Youngkin also addressed how fun events, like the fair, help drive tourism in the Commonwealth.
“Tourism is a big part of the economy and coming out of Covid, we’ve seen folks come to Virginia and that’s really exciting,” he recalled. “I have to say Virginia is going to be the best place to live, work, and raise a family. It’s also going to be the best place to bring your family on vacation.”
While at the fair, Governor Youngkin got to greet fellow Virginians, hand out awards at the sheep show, and experience the fun that thousands had Wednesday night.
One of those people was 10-year-old Paul Lawson, who said his favorite part of the fair is the rides. He said the fun is what keeps bringing him and his family back every year.
Governor Youngkin said the fair is a great opportunity to show off all the great things happening in Rockingham County and neighboring counties and towns.
“The Rockingham County fair is known well beyond the Commonwealth of Virginia. There are governors all across America wishing they had county fairs like this,” he said.
Copyright 2022 WHSV. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/18/governor-glenn-youngkin-stops-by-rockingham-county-fair/ | 2022-08-18T03:24:40Z |
XI'AN, China, Aug. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On August 12, 2022, Deloitte China announced 50 winners of the 2022 China's Best Managed Companies award program. LONGi Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (LONGi) was among the selected companies, becoming part of the global BMC enterprise with its outstanding performance in the global framework of Deloitte's Management Excellence Standards in the four dimensions of "Strategy, Capability, Commitment and Finance".
The global BMC program was co-launched by Deloitte, Bank of Singapore, HKUST Business School and Harvard Business Review. The program has a 29-year history and aims to identify organizations with exceptional and systematic management skills. As the only international award that comprehensively evaluates the management system of private enterprises in China, all the previous winners are "hidden champions" and top private enterprises from various segments in China.
"The 2022 Best Managed winners have demonstrated strong business performance as well as brand values. Despite these companies having faced multiple challenges like COVID-19, they exemplified the resilience and ability to rapidly recover from the pandemic and adapt to new situations," said Xu Ke, managing partner of Deloitte Private China.
"LONGi has always been a firm believer in longtermism. It not only takes long-term reliability as the basic principle of product development but also innovatively promotes the concept of 'producing clean energy products from clean energy' in the photovoltaic industry, adhering to responsible production and shouldering increasing responsibility for global sustainable development." In an interview with Deloitte China and Harvard Business Review, Zhong Baoshen, Chairman of LONGi, noted that while LONGi is innovative, reliability should be the primary standard, so that these long-term energy assets can be preserved and the benefits can be fully utilized.
During this year's event, representatives from 50 award-winning companies discussed how to transcend the economic cycle and collaborate to achieve greater social value by focusing on the themes of "Co-Creating Customers" and "Co-Creating Environment". Liu Xiaodong, Board Secretary of LONGi, accepted the award on behalf of the company and announced co-creation initiatives for 2022-2023 on behalf of all BMC winners as the annual rotating chairman enterprise.
About LONGi
Founded in 2000, LONGi is committed to being the world's leading solar technology company, focusing on customer-driven value creation for full scenario energy transformation.
Under its mission of 'making the best of solar energy to build a green world' and brand philosophy of 'Steadfast and Reliable Technology Leadership', LONGi has dedicated itself to technology innovation and established five business sectors, covering mono silicon wafers, cells and modules, commercial & industrial distributed solar solutions, green energy solutions and hydrogen equipment. The company has honed its capabilities to provide green energy and has, more recently, also embraced green hydrogen products and solutions to support global zero carbon development. www.longi.com
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SOURCE LONGi Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/longi-among-2022-best-managed-companies-china/ | 2022-08-18T03:24:46Z |
Highlights
- SQM will hold a hybrid Investor Day virtually and at the New York Stock Exchange on September 15, 2022. For more information or to register please visit https://sqm.connectid.cloud/.
- As a result of our operations during the first half of the year, over US$2.2 billion will go to public coffers.
- SQM reported net income for the six months ended June 30, 2022 of US$1,655.4 million.
- Earnings per share totaled US$5.80 for the first half of 2022, higher than the US$0.55 reported for the first half of 2021.
- Revenues for the first half of 2022 were US$4,618.6 million.
SQM will hold a conference call to discuss these results on Thursday, August 18, at 12:00pm ET (12:00pm Chile time).
Participant Dial-In (Toll Free): 1-855-238-1018
Participant International Dial-In: 1-412-542-4107
Webcast: https://services.choruscall.com/links/sqm220818.html
SANTIAGO, Chile, Aug. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. (SQM) (NYSE: SQM; Santiago Stock Exchange: SQM-B, SQM-A) today reported earnings for the six months ended June 30, 2022 of US$1,655.4 million (US$5.80 per share), an over 940% increase from US$157.8 million (US$0.55 per share) reported for the six months ended June 30, 2021. Gross profit reached US$2,462.1 million (53.3% of revenues) for the six months ended June 30, 2022, 663% higher than US$322.5 million (28.9% of revenues) recorded for the six months ended June 30, 2021. Revenues totaled US$4,618.6 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022, representing an increase of 314% compared to US$1,116.5 million reported for the six months ended June 30, 2021.
The Company also announced earnings for the second quarter of 2022 of US$859.3 million (US$3.01 per share), an increase of 857% compared to US$89.8 million (US$0.31 per share) for the second quarter of 2021. Gross profit for the second quarter of 2022 reached US$1,297.4 million, 598% higher than the US$185.9 million recorded for the second quarter 2021. Revenues totaled US$2,598.8 million for the second quarter 2022, an increase of approximately 342% compared to US$588.0 million for the second quarter of 2021.
SQM's Chief Executive Officer, Ricardo Ramos, stated: "We are very pleased with our results for the first half of the year. These results were related to favorable market conditions related to fertilizers, iodine and lithium and decades of investment, hard work, R&D and know-how. In fact, this year we are celebrating 25 years in the lithium industry. During this time, we have become a great partner to the government in this "public-private" alliance with CORFO. As a result of our operations during the first half of the year, over US$2.2 billion are going to public coffers due to the lithium operations. More than financial contributions, we are content that we have been able to develop the Salar de Atacama in such a way that we have become a world-renowned, integrated producer of value-added lithium products in Chile that are directly used in cutting edge batteries all over the world creating value to the local surrounding communities. All of this through a successful public-private partnership."
He closed by saying: "We are close to reach 180,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate capacity and as mentioned previously, we are not stopping there. Today, we are working to complete a lithium carbonate capacity of 210,000 metric ton of sought after, top quality, value-added product which will be produced right here in Chile. We remain committed to reducing our usage of brine and water through technology and continuous innovation. This new capacity will let us produce high value-added lithium products to power more than 5 million electric vehicles."
SQM is a global company that is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Santiago Stock Exchange (NYSE: SQM; Santiago Stock Exchange: SQM-B, SQM-A). SQM develops and produces diverse products for several industries essential for human progress, such as health, nutrition, renewable energy and technology through innovation and technological development. We aim to maintain our leading world position in the lithium, potassium nitrate, iodine and thermo-solar salts markets.
For further information, contact:
Gerardo Illanes 56-2-24252022 / gerardo.illanes@sqm.com
Kelly O'Brien 56-2-24252074 / kelly.obrien@sqm.com
Irina Axenova 56-2-24252280 / irina.axenova@sqm.com
For media inquiries, contact:
Maria Ignacia Lopez / ignacia.lopez@sqm.com
Pablo Pisani / pablo.pisani@sqm.com
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as: "anticipate," "plan," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "strategy," "should," "will" and similar references to future periods. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make concerning the Company's capital expenditures, financing sources, Sustainable Development Plan, business outlook, future economic performance, anticipated profitability, revenues, expenses, or other financial items, anticipated cost synergies and product or service line growth.
Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are estimates that reflect the best judgment of SQM management based on currently available information. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that are outside of our control and could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated in such statements, including our ability to successfully implement the Sustainable Development Plan. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Readers are referred to the documents filed by SQM with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically the most recent annual report on Form 20-F, which identifies other important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to SQM on the date hereof and SQM assumes no obligation to update such statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law.
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SOURCE Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile, S.A. (SQM) | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/sqm-reports-earnings-six-months-ended-june-30-2022/ | 2022-08-18T03:24:53Z |
Comedian Ricky Gervais was recognized by Guinness World Records in 2007 for having the world's most popular podcast. That podcast, called The Ricky Gervais Show, starred Gervais, along with his mates Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington, conversing about anything and everything that tickled their fancy for more than six years.
Gervais tells David Bianculli that Pilkington — described in The New York Times as "a cross between the deadpan comedian Steven Wright and Cliff Clavin of Cheers" — is the main reason for the podcast's success.
"I think that people know it's real. They're eavesdropping on a conversation between three mates," Gervais says. "But the real answer's Karl Pilkington. That's the secret. Karl Pilkington: This normal but extraordinary man. This missing link. This global village idiot. This friend that everyone's got that doesn't get airtime and recognition. And he's like crack. He's addictive on the first hit."
Recently, HBO decided to animate Gervais' self-proclaimed "pointless conversations" with Merchant and Pilkington, turning it into the new Friday night series The Ricky Gervais Show.
The show is not Gervais' first project with HBO. He created, directed and starred in the series Extras, about the people who appear in the background of film and television sets.
Unlike the original BBC comedy The Office — which Gervais and Stephen Merchant also created, wrote and directed — Extras was not filmed in a mockumentary style. The sitcom starred Gervais as Andy Millman and included guest appearances by Ben Stiller, Kate Winslet and Samuel L. Jackson.
In addition to his TV work, Gervais starred in the films Ghost Town and The Invention of Lying, and hosted the 2010 Golden Globes. He has won Golden Globes, BAFTAs, Emmys and British Comedy Awards.
Interview Highlights
On creating and starring in The Office:
"It didn't feel like an acting job. It felt like I was doing an impression of someone I'd never met before, which I suppose is what acting is, really. But I was much more worried about the realism of the piece. I suppose I didn't have any good or bad habits. I wanted to keep in all the fluffs, all the mouth touching, all the things that ruffled the microphone. Just directorially — the realism, the motivation, the players — I always hated exposition ... we tried to make everything organic. We didn't want people entering during a scene and then leaving in the opposite directions ... I think that's what people connected with initially, with the realism of the piece."
On walking away from The Office after 12 episodes:
"That was always the plan. It was easier to walk away from because we thought it turned out exactly as we wanted it. Why ruin it?"
On the different stages of the creative process:
"I don't get excited about anything else as I do when I first have an idea. It's the creative process that excites me. I enjoy every aspect of it — the idea, the writing is probably my favorite. I get an adrenaline rush of just thinking of a nuanced piece of dialogue, a look. I love the directing, the problem-solving — there was a lot of it in 'The Office' ... and all of those things are exhausting. And when you get to the end and you done right, that's it. That's exactly as I want it. And then you look back 10 years in, and you're so glad you did [end it at the right time]."
On his particular style of comedy:
"I'd rather do stuff that makes a big connection with a few people than a small connection with loads. I'd rather this be a few people's favorite show, than millions and millions of people's 10th favorite show. Because what's the point otherwise? If you can't do something that's different enough and peculiarly yours, then just join a committee, really."
On doing award shows, and how people react:
"When you're doing comedy, if it's got any edge at all — or is worth anything — then as many people are going to dislike it as like it. You can't choose your sense of humor; it's like sexuality. You can't pretend to laugh at something you don't find funny. It's very peculiar; it's very personal. So you can only do stuff that you find funny. And I hope it's entertaining. With that, there are caveats. I don't want to go up there and just do safe ... stuff that everyone will find mildly amusing but they can do it themselves. Likewise, I don't want to go up there and bring the room down."
Copyright 2022 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air. | https://www.keranews.org/2010-03-03/ricky-gervais-has-an-animated-post-office-life | 2022-08-18T03:34:00Z |
Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Oliver Reed and Peter O' Toole were among the four greatest actors of their generation. Onstage, they brought new vigor to Shakespeare and Shaw. Onscreen, they made British cinema sexy in classic films including Lawrence of Arabia, Oliver, Becket and This Sporting Life. They classed up Hollywood cheese like Cleopatra.
They also, in the words of Oliver Reed, didn't live "in the world of sobriety" — thus, Hellraisers, a new book about these four legends who lived in the same time and place. The stories collected in it make you wonder how they made any art at all between drinking binges, pub crawls and pub brawls, public scenes of ribaldry and all-around boorishness.
Robert Sellers, the author, initially set out with the idea of a reference book of hell-raisers, only to discover that it would have been too episodic. So he narrowed his focus, picked these four titans, wove a narrative — "so it's almost a story," as he puts it.
"Burton, Harris, O'Toole and Ollie Reed were the greatest drinkers of all time," Sellers tells NPR's Scott Simon. "They're from pretty much the same generation. They all worked together. There's a lot of cross-fertilization going on. They drank together, they whored together, and they worked together. So it made perfect sense to group them together."
And they were a talented — an immensely talented — group. Burton was nominated for seven Oscars, O'Toole eight. It's criminal, Sellers thinks, that they never won, though O'Toole did pick up a lifetime-achievement award in 2002.
"It's very difficult to be a great actor and a genuine film star at the same time," Sellers argues. "They're quite exclusive."
These four were both. Burton, particularly, was both immensely talented and a global superstar — a sensation on Broadway in John Gielgud's celebrated 1964 production of Hamlet, and a hit onstage as King Arthur opposite Julie Andrews' Guenevere in Camelot a few years before. A tabloid favorite, he was married — twice — to Elizabeth Taylor, with whom he began a torrid and breathlessly reported-on affair during the filming of Cleopatra, which even in the age of Avatar remains one of the most expensive epics in Hollywood history.
Reed, by contrast, never quite made it big in America — though he did make an impression in 1968's Best Picture, playing the wicked Bill Sikes in the musical Oliver.
"He was scared of Hollywood, I think," Sellers says. "He was offered the lead role in Jaws, would you believe, and turned it down. He was quite happy living in England."
A Fish Tale That Turns Out To Be True
Good as they were, these four could be very, very bad. The tales of their carousing have grown over the years until they've become legend — which is why, Sellers says, it was particularly rewarding to track down those who could give firsthand accounts of outrageous stories you'd think must have been embellished.
Reed, for instance: Filming the 1973 adventure The Three Musketeers in Madrid, the cast and crew were staying in an expensive hotel with an ornate fishpond in the dining room, full of koi — the overgrown goldfish often seen lazing about in ponds in Japanese gardens and public parks.
"In the dead of night one evening, Oliver Reed came down and stole the fish from the ornamental pond," Sellers says. "[He] put the fish in his bathtub and spent all night with some carrots, shaping the carrots into the shape of fish. And then he went down and put the carrots into the pond, and then went to bed."
Next morning, Reed arrives in the dining room and says "Good morning" to everybody — and then he dove into the pond and started eating what the diners thought were live fish. The manager called the police. Reed was escorted out of the building, shouting, "You can't touch me, I'm a Musketeer!"
Too good to be true, right? Turns out that the actor Michael York — he played D'Artagnan in that movie, though younger audiences might know him as Basil Exposition in the Austin Powers films — was one of the diners that morning, and he swears it happened just like that.
"It's nice to sort of legitimize these wonderful stories," Sellers says.
A Darker Version Of Life At The Top
Some stories, of course, are less larky.
"They all had their dark side," Sellers says. "Less so Peter O'Toole, but I think the others — something about the Celt, isn't it? The dark side of the Celt?"
Richard Harris, who played Burton's King Arthur role opposite Vanessa Redgrave when Camelot was turned into a film, "probably was the darkest," Sellers says. "He could get extremely violent when he was drunk."
"There are stories of him throwing a wardrobe at his wife one evening," Sellers says. "Another time, he woke up one morning and looked in the mirror, and his whole face was covered in scars and smeared in dried blood. And he went downstairs and asked his wife, 'What happened? What happened last night?' And she says, 'You can't remember? You can't remember smashing up an entire restaurant?' He threw tables and chairs through windows, just wrecked the whole establishment. And he couldn't remember."
O'Toole, the last surviving member of the Hellraisers quartet, doesn't drink much anymore.
"He can't drink — well, he does and he doesn't," Sellers says. "He had this operation in the '70s, where most of his stomach was removed because of his excessive drinking. And after that the doctor said, literally, 'If you drink, you will die.' "
And so O'Toole "was off the sauce, off the booze, for about 10 years," Sellers says. "And then he slowly went back on it. But only the odd little indulgence, shall we say. He doesn't really drink heavily, because it would kill him."
That surgery, and its effects, would cause havoc on the set of the '80s comedy My Favorite Year.
"There's a scene where his character has to drink one of those small airplane miniature bottles," Sellers explains. "Obviously, they all knew Peter couldn't drink. So they got about 10 or 20 of these bottles, emptied them of the alcohol, washed them out with water and then filled them with water. ... But one bottle got through, and that's the one he drank."
The upshot: O'Toole was violently ill for about two hours.
'Why Would I Worry About It?'
The four hell-raisers enjoyed their excesses, and they were not men to worry much about their reputations.
"Why would it worry me after I'm gone?" Richard Harris asked Scott Simon in a 1994 interview. "I won't be around to observe what people say about me. Look what they say about me now, for God's sake — and I'm alive. A lot of it's not very complimentary, you know? So why would I worry about it when I'm dead?"
And yet at their core, Harris and his brothers in boozing — who did, after all, assemble an impressive body of work — had a solid sense of professionalism.
"Michael Winner said that Oliver Reed, when he was directing him ... he never drank," Sellers reports. "He only drank at night. He was like Jekyll and Hyde."
Harris died in 2002, Burton in 1984, Reed in 1999 — during the filming of Gladiator, another Best Picture winner for the man who never made it big in Hollywood. He played Proximo, the retired gladiator who helps train the movie's hero.
When they were at their peaks, these men "had huge responsibility on their shoulders as the star of a film," Sellers acknowledges. "But there were the odd days. ... There's a wonderful story where O'Toole was making a film at Shepperton, or Pinewood — one of the big studios here in England. And they said, 'OK, we don't need you for an hour, Peter, off you go, we're lighting the next scene.' "
When they were ready for O'Toole, the assistant charged with fetching him went to the star's dressing room only to find it empty.
"There was no sign of Peter at all," Sellers says. "Gone. Vanished. He looked around the dressing room, and the television was on. And it was covering a local horse race — and this is God's truth — and the camera zoomed into the crowd and Peter O'Toole was actually in the crowd."
The star of the film had bolted from the studio and gotten a cab to the local racecourse.
"And this poor assistant had to go back, and said, 'He's at the local races,' " Sellers says. " 'How do you know that?' 'He's actually on the television, cheering the winner.' "
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2010-03-26/four-hellraisers-living-it-up-in-the-public-eye | 2022-08-18T03:34:06Z |
Will the iconic Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium ever reopen to the public? After closing down due to water quality and safety issues 43 years ago, the storied landmark now sits dilapidated with crumbling concrete and chipped paint.
The city told KITV-4 it is "in the process of preparing the design documents for the renovation of the Natatorium and is also in the process of obtaining the necessary permits."
Designated as a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the facility opened on August 24, 1927 to commemorate about 10,000 Hawai'i residents who served in the first world war, as there were no remains to repatriate.
"This one was unique because it allowed people to not only remember as a monument, but also participate. As a veteran, I know the importance of remembering," Former Navy Command Master Chief Mo Radke said.
For the past 14 years, Radke has dedicated his time pushing for the renovation of the fabled monument with non-profit Friends of the Natatorium.
For 50 years, the natatorium welcomed esteemed swimmers, and Radke described it as "the Wimbledon of swimming, the St. Andrews of swimming."
Structural Engineer Steven Baldridge took underwater photos of the structure for the city a few years back to survey damages.
"There's a lot of repair work that's needed out there, mostly on the upper decks, the piles look pretty good," Baldridge said.
"The concrete at the natatorium has actually lasted pretty long."
According to the trust, renovation is estimated to cost nearly $32 million dollars and demolition would be about $35 million.
The Kaimana Beach Coalition wants the decaying structure removed to preserve the beach and avoid any potential commercial activity that may crowd out beachgoers.
Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi's predecessor, former Mayor Kirk Caldwell, had plans to move forward with renovation.
Do you have a story idea? Email news tips to news@kitv.com
'A'ali'i is a reporter with KITV. He was born and raised on the island of Maui and graduated from the University of Southern California with a bachelor's degree in Journalism. | https://www.kitv.com/news/city-preparing-design-documents-to-renovate-storied-waikiki-natatorium/article_fbdf1a0e-1e8f-11ed-aab8-77077479372f.html | 2022-08-18T03:44:27Z |
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HONOLULU (KITV4) -- Voted one of the top bakeries in Hawaii, Liliha Bakery will open a new location in Central Oahu on August 31.
The 7,000 square foot full-service coffee shop and bakery will be at the Pearl Highlands Center, in the former Pier 1 Imports space.
Doors open Wednesday, August 31, at 6:30 a.m. Inspired by their Nimitz location, the new Pearl Highlands location will include a 4,500 dine-in area, as well as a bakery counter for takeout.
Open daily from 6:30 a.m. – 10 p.m., the location will feature favorites like hot cakes, oxtail soup and loco moco, and over 150 different types of fresh, hand-made from scratch pastries, like coco puffs and poi mochi donuts.
“For several years now it’s been one of Liliha Bakery’s goals to service our amazing central Oahu and west side communities a little closer to home, and it’s an honor we have the opportunity to expand and do so," said Connie Wong, Liliha Bakery Marketing Lead. “At our newest Pearl Highlands Center location, we’ll be sure to carry on Liliha Bakery’s legacy of timeless local dishes, freshly baked goods and pastries for Liliha lovers west of Honolulu to enjoy now conveniently in central Oahu.”
Other locations include the original Liliha Bakery location in Kalihi, Nimitz, Ala Moana Center in Macy’s and the International Market Place.
Kathryn spent the last decade in the Bay Area working in nonprofits, education, and communications consulting. She has a B.A. in English from St. Mary's College of CA and an M.A. in Public Affairs and Politics from the University of San Francisco. | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/liliha-bakery-opening-central-oahu-location-on-august-31/article_5747e174-1e94-11ed-8271-7b46a1850bbc.html | 2022-08-18T03:44:30Z |
Heidi W. Durrow is a graduate of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and Yale Law School. Her debut novel is The Girl Who Fell From The Sky.
There are novels that are enjoyable to read and others that say something about the world. And sometimes there are novels that are both. Passing by Nella Larsen is one of those books.
Passing is set at the height of the Jazz Age — when Harlem was in vogue. It's the story of two light-skinned black women whose comfortable lives unravel when they are reacquainted in a whites-only restaurant: Irene, the wife of a prominent African-American doctor and the mother of two boys; and her childhood friend Clare, who is passing as white.
Clare longs to be among black folks again. And at the risk of her racially intolerant husband discovering her real identity, Clare secretly joins Irene and her husband at the best clubs and parties where the Harlem literati and intelligentsia meet. Larsen's slim book reads like a literary page-turner. Will Clare's secret be exposed? Will she return to Harlem? Will the women's friendship survive Clare's renewed interest in her African-American roots?
Larsen's prose is spare and elegant, and the dialogue is smart: when Irene asks her husband why the folks who cross the color line always yearn to return, he answers, "If I knew that, I'd know what race is." Exactly!
Larsen herself — one of the most prominent Harlem Renaissance writers — for a time led a glamorous life before she died in obscurity in 1964. Married to a well-known black physicist, Larsen initially enjoyed a front seat to the Harlem Renaissance and then a place on center stage as the author of two highly acclaimed novels and the first woman of African-American descent awarded a prestigious Guggenheim fellowship.
But Passing wouldn't still be meaningful if its main theme was the danger of crossing the color line. Not even the tabloids are interested in running "alarming" headlines like this one, which appeared in a 1928 New York World: "Crossing the Color Line: Social and Economic Ambitions Lead Negroes to 'Pass' at Rate of 5,000 a Year to White Fold."
Passing is among my favorite books because it's about being defined by what other people see and the desire to transcend that.
You may not identify with being a light-skinned African-American, but you have probably felt at some point that what was most important about you wasn't visible.
I have read and re-read Passing more than a dozen times. Each time I think I can hear Larsen's own voice more clearly: asking, demanding really, that each of us abandon the labels we've been assigned and celebrate the story that we are.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2010-04-07/passing-across-the-color-line-in-the-jazz-age | 2022-08-18T03:47:02Z |
The sign on top of the restored train depot on South Main Street in downtown Rock Springs is seen by many visitors in the area. It is currently a locally-owned coffee shop.
ROCK SPRINGS – Representatives from All Aboard Northwest (AANW) conducted a Train Trek presentation to Mayor Tim Kaumo on Wednesday, Aug. 17 in city chambers.
The stop in Rock Springs is part of a larger series of discussions happening in the western states to gather support for the return of passenger trains to Wyoming.
Dan Bilka, president and co-founder of AANW, and Charlie Hamilton, vice-president of AANW, explained how a returning passenger train service in Rock Springs could benefit the community.
“We know a lot of folks are interested in getting a passenger rail service to this region after many years,” said Hamilton. “About 30 percent of Americans don’t drive because of age – they're too young or too old or because of a disability. The weather makes it difficult at times too.
“If you’re driving to your destination, you might not get there until the next day.”
Bilka pointed out that passenger rail service is an ideal option for the economy, environment and equity.
“There is more to your community than just cars,” Hamilton mentioned.
According to Bilka and Hamilton, there is “unprecedented federal funding available for transportation alternatives.”
Hamilton informed Kaumo that they don’t insist on building new tracks.
“We’re focusing on tracks already in existence,” Hamilton said. “We believe we will create a situation that will benefit UP (Union Pacific) and the users.
“Our vision is more than lines on a map. It’s about seamless mobility from Point A to Point B.”
Bilka said, “2022 is just an amazing opportunity. There is $66 million available in funding. The federal government wants to see this happen.”
Hamilton added, “This opportunity may never come again so we’re encouraging everyone to think about how your community and your state can participate.”
They went on to explain that communities can apply for competitive grants and funding will require local support.
They pointed out that “there are a lot of college towns interested in this project.”
Bilka shared a conversation he had with a University of Wyoming student recently in regards to fostering that opportunity dynamic with passenger rail service.
“He (the student) said, ‘yeah, if we had a train here, we’d totally load it up with students and go to Denver or Salt Lake City.’”
Bilka also said that inclement weather would be a good reason for families to take advantage of passenger rail services to avoid long drives on bad roads.
“Those are the kind of things that would make money for everyone and get people excited about being on a train,” Hamilton said.
Kaumo told Bilka and Hamilton that he’s excited to know more about passenger rail service and that it has been discussed since he became mayor in 2003.
“It is safer and dependable and I had always wondered why passenger trains don’t stop in Wyoming communities,” said Kaumo. “Perhaps it’s the timing of freight trains.”
Bilka said that “Amtrak might be interested but there will also be a number of railroad providers that will be interested too.”
“There are still a lot of questions that need to be answered,” Kaumo noted.
Kaumo added, “I’d like to see it be successful someday but we, along with UP, need to see if infrastructure needs to be improved and discuss the cost.”
“There’s definitely interest in this but there are moving parts to deal with.” | https://www.wyomingnews.com/rocketminer/transforming-a-community-guest-speakers-share-benefits-of-passenger-rail-service/article_0be79637-1a22-5fad-a1ce-b6d865b822c7.html | 2022-08-18T04:08:47Z |
The ukulele has a mixed bag of friends, including mega-zillionaire Warren Buffett, at least three Beatles and elementary-school students in Nova Scotia. Despite many thousands of fans the world over, the small four-stringed instrument has been the butt of countless jokes and insults. But as a new documentary demonstrates, the uke has made a comeback.
The Mighty Uke: The Amazing Comeback of a Musical Underdog opens with shots of Hawaiian virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro -- now 33 -- in New York City wearing jeans, sneakers and a T-shirt, playing his ukulele with brilliance and brio. Director Tony Coleman describes Shimbukuro's technique as "ukulele shock and awe. He's an athletic performer, full of expression." Shimbukuro's mother handed him a ukulele when he was 4, and a little more than two decades later, his version of George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" went viral on YouTube.
A New Generation Of Players
Tony Coleman traveled with the documentary's producer, Margaret Meagher, in search of all kinds of artists who now play the instrument. They followed uke clubs and orchestras in the U.S., Canada and other places around the world. They found artists like Shimbukuro and Canadian virtuoso James Hill, who is also featured in the documentary. Hill grew up in Langley, British Columbia, where he began playing when he was 8 -- though not necessarily by choice.
"When I got to grade 4, they just handed me a ukulele," he says. "It was part of your standard-issue kind of school equipment."
Hill adds that he thinks the little instrument creates community.
"When people come to a ukulele performance, more often than not they bring their ukuleles with them," he says. "And they'll sit there in the audience waiting for the moment where they are asked to join in. Contrast that with a symphony performance -- nobody brings their oboe."
So why are so many people coming back to the ukulele? Filmmaker Tony Coleman and uke enthusiast James Hill agree that the instrument can be inexpensive, it's fun to make music with lots of people, and it's easy. But as Hill says, "The uke is easy to play, but not easy to play well." That has some wondering whether the current spotlight on the uke will burn out in time.
The Uke Revolution: Here To Stay?
Coleman says the uke's current wave of popularity probably started more than a decade ago, with Hawaiian artist Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. His ukulele version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" charmed audiences. But Coleman also credits Paul McCartney, who in 2002 performed a concert in tribute to the late George Harrison -- a big ukulele fan. McCartney brought out a ukulele Harrison had given him and sang "Something." The next day, Coleman says, the uke started selling and helped inspire a new generation of players.
"Initially," Coleman says, "when we decided to make the documentary, the thing I was interested in was the musical surprise. But I was blown away by the little instrument's power to bring people together."
Now there are uke clubs everywhere, Coleman says, and you often see many generations playing together, young and old.
Tony Coleman says he hopes his documentary will help ensure the lasting quality of this big-hearted little instrument, with its ability to create communities of happy music-makers.
"For centuries, music was an integral part of our lives. All of us played music or knew someone who did," Coleman says. "Then, at the beginning of the 20th century, the record player came along and all of a sudden we weren't good enough. We were encouraged to listen, to be passive listeners. And I think that we lost something very fundamental to our souls: making music together."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2010-06-03/the-mighty-uke-a-musical-underdog-makes-a-comeback | 2022-08-18T04:16:48Z |
Andrea Conner has become "the accidental COVID Czar" of Lake Forest College, a small school north of Chicago where she serves as dean of students.
"When COVID started, our crisis management team sort of multiplied," she says.
Now, she's relying on that same team to respond to a new health threat: monkeypox.
"There's a lot of fear, a lot of concern," Conner says. "So we want to educate people." Her team is putting together guidance detailing monkeypox signs and symptoms, and what a student should do if they think they might be infected. Monkeypox is much less contagious than COVID-19, but Conner says it's a school's job to be prepared.
Ahead of the new school year, colleges across the country are repurposing the tools they developed during the pandemic to address the monkeypox outbreak, which the White House recently declared a public health emergency. It's a different virus, with different risks, and colleges are having to adapt, says Dr. Lindsey Mortenson of the American College Health Association (ACHA).
"Many colleges and universities are thinking about 'how do we turn the page institutionally?" Mortenson says. " 'How do we take all of these public health informed practices and apply them in a different context?' "
The risk of contracting monkeypox is low, but colleges are beginning to see cases
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the risk of contracting monkeypox in the U.S. is "believed to be low." More than 7,000 cases have been confirmed in the U.S. as of Thursday, though experts say that number is likely higher due to testing limitations.
Monkeypox is most often associated with a rash that can appear anywhere on the body including the face, feet, hands, genitals and inside the mouth, the CDC says. But symptoms can also include fever, headaches and muscle aches.
The virus spreads through physical contact with the monkeypox rash, and the vast majority of people affected by the current outbreak appear to be catching it through sexual contact. Cases have been largely concentrated in the gay and queer community, primarily among men who have sex with men. But the CDC says sexual contact is not the only way the virus can spread. It's possible for close face-to-face contact or indirect contact with the rash to result in transmission, though data show this is less common.
As a result, experts say, everyone should be paying attention to the virus.
"No outbreak stays limited to any one social network," says Dr. Jay Varma, an epidemiologist at Weill Cornell Medical College. He adds that although the virus has been concentrated in the gay and queer community, "There's no biological reason it couldn't spill over into other groups."
On college campuses, Varma says, areas to watch are those where students come into close physical contact with each other's skin, including locker rooms, gyms or even theater groups.
The virus has already appeared on some college campuses. Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., University of Texas at Austin and West Chester University in Pennsylvania all told NPR they had at least one confirmed case over the summer.
At West Chester University, spokesperson Nancy Gainer says, "The student is in isolation and continues to do very well. There is a plan in place for them to finish their class remotely, and the student will not return to campus for the summer term."
On July 28, the ACHA, which represents over 700 institutions of higher education, sent an email to its members with basic information about monkeypox, but more detailed guidance is still in progress, says Rachel Mack, director of communications at the ACHA. She says the ACHA is now coordinating with the CDC to schedule a webinar, and they're also creating an FAQ document to share with members.
"All of this is in the early stages and we're right now assembling a team of experts to help finalize the topics that are of primary importance to [institutions of higher education]," says Mack, in an email to NPR. "Our goal is to be responsive to the needs of our members and to meet those needs as quickly as we can."
Monkeypox requires a longer isolation period than coronavirus
COVID-19 is usually contagious for less than 10 days, but a monkeypox infection can last a few weeks. That means a student who contracts the virus may need to isolate for a significant chunk of their semester.
"This presents a very important challenge for the individual, who has to put up with that level of isolation, as well as the university, which needs to make arrangements to support that," Varma says.
One challenge is that most colleges have shifted back to in-person instruction after going fully remote in 2020. Schools told NPR they are still determining what remote learning will look like for students in isolation.
At the University of California, Irvine, where all classes are back in-person, students in isolation work directly with their faculty members to decide how to learn remotely, says David Souleles, who leads the school's COVID-19 response team. "Instructors are encouraged to have a plan for such occurrences in advance," he explains.
When it comes to where students with monkeypox would isolate, there's huge variability across colleges, even in places where schools had housing set aside for students who tested positive for COVID.
"Some are retaining isolation housing for COVID, or for whatever infectious illnesses it may be needed for," says Mortenson. "Others have completely relinquished their inventory."
At Lake Forest College, Andrea Conner is working through housing logistics, and she says the school plans to help students isolate if they test positive for monkeypox. They'll also help students meet basic needs including meals and laundry.
At West Chester University, which serves over 17,000 commuter and residential students, Gainer says the school is "committed to following CDC guidelines and having students [who test positive for monkeypox] self-isolate."
In Ithaca, N.Y., at Cornell University, the campus health unit has published an online resource with information on monkeypox. The school is "developing testing, treatment and isolation protocols for those affected," says Rebecca Valli, director of media relations. "We are also considering the potential academic impacts and accommodations which may arise."
Students are concerned about monkeypox stigma
Because 99% of cases in the U.S. are related to male-to-male sexual contact, according to the WHO, there's a growing concern about stigma and bias against the LGBTQ community.
That bias can have negative public health consequences if it prevents an infected person from seeking treatment and informing their close contacts about potential exposure, an important step in mitigating spread.
Student Liz Cortes, who co-leads the Queer and Trans Student Alliance at UT Austin, says they are frustrated by the ongoing stigma and is waiting to see if the university will address it. If the school fails to, "we would make it a priority to work with public health officials on providing accurate information and addressing misconceptions about the virus and our community," Cortes tells NPR in an email.
UT Austin did not immediately respond to a request for comment about how it intends to address concerns about stigma. But the school's health services website states that "anyone can get monkeypox, regardless of age or sex."
Some universities are working with student groups to coordinate education and response efforts. At UC Irvine, Souleles says the school has convened a working group that includes representatives from the LGBT Resource Center. "We're also consulting guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on reducing stigma in monkeypox communication," he says.
Student privacy is another concern. At many larger schools, including UT Austin, University of Michigan and UC Irvine, health centers are equipped to test students for monkeypox. But other schools, including Lake Forest, don't currently have the resources for testing.
Lake Forest students have to go off campus to get tested at one of five nearby labs, Andrea Conner says. One of those labs is an STI clinic, and if a student gets tested there, their insurance might bill it as a test for a sexually transmitted infection, even though monkeypox is not considered an STI, says Conner.
"Some members of our community wouldn't want their parents to see that on their insurance," Conner explains. "So there's a lot of layers there."
Still, Conner says she remains hopeful about the fall semester.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-06/how-colleges-are-preparing-for-a-new-public-health-threat-monkeypox | 2022-08-18T04:16:54Z |
9-1-1 Dispatch recognized by international organization
TAZEWELL, Va. (WVVA) - Last week the Tazewell County 911 Center was presented an award by the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) during this year’s national training conference. The training was held in Anaheim California and Tazewell’s 911 Director, Captain Randy Ann Davis, was there to receive the award on behalf all the Dispatchers and the 911 Center.
“We received the technology award from APCO International. We’ve done a lot of technology here in Southwest Virginia and we were nominated for the small 9-1-1 center.” said Davis
The award is for Technology Leadership, and was given because of the many recent advances being made in Tazewell ’s 911 Center.
Most notably, the center was recognized for their Rioslite app. The app allows officers to communicate with dispatch from securely from their phone. The center hopes to use similar technology on school grounds and for bus drivers.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/18/9-1-1-dispatch-recognized-by-international-organization/ | 2022-08-18T04:17:00Z |
A controversial legal theory that could radically reshape presidential and congressional elections has had a vocal supporter in filings to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Since 2020, a conservative group advocating for more restrictive voting laws has filed multiple friend-of-the-court briefs to try to influence the justices, including with the claim that the U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures the power to determine how federal elections are run without limits from state constitutions or state courts.
The group calls itself the Honest Elections Project, which since 2020, according to corporate records filed in Virginia, has been a registered business alias for The 85 Fund. That organization has federal tax-exempt status, millions of dollars in donations and spending that are hard to trace, and ties to Leonard Leo — the Federalist Society's co-chairman and former executive vice president who helped build the Supreme Court's majority of conservative justices.
Three of those justices have signaled they are likely to side with Republican state lawmakers in an upcoming North Carolina redistricting case that could result in a Supreme Court endorsement of what's known as the independent state legislature theory. The lawmakers would need the support of at least two other justices on the court, where conservatives enjoy a 6-3 supermajority.
Over the past two years, what many in the legal world considered a fringe theory has become an increasingly hot topic. The Honest Elections Project's court filings underscore how conservative groups have been urging the justices to weigh in on exactly how much power state legislatures have over rules for federal elections.
"This is a priority for us," says Jason Snead, the organization's executive director, about the North Carolina case Moore v. Harper, which the court is expected to hear in the coming months. "Obviously, a case that deals with this issue in the Supreme Court is an incredibly important inflection point. And so we will be devoting resources to this."
The group has cited the theory in court filings for past cases about election rules in Pennsylvania and North Carolina
Snead's organization has already devoted resources to other cases.
In 2020, the Honest Elections Project submitted a legal brief in support of Pennsylvania's Republican Party, which unsuccessfully brought to the U.S. Supreme Court a case over whether a state court can extend the deadline for receiving mail ballots. Citing its authority under the state's constitution, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had ordered a three-day deadline extension to "prevent the disenfranchisement of voters" amid postal service delays during the COVID-19 pandemic's first year.
In their brief against the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's decision, the Honest Elections Project referenced the U.S. Constitution's Elections Clause and Electors Cause in arguing that state legislatures are "vested with plenary authority that cannot be divested by state constitution to determine the times, places, and manner of presidential and congressional elections."
This year, the conservative group echoed that position again at the U.S. Supreme Court in a brief for a case about whether North Carolina lawmakers could intervene in a lawsuit and defend a state law about voter IDs that the state's attorney general was already defending.
"While the Court briefly revisited the independent state legislature doctrine last Term, it has yet to 'make it clear' that the doctrine is our law," the Honest Elections Project's brief said, quoting Justice Clarence Thomas' dissenting opinion for the Pennsylvania case. "It should do so here."
Many legal scholars warn support for the theory from the Supreme Court could bring chaos to upcoming elections
Snead — the Honest Elections Project's executive director, who previously helped maintain The Heritage Foundation's voter fraud database as a senior policy analyst — says the independent state legislature theory is not "something that we just stumbled across to advance a particular political agenda" and, in his opinion, gets to "the very core of what it is to have a free election."
"I think it's something which we need to give a definitive answer to — when the Constitution says legislatures write the laws that govern our democracy, is that what it means or does it mean something else?" adds Snead.
But many legal scholars point out that state legislatures are the products of, and limited by, their states' constitutions and the U.S. Supreme Court has long deferred to state courts on interpreting state constitutions and laws.
Opponents of the independent state legislature theory warn that if it is ultimately endorsed by the highest court in the land, it could bring chaos to upcoming elections, make it easier to gerrymander maps of voting districts and clear a path for state lawmakers to try to subvert the results of the 2024 presidential race.
The court is likely to rule by next summer with its expected decision in the North Carolina redistricting case, which election law experts have been watching closely.
So far, however, the Honest Elections Project has yet to join the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Redistricting Trust in filing a friend-of-the-court brief for that case. (Both of those groups have cited variations of the independent state legislature theory in their filings.)
"This was simply a bandwidth question," Snead says, noting that the group plans to submit a brief now that the Supreme Court has agreed to take on the case. "We're, of course, very, very excited to see that the court is potentially going to step in and resolve this question."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-12/this-conservative-group-helped-push-a-disputed-election-theory | 2022-08-18T04:17:00Z |
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
We begin this hour with NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson and news of a fiery crash at the U.S. Capitol overnight. Hi, Mara.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Hi there, Ayesha.
RASCOE: So what do we know about this incident?
LIASSON: What we know is that just after 4 a.m., a man drove his car into the vehicle barricade at East Capitol Street and Second Street. When he was getting out of the car, it became engulfed in flames. He fired several shots into the air. When the police officers heard the sound of gunfire, they responded. They were approaching the man when he shot himself. He's dead. No one else was hurt. We don't know about his motive. It doesn't look like he was targeting any specific members of Congress. The officers did not fire their weapons. And an investigation is ongoing. That's what we know.
RASCOE: And this is especially concerning in light of threats against law enforcement and that attack on the FBI office in Cincinnati. So we'll certainly be watching for more details. Shifting to other news, President Biden says he's signing the Inflation Reduction Act into law this week. Give us some more detail on what's in the bill and when people will feel its effects.
LIASSON: What's in the bill is the most money ever to fight climate change, an extension of Obamacare subsidies, measures that will bring down drug prices, a minimum corporate tax. In terms of its effects on inflation, at least, even though it's called the Inflation Reduction Act, the effects will be not large and not very soon. But if you're thinking about buying an electric vehicle, if you're worried about your Obamacare subsidies or how you're going to pay for prescription drugs, you should feel the effects very soon. Now Democrats have a massive selling job to do because they need to convince people that they are getting a benefit and that Democrats in this case, only Democrats, are responsible for this because no Republicans voted yes.
RASCOE: So this comes after Biden - he signed a bipartisan bill designed to spur American semiconductor research and manufacturing. He also signed off on new funding for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits. You know, what explains this string of wins after what it seemed like, you know, the administration couldn't get anything together?
LIASSON: What explains it is that these things were extremely popular. On burn pits, for instance, there was broad bipartisan support among the public. So after holding up the bill, Republicans ended up capitulating and letting the bill pass. It's true for other things that Biden has passed - gun safety legislation, infrastructure law, a bill that will make American semiconductor manufacturing more competitive with China. In all those cases, Biden was legislating from the center out.
With the Inflation Reduction Act, formerly known as Build Back Better, it just took him and the Democrats in Congress a very long time to whittle down the price tag so that it was more accurately reflective of where the center was in American politics. And, you know, the Democratic Party has a potential advantage, if they're able to use it, which is that their coalition, which is very messy, is much broader than the Republicans. So theoretically, it should be easier for them to find the center of American politics because they represent it better than the Republicans, who are a minority party.
RASCOE: So Monday, you know, there was big news. The FBI searched former President Trump's property in Florida. But we learned in February that the National Archives had asked the Justice Department to look into his handling of classified material. So where do you think we are in the story?
LIASSON: Well, what we know is that a judge found probable cause that there was evidence of a crime at Mar-a-Lago. And now we know that the FBI is looking into the potential violation of a number of laws, the handling of classified documents, the handling of unclassified documents. And what this means is that Donald Trump is now the subject of a lot of investigations, not just Mar-a-Lago. There's his - an investigation into efforts to overturn the election in Georgia. There's a civil case in New York, maybe tax fraud. And remember, his 2016 campaign was all about lock her up. Remember that? Charging Hillary Clinton, saying she should be put in jail because she mishandled government documents, her emails. He even signed a law, Donald Trump did, making it a felony instead of a misdemeanor to mishandle classified documents. So here he is. He took the Fifth over 400 times in New York when he had to give a deposition in that case. And now his supporters are trying to say that he is the subject, the target of a politically motivated witch hunt. And the problem is that this is a grinding process, and these investigations are ongoing. And he has to fight all of them at once.
RASCOE: As you said, there have been a lot of investigations of Trump. But what do you think - like we are with this investigation where it stands now?
LIASSON: Well, I think the first quick and easy hot take was that it made him into a martyr, helped him politically, increased his chances of getting the nomination in 2024. But I think that over time, as more evidence comes out, I think this plus the January 6 Committee, plus the investigations in New York and Georgia are actually potentially diminishing Trump's powers and making more Republicans become more open to an alternative to him in 2024.
RASCOE: That's NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Mara, thank you very much.
LIASSON: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR. | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-14/whats-in-the-sweeping-bill-affecting-climate-change-health-care-taxes-and-more | 2022-08-18T04:17:06Z |
World’s largest moth found in US for first time, officials say
BELLVUE, Wash. (KPTV/Gray News) - Officials in Washington state are urging the public to keep an eye out for moths following the discovery of one of the largest moths in the world earlier this year.
KPTV reports a University of Washington professor found the moth, later identified as an Atlas moth, outside his garage in Bellevue on July 7.
Officials said that an Atlas moth’s wingspan could reach about 10 inches, making it the biggest known moth in the world.
According to the Washington State Department of Agriculture, entomologists believe it to be the first official finding of the pest in the U.S.
“These are the kinds of insects that people bring their phones out and take pictures of, even if they aren’t looking for bugs,” said Sven Spichiger, managing entomologist at the department. “These are normally a tropical moth. We are not sure it could survive here.”
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Atlas moth is a federally quarantined pest. Without permission from the USDA, collecting, housing or selling the moth is prohibited.
“The USDA is gathering available scientific and technical information about the moth and will provide response recommendations,” Spichiger said. “In the meantime, we hope residents will help us learn if this was a one-off escapee or if there is a population in the area.”
Officials said the moth does not represent a hazard to the public’s health.
The department urges anyone who spots an Atlas moth in Washington to send a photo to pestprogram@agr.wa.gov and include a location.
Copyright 2022 KPTV via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/18/worlds-largest-moth-found-us-first-time-officials-say/ | 2022-08-18T04:17:06Z |
World’s largest moth found in US for first time, officials say
BELLVUE, Wash. (KPTV/Gray News) - Officials in Washington state are urging the public to keep an eye out for moths following the discovery of one of the largest moths in the world earlier this year.
KPTV reports a University of Washington professor found the moth, later identified as an Atlas moth, outside his garage in Bellevue on July 7.
Officials said that an Atlas moth’s wingspan could reach about 10 inches, making it the biggest known moth in the world.
According to the Washington State Department of Agriculture, entomologists believe it to be the first official finding of the pest in the U.S.
“These are the kinds of insects that people bring their phones out and take pictures of, even if they aren’t looking for bugs,” said Sven Spichiger, managing entomologist at the department. “These are normally a tropical moth. We are not sure it could survive here.”
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Atlas moth is a federally quarantined pest. Without permission from the USDA, collecting, housing or selling the moth is prohibited.
“The USDA is gathering available scientific and technical information about the moth and will provide response recommendations,” Spichiger said. “In the meantime, we hope residents will help us learn if this was a one-off escapee or if there is a population in the area.”
Officials said the moth does not represent a hazard to the public’s health.
The department urges anyone who spots an Atlas moth in Washington to send a photo to pestprogram@agr.wa.gov and include a location.
Copyright 2022 KPTV via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/18/worlds-largest-moth-found-us-first-time-officials-say/ | 2022-08-18T04:21:34Z |
Minnesota-based electronic artist Patrick Flanagan leads the band Jazari, but to call it a "band" would be generous. Flanagan is Jazari's only member, and he uses two Wii remotes that he's programmed to play all the instruments around him.
Although Flanagan doesn't have training as a percussionist, he studied music for many years. He earned degrees in composition and music and went on to complete graduate work in computer music — particularly style modeling.
"[Style modeling] involves using computers to imitate certain parts of the creative process, either improvisation or composition," Flanagan tells Weekend All Things Considered host Guy Raz.
Jazari is a one-man drum circle. Flanagan uses a variety of African and Latin percussion instruments controlled by software, which is in turn triggered by Wii remotes. He wrote the software himself, with the remote signaling his laptop, which then signals a solenoid, or electromagnet, with a rod attached to each instrument.
"The computer basically keeps the beat for me and leaves more interesting decisions, I think, to me," Flanagan says. "I can hold down a button and a note will just repeat."
For example, if Flanagan wants quarter notes from the djembe, he presses and holds the down button on the Wii remote. With just a rotation of his hand, he can speed up, creating eighth notes, 16th notes or 32nd notes. Flanagan can adjust the loudness of the instruments, too, by tilting the Wii remote forward or backward. The same principles apply for the other instruments, such as the clave, cowbell, cabasa, agogo and bongo drums.
Flanagan didn't always use Wii and live instruments. He used to perform from behind a laptop, moving knobs and sliders. He says his Jazari shows give audiences a more tangible idea of how his music works.
"It was so complex," he says, "and there was no physical manifestation of what was happening. Audiences had no idea what was going on."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2010-07-16/jazari-a-one-man-wii-operated-drum-circle | 2022-08-18T04:31:51Z |
Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd were two college friends from Dundee, Scotland, trying to make a name for themselves in rap music. But despite a talent for spinning rhymes, they couldn't make it past the local scene. They even traveled to London for open auditions to become the next Eminem, but were told that they sounded more like a rapping version of the thick-accented pop group The Proclaimers.
Bain and Boyd returned disappointed that no one would take them seriously. So they adopted new identities, Bain as Brains McLoud and Boyd as Silibil, and invented an elaborate back story: They were from a small town in California, got kicked out of school and ran out of money in the U.K., where they were currently working to make it as the rap group Silibil 'N Brains. They based their personas on their favorite comedians — Jim Carrey, who is actually Canadian, and Chris Tucker — and rapped with American accents. That made all the difference, Bain tells Weekend All Things Considered host Guy Raz.
"These lyrics were just the same when we did them again in American accents," he says. "There was nothing different, and all of a sudden, people were saying, 'Oh, wow. They're just as good as Eminem.' But in the Scottish accent, they're saying, 'Oh, no. They don't have any talent.' "
The group eventually signed a $350,000 record deal with Sony U.K. and recorded three albums. They dropped small clues to their true identities in their lyrics, as in "Losers," which subtly mocks the people who bought their story.
"We kind of liked to put little hints about what we were actually doing," Bain says, "because we knew as soon as the record came out, we were going to come clean and that would make sense. It was a very naive plan."
One lie in particular took on a life of its own. Bain and Boyd claimed to be close friends of Eminem and D-12, but when their manager told them that Silibil 'N Brains would be joining the rappers on their U.K. tour, they didn't know what to do. Bain says they couldn't avoid them on the whole tour, so they decided to go for it.
"We walked over and we started throwing high-fives and cuddling them and acting like we were the best of friends. And they just went along with it," he says. "To everyone else, it just really looked real."
When Lies Become Life
Bain and Boyd dodged that bullet, but there were numerous other close calls — some of which appear in Bain's book California Schemin'. When the group appeared on MTV's TRL, fans and friends starting flooding message boards about their Scottish origins. Bain says he and Boyd worked to shut down the sites and keep their secret under wraps.
"It just got carried away," Bain says. "There was so much money involved. The plan was originally to come out, but... when it got big enough... we stood to be sued [by the record company]."
The stress of the lies had Bain and Boyd at each other's throats, Bain says. They even stopped talking to their friends and parents.
"We were so in love with these characters," he says. "We couldn't get out of the character. It was complete insanity."
Eventually, the pressure became too much. Bain says they had a violent fight about keeping up the facade. Boyd wanted to leave the group and marry his girlfriend back in Scotland, but Bain didn't want to jeopardize the group. The next day, Boyd was gone, leaving just one half of Silibil 'N Brains.
Although his music deal fell apart, Bain continued to live in character as Brains McLoud for the next two years. He lived on welfare and struggled with alcohol and drug abuse. Soon, he had overdosed.
"I always said when I was younger, if I hadn't been happy with music by the time I was 25, then I would kill myself," he says. "And that date had really crept up."
Bain lived through his near-death experience and found several odd jobs. He worked as an escort agent and even conned his way into a job as a shoe salesman for an American company, using his American accent.
"For me, I still thought this American character I was playing — it was more beneficial to be him," Bain says.
Finally, in 2007, Bain came out with the truth in a debut performance with his new band, Hopeless Heroic. He says it was the first time he'd been on stage sober. The reaction was mixed, but Bain says it was an inspirational story for some.
"That was the aim of it," he says. "That was the message, to get people off their asses and doing what they want to do and never give up."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2010-07-16/the-fake-american-rappers-who-fooled-everyone | 2022-08-18T04:31:57Z |
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Oregon has reported its first case of pediatric monkeypox.
However, state health officials are not disclosing any information on the juvenile monkeypox case including location, age and gender of the patient as well as how they might have contracted the virus.
Dean Sidelinger, M.D., who serves as the state’s health officer and lead epidemiologist, said information on the case was not being released to protect the privacy of the juvenile patient and to avoid stigmatization.
The privacy comes as Oregon schools ready for the new school year and on the heels of government-led contact tracing of COVID-19 patients and some employers requiring and tracking whether workers received coronavirus vaccinations
“We have a known connection to a previously diagnosed case,” Sidelinger said of the pediatric monkeypox. “This child did not get the virus at school, child care or another community setting.”
The Oregon child tested positive for monkey pox on Aug 11, according to the Oregon Health Authority.
The pediatric cases is one of 116 “presumptive and confirmed” monkeypox cases statewide, according to OHA. The state health agency said 112 of Oregon’s cases are men. The virus has been spread mostly among men who have sexual relations with other men, Sidelinger said during a media briefing Wednesday.
There are 13,517 confirmed monkeypox cases in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control. That includes 2,356 cases in California, 2,675 in New York and 1,346 in Florida. There are more than 39,400 monkeypox cases worldwide with the most in the U.S.
“Monkeypox is not COVID-19. This virus is not easily spread unless you have that prolonged, close, skin-to-skin contact with an infected person,” Sidelinger said.
Monkeypox symptoms includes fever, chills, swollen lymph nodes and rashes and legions often around the mouth, genitals and anus. | https://www.heraldandnews.com/news/local_news/oregon-reports-first-pediatric-monkeypox-case-but-mum-on-details/article_23fc2379-d016-57b7-bb83-88ae38b88c4f.html | 2022-08-18T04:34:35Z |
It can be very expensive have a baby in the U.S. (especially without health insurance coverage), according to a new analysis.
Seattle-based online insurance platform QuoteWizard LLC looked at the costs of health insurance, childbirth and child care during for infants.
Those costs average $26,989 nationally, according to the analysis. That includes day care costs during a baby’s first year. But those costs can be much higher for households without medical insurance or limited health coverage.
At the state level, having a new baby can cost as much as $37,261 on average in Alaska, $35,496 in Massachusetts and $35,457 in New York, according to QuoteWizard (which an arm of LendingTree).
Arkansas ($20,637), Alabama ($21,208) and Mississippi ($21,382) have the least expensive costs among the U.S. for newborns.
The analysis looked at the cost of childbirth at hospitals, medical insurance as well as day care costs for newborns and infants. Any kind of medical complications or extended hospital stays can potentially propel maternity bills into the six digits. In Oregon and California, a new baby costs $28,870 and $31,954 on average, respectively.
But hospital bills can get exponentially more expensive without health insurance, said Nick VinZant, senior research analyst with QuoteWizard.
“It can be two or three times more expensive,” he said.
VinZant said the cost of a vaginal childbirth averages $7,000 nationally with health insurance. Those without insurance can expect to pay $12,500.
A Caesarean section costs $10,500 on average nationally with health insurance and $17,000 on average without. Hospital childbirth bills range from more than $19,000 in Alaska to just over $8,000 in West Virginia.
VinZant said the high costs for having a baby can impact family and individual decisions.
“The cost of having a child has become high that people are having to factor that in. I think there are some people out there that can’t afford to have a child,” he said.
The U.S. and its private market-based health system has the highest costs of childbirth and lowest maternity benefits among industrialized countries in the world. The U.S. Census Bureau reported last year that 28 million Americans — 8.6% of the population — were uninsured.
Another report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said that the uninsured levels totaled 31.1 million or 9.6% of the population during the first half of 2021. That includes 31% of Hispanic adults, 14.7% of African Americans and 9% of whites, according to the CDC and the American Hospital Association.
Other countries offer extended maternity and paternity leave for new parents as well as financial stipends to help with costs. Those countries have public health systems offering universal coverage. Baby deliveries can costs as little as $1,900 in South Africa and $3,600 in the Netherlands, according to the International Federation of Health Care Plans.
Another analysis by Coyne College found a childbirth costs $4,600 in the United Kingdom, as little as $2,500 in France and Germany, less than $2,000 in India and Spain and under $1,000 in Russia.
Among other U.S. states, a new baby costs on average $32,937 in Wisconsin, $27,166 in Florida and $22,951 in Idaho, according to the QuoteWizard analysis released Wednesday, Aug. 17. | https://www.heraldandnews.com/news/local_news/the-high-costs-of-having-a-baby-new-analysis-shows-childbirth-sticker-shocks-in-the/article_5bcad5ca-e559-56d1-a3f8-dd21e94b783e.html | 2022-08-18T04:34:41Z |
"There's no one in contemporary popular music who has created a more impressive legacy — or one that spans a wider variety of styles — than Merle Haggard," music critic Peter Guralnick once said.
Haggard, who helped create the famous Bakersfield Sound, has recorded 38 No. 1 hits, including "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive," "Mama Tried" and "You Take Me For Granted." In 1994, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Five years later, he would receive a Grammy Hall of Fame Award for "Mama Tried," his famous honky-tonk tune about a mother's suffering after her son is sentenced to life in prison.
That song, he tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross, was about "97 percent" autobiographical.
"Some things we fudged on slightly to make it rhyme, but the majority of it's pretty accurate, I guess," Haggard says. "I was probably the most incorrigible child you could ever meet. I was already on the way to prison before I realized it, actually. I was really kind of a screw-up.
Haggard, who attended three of Johnny Cash's concerts while locked up at San Quentin, details his years in and out of prison, his musical influences and his many musical successes in an interview that originally aired on April 6, 1995.
Interview Highlights
On Turning His Life Around
"While I was in San Quentin, I one day saw the light. I didn't want to do that no more. I realized what a mess I made out of my life, and I got out of there and stayed out of there. Never did go back. And went and apologized to all of the people I wronged and taken money from. I think when I was 31 years old, I paid everyone back, including my mother."
On Changing His Reputation In Prison
"I went back down on the yard and asked for the roughest job in the penitentiary, which was a textile mill, and went down and started building my reputation. Started running in reverse from what I'd been doing and started trying to build up a long line of good things to be proud of, and that's what I've been doing since then."
Copyright 2022 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air. | https://www.keranews.org/2010-08-31/merle-haggard-reflects-on-his-outlaw-country-past | 2022-08-18T04:46:54Z |
Miami officer shot pursuing robbery suspect dies days later
MIAMI (AP) - A 29-year-old police officer who was shot in the head while trying to stop a robbery suspect in Miami has died, officials said.
Det. Cesar Echaverry was shot Monday night as he and other officers closed in a suspect wanted for an earlier robbery in nearby Broward County, police said. His family had remained by his side at Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital.
“Officer Echaverry died in the line of duty while serving & protecting our community,” Miami-Dade Police Director Alfredo Ramirez tweeted Wednesday evening. “Our law enforcement family will continue to stand beside & support the Echaverry family through this difficult time.”
Police said Echavarry and other officers began pursuing a white vehicle involved in an earlier armed robbery when its driver tried to flee, ramming into police vehicles and a civilian vehicle whose three occupants were hospitalized in stable condition.
He then tried to escape on foot, but a confrontation and gunfire ensued. The driver, identified as Jeremy Horton, 32, of Acworth, Georgia, was shot and died at the scene.
Horton had been stopped in South Florida on Aug. 8 and cited for having no proof of insurance and driving with an expired tag and a suspended Georgia driver’s license, according to Golden Beach Police Chief Rudy Herbello.
Echaverry had been with Miami-Dade Police for five years, and was assigned to the department’s robbery intervention detail. His friends told the Miami Herald he was moving up and planned to get married.
Monday’s shooting wasn’t his first brush with death, the newspaper reported. As a rookie in March 2018, Echaverry was a passenger in a police vehicle that rammed into another car, killing its 45-year-old driver.
The computer on the police vehicle showed Officer John Song was driving at 78 mph in a 40 mph zone a second before the crash. Both officers were airlifted to a hospital. In May a jury acquitted Song of vehicular homicide and reckless driving. The Herald reported that Echaverry testified that he couldn’t remember the moments leading up to the crash.
“We’ll never forget Officer Echaverry’s bravery & sacrifice. Godspeed, brother,” Ramirez tweeted.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/18/miami-officer-shot-pursuing-robbery-suspect-dies-days-later/ | 2022-08-18T04:55:42Z |
SHANGHAI, Aug. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Fudan University's MBA program, launched in 1991 and celebrating its 31st anniversary this year, has become one of the top MBA programs not only in Asia but also worldwide as a result of the university's continuous upgrades of its international education program in line with the latest development trends in the field. In the Financial Times' Top 100 Global MBA Programs 2022 Ranking, the program placed 32nd globally and came in first among the business schools of universities in Mainland China.
On the afternoon of August 7, 2022, the press conference announcing the upgrade of the Fudan MBA program was held in a hybrid online and offline format, during which the university unveiled a new initiative to expand the program with the launch of the Fudan MBA Technology Innovation Youth Camp and the Future Development Module. During these times of uncertainty, the event focused on the characteristics of China's current stage of economic development and the business community's future demand for talented individuals while showcasing the program's new, innovative and future-oriented approaches to education.
Highlight 1: the Fudan MBA program further upgrades its curriculum to advance sustainable leadership skills
In order to to help students develop sustainable leadership skills to meet the expectations of leaders in the era of digital transformation, the Fudan MBA program has been committed to setting education goals according to future-oriented business and social needs and achieving these goals through innovation in the curriculum. The program, which has continuously witnessed enhancements to the course load and the learning system, has helped students build a complete knowledge structure, develop a forward-looking mindset and enhance capabilities in systematic learning. The program offers over 300 courses throughout the year, while modifying and upgrading the courses in line with the latest trends in economic and social development. In 2021, the average course satisfaction level reached 9.5 out of 10.
The MBA program is transforming its approach to education by upgrading the curriculum for the future through the addition of the Future Development Module that includes three mandatory courses: Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG), Organizational Behavior and Leadership, and Digital Management. The new module, reflecting major changes to the program's original curriculum in response to the new education goals, is designed to advance sustainable leadership skills. In addition, by relying on Fudan University's comprehensive disciplinary resources, the program, in cooperation with several schools within the university, has created the Fudan Humanities Elective Series and the High Technology and New Industries Series.
At the same time, Fudan's international MBA program plans to launch two new electives: Investment and Entrepreneurship as well as Business Analysis and Management. The former will focus on the management- and strategy-related challenges facing investors and entrepreneurs while the latter will help students who may become future managers become skilled at better predicting outcomes and undertaking more educated decisions based on structured data analysis.
The Fudan MBA program has integrated resources from top business schools worldwide by further expanding its curriculum partnerships with these schools. Notably, the program has rolled out four popular electives from MIT Sloan School of Management: Data Analytics by Prof. Robert Freund, Financial Innovation and Analytics by Prof. Hui Chen, Innovative Strategies by Dr. Erin Scott, and Leading Digital Transformation by Dr. George Westerman. Furthermore, the program has added to its electives system over a dozen short-term international courses covering six timely topics: Leadership and Strategy at Yale, Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Digital Transformation at MIT, Finance and Investment at London Business School, the Israel Strategic Mindset and Innovation Program, and Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley.
Highlight 2: the first Fudan MBA Technology Innovation Youth Camp is launched in response to China's technology innovation strategy
With an unprecedented level of innovation in technology taking place worldwide and the increasingly fierce competition across the technology sector, China is becoming one of the world's technology powerhouses by virtue of its latest innovations in science and technology. To respond to these development trends, the Fudan MBA program has upgraded its approach to education by introducing a technology innovation management course while launching the first Technology Innovation Youth Camp with the intent of enrolling part-time MBA students who aspire to a career as a technology innovator.
The Fudan MBA Technology Innovation Youth Camp will focus on technology innovation management with the goal of strengthening students' capabilities in four relevant areas. The selected students will take highly customized courses at the camp after completing the core courses of the MBA program during the first academic year. With a focus on the characteristics of technology innovation management, the customized courses will help students understand the top-level designs of companies at the forefront of technology innovation, grasp the trends in technology development and application, and explore the functional management and decisions of such firms. With an original, systematic and practical curriculum system, the camp is also designed to deepen students' understanding of the essence of innovation in technology while helping them enhance discernment in leveraging trends and business opportunities, augment understanding of the growth path of companies that lead in technology innovation, strengthen capabilities in addressing the practical challenges facing these firms, and develop leadership skills in empowering such companies' growth.
By leveraging the ecological technology innovation resources of the School of Management, Fudan University, the camp will create a dual-mentorship model that involves scholars and entrepreneurs in the field of technology innovation who will jointly provide comprehensive guidance to students so that they can learn new skills by participating in a number of integrated practical activities, among them technology innovation-themed reading sessions, company visits, lectures on innovation in science and technology, business challenges, and international study tours. At the same time, students of the camp who become part of the school's increasingly expanded technology innovation ecosystem are well positioned to empower innovation in technology by continuously conducting exchanges with entrepreneurs in the field, participating in internship projects and taking full advantage of career development opportunities. By doing so, students can realize their own value and become leaders in technology innovation by promoting the research, education and application of China's technology innovation management and contributing to the implementation of the country's relevant strategy.
Highlight 3: The Fudan MBA program integrates three major platforms for practical education by implementing the idea of putting learning into practice
Based on the concept of putting learning into practice, Fudan's MBA program attaches great importance to practical education by not only highlighting the connection between theory and practice in the classroom, but also providing students with numerous hands-on activities that help them understand the importance of practice and comprehensively improve their abilities. The hands-on lineup includes the iLab Business Challenge, the iLab Business Consulting Project and the 'JOIN' Start-up Competition.
After the completion of the upgrade of the education system, the two MBA iLab action learning platforms, iLab Business Challenge and iLab Business Consulting Project, will reach all of the program's students with a commitment to building a closed-loop system that unites knowledge and action and facilitates action learning for each of the students.
The iLab Business Consulting Project is a program that offers special consulting or research under the guidance of teachers from the School of Management, with the aim of helping companies grow by assisting them through the analysis of their specific challenges and the provision of corresponding solutions. The Project brings together multiple consulting groups made up of students from the Fudan MBA program and its international institutional partners, with 3-5 students forming a group. Since its launch in 2005, the Project has undertaken 304 iLab projects through collaborations with 252 Chinese and international firms, delivering positive educational outcomes and social impact.
This year, the Fudan MBA program launched the Fudan MBA iLab Business Challenge, a series of credit-based practical electives for in-service MBA students. During the one-month challenge, corporate partners suggested 2-3 development issues as research topics, 50-100 students then participated in groups to study the issue and propose solutions, while 5-6 teachers from the School of Management provided guidance to each of the groups. Through high-intensity training and a fierce competition model that sparks creative thinking and explores mindsets, the 10-20 participating groups came up with a variety of solutions and presented them to the corporate partners.
Most notably, the 'JOIN' Start-up Competition, founded in 2004, is not only a well-known, unique practical activity platform of the Fudan MBA program but also serves as a platform through which the program's students and alumni showcase their entrepreneurial achievements and receive guidance on entrepreneurship. In 2021, the event attracted entrepreneurs from over 150 higher education institutions in China as well as from nearly 40 universities and colleges abroad alongside 173 entrepreneurial projects, 60 per cent of which involved innovation in technology.
Prof. Lu Xiongwen, dean of the School of Management, Fudan University: It is essential to connect business administration programs with innovation in technology
During the press conference, Fudan University School of Management dean Prof. Lu Xiongwen reviewed the course of development and history of China's business administration programs and affirmed their achievements. "Business administration programs have contributed to China's economic growth and opening-up reform by training a large number of management professionals who have become leaders of foreign-funded companies, private and state-owned Chinese firms as well as Chinese government organizations, further promoting the development of various sectors and exerting a profound impact on the country's economic and social landscape," said Prof. Lu.
"Today, Chinese business administration programs are still hobbled by a number of shortcomings, including a lack of innovation in curriculum theory. We shall look into the future by navigating unprecedented challenges in a more volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world," indicated Prof. Lu. "Despite the uncertainty in world politics and in economic development, the yearning for a better life is unstoppable and there is an inevitable trend towards China's rise and technological innovation-driven growth. China's business administration programs can be expected to keep up with global trends over the next 20-30 years as the country's economy is bound to continue its rise and draw global attention."
"Military conflicts as well as political and economic competition between countries and regions worldwide are all about the contest of their technological strengths," added Prof. Lu who also highlighted the importance of innovation in technology. "Chinese business schools are advised to pay more attention to innovation in technology so as to help companies enhance their competence in this regard by empowering technology innovation through business administration."
Prof. Zheng Ming, deputy dean of the School of Management, Fudan University: The Fudan MBA program, which celebrates its 31st anniversary this year, leads the way in the Chinese business administration education sector
During the press conference, Fudan University School of Management deputy dean Prof. Zheng Ming reviewed the history (1991-2022) and achievements of the Fudan MBA program. "The program has made remarkable achievements since its launch in 1991," stated Prof. Zheng.
The Fudan MBA program has become a pioneer in MBA education by continuously exploring innovation over the past 31 years. In order to meet domestic demand for management professionals, the program has built a multi-tiered educational system that it is known for the thorough self-exploration of its students and by its capacity to learn from the world's higher education institutions with which the program has established partnerships.
As a pioneer in China's MBA education market, the Fudan MBA program, by leveraging the opportunity presented by the country's comprehensive reform of professional degree education, has delivered innovative outcomes in the areas of curriculum development, action learning, enrollment and international cooperation, including an enhanced curriculum, online prerequisite courses, iLab action learning as well as short- and long-term study abroad programs.
The Fudan MBA program has received a number of honors over the past 31 years, including the top prize at the Ministry of Education's 2001 National Teaching Achievement Awards (High Education) and the highest A+ rating in the country's first educational credential assessment by the Ministry of Education in 2018. In addition, the program entered the Financial Times' Top 100 Global Full-time MBA Programs Ranking in 2013 and moved into the Top 50 in 2015. This year, the program moved up to the 32nd position in the global ranking and first in the regional ranking for mainland China.
Prof. Feng Tianjun, director of Fudan University's MBA program: The program leads the future by setting five educational objectives and making available six educational modules
Fudan MBA program director Prof. Feng Tianjun gave a detailed presentation on the work that went into upgrading the Fudan MBA education system in 2022. He pointed out that with a mission-oriented strategy, the program has been committed to nurturing business and social leaders who are able to change the world and benefit mankind.
In the VUCA era where future leaders must possess three qualities: erudition, spirit of scientific innovation, and a sustainability-oriented mindset, the upgraded Fudan MBA program aims to develop such leaders by focusing on five educational objectives:
1. The ability to grasp comprehensive, systematic cutting-edge theories, tools and methods relating to business administration, and to understand the underlying logic of management;
2. The ability to identify, analyze and address practical management challenges in the complex global business environment and cross-cultural context;
3. The ability to undertake organizational transformation, to predict outcomes and to be a leader;
4. An innovative mindset coupled with an entrepreneurial spirit alongside capabilities at innovation and entrepreneurial practice;
5. ESG awareness and a humanistic mindset.
Based on these objectives, the Fudan MBA program has formulated and put into practice a new education system defined by a pyramid stacking the six modules: laying the foundation, gaining insights into management, broadening horizons, refining professional skills, integrating practice, and leading the future.
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SOURCE School of Management, Fudan University | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/fudan-universitys-upgrades-mba-program-with-addition-future-relevant-course-modules/ | 2022-08-18T04:55:49Z |
NEW YORK, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- WebMD Health Corp., an Internet Brands company and a leader in health information services for physicians, other healthcare professionals and consumers, today announced that it has acquired JIM.fr, a leading medical news, information and education platform in France.
The acquisition combines the core competencies of JIM.fr with that of Medscape, WebMD's flagship global brand for healthcare professionals (HCPs). Medscape and its affiliate network of platforms currently reach over 5 million physicians worldwide with clinical news, health information and continuing medical education. With the addition of JIM.fr, Medscape deepens its commitment to French and French-speaking HCPs.
"Both JIM.fr and Medscape have the trust and engagement of hundreds of thousands of healthcare professionals in France," said Jeremy Schneider, Group General Manager, WebMD Global. "Medscape's existing French edition, along with our robust, country-specific content, is integral to our global commitment to French-speaking health professionals. Through this transaction, we can leverage our combined assets to further strengthen Medscape's offering for French and French-speaking professionals, while delivering innovative solutions to customers."
As a leading medical news site in France, JIM.fr engages hundreds of thousands of physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other HCPs across more than 25 specialties. In addition to updates on the latest medical news, clinical science, and medical conference coverage, JIM.fr offers a multidisciplinary and interactive continuing education platform for the broad healthcare team.
"Today JIM.fr offers, every day, to more than 350,000 French-speaking healthcare professionals registered on its site, a complete panorama of medical and professional news in all specialties, including general medicine," said Dr. Gilles Haroche, founder of JIM.fr. "Beyond the scientific and journalistic rigor of its articles, JIM distinguishes itself from other medical media by its often humorous tone and its original analyses of all the major issues that are shaking the medical world. We are very happy to see the quality of our work recognized by Medscape, the global medical news and point of care platform."
Following closing, JIM.fr will continue to operate as an independent subsidiary of Medscape as the companies look to build on and integrate products, platforms, and services.
The terms of the acquisition are not being disclosed.
About WebMD Health Corp.
WebMD Health Corp., an Internet Brands company, is at the heart of the digital health revolution that is transforming the healthcare experience for consumers, patients, healthcare professionals, employers, health plans and health systems. Through public and private online portals, mobile platforms, and health-focused publications, WebMD delivers leading-edge content and digital services that enable and improve decision-making, support and motivate health actions, streamline and simplify the healthcare journey, and improve patient care.
The WebMD Health Network includes WebMD Health, Medscape, Jobson Healthcare Information, MediQuality, Frontline, Vitals Consumer Services, Aptus Health, Krames, PulsePoint, The Wellness Network, SanovaWorks, MNG Health, MedicineNet, eMedicineHealth, RxList, OnHealth, Medscape Education, and other owned WebMD sites. WebMD®, Medscape®, CME Circle®, Medpulse®, eMedicine®, MedicineNet®, theheart.org® and RxList® are among the trademarks of WebMD Health Corp. or its subsidiaries.
About JIM.fr
Dr. Gilles Haroche, then an intern at "Hôpitaux de Paris" (Hospital chain, Paris), founded the "Journal International de Médecine" (The JIM) in 1979, which switched to an entirely digital format in 1999. The JIM has always fulfilled the mission expressed in its title International Journal of Medicine.
Thanks to the daily editorial collaboration of dozens of hospital and private practitioners, JIM has set itself the goal of informing its readers in French, in "real time", of everything important that is being done and written in medicine around the world in the international scientific press, major congresses and professional news. Its rigor and its free and sometimes offbeat tone have made it a success with its readers, and therefore with its advertisers. JIM has always been ranked among the leading digital media sites for HCPs in France.
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SOURCE Medscape | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/webmd-acquires-jimfr-expanding-reach-french-speaking-health-professionals/ | 2022-08-18T04:55:56Z |
HOHHOT, China, Aug. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On August 17, Rabobank published its 2022 Global Dairy Top 20 Report, which showed that Yili Group remains among the global top five with turnover[1] of USD 18.2 billion, firmly holding onto its top leadership position in Asia for the ninth consecutive year.
Yili also achieved the highest growth rate – 31.7% – among the top 20.The company has drastically reduced the margins between the top four while making it challenging for the rest of those on the ranking to catch up by maintaining a strong momentum.
Asia's first dairy company to exceed RMB 100 billion in turnover
This year, the Rabobank Report highlights even more intense competition across the industry. Due to its acquisition of Ausnutria Dairy and strong domestic sales growth, Yili has become Asia's first dairy producer to exceed RMB 100 billion (USD 14.85 billion) in turnover.
Innovation has helped Yili maintain its market leadership in its long-standing core liquid milk and ice cream businesses. The parent brand Yili and subsidiary brand Satine, AMBPOMIAL all broke the record of RMB 20 billion (USD 2.97 billion) in annual sales.
The milk powder and cheese businesses are also emerging rapidly. Yili's retail sales of cheese products increased 6.3% YoY in market share. The Jinlingguan brand topped the milk powder segment regarding its growth rate.
Facilitating development across the entire industry
In addition to rapid growth, Yili has been making its contribution to the industry by promoting win-win collaborations across the industrial chain, global operations, and sustainable development.
In China, the newly launched Yili Future Intelligence and Health Valley – hailed as the "Dairy Silicon Valley" – houses the world's largest production bases in terms of its production capacity, featuring the highest level of digitization and the most advanced technologies in the industry.
Yili is also accelerating the build-out of a global network in major markets. The FY2021 Report shows that Yili achieved an 8% growth in its overseas revenue, with its products covering over 60 countries and regions across five continents. In Indonesia, Yili's first self-built ice cream production base has been put into production, forming a "dual center" (the other center is located in Thailand) targeting SEA consumers. By upgrading the production system and doubling the capacity of its Hokitika butter plant, its subsidiary Westland has effectively expanded the market share for Westgold butter.
This year, Yili took the lead in China's food industry by releasing its Plan for a Net-Zero Carbon Future and Roadmap to A Net-Zero Carbon Future. In addition to establishing China's first net-zero carbon food factory, Yili has launched China's first net-zero carbon dairy product series, including milk, yogurt, organic milk powder, and ice cream.
($1 ≈ RMB 6.74)
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SOURCE Yili Group | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/with-worlds-top-growth-rate-yili-group-once-again-secures-its-place-among-top-five/ | 2022-08-18T04:56:02Z |
Zombie Properties Still Represent Just One of Every 13,000 Residential Properties Nationwide; But Ratio is Up Since Lifting of Foreclosure Moratorium One Year Ago
IRVINE, Calif., Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ATTOM, a leading curator of real estate data nationwide for land and property data, today released its third-quarter 2022 Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report showing that 1.3 million (1,277,162) residential properties in the United States sit vacant. That figure represents 1.3 percent, or one in 78 homes, across the nation.
The report analyzes publicly recorded real estate data collected by ATTOM — including foreclosure status, equity and owner-occupancy status — matched against monthly updated vacancy data. (See full methodology below). Vacancy data is available for U.S. residential properties at https://www.attomdata.com/solutions/marketing-lists/.
The report also reveals that 270,470 residential properties in the U.S. are in the process of foreclosure in the third quarter of this year, up 4.4 percent from the second quarter of 2022 and up 25.5 percent from the third quarter of 2021. The latest increase marks the fourth straight quarter that the count of pre-foreclosure properties has increased since a nationwide moratorium on lenders pursuing delinquent homeowners, imposed after the Coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, was lifted at the end of July 2021.
Among those pre-foreclosure properties, 7,707 are zombie-foreclosures (pre-foreclosure properties that sit vacant) in the third quarter of 2022, up 1.8 percent from the prior quarter and 2.2 percent from a year ago.
"We see two trends heading in opposite directions – the number of vacant properties continues to decline and the number of zombie properties continues to increase, although neither trend appears to be particularly worrisome," said Rick Sharga, executive vice president of market intelligence at ATTOM. "Vacancy rates should continue to be low as investor and prospective homebuyers compete for limited inventory. And the number of zombie properties should continue to increase slowly as foreclosure activity climbs back from historically low levels due to government intervention."
The number of zombie-foreclosures does remain historically low and continues to represent just a tiny segment of the nation's total stock of 99.8 million residential properties. Just one of every 12,947 homes in the third quarter of 2022 is vacant and in foreclosure, meaning that most neighborhoods still have no such properties. The portion of pre-foreclosure properties that have been abandoned into zombie status, meanwhile, continues to decline, from 3.5 percent a year ago to 2.9 percent in the second quarter of 2022 and 2.8 percent in the third quarter of this year.
But the level of all homes sitting empty as zombie properties has grown for the second quarter in a row and now is up 3.6 percent from one in 13,424 in the first quarter of this year.
The latest bump-ups in overall and zombie-property counts - while presenting an issue to watch - comes at a time when the relentless U.S. housing market boom has continued into its 11th year despite forces that threaten to slow it down.
A total of 7,707 residential properties facing possible foreclosure have been vacated by their owners nationwide in the third quarter of 2022, up from 7,569 in the second quarter of 2022 and from 7,538 in the third quarter of 2021.
While the issue remains nonexistent in most neighborhoods, the biggest increases from the second quarter of 2022 to the third quarter of 2022 in states with at least 50 zombie foreclosures are in Oklahoma (zombie properties up 22 percent, from 97 to 118), Missouri (up 16 percent, from 55 to 64), California (up 15 percent, from 221 to 254), Massachusetts (up 9 percent, from 54 to 59) and Florida (up 8 percent, from 922 to 998).
The biggest quarterly decreases among states with at least 50 zombie foreclosures are in Kentucky (zombie properties down 14 percent, from 63 to 54), Georgia (down 10 percent, from 80 to 72), New Jersey (down 7 percent, from 257 to 240), Pennsylvania (down 6 percent, from 371 to 349) and Nevada (down 6 percent, from 86 to 81).
The vacancy rate for all residential properties in the U.S. has dropped to 1.28 percent in the third quarter of 2022 (one in 78 properties). That's down from 1.31 percent in the second quarter of 2022 (one in 76) and from 1.35 percent in the third quarter of last year (one in 74).
States with the biggest annual drops are Tennessee (down from 2.33 percent of all homes in the third quarter of 2021 to 1.34 percent in the third quarter of this year), Minnesota (down from 1.24 percent to 0.84 percent), Oregon (down from 1.26 percent to 0.95 percent), Wisconsin (down from 1.03 percent to 0.72 percent) and Georgia (down from 1.82 percent to 1.53 percent).
- Among metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S. with at least 100,000 residential properties and at least 100 properties facing possible foreclosure in the third quarter of 2022, the highest zombie rates are in Wichita, KS (11.9 percent of properties in the foreclosure process are vacant); Peoria, IL (10.5 percent); Cleveland, OH (8.9 percent); Syracuse, NY (8.7 percent) and South Bend, IN (8.2 percent).
- Aside from Cleveland, the highest zombie-foreclosure rates in major metro areas with at least 500,000 residential properties and at least 100 homes facing foreclosure in the third quarter of 2022 are in Baltimore, MD (7.4 percent of homes in the foreclosure process are vacant); St. Louis, MO (5.6 percent); Pittsburgh, PA (5.6 percent); Tampa, FL (4.7 percent) and Indianapolis, IN (4.6 percent).
- Among the 27.9 million investor-owned homes throughout the U.S. in the third quarter of 2022, about 888,000 are vacant, or 3.2 percent. The highest levels of vacant investor-owned homes are in Indiana (6.8 percent), Kansas (5.8 percent), Oklahoma (5.3 percent), Alabama (5 percent) and Ohio (5 percent).
- Among the roughly 4,200 foreclosed, bank-owned homes in the U.S. during the third quarter of 2022, 8.2 percent are vacant. In states with at least 50 bank-owned homes, the largest vacancy rates are in Ohio (14.5 percent vacant), Pennsylvania (13 percent), Illinois (12.5 percent), New York (11 percent) and Maryland (10.5 percent).
- The highest zombie-foreclosure rates in U.S. counties with at least 500 properties in the foreclosure process during the third quarter of 2022 are in Broome County (Binghamton), NY (11.4 percent zombie foreclosures); Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), OH (10.1 percent); Pinellas County (Clearwater), FL (9.9 percent); Onondaga County (Syracuse), NY (9.3 percent) and Oneida County, NY (outside Syracuse) (8.5 percent).
- Among 425 counties with at least 50,000 residential properties, those with the largest portion of total homes in zombie-foreclosure status during the third quarter of 2022 are Broome County (Binghamton), NY (one of every 647 properties); Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), OH (one in 959); Suffolk County (eastern Long Island), NY (one in 1,188); Peoria County, IL (one in 1,228) and Oneida County, NY (outside Syracuse) (one in 1,437).
ATTOM analyzed county tax assessor data for about 99 million residential properties for vacancy, broken down by foreclosure status and owner-occupancy status. Only metropolitan statistical areas with at least 100,000 residential properties and counties with at least 50,000 residential properties were included in the analysis. Vacancy data is available at https://www.attomdata.com/solutions/marketing-lists/.
ATTOM provides premium property data to power products that improve transparency, innovation, efficiency and disruption in a data-driven economy. ATTOM multi-sources property tax, deed, mortgage, foreclosure, environmental risk, natural hazard, and neighborhood data for more than 155 million U.S. residential and commercial properties covering 99 percent of the nation's population. A rigorous data management process involving more than 20 steps validates, standardizes, and enhances the real estate data collected by ATTOM, assigning each property record with a persistent, unique ID — the ATTOM ID. The 20TB ATTOM Data Warehouse fuels innovation in many industries including mortgage, real estate, insurance, marketing, government and more through flexible data delivery solutions that include bulk file licenses, property data APIs, real estate market trends, property reports and more. Also, introducing our newest innovative solution, that offers immediate access and streamlines data management – ATTOM Cloud.
Media Contact:
Christine Stricker
949.748.8428
christine.stricker@attomdata.com
Data and Report Licensing:
datareports@attomdata.com
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SOURCE ATTOM Data Solutions | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/zombie-property-count-inches-up-again-third-quarter-2022-across-us-amid-continued-rise-foreclosure-activity/ | 2022-08-18T04:56:09Z |
I grew up as a science-fiction nerd, probably the biggest one in the borough of Queens. Yearly subscription to Asimov's Science Fiction magazine? Check. Crayon-drawn diagrams of the Battlestar Galactica? You got it. Soylent Green, Planet of the Apes, Logan's Run. I knew them by heart. But I reserved my biggest nerd passion for a John Boorman and Bill Stair novel called Zardoz. I'm holding the gaudy saffron-colored paperback in my hand right now. God help me, I still read it to this day.
What's Zardoz about? I have no idea. By any measure of logic, it makes absolutely no sense. But like every other piece of 1970s science fiction writing, it was set in a post-apocalyptic world, a future where my Hebrew school in Queens had thankfully been blown to smithereens. A world I could really fall in love with.
The protagonist of Zardoz is named Zed. He's an angry dork living in a world of savage loin-cloth-wearing Brutals. One day, curious Zed stows away inside a floating head and gets transported to the Vortex, a Santa Monica-like paradise on Earth, whose inhabitants are called Eternals and who never die. It is they who have created his god Zardoz. The women of the Vortex look very much like Charlotte Rampling, and they treat Zed as their pet and science experiment, humiliating him turn by turn. A hundred pages later, Zed learns to fight back, in the end destroying the Eternals paradise and replacing it with a pockmarked ruined land not unlike New Jersey. The novel, steeped in the ethos of the early '70s, seems to think this is a happy turn of events.
"He was a lone mammal, adrift in their land," the novel says of Zed, which is essentially how I felt the first time I left Queens for the seductive, complex land across the Queensboro Bridge. The Zed-like humiliations I suffered at the hands of Manhattan's young Charlotte Ramplings steeled me for what was required of me. Loss of innocence, the assumption of a strong conceited personality, an endless array of pretensions. I was being groomed for Oberlin College and for the Vortex beyond it.
While I cannot quote you a single sentence of Jane Austen, I am embarrassed to confess that to this day, lines like "Stay close to me, inside my aura" and "Harvest produce report, submit surpluses and needs for inter-Vortex barter and exchange" fly right past my thick nerd lips.
My Guilty Pleasure is produced and edited by Ellen Silva.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2010-09-06/gary-shteyngarts-nerd-passion-for-zardoz | 2022-08-18T05:04:17Z |
The writing process is not for the faint of heart, says novelist and editor Colin Harrison. And he should know: His own first novel took five years to complete -- and was then rejected by everybody. Fiction writing promises years of obscurity, little money and no guarantee that anyone will ever read what you write. But many fiction authors -- Harrison included -- keep at it.
"Although I didn't realize it at the time," Harrison says, "[Rejection] was a fantastic stroke of luck. Because that first novel that I had worked so hard on was terrible -- it really was."
In Harrison's case, that first unpublishable novel served as a painful but valuable training exercise.
"[It] probably flushed a lot of writerly poisons out of my system," he explains. "And then I had to go on and start something new." That something new was Harrison's Break and Enter, the first of his seven wildly successful, published novels.
Though there is no formula for a successful first novel, the writers who make it through tend to be mulish, or obsessed with a single event or idea.
Short story writer Jessica Francis Kane spent 10 years on her first novel, which did get published. Her motivation came from a true story: While living in London, Kane read about the Bethnal Greene tube disaster -- World War II's worst civilian accident -- during which 173 people suffocated trying to enter the subway station's air-raid shelter. There never was a German air raid that night, and no one has ever figured out exactly what happened. And so Kane found herself hooked by a historical mystery that she couldn't fit into a short story.
"Friends used to say to me, 'What's your problem? [Novels are] easier. You can put everything in,'" Kane recalls. "[In] short stories, every word counts and in a novel you can write and write and write. They seemed so sure of that. And yet I think as a writer I am kind of a minimalist. I like compression and concision."
Compression and concision are indeed on parade in the The Report, Kane's just-published novel. It was recently shortlisted for the Center for Fiction's 2010 First Novel Prize. (You can read our review of The Report here.)
Like Kane, writer Susanna Daniel was a short-story writer who got hooked by a larger-than-short-story idea -- following a marriage over many, many years. Daniel, too, spent a decade -- much of it, she says, in "hand-wringing" -- on her first novel, Stiltsville. The second chapter in particular gave her fits; it's where her main characters, Frances and Dennis, fall in love.
"I didn't want to show just the up side of falling in love," says Daniel. "I wanted to show some of the ambivalence. I didn't want it to be all hot sex and long conversations."
Which it's not, by any means. Dennis and Frances' relationship in Stiltsville hurks and jerks along, just like real-life romance. Daniel says a fascination with her character, Frances, helped keep her writing.
"Her [point of view] has such strong narrative drive that as a reader I would want to read more," Daniel says. "Her quiet powerful gaze on the world is, I think, a page-turner."
Both The Report and Stiltsville were Barnes and Noble discover picks for great new writers. And Kane and Daniel both say getting their novels published was worth the angst and consternation of the 10-year writing process. But Harrison says that's a process that scares off a lot of young writers.
"Unfortunately nobody's waiting for you," he says. "No one's expecting you to be here -- you in particular. It takes a certain kind of bull-headed, determined person who probably has other ways of being conventionally successful to stay the course quietly without external recognition."
Talk to any publisher or literary agent, however, and you'll hear they're inundated with manuscripts. Evidently there are still plenty of bull-headed writers out there, slogging away.
Copyright 2010 WMRA | https://www.keranews.org/2010-09-19/two-first-novels-10-years-in-the-making | 2022-08-18T05:04:23Z |
When the British writer Jo Tatchell was a little girl in the early 1970s, her family moved to a small town in the Middle East.
Tatchell remembers it as a "disheveled, dusty place."
"A desert outpost" that was home to "a few medium-sized mosques, corner groceries" and a fledgling airport, she tells NPR's Mary Louise Kelly.
That dusty town was Abu Dhabi. It has changed a lot in the 35 years since Tatchell first arrived -- just how much it has changed is the subject of her new book, A Diamond in the Desert.
"The growth has been unequaled, I think, in history," she says of the investment in the city since the 1960s, when people in Abu Dhabi had no shoes.
The city is on the coast, but in the middle of the desert.
"It is a flat island about the size of Manhattan," Tatchell says. "And it has exploded upwards very, very quickly. … It's extraordinary to look at because if you were to land bang-slap in the middle of it, you'd have no idea you were even in the desert."
Abu Dhabi's wealth is apparent when Tatchell arrives at the Emirates Palace Hotel and orders the cheapest item on the menu -- a chocolate milk shake sprinkled with flakes of edible gold that costs more than a construction worker's daily wage.
"There's a sort of pace and glamor to that, but there's also an extraordinary disparity," Tatchell says. "The city has been built by immigrant workers, and they are not in a position to share in the good fortune of Abu Dhabi."
Forty percent of the population is made up of Indian nationals and migrant workers from Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Philippines, she says.
While migrant workers' income might rise if they took a job in Abu Dhabi, their lack of rights in the city "place them very far back on the world stage," Tatchell says.
And what happens when the oil money runs out?
Tatchell says she wonders if Abu Dhabi will exist in 200 years. "If it was just down to oil, I would say, 'No.' "
The city has the desire to become a world player by creating a bridge between the East and West.
"What, I think, at this point, is a very interesting embryo of a future are its investments in alternative energy and chiefly solar power because while it has got lots of oil, it's also got lots of sun," Tatchell says.
Abu Dhabi has not reached the apex of its expansion, she says, especially considering its cultural investments. The city has invested billions of dollars in a cultural district that will include large national museums, she says.
"It is putting a shoe in the door to begin to ensure a longer term future wherever that future may be," she says.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2010-10-27/jo-tatchell-goes-behind-the-scenes-in-abu-dhabi | 2022-08-18T05:19:00Z |
New federal laws and a bigger budget will expand benefits and care for Hawaii veterans.
Billions more for the Department of Veterans Affairs budget will means more staff and facilities, according to VA Deputy Secretary Donald Remy, "You can't provide the 21st century veteran the world class care they deserve, with 20th century facilities."
Remy took a tour of the VA's Pacific Islands Health Care campus next to Tripler Hospital and had high praise for the health care being offered in the islands.
Now even more veterans will be eligible for healthcare coverage
"We have 9 million veterans receiving care, but there are 18 million veterans across the country," added Remy.
Under the PACT Act, coverage has been expanded for veterans exposed to toxic chemicals. It brings in more veterans from the Vietnam War era, through the Gulf War and post-9/11 vets.
Another focus for the VA, will be more mental health services for former service members.
"We need to make sure all of our veterans have access to mental health care when they need it, not afterwards when it is too late. They need it at the time, whether it is preventative or crisis care," stated Remy.
One of the issues at the Hawaii VA center, and others across the country, is making veterans wait for care. While some of those times have been reduced to days, for certain types of healthcare veterans may have to wait months to be seen.
"We need to have access to that care when we need that care, and some veterans have expressed concerns about wait times," added Remy.
For established patients at the Spark Matsunaga VA Medical center, the wait time to see their Cardiologist is now 17 days.
But for new patients that wait time jumps to 53 days.
For gastroenterology patients those wait times double, with new patients having to wait three months for care.
Because of the long waits and problems during the pandemic, some veterans put off appointments...and their health.
"For the last 2-3 years, some veterans didn't make an appointment. They haven't been seen and there is some frustration there," said Donovan Lazarus, the State Commander of AMVets Hawaii.
One way to reach more veterans is through the use of telemedicine, which was greatly expanded during the pandemic. The VA's deputy secretary says telemedicine is here to stay, "We can reach veterans where they are, provide care even if they are not coming into our facilities."
Expect more facilities and VA staff under the new budget, but Lazarus would like to see more awareness of veterans benefits. So former service members can take advantage of all the services available to them.
"Some of these guys are not enrolled in the VA. We need to do as much as we can to enroll them in the VA, so they can be taken care of," said Lazarus.
Do you have a story idea? Email news tips to news@kitv.com | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/more-benefits-facilities-and-staff-for-hawaii-veterans/article_c259fcfc-1eaf-11ed-89d9-872089071e1c.html | 2022-08-18T05:25:05Z |
HONOLULU (KITV4) -- The 40th Okinawan Festival returns on September 3-4 at the Hawaii Convention Center.
The Hawaii United Okinawa Association (HUOA) welcomes the festival back to in-person, showcasing Hawaii’s multi-ethnic culture.
The two-day event will feature Okinawan music and performing arts, cultural education, arts and crafts, historical exhibits, craft vendors, genealogy research, Okinawan-themed children’s games. Okinawan cuisine will also include local favorites such as andagi, andadog, and Okinawan soba.
General Admission to the Okinawan Festival starts at 10:00 am and will be $10.00 for adults ages 13-64 and $5 for senior citizens 65 and over. Children 12 and under are free. Early Admission will start one hour earlier at 9:00 am and can be purchased for an additional $5 for adults and seniors (children are still free).
Early Admission tickets are only available via pre-sale by purchasing online now through Friday 9/2 (11:59 PM HST). General Admission tickets are available for purchase online now and throughout the weekend of the festival. During the festival, only General Admission tickets will be available for purchase in person at the Admission Booth.
Proceeds from the Okinawan Festival support the Hawaii United Okinawa Association and its many cultural programs including classes, genealogy resources, the Hawaii-Okinawa Student Exchange Program, the Children’s Cultural Day Camp, community service projects and more. | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/okinawan-festival-returns-september-3-4-at-the-hawaii-convention-center/article_e4ee8dd4-1ea8-11ed-81d1-7f07a8180085.html | 2022-08-18T05:25:11Z |
A ricochet incident at the Koko Head Shooting Complex prompts a firearm restriction. Only 22 caliber ammunition and firearms will be allowed to discharge at the Pistol, Rifle and silhouette ranges at KHSC beginning on Wednesday, August 24, 2022.
HONOLULU (KITV-4) A ricochet bullet at the Koko Head Shooting Complex prompts a firearm restriction. Three firearm ranges at the complex will only allow .22-caliber ammunition and firearms to discharge at the Pistol, Rifle and silhouette ranges at KHSC.
Beginning on Wednesday, August 24 only .22 caliber ammunition and firearms will be allowed for use at the Kokohead shooting complex.
The restriction is in response to a ricochet incident, when staff and firearm experts say a high caliber bullet came into contact with a dormant slug within the northern berm of the range.
Nathan Serota, Honolulu Parks & Recreation explained: "The bullet that ricocheted off is one we haven’t seen at the range in a long time that’s why they came to the conclusion that it didn’t hit something and bounce back it actually hit a bullet inside the berm and that dormant slug within the berm is what got ricocheted back.”
The dormant slug ricocheted and damaged a parked car window. No one was hurt. This temporary limitation to 22 caliber ammunition will remain in place until the completion of a berm renovation project to reinforce the back stop behind the northern targets, is complete.
"We want to make sure that the rounds fired at Koko Head shooting complex …stay within the complex as much as possible," says Serota. "The other thing we are doing to reduce any stray bullets getting out of the crater eye brows on the roof overhanging roof discourages people from shooting at a higher."
About 70,000 people each year use the Koko Head Shooting Complex.
The renovation project is scheduled to begin in October and will take about a month to finish.
Cynthia is an award-winning journalist who returned to Hawaii as an Anchor/Reporter/MMJ from Houston. She is a graduate of the University of Hawaii with a B.A. and M.B.A. DM her on IG @CynthiaYipTV to share stories. | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/ricochet-bullet-forces-changes-at-koko-head-shooting-complex/article_27c4ad74-1ead-11ed-870d-13f39a12488e.html | 2022-08-18T05:25:17Z |
From stealing religious relics to defecating in the sanctuary, more of Oahu's places of worship are being desecrated.
"We have encountered people shooting up in quarters of our temple," said Bishop Reyn Tsuru of the Shingon Mission of Hawaii. "Sanctuary areas where we have loved one's remains had been desecrated with people using the area as a restroom. And we've had to clean up human waste in front of basically graves."
Surveillance video from the Shingon Mission shows a trespasser taking items from the altar used for worship.
That's why the organization's closing off a significant portion of the temple previously open to the public.
"We have to do that because of the dramatic rise in vagrancy and crime that has strangled this neighborhood," he said.
With the amount of trespassing doubling over the past year -- the head of the temple said the move's necessary for the safety of visitors and the congregation.
"Without our closing off, we are exposing visitors to dangers of being harassed -- possibly being burglarized as they visit the temple," Tsuru said. "For our congregation, I am very, very sorry that it has come to this point."
And the temple is not alone. Other churches in Honolulu have also seen a rise in crime.
It's gotten so bad that lawmakers are getting involved. They're planning to meet with law enforcement and other agencies to try to put an end to the crimes.
"We really need to have people understand that it's public safety," said Sen. Sharon Moriwaki, who represents Waikiki and Ala Moana. "I really commiserate with the churches because they are the last place where you think they would be vandalized because they help people and now I think they're calling on community to help them."
And churches are praying help will come soon.
"There are things that are considered to be respectable," Tsuru said. "Vandalizing and burglarizing churches or temples is something that no one in my generation would have ever considered to be right or to even have it crossed their minds to do."
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. | https://www.kitv.com/news/oahu-churches-have-become-targets-for-crime/article_c2adeb62-1ea7-11ed-9aed-0f3278e5c5f0.html | 2022-08-18T05:25:23Z |
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