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Ever since the spotted lanternfly first appeared in Berks County, Pa., in 2014 (arriving from its home in Asia), this invasive species has been booking it across the United States.
Recent reports indicate the bugs have settled in New York, Canada, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, and now, according to Brian Eshenaur, they have migrated over to the Midwest.
These insects are not dangerous to humans or pets — they don't bite or sting, and they aren't venomous. But they do pose a serious risk to agriculture.
Eshenaur, with the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program, said he and his team started monitoring the spotted lanternfly in 2018. At that time, the project warranted maybe an update two to three times a year.
And now?
"We've updated it twice a week, even just to keep up with all the new counties in the Northeast and out in the Midwest that are having infestations," he told NPR.
"They have a pretty diverse palate and can feed on over 100 different plant species," Eshenaur said. But they have their favorites, including the tree of heaven (itself an invasive species) and grapevines.
This week, Sen. Chuck Schumer revealed that every region of upstate New York has reported sightings of the spotted lanternfly.
With the area's wineries and the state at risk of losing millions of dollars, Schumer called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to use millions of dollars of federal funds to contain the problem.
How to control these pests?
In Pennsylvania, where the problem in the U.S. originated, experts imported tiny wasps, which are a natural predator of the spotted lanternfly in China.
There are ways to take on the bugs in small ways, Eshenaur said.
If people find these bugs in their backyard, Eshenaur suggests creating what is called a circle trap or using a sticky trap on trees (but he cautions that they can inadvertently trap small animals).
"If you're going to use a sticky trap, it's best to put a screen layer over that to protect it from birds that might come in," Eshenaur said.
Virginia's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has urged the public to change habits so that these bugs' eggs don't get transported. The agency said, for example, to buy firewood from local sources and burn it all before eggs have a chance to hatch in May.
The department also wants people to avoid parking their vehicles under trees or near bushes — where the insects can lay eggs or stow away to invade a new location.
The public should also get familiar with the bug in all its black-spotted glory. Many states are urging the public to show the bugs no mercy: Kill them on sight.
Virginia's Department of Agriculture said the best method of extermination is crushing or stomping on them (the good old-fashioned way) or putting them "in a container of alcohol, diluted clorox (10%), or hand sanitizer. Larger populations can be treated with a contact or systemic insecticide."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-18/what-a-pest-spotted-lanternflies-are-spreading-in-the-u-s | 2022-08-18T10:02:12Z |
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is using a controversial strategy to evaluate the next generation of COVID-19 boosters.
The approach is stirring debate as the agency works to make new, hopefully improved, boosters available in September to help prevent severe disease and save lives in the fall and winter.
For the first time, the FDA is planning to base its decision about whether to authorize new boosters on studies involving mice instead of humans.
"For the FDA to rely on mouse data is just bizarre, in my opinion," says John Moore, an immunologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York. "Mouse data are not going to be predictive in any way of what you would see in humans."
But others defend the approach, arguing that the country has had enough experience with the vaccines at this point to be confident the shots are safe and that there's not enough time to wait for data from human studies.
"We have 500 people a day dying of coronavirus right now. Those numbers sadly might very well rise in the fall and the winter. The question is: 'Can we do something better?'" says Dr. Ofer Levy, a pediatrics and infectious disease researcher at Harvard Medical School who also advises the FDA. "And I think the answer is: 'We can, by implementing this approach.'"
The U.K. just approved a new booster
The United Kingdom just approved a new booster that targets both the original strain of the virus and the original omicron variant, called BA.1 — a so-called bivalent vaccine.
But the FDA rejected BA.1 bivalent boosters last spring. Instead, the FDA told the vaccine companies that make the mRNA vaccines, Moderna and Pfizer and BioNTech, to develop bivalent vaccines that target the dominant omicron subvariants — BA.4 and BA.5 — in the hopes they will offer stronger, longer-lasting protection.
That's why the FDA decided to use a new, streamlined strategy for testing the new boosters. The agency is asking the companies to initially submit only the results of tests on mice. Regulators will rely on those results, along with the human neutralizing antibody data from the BA.1 bivalent booster studies, to decide whether to authorize the boosters.
The companies will continue to gather more data from human studies; those results probably won't be available until late October or early November.
But the big concern is the boosters may not work as well as the mouse data might suggest. Mouse experiments are notoriously unreliable.
And with the government telling people not to get the old boosters now and rejecting the first bivalent vaccines, the FDA really needs good evidence that the BA.4/5 boosters are in fact better, critics say.
"We need to make sure that we have solid immunogenicity data in people to show that you have a dramatically greater neutralizing antibody response against BA.4, BA.5," says Dr. Paul Offit of the University of Pennsylvania, who also advises the FDA. "I think anything short of that is not acceptable."
Some also worry that the approach may further erode the long-faltering efforts to persuade people to get boosted.
"I think it would be good to have neutralizing antibody data in a small group of humans," says Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease researcher at the University of California, San Francisco. "Otherwise, extrapolation may be considered too great."
But others agree the time constraints mean the country can't wait for more evidence. The billions of people who have gotten Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccines show how safe they are, those experts say.
The new booster will be identical to the original vaccines except it will contain genetic coding for two versions of the protein the virus uses to infect cells — the protein from the original vaccine and proteins from the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron subvariants.
And some scientists say health officials know enough about how vaccines work to start handling the COVID-19 vaccines like the flu vaccines, which are changed every year to try to match whatever strains are likely to be circulating but aren't routinely tested again every year.
"We're going to use all of these data that we've learned through not only from this vaccine but decades of viral immunology to say: 'The way to be nimble is that we're going to do those animal studies," says Deepta Bhattacharya, an immunobiologist at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson. "We're really not going out too far on a limb here."
The companies are expected to submit their data to the FDA by the end of the month and the administration hopes to make millions of doses of the new boosters available starting in September.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-18/whats-behind-the-fdas-controversial-strategy-for-evaluating-new-covid-boosters | 2022-08-18T10:02:18Z |
HONOLULU (KITV4) -- An Oahu grand jury on Wednesday indicted Oscar Kanoa, 43, of Waianae for attempted murder.
Kanoa is accused of brutally attacking and critically injuring a 51-year-old woman at her home on Leihoku Street in Waianae. Police said the two had an intimate relationship.
Court documents filed on Wednesday reveal new details about what happened before and after the victim was attacked.
Police watched surveillance video, and discovered that last Friday, August 12, the victim returned home by herself at 7:57 p.m., and she appeared coherent and uninjured.
At 8:46 p.m. Kanoa arrived at the victim's home. August 12 was Kanoa's birthday.
At 9:03 p.m. police said Kanoa and the victim appeared to get into an argument in the garage, and police said the video showed Kanoa pushing the woman several times before forcibly pushing her into the home.
Early the next morning, on Saturday, August 13 at 3:28 a.m., police were called to the woman's home. Officers were told there was an unresponsive woman.
According to court documents, Kanoa initially told police that the woman had a seizure. He later changed his statement to say that the woman went limp while they were being intimate, and that's when he called 911. He later changed his story again, saying he went to use the restroom and when he came back he found her unresponsive.
Police said they noticed that Kanoa's left hand was swollen and appeared red around his knuckles.
According to court documents, Kanoa also changed his story in his written statement, saying when he arrived at the woman's home, he thought she was sleeping, and said she was dizzy and throwing up.
Kanoa also told the EMS paramedic a different story, saying the woman was drunk, had a seizure, and fell. He also told the paramedic, when asked about his injuries, that he and the woman were wrestling.
The victim was taken to The Queen's Medical Center, where the doctor said she has multiple facial fractures and injuries to her brain that are life-threatening. She also has bruises.
The following day, on Sunday, August 14, police located Kanoa near Kahana Bay Beach Park at around 2 p.m. and arrested him on suspicion of attempted murder.
Prosecutors charged Kanoa with attempted murder on Tuesday. Prosecutors say if the victim dies, Kanoa may be re-charged with murder.
In court on Wednesday, Kanoa's bail was reduced from $2 million to $1 million. If he bails out, he would have to be confined to his home in Waianae and would be subject to GPS monitoring.
Kanoa is still in custody at the Oahu Community Correctional Center as of Wednesday night.
Marisa Yamane joined KITV4 in January 2022 as an anchor and executive producer. She is an award-winning veteran journalist, who’s spent most of her career in Hawaii. She’s a proud graduate of Iolani School and UCLA. | https://www.kitv.com/news/crime/court-documents-reveal-new-details-about-the-brutal-attack-in-waianae/article_7d8f5846-1ed3-11ed-bd16-73edfba797c2.html | 2022-08-18T10:16:43Z |
HONOLULU (KITV4) -- The rental in the Craigslist post looks like a deal.
Free parking in Waikiki, it advertises. A 1 bedroom condo is listed a half block from the beach at $50 per night.
HONOLULU (KITV4) -- The rental in the Craigslist post looks like a deal.
Free parking in Waikiki, it advertises. A 1 bedroom condo is listed a half block from the beach at $50 per night.
The person behind the posting responded in a text that there was no time to view the property due to "security reasons," but to send a deposit to hold the room using an electronic cash payment app. That was red flag number 1.
Number 2 came after the poster texted a photo ID saying "Here is a copy of my ID."
But the man in the ID says he has never posted a condo rental on craigslist. He's a local. And KITV tracked him down. "I had gotten one message on LinkedIn from a lady that said, 'Are you legit renting condos?' I said no," Jon Laurion said.
The message Jon Laurion received last month startled him. It read, "Hi, confirming here if you are renting condos in Honolulu. Or if someone is using your ID to do that."
The woman later revealed the photo of Jon's ID had been sent to her via an 808 cell number.
It's the same 808 number that responded to the listing KITV responded to. We were told to rush over a deposit using PayPal or the banking app Zelle. The poster then followed up aggressively for a response.
Jon says he made the mistake of sending a picture of his ID when he was looking to rent a place Memorial Day for a small vacation rental gathering.
"They sent me a picture of their driver's license and said, hey can you respond back and make sure you're legit. I was like ok alright, here's my license. And there were just little things that didn't add up. Weird ways of phrasing things or spelling things," Jon told KITV. He started to think the poster was in another country.
Jon didn't hand over any money he says, but the photo of the ID is now out there. The ad currently posted by the account using Jon's ID misclassifies the Waikiki rental under the Big Island. It has occasional errors in grammar, or the use of a wrong preposition.
In texts, the person was overly formal, constantly referring to the recipient as "Sir." Texts came in as early as 5:46 in the morning demanding payment.
John isn't the only one misrepresented here in Hawaii. Harrison Beacher is a real Washington DC Realtor who has been contacted by others about fake postings coming up under his name here in this last year.
Beacher told KITV, "Because it's a part of my business to be verified and confirmed legit by actual referrals and people looking for me, I do have an established and updated presence on pretty much every social media channel."
And that presence is being used by the poster for a 1 bed room in Waikiki at an unrealistic 870 dollars a month. The poster replied using Beacher's name and an email address claiming he was Beacher.
The Beacher doppelgänger also tried to direct respondents to another rental site that requires sign up, but then the correspondence would go cold. The account posted another listing as recently as July.
"It's a game of numbers. They do it enough times, unfortunately some people think it's legit enough, will give that deposit amount or give that application free and that's why they do it. They fish!" Beacher warned.
And any accounts demanding electronic cash payment for a rental, sight unseen, is a giveaway somebody is trying to reel you in.
Both men who had their IDs stolen had not filed a police report. One told KITV, "Seems unlikely anything useful would come of it."
Honolulu CrimeStoppers, however, recommends that a police report is filed for documentation purposes. The FBI recommends complaints be filed at the website ic3.gov.
Do you have a story idea? Email news tips to news@kitv.com
Reporter
Jeremy Lee joined KITV after over a decade & a half in broadcast news from coast to coast on the mainland. Jeremy most recently traveled the country documenting protests & civil unrest.
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An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account. | https://www.kitv.com/news/phony-rental-postings-on-craigslist-using-stolen-ids/article_56363666-1ece-11ed-a586-93874009d8c1.html | 2022-08-18T10:16:49Z |
A few showers are possible today; higher rain chances return this weekend
A low-pressure system will bring scattered showers and thunderstorms this weekend
This morning we are dealing with areas of patchy fog, otherwise we are dry with partly cloudy skies. This afternoon we could see a few showers, but the majority of the region will stay rain-free with a mix of sun and clouds. Temperatures will top off in the 70s for most this afternoon.
A few showers remain possible this evening, but we should stay dry overnight with partly cloudy conditions. Some patchy fog is possible late tonight and into the early morning hours tomorrow as well. Lows tonight will be in the upper 50s and low 60s.
Some showers and thunderstorms are possible tomorrow, but not everyone will see rain. Temperatures will be in the 70s and possibly the low 80s.
A better chance of rain and storms returns over the weekend as a low-pressure system moves by the area. Temperatures will be a bit warmer in the mid-upper 70s and low 80s on Saturday and Sunday. Scattered showers and storms will continue into early next week. Make sure to stay tuned and catch the latest on WVVA.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/18/few-showers-are-possible-today-higher-rain-chances-return-this-weekend/ | 2022-08-18T10:25:22Z |
Former Trump Org. CFO expected to plead guilty to tax violations
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/2022/08/18/former-trump-org-cfo-expected-plead-guilty-tax-violations/ | 2022-08-18T10:25:28Z |
Media to ask judge to release Trump search warrant affidavit
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Attorneys for many of the nation’s largest media companies will try to persuade a federal magistrate judge on Thursday afternoon to make public the affidavit supporting the warrant that allowed FBI agents to search former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate last week.
The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the broadcast TV networks, CNN and others want U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce E. Reinhart to release the affidavit over the objection of the U.S. Justice Department, which says its investigation of Trump’s handling of “highly classified material” would be compromised.
The media companies argue the affidavit’s release would help the public determine if the Justice Department had legitimate reasons for the search or if it was part of a Biden administration vendetta against Trump, as the former president and his backers contend. Trump, in a Truth Social post last week, called for the release of the unredacted affidavit in the interest of transparency.
“The matter is one of utmost public interest, involving the actions of current and former government officials,” wrote attorney Carol Jean LoCiero, who is representing the Times and others. “President Trump decried the the search as an ‘assault that could only take place in Third World Countries,’ asserted agents ‘even broke into my safe,’ and otherwise challenged the validity of the search.”
Justice Department attorneys argued in a court filing that its investigation into Trump’s handling of “highly classified material” is ongoing and that the document contains sensitive information about witnesses.
The filing by Juan Antonio Gonzalez, the U.S. attorney in Miami, and Jay Bratt, a top Justice Department national security official, says making the affidavit public would “cause significant and irreparable damage to this ongoing criminal investigation.”
“If disclosed, the affidavit would serve as a roadmap to the government’s ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course, in a manner that is highly likely to compromise future investigative steps,” they wrote.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Trump’s attorneys had not indicated on the court’s docket that they plan to take part in the hearing.
FBI agents searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on Aug. 8, removing 11 sets of classified documents, with some not only marked top secret but also “sensitive compartmented information,” according to a receipt of what was taken that was released Friday. That is a special category meant to protect the nation’s most important secrets that if revealed publicly could cause “exceptionally grave” damage to U.S. interests. The court records did not provide specific details about information the documents might contain.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/18/media-ask-judge-release-trump-search-warrant-affidavit/ | 2022-08-18T10:25:35Z |
Sex offender allegedly follows teen, breaks into family’s home
BUCKEYE, Ariz. (KPHO/KTVK) - A registered sex offender was caught on camera reportedly breaking into a family’s home in Arizona hours after he was seen following a 15-year-old who lives there.
Mother Elizabeth Ramirez Bearup says it was a night in June last year when Jacob Ramirez allegedly broke into her home while she and her kids were sleeping inside, KPHO/KTVK reports.
“You know, the house is where you’re supposed to feel safe and protected from the outside world, and the outside world just came in and ruined that,” she said.
Ramirez came in through the window, the mother says, and went into the room right in front of it. The room belongs to her 18-year-old son, who has autism. She says once her son realized Ramirez was a stranger, he told him to leave.
“Then he goes, ‘Which room is your mommy’s?’ And then he goes, ‘Oh, you better go!’ Because at that time my daughter heard the noise and was coming out of her room, and my son took her back in her room and had her lock the door,” Ramirez Bearup said.
The mother says Ramirez then ran out of her home. Once she called police, they found him hiding in the park nearby.
She says earlier in the day, her doorbell camera showed her 15-year-old daughter walking through the front door, as Ramirez followed while riding his bike.
“It was terrifying. She came running in the house, and she said that somebody was following her. So, I get up and go out there, and by then, he had taken off on his bike. And then I pull up the Ring, and I see him. I see him following behind her and then circling around,” Ramirez Bearup said.
Ramirez was initially booked on felony charges, including burglary and disorderly conduct. But he was only charged with criminal trespassing. According to court documents, he got a reduced charge due to a plea deal.
Ramirez is now set to be released in December.
Facing his pending release, Ramirez Bearup feels as though she’s forced to fend for herself.
“Restraining order, hopefully that deters him and hopefully he does leave the state. It’s just frustrating that I won’t know where he’s going because they won’t give me that information,” she said.
Since the incident, she has increased security, adding a home security system, cameras and locks on all of her windows.
Copyright 2022 KPHO/KTVK via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/18/sex-offender-allegedly-follows-teen-breaks-into-familys-home/ | 2022-08-18T10:25:41Z |
Former Trump Org. CFO expected to plead guilty to tax violations
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.whsv.com/2022/08/18/former-trump-org-cfo-expected-plead-guilty-tax-violations/ | 2022-08-18T10:35:07Z |
Media to ask judge to release Trump search warrant affidavit
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Attorneys for many of the nation’s largest media companies will try to persuade a federal magistrate judge on Thursday afternoon to make public the affidavit supporting the warrant that allowed FBI agents to search former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate last week.
The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the broadcast TV networks, CNN and others want U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce E. Reinhart to release the affidavit over the objection of the U.S. Justice Department, which says its investigation of Trump’s handling of “highly classified material” would be compromised.
The media companies argue the affidavit’s release would help the public determine if the Justice Department had legitimate reasons for the search or if it was part of a Biden administration vendetta against Trump, as the former president and his backers contend. Trump, in a Truth Social post last week, called for the release of the unredacted affidavit in the interest of transparency.
“The matter is one of utmost public interest, involving the actions of current and former government officials,” wrote attorney Carol Jean LoCiero, who is representing the Times and others. “President Trump decried the the search as an ‘assault that could only take place in Third World Countries,’ asserted agents ‘even broke into my safe,’ and otherwise challenged the validity of the search.”
Justice Department attorneys argued in a court filing that its investigation into Trump’s handling of “highly classified material” is ongoing and that the document contains sensitive information about witnesses.
The filing by Juan Antonio Gonzalez, the U.S. attorney in Miami, and Jay Bratt, a top Justice Department national security official, says making the affidavit public would “cause significant and irreparable damage to this ongoing criminal investigation.”
“If disclosed, the affidavit would serve as a roadmap to the government’s ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course, in a manner that is highly likely to compromise future investigative steps,” they wrote.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Trump’s attorneys had not indicated on the court’s docket that they plan to take part in the hearing.
FBI agents searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on Aug. 8, removing 11 sets of classified documents, with some not only marked top secret but also “sensitive compartmented information,” according to a receipt of what was taken that was released Friday. That is a special category meant to protect the nation’s most important secrets that if revealed publicly could cause “exceptionally grave” damage to U.S. interests. The court records did not provide specific details about information the documents might contain.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/18/media-ask-judge-release-trump-search-warrant-affidavit/ | 2022-08-18T10:35:13Z |
Sex offender allegedly follows teen, breaks into family’s home
BUCKEYE, Ariz. (KPHO/KTVK) - A registered sex offender was caught on camera reportedly breaking into a family’s home in Arizona hours after he was seen following a 15-year-old who lives there.
Mother Elizabeth Ramirez Bearup says it was a night in June last year when Jacob Ramirez allegedly broke into her home while she and her kids were sleeping inside, KPHO/KTVK reports.
“You know, the house is where you’re supposed to feel safe and protected from the outside world, and the outside world just came in and ruined that,” she said.
Ramirez came in through the window, the mother says, and went into the room right in front of it. The room belongs to her 18-year-old son, who has autism. She says once her son realized Ramirez was a stranger, he told him to leave.
“Then he goes, ‘Which room is your mommy’s?’ And then he goes, ‘Oh, you better go!’ Because at that time my daughter heard the noise and was coming out of her room, and my son took her back in her room and had her lock the door,” Ramirez Bearup said.
The mother says Ramirez then ran out of her home. Once she called police, they found him hiding in the park nearby.
She says earlier in the day, her doorbell camera showed her 15-year-old daughter walking through the front door, as Ramirez followed while riding his bike.
“It was terrifying. She came running in the house, and she said that somebody was following her. So, I get up and go out there, and by then, he had taken off on his bike. And then I pull up the Ring, and I see him. I see him following behind her and then circling around,” Ramirez Bearup said.
Ramirez was initially booked on felony charges, including burglary and disorderly conduct. But he was only charged with criminal trespassing. According to court documents, he got a reduced charge due to a plea deal.
Ramirez is now set to be released in December.
Facing his pending release, Ramirez Bearup feels as though she’s forced to fend for herself.
“Restraining order, hopefully that deters him and hopefully he does leave the state. It’s just frustrating that I won’t know where he’s going because they won’t give me that information,” she said.
Since the incident, she has increased security, adding a home security system, cameras and locks on all of her windows.
Copyright 2022 KPHO/KTVK via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/18/sex-offender-allegedly-follows-teen-breaks-into-familys-home/ | 2022-08-18T10:35:19Z |
Part one of a two-part series.
It wasn't supposed to happen to coal miners in Mark McCowan's generation. It wasn't supposed to strike so early and so hard. At age 47 and just seven years after his first diagnosis, McCowan shouldn't have a chest X-ray that looks this bad.
"I'm seeing more definition in the mass," McCowan says, pausing for deep breaths as he holds the X-ray film up to the light of his living room window in Pounding Mill, Va.
"The mass is larger and more defined in the right upper lobe," he continues, clinically describing the solid streak that shows up white on the X-ray of his lungs. "If you know white is bad and black is good, I'm in a lot of trouble."
McCowan went from a clean X-ray at age 35 to progressive massive fibrosis — an advanced stage of coal workers' pneumoconiosis, or black lung — in just five years.
"You go from being normal to where ... one day you try to do something you used to do, and you can't do it and you're just heaving to catch your breath," McCowan says. "And you say this is crazy. It can't be this bad. And then you realize a couple months down the road that it can be. And you realize a year down the road after that that you ain't seen nothing yet."
An 'Epidemic' Among Miners
A joint investigation by NPR and the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) has found that McCowan is not alone. Incidence of the disease that steals the breath of coal miners doubled in the last decade, according to data analyzed by epidemiologist Scott Laney at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
Cases of the worst stage of the disease have quadrupled since the 1980s in a triangular region of Appalachia stretching from eastern Kentucky through southern West Virginia and into southwestern Virginia.
Black lung experts and mine safety advocates have warned of the resurgence of the disease since 1995. New reporting by CPI and NPR reveals the extent to which federal regulators and the mining industry failed to protect coal miners in the intervening years.
An analysis of federal data by CPI and NPR also shows that the mining industry and federal regulators have known for more than two decades that coal miners were breathing excessive amounts of the coal mine dust that causes black lung. CPI and NPR also found that the system for controlling coal mine dust is plagued by weak regulations and inaccurate reporting that sometimes includes fraud.
"This is clearly a public health epidemic," Laney says. "This is a rare disease that should not be occurring. It's occurring at a high proportion of individuals who are being exposed."
Especially shocking to Laney and others focused on black lung is the grip the disease has on younger miners and its rapid evolution to progressive massive fibrosis, or complicated black lung.
At the Upper Kanawha clinic in Cedar Grove, W.Va., the black lung caseload doubled in the last 10 years, according to program coordinator Debbie Wills, and began to include younger miners in their 40s and more serious disease.
"The first 10 years or so that I worked here I had four patients with complicated black lung," says Wills, who has worked at the clinic since 1989. "We knew them all intimately because there were so few of them. Now we have at least 50 diagnosed with complicated black lung."
The autopsies of the 29 victims of the 2010 explosion at what was then Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine also show an escalation of cases. Twenty-four of the victims had sufficient lung tissue for testing, and of those, 71 percent had the nodules and lesions on their lungs that signify the disease.
That's a rate 10 times the average for southern West Virginia, says Davitt McAteer, a former federal mine safety chief who led an independent investigation of the explosion, in Raleigh County, W. Va., and reviewed the autopsies.
"What was shocking was the number of miners who showed evidence of black lung," McAteer says, "particularly among younger miners ... and miners who you would not have expected to have black lung."
That includes some victims who spent fewer than 10 years underground and at least two who were only in their 20s.
"It's unbelievable," says Gary Quarles, whose son Gary Wayne Quarles was 33 when he died at Upper Big Branch. His autopsy showed signs of black lung. "Being in the mines for 13 to 15 years and already considered having black lung ... that's uncalled for."
Quarles, who is 55 and spent twice as many years underground, says his chest X-rays are negative for the disease.
Federal Law Aims To Curb Black Lung
The Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 was supposed to sharply cut exposure to coal mine dust. The act set a standard for coal dust exposure (2 milligrams per cubic meter of air), which was as little as 1/4 of the concentrations miners breathed at the time.
The act's passage followed a 23-day unauthorized and rowdy strike in which 40,000 West Virginia coal miners demanded government efforts to prevent the disease and to compensate victims.
By the end of the year, tough dust exposure limits were in place. Miners were offered free diagnostic chest X-rays every five years, and federal compensation became available.
The X-rays showed 4 in 10 miners tested had black lung. The disease killed 1,800 miners in a single year. But diagnoses soon plunged more than 90 percent, according to NIOSH data.
"They anticipated that no one would develop progressive massive fibrosis," says 84-year-old Donald Rasmussen, a pulmonologist in Beckley, W.Va., who says he's tested 40,000 coal miners in the last 50 years.
"In 1969, I publicly proclaimed that the disease would go away before we learned all about it," he adds. "And I was dead wrong."
Rasmussen first started charting an increase in serious black lung cases about 15 years ago.
"We began to see the appearance of younger miners who had worked in the mines only since the dust suppression following the '69 act that were showing up with complicated pneumoconiosis or progressive massive fibrosis," he says.
Since 1970, NIOSH epidemiologists documented test results for 43 percent of the nation's coal miners. In 1995, the tests began to indicate more and more black long, rapid disease progression and the unexpected occurrence among relatively young miners.
"From the patterns and from the severity, from the prevalence of the disease, this must be a situation in which the dust in many, many mines is simply not adequately controlled," says Edward Petsonk, a pulmonologist at West Virginia University and a consultant for NIOSH. "There's nothing else that could possibly cause this."
Increased Dust Exposure
The new era of coal dust controls was followed by more dust exposure for miners, according to federal data obtained by CPI and NPR. The average workweek for coal miners grew 11 hours in the last 30 years, adding about 600 hours of exposure each year.
"By the time I was 40 years old, I mined more coal than most miners [had] seen in a lifetime," says McCowan.
Production pressure grew with greater demand for coal and higher prices. By 2000, coal production had jumped fivefold from the 1970s. In 2010, it was still triple what it was when the new coal dust limits took effect.
"You can't be exposed to the kind of tonnage that I was and not get black lung disease," McCowan says.
Actually, Petsonk and Rasmussen say, some miners are more susceptible to black lung than others. They can't explain why, but they do say that smoking enhances susceptibility. Still, neither McCowan nor Gary Wayne Quarles was a smoker.
Mining machines also became more powerful and efficient, cutting through coal seams laced with silica-bearing quartz and sandstone, especially in Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky.
"In the process, they release more silicon dioxide, and the increase in silica is more toxic than just the coal dust itself," Rasmussen says.
Federal records obtained by CPI and NPR under the Freedom of Information Act show thousands of coal miners were exposed to excessive levels of silica in each of the last 25 years. Since 1987, coal mining companies and government inspectors turned in more than 113,000 valid mine dust samples. Roughly 52 percent of those samples exceeded federal standards. In 1998 alone, about 65 percent of the valid silica samples violated the standard.
Silica exposure prompts a call for something that might seem unexpected from the National Mining Association (NMA): more regulation. The industry group wants a crackdown focused specifically on silica in the Appalachian region where black lung is resurgent.
"These people are being exposed [to] three to four times the silica exposures for periods over 20 years. [They have] a chest full of silica and nothing's been done about it," says Bob Glenn, a black lung consultant for NMA.
Excess silica forces mining companies to meet a lower standard for coal dust. The idea is that less exposure to coal dust means less exposure to silica. The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) proposes toughening the coal dust standard by slashing exposure limits in half (to 1 milligram per cubic meter of air).
Mine Dust Standards Vs. Protection
Coal dust measurements taken by MSHA and the industry show that coal mines already meet the lower standard and have for years. But the industry still opposes the new standard because it would broadly apply to coal dust and to all mines everywhere.
In a companion story to the NPR/CPI investigation, veteran coal industry reporter Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette reviews 40 years of attempts to strengthen protection for miners.
Ward quotes former MSHA official Celeste Monforton, a worker safety advocate now at George Washington University: "We can't get a regulation out to save our souls." And, as Ward reports, "miners are left with the same system that experts have agreed hasn't worked for decades."
Since 1970, when mine dust controls began, black lung contributed to the deaths of more than 70,000 miners. The federal government and the industry spent $45 billion compensating the victims, including McCowan, and their families.
"Now it feels like I've got a heavy wet sack on each lung," McCowan says, between long, deep breaths. "Breathing has become a conscious effort. ... It seems like I give up a little bit of my world each day, that it gets smaller and smaller."
Simple tasks become enormous challenges — "a Mount Everest every day," he calls it — including holding his 2-year-old grandson.
"I say, 'Little buddy, I got to put you down for a few minutes,'" McCowan says with a deep sigh. "And he's learned to run a little bit. He'll say, 'Run, paw-paw, run.' He wants me to chase him. And I can't."
NPR's Sandra Bartlett and Chris Hamby of the Center for Public Integrity contributed reporting for this story. Research by NPR's Barbara Van Woerkom; editing by NPR's Andrea de Leon and Alicia Cypress.
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Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2012-07-09/as-mine-protections-fail-black-lung-cases-surge | 2022-08-18T10:35:22Z |
Part two of a two-part series.
Thousands of coal miners continued to suffer and die from black lung during the 40 years that tough new limits on exposure to coal dust were supposed to provide protection.
Control of the mine dust was plagued by weak enforcement by regulators and loopholes exploited by mining companies, according to a joint investigation by NPR and the Center for Public Integrity (CPI). The protections were "set up for failure," says Dennis O'Dell, the safety and health administrator at the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA).
As NPR and CPI reported Monday, a 1969 law slashed the legal limit for exposure to coal dust to as little as 1/4 of the amount many coal miners were breathing at the time. Although diagnoses soon plunged 90 percent, the decline didn't last.
In the mid-1990s, medical experts began noticing an increase in diagnoses, along with disease in younger miners and rapid progression to severe stages of sickness.
The trend is most acute in a triangular region of Appalachia that includes eastern Kentucky, southern West Virginia and southwestern Virginia.
"Since [federal regulators] started protecting us ... 70,000 of us have died," says Mark McCowan, a 47-year-old former coal miner from Pounding Mill, Va., who worked 21 years underground.
McCowan suffers from progressive massive fibrosis, the worst stage of the disease. "I don't feel very protected," he says.
Federal data confirms the death toll cited by McCowan. In the same 40-year span, federal and industry compensation for black lung victims and their families topped $45 billion.
'An Addiction To Cheat'
From the very beginning, miners reported "irregularities" in controlling coal mine dust, says Donald Rasmussen, 84, a pulmonologist in Beckley, W.Va. Rasmussen says he's tested 40,000 coal miners for black lung in the last 50 years.
"So many miners will say, 'If you think the dust is controlled you're crazy,' " he says.
Measuring coal mine dust is key to preventing overexposure. Excess dust can trigger citations, fines and even slowdowns in coal production. Mining companies enforce their own compliance by taking and reporting mine dust samples. Federal mine inspectors also test for excessive dust.
But NPR and CPI have found widespread and persistent gaming of the system designed to measure and control exposure.
Richard Allen, a federal mine inspector underground when the 1969 law first took effect, says he remembers a strange question from a Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) investigator about a carpet's color in a coal mine manager's office.
"It was blue and [MSHA was finding] little blue fibers in each [mine dust] sample," Allen says. "[Investigators] cross-referenced the fibers in these samples to that carpet and found that he was sampling in his office" and not deep inside the mine.
The mine manager was later convicted of defrauding the mine safety agency and served time in prison.
Federal records obtained by CPI and NPR describe 103 cases resulting in criminal convictions for fraudulent dust sampling from 1980 through 2002. Fines totaled $2.2 million, and some mining company officials went to jail.
In 1991, the Labor Department levied civil fines of more than $6.5 million against about 500 coal mines for tampering with mine dust samples.
There was "an addiction to cheat," said Lynn Martin, who was secretary of labor at the time.
Mine Operators' Miscalculations
Coal companies continued to routinely deceive federal regulators with sampling that minimized dust exposure, according to coal miners, former mine inspectors, federal records and testimony in lawsuits.
David Neil, who worked underground in West Virginia through most of the 1980s, said he was told by a company foreman to hang a measuring device called a dust pump out in mine shafts with clean air and away from coal dust.
"Maybe if we didn't do it this way, they'd come in and shut down the mines," Neil remembers thinking. "Then we'd be out of work."
Neil now suffers from advanced black lung, as does Randall Wriston, whose last job underground was in a West Virginia coal mine four years ago.
"If I would have [worn] a dust pump 50 percent of the time, they would have shut down," Wriston says, because the mine would be out of compliance for having too much dust. "If they would get a bad sample they'd turn them upside down and shake them, and that would give a false reading. So, they'd come back and do it some other time."
Miners, former miners and current and former federal regulators told NPR and CPI about dust pumps tucked into lunch boxes or under clothing or out in mine shafts with fresh air — anywhere away from coal dust.
It's unclear what happened with vigorous criminal prosecution after 2002. MSHA tells CPI and NPR that there were no "closed cases" of dust sampling fraud in the last decade, which indicates no criminal convictions. The agency refuses to disclose how many violations, if any, were sent to the Justice Department for possible prosecution, citing a policy forbidding disclosure of the "existence or potential existence of open criminal cases."
In the last three years, a new MSHA enforcement effort called "dust busters" targeted mines with coal dust problems. In 96 different inspections, the agency found 531 mine dust violations.
Many of the mines with violations are owned by some of the nation's largest mining companies. In some cases, sampling was considered so egregiously deficient that MSHA withdrew dust-testing certification for 14 mining company managers and contractors. Eleven others were formally warned about deficient sampling.
Deficiencies included inadequate water pressure and insufficient airflow, which help disperse mine dust; failure to maintain dust-collecting equipment; failure to follow dust-sampling procedures; and failure to examine sampling devices for dust.
"At times, the ventilation controls are not in place. The water sprays are not in place," says Joe Main, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health. "We find that the sampling process that is used is not as required by the standards."
That's what investigators discovered after the deadly 2010 explosion at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine in Raleigh County, W.Va. Several workers at the mine told investigators they were ordered to manipulate dust sampling, according to a story in The Charleston Gazette that supplements the NPR/CPI investigation.
Federal Sampling Yields Higher Exposures
Federal inspectors also collect mine dust samples. In 24 of the last 30 years, dust samples taken by federal mine inspectors found higher concentrations of coal mine dust than samples provided by mining companies, according to federal data.
In one year, inspectors reported 40 percent more exposure than did the industry.
Despite those differences and the record of fraudulent industry samples, mining companies continue to check their own compliance with the law.
"Government is in a situation where they have to utilize the data that is presented to them," Main says. "And, at times, yes, we have found that the sampling program was not implemented as required."
More recently, industry and government samples have been more consistent, but even the main industry group admits that inaccurate sampling is a serious problem.
"It might be that MSHA should take over the entire program and should be given resources to do that," says Bob Glenn, a former NIOSH official now working as a black lung consultant for the National Mining Association (NMA). "They certainly would be more impartial, you would think, than having the operator take all the samples."
That's what mine safety advocates have argued for years, but Main says the agency isn't equipped for the job.
"It's [an] enormous task for the government to take on," he says. "I think having the government assume that role would be a big one."
O'Dell of the mine workers union believes MSHA has no choice.
"The operators can't be trusted to do compliance sampling," he says. "History has proven that."
Loopholes Keep Mine Companies Within The Law
History also shows that mining companies don't need to break the law to keep dust measurements artificially low. There are loopholes:
* The law permits sampling at only 50 percent of average production, when miners have as little as half the exposure.
* Sampling is required only eight hours a day even though miners work at least 10 hours a day on average. That amounts to about 600 hours of exposure a year that is not measured in the sampling.
* If federal mine inspectors' findings show too much coal dust, mining companies get a do-over. They take five of their own samples and average them. The sample with the greatest exposure is often discounted. If the average then meets the exposure standard, the violation disappears.
The do-overs may also explain something else CPI and NPR found in federal mine safety records. Between 2000 and 2011, MSHA issued a relatively small number of coal mine dust violations despite thousands of samples with excessive dust. MSHA data show that 53,000 valid samples contained more dust than standards permit but the agency issued less than 2,400 violations.
"The current rules have been in effect for decades, do not adequately protect miners from disease and are in need of reform," says mine safety chief Joe Main. "That is why MSHA has proposed several changes to overhaul the current standards and reduce miners' exposure to unhealthy dust."
MSHA proposes some significant reforms. Coal mine dust limits would be cut in half. Sampling would more accurately reflect actual exposure. And mining companies would no longer be able to demonstrate compliance by averaging five dust samples. But, self-policing would continue with mining companies still collecting their own samples.
"We encourage our members to fulfill their obligations under the law," says Bruce Watzman, who directs regulatory affairs for NMA, the coal industry trade group.
But he recognizes the system lacks credibility.
"We need to get to a point where we remove this cloud of controversy and instill in the minds of everyone that the samples are accurate," Watzman adds. "The best way to do that is to have MSHA take responsibility for that."
In Pounding Mill, Va., McCowan considers all of this as his disease worsens. He says he wants mining companies and MSHA to take more responsibility.
McCowan suggests production studies that would determine how much coal mines could produce at a rate that would not create excessive dust. He'd also have federal mine inspectors watching every minute when mine companies take dust samples.
"Coal mining is as dirty as the coal operator wants to make it," he says, drawing a deep breath. "I don't think it's turning out too good for the miner."
NPR's Sandra Bartlett and Chris Hamby of the Center for Public Integrity contributed reporting for this story. Research by NPR's Barbara Van Woerkom; editing by NPR's Andrea de Leon and Alicia Cypress.
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Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2012-07-10/black-lung-rule-loopholes-leave-miners-vulnerable | 2022-08-18T10:35:29Z |
The new release from Juanes marks a departure for the Colombian pop star. The all-acoustic album was recorded in front of a live Miami audience for MTV Unplugged.
Born Juan Esteban Aristizábal Vásquez, Juanes — who appears Friday and Saturday at the Hollywood Bowl with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and conductor Thomas Wilkins — has been one of Latin America's most popular young musicians for the past two decades. His first four albums topped music charts. He has won a Grammy Award and 17 Latin Grammys.
Juanes has also sung for huge crowds around the world: a concert for peace in Havana, a World Cup kickoff, even a Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. He founded an organization for victims of landmines. He married a beautiful model and actress and they have three gorgeous children. But even with so much going for him, the artist says he recently found himself at a crossroads.
"To be honest, I was feeling a little bit tired, a little bit sick of myself and depressed," Juanes says. "I was not enjoying the process. So I decided to make a little stop in my career and just rethink everything."
That was last year. Not long after, MTV's Spanish-language channel, Tr3s, asked him to do an Unplugged session. Juanes says he embraced it as an opportunity to take a breather and recenter himself.
To help with that process, he turned to one of his heroes, Juan Luis Guerra. In the 1990s, the singer and songwriter was considered the Dominican Republic's premier poet and musician.
"He's one of the most incredible musicians from South America," Juanes says. "He's like a legend, like another Beatle member. He's like, wow!"
Speaking from his home in the Dominican Republic, Guerra returned the compliment.
"Juanes is a great guitar player," Guerra says. "He's a great singer also. Juanes' songs are so beautiful, but I wanted to give a new version of them."
Guerra became the producer and arranger for the Unplugged album, and also something of a mentor for Juanes. Guerra himself had taken a break from playing his fusion of merengue and bachata with jazz and classical influences, in order to devote his time to Christian gospel music.
"You need time to rest, to think about your career, to find another way," Guerra says. "That's what I did and I think that's what Juanes did, also. He was kind of, 'Too much work,' and he needed to stop."
"I remember the first moment I got to his studio in the Dominican Republic in [Guerra's] house," Juanes recalls, "and I was a little bit nervous. Then I just found this guy Juan Luis so relaxed, so calm, so sober. And he just inspired this peace inside me."
Juanes says the two of them jammed for hours, taking breaks to ruminate about life. "For me it was it was almost like a journey, like something spiritual," he says.
Juanes found still more inspiration from another idol of his, journeying to Madrid to ask Joaquin Sabina to collaborate on a song. The Spanish singer-songwriter and poet had also put his career on pause — but that four-year break was prompted by a stroke, followed by a deep depression.
"Joaquin Sabina is one of my favorites," Juanes says. "He's like a legend. He's like our Bob Dylan or our Bruce Springsteen. He's one of our most talented writers of our Latin music."
The result of the collaboration was "Azul Sabina." Joaquin Sabina wrote lyrics and Juan Luis Guerra arranged the song, calling on the spirit of Louis Armstrong.
"I said, 'That's what we need. We need a clarinet, a trumpet and a trombone,'" Juanes says. "It's a blues, like kind of 1950s New Orleans sound. We really had a good time."
Juanes says singing with Sabina, working with Guerra and the whole Unplugged experience was just the shot in the arm he needed for his career and his life.
"This a new beginning for me," he says. "Now I have no fear. I want to take risks. I just feel so happy to have that freedom and say, "You know what? Let's forget about everything and just break things. Go fast and break things and do whatever comes from your heart. That's what I'm doing now."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2012-08-16/juanes-a-superstar-slows-down-shifts-gears | 2022-08-18T10:52:46Z |
More than half a century ago this week, on Aug. 12, 1958, some of the greatest jazz musicians of the day assembled in Harlem at what was, for them, the ungodly hour of 10 a.m. Fifty-seven players came to East 126th Street to have their picture taken for Esquire magazine.
Freelance photographer Art Kane bunched them together in front of the steps of two brownstones. Some neighborhood kids plunked down on the curb — so did pianist-bandleader Count Basie. And "A Great Day in Harlem" was captured in a black-and-white image.
Jazz pianist Marian McPartland was one of just three women in the photograph. She's wearing a halter dress like the one Marilyn Monroe wore when she stood over that windy subway grate — but McPartland's dress sits flat and proper.
"I never get tired of looking at that picture — one of the world's greatest photos," McPartland tells NPR's Susan Stamberg. "I was working at the Hickory House, and Nat Hentoff came rushing in and said, 'You've got this date to have this picture taken at 10 o'clock.' And I didn't particularly want to get up that early, but I did."
The picture shows Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Gene Krupa, Maxine Sullivan, Mary Lou Williams, Gerry Mulligan, Lester Young, Sonny Rollins — all the '50s gods of jazz. Marian McPartland stands out not only as a woman, but as white, foreign and young.
"It seems like everybody encouraged me and let me be myself, and gradually things grew together," she says. "Nobody bothered whether I was black or white. I just wanted to play better and listen to a lot of people, people I really loved — Bill Evans and horn players like Sonny Rollins. I just wanted to hear everybody."
There's a new documentary film about Marian McPartland. In Good Time: The Piano Jazz of Marian McPartland is full of archival footage, family photos and interviews. Documentary filmmaker James R. Coleman Jr., who goes by the name Huey, spent five years making the movie.
"I was very lucky," he says. "There were so many wonderful moments, and one of the precious moments is when, in the show, Jimmy McPartland — Marian's husband — and Marian are on together and talk about how they first met, which was a real gem to find."
Marian McPartland says she met Jimmy in war-torn Europe.
"He was a foot soldier, and I was working in USO camp shows. Somehow we got together over there, and we were married in Aachen, Germany — so we were married by the time we got back here to Chicago," she says. "It took a while for us to uproot ourselves and move to New York, because that's where things really happened more. And Jimmy found a gig for his band, and I was at the Hickory House, so we were all busy."
McPartland says the Hickory House, the storied jazz spot and steakhouse in midtown Manhattan, was a special kind of club.
"People just walked in," she says. "A lot of times they would just jump on the bandstand and sit in with me. It was a ball."
Duke Ellington, with whom McPartland shared a press agent, would come to see her play, too.
"I remember he made a sort of a subtle criticism," she says. "He said, 'Oh, you play so many notes.' I thought, 'He's obviously telling me that I'm playing too many notes,' so from that I kind of eased off a little bit. I was probably showing off."
All those notes found a home for 30 years on public radio. Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz began in 1979. The first program was recorded in the Baldwin Piano showroom on 59th Street in New York.
Some 700-plus programs later — her last show was recorded in 2010 — the series keeps running with archival tapes, plus new ones with new hosts. At 94, McPartland remains the show's artistic director. Her radio guests included all the jazz greats: Billy Taylor, Bill Evans, Sarah Vaughan, Bill Frisell, Norah Jones, Diana Krall, Dave Brubeck, George Shearing, Herbie Hancock, Ray Charles, Tony Bennett.
Krall, Brubeck, Frisell and many others appear in In Good Time. The film will be screened this fall at jazz festivals in Savannah, Ga., and Seattle.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2012-08-17/marian-mcpartlands-storied-life-told-in-good-time | 2022-08-18T10:52:52Z |
On the fishing-boat piers of New England, nearly everyone knows a fisherman who was lost at sea.
Boat captain Joe Neves remembers when a crew member got knocked overboard. "We heard him screaming 'Help me!' " Neves says, grimacing. "But you know, on the water at night, your head is like a little coconut." They didn't find him.
Mike Gallagher discovered a friend who was entangled in still-running hydraulics. "I knew right away he was dead," he says.
And Fred Mattera was fishing 125 miles off the coast of Cape Cod when the 21-year-old son of a close friend succumbed to poisonous fumes in a nearby boat. "That was a brutal week in this port," he says.
The Deadliest Catch
The Bureau of Labor Statistics ranks commercial fishing as the deadliest job in the United States. And despite the popular notion from reality TV's Deadliest Catch, which features Alaskan crab fishermen, the most dangerous American fishery is in the Northeast.
From 2000 to 2009, workers in the Northeast's multi-species groundfish fishery (which includes fish such as cod and haddock) were 37 times more likely to die on the job as a police officer.
A National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health report shows that 70 percent of those deaths and those in the second-deadliest fishery, Atlantic scallops, followed disasters such as a vessel catching fire, capsizing or sinking. Most of the rest came from onboard injuries or falling overboard — often caused by heavy overhead equipment.
Not one of those who fell overboard and drowned was wearing a life jacket.
An investigation by the Center for Public Integrity, NPR News and WBUR in Boston found that despite earning the odious ranking as America's deadliest job, commercial fishing in the Northeast operates in a cultural tradition and regulatory environment that thwarts promising safety measures.
Out To Sea, Out Of Mind
Despite the strikingly high fatality rate in the fishing industry, pushes for reform have taken decades to come to fruition. In 1988, Congress required fishing boats to carry life boats, personal flotation devices and other safety equipment.
Yet while the Coast Guard mandates seaworthiness inspections of passenger ferries and other commercial vessels, fishing boats are not inspected.
"We've ... requested authority to do inspections on vessels," says Jack Kemerer, chief of the fishing vessels division of the Coast Guard. Congress did not include that power in the U.S. Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010.
"So I can't answer why or why not," Kemerer says. "But, you know, it's not that we haven't asked for it in the past."
The Last Of The Ocean Cowboys
Most fishermen don't want to be supervised. Some are fatalistic about their life on the seas. New England fishermen used to buy steel-toed boots, believing that if they fell into the frigid Atlantic, it was better to drown faster. Others espouse a rugged individualism and see themselves as the last cowboys on the ocean.
At Chatham Harbor on Cape Cod, Bill Amaru runs one of the last cod-fishing boats from a harbor that used to be so prolific, fish markets labeled cod Chathams. Now, strict federal rules limit how much he can catch. Many other cod fishermen have gone out of business. Amaru doesn't like the idea of the feds inspecting his boat.
"If there's a resentment to these kinds of rules," Amaru says as he moors his boat in the harbor, "it's based on the overall huge number of regulations that have come down on our industry in the last decade — so much federal 'nanny state,' kind of telling us how to operate — when I think I have a pretty good understanding of what I need to do to keep safe."
Still, the 2010 law requires boat owners like Amaru to prove that their safety equipment is up to date. Coast Guard checks have forced many fishermen to throw out old and disintegrating life rafts, and replace the expired batteries from their emergency signal beacons.
But just because a boat has updated safety gear doesn't mean the crew knows how to use it.
'We Will Make This A Safer Industry'
When Fred Mattera raced his boat to help fishermen overcome by poisonous fumes in a nearby boat in 2001, he didn't know exactly what to do to help them. The radio was no help, either.
"What I heard there was this hodgepodge [of] try this, try that," Mattera remembers. "And nobody knew for certain."
When 21-year-old Steven Follett, the son of a close friend, died, Mattera was frustrated. Some people in port called him a hero for trying. "Being a hero is ... someone survives," he says, shaking his head.
Mattera told his friend he would make good come from the loss of life. "I just said, I promise you, we need to change the culture. We will make this a safer industry."
The incident turned Mattera into a safety evangelist. Earlier this month, he helped the crews of two boats organize a disaster training and man-overboard exercise.
'Get Your Panic Out Now!'
In one exercise, crew members clumsily put on bright orange-red survival suits. Insulated, watertight and buoyant, the suits cover each fisherman from head to toe; only their faces are exposed. They step off the boat into the calm dockside water. But even in these conditions, wearing what some guys call a "Gumby suit" feels claustrophobic to some, and they thrash around until they get their bearings.
"Get your panic out now!" Fred Matter shouts from the deck. The crew members are practicing abandoning ship in the case of a fire or capsizing. The immersion suits are designed to keep them alive and afloat in the icy Atlantic until someone can rescue them.
Mattera coaches them to link up with each other back-to-back and paddle together over to a life raft and climb in.
When it's all over, the crew looks winded.
"There's a 'Holy crap!' issue to it," boat captain Norbert Stamps says of the training. "You jump in, you kind of realize that this isn't fun and games. This is real serious stuff. And you gotta practice, and you gotta know what to expect."
Crew member Mike Gallagher says fishermen-organized trainings are becoming more common. "To be honest with you," he says, "the safety thing hasn't really been paid much attention to until the past several years. Really, it's been overlooked."
Learning From Alaska
Alaskan waters had been viewed as the most hazardous place for commercial fishing — that is, until a closer focus on safety reduced the number of fatalities in those fisheries.
"I believe that fishermen want to be safe," says National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health epidemiologist Jennifer Lincoln, who's based in Alaska. "They just want things to be practical. They want the solutions to really address the hazards that exist."
In Alaska, fishermen, state regulators and the Coast Guard have worked together to make fishing less deadly:
That kind of safety progress is what Fred Mattera and others want to replicate in the Northeast, the home of today's deadliest catch. Since that deadly accident in 2001, Mattera has trained hundreds of fishermen at Point Judith in Narragansett, R.I. But he's not done.
"I'm just a fisherman," Mattera says. "That's what I loved, and that's what I did for a long time. I promised a family we'd make a difference. [As long as] I'm still breathing, that's what we're going to strive to do."
Mattera hopes that someday, the deadliest job in America will only be as dangerous as it has to be, and not one bit more.
Our stories about dangers in the commercial fishing industry were jointly reported by the Center for Public Integrity, WBUR in Boston and NPR News. The stories are part of CPI's Hard Labor series on workplace safety.
Copyright 2012 WBUR | https://www.keranews.org/2012-08-22/trying-to-tame-the-real-deadliest-fishing-jobs | 2022-08-18T10:52:59Z |
Just a small-town girl, living in a lonely world — in Belgium, with her guitar and a MySpace page. That's how Selah Sue used to introduce her music to those outside her hometown: with short videos made between high-school classes and weekend shows at local clubs, posted to her online journal.
Those videos eventually caught the attention of producers and singers such as Meshell Ndegeocello and Cee-Lo Green, who helped the aspiring musician make her self-titled debut album. The record was released last March in Europe and this past week in the U.S., and Sue has been dutifully touring the material — including one unexpected gig in Antwerp, opening for Prince.
"I heard, like, two hours before his show that I could do a support act, so I just jumped in my car," Sue tells NPR's Scott Simon, adding that she was invited to Prince's backstage area after the show. "I asked him questions I wanted to know, like, 'Prince, are you happy?' And he is, so that's good."
Selah Sue's swift rise is all the more impressive when placed in context: She's 23 now and came to music late, taking up guitar and songwriting in her late teens.
"I studied psychology when I was 18, really in the mind that I would have a job from 9 to 5. I was never the kind of child that had big ambitions and big dreams," she says. "I learned a bit of guitar — I did three years of classical training — so I started to write my own songs and to discover my vocals and to absorb all the things I listened to. And then this kind of sound came out."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2012-08-25/selah-sue-from-online-stardom-to-a-stage-with-prince | 2022-08-18T10:53:05Z |
Zelenskyy to host Lviv talks with UN chief, Turkish leader
LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — As a potential power broker, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will use his first visit to Ukraine since the war started nearly six months ago to seek ways to expand the export of grain from Europe’s breadbasket to the world’s needy while U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres will focus on containing the volatile situation at a Russian-occupied nuclear power plant.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is hosting both men far away from the front lines, in the western city of Lviv, where diplomatic efforts to help end the war will also be on the agenda.
Meanwhile, the screams of incoming shells still overpowered the whispers of diplomacy.
A total of 11 people were killed and 40 wounded in a series of massive Russian missile strikes on Ukraine’s Kharkiv region on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
The late Wednesday attack on Kharkiv killed at least seven people, wounded 20 others and damaged residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, authorities said.
At the same time, The Russian Defense Ministry on Thursday morning claimed it targeted “a temporary base of foreign mercenaries” in the city of Kharkiv, killing 90 of them.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the three leaders will also discuss the situation at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, Europe’s largest, which Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of shelling.
In his nightly video address Wednesday, Zelensky reaffirmed his demand for the Russian military to leave the plant, emphasizing that “only absolute transparency and control of the situation” by, among others, the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency, could guarantee a return to nuclear safety.
Russia played up the threats the plant posed in wartime. Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the commander of the Russian military’s radiological, chemical and biological protection forces, charged that the Ukrainian troops were planning to strike the plant again on Friday while Guterres will still be visiting Ukraine in order to accuse Russia of nuclear terrorism. Ukraine has steadfastly denied that it’s targeting the plant.
Kirillov said an emergency at the plant could see “a discharge of radioactive substances into the atmosphere and spreading them to hundreds of kilometers away ... An emergency of this kind will cause massive migration and will have more catastrophic consequences than the looming gas energy crisis in Europe.”
With such stakes, the role of a go-between like Erdogan could become ever more important.
Erdogan, whose nation is a member of NATO which backs Ukraine in the war, also oversees a wobbly economy that has been increasingly reliant on Russia for trade. That backdrop turns Thursday’s meetings in Lviv into a walk on a diplomatic tightrope. Earlier this month, the Turkish leader met on the same issues with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Erdogan is set to have a one-hour meeting with Zelenskyy in the early afternoon before both are joined by Guterres.
Last month, Turkey and the U.N. helped broker an agreement clearing the way for Ukraine to export 22 million tons of corn and other grain stuck in its Black Sea ports since Russia invaded Feb. 24. A separate memorandum between Russia and the U.N. aimed to clear roadblocks to shipments of Russian food and fertilizer to world markets.
The war and the blocked exports significantly exacerbated the global food crisis because Ukraine and Russia are major suppliers. Turkey is in a position to help speed up exports, which have been reduced to a trickle so far.
Grain prices peaked after Russia’s invasion, and while some have since returned to prewar levels, they remain significantly higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Developing countries have been hit particularly hard by supply shortages and high prices. Even though ships are now leaving Russia and Ukraine, the food crisis hasn’t ended.
Before his meetings, Guterres visited Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Ukraine’s oldest, and praised the role of academic institutions in building democratic institutions in a brief statement to reporters. He made no comment on the substance of the visit. If grain transports and nuclear security are issues where some progress could be made, talks about an overall end to the conflict weren’t expected to yield anything substantive.
In March, Turkey hosted a round of talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators, who discussed a possible deal to end the hostilities. The talks fell apart after the meeting in Istanbul, with both sides blaming each other.
Erdogan has engaged in a delicate balancing act, maintaining good relations with both Russia and Ukraine. Turkey has provided Ukraine with drones, which played a significant role in deterring a Russian advance early in the conflict, but it has refrained from joining Western sanctions against Russia over the war.
Facing a major economic crisis with official inflation near 80%, Turkey increasingly relies on Russia for trade and tourism. Russian gas covers 45% of Turkish energy needs, and Russia’s atomic agency is building Turkey’s first nuclear power plant.
During their meeting in Sochi this month, Putin and Erdogan agreed to bolster energy, financial and other ties between their countries, raising concerns in the West that Ankara could help Moscow bypass the U.S. and European Union sanctions.
___
Suzan Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/18/zelenskyy-host-lviv-talks-with-un-chief-turkish-leader/ | 2022-08-18T11:01:13Z |
NEW YORK, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Levi & Korsinsky, LLP notifies investors in Amazon.com, Inc. ("Amazon" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: AMZN) of a class action securities lawsuit.
CLASS DEFINITION: The lawsuit seeks to recover losses on behalf of Amazon investors who were adversely affected by alleged securities fraud. This lawsuit is on behalf of all persons or entities that purchased or otherwise acquired shares of Amazon common stock between July 30, 2021, and April 28, 2022, inclusive. Follow the link below to get more information and be contacted by a member of our team:
AMZN investors may also contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. via email at jlevi@levikorsinsky.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500.
CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that defendants made false statements and/or concealed that: 1) defendants knew or recklessly disregarded that the Company's infrastructure and fulfillment network investments substantially outpaced demand; 2) those investments were a massive, self-imposed, undue drain on Amazon's financial condition; 3) contrary to defendants' public statements and undisclosed to investors, defendants had already implemented cutbacks to Amazon's fulfillment capacity by July 2021; and 4) as a result of defendants' misrepresentations and omissions, Amazon's common stock traded at artificially inflated prices during the class period.
WHAT'S NEXT? If you suffered a loss in Amazon during the relevant time frame, you have until September 6, 2022 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
NO COST TO YOU: If you are a class member, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket costs or fees. There is no cost or obligation to participate.
WHY LEVI & KORSINSKY: Over the past 20 years, the team at Levi & Korsinsky has secured hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders and built a track record of winning high-stakes cases. Our firm has extensive expertise representing investors in complex securities litigation and a team of over 70 employees to serve our clients. For seven years in a row, Levi & Korsinsky has ranked in ISS Securities Class Action Services' Top 50 Report as one of the top securities litigation firms in the United States.
CONTACT:
Levi & Korsinsky, LLP
Joseph E. Levi, Esq.
Ed Korsinsky, Esq.
55 Broadway, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10006
jlevi@levikorsinsky.com
Tel: (212) 363-7500
Fax: (212) 363-7171
www.zlk.com
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SOURCE Levi & Korsinsky, LLP | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/amzn-lawsuit-alert-levi-amp-korsinsky-notifies-amazoncom-inc-investors-class-action-lawsuit-upcoming-deadline/ | 2022-08-18T11:01:16Z |
CHICAGO, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Angeles Investors – the investor community finding, funding and growing the most promising Hispanic and Latinx ventures – is pleased to recognize the 2022 Angeles Estrellas award recipients. Awardees, attendees and the industry at large will convene in-person at the Awards in Chicago, Illinois, August 19, 2022, to recognize the top funders and venture capital firms investing in Hispanic and Latinx startups. This year's honorees exemplify leadership in not only investing in top startups but also investing in founders who are among the fastest growing segments in the U.S. economy.
This year's Q3 event will take place August 18-19, across multiple sites in Chicago at Google's Chicago Office, Northern Trust, the Chicago Booth Gleacher Center and Wintrust. The Estrellas awards dinner and cocktails are being sponsored by Goldman Sachs and First Bank Chicago, respectively . Accredited investors will have an opportunity to hear a few of America's top startups pitch for funding. Click here to view the full agenda.
"It's exciting to see the number of top funders and venture capital groups investing in Latino startups grow!" In 2020, we started Angeles Investors with the goal of making the venture capital industry aware of all the Latino startup community has to offer. Fast forward two years, we now have a list of 40 Estrellas who are helping us to achieve this goal, and we're just getting started," said Adela Cepeda, Angeles Investors Board Chair and Director at BMO Financial Corporation.
It's been a priority of Chingona Ventures to provide access and opportunity to the Latino startup community, where gaining access to funding — the necessary fuel to grow their companies – is a constant struggle.
"I've been fortunate to benefit from having the Latinx community support me in the early days of raising a fund, including many Angeles members. We need organizations like ours to invest and support the startup community where founders receive less than 1% of all venture capital funding," said Samara Mejia Hernandez, Founding Partner at Chingona Ventures.
Nominations for the Angeles Estrellas award are solicited from Angeles members, partners and the general public. Awardees are evaluated on the quantity of startups invested in, total dollars invested and their commitment to the Hispanic and Latinx startup ecosystem.
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SOURCE Angeles Investors | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/angeles-investors-recognize-top-funders-amp-venture-capital-firms-investing-hispanic-latinx-startups-with-2022-angeles-estrellas-award/ | 2022-08-18T11:01:17Z |
"Finding Our Feet," produced by T Brand Studio, explores the intricate relationship between our feet and body and the importance of foot health
LINZ, Germany, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "Ugly for a Reason" – the three-part video documentary created by BIRKENSTOCK to shine a light on the marvels of the human foot and educate audiences worldwide on the importance of foot health, returns today with its second episode, "Finding Our Feet." The second installment takes an in-depth look at the future of foot health, through the lens of BIRKENSTOCK's heritage in orthopedics. Produced by T Brand, the content studio of New York Time Advertising, the ad campaign is available on nytimes.com, BIRKENSTOCK.COM and all other online channels of the iconic brand and inventor of the footbed.
In the tradition of training courses from master shoemaker Konrad Birkenstock in the 1920s, "Finding Our Feet" explores the intricate relationship between our feet and body and how the choice of footwear impacts everything from our posture to our limbs. The episode opens with inspiring footage of world-renowned ballet soloist Romany Pajdak dancing en pointe, a form of expression that involves the whole body. As a ballet dancer, feet are Romany's main vehicle of expression – and the foundation of her professional career – and she takes viewers along on her journey of finding and understanding her feet through dance. Additionally, the episode features expert advice from Samantha Tross, the first black female orthopedic surgeon in the United Kingdom. Drawing from her experience treating athletes and special conditions, Samantha illuminates on the importance of foot shape, position and addressing foot conditions.
Oliver Reichert, CEO of the BIRKENSTOCK Group: "The second episode of "Ugly for a Reason" details the higher purpose BIRKENSTOCK has served for almost two and half centuries: foot health. Feet are the foundation of our entire body, allowing us to stand, walk and run. Every day we depend on our feet to take us where we want to go - without asking ourselves what we are putting our feet through and how to maintain foot health. Our goal with this campaign is to continue the important conversation around foot health and healthy footwear to empower consumers to make better-informed choices."
Episode three ("Stepping into the Details") will investigate why functional design, quality and responsibility are important for foot health. The third and last episode of the documentary will premiere mid October 2022.
Links:
https://www.nytimes.com/paidpost/birkenstock/finding-our-feet.html
https://www.birkenstock.com/us/ugly-for-a-reason/
Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1852131/Birkenstock_Logo.jpg
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SOURCE Birkenstock Group B.V. & Co. KG | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/birkenstock-examines-future-healthy-feet-with-launch-second-episode-paid-content-campaign-ugly-reason-nytcom/ | 2022-08-18T11:01:19Z |
BRASÍLIA, Brazil, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CAIXA ECONÔMICA FEDERAL ("CAIXA"), the largest Brazilian bank in number of customers, credit, digital accounts and savings deposits, announces its consolidated result for the second quarter result (2Q22).
HIGHLIGHTS:
I. Highest quarterly mortgage loan volume in the bank's history, totaling R$ 39.7 billion, up by 15.4% QoQ and 9.6% YoY.
II. 11.0% increase in mortgage loans with SBPE funds compared to 2Q21, totaling R$ 23.4 billion.
III. Balance of R$ 595.2 billion in the mortgage loan portfolio, up by 11.0% YoY.
IV. 20.7% increase in the balance of payroll-deductible loans compared to 2Q21, reaching R$ 90.2 billion.
V. 247.3% increase in Agro loans over 2Q21, reaching R$ 13.3 billion.
VI. Balance of R$ 30.8 billion in the Agro loan portfolio, up by 202.3% YoY.
VII. R$ 127,8 billion in credit granted to the Brazilian population in 2Q22, up by 18.6% QoQ and 17.5% YoY.
VIII. Balance of R$ 928,2 billion in the total loan portfolio, up by 13.7% YoY.
IX. Delinquency rate of 1.89% in 2Q22, down by 0.57 p.p. over 2Q21 and 0.44 p.p. over 1Q22.
X. Allowance for loan losses covers 2.4 times the delinquent balance, the highest ratio since December 2020.
XI. R$ 5,4 billion collected by CAIXA Lotteries in 2Q22, up by 23.3% YoY.
XII. Total assets under management amounted to R$ 2.8 trillion, up by 5.6% YoY.
XIII. Net Equity of R$ 118.7 billion, up by 10.5% compared to 2Q21.
XIV. 135,4% increase in Insurance Income from Services compared to 2Q21.
XV. Basel Ratio of 18.6%, 7.1 p.p. higher than the regulatory minimum, and Tier 1 Capital of 15.2% in 2Q22.
XVI. 41 Public-Private Partnership projects in structuring stage, directly contributing to R$ 15.5 billion in private investments in 163 municipalities, benefiting 14.0 million Brazilians.
WEBCAST FOR THE 2Q22 RESULTS: August 18, 2022, 9:00 a.m. (US EDT)
2Q22 EARNINGS DOCUMENTS: earnings release, presentation and financial statements available at: https://ri.caixa.gov.br/en/
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SOURCE Caixa Econômica Federal | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/caixa-reaches-managerial-net-income-r-49-billion-1h22/ | 2022-08-18T11:01:26Z |
GUELPH, ON, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Canadian Solar Inc. ("Canadian Solar" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: CSIQ) today announced financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2022, with solar module shipments, revenue and gross margin all at or exceeding the high end of prior guidance.
Highlights
- Solar module shipments of 5.06 GW, at the high end of 4.9 GW to 5.1 GW guidance range.
- 62% increase in revenue year-over-year ("yoy") to $2.31 billion, above the high end of $2.2 billion to $2.3 billion guidance range.
- 16.0% gross margin exceeds the guidance range of 14.5% to 15.5%.
- Net income attributable to Canadian Solar of $74 million, or $1.07 per diluted share.
- Accelerating upstream capacity expansion plans to further increase control over supply chain.
- Global Energy solar project pipeline expands to 26 GWp and storage pipeline expands to over 31 GWh, as of June 30, 2022.
- Carve-out IPO of CSI Solar Co., Ltd. ("CSI Solar" or the "CSI Solar subsidiary") remains on track awaiting completion of the CSRC registration.
Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and CEO, commented, "We achieved strong results in the second quarter of 2022, with solar module shipments, revenue and gross margin all at or exceeding the high end of prior guidance. Sequentially, we grew our module shipments by nearly 40% and battery storage solutions revenues by 2.8 times, while significantly expanding our profitability and completing a large volume of project sales. Our capacity growth strategy is also well on track, which we expanded per our recent announcement to invest in our own polysilicon capacity in a region rich in renewable energy resources. This will allow us to gain further control over sourcing, technology and supply chain, and is part of a long-term plan to increase our market share while meaningfully reducing the carbon footprint of our supply chain. We provide additional details of our environmental efforts and performance in our latest ESG Sustainability Report, published last month.
"We are also excited to see the Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA, in the U.S. coming into effect. We believe it will drive a big acceleration in demand for clean energy, especially for solar energy and battery storage.
"Separately, CSI Solar's carve-out IPO remains on track awaiting registration with the China Securities Regulatory Commission."
Yan Zhuang, President of Canadian Solar's CSI Solar subsidiary, said, "CSI Solar delivered strong results in the second quarter, significantly growing volume and increasing pricing, while taking cost control measures in a difficult environment as polysilicon prices continue to go up. Our performance in the second quarter was also boosted by a substantial foreign exchange gain from a strong U.S. Dollar relative to the Renminbi. From a market standpoint, we are encouraged by signs of a shift in customer behavior driven by a growing awareness of solar energy's attractive economics and its importance in energy security and climate change mitigation efforts, especially when paired with battery storage. Reflecting this positive trend, our battery storage shipments in the first half of 2022 have already exceeded 1 GWh, a record level for us. We will continue to build on our strong channels and relationships, especially in premium markets, and make capacity expansion preparations to accelerate our global market share gains in the coming years."
Ismael Guerrero, Corporate VP and President of Canadian Solar's Global Energy subsidiary, said, "We delivered significant growth in the second quarter by monetizing approximately 880 MWp of project sales across Australia, the U.S., Japan and the U.K. We also continued to expand and diversify our global project pipeline, strengthening our leadership position in key markets while allowing us to be more selective in developing the highest quality assets. We are particularly encouraged by the passing of the IRA in the U.S. as our subsidiary, Recurrent Energy, has one of the largest and best quality project pipelines, with a total of 8 GWp of solar and 16.5 GWh of battery storage. Additionally, we are making progress executing on our O&M (operations and maintenance) growth strategy to increase the share of stable, recurring income, including a recent expansion of our platform in Europe, as we evaluate complementary growth opportunities worldwide."
Dr. Huifeng Chang, Senior VP and CFO, added, "In the second quarter, we achieved 85% sequential growth in revenue to $2.3 billion and doubled our gross profit to $371 million, achieving a 16% gross margin. We were able to support the accelerated growth rate and reduce the impact of inflation due to our prior strategic decision to increase inventory during the first quarter. We continue to prioritize cash generation and are pleased with the increase in net cash flow provided by operating activities to $293 million in the second quarter of 2022, from $159 million in the first quarter of 2022. We ended the second quarter with a total cash position of $1.9 billion, giving us significant financial flexibility to fund long-term growth opportunities, including accelerating our upstream capacity expansion."
Second Quarter 2022 Results
Total module shipments recognized as revenues in the second quarter of 2022 were 5.06 GW, up 37% yoy. Of the total, 126 MW were shipped to the Company's own utility-scale solar power projects.
Net revenues in the second quarter of 2022 were $2.31 billion, up 85% quarter-over-quarter ("qoq") and 62% yoy. The sequential and yoy increases were mainly driven by higher project sales, higher solar shipment volumes and average selling price, and significant growth in the Company's battery storage solutions business.
Gross profit in the second quarter of 2022 was $371 million, up 105% qoq and 101% yoy. Gross margin in the second quarter of 2022 was 16.0%, above prior guidance, and compared to 14.5% in the first quarter of 2022. The sequential gross margin increase was mainly driven by higher module pricing, lower manufacturing costs from the depreciation of the Renminbi relative to the U.S. Dollar and scale benefits from higher volume.
Total operating expenses in the second quarter of 2022 were $255 million compared to $165 million in the first quarter of 2022 and $158 million in the second quarter of 2021. The sequential increase was mainly driven by higher shipping and handling expenses and an impairment charge related to certain manufacturing assets.
Depreciation and amortization charges in the second quarter of 2022 were $63 million, compared to $66 million in the first quarter of 2022 and $66 million in the second quarter of 2021.
Net foreign exchange and derivative gain in the second quarter of 2022 was $6 million, compared to a net gain of $3 million in the first quarter of 2022 and a net loss of $3 million in the second quarter of 2021.
Income tax expense in the second quarter of 2022 was $28 million, compared to a $5 million income tax benefit in the first quarter of 2022 and a $2 million income tax benefit in the second quarter of 2021. The expense was a result of the Company's higher income before income tax.
Net income attributable to Canadian Solar in the second quarter of 2022 was $74 million, or $1.07 per diluted share ("diluted EPS"), compared to net income of $9 million, or $0.14 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2022, and net income of $11 million, or $0.18 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2021.
For the three months ended June 30, 2022, diluted EPS of $1.07 was calculated to include the dilution effect of the outstanding convertible notes. Diluted EPS of $1.07 was calculated from total earnings of $76 million, adding back the 2.5% coupon of $1.3 million, divided by 71.1 million diluted shares, including 6.3 million shares issuable upon the conversion of the convertible notes. For the three months ended March 31, 2022, diluted EPS of $0.14 was calculated from total earnings of $9 million divided by 64.7 million diluted shares. For the three months ended June 30, 2021, diluted EPS of $0.18 was calculated from total earnings of $11 million divided by 61.3 million diluted shares.
Net cash flow provided by operating activities in the second quarter of 2022 was $293 million, compared to net cash flow provided by operating activities of $159 million in the first quarter of 2022. The increase in operating cash inflow was mainly driven by higher earnings and monetization of project assets.
Total debt was $2.7 billion as of June 30, 2022, unchanged from March 31, 2022. Non-recourse debt used to finance solar power projects decreased to $264 million as of June 30, 2022, from $550 million as of March 31, 2022, mainly due to the monetization of project assets.
Corporate Structure
The Company has two business segments: Global Energy and CSI Solar, which operate as follows:
The Global Energy segment carries out the Company's global project development activities for both solar and battery storage project development, which include sourcing land, interconnection agreements, structuring PPAs and other permits and requirements. The Global Energy segment develops both stand-alone solar and stand-alone battery storage projects, as well as hybrid solar plus storage projects. Its monetization strategies vary between develop-to-sell, build-to-sell, and build-to-own, depending on business strategies and market conditions, with the goal of maximizing returns, accelerating cash turn, and minimizing capital risk.
The CSI Solar segment consists of solar module manufacturing and total system solutions, including inverters, solar system kits and EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) services. The CSI Solar segment also includes the Company's battery storage system integration business, delivering bankable, end-to-end, turnkey battery storage solutions for utility scale, commercial and industrial, and residential applications. These storage systems solutions are complemented with long-term service agreements, including future battery capacity augmentation services.
Global Energy Segment
Canadian Solar has one of the world's largest and most geographically diversified utility-scale solar and energy storage project development platforms, with a strong track record of originating, developing, financing, and building over 6.8 GWp of solar power plants across six continents. The Company has built a leadership position in solar project development with 26 GWp total pipeline, as well as in energy storage project development with over 31 GWh of aggregate pipeline.
The continued pipeline expansion and strong project development track record will support Global Energy's growth in three key areas:
1. Project sales: The Company plans to grow its volume of project sales by a compound annual growth rate of approximately 50% to 2026, while holding and accumulating assets through investment vehicles (see below) in order to better capture asset value.
2. Investment vehicles: The Company is optimizing its project monetization strategy by establishing local investment vehicles that will help maximize the value of its project assets. The Company also intends to retain minority ownership in these vehicles. By 2026, the Company plans to reach 1.3 GW of combined net ownership in solar power projects through these vehicles. This approach will help the Company build and grow a stable base of long-term cash flows from contracted electricity. The Company plans to recycle a large portion of the capital into developing new solar projects for growth. Meanwhile, Canadian Solar expects to capture additional operational value throughout the partial ownership period, including long-term cash flows from power sales, O&M, asset management and other services (see point 3). The Company currently owns a 15% stake in the Canadian Solar Infrastructure Fund ("CSIF", TSE: 9284), the largest Japanese infrastructure fund listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, and has also established the CSFS Fund I, a closed-ended alternative investment fund of a similar nature in Italy. Through launching these localized vehicles, Canadian Solar is building its expertise in designing investment vehicles in local markets that will help maximize the value of its project assets.
3. Services: Canadian Solar currently manages over 3.1 GW of operational projects under long-term O&M agreements, and an additional 2.4 GW of contracted projects that will be operated and maintained by the Company once they are placed in operation. The Company's target is to reach 20 GW of projects under O&M agreements by 2026.
Management targets to achieve the following over the next few years:
Solar Project Pipeline
As of June 30, 2022, the Company's total project pipeline was 26.2 GWp, including 1.3 GWp under construction, 3.9 GWp of backlog, and 21.0 GWp of projects in advanced and early-stage pipelines. We have updated our project pipeline classification as follows:
- Backlog projects are late-stage projects that have passed their Risk Cliff Date and are expected to start construction in the next 1-4 years. A project's Risk Cliff Date is the date on which the project passes the last high-risk development stage and varies depending on the country where it is located. This is usually after the projects have received all the required environmental and regulatory approvals, and entered into interconnection agreements, feed-in tariff ("FIT") arrangements and PPAs. Over 90% of projects in backlog are contracted (i.e., have secured a PPA or FIT), and the remaining are reasonably assured of securing PPAs.
- Advanced pipeline projects are mid-stage projects that have secured or have more than 90% certainty of securing an interconnection agreement.
- Early-stage Pipeline projects are early-stage projects controlled by Canadian Solar that are in the process of securing interconnection.
The following table presents Global Energy's total solar project development pipeline.
Battery Storage Project Pipeline
In addition to developing utility-scale solar power projects, the Global Energy segment has also been developing hybrid solar plus energy storage projects, as well as stand-alone battery storage projects. Since the first quarter of 2021, the Company has been co-hosting energy storage facilities with solar power plants on the same piece of land for nearly all projects under development. By using a single interconnection point per project, the Company expects to significantly enhance the efficiency of its development and the value of its assets under development.
Canadian Solar's storage development business model also includes signing storage tolling agreements with a variety of power purchasers, including community choice aggregators, investor-owned utilities, universities, and public utility districts. In addition, the Company has signed development services agreements to retrofit operational solar projects with battery storage, many of which were previously developed by the Company.
The table below sets forth Global Energy's total storage project development pipeline.
Solar Power Plants and Battery Storage Projects in Operation
As of June 30, 2022, the Company's solar power plants in operation totaled 311 MWp, with a combined estimated net resale value of approximately $270 million to Canadian Solar. The estimated resale value is based on selling prices that Canadian Solar is currently negotiating or comparable asset sales.
Operating Results
The following table presents select unaudited results of operations data of the Global Energy segment for the periods indicated.
CSI Solar Segment
CSI Solar's 2022 and 2023 capacity expansion targets are set forth below.
Operating Results
The following table presents select unaudited results of operations data of the CSI Solar segment for the periods indicated.
The table below provides the geographic distribution of the net revenues of CSI Solar:
CSI Solar shipped 5.06 GW of modules to more than 70 countries in the second quarter of 2022. The top five markets ranked by shipments were China, the U.S., Spain, Brazil and Germany.
Battery Storage Solutions
Within CSI Solar, the battery storage solutions team provides customers with competitive turnkey, integrated battery storage solutions, including bankable and fully wrapped capacity and performance guarantees. These guarantees are complemented with long-term service agreements, which include future battery capacity augmentation services and bring in long-term, stable income.
The table below sets forth CSI Solar's battery storage system integration's project pipeline as of June 30, 2022.
LTSA projects are operational battery storage projects delivered by CSI Solar that are under multi-year long-term service agreements and generate recurring earnings. Contracted/in construction projects are expected to be delivered within the next 12 to 18 months. Forecast projects include those that have more than 75% probability of being contracted within the next 12 months, and the remaining pipeline includes projects that have received exclusivity agreements or have been shortlisted, but still have a below 75% probability of being contracted.
Business Outlook
The Company's business outlook is based on management's current views and estimates given factors such as existing market conditions, order book, production capacity, input material prices, foreign exchange fluctuations, anticipated timing of project sales, and the global economic environment. This outlook is subject to uncertainty with respect to, among other things, customer demand, project construction and sale schedules, product sales prices and costs, the global impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and shutdowns, supply chain constraints, and geopolitical conflicts. Management's views and estimates are subject to change without notice.
For the third quarter of 2022, the Company expects total revenues to be in the range of $2.0 billion to $2.1 billion. Gross margin is expected to be between 15.0% and 16.5%. Total module shipments recognized as revenues by CSI Solar are expected to be in the range of 6.0 GW to 6.2 GW, including approximately 140 MW to the Company's own projects.
For the full year of 2022, the Company raises total revenue guidance to $7.5 billion to $8.0 billion, from $7.0 billion to $7.5 billion previously. The Company expects full year volume targets for CSI Solar and Global Energy to remain unchanged from the ranges communicated in the prior quarter: total module shipments of 20 GW to 22 GW and battery storage shipments of 1.8 GWh to 1.9 GWh (CSI Solar), and total project sales of 2.1 GW to 2.6 GW (Global Energy).
Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and CEO, commented, "We are off to a strong first half for 2022, and expect continued solar module volume growth through the remainder of the year as we ramp up capacity towards 2023 volume growth targets. The second quarter will likely be the largest quarter of the year for us due to the timing of project sales and battery storage shipments. However, we expect profitability to remain healthy through the second half of the year, driven by continued manufacturing processing cost reductions and lower logistics costs partially offset by higher polysilicon prices. We continue to build on our long track record of innovation, and we are excited to officially introduce our long-awaited battery storage products for utility and residential applications in the upcoming Solar Power International exhibition in California. In a gradually improving market backdrop aided by strong policies such as the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act, Canadian Solar is strongly positioned to achieve profitable growth as we continue to focus on long-term investments and create lasting value for shareholders."
Recent Developments
On August 10, 2022, Canadian Solar announced that a wholly owned subsidiary of CSI Solar entered into an investment agreement with the municipal government of Haidong City in Qinghai Province to invest in a polysilicon manufacturing facility. Under the agreement, CSI Solar plans to build a facility with an annual capacity of approximately 50,000 tons of high-purity polysilicon later in 2022 and the facility is expected to commence production in mid-2024. Subject to market conditions and approvals from its board of directors, CSI Solar may also build other manufacturing facilities, including ingots, wafers, cells, modules, and other auxiliary materials in Haidong.
On July 25, 2022, Canadian Solar completed the sale of two fully permitted and construction ready solar and battery energy storage projects in the U.K. to specialist alternative asset manager, Gresham House. The two projects comprise a collocated solar and battery energy storage project in Durham, with 50 MWp solar capacity and 38 MW (or 76 MWh) of battery energy storage, and a standalone solar project in Warwickshire of 28 MWp.
On July 25, 2022, Canadian Solar published its latest ESG Sustainability Report, which highlights the Company's progress in advancing its sustainability strategy from an environmental, social, and governance perspective.
On July 7, 2022, Canadian Solar completed the sale of two solar farms, Suntop and Gunnedah totaling 345 MWp in New South Wales, Australia to CalEnergy Resources (Australia) Limited, a subsidiary of Northern Powergrid Holdings Company. Both projects have reached substantial completion.
On June 16, 2022, Canadian Solar acquired two standalone energy storage projects in the South Load Zone of the Texas ERCOT market from Black Mountain Energy Storage. The projects are each anticipated to store up to 200 MWh of energy, with notice to proceed expected in 2023 and commercial operation in the second quarter of 2024.
On June 15, 2022, Canadian Solar secured 136 million Brazilian reais (approximately US$28 million) non-recourse project financing from Banco do Nordeste do Brasil S.A. to support construction and operation of its 79 MWp Lavras II solar power project in Brazil.
On June 6, 2022, Canadian Solar signed an agreement with SPIC Brasil, a leading power generation company in Brazil to sell 70% stake in the Company's 738 MWp Marangatu and Panati-Sitia solar projects in Brazil. Both projects are expected to begin construction in late 2022 and reach commercial operation in late 2023.
On May 27, 2022, Canadian Solar announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Recurrent Energy successfully completed the construction on the 100 MW Sunflower solar power plant in Mississippi. Recurrent Energy developed and built the solar power plant under a Build Transfer Agreement for Entergy Mississippi which owns the plant for the life of the facility after the completion of construction.
Conference Call Information The Company will hold a conference call on Thursday, August 18, 2022 at 8:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern Daylight Time (8:00 p.m., Thursday, August 18, 2022 in Hong Kong) to discuss its second quarter 2022 results and business outlook. The dial-in phone number for the live audio call is +1-877-704-4453 (toll-free from the U.S.), 800-965-561 (toll-free from Hong Kong), 400-1202-840 (local dial-in from Mainland China) or +1-201-389-0920 from international locations. The conference ID is 13731878. A live webcast of the conference call will also be available on the investor relations section of Canadian Solar's website at www.canadiansolar.com
A replay of the call will be available 2 hours after the conclusion of the call until 11:00 p.m. U.S. Eastern Daylight Time on Thursday, September 1, 2022 (11:00 a.m., September 2, 2022, in Hong Kong) and can be accessed by +1-844-512-2921 (toll-free from the U.S.), or +1-412-317-6671 from international locations. The replay pin number is 13731878. A webcast replay will also be available on the investor relations section of Canadian Solar's website at www.canadiansolar.com.
About Canadian Solar Inc.
Canadian Solar was founded in 2001 in Canada and is one of the world's largest solar technology and renewable energy companies. It is a leading manufacturer of solar photovoltaic modules, provider of solar energy and battery storage solutions, and developer of utility-scale solar power and battery storage projects with a geographically diversified pipeline in various stages of development. Over the past 21 years, Canadian Solar has successfully delivered around 76 GW of premium-quality, solar photovoltaic modules to customers across the world. Likewise, since entering the project development business in 2010, Canadian Solar has developed, built and connected over 6.8 GWp in over 20 countries across the world. Currently, the Company has 311 MWp of projects in operation, 5.3 GWp of projects under construction or in backlog (late-stage), and an additional 21 GWp of projects in advanced and early-stage pipeline. Canadian Solar is one of the most bankable companies in the solar and renewable energy industry, having been publicly listed on the NASDAQ since 2006. For additional information about the Company, follow Canadian Solar on LinkedIn or visit www.canadiansolar.com.
Safe Harbor/Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release, including those regarding the Company's expected future shipment volumes, revenues, gross margins and project sales are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These statements are made under the "Safe Harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by such terms as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "estimates," the negative of these terms, or other comparable terminology. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include general business, regulatory and economic conditions and the state of the solar and battery storage market and industry; geopolitical tensions and conflicts, including impasses, sanctions and export controls; volatility, uncertainty, delays and disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic; supply chain disruptions; governmental support for the deployment of solar power; future available supplies of high-purity silicon; demand for end-use products by consumers and inventory levels of such products in the supply chain; changes in demand from significant customers; changes in demand from major markets such as Japan, the U.S., China, Brazil and India; changes in effective tax rates; changes in customer order patterns; changes in product mix; changes in corporate responsibility, especially environmental, social and governance ("ESG") requirements; capacity utilization; level of competition; pricing pressure and declines in or failure to timely adjust average selling prices; delays in new product introduction; delays in utility-scale project approval process; delays in utility-scale project construction; delays in the completion of project sales; continued success in technological innovations and delivery of products with the features that customers demand; shortage in supply of materials or capacity requirements; availability of financing; exchange and inflation rate fluctuations; uncertainties related to the CSI Solar carve-out listing; litigation and other risks as described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 20-F filed on April 28, 2022. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee future results, level of activity, performance, or achievements. Investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. All information provided in this press release is as of today's date, unless otherwise stated, and Canadian Solar undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.
Investor Relations Contacts:
FINANCIAL TABLES FOLLOW
The following tables provide unaudited select financial data for the Company's CSI Solar and Global Energy businesses.
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SOURCE Canadian Solar Inc. | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/canadian-solar-reports-second-quarter-2022-results/ | 2022-08-18T11:01:33Z |
CAAS announces the conference call and webcast information for the Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on Friday, August 26, 2022 at 9:00 AM local time, or 9:00 PM EDT on August 25, 2022
WUHAN, China, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- China Automotive Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CAAS) ("CAAS" or the "Company"), a leading power steering components and systems supplier in China, today announced the Annual Meeting of Stockholders of China Automotive Systems, Inc. will be held on Friday, August 26, 2022 at 9:00 AM local time at the Second Floor Meeting Room, D8 Henglong Building, Optics Valley Software Park, No. 1 Guanshan First Avenue, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, the People's Republic of China. The Company has also set up a conference room on August 25, 2022 at 9:00 PM at Henglong USA Corporation, 2546 Elliott Drive, Troy, Michigan, U.S., for the Company's shareholders to participate via a WebEx connection.
Shareholders may access the annual meeting by dialing U.S./Canada +1-408-792-6300, pin number 2632 965 7608, and ask for the China Automotive Systems AGM conference call.
A live webcast of the conference call will be available at: https://caas-usa.webex.com/caas-usa/j.php?MTID=m93d47af4c7da5c6291044a30454ca9b9
Meeting number (access code): 2632 965 7608
Meeting password: GHzJcrH37F3
About China Automotive Systems, Inc.
Based in Hubei Province, the People's Republic of China, China Automotive Systems, Inc. is a leading supplier of power steering components and systems to the Chinese automotive industry, operating through ten Sino-foreign joint ventures. The Company offers a full range of steering system parts for passenger automobiles and commercial vehicles. The Company currently offers four separate series of power steering with an annual production capacity of over 6 million sets of steering gears, columns and steering hoses. Its customer base is comprised of leading auto manufacturers, such as China FAW Group, Corp., Dongfeng Auto Group Co., Ltd., BYD Auto Company Limited, Beiqi Foton Motor Co., Ltd. and Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. in China, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and Ford Motor Company in North America. For more information, please visit: http://www.caasauto.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains statements that are "forward-looking statements" as defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements represent our estimates and assumptions only as of the date of this press release. These forward-looking statements include statements regarding the qualitative and quantitative effects of the accounting errors, the periods involved, the nature of the Company's review and any anticipated conclusions of the Company or its management and other statements that are not historical facts. Our actual results may differ materially from the results described in or anticipated by our forward-looking statements due to certain risks and uncertainties. As a result, the Company's actual results could differ materially from those contained in these forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including those described under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Form 10-K annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 30, 2022, and in documents subsequently filed by the Company from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. If the outbreak of COVID-19 is not effectively and timely controlled, our business operations and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected as a result of the deteriorating market outlook for automobile sales, the slowdown in regional and national economic growth, weakened liquidity and financial condition of our customers or other factors that we cannot foresee. Any of these factors and other factors beyond our control, could have an adverse effect on the overall business environment, cause uncertainties in the regions where we conduct business, cause our business to suffer in ways that we cannot predict and materially and adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations. A prolonged disruption or any further unforeseen delay in our operations of the manufacturing, delivery and assembly process within any of our production facilities could continue to result in delays in the shipment of products to our customers, increased costs and reduced revenue. We expressly disclaim any duty to provide updates to any forward-looking statements made in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
For further information, please contact:
Jie Li
Chief Financial Officer
China Automotive Systems, Inc.
Email: jieli@chl.com.cn
Kevin Theiss
Investor Relations
Tel: +1-212-510-8922
Email: Kevin@awakenlab.com
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SOURCE China Automotive Systems, Inc. | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/china-automotive-systems-announces-annual-meeting-august-26-2022/ | 2022-08-18T11:01:40Z |
The hybrid RIA practice with over $500 million in assets has offices in New Jersey, Massachusetts and Arizona, and is comprised of nine financial professionals.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Concourse Financial Group ("Concourse"), a division of Protective Life Corporation ("Protective"), supporting more than 500 independent financial professionals nationwide, today announced the successful recruitment of Key Group Management, Inc. ("Key Group"), a hybrid RIA practice with over $500 million in client assets and nine financial professionals. Key Group Management, Inc. is affiliated with Concourse's FINRA-registered broker-dealer, Concourse Financial Group Securities.
Key Group is led by Patrick Murray, CFP®, ChFC®, co-founder and President, and Colin Heafy, co-founder, President and Principal. The group, which has offices in New Jersey, Massachusetts and Arizona, specializes in providing holistic planning services to high-net-worth clients in the areas of insurance, estate planning, financial planning and wealth management.
Concourse CEO Doyle Williams said, "We are honored to welcome Pat, Colin and the rest of the Key Group team to Concourse Financial Group. Our integrated service platform is ideally suited to serve growth-focused, highly entrepreneurial firms like Key Group, so we are excited to collaborate with them to help further accelerate their growth and support their ability to serve their clients more efficiently and effectively than ever."
The announcement of this crucial addition to the Concourse community reinforces the firm's appeal in the marketplace. Financial professionals are increasingly looking for firms that not only help them create scale, deliver top-quality technology and offer a diverse set of products but also provide hands-on support and access to management.
Murray said, "We considered several firms after we decided to change broker-dealers, and from the outset the Concourse team stood out, impressing us both by how quickly they understood our business needs and with their strategic vision for Concourse. The firm has the energy and excitement of a start-up but the infrastructure, resources and processes of the well-established industry leader they have quickly become."
Heafy added, "As Key Group continues to grow and our clients' needs expand, one of things that was particularly important was finding a firm that could offer increased scale and resources and still provide a boutique-like, personalized service experience. I am confident that Concourse will be able to deliver that balance."
Libet Anderson, CIMA®, President, Concourse Financial Group Securities, said, "In light of private equity increasingly taking short-term positions in firms across the industry, we are delighted that the stability of our ownership structure and leadership team allows our financial professionals to focus on running their businesses without distractions. We are excited about what this relationship means for Key Group and, most importantly, how it will benefit their clients."
A division of the Protective Life Corporation, Concourse Financial Group offers financial professionals the tools needed to gather, grow and protect client assets through its affiliated entities. Comprised of investment services, financial planning, insurance services and practice management services, Concourse Financial Group is the destination for growth-oriented financial professionals.
Protective has helped people achieve protection and security in their lives for 115 years. Through its subsidiaries, Protective offers life insurance, annuity and asset protection solutions and is helping more than 12 million people protect what matters most. Protective's more than 3,700 employees put people first and deliver on the company's promises to customers, partners, colleagues and communities - because we're all protectors. With a long-term focus, financial stability and commitment to doing the right thing, Protective Life Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Daiichi Life Holdings, Inc. (TSE:8750), has grown to about $132 billion in assets, as of Dec. 31, 2021. Protective is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, and supported by both a robust virtual workforce and core sites in Cincinnati and St. Louis. For more information about Protective, visit www.protective.com.
Media Contact:
Julian Arenzon
Haven Tower Group
jarenzon@haventower.com
(424) 317-4865
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SOURCE Concourse Financial Group | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/concourse-financial-group-welcomes-key-group/ | 2022-08-18T11:01:47Z |
NEW YORK, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Levi & Korsinsky, LLP notifies investors in Carvana Co. ("Carvana" or the "Company") (NYSE: CVNA) of a class action securities lawsuit.
CLASS DEFINITION: The lawsuit seeks to recover losses on behalf of Carvana investors who were adversely affected by alleged securities fraud between May 6, 2020 and June 24, 2022. Follow the link below to get more information and be contacted by a member of our team:
CVNA investors may also contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. via email at jlevi@levikorsinsky.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500.
CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that defendants made false statements and/or concealed that: (1) Carvana faced serious, ongoing issues with documentation, registration, and title with many of its vehicles; (2) as a result, Carvana was issuing unusually frequent temporary plates; (3) as a result of the foregoing, Carvana was violating laws and regulations in many existing markets; (4) as a result of the foregoing, Carvana risked its ability to continue business and/or expand its business in existing markets; (5) as a result of the foregoing, Carvana was at an increased risk of governmental investigation and action; (6) Carvana was in discussion with state and local authorities regarding the above-stated business tactics and issues; (7) Carvana was facing imminent and ongoing regulatory actions including license suspensions, business cessation, and probation in several states and counties including in Arizona, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and North Carolina; and (8) as a result, Defendants' statements about Carvana's business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.
WHAT'S NEXT? If you suffered a loss in Carvana during the relevant time frame, you have until October 3, 2022 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
NO COST TO YOU: If you are a class member, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket costs or fees. There is no cost or obligation to participate.
WHY LEVI & KORSINSKY: Over the past 20 years, the team at Levi & Korsinsky has secured hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders and built a track record of winning high-stakes cases. Our firm has extensive expertise representing investors in complex securities litigation and a team of over 70 employees to serve our clients. For seven years in a row, Levi & Korsinsky has ranked in ISS Securities Class Action Services' Top 50 Report as one of the top securities litigation firms in the United States.
CONTACT:
Levi & Korsinsky, LLP
Joseph E. Levi, Esq.
Ed Korsinsky, Esq.
55 Broadway, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10006
jlevi@levikorsinsky.com
Tel: (212) 363-7500
Fax: (212) 363-7171
www.zlk.com
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SOURCE Levi & Korsinsky, LLP | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/cvna-lawsuit-alert-levi-amp-korsinsky-notifies-carvana-co-investors-class-action-lawsuit-upcoming-deadline/ | 2022-08-18T11:01:54Z |
RF Cyber Counter-drone takeover technology combines with situational awareness sensor engineering to deliver greater C-UAS interoperability, calibration and control.
RA'ANANA, Israel, MCLEAN, Va., and WEST CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa., Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- D-Fend Solutions, leader in radio frequency (RF), cyber-based, counter-drone takeover technology and Syzygy Integration, a next-generation situational awareness technology engineering firm have integrated D-Fend's EnforceAir™ C-UAS with Syzygy's SNAP (Sensor Network Access Point).
The integration will strengthen support for the Team Awareness Kit / Tactical Assault Kit (TAK) across the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Justice (DOJ) and first responders in contending with rogue drone activity at sensitive and critical sites and events. TAK is a cost-effective, off-the-shelf government sponsored solution developed by the Department of Defense that enables tactical data generation, visualization, and sharing to facilitate communications across multiple users and achieve shared tactical situational awareness. This integration also enables EnforceAir to immediately work with camera systems, radars, and other sensor technologies for fusion and filtering via all the capabilities in SNAP. SNAP also enables all the sensor data to work across enterprise networks via secure connections, mobile ad-hoc networking (MANET), goTenna and Iridium simultaneously.
"We are gratified to collaborate with Syzygy Integration," said Zohar Halachmi, Chairman and CEO of D-Fend Solutions. "The integration of EnforceAir's unique and proven cyber takeover counter-drone capabilities with SNAP will lead to greater optimization of cross-functional tactical data flow and communications for various C-UAS scenarios, sectors, and use cases, delivering more robust airspace safety and security in the context of heightened threat levels from hostile and unsafe UAS activity."
"This integration is timed perfectly given the clearly increased threat from unauthorized UAS activity, and the requisite need for enhanced situational awareness and defensive coordination," said Wesley Mitchell, President of Syzygy Integration. "Through this strong collaboration, we are taking more impactful steps towards protecting airspace with greater alignment and coordination across multiple operator users and stakeholders."
"We are proud to deliver enterprise situational awareness to the extreme tactical edge through our goTenna mobile mesh network solution in collaboration with D-Fend Solutions and Syzygy Integration," said goTenna's Chief Executive Officer, Ari Schuler.
About D-Fend Solutions
D-Fend Solutions is the leading counter-drone takeover technology provider, enabling full control, safety and continuity during rogue drone incidents across complex and sensitive environments, to overcome both current and emerging drone threats. With hundreds of deployments worldwide, EnforceAir, the company's flagship offering, focuses on the most dangerous drone threats in military, public safety, airport, prison, major event and critical infrastructure environments. D-Fend Solutions' technology has been chosen as best-in-class and is deployed by multiple high-tier U.S. government agencies – including with U.S. military, federal law enforcement and homeland security bodies – as well as major international airports globally. EnforceAir autonomously executes RF, cyber-takeovers of rogue drones for a safe landing and outcome, ensuring the smooth flow of communications, commerce, transportation, and everyday life.
About Syzygy Integration, LLC
Headquartered in Conshohocken, PA, Syzygy Integration LLC is a company focused on providing next-generation situational awareness to those that protect the homeland. Our suite of products includes SNAP (Sensor Network Access Point), TAK.Team (commercially available TAK infrastructure), Argos (dismounted sensor suite), and full software and cloud development services for next-generation situational awareness. For more information and to learn about career opportunities, please contact us at info@syzygy.co and visit us at www.SyzygyIntegration.com
About goTenna
Founded in 2012, goTenna shipped two generations of consumer mesh-networking devices in 2015 and 2017 before releasing its tactical-grade goTenna Pro product line in 2018. Led by seasoned professionals with broad innovation experience at companies like BBN Raytheon, Qualcomm, and Cisco, the company is backed by venture capital investors such as Union Square Ventures, Founders Fund, Comcast Ventures, Walden Ventures, and MentorTech Ventures. goTenna currently supports over 300 law enforcement, military, and public safety agencies around the globe.
Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1333159/D_Fend_Solutions_Logo.jpg
Media Contact
Paul Bilardo
PR@D-FendSolutions.com
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SOURCE D-Fend Solutions | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/d-fend-solutions-syzygy-integration-cooperate-optimize-c-uas-communications-data-management/ | 2022-08-18T11:02:00Z |
NEW YORK, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Dolls Kill, the San Francisco born fashion brand known for fearless self-expression & party culture opens its doors this week in the city that never sleeps. On Thursday, August 18th, the NYC Flagship store will open at 33 Howard Street in SoHo (Between Broadway & Crosby) featuring 10,000 square feet of retail space spanning 3 full floors. This is the brand's first permanent expansion on the East Coast, and it marks the beginning of a broader international retail expansion strategy.
For Dolls Kill, immersive IRL experiences – including casting calls, multi-city retail pop ups, festival activations & more - have always been a central tenet of how the brand connects with its community. Before the pandemic it was standard to see insta-and-tiktok worthy lines five blocks long at any of their events. Now, after spending the last few years focused on its e-commerce business, Dolls Kill is setting its sights on brick-and-mortar as a part of its post-pandemic revival.
"After navigating a pandemic alongside us, our customers are ready to return to 'real life'," says Bobby Farahi, founder and CEO of Dolls Kill, "We believe there's significant pent-up demand for in-person touchpoints with the brand, and we're excited and ready to deliver."
For Dolls Kill, the iconic neighborhood of SoHo was the perfect home for its New York presence as the shopping destination & hangout for fashion-forward, creative, alternative thinkers, trendsetters and tastemakers. Its fall opening is well-timed for some big seasonal fashion moments including Burning Man, Back to School and Halloween.
Like their LA store, the New York store will evoke the brand's signature look and styles. The exterior will feature an interactive art installation that pays homage to the city. Inside, the store will feature a well curated mix of cutting-edge styles that appeal to the many subcultures Dolls Kill serves. The assortment will focus on brands that are exclusive to Dolls Kill and several cult favorites it also carries. The selection will constantly rotate as the season goes on, keeping things fresh for even the most loyal customer.
As a special treat, Dolls Kill is also bringing its 'Quickie Pickup' offering, the brand's convenient in-store pickup service to New York. Customers will be able to order anything online & pick up at the SoHo store next business day at no charge.
Dolls Kill (www.dollskill.com) is a generation defining brand that naturally goes against the grain. It's a movement away from conformity towards radical, unapologetic self-expression. Through product and content that is unlike any other, Dolls Kill is disrupting the way a generation views fashion, expression, freedom and culture. Dolls Kill doesn't conform to one look, one logo, one hero product, seasonality or customer. Dolls Kill is a place for all, THE place to go and be inspired.
Contact: PR@Dollskill.com
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SOURCE Dolls Kill | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/dolls-kill-opens-second-retail-store-with-new-nyc-flagship/ | 2022-08-18T11:02:07Z |
OKLAHOMA CITY, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Continental Resources, Inc. (NYSE: CLR) today announced Doug Lawler is being promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer.
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Doug joined Continental in February as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President following three decades in the oil and gas industry.
"Since joining Continental in February, Doug has provided strong complementary leadership and is making a stellar impact on our already strong operations. Doug exemplifies our 'culture of the possible' daily with his positive, can-do approach that is among the best in the business. His extensive industry experience and capabilities will continue to play a key role in the success of our company," said Bill Berry, Chief Executive Officer.
"Doug has seamlessly fit in with our culture and has demonstrated a strong support for the development of our team. He has a breadth of knowledge in all of our basins and is an exceptional leader in the way that he builds relationships and teams," said Harold Hamm, founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors.
"It's an honor to step into this role for such an incredible company, with a 55-year track record of industry leadership, innovation, and success. I am excited for the future of Continental and grateful to work with our talented employees and leadership team," said Lawler.
About Continental Resources
Continental Resources (NYSE: CLR) is among the top independent oil and natural gas companies in the nation, with premier assets in four world class basins. Continental is the largest leaseholder and producer in the Bakken play of North Dakota and Montana. The Company is also the largest leaseholder and producer in Oklahoma, with significant positions in the SCOOP and STACK plays of the Anadarko Basin, and it is the second largest leaseholder in the Powder River Basin, and tenth largest in the Permian Basin.
With a focus on the exploration and production of oil, Continental has unlocked the technology and resources vital to American energy independence and our nation's leadership in the new world oil market. In 2022, the Company will celebrate 55 years of operations. For more information, please visit www.CLR.com.
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SOURCE Continental Resources | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/doug-lawler-promoted-president-amp-coo-continental-resources/ | 2022-08-18T11:02:18Z |
NEW YORK, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Levi & Korsinsky, LLP notifies investors in Enochian BioSciences, Inc. ("Enochian" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: ENOB) of a class action securities lawsuit.
CLASS DEFINITION: The lawsuit seeks to recover losses on behalf of Enochian investors who were adversely affected by alleged securities fraud between January 17, 2018 and June 27, 2022. Follow the link below to get more information and be contacted by a member of our team:
ENOB investors may also contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. via email at jlevi@levikorsinsky.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500.
CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that defendants made false statements and/or concealed that: (1) the Company's co-founder and inventor Serhat Gumrukcu was engaged in a variety of frauds; (2) Gumrukcu was not a licensed doctor anywhere in the world; (4) as a result of the foregoing, Gumrukcu's purported contributions to the Company lacked a reasonable basis; (5) as a result of the foregoing, the Company had overstated its commercial prospects; (6) Gumrukcu had improperly diverted approximately $20 million from Enochian to entities he owned; and (7) as a result of the foregoing, defendants' positive statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.
WHAT'S NEXT? If you suffered a loss in Enochian during the relevant time frame, you have until September 26, 2022 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
NO COST TO YOU: If you are a class member, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket costs or fees. There is no cost or obligation to participate.
WHY LEVI & KORSINSKY: Over the past 20 years, the team at Levi & Korsinsky has secured hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders and built a track record of winning high-stakes cases. Our firm has extensive expertise representing investors in complex securities litigation and a team of over 70 employees to serve our clients. For seven years in a row, Levi & Korsinsky has ranked in ISS Securities Class Action Services' Top 50 Report as one of the top securities litigation firms in the United States.
CONTACT:
Levi & Korsinsky, LLP
Joseph E. Levi, Esq.
Ed Korsinsky, Esq.
55 Broadway, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10006
jlevi@levikorsinsky.com
Tel: (212) 363-7500
Fax: (212) 363-7171
www.zlk.com
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SOURCE Levi & Korsinsky, LLP | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/enob-lawsuit-alert-levi-amp-korsinsky-notifies-enochian-biosciences-inc-investors-class-action-lawsuit-upcoming-deadline/ | 2022-08-18T11:02:25Z |
GenScript's real-time monkeypox virus PCR test is available immediately for research lab use through a partnership with Anbio Biotechnology
PISCATAWAY, N.J., Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- GenScript USA Inc., a subsidiary of GenScript Biotech Corporation ("GenScript", Stock Code: 1548.HK), a world-leading biotechnology company, announced the immediate availability of a monkeypox virus PCR test kit. The kit, which was developed in partnership with Anbio Biotechnology, can be ordered today by diagnostic labs and medical device distributors to be used in research to provide detection of the monkeypox virus. The test kit has already received the CE mark for IVD use in the European Union (EU).
Monkeypox cases are increasing rapidly around the world. As of August 16, 2022, 12,869 cases of monkeypox have been reported in the United States, per the US Centers for Disease Control. US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra declared monkeypox a public health emergency on August 4, 2022, a move that accelerates coordination across federal agencies, increases communication with states and localities, and helps the administration develop new strategies to distribute vaccines and treatments.
"Providing access to commercial test kits is essential so that we can quickly detect and understand how the virus is moving through our communities," said Amanda Grimm, senior product manager of diagnostics at GenScript USA. "We are rushing supplies of the monkeypox PCR test kit to our lab customers and distributors because diagnostic labs across the United States are a crucial element of the nation's response to this public-health emergency."
"We are very excited about this collaboration with GenScript in the defense against the monkeypox virus," said Jerry Cheung, co-founder and president of Anbio. "By leveraging the scientific expertise of both Anbio and GenScript, we were able to rapidly bring the monkeypox RTPCR assay to fight against this public health emergency."
- Qualitative assay for detection of monkeypox virus from various sample types, including the FDA recommended lesion swab samples
- Amplifies two conserved gene regions of the monkeypox virus
- Pseudovirus validation control available separately
- For research use only (RUO) in the USA, CE Marking for EU use
- Visit the GenScript monkeypox detection kit web page
About Anbio Biotechnology
Anbio (Xiamen) Biotechnology Co., Ltd. was founded in 2015, focusing on the research, production, sales and service of in vitro diagnostic products. With point-of-care testing (POCT) as the main development direction, it focuses on the accuracy, rapidity and intelligence of clinical diagnosis and develops rapidly in the market segment. Driven by continuous technical development and integration, resulting from close cooperation with prestigious institutes across the globe to provide total solutions in clinical diagnosis field, by offering extensive product portfolio including immunology and molecular assays. For more information, please visit: anbio.com.
About GenScript Biotech Corporation
GenScript Biotech Corporation (Stock Code: 1548.HK) is a global biotechnology group. Based on its leading gene synthesis technology, GenScript has developed four major platforms including the global cell therapy platform, the biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) platform, the contract research organization (CRO) platform, and the industrial synthesis product platform. The company's operations span over 100 countries and regions worldwide with legal entities located in the USA, Mainland China, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Singapore, the Netherlands, and Ireland. GenScript provides premium, convenient, and reliable products and services for over 100,000 customers. For more information, please visit genscript.com.
MEDIA CONTACT
GenScript USA Inc.
Tim Cox, ZingPR
tim@zingpr.com
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SOURCE Genscript Biotech Corporation | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/genscript-usa-responds-monkeypox-public-health-emergency-with-real-time-pcr-test/ | 2022-08-18T11:02:31Z |
This news release constitutes a "designated news release" for the purposes of the Company's
prospectus supplement dated December 3, 2021 to its short form base shelf prospectus dated
April 22, 2021
CALGARY, AB, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - High Tide Inc. ("High Tide" or the "Company") (Nasdaq: HITI) (TSXV: HITI) (FSE: 2LYA), a leading retail-focused cannabis company with bricks-and-mortar as well as global e-commerce assets, announced today that it has entered into a binding commitment letter with Connect First Credit Union Ltd. ("connectFirst") for a $19 million credit facility with an initial 5-year term (the "Credit Facility"), at connectFirst's floor interest rate. The terms of the Credit Facility were renegotiated with connectFirst to provide a larger immediately-accessible facility for High Tide, with a smaller total commitment from connectFirst initially - which High Tide expects will grow over time. Upon closing the Credit Facility with connectFirst, the Company expects to use the proceeds to fund continued organic growth, general working capital requirements, and potential future M&A activities.
"I am very happy to provide this positive update today. Our business remains on a strong footing and we continue to gain traction as the leader in the Canadian cannabis retail market. Once in place, this facility will help us continue to propel our growth in an increasingly non-dilutive fashion. Through our conversations with connectFirst, we expect that this line will expand in tandem with our business growth, as we continue to execute on our conveyed business plan. This will enable us to capitalize on attractive M&A and organic opportunities in North America and Europe," said Raj Grover, President and Chief Executive Officer of High Tide. "I look forward to sharing our results and progress for our fiscal third quarter in mid-September, and we anticipate the closing of this facility around the same time. I remain as confident as ever in High Tide's growth trajectory in Canada, the United States, and newly-emerging international markets," added Mr. Grover.
"We have watched locally based High Tide execute over the last several years. Accordingly, we are very excited about this new partnership between High Tide and connectFirst helping to create a more prosperous Alberta - and beyond. Our senior debt offering will provide High Tide the capital to continue to execute their impressive growth trajectory," said Sourav Neogi, Relationship Manager, Corporate & Commercial Banking, Connect First Credit Union.
- CAD$19 Million Term Debt: Accessible on request by High Tide, blended principal and interest payments.
- Low Interest Rate: High Tide continues to receive industry leading interest rates that reflect the strength of its business.
- Financial Covenants: The Credit Facility will have a quarterly tested financial covenant of debt service coverage ratio of not less than 1.40:1, a monthly current ratio covenant of not less than 1.25:1, and a quarterly tested covenant of funded debt to EBITDA ratio of not more than 3:1 beginning with the quarter ending January 31, 2023. High Tide's 12-month forecast projects it to be comfortably in compliance with all financial covenants.
The Company expects to close on the Credit Facility during the first half of September 2022, subject to certain pre-disbursement conditions and satisfaction of other customary conditions precedent.
Connect First Credit Union Ltd., one of the largest and most successful credit unions in Canada, is a full-service financial institution with over $6 billion in assets under administration. connectFirst employs 750 Albertans who provide a range of financial products and advice in more than 40 communities across central and southern Alberta. It serves over 125,000 members through a community-focused approach to banking.
High Tide is a leading retail-focused cannabis company with bricks-and-mortar as well as global e-commerce assets. The Company is the largest Canadian retailer of recreational cannabis as measured by revenue, with 139 current locations spanning Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. The Company is also North America's first cannabis discount club retailer, under the Canna Cabana banner, which is the single-largest cannabis retail brand in Canada with additional locations under development across the country. High Tide's portfolio also includes retail kiosk and smart locker technology – Fastendr™. High Tide has been serving consumers for over a decade through its established e-commerce platforms including Grasscity.com, Smokecartel.com, Dailyhighclub.com, and Dankstop.com and more recently in the hemp-derived CBD space through Nuleafnaturals.com, FABCBD.com, BlessedCBD.co.uk,, BlessedCBD.de, and Amazon UK, as well as its wholesale distribution division under Valiant Distribution, including the licensed entertainment product manufacturer Famous Brandz. High Tide was featured in the third annual Report on Business Magazine's ranking of Canada's Top Growing Companies in 2021 and was named as one of the top 10 performing diversified industries stocks in the 2022 TSX Venture 50™. High Tide's strategy as a parent company is to extend and strengthen its integrated value chain, while providing a complete customer experience and maximizing shareholder value.
For more information about High Tide Inc., please visit www.hightideinc.com, its profile page on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, and its profile page on EDGAR at www.sec.gov.
Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Certain information in this news release constitutes forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. Any statements that are contained in this news release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as "may", "should", "anticipate", "expect", "potential", "believe", "intend" or the negative of these terms and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements in this news release include statements relating to: High Tide securing the Credit Facility on the terms and within the timelines set out in this news release; the use of proceeds from the Credit Facility being utilized as outlined herein; the anticipated effects of the Credit Facility on the business and operations of High Tide; the Company utilizing the Credit Facility to complete future acquisitions; and High Tide's plans to increase the Credit Facility.
Forward-looking information in this news release are based on certain assumptions and expected future events, namely: High Tide will close the Credit Facility (and will have the ability to obtain all requisite approvals) on the terms and within the timelines anticipated by High Tide; the use of proceeds from the Credit Facility will be utilized as outlined herein; the Company will utilize the Credit Facility to complete future acquisitions; High Tide's financial condition and development plans do not change as a result of unforeseen events; there will continue to be a demand and market opportunity for High Tide's product offerings; current and future economic conditions will neither affect the business and operations of High Tide nor High Tide's ability to capitalize on anticipated business opportunities; and High Tide will extend and strength its integrated value chain, provide a complete customer experience and maximize shareholder value. Although considered reasonable by management of High Tide at the time of preparation, these statements may prove to be imprecise and result in actual results differing materially from those anticipated, and as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements.
These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including but not limited to: the risks associated with the cannabis and cannabidiol industries in general; High Tide being unable to close the Credit Facility and/or being unable to utilize the Credit Facility on the terms and within the timelines anticipated; the inability of High Tide to obtain requisite approvals; the inability of High Tide to pursue more acquisitions in the future; and the inability of High Tide to extend and strengthen its integrated value chain, while providing a complete customer experience and maximizing shareholder value.
Forward-looking statements, forward-looking financial information and other metrics presented herein are not intended as guidance or projections for the periods referenced herein or any future periods, and in particular, past performance is not an indicator of future results and the results of High Tide in this press release may not be indicative of, and are not an estimate, forecast or projection of High Tide future results. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and reflect our expectations as of the date hereof, and thus are subject to change thereafter. High Tide disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Factors that could cause anticipated opportunities and actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to, matters referred to above and elsewhere in High Tide's public filings and material change reports, which are and will be available on SEDAR.
This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States of America. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 (the "1933 Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons (as defined in the 1933 Act) unless registered under the 1933 Act and applicable state securities laws, or an exemption from such registration is available.
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SOURCE High Tide Inc. | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/high-tide-secures-commitment-letter-connect-first-credit-union-non-dilutive-financing/ | 2022-08-18T11:02:38Z |
Redesigned USOpen.org and US Open App will Include New Fan Experiences Leveraging Hybrid Cloud and Explainable AI
ARMONK, N.Y., Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) and the United States Tennis Association (USTA) today announced a five-year renewal of their longstanding, 30-year partnership. From the launch of USOpen.org in 1995 to the introduction of the mobile app in 2009, and last year's debut of the IBM Power Index with Watson, IBM and the USTA have collaborated for more than three decades, today delivering a world-class platform that provides unparalleled, first-of-its-kind fan experiences through hybrid cloud and AI technologies. This year, they will continue to expand and enhance the US Open digital offerings with new features added to the US Open app and USOpen.com ahead of the 2022 tournament.
Building on the popular IBM Match Insights with Watson feature — which analyzes millions of data points and over 100 million sources over the course of the tournament — 'Win Factors' brings an additional level of transparency into what is being analyzed by the AI models.. Win Factors is designed to provide fans with an increased understanding of the elements affecting player performance, such as the court surface, rankings, head-to-head records, ratio of games won, net of sets won, recent performance, yearly success, and media commentary. For the first time at the US Open, users can also register their own predictions for match outcomes on the US Open app and USOpen.com, through the 'Have Your Say' function. They can then compare their prediction with the aggregated predictions of other fans and the AI-powered Likelihood to Win generated by IBM.
"Our partnership with the USTA provides a unique opportunity to showcase the full breadth of IBM capabilities, against the backdrop of one of the most exciting and iconic sporting events in the world. As we look ahead, the possibilities to continually expand and enhance the US Open digital fan experience are endless," said Jonathan Adashek, Senior Vice President of Communications and Marketing at IBM. "Together we have created a platform of innovation by activating the same hybrid cloud, AI technology and IBM Consulting services that we use with our clients across all industries to bring the US Open digital properties to life for millions of tennis fans around the world."
"IBM's expertise and digital leadership has brought our fans closer to the tournament for the past three decades," said Kirsten Corio, USTA Chief Commercial Officer. "We are excited to continue to leverage IBM's innovative tech to serve up the tournament in exciting new ways and deepen global fan engagement with the US Open."
Win Factors and Have your Say join a comprehensive suite of digital fan features — including the IBM Power Index, Match Insights, and Fantasy Tennis game — on the newly redesigned US Open digital platforms.
The USTA and IBM iX, the experience design arm of IBM Consulting, worked to design and develop an updated website and app designed to enable fans around the world, and onsite at the US Open, to access the tournament, their favorite content, engaging insights and utilities faster and more intuitively than before. The US Open Digital Platforms include many new features. Fans can mark their favorite players to curate their digital experience based on their selections. The Scores, Schedule, Draws, and Players sections have been completely redesigned to deliver more relevant and contextual content and insights. The US Open mobile app introduces a new toggled state called "At the Open" which is specifically catered to the on-site attendee. "At the Open" is designed to provide fans with everything they need to optimize their visit, including ticket access management, mobile food ordering, grounds maps and curated content outlining each day's events.
The US Open's digital experiences run on a combination of on-premises, public, and private clouds, and IBM has designed a data architecture that helps ensure the right data — pulling from a variety of data sets and APIs — gets in the right hands at the right time. IBM leverages a hybrid cloud approach to collect, integrate, and distribute data and applications running on Red Hat OpenShift across multiple clouds to seamlessly handle the variety of different workloads required. This year's innovative solutions were built on IBM Cloud, and containerized using Red Hat OpenShift. The flexibility of the cloud allows for rapid innovation each year, as the IBM developers building these solutions are able to write code for new features once, and deploy it in any environment.
The 2022 US Open, including its Fan Week, during which the Qualifying tournament is held, runs from August 23 through September 11. To see IBMs technology in action, including the daily updated IBM Power Index, visit USOpen.org, or on your mobile device via the US Open app, available in the Apple and Android app stores.
Media Contact:
Rebecca Bernhard
rebecca.bernhard@ibm.com
About IBM
IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider, helping clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM's hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently, and securely. IBM's breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM's legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity, and service. For more information, visit www.ibm.com.
About USTA
The USTA is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the U.S. and the leader in promoting and developing the growth of tennis at every level -- from local communities to the highest level of the professional game. A not-for-profit organization, it invests 100% of its proceeds in growing the game. It owns and operates the US Open, one of the highest-attended annual sporting events in the world, and launched the US Open Series, linking seven summer WTA and ATP World Tour tournaments to the US Open. In addition, it owns approximately 120 Pro Circuit events throughout the U.S. and selects the teams for the Davis Cup, Billie Jean King Cup, Olympic and Paralympic Games. The USTA's philanthropic entity, the USTA Foundation, provides grants and scholarships in addition to supporting tennis and education programs nationwide to benefit under-resourced youth through the National Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) network. For more information about the USTA, go to USTA.com or follow the official accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.
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SOURCE IBM | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/ibm-usta-announce-multi-year-partnership-renewal-ahead-2022-us-open/ | 2022-08-18T11:02:45Z |
NEW YORK, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Levi & Korsinsky, LLP notifies investors in Kiromic BioPharma, Inc. ("Kiromic" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: KRBP) of a class action securities lawsuit.
CLASS DEFINITION: The lawsuit seeks to recover losses on behalf of Kiromic investors who were adversely affected by alleged securities fraud. This lawsuit is on behalf of a class consisting of persons and entities that purchased or otherwise acquired: (a) Kiromic common stock issued in connection with the Company's public offering that closed on July 2, 2021 and/or (b) Kiromic common stock between June 25, 2021 and August 13, 2021, both dates inclusive. Follow the link below to get more information and be contacted by a member of our team:
KRBP investors may also contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. via email at jlevi@levikorsinsky.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500.
CASE DETAILS: The complaint alleges that the registration statement and prospectus issued in connection with the Company's public offering that closed on July 2, 2021 (the "Offering Documents") failed to disclose that the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") had, prior to the filing of these documents, imposed a clinical hold on the Company's Investigational New Drug ("IND") applications for its two new drug candidates. Given that the offering closed on July 2, 2021, more than thirty (30) days after the Company submitted the IND applications for its two immunotherapy product candidates, investors were assured that no clinical hold had been issued and clinical trials would commence.
WHAT'S NEXT? If you suffered a loss in Kiromic during the relevant time frame, you have until October 4, 2022 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
NO COST TO YOU: If you are a class member, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket costs or fees. There is no cost or obligation to participate.
WHY LEVI & KORSINSKY: Over the past 20 years, the team at Levi & Korsinsky has secured hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders and built a track record of winning high-stakes cases. Our firm has extensive expertise representing investors in complex securities litigation and a team of over 70 employees to serve our clients. For seven years in a row, Levi & Korsinsky has ranked in ISS Securities Class Action Services' Top 50 Report as one of the top securities litigation firms in the United States.
CONTACT:
Levi & Korsinsky, LLP
Joseph E. Levi, Esq.
Ed Korsinsky, Esq.
55 Broadway, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10006
jlevi@levikorsinsky.com
Tel: (212) 363-7500
Fax: (212) 363-7171
www.zlk.com
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SOURCE Levi & Korsinsky, LLP | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/krbp-lawsuit-alert-levi-amp-korsinsky-notifies-kiromic-biopharma-inc-investors-class-action-lawsuit-upcoming-deadline/ | 2022-08-18T11:02:52Z |
NEW YORK, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Levi & Korsinsky, LLP notifies investors in LifeStance Health Group, Inc. ("LifeStance" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: LFST) of a class action securities lawsuit.
CLASS DEFINITION: The lawsuit seeks to recover losses on behalf of LifeStance investors who were adversely affected by alleged securities fraud. This lawsuit is on behalf of all purchasers of LifeStance common stock pursuant and/or traceable to the documents issued in connection with LifeStance's June 10, 2021 initial public stock offering. Follow the link below to get more information and be contacted by a member of our team:
LFST investors may also contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. via email at jlevi@levikorsinsky.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500.
CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that defendants made false statements and/or concealed that: (i) the number of virtual visits clients were undertaking utilizing LifeStance Health was decreasing as the COVID-19 lockdowns were being lifted, thereby flatlining LifeStance Health's out-patient/virtual revenue growth; (ii) the percentage of in-person visits clients were undertaking utilizing LifeStance Health was increasing as the COVID-19 lockdowns were being lifted, thereby causing LifeStance Health's operating expenses to increase substantially; (iii) LifeStance Health had lost a large number of physicians due to burn-out and, as a result, its physician retention rate had fallen significantly below the 87% highlighted in the initial public offering's registration statement, and LifeStance Health had been expending additional costs to onboard new physicians who were less productive than the outgoing physicians they were replacing; and (iv) as a result, LifeStance Health's business metrics and financial prospects were not as strong as the initial public offering's registration statement represented.
WHAT'S NEXT? If you suffered a loss in LifeStance during the relevant time frame, you have until October 11, 2022 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
NO COST TO YOU: If you are a class member, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket costs or fees. There is no cost or obligation to participate.
WHY LEVI & KORSINSKY: Over the past 20 years, the team at Levi & Korsinsky has secured hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders and built a track record of winning high-stakes cases. Our firm has extensive expertise representing investors in complex securities litigation and a team of over 70 employees to serve our clients. For seven years in a row, Levi & Korsinsky has ranked in ISS Securities Class Action Services' Top 50 Report as one of the top securities litigation firms in the United States.
CONTACT:
Levi & Korsinsky, LLP
Joseph E. Levi, Esq.
Ed Korsinsky, Esq.
55 Broadway, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10006
jlevi@levikorsinsky.com
Tel: (212) 363-7500
Fax: (212) 363-7171
www.zlk.com
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SOURCE Levi & Korsinsky, LLP | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/lfst-lawsuit-alert-levi-amp-korsinsky-notifies-lifestance-health-group-inc-investors-class-action-lawsuit-upcoming-deadline/ | 2022-08-18T11:02:59Z |
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Meat District, the creators of high-quality butcher-crafted premium burgers can now be found in the meat aisle of Kroger grocery stores nationwide. To celebrate the new distribution, Meat District is giving away $10,000 in a giveaway contest.
"Our partnership with Kroger, the nation's largest grocery chain, marks a major milestone for us. We're thrilled and honored to be partnering with Kroger," said Zack Leveson, COO of Golden West Food Group. "But more importantly, this partnership means that high-quality meat products will be available to a lot more people nationwide."
Kroger stores will be offering two types of Meat District's fresh burger patties:
"The O.G." - Made from 100% Angus Beef Chuck, Brisket, and Short Rib, the O.G. is the perfect mix of meat blended into just the right proportions. Each burger is perfectly tender, flavorful, and juicy.
"Steak House"- This 100% Angus Beef Tri-Tip gourmet burger is topped with our popular garlic peppercorn seasoning.
The seasonal offerings will include The SHAQ Burger which is a half-pound burger patty made with a blend of Chuck, Brisket, and Short Rib. And the Hatch Chile Pepper Jack patty is made with the same blend of premium steak cuts of Chuck, Brisket, and Short Rib.
Launching in April 2019, Meat District celebrates the Kroger distribution milestone with the brand's 3-year anniversary. This milestone follows Meat District's partnership with basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal. In a recent social post, Shaq thanked Kroger and spoke about his partnership with Meat District.
"I'm so excited for our Meat District products to be introduced in over 2,500 Kroger stores nationwide," said O'Neal. "Shoutout to the fine folks over there, we're really looking forward to developing this partnership with you.
To celebrate the recent growth, Meat District is introducing a giveaway, The "Best Burger Challenge". A giveaway designed to give burgeoning burger connoisseurs the chance to show off their grill skills in a way that highlights creative cooking and burger assembly. There are no limits to the types of burgers people can create, and Meat District is anticipating some very original ideas.
Customers will be able to take a photo or a video of their creations and upload them to Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok with the hashtags #bestburgerchallenge and #contest while tagging @eatmeatdestrict to be eligible for entry.
- One (1) Grand Prize Winner will be awarded $10,000, a year's supply of Meat District products, and an additional $500 Gift Card to a local grocery store (restrictions may apply).
- Ten (10) other winners will also be given a $500 Gift Card to their grocery store of choice (restrictions may apply).
For those interested in knowing if their grocery store carries Meat District's iconic burgers, a product locator is available on their website. They currently sell an "Ultimate Grilling Pack" with nationwide shipping on their website as well.
Meat District offers Butcher-Crafted Premium Burgers and much more. With chef-inspired recipes and premium ingredients, Meat District unlocks more flavorful choices when it comes to your favorite meats. Meat District promises all the quality and flavor without hormones or antibiotics. Their products can be found at all major retailers and are distributed nationally on a weekly basis and online at Buy.EatMeatDistrict.com.
Media Contact:
Michael Contreras
media@eatmeatdistrict.com
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SOURCE Meat District | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/meat-district-debuts-its-burgers-kroger-grocery-stores-nationwide-celebrates-with-10000-giveaway/ | 2022-08-18T11:03:06Z |
NEW YORK, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Levi & Korsinsky, LLP notifies investors in Missfresh Limited ("Missfresh" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: MF) of a class action securities lawsuit.
CLASS DEFINITION: The lawsuit seeks to recover losses on behalf of Missfresh investors who were adversely affected by alleged securities fraud. This lawsuit is on behalf of persons who purchased or otherwise acquired Missfresh securities pursuant and/or traceable to the registration statement and related prospectus issued in connection with Missfresh's June 2021 initial public offering. Follow the link below to get more information and be contacted by a member of our team:
MF investors may also contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. via email at jlevi@levikorsinsky.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500.
CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that defendants made false statements and/or concealed that: (1) Missfresh provided false financial figures in its registration statement and related prospectus issued in connection with the Company's June 2021 initial public offering; (2) Missfresh would need to amend its financial figures; (3) Missfresh, among other things, had lesser net revenues for the quarter ended March 31, 2021; and (4) as a result, defendants' public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times and negligently prepared.
WHAT'S NEXT? If you suffered a loss in Missfresh during the relevant time frame, you have until September 12, 2022 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
NO COST TO YOU: If you are a class member, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket costs or fees. There is no cost or obligation to participate.
WHY LEVI & KORSINSKY: Over the past 20 years, the team at Levi & Korsinsky has secured hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders and built a track record of winning high-stakes cases. Our firm has extensive expertise representing investors in complex securities litigation and a team of over 70 employees to serve our clients. For seven years in a row, Levi & Korsinsky has ranked in ISS Securities Class Action Services' Top 50 Report as one of the top securities litigation firms in the United States.
CONTACT:
Levi & Korsinsky, LLP
Joseph E. Levi, Esq.
Ed Korsinsky, Esq.
55 Broadway, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10006
jlevi@levikorsinsky.com
Tel: (212) 363-7500
Fax: (212) 363-7171
www.zlk.com
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SOURCE Levi & Korsinsky, LLP | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/mf-lawsuit-alert-levi-amp-korsinsky-notifies-missfresh-limited-investors-class-action-lawsuit-upcoming-deadline/ | 2022-08-18T11:03:12Z |
NEW YORK, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Levi & Korsinsky, LLP notifies investors in Molecular Partners AG ("Molecular Partners" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: MOLN) of a class action securities lawsuit.
CLASS DEFINITION: The lawsuit seeks to recover losses on behalf of Molecular Partners investors who were adversely affected by alleged securities fraud. This lawsuit is on behalf of a class consisting of persons and entities that purchased or otherwise acquired: (a) Molecular Partners American Depositary Shares pursuant and/or traceable to certain documents issued in connection with the Company's initial public offering conducted on or about June 16, 2021; and/or (b) Molecular Partners securities between June 16, 2021, and April 26, 2022. Follow the link below to get more information and be contacted by a member of our team:
MOLN investors may also contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. via email at jlevi@levikorsinsky.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500.
CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that defendants made false statements and/or concealed that: (i) the Company's product, ensovibep, was less effective at treating COVID-19 than defendants had led investors to believe; that (ii) accordingly, the the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") was reasonably likely to require an additional Phase 3 study of ensovibep before granting the drug Emergency Use Authorization ("EUA"); (iii) waning global rates of COVID-19 significantly reduced the Company's chances of securing EUA for ensovibep; (iv) another of the Company's product candidates, MP0310, was less attractive to Molecular Partners' collaborator, Amgen, than defendants had led investors to believe; (v) accordingly, there was a significant likelihood that Amgen would return to global rights of MP0310 to Molecular Partners; (vi) as a result of all the foregoing, the clinical and commercial prospects of ensovibep and MP0310 were overstated; and (vii) as a result, documents issues in connection with the Company's initial public offer and defendants' public statements throughout the class period were materially false and/or misleading and failed to state information required to be stated therein.
WHAT'S NEXT? If you suffered a loss in Molecular Partners during the relevant time frame, you have until September 12, 2022 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
NO COST TO YOU: If you are a class member, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket costs or fees. There is no cost or obligation to participate.
WHY LEVI & KORSINSKY: Over the past 20 years, the team at Levi & Korsinsky has secured hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders and built a track record of winning high-stakes cases. Our firm has extensive expertise representing investors in complex securities litigation and a team of over 70 employees to serve our clients. For seven years in a row, Levi & Korsinsky has ranked in ISS Securities Class Action Services' Top 50 Report as one of the top securities litigation firms in the United States.
CONTACT:
Levi & Korsinsky, LLP
Joseph E. Levi, Esq.
Ed Korsinsky, Esq.
55 Broadway, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10006
jlevi@levikorsinsky.com
Tel: (212) 363-7500
Fax: (212) 363-7171
www.zlk.com
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SOURCE Levi & Korsinsky, LLP | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/moln-lawsuit-alert-levi-amp-korsinsky-notifies-molecular-partners-ag-investors-class-action-lawsuit-upcoming-deadline/ | 2022-08-18T11:03:19Z |
NEW YORK, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Levi & Korsinsky, LLP notifies investors in Inotiv, Inc. ("Inotiv" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: NOTV) of a class action securities lawsuit.
CLASS DEFINITION: The lawsuit seeks to recover losses on behalf of Inotiv investors who were adversely affected by alleged securities fraud between September 21, 2021 and June 13, 2022. Follow the link below to get more information and be contacted by a member of our team:
NOTV investors may also contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. via email at jlevi@levikorsinsky.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500.
CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that defendants made false statements and/or concealed that: (1) Inotiv's acquisition, Envigo RMS, LL ("Envigo"), and Inotiv's Cumberland, Virginia facility (the "Cumberland Facility") engaged in widespread and flagrant violations of the Animal Welfare Act ("AWA"); (2) Envigo and Inotiv's Cumberland Facility continuously violated the AWA; (3) Envigo and Inotiv did not properly remedy issues with regards to animal welfare at the Cumberland Facility; (4) as a result, Inotiv was likely to face increased scrutiny and governmental action; (5) Inotiv would imminently shut down two facilities, including the Cumberland Facility; (6) Inotiv did not engage in proper due diligence; and (7) as a result, defendants' statements about its business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.
WHAT'S NEXT? If you suffered a loss in Inotiv during the relevant time frame, you have until August 22, 2022 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
NO COST TO YOU: If you are a class member, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket costs or fees. There is no cost or obligation to participate.
WHY LEVI & KORSINSKY: Over the past 20 years, the team at Levi & Korsinsky has secured hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders and built a track record of winning high-stakes cases. Our firm has extensive expertise representing investors in complex securities litigation and a team of over 70 employees to serve our clients. For seven years in a row, Levi & Korsinsky has ranked in ISS Securities Class Action Services' Top 50 Report as one of the top securities litigation firms in the United States.
CONTACT:
Levi & Korsinsky, LLP
Joseph E. Levi, Esq.
Ed Korsinsky, Esq.
55 Broadway, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10006
jlevi@levikorsinsky.com
Tel: (212) 363-7500
Fax: (212) 363-7171
www.zlk.com
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SOURCE Levi & Korsinsky, LLP | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/notv-lawsuit-alert-levi-amp-korsinsky-notifies-inotiv-inc-investors-class-action-lawsuit-upcoming-deadline/ | 2022-08-18T11:03:25Z |
NEW YORK, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Levi & Korsinsky, LLP notifies investors in Outset Medical, Inc. ("Outset Medical" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: OM) of a class action securities lawsuit.
CLASS DEFINITION: The lawsuit seeks to recover losses on behalf of Outset Medical investors who were adversely affected by alleged securities fraud. This lawsuit is on behalf of all persons or entities who purchased Outset Medical common stock between September 15, 2020, and June 13, 2022. Follow the link below to get more information and be contacted by a member of our team:
OM investors may also contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. via email at jlevi@levikorsinsky.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500.
CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that defendants made false statements and/or concealed that: (1) the Company's flagship product, Tablo Hemodialysis System ("Tablo"), would require an additional 510(k) application to be filed with The United States Food and Drug Administration ("FDA"), as defendants had "continuously made improvements and updates to Tablo over time since its original clearance"; (2) as a result, the Company could not conduct a human factors study on a cleared device in accordance with FDA protocols; (3) the Company's inability to conduct the human factors study subjected the Company to the likelihood of the FDA imposing a "shipment hold" and marketing suspension, leaving the Company unable to sell Tablo for home use; and (4) as a result, defendants' positive statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects were materially false and misleading and /or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.
WHAT'S NEXT? If you suffered a loss in Outset Medical during the relevant time frame, you have until September 6, 2022 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
NO COST TO YOU: If you are a class member, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket costs or fees. There is no cost or obligation to participate.
WHY LEVI & KORSINSKY: Over the past 20 years, the team at Levi & Korsinsky has secured hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders and built a track record of winning high-stakes cases. Our firm has extensive expertise representing investors in complex securities litigation and a team of over 70 employees to serve our clients. For seven years in a row, Levi & Korsinsky has ranked in ISS Securities Class Action Services' Top 50 Report as one of the top securities litigation firms in the United States.
CONTACT:
Levi & Korsinsky, LLP
Joseph E. Levi, Esq.
Ed Korsinsky, Esq.
55 Broadway, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10006
jlevi@levikorsinsky.com
Tel: (212) 363-7500
Fax: (212) 363-7171
www.zlk.com
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SOURCE Levi & Korsinsky, LLP | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/om-lawsuit-alert-levi-amp-korsinsky-notifies-outset-medical-inc-investors-class-action-lawsuit-upcoming-deadline/ | 2022-08-18T11:03:31Z |
Pineland Farms' "New Gloucester, a Cotswold-style cheese" brought home a Gold Medal in the open category – Cheeses with Flavor Added
BANGOR, Maine, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pineland Farms Dairy won a Gold Medal at the 39th annual American Cheese Society (ACS) Judging and Competition. The ACS competition is the largest event of its kind for American-made cheeses.
The judging took place May 9-20, 2022, at the Huntington Bank Stadium on the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis campus. The winners were announced during the ACS Annual Conference held in Portland, Oregon from July 20 – 23, 2022. 1,387 products from 196 entering companies across 120 categories were evaluated for excellence in cheesemaking and commitment to food safety.
"New Gloucester" is a fresh take on a historical cheese. Based on an Old-World English village recipe called Double Gloucester, this cheese dates back over 200 years. "Cotswold" was a variation that added green onions and chives. Pineland Farms Dairy began making cheese almost 20 years ago in New Gloucester, Maine and is now bringing "New Gloucester, a Cotswold-style cheese" to the New World.
The judges were impressed by the appealing, savory aroma from just the right blend of onions and garlic. Smooth and creamy, this cheese is a perfect balance of flavor and color, beautiful on a cheese board or with a selection of fresh fruit. It is an excellent cracker cheese or can go from a snack to an omelet staple.
Pineland Farms Dairy Company is located in Bangor, Maine, and produces all-natural dairy products for both the retail and foodservice industries across the Northeast. The company supports local dairy farmers by using 100% fresh Maine milk to handcraft their specialty cheeses and fluid milk products. For more information, please visit www.pinelandfarmsdairy.com.
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SOURCE Pineland Farms Dairy Company | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/pineland-farms-dairy-wins-1st-place-american-cheese-society-annual-judging-competition/ | 2022-08-18T11:03:38Z |
Funding Led by SYN Ventures - Additional Participating Investors Include Rally Ventures and Cyber Mentor Fund
CHANDLER, Ariz., Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SynSaber, an early-stage ICS/OT cybersecurity and asset monitoring company, announced today that the company has raised $13 million in Series A funding. SYN Ventures led the round with participation from additional investors, including Rally Ventures and Cyber Mentor Fund.
SynSaber, founded by industry veterans Ron Fabela and Jori VanAntwerp in 2021, released the 1.0 version of their OT visibility and detection solution in February 2022. The vendor-agnostic software allows critical infrastructure asset owners and operators to send OT edge data to empower their SIEM, SOAR, or MSSP. The company has gained significant traction and was recently selected as an SC Awards finalist for Best SCADA Security Solution.
"We're honored and deeply grateful for the continued support from our investors and their dedication to accelerating SynSaber's innovation capabilities," said Jori VanAntwerp, Co-Founder/CEO of SynSaber. "As the cybersecurity threat landscape increasingly targets industrial assets, we are enabling operators to more effectively see, know, and take action to defend industrial systems and protect critical infrastructure."
This latest round brings the company's total investment to $15.5 million. The funds will be used to continue advancing the innovation of SynSaber's industrial asset and network monitoring solution, expand the company's global footprint, grow sales, marketing, and development, and further build on customer momentum and industry research.
"We're pleased to continue investing in the exceptional SynSaber team. This financing round will extend SynSaber's capacity to amplify their industrial cybersecurity and asset monitoring solution alongside expanding the company's customer base," said Jay Leek, Managing Partner at SYN Ventures. "We look forward to seeing what the future holds for the co-founders and their company."
SynSaber is the simple, flexible, and scalable industrial asset and network monitoring solution that provides continuous insight into the status, vulnerabilities, and threats across every point in the industrial ecosystem, empowering operators to observe, detect and defend OT/IT systems and protect critical infrastructure. SynSaber is privately held with funding from SYN Ventures, Rally Ventures, and Cyber Mentor Fund. Learn more at SynSaber.com.
Media Contact:
Danielle Ostrovsky
Hi-Touch PR
410-302-9459
Ostrovsky@Hi-TouchPR.com
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SOURCE SynSaber | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/synsaber-announces-13-million-series-funding-further-empower-industrial-asset-network-monitoring-protect-critical-infrastructure/ | 2022-08-18T11:03:44Z |
IRVINE, Calif., Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In July 2022, the IRS published a report on its Strategic Plan for the years 2022 through 2026. The report features many lofty goals, including increasing service capabilities, consolidating enforcement efforts, recruiting a more advanced workforce, and modernizing existing infrastructure.
All these proposed efforts are based upon 80 billion of investment into the IRS from the federal government via the Biden administration and the Inflation Reduction Act, which comes with strings attached. To be clear, the IRS would not benefit from budget enhancements if the government did not believe they could make back that money and more through civil and criminal tax enforcement actions and other aggressive adjustments to strategy including the planned hiring of 87,000 IRS agents and huge investments into technology.
Therefore, many taxpayers are rightly concerned about the increased chance that they could soon face an audit or criminal tax investigation.
The IRS' five-year strategy was announced through Publication 3744, which can be found in its entirety on the agency website. The plan was developed by the strategic planning team within the Office of the Chief Financial Officer. According to the document, the report included input from IRS leaders and employees, advisory groups, and other key stakeholders, including the Department of the Treasury.
The strategy centers around four key "goals," as the report describes them: service, enforcement, people, and transformation.
The IRS suggests that the first goal of their five-year plan is to provide quality and accessible services to enhance the taxpayer experience. As the tax code becomes increasingly more complicated, so too does compliance. This affects those taxpayers in underserved community populations at a substantially higher rate. Not only are these taxpayers more likely to struggle with remaining compliant with the tax code, but they are also much less likely to actually obtain the benefits that are baked into the tax code for their own interests.
A critical aspect of the service goal is growing the IRS' digital service capabilities. More and more taxpayers and tax preparation professionals are growing to expect the government to shift to online services that represent a more accessible channel of communication and disclosure for taxpayers across the country.
According to a Comprehensive Taxpayer Attitude Survey Report from 2020, four of the top five IRS services that are most important to taxpayers are digital services. In their strategic plan, the IRS makes it clear that they intend to expand their outreach and service areas to account for the underserved by making use of developing technologies.
Though the current administration has poured funding into the IRS, the agency remains overburdened with a workload that is difficult to meet while using past strategies. All the while, the technological sophistication of tax evaders grows.
Among the IRS' responses contained in their five-year strategy is the plan to proactively identify current and emerging fraud schemes using real-time intelligence and analytics. This will involve the consolidation of fraud-related compliance efforts to streamline operations and better allocate resources.
The IRS' Office of Fraud Enforcement has also been investing in top-tier blockchain tracing and virtual currency analytics tools for compliance agents, such as the tracing software that the government began licensing from Coinbase last year. The new Virtual Currency Learning Academy provides all IRS personnel with unlimited access to various levels in training on cryptocurrency, blockchain tracing, and anti-money laundering compliance, as well as several other topics.
One of the less discussed issues plaguing the IRS today is the rising rate of attrition and retirement. More than 60% of the current agency workforce will be eligible for retirement within the next six years. According to data in the report collected by the Partnership for Public Service, the IRS' attrition rate is 7.3%, much higher than the average attrition rate across federal agencies of 5.8%.
To counter this, the IRS is implementing recruitment and succession planning strategies and lobbying for additional funding from congress to support federal hiring initiatives.
Simply keeping the workforce at an even level will not be enough to achieve the IRS' goals, however. The report emphasizes the IRS' continued reliance on cooperation with the tax community and international partners.
As its final goal for the next five years, the report stresses the importance of adapting the federal agency to facing new threats and challenges. These include developments in technology, a growing taxpayer base, and accounting for cyber threats.
Within the transformation goal, the report breaks the steps down into four key focuses: redesigning systems to maximize existing efficiencies, modernizing infrastructure, increasing digitalization, and improving data-driven decision making.
This is all centered upon the IRS' ability to keep its collection of personal and financial information secure against complex cyberattacks. The report projects that technological and security investments will help to ensure that the IRS has the capability to handle an increase on the roughly 1.4 billion cyberattacks that it mitigates every year.
Across the various goals that the report lays out, the common thread among them all is an increase in directed and strategic funding. When the federal government makes such a substantial financial commitment, it does not do so without expecting something in return. The government is relying on the increased capabilities of the IRS to close the tax gap through improved services and effective enforcement practices. This is the only way that the government will get back more money than what they will spend on obtaining these goals.
Therefore, it would be logical to assume that the IRS will do everything in its power to find tax debt to collect and act on it. Taxpayers should expect a significant uptick in IRS activity over the next five years that will affect many who have never dealt with such issues before.
If you are concerned about the possibility of an IRS audit or criminal tax investigation into you or your business and past filings, it is important to assess all possible options to avoid such a situation.
The federal government's voluntary disclosure programs provide an avenue for taxpayers who are aware of noncompliance in their filing history to come forward with additional information without being coerced into doing so through audit or criminal tax investigation. By using the voluntary disclosure option, many taxpayers avoid can avoid or reduce the penalties and fines that they might otherwise face if the government had to seek out the violations themselves.
However, voluntary disclosure may not be right in every situation. Firstly, if a criminal investigation is already underway, your decision to voluntary disclose will likely have no effect on the consequences and may even end up doing more harm than good. It is always important to discuss your situation with a seasoned Dual Licensed Criminal Tax Defense Lawyer and CPA, even if you made a genuine and honest mistake.
If you have failed to file a tax return for one or more years or have taken a position on a tax return that could not be supported upon an IRS or state tax authority audit, eggshell audit, reverse eggshell audit, or criminal tax investigation, it is in your best interest to contact an experienced tax defense attorney to determine your best route back into federal or state tax compliance without facing criminal prosecution.
Note: As long as a taxpayer that has willfully committed tax crimes (potentially including non-filed foreign information returns coupled with affirmative evasion of U.S. income tax on offshore income) self-reports the tax fraud (including a pattern of non-filed returns) through a domestic or offshore voluntary disclosure before the IRS has started an audit or criminal tax investigation / prosecution, the taxpayer can ordinarily be successfully brought back into tax compliance and receive a nearly guaranteed pass on criminal tax prosecution and simultaneously often receive a break on the civil penalties that would otherwise apply.
It is imperative that you hire an experienced and reputable criminal tax defense attorney to take you through the voluntary disclosure process. Only an Attorney has the Attorney Client Privilege and Work Product Privileges that will prevent the very professional that you hire from being potentially being forced to become a witness against you, especially where they prepared the returns that need to be amended, in a subsequent criminal tax audit, investigation or prosecution.
Moreover, only an Attorney can enter you into a voluntary disclosure without engaging in the unauthorized practice of law (a crime in itself). Only an Attorney trained in Criminal Tax Defense fully understands the risks and rewards involved in voluntary disclosures and how to protect you if you do not qualify for a voluntary disclosure.
As uniquely qualified and extensively experienced Criminal Tax Defense Tax Attorneys, Kovel CPAs and EAs, our firm provides a one stop shop to efficiently achieve the optimal and predictable results that simultaneously protect your liberty and your net worth. See our Testimonials to see what our clients have to say about us!
See our Audit Representation Q and A Library
See our Criminal Tax Law Q and A Library
Here is a link to our YouTube channel: click here.
Public Contact: Dave Klasing Esq. M.S.-Tax CPA, dave@taxesqcpa.net
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SOURCE Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing, PC | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/tax-law-offices-david-w-klasing-what-can-be-gleamed-irss-recent-release-five-year-strategy-civil-criminal-tax-enforcement-practices/ | 2022-08-18T11:03:51Z |
NEW YORK, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Levi & Korsinsky, LLP notifies investors in TG Therapeutics, Inc. ("TG Therapeutics" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: TGTX) of a class action securities lawsuit.
CLASS DEFINITION: The lawsuit seeks to recover losses on behalf of TG Therapeutics investors who were adversely affected by alleged securities fraud between January 15, 2020 and May 31, 2022. Follow the link below to get more information and be contacted by a member of our team:
TGTX investors may also contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. via email at jlevi@levikorsinsky.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500.
CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that defendants made false statements and/or concealed that: (i) clinical trials revealed significant concerns related to the benefit-risk ratio and overall survival data of the Company's therapeutic product candidates, Ublituximab and Umbralisib; (ii) accordingly, it was unlikely that the Company would be able to obtain approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of the Umbralisib marginal zone lymphoma and follicular lymphoma New Drug Application, the Biologics License Application for Ublituximab in combination with Umbralisib, the supplemental New Drug Application for Ublituximab in combination with Umbralisib, or the Ublituximab relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis Biologics License Application in their current forms; (iii) as a result, the Company had significantly overstated Ublituximab and Umbralisib's clinical and/or commercial prospects; and (iv) therefore, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
WHAT'S NEXT? If you suffered a loss in TG Therapeutics during the relevant time frame, you have until September 16, 2022 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
NO COST TO YOU: If you are a class member, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket costs or fees. There is no cost or obligation to participate.
WHY LEVI & KORSINSKY: Over the past 20 years, the team at Levi & Korsinsky has secured hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders and built a track record of winning high-stakes cases. Our firm has extensive expertise representing investors in complex securities litigation and a team of over 70 employees to serve our clients. For seven years in a row, Levi & Korsinsky has ranked in ISS Securities Class Action Services' Top 50 Report as one of the top securities litigation firms in the United States.
CONTACT:
Levi & Korsinsky, LLP
Joseph E. Levi, Esq.
Ed Korsinsky, Esq.
55 Broadway, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10006
jlevi@levikorsinsky.com
Tel: (212) 363-7500
Fax: (212) 363-7171
www.zlk.com
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SOURCE Levi & Korsinsky, LLP | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/tgtx-lawsuit-alert-levi-amp-korsinsky-notifies-tg-therapeutics-inc-investors-class-action-lawsuit-upcoming-deadline/ | 2022-08-18T11:03:57Z |
August 22 is National Tooth Fairy Day
OAK BROOK, Ill., Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to findings of the 2022 Original Tooth Fairy Poll® released by Delta Dental, the Tooth Fairy visited 79% of homes across the country with children ages 6-12 who have lost teeth. Most kids are demonstrating patience for the Tooth Fairy's visit, with more than half of parents (61%) reporting that their child waited for their loose tooth to fall out, unlike 18% of their children that pulled their own tooth! One in 3 parents agree that the Tooth Fairy is a positive way to instill good oral health habits in their child. The 2022 poll builds on insights gleaned over nearly a quarter of a century. A few additional highlights from this year's poll include:
- More than 1 in 2 parents say the Tooth Fairy gives their child something to be excited about (55% 2022 versus 53% 2021).
- This year, more parents indicate that the Tooth Fairy provides their child with an opportunity to celebrate something fun (55% 2022 versus 48% 2021).
- In fact, 35% of parents express the Tooth Fairy was the perfect way to spread joy in a year when they needed it most (compared to 34% 2021).
"Our oral health is essential to our overall health, and the time-honored tradition of the Tooth Fairy can help bring attention in a fun way to the importance of establishing proper oral hygiene habits at an early age," said Jennifer Elliott, Chief Marketing Officer, Delta Dental Plans Association. "Delta Dental is committed to increasing the public's oral health care awareness as we support millions of dental health journeys across America."
Since 1998, Delta Dental has been analyzing the Tooth Fairy's U.S. annual giving trends. The 2022 Original Tooth Fairy Poll® indicates the Tooth Fairy's average cash gift reached $5.36 per tooth, an all-time high in the 24-year history of the poll. This year's value of a lost tooth has more than quadrupled since the inception of the Original Tooth Fairy Poll® when the value of a lost tooth was $1.30. The 2022 poll's average gift of $5.36 per tooth is 66 cents (14%) higher than the previous peak of $4.70 set last year and well over $1 (33%) more per tooth in 2020 ($4.03). The 2022 poll also finds that 80% of the time the Tooth Fairy leaves only money rather than some other physical gift.
The Original Tooth Fairy Poll® was conducted between January 19 and January 28, 2022, among a nationally representative sample of 1,000+ parents of children ages 6-12. The survey has a margin of error of +/- 3%.
For more information about the Delta Dental-sponsored survey, Tooth Fairy resources for families and kids, and oral health tips for infants to pre-teen, visit the Original Tooth Fairy Poll®.
Follow us on Twitter @DeltaDental and Facebook: Delta Dental Plans Association
Based in Oak Brook, Illinois, Delta Dental Plans Association is the not-for-profit national association of the 39 independent Delta Dental companies. Through these companies, Delta Dental is the nation's largest dental insurance provider, covering more than 85 million Americans and offering the country's largest dental network with approximately 154,000 participating dentists. Over the last decade, Delta Dental companies provided over $1.8 billion in direct and in-kind support to improve the oral health of our communities. Visit deltadental.com for information on individual dental insurance plans and group dental insurance plans.
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SOURCE Delta Dental Plans Association | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/tooth-fairy-tradition-remains-strong-across-united-states-finds-2022-original-tooth-fairy-poll-released-by-delta-dental/ | 2022-08-18T11:04:04Z |
LEAWOOD, Kan., Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Torch.AI, pioneers of data infrastructure AI, announced today a partnership with Vertosoft to accelerate the adoption of next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) and data infrastructure software capabilities across the U.S. Government.
Torch.AI, already supporting some of the world's most important organizations, has re-imagined how organizations use and extract value from data. The company's software is quickly becoming the AI ecosystem and data infrastructure standard, introducing a new way for teams to increase productivity, prioritize resources, and bridge data silos by accessing and correlating mission-critical information.
Torch.AI's role in the partnership will be to propel the adoption and delivery of new data infrastructures powered by AI to government agencies seeking an innovative response to complex data challenges. Torch's solutions will complement Vertosoft's strong portfolio of enabling technology partners in DOD agencies, such as the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force, and further extend reach to Vertosoft's vast 100+ organization network across the greater DOD and Civilian space.
As a leading emerging technology distributor, Vertosoft is focused on bringing innovative and emerging technologies to the public sector. With dozens of contract vehicles and government-wide acquisition contracts, Vertosoft simplifies government procurement. The partnership with Torch.AI will enable Vertosoft to bring critically important data and AI capabilities to every level of government.
"We're excited to build on our momentum in the government space and continue powering mission-critical decisions and operational capabilities with our data infrastructure AI solutions," says Bobby Butler, Director of Partner Success at Torch.AI. "We see Vertosoft as a key component of our public sector strategy and plan to leverage their experience in bringing technology to the government market."
"We continue to hear from public sector customers across the U.S. Federal, State, and Local markets that they're consistently looking to integrate more diverse datasets into their decision-making process and have systematically struggled in doing so," says Josh Slattery, Vice President of Technology Sales at Vertosoft. "Vertosoft is thrilled to partner with Torch.AI to help bridge the gaps and turn AI into a reality for our public sector customers."
Torch.AI, the Data Infrastructure AI Pioneers, are headquartered in Kansas City with offices in Washington, DC. The company developed the use of AI to process data in-flight, radically evolving analytic and operational capabilities in any IT environment. Torch.AI's products and people are currently actively supporting operations in industries including financial services, construction and engineering, healthcare, and the US Department of Defense, US Department of Homeland Security, and other agencies.
To learn more about the company, visit Torch.AI.
Established in 2016, Vertosoft accelerates the adoption of innovative and emerging technology within the government. We bring the flexibility, agility, and responsiveness of a small company with the experience of a large organization. With our clear focus on emerging technology growth in government, Vertosoft is uniquely positioned to reduce complexity and provide scalable, cloud-ready technology solutions that enable government agencies to deliver smarter, client-centric digital transformations.
Media Contact:
hello@torch.ai
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SOURCE Torch.AI | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/torchai-amp-vertosoft-join-forces-optimize-data-infrastructure-with-ai-100-new-customers-across-us-government/ | 2022-08-18T11:04:10Z |
Fresh Capital Used to Build on Trial Library's Mission to Improve Health Equity by Expanding Access to Cancer Precision Medicine
Spearheaded by Dr. Hala Borno, Leading UCSF oncologist and Health Equity Researcher
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Trial Library, Inc., an oncology clinical trials company, today announced it has come out of stealth mode and received its first funding to address the need for equity in patient recruitment to oncology clinical trials. The $5 million seed round was led by Deena Shakir, Partner at Lux Capital, with participation from Julian Eison, Managing Partner at NEXT VENTŪRES, Unseen Capital, as well as other notable angel investors. This investment supports the growing need for more inclusivity in oncology clinical trials, and will expand the usage of the Trial Library platform among community oncologists who are patients' trusted sources for advice on clinical trials.
After a decade of researching inequities in clinical trials with a team of veteran researchers and best-in-class physicians in cancer digital health, Trial Library CEO and founder Dr. Hala Borno, a University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) oncologist and experienced health equity researcher, introduced a new, tech-enabled approach that prioritizes the need for diverse and underrepresented patient groups. While advancements in personalized oncology therapeutics continue to produce astounding results, not all patients are afforded the opportunity to receive the latest therapies available. Along with co-founder and Chief Product Officer Steve Buck, former vice president and general manager at Ro Pharmacy and an accomplished healthcare entrepreneur who co-founded cancersurvivalrates.com and RxDividends (a company sold to GoodRx that he joined as a co-founder), the two have built Trial Library's virtual care navigation platform with 24/7 delivery. As a result, patients who decide to participate in a clinical trial will be supported throughout their journey to a clinical trial site.
"The lack of equity in access is a huge barrier that needs to be solved," said Trial Library CEO and founder Dr. Hala Borno. "As a society, we've invested so much into exciting new biotech therapies and we're optimistic that many of these personalized treatments will extend patients' lives. However, there are still many obstacles that exist, and we aim to combat the barriers experienced by all participants in our research ecosystem - the patients, providers and researchers."
"The flow of a more diverse set of patients in trials is an important and measurable outcome that will only come if community oncologists are motivated to participate," said co-founder and Chief Product Officer Steve Buck. "About half of all patients undergoing treatment for cancer rely upon a community oncologist for advice on next steps. If these clinicians are not actively exploring nearby trial opportunities, there's little chance a patient will find out about a trial or go to one on their own. We need to promote engagement with community providers through a combination of better technology and reimbursement opportunities. Trial Library will be the go to for community providers that have been overlooked to date."
Research indicates that 90% of patients and physicians do not participate in oncology clinical trials.1 Trial inclusion and exclusion criteria have become more complex for oncology practices attempting to screen for eligible patients. As a result, participation in trials, especially among community oncology practices, has fallen far down on the list of priorities for oncologists treating patients. A net outcome is that racial and ethnic minorities and women are far less likely to be offered and recruited into clinical trials compared to non-Hispanic white men.2
"There is a renewed need and desire from the major stakeholders in healthcare to start facilitating more inclusive clinical trials, especially as it relates to cancer precision medicine, in order to achieve broader health equity goals," said Deena Shakir, Partner at Lux Capital. "Trial Library's deep understanding of this complex space has enabled them to align on incentives and stakeholders, and build a platform that patients, providers and researchers can trust. For years, Dr. Borno has been my go-to diligence call for all things precision medicine, and I couldn't be more excited to back her and Steve in their effort to take this vision to market."
"Growing up, many of my family members lost hard-fought battles to cancer. It brings joy to my heart to know that we can look to technology, community support, and research to be our superpowers in defeating health inequities and improving clinical outcomes," said Julian Eison, Managing Partner at NEXT VENTŪRES. "We fundamentally believe that Trial Library's strategy of enabling physicians to provide contextually relevant awareness and enrollment pathways is novel and promising. It's been an honor to partner with Dr. Borno and Steve, as their combined experiences represent hope and promise in an industry chock-full of competition."
"The lack of representation in clinical trials has had significant ramifications on the design and outcome of oncology treatments," said Dr. Ivor Horn, an advisor toUnseen Capital. "Trial Library has an incredible potential to tackle the systemic barriers underrepresented individuals face in accessing clinicals trials."
How it Works
Trial Library aims to solve the lack of equity in clinical trial participation in two ways. Initially, Trial Library targets the "first mile" problem by providing fair reimbursement to local, community oncology practices who today are offered little, if any, reimbursement for pre-screening and managing patient referrals to trials. The company reimburses community oncology practices for its time and effort of screening patients for nearby trials. Oncology practices can use the Trial Library website to discover paid pre-screening opportunities and register to participate in a few keystrokes.
Second, Trial Library solves the "last mile" problem by providing patients, many with limited economic means and resources, with navigation support to get to clinical trial sites regardless of distance. The company provides free "Ally" navigator services that are available 24/7 to direct patients to resources for travel, logistics, food, or other support needed. Trial Library also taps into many social determinants of health assessment tools to help personalize support.
Trial Library has support from a host of credible partners including the Association of Community Cancer Centers, UCSF, as well as advisors such as Dr. Alan Ashworth from UCSF, and noted health equity researchers like Dr. Lori Pierce from the University of Michigan and Dr. Robert A. Winn from Virginia Commonwealth University.
About Trial Library
Trial Library is an oncology clinical trials company helping patients, providers, and pharmaceutical sponsors of clinical trials. With an unprecedented level of investment in cancer research that is poised to produce a vast new array of therapeutic options, Trial Library seeks to improve access for all patients right when therapies are available. For more information, visit us at TrialLibrary.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
1 "MAKING THE CASE FOR ONCOLOGY CLINICAL RESEARCH" American Society of Clinical Oncology, May 2020. https://www.asco.org/sites/new-www.asco.org/files/content-files/research-and-progress/documents/2020-ASCO-RCF-MakingCaseOncologyResearch-AtaGlance.pdf
2 "Clinical Trial Enrollment of Racial, Ethnic, and Underrepresented Groups—Leveraging a Digital Infrastructure" JAMA Oncology, August 5, 2021. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaoncology/article-abstract/2782739
Contact:
Hala Borno
hala.borno@triallibrary.com
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SOURCE Trial Library, Inc | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/trial-library-emerges-out-stealth-with-5-million-seed-funding-led-by-lux-capital/ | 2022-08-18T11:04:17Z |
NEW YORK, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Levi & Korsinsky, LLP notifies investors in Tuya Inc. ("Tuya" or the "Company") (NYSE: TUYA) of a class action securities lawsuit.
CLASS DEFINITION: The lawsuit seeks to recover losses on behalf of Tuya investors who were adversely affected by alleged securities fraud. This lawsuit is on behalf of all persons or entities who purchased Tuya American Depositary Shares in or traceable to the Company's March 2021 initial public offering. Follow the link below to get more information and be contacted by a member of our team:
TUYA investors may also contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. via email at jlevi@levikorsinsky.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500.
CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that defendants made false statements and/or concealed that: (a) a material portion of Tuya's China-based customers were engaged in the widespread and systematic manipulation of reviews and product offerings in violation of Amazon.com's terms of use; (b) prior to the initial public offering, a consumer investigation and data breach had exposed an illicit fake review scheme being perpetrated by many of Tuya's clients, among others, which included, inter alia, the exposure of 13 million records of organized fake review scams linked to over 200,000 Amazon account profiles; (c) as a result of (a) and (b) above, there was a substantial risk that a material portion of Tuya's significant customers would be barred from using Amazon.com's platform, negatively impacting Tuya's business, revenue, earnings, and prospects; and (d) as a result of (a)-(c) above, the registration statement's representations regarding Tuya's historical financial and operational metrics and purported market opportunities and expected growth did not accurately reflect the actual business, operations, financial results, and trajectory of the Company at the time of the initial public offering, and such statements were materially false and misleading and lacked a reasonable factual basis.
WHAT'S NEXT? If you suffered a loss in Tuya during the relevant time frame, you have until October 11, 2022 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
NO COST TO YOU: If you are a class member, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket costs or fees. There is no cost or obligation to participate.
WHY LEVI & KORSINSKY: Over the past 20 years, the team at Levi & Korsinsky has secured hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders and built a track record of winning high-stakes cases. Our firm has extensive expertise representing investors in complex securities litigation and a team of over 70 employees to serve our clients. For seven years in a row, Levi & Korsinsky has ranked in ISS Securities Class Action Services' Top 50 Report as one of the top securities litigation firms in the United States.
CONTACT:
Levi & Korsinsky, LLP
Joseph E. Levi, Esq.
Ed Korsinsky, Esq.
55 Broadway, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10006
jlevi@levikorsinsky.com
Tel: (212) 363-7500
Fax: (212) 363-7171
www.zlk.com
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SOURCE Levi & Korsinsky, LLP | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/tuya-lawsuit-alert-levi-amp-korsinsky-notifies-tuya-inc-investors-class-action-lawsuit-upcoming-deadline/ | 2022-08-18T11:04:24Z |
NEW YORK, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Levi & Korsinsky, LLP notifies investors in Unity Software Inc. ("Unity" or the "Company") (NYSE: U) of a class action securities lawsuit.
CLASS DEFINITION: The lawsuit seeks to recover losses on behalf of Unity investors who were adversely affected by alleged securities fraud between March 5, 2021 and May 10, 2022. Follow the link below to get more information and be contacted by a member of our team:
U investors may also contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. via email at jlevi@levikorsinsky.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500.
CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that defendants made false statements and/or concealed that: (i) deficiencies in Unity's product platform reduced the accuracy of the Company's machine learning technology; (ii) the foregoing was likely to have a material negative impact on the Company's revenues; (iii) accordingly, Unity had overstated the Company's commercial and/or financial prospects for 2022; (iv) as a result, the Company was likely to have to reduce its fiscal 2022 guidance; and (v) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
WHAT'S NEXT? If you suffered a loss in Unity during the relevant time frame, you have until September 6, 2022 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
NO COST TO YOU: If you are a class member, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket costs or fees. There is no cost or obligation to participate.
WHY LEVI & KORSINSKY: Over the past 20 years, the team at Levi & Korsinsky has secured hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders and built a track record of winning high-stakes cases. Our firm has extensive expertise representing investors in complex securities litigation and a team of over 70 employees to serve our clients. For seven years in a row, Levi & Korsinsky has ranked in ISS Securities Class Action Services' Top 50 Report as one of the top securities litigation firms in the United States.
CONTACT:
Levi & Korsinsky, LLP
Joseph E. Levi, Esq.
Ed Korsinsky, Esq.
55 Broadway, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10006
jlevi@levikorsinsky.com
Tel: (212) 363-7500
Fax: (212) 363-7171
www.zlk.com
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SOURCE Levi & Korsinsky, LLP | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/u-lawsuit-alert-levi-amp-korsinsky-notifies-unity-software-inc-investors-class-action-lawsuit-upcoming-deadline/ | 2022-08-18T11:04:30Z |
NEW YORK, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Levi & Korsinsky, LLP notifies investors in Weber Inc. ("Weber" or the "Company") (NYSE: WEBR) of a class action securities lawsuit.
CLASS DEFINITION: The lawsuit seeks to recover losses on behalf of Weber investors who were adversely affected by alleged securities fraud. This lawsuit is on behalf of persons and entities that purchased or otherwise acquired Weber Class A common stock pursuant and/or traceable to the registration statement and prospectus issued in connection with the Company's August 2021 initial public offering. Follow the link below to get more information and be contacted by a member of our team:
WEBR investors may also contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. via email at jlevi@levikorsinsky.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500.
CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that defendants made false statements and/or concealed that: (1) Weber was reasonably likely to implement price increases; (2) as a result, consumer demand for Weber's products was reasonably likely to decrease; (3) due to the resulting inventory buildup, Weber was reasonably likely to run promotions to "enhance retail sell through"; (4) the foregoing would adversely impact Weber's financial results; and (5) as a result of the foregoing, defendants' positive statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects, were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.
WHAT'S NEXT? If you suffered a loss in Weber during the relevant time frame, you have until September 27, 2022 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
NO COST TO YOU: If you are a class member, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket costs or fees. There is no cost or obligation to participate.
WHY LEVI & KORSINSKY: Over the past 20 years, the team at Levi & Korsinsky has secured hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders and built a track record of winning high-stakes cases. Our firm has extensive expertise representing investors in complex securities litigation and a team of over 70 employees to serve our clients. For seven years in a row, Levi & Korsinsky has ranked in ISS Securities Class Action Services' Top 50 Report as one of the top securities litigation firms in the United States.
Levi & Korsinsky, LLP
Joseph E. Levi, Esq.
Ed Korsinsky, Esq.
55 Broadway, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10006
jlevi@levikorsinsky.com
Tel: (212) 363-7500
Fax: (212) 363-7171
www.zlk.com
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SOURCE Levi & Korsinsky, LLP | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/webr-lawsuit-alert-levi-amp-korsinsky-notifies-weber-inc-investors-class-action-lawsuit-upcoming-deadline/ | 2022-08-18T11:04:37Z |
NEW YORK, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Levi & Korsinsky, LLP notifies investors in Wells Fargo & Company ("Wells Fargo" or the "Company") (NYSE: WFC) of a class action securities lawsuit.
CLASS DEFINITION: The lawsuit seeks to recover losses on behalf of Wells Fargo investors who were adversely affected by alleged securities fraud. This lawsuit is on behalf of persons and entities that purchased or otherwise acquired Wells Fargo common stock between February 24, 2021 and June 9, 2022. Follow the link below to get more information and be contacted by a member of our team:
WFC investors may also contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. via email at jlevi@levikorsinsky.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500.
CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that defendants made false statements and/or concealed that: (i) Wells Fargo had misrepresented its commitment to diversity in the Company's workplace; (ii) Wells Fargo conducted fake job interviews in order to meet its Diverse Search Requirement; (iii) the foregoing conduct subjected Wells Fargo to an increased risk of regulatory and/or governmental scrutiny and enforcement action, including criminal charges; (iv) all of the foregoing, once revealed, was likely to negatively impact Wells Fargo's reputation; and (v) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
WHAT'S NEXT? If you suffered a loss in Wells Fargo during the relevant time frame, you have until August 29, 2022 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
NO COST TO YOU: If you are a class member, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket costs or fees. There is no cost or obligation to participate.
WHY LEVI & KORSINSKY: Over the past 20 years, the team at Levi & Korsinsky has secured hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders and built a track record of winning high-stakes cases. Our firm has extensive expertise representing investors in complex securities litigation and a team of over 70 employees to serve our clients. For seven years in a row, Levi & Korsinsky has ranked in ISS Securities Class Action Services' Top 50 Report as one of the top securities litigation firms in the United States.
CONTACT:
Levi & Korsinsky, LLP
Joseph E. Levi, Esq.
Ed Korsinsky, Esq.
55 Broadway, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10006
jlevi@levikorsinsky.com
Tel: (212) 363-7500
Fax: (212) 363-7171
www.zlk.com
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SOURCE Levi & Korsinsky, LLP | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/wfc-lawsuit-alert-levi-amp-korsinsky-notifies-wells-fargo-amp-company-investors-class-action-lawsuit-upcoming-deadline/ | 2022-08-18T11:04:44Z |
NEW YORK, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Levi & Korsinsky, LLP notifies investors in 17 Education & Technology Group Inc. ("17EdTech" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: YQ) of a class action securities lawsuit.
CLASS DEFINITION: The lawsuit seeks to recover losses on behalf of 17EdTech investors who were adversely affected by alleged securities fraud. This lawsuit is on behalf of persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired publicly traded 17EdTech securities pursuant and/or traceable to the registration statement and related prospectus issued in connection with 17EdTech's December 2020 initial public offering. Follow the link below to get more information and be contacted by a member of our team:
YQ investors may also contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. via email at jlevi@levikorsinsky.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500.
CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that defendants made false statements and/or concealed that: (1) 17EdTech's K-12 Academic AST Services would end less than a year after the Company's initial public offering; (2) as part of its ongoing regulatory efforts, Chinese authorities would imminently curtail and/or end 17EdTech's core business; and (3) as a result, 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.
WHAT'S NEXT? If you suffered a loss in 17EdTech during the relevant time frame, you have until September 19, 2022 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
NO COST TO YOU: If you are a class member, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket costs or fees. There is no cost or obligation to participate.
WHY LEVI & KORSINSKY: Over the past 20 years, the team at Levi & Korsinsky has secured hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders and built a track record of winning high-stakes cases. Our firm has extensive expertise representing investors in complex securities litigation and a team of over 70 employees to serve our clients. For seven years in a row, Levi & Korsinsky has ranked in ISS Securities Class Action Services' Top 50 Report as one of the top securities litigation firms in the United States.
CONTACT:
Levi & Korsinsky, LLP
Joseph E. Levi, Esq.
Ed Korsinsky, Esq.
55 Broadway, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10006
jlevi@levikorsinsky.com
Tel: (212) 363-7500
Fax: (212) 363-7171
www.zlk.com
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SOURCE Levi & Korsinsky, LLP | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/yq-lawsuit-alert-levi-amp-korsinsky-notifies-17-education-amp-technology-group-inc-investors-class-action-lawsuit-upcoming-deadline/ | 2022-08-18T11:04:50Z |
Jenn Ramirez Robson has been working remotely since the pandemic started.
Now, as more people are returning to the office or offered the choice of working from home, she's still working remotely. But every once in a while, she gets worried about being left out at work.
"All of my meetings are still on Zoom or Teams, but I do feel that sense that I should go into the office at least once a week," says Ramirez Robson, who works at Northwest Center, a disability nonprofit.
In the "new normal" hybrid workplace, are remote and in-person workers going to be treated equally? It's a matter of hot debate right now, with many workers like Ramirez Robson wondering if they would be sacrificing promotions if they choose not to come into the office. One top Wall Street CEO waded right into that conversation.
"If you want a job, stay remote all the time," says Rich Handler, CEO of the investment banking company Jefferies. "If you want a career, engage with the rest of us in the office ... No judgment on which you pick, but don't be surprised or disappointed by certain outcomes."
Handler was responding to a post on Instagram from a widely followed account @wallstreetconfessions, which said that investment banking layoffs were coming and that managers would soon have to judge who was worth keeping. "Now is the time to be visibly value-added — and showing up to the office every day is a big part of that," the post said. It got more than 130 comments and Handler's own comment generated another 40 replies.
It's a hot topic that is starting to generate a lot of anxiety. The pandemic has upended traditional work structures and hybrid options are far more common than they used to be. According to Indeed's Hiring Lab, about 10% of jobs posted on its site in May this year were advertised as remote, more than three times the amount before the pandemic.
"My career isn't the most important thing right now...I want a life"
Several chief executives, including Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and Tesla boss Elon Musk, say going into the office is key to learning, being part of a culture and a higher level of performance. Both want their workers in the office five days a week.
Most career experts agree that there are distinct advantages from more face time and collaboration with coworkers. But some people are willing to give that up for other benefits that they get from working remote, according to Anita Bruzzese, who writes a workplace and career column.
"There are going to be some people who believe the trade-off is worth it, who say my career isn't the most important thing right now," Bruzzese says. "I want to travel, I want a life, I want to train for a marathon, I want to raise my family — so I am willing to make that trade-off."
Others say, why should I be penalized for working from home?
However, some say people shouldn't be penalized for choosing to work from home. Fatimata Cham, a campus recruiting intern at Bloomberg, is working five days a week in the New York office. Her internship didn't offer a remote or hybrid option.
"I think there are a lot of benefits to being in person early on in my career, because I can figure out if this is something I really want to do," she says. "If I'm willing to come in five days for it, like, it must be something I'm passionate about."
Still, Cham says she would be open to taking a remote job later and her career shouldn't suffer because of it. She thinks the pandemic has forced a shift in people's priorities to focus more on wellness. And she doesn't think remote work is going away.
It's important to note there is no one-size-fits-all approach to hybrid work. Many advocates say it depends on what industry they're in. Allen Ishibashi works in real estate for a regional parks district in California. He started working remotely when the pandemic started and found it "fantastic."
"For the nature of work, what I do — which is probably 90% paperwork in the office and 10% out in the field looking at properties — it worked really well for me," he says.
Ishibashi is back in the office three days a week, and he doesn't think it should be harder for him — or any remote worker — to advance in their career.
Penalties may pose a problem in fostering a more diverse workplace
With remote work becoming more widespread during the pandemic, there's no doubt that in some fields it has led to greater flexibility and even more opportunities. People can find jobs outside of their city, and companies can actually increase diversity if they're looking beyond the pool of people who live where the office is. Studies show that a variety of voices leads to a stronger organization.
But there are worries that hybrid policies could hinder efforts at corporate diversity.
Younger people are more likely to want more in-person time than their older colleagues. Women, people of color and working parents are more likely to want to work from home or in a hybrid format, according to a study from January of this year. Disability advocates, like Ramirez Robson, caution that people with disabilities may also be left behind in a hybrid workplace.
"If there's already a skew in who's working remotely — there's a demographic pattern — we want to be extra aware" of dynamics that may be reinforced by any bias for in-person workers, says Heidi Brooks, who teaches at Yale's School of Management.
For some people like Cham, who are early in their careers, remote work can feel isolating. They prefer working in the office so they can easily learn the ins and outs of their roles.
However, people who have established careers and have learned the ropes already tend to find remote work more appealing. That raises the question of whether the careers of these people could stall at a time when they're ready to take on more leadership roles.
'Hybrid guilt' is a thing
Darren Murph, the head of remote at open source software company GitLab, believes the key to mitigating these disparities is to have either everybody or nobody in the office. That way, there's no chance for people who work in person to have better access to information and meetings while remote workers are left out. It also removes what Murph calls "hybrid guilt," where remote workers feel like they should be going into the office.
Nitin Budhiraja felt that way at his last job, where he questioned whether he should be going in, even though he was a remote worker. He worked at an advertising agency that was supportive of remote work. But there was some tension when he found out that one of the senior managers on his team was often in the office.
"That often made me wonder, should I be commuting to the office? Should I be going in?" Budhiraja says.
Sometimes the people who worked in the office would make decisions that he and other remote colleagues found out about later. Budhiraja said it wasn't intentional and the discomfort didn't cause major problems for him at work.
Still, when the opportunity arose to move to a company where everybody was working remotely, he jumped at it. He says remote work has made the quality of his work better, and given him more time to focus on himself and his family.
Murph from GitLab says the conversation focuses too much on where workers physically are, and not on how they're best able to work. He says the question to ask now isn't, "Where are people working," but "How does work happen?"
As for the @wallstreetconfessions Instagram account, it is run by Ri Sharma, who works at the fintech startup Allio Finance. People from the financial industry send in anonymous messages and she chooses what to post on the account, which has 134,000 followers.
Sharma says she direct messaged the Jefferies CEO after his post about looking at working from home versus the office as a choice between a job versus career. She says she understands his point of view as someone who runs a large institution, but she's on the side of people who want to work from home: "I'm personally my most productive when I have the option."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-18/a-new-work-anxiety-will-i-be-penalized-for-working-from-home | 2022-08-18T11:14:31Z |
NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Dr. Ali Khan, public health expert at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and a former CDC official, about the effects of an announced CDC reorganization.
Copyright 2022 NPR
NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Dr. Ali Khan, public health expert at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and a former CDC official, about the effects of an announced CDC reorganization.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-18/a-shake-up-at-the-cdc-is-intended-to-make-it-a-more-nimble-organization | 2022-08-18T11:14:37Z |
Florida awards hunters who capture pythons from the wild, but the challenge has done little to reduce the invasive species impact on the Everglades ecosystem.(Aired on ATC on Aug. 15, 2022.)
Copyright 2022 NPR
Florida awards hunters who capture pythons from the wild, but the challenge has done little to reduce the invasive species impact on the Everglades ecosystem.(Aired on ATC on Aug. 15, 2022.)
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-18/encore-floridas-python-challenge-does-little-to-reduce-the-invasive-species-impact | 2022-08-18T11:14:43Z |
Residents of Sapelo Island reached a deal with McIntosh County, which will pay $2 million in damages and increase services on the island, where descendants of the enslaved have lived for centuries.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Residents of Sapelo Island reached a deal with McIntosh County, which will pay $2 million in damages and increase services on the island, where descendants of the enslaved have lived for centuries.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-18/gullah-geechee-community-reaches-a-deal-with-ga-county-in-a-fight-for-services | 2022-08-18T11:14:49Z |
Voters in an important swing district in Florida are grappling with soaring costs for housing and food. What could these frustrations mean for November midterm elections?
Copyright 2022 NPR
Voters in an important swing district in Florida are grappling with soaring costs for housing and food. What could these frustrations mean for November midterm elections?
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-18/how-inflation-may-influence-voters-in-a-florida-swing-district | 2022-08-18T11:14:55Z |
NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Georgetown University analyst Will Hunt about the semiconductor industry and how the new CHIPS Act could ease both supply constraints and international tensions.
Copyright 2022 NPR
NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Georgetown University analyst Will Hunt about the semiconductor industry and how the new CHIPS Act could ease both supply constraints and international tensions.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-18/how-the-new-chips-act-could-ease-supply-constraints | 2022-08-18T11:15:01Z |
As Russia's war in Ukraine rages on, former Soviet Republics like Latvia plan to destroy Soviet-era monuments. Some believe they should remain as tributes to the fight against Nazis in World War II.
Copyright 2022 NPR
As Russia's war in Ukraine rages on, former Soviet Republics like Latvia plan to destroy Soviet-era monuments. Some believe they should remain as tributes to the fight against Nazis in World War II.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-18/in-latvia-there-is-a-debate-over-whether-soviet-era-monuments-should-be-destroyed | 2022-08-18T11:15:07Z |
NPR's Leila Fadel talks to the Atlantic Council's Ilva Tare about why tensions are rising between Serbia and Kosovo, and NATO's pledge to increase peacekeepers in Kosovo if needed.
Copyright 2022 NPR
NPR's Leila Fadel talks to the Atlantic Council's Ilva Tare about why tensions are rising between Serbia and Kosovo, and NATO's pledge to increase peacekeepers in Kosovo if needed.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-18/in-the-balkans-tensions-escalate-between-serbia-and-kosovo | 2022-08-18T11:15:13Z |
An ex-Trump Organization executive is set to plead guilty to tax fraud. A poll examines how Americans see things at the southern border. The FDA's controversial strategy for evaluating COVID boosters.
Copyright 2022 NPR
An ex-Trump Organization executive is set to plead guilty to tax fraud. A poll examines how Americans see things at the southern border. The FDA's controversial strategy for evaluating COVID boosters.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-18/news-brief-allen-weisselberg-plea-deal-immigration-poll-covid-boosters | 2022-08-18T11:15:20Z |
It was about the size of a dog — it walked on two legs, ate plants and had spiky armored plates on its back — kind of like its distant family member the stegosaurus.
Copyright 2022 NPR
It was about the size of a dog — it walked on two legs, ate plants and had spiky armored plates on its back — kind of like its distant family member the stegosaurus.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-18/scientists-in-argentina-have-unearthed-a-new-kind-of-dinosaur | 2022-08-18T11:15:26Z |
A strong geomagnetic storm will interfere with the earth's magnetic field — making the Northern Lights visible in more areas. The storm could mess with satellites, GPS tracking and the power grid.
Copyright 2022 NPR
A strong geomagnetic storm will interfere with the earth's magnetic field — making the Northern Lights visible in more areas. The storm could mess with satellites, GPS tracking and the power grid.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-18/the-aurora-borealis-may-be-visible-in-the-u-s-northern-tier-this-week | 2022-08-18T11:15:32Z |
The Trump Organization's former CFO is expected to admit to 15 felonies By Steve Inskeep, Andrea Bernstein Published August 18, 2022 at 4:04 AM CDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Listen • 3:55 Longtime Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg is expected to plead guilty on Thursday to a tax fraud scheme in New York. Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-18/the-trump-organizations-former-cfo-is-expected-to-admit-to-15-felonies | 2022-08-18T11:15:38Z |
The crews are working on the front lines to save soldiers wounded by Russian forces. For medics who are volunteers with little training, the danger and emotional costs are high.
Copyright 2022 NPR
The crews are working on the front lines to save soldiers wounded by Russian forces. For medics who are volunteers with little training, the danger and emotional costs are high.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-18/ukraines-ambulance-crews-many-of-them-volunteers-put-their-lives-on-the-line | 2022-08-18T11:15:44Z |
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is using a controversial strategy to evaluate the next generation of COVID-19 boosters.
The approach is stirring debate as the agency works to make new, hopefully improved, boosters available in September to help prevent severe disease and save lives in the fall and winter.
For the first time, the FDA is planning to base its decision about whether to authorize new boosters on studies involving mice instead of humans.
"For the FDA to rely on mouse data is just bizarre, in my opinion," says John Moore, an immunologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York. "Mouse data are not going to be predictive in any way of what you would see in humans."
But others defend the approach, arguing that the country has had enough experience with the vaccines at this point to be confident the shots are safe and that there's not enough time to wait for data from human studies.
"We have 500 people a day dying of coronavirus right now. Those numbers sadly might very well rise in the fall and the winter. The question is: 'Can we do something better?'" says Dr. Ofer Levy, a pediatrics and infectious disease researcher at Harvard Medical School who also advises the FDA. "And I think the answer is: 'We can, by implementing this approach.'"
The U.K. just approved a new booster
The United Kingdom just approved a new booster that targets both the original strain of the virus and the original omicron variant, called BA.1 — a so-called bivalent vaccine.
But the FDA rejected BA.1 bivalent boosters last spring. Instead, the FDA told the vaccine companies that make the mRNA vaccines, Moderna and Pfizer and BioNTech, to develop bivalent vaccines that target the dominant omicron subvariants — BA.4 and BA.5 — in the hopes they will offer stronger, longer-lasting protection.
That's why the FDA decided to use a new, streamlined strategy for testing the new boosters. The agency is asking the companies to initially submit only the results of tests on mice. Regulators will rely on those results, along with the human neutralizing antibody data from the BA.1 bivalent booster studies, to decide whether to authorize the boosters.
The companies will continue to gather more data from human studies; those results probably won't be available until late October or early November.
But the big concern is the boosters may not work as well as the mouse data might suggest. Mouse experiments are notoriously unreliable.
And with the government telling people not to get the old boosters now and rejecting the first bivalent vaccines, the FDA really needs good evidence that the BA.4/5 boosters are in fact better, critics say.
"We need to make sure that we have solid immunogenicity data in people to show that you have a dramatically greater neutralizing antibody response against BA.4, BA.5," says Dr. Paul Offit of the University of Pennsylvania, who also advises the FDA. "I think anything short of that is not acceptable."
Some also worry that the approach may further erode the long-faltering efforts to persuade people to get boosted.
"I think it would be good to have neutralizing antibody data in a small group of humans," says Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease researcher at the University of California, San Francisco. "Otherwise, extrapolation may be considered too great."
But others agree the time constraints mean the country can't wait for more evidence. The billions of people who have gotten Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccines show how safe they are, those experts say.
The new booster will be identical to the original vaccines except it will contain genetic coding for two versions of the protein the virus uses to infect cells — the protein from the original vaccine and proteins from the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron subvariants.
And some scientists say health officials know enough about how vaccines work to start handling the COVID-19 vaccines like the flu vaccines, which are changed every year to try to match whatever strains are likely to be circulating but aren't routinely tested again every year.
"We're going to use all of these data that we've learned through not only from this vaccine but decades of viral immunology to say: 'The way to be nimble is that we're going to do those animal studies," says Deepta Bhattacharya, an immunobiologist at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson. "We're really not going out too far on a limb here."
The companies are expected to submit their data to the FDA by the end of the month and the administration hopes to make millions of doses of the new boosters available starting in September.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-18/whats-behind-the-fdas-controversial-strategy-for-evaluating-new-covid-boosters | 2022-08-18T11:15:50Z |
The bond includes four propositions that cover funding for infrastructure repairs, instructional technology, new school buses and safety and security upgrades.
- Proposition A would provide funding for renovations, safety and security upgrades, infrastructure, transportation, fine arts, technology infrastructure, campus athletics, and innovation programs. It costs about $1.2 billion.
- Proposition B would pay for instructional technology and costs around $173 million.
- Proposition C would fund the Plano ISD event center, which cost $130 million.
- Proposition D covers athletic stadium renovations, which would cost around $19 million.
Plano ISD school board member Lauren Tyra said the school district needs the funding from this bond in order to outperform other districts in Collin County — not just meet them at their level.
“I don’t want to be comparable,” Tyra said. “I want to be excellent.”
Johnny Hill is the district's deputy superintendent that oversees financial services. He said the proposed bond is catching up on funding for the district's needs, so future bonds should be lower.
“I do not feel like bonds going forward will be the magnitude of this one…if we’re able to successfully go through this,” Hill said.
Hill said the next bond proposal wouldn't be for another six or seven years if voters approve the bond on the ballot in November.
Got a tip? Email Caroline Love at clove@kera.org.
Caroline Love is a Report For America corps member for KERA News.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you. | https://www.keranews.org/news/2022-08-18/plano-isd-proposes-1-5-billion-bond-package | 2022-08-18T11:15:51Z |
As he often does when the weather's decent, Pete Seeger recently played a free show outdoors in Beacon, N.Y. A few dozen people packed around the stage that held Seeger, his ever-present banjo and a small band; a group of kids in red T-shirts clustered down in front, singing along. The emcee for the afternoon was Susan Wright, the music teacher at Beacon Elementary School, where Seeger visits regularly.
"Friday, he came in and we worked with the kids," Wright says. "He's kind of like having a great elder musician-historian come to visit — a combination grandfather and Santa Claus, but really skinny. They know, when he comes, we're gonna sing together. We're gonna do stuff together. They really get him."
Seeger has been singing for anyone who'll hear him throughout what he refuses to call his "career." There's good reason for that, says David Bernz, who produced two new Seeger albums.
"Almost every time that Pete interacted with the mass media, on some level they spit him back," Bernz says. "The Almanacs [Seeger's 1940s folk group], they got on the radio, and then immediately, people criticized their politics and they were off. The Weavers were on the radio; they got blacklisted. He gets a Columbia Records contract, but then he finds out they're keeping his records in the warehouse. [Network executives behind] the Smothers Brothers want to edit him out.
"The great thing about Pete is ... he would never let that stop him," Bernz says. "He sang at every little church, little school, summer camp, gathering — year in, year out, to kids and adults alike. And when you look back on it after these decades, you realize that Pete has been heard."
Woody's Way
Tall and lean, in faded Levi's and corduroy shirt, Pete Seeger still pretty much looks like he did when the young Harvard dropout met the man who helped him find his life's work: Woody Guthrie.
"I was working in Washington, D.C., at the time with Alan Lomax, the folklorist," Seeger says. "And in Alan's house I met Woody, and he found that I could follow him in any song he played. I had a good ear and I stayed in tune, played the right chord, didn't play anything too fancy. So pretty soon, I was tagging along with him."
Seeger says Guthrie taught him not only lots of songs but also how to play in saloons, get paid first, how to ride the rails — carefully — and that no matter the consequences, to stick with your beliefs.
In a spoken-word track on his new Guthrie tribute album, Pete Remembers Woody, Seeger tells the story of Guthrie's famous slogan.
"He went through WWII with a piece of cardboard pasted to the top of his guitar: 'This machine kills fascists,' " Seeger says on the recording. "He really wanted his guitar to help win the war against Hitler. When Woody went into a hospital in 1952 ... I put something similar on my banjo: 'This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.' "
'We'd Like People To Sing Our Songs'
Seeger has written that on every banjo he's had since then, including the one he used to compose the tunes on his other new album, A More Perfect Union, which features the guitarist Lorre Wyatt.
"I occasionally get together with a good songwriter and work with him or her, because I can't do what I want all myself," Seeger says. "I knew Lorre Wyatt when he was in his early 20s."
Wyatt is now in his 60s and occasionally makes the four-hour drive from his home in Massachusetts to Seeger's place, which overlooks the Hudson River. He recalls the genesis of their recent collaboration, a phone conversation in which Seeger unwittingly spun a poetic line.
"Pete called up one time — this was a couple winters ago, when it was a really hard winter and [he was] running low on wood," Wyatt says. "He said to me, 'The elm, you skip; it's the devil to split. Stick with maple, ash and oak.' And I grabbed my pen, and we continued to talk about wood."
Like the wood Seeger still splits, most of the songs he's written come from his life. On the new album with Wyatt, there's one about cats howling for their supper, a song about old apples, and another another about the Hudson River, whose preservation has become Seeger's latest cause. Though his voice is a little lower now, the key to the songs remains the same: Make the lyrics accessible, and try to keep the words no more than two syllables long.
"We'd like people to sing our songs. We don't want a melody that's so difficult, an ordinary person couldn't sing it," Seeger says. "I think Lorre and I would agree 100 percent on that."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2012-10-27/at-93-pete-seeger-keeps-the-fire-burning-low | 2022-08-18T11:23:13Z |
More than 50 million children are slowly returning to classrooms for the new school year — the third year in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic.
If the first year was defined by widespread school closures, and the second by bitter fights over masking, what stories will define this year?
For answers, we went to one of the earliest districts to open this summer.
Hot butter
Jackson Public Schools serve more than twenty thousand students in Mississippi's capital city. In August, walking feels like swimming in hot butter. The grits, though, are incredible because they're swimming in hot butter.
At North Jackson Elementary, kindergarteners line up outside as teachers and staff crowd the curbs in bright orange tee-shirts, cheering families and handing out stickers to students to make clear how they'll be getting home: bus or car.
Nearly all children arrive wearing cloth masks; Jackson was unusual last year in that it required them. This year, though, masks are optional.
The Jackson district's superintendent, Errick Greene, hurries across the street in a forest-green and blue plaid jacket. Bald on top with a sharp, frosted beard, Dr. Greene, as he's known to students and staff, moves like a man on fire.
His harried schedule for the week includes stops at 26 of the district's schools.
Welcome to the national labor shortage
Inside North Jackson Elementary, Greene pops in and out of classrooms.
In one first-grade room, he jokes with the children.
"Good morning! Is this second grade?"
"No!" the students respond, giggling. Greene is a serious man with serious things on his mind, and the kids clearly enjoy watching him play the fool.
"Third grade?" he asks.
"First grade!" the children answer, savoring the chance to correct their teacher's boss' boss.
At her desk, 6-year-old M'Lyah colors, gripping a blue crayon between her newly painted orange and glittery-silver fingernails.
"Look at that. You're better than me," Greene laughs.
At all four of the day's stops, Greene not only meets with teachers and scholars (that's what he calls the students), but also custodians and cafeteria workers.
"I know this is a big job," he tells one custodian, who shyly responds, "It's all in a day's work."
This is when the story in Jackson, and the challenges its educators and families face this year, starts to feel like the story of so many districts right now.
The tight labor market has meant custodians, bus drivers and cafeteria workers can often find better wages elsewhere.
So Greene makes sure his staff feel valued.
"Listen, I know you got it," Greene tells the custodian, "but I want you to know that we see you."
'Not today, Satan'
Jackson, like many big-city districts, struggles with poverty.
One in three families here with a student in the public schools lives below the poverty line, and most students qualify for food assistance at school.
After the district attempted to desegregate, around 1970, white families left in droves, for private schools or the suburbs.
Today, Confederate General Robert E. Lee's face still adorns the school district's central office building, even as 95% of Jackson students are Black.
The city's aging water system is a slow-motion disaster and already complicating Greene's urgent plans. Many school water fountains are taped off, the water regularly under a boil warning.
During the first week of classes, every school is given bottled water, and several schools barely have enough water pressure to flush their toilets.
Jackson's school buildings also need constant repair.
"I had to do something," says science teacher Tanya Fortenberry who, when her classroom air conditioner broke, built her own out of styrofoam.
"I put, like, 10 to 12 bottles of water in the freezer, put 'em in there. This little fan here blows the air out," she says. "Right now it's not working 'cause the ice has melted, but in the morning it's pretty cool!"
Fortenberry wears a lanyard with a pin that captures the mood of so many educators and families in Jackson right now. It says, "Not Today Satan."
"We're gonna get it done," Fortenberry explains. "Throw all your wrenches at us if you want to, you know? No air conditioner? That's alright, we're gonna work through it, you know? Not today Satan."
The good news is, Jackson is getting help.
A bond measure allowed the district to renovate all of its high school libraries in the past two years, adding comfortable, welcoming furniture and coffee stations for students.
Congress also sent the district more than $200 million dollars in pandemic aid.
Superintendent Greene says he'll spend nearly a third of that on building upgrades, including new H-VAC in six of his seven high schools.
"You know, a sizeable chunk. [I'm] thankful that we've got it. Unfortunate that we've got to spend it on [facilities]."
Greene would rather spend those federal dollars on learning.
The pandemic's academic fallout
As in many big-city school districts, most Jackson students spent the entire 2020-'21 school year learning online — or trying to. When students returned to buildings in fall of '21, test scores showed proficiency levels had plummeted.
In 2019, before the pandemic, roughly 27% of Jackson students were at or above grade level in English Language Arts. After a year of online learning, that dropped to just 18%.
LaTosha Bew-Cancer saw the backsliding firsthand as a second-grade teacher last year.
"I had children in second grade [reading] on a kindergarten level, and it was difficult," says Bew-Cancer. "Although they may not have made it to be second-grade probable readers, they did grow. And that was the goal."
The story in math was even worse. In 2019, nearly 24% of Jackson students were at or above grade level. After a year of online learning, just 9% were.
So last year, Greene and his team did what many schools across the U.S. were doing: Everything they could. Most importantly, they carved dedicated blocks of time into students' daily schedules for academic intervention.
Students who needed help catching up in math or reading got it, either from classroom teachers or dedicated interventionists.
Preliminary data from last spring suggest the push made a big difference: Proficiency levels are nearly back to where they were before the pandemic.
Of course, those levels are still low, and Superintendent Greene knows he needs to keep pushing if the district is to make its turnaround goals.
'We're hopeful'
Greene arrived in Jackson five years ago, after helping manage the schools in Tulsa. He agreed to lead the city's troubled district out of academic and administrative crisis, after Mississippi leaders threatened a state takeover.
Today, Jackson is in the fourth year of a five-year turnaround plan; Greene's success or failure to meet the plan's lofty goals will be his legacy.
Unfortunately, no one imagined a pandemic when those goals were set.
"We've got a ways to go. But we're hopeful we'll continue to make some pretty big leaps," Greene says from a conference room in the district's central office.
Making those leaps will mean asking even more of Jackson's teachers. And some are still exhausted from the past few years.
"I'm constantly encouraging [teachers], 'Please don't leave. I'm begging you not to leave,' " says Akemi Stout, president of the Jackson chapter of the American Federation of Teachers. "The extra hours. Oh, my gosh. I've had so many phone calls about that just since [the school year started]."
The state's governor recently signed a big teacher pay raise, which should help the district hold onto some of the teachers it loses every year to better wages in neighboring states.
Bew-Cancer, who's teaching third grade this year, says she's ready for the challenges of this new year — and hopeful, like Greene.
"We had a writing exercise today, and it was difficult to look at. We have work to do, but I'm optimistic," Bew-Cancer says, because the students tried. "I'm ready for this year. I'm excited."
'COVID is still here'
Perhaps the biggest question facing the educators and families of Jackson, and the rest of the country this school year, is emotional: How are they feeling about returning to school with COVID refusing to go away?
"I'm a good mom, but I'm not a good teacher," laughs Colandra Moore after walking her 10-year-old son to class. Translation: She's thrilled that school has started and that there seems little chance of the district going remote again.
Jackson Public Schools was unusual in that it required masks all of last year and still allowed some students to work remotely. This year, it's doing neither.
Latrenda Owens says she lost a cousin to COVID and that her son, a ninth-grader, is still going to wear his mask.
"Because COVID is still here. I mean, I know some have they feelings about it, but my thing is, vaccinated or not, it's still here. So why not still have them wear masks. Why not still have them protect themselves."
Jackson's schools are also focusing on other ways to protect students — not just from COVID but from the emotional toll it's taken.
'I felt like she was an angel on earth'
The district has a relatively new social-emotional learning program, with teachers starting every day checking in with kids and working with them to name and manage their fears and frustrations.
And staff are paying special attention to students who've lost a loved one.
"Maybe my younger kids would draw pictures about that loved one and tell me some special things about them," says elementary school counselor Tiffany Johnson, who set up a grief group for students last year.
One little girl, who lost her mother to COVID, liked to visit Johnson's office and play with a tower of brightly-painted Jenga blocks.
"I told her, that's kinda like your emotions sometimes: Everything could be perfect and the Jenga looks perfect now, but once we start to pull and move things, then, you know, something happens. Everything's gonna fall. But guess what, we can build it back up again."
Fifteen-year-old Makalin Odie and her 17-year-old sister, Alana, lost their mother to COVID early in the pandemic.
"To me, can't nobody compare to my mom. Can't nobody come close to her," Makalin says.
"I would sneak in her bed at night, lay up under her," Alana remembers. "I was just very, very attached to her. She'll do anything for the people that she love. Even the people that she don't know, she'll do anything for them. I felt like she was an angel on earth."
Makalin says she got help last year with her grief from a counselor at school, and this year, she says, she feels ready to put herself out there in a way she didn't feel comfortable last year, trying out for track and maybe even soccer.
"I mean, sometimes I'd just get a burst of anger, and I'd have to let it out. Or I'd just cry," Makalin says. "Or sometimes I just don't even wanna get up, I just wanna sleep all day. But then I have to get up and go. I just gotta. I gotta do it."
No one thinks this new school year will be easy, but resilience, like Makalin's, abounds in Jackson, along with a hopefulness for what the year could be.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-18/as-a-new-year-starts-schools-prepare-for-fewer-masks-more-learning-and-joy | 2022-08-18T11:31:55Z |
As Sri Lanka negotiates an IMF bailout, another creditor waits in the wings: China. Beijing has funded infrastructure on the island, and it is poised to invest more. That makes the West nervous.
Copyright 2022 NPR
As Sri Lanka negotiates an IMF bailout, another creditor waits in the wings: China. Beijing has funded infrastructure on the island, and it is poised to invest more. That makes the West nervous.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-18/chinas-ties-with-sri-lanka-raise-concerns-about-control-of-global-trade | 2022-08-18T11:32:01Z |
An ex-Trump Organization executive is set to plead guilty to tax fraud. A poll examines how Americans see things at the southern border. The FDA's controversial strategy for evaluating COVID boosters.
Copyright 2022 NPR
An ex-Trump Organization executive is set to plead guilty to tax fraud. A poll examines how Americans see things at the southern border. The FDA's controversial strategy for evaluating COVID boosters.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-18/news-brief-allen-weisselberg-plea-deal-immigration-poll-covid-boosters | 2022-08-18T11:32:07Z |
It was about the size of a dog — it walked on two legs, ate plants and had spiky armored plates on its back — kind of like its distant family member the stegosaurus.
Copyright 2022 NPR
It was about the size of a dog — it walked on two legs, ate plants and had spiky armored plates on its back — kind of like its distant family member the stegosaurus.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-18/scientists-in-argentina-have-unearthed-a-new-kind-of-dinosaur | 2022-08-18T11:32:14Z |
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Nearly two dozen states have moved to restrict abortion or ban it altogether since the reversal of Roe v. Wade — meaning more people, especially those with low incomes and from marginalized communities, will be forced to carry unwanted pregnancies to term.
So are states prepared to pay for the infrastructure needed to support these parents and children? The data paints a grim picture for many families: Mothers and children in states with the toughest abortion restrictions tend to have less access to health care and financial assistance, as well as worse health outcomes.
Stuart Butler, a senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution, calls the end of Roe "a double whammy" for people who live in these states, which are mostly in the South.
"They are far less likely to have assistance for themselves and their children, and they are far less likely to have health care available to them when they are pregnant and for their children," he tells Morning Edition. "And that means that there's going to be not only more hardship, but greater health problems and maternal deaths and so on ... unless there is a fundamental change in political behavior in those states."
As NPR has reported, a large body of research shows that being denied an abortion limits peoples' education, time in the workforce and wages, with the economic consequences extending well into the lives of their children. One groundbreaking project called The Turnaway Study spent a decade comparing the experiences of people who had abortions with those who wanted abortions but were denied them, and found that those who were denied treatment experienced worse economic and mental health outcomes than those who received care.
Dr. Diana Greene Foster, the demographer behind the study, told NPR in May that the findings show that pregnant people who are unable to get a safe, legal abortion and end up carrying the pregnancy to term will experience long-term physical and economic harm.
"We haven't become a more generous country that supports low-income mothers," she added. "And so those outcomes are still the outcomes that people will experience when they are denied a wanted abortion."
Republican opposition has prevented Congress from passing nationwide measures like federally protected family leave and an extended child tax credit that would expand the social safety net, leaving various forms of support for low-income and vulnerable families up to each state.
Abortion access is now up to states too, after the Supreme Court's ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. The case challenged a Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, which a lower court had ruled unconstitutional. As of mid-August, 14 states have banned abortions entirely, and nearly a dozen others have moved to do the same.
Even before the Dobbs ruling, the 14 states with the most restrictive abortion laws had the worst maternal and child health outcomes in the country, according to an amicus brief filed on behalf of Jackson Women's Health Organization by the American Public Health Association (APHA), the Guttmacher Institute, the Center for U.S. Policy and hundreds of public health scholars and professionals.
The brief cites poorer maternal and child health outcomes across existing risk measures, including mistimed and unwanted pregnancy, low infant birth weight, infant mortality, child poverty and adverse childhood experiences. (It also notes that Mississippi — at the center of the Dobbs case — ranked last in the Commonwealth Fund's 2020 composite score for health system performances on measures including "overall preventable mortality" and "children without appropriate preventive care.")
These findings are echoed in similar analyses by Evaluating Priorities, the Brookings Institution, the Associated Press, the New York Times and others.
NPR looked at indicators related to maternal and infant health outcomes, as well as policies states have in place to support families, in the 14 states with abortion bans in effect as of early August: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin. Here's what the data show.
It's harder to get health insurance
Many of the states with abortion bans are the same ones that have chosen not to expand their Medicaid programs, leaving many people without any affordable health insurance options.
A brief refresher: A provision in the Affordable Care Act expanded Medicaid to nearly all American adults with household incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level, making millions of people newly eligible for coverage. But a 2012 Supreme Court ruling left it up to each state to decide whether to participate.
Thirty-nine states and Washington, D.C., have adopted the Medicaid expansion to date, according to a tracker from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Twelve have not. That creates a coverage gap, leaving more than 2 million Americans without health insurance options because they make too much money to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to be able to get subsidized private coverage in the Affordable Care Act marketplaces.
The 12 states that have not expanded Medicaid are: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Eight of them have banned abortion already, while at least two others are attempting to do so.
Medicaid currently finances about 42% of U.S. births. It also covers a majority of births for people with low incomes, amounting to millions of births annually, says Dr. Laurie Zephyrin, an OB-GYN who leads the maternal health work at the Commonwealth Fund.
And Medicaid coverage provides access to all sorts of invaluable services for people of reproductive age, she adds, from prenatal care and case management services to births, doula services and some postpartum care, traditionally up to 60 days after birth.
A provision of the 2021 American Rescue Plan gives all states the option to extend Medicaid postpartum care to up to 12 months after birth. As of mid-August, 33 states and Washington, D.C., either have implemented or plan to implement that extension, according to a tracker from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Abortion restrictive states are less likely to do so, Zephyrin tells NPR.
There's more child poverty
Abortion ban states have some of the highest child poverty rates in the nation, according to a tracker from the Center for American Progress based on U.S. Census data.
Mississippi is the worst-ranked state, coming in at No. 51 with a child poverty rate of 27.9% — meaning that more than one in four children in Mississippi lives in poverty.
More than half of the states in the bottom 10 for child poverty have banned abortion: Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, South Carolina, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Mississippi.
The notable outlier is New Mexico, which has the third worst child poverty rate in the country but no major abortion restrictions (and is already seeing an influx of patients from Texas and other nearby states).
More than 150 economists wrote in a Supreme Court amicus brief that access to legal abortion has led to lower rates of children in poverty, as well as mothers attaining higher levels of education and professional occupations. Researchers have drawn those conclusions by comparing the experiences of pregnant people in states that loosened abortion restrictions in the 1960s, compared to those in states that did not.
People who seek abortions are more likely to be living below the poverty line, to already have children and to be experiencing a disruptive life event, all factors that can make it difficult to care for a child, Isabel Sawhill and Morgan Welch of the Brookings Institution pointed out in a recent blog post.
They write that adverse consequences for people who were denied a wanted abortion include financial hardship and health complications as well as, in certain cases, the need to raise a child alone or remain in abusive relationships, all of which will impact their child's well-being as well as their own.
More babies are born with low birth weight
One measure of infant health is how much a baby weighs at birth.
Low birth weight is defined as when a baby is born weighing less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces. It is most often the result of preterm birth or fetal growth restriction, though there are numerous medical and environmental risk factors.
While some babies with low birth weight are healthy despite their size, others can experience serious health problems, as the nonprofit March of Dimes explains. Some of those may require immediate treatment in the newborn intensive care unit, like brain bleeding or breathing problems, while other conditions could present later in life, such as diabetes and intellectual or developmental disabilities.
CDC data shows that many of the states with the toughest abortion restrictions are also the ones with the highest rates of low birth weight. Five of the bottom six states — Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Louisiana — have abortion bans in place, while Wyoming's near-total abortion ban is delayed by court order.
The problem is especially pervasive among communities of color, with Black babies much more likely than others to weigh less than they should at birth. For comparison, about 1 in 7 Black babies in the U.S. have low birth weight, compared to roughly 1 in 14 white babies.
Some researchers have explored a direct connection between states' reproductive rights and rates of low birth weight: One 2020 UCLA study found that women living in states with the least restrictive reproductive rights policies had a 7% lower risk of having a child with a low birth rate, and that Black women in those states had an 8% lower risk.
Looking at birth outcomes more broadly, CDC data from 2020 shows that states with abortion restrictions also tend to be the ones with the highest infant mortality rates. More than half of the 10 states with the highest infant mortality rates already have abortion bans in place (Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, South Dakota and Ohio). West Virginia has a law banning abortion after 20 weeks, though a judge has blocked enforcement of a ban from 1849.
Pregnant people have less access to care, which threatens their safety
Access to quality maternity care is crucial to the health of mothers and their babies, but is lacking in many parts of the country — and especially in states with restrictive abortion laws.
A 2020 March of Dimes report found that some 2.2 million women of childbearing age live in maternity care deserts, or places where there is no hospital offering obstetric care, no birth center and no obstetric provider. Another 4.8 million live in counties with limited access to maternity care.
An analysis from Stacker.com used federal data to calculate which percentage of a state's population lives in counties without access to maternal care, in line with March of Dimes' definition. The highest was Mississippi, where 23.5% of the population lives in a maternal care desert.
All told, eight out of the 10 states with the most people living in maternity care deserts have abortion bans: Mississippi, South Dakota, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Alabama, Kentucky and Louisiana. Within the top 15, two other states — Idaho and North Dakota — have abortion bans pending — and another two — Iowa and West Virginia — have bans on hold.
And that lack of maternity care, whether due to lack of services or barriers to accessing it, poses a huge risk. People who do not get prenatal care are five times more likely to die of pregnancy-related causes than those who do, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
The U.S. as a whole already struggles with maternal mortality, an issue that's been exacerbated by the pandemic and disproportionately affects people of color.
Even before the Supreme Court overturned Roe, states with more restrictive abortion policies tended to have higher maternal mortality rates, according to data from the CDC.
And a growing body of research has underscored the explicit connection between abortion laws and maternal mortality. For instance, a 2020 study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that states that enacted laws to restrict abortions based on gestation age increased their maternal mortality rate by 38%.
"We have data already that in the U.S. healthcare system, there's failure to support the health of women and pregnant people and ensure reproductive health outcomes, particularly for Black and brown communities, for low-income communities, for people living in underserved areas," says Zephyrin, of the Commonwealth Fund. Abortion bans are "another piece that we're adding on top of these already existing structural risks and fragility."
There's less financial support for families and children
It's also important to look at what policies and forms of assistance states have in place to support families and children after they're born.
Many of the most restrictive abortion states make it harder for families to get cash assistance, take time away from work, earn a living wage and access affordable childcare, among other factors.
That's no coincidence, says Elizabeth Lower-Basch, the director of the income and work supports team at the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP). She tells NPR that while many of these states are reluctant to raise taxes or spend more money on social programs (which she says in itself is a legacy of institutional racism), they support banning abortion because – at least until the Dobbs ruling – it was largely symbolic, free of costs as well as consequences.
"Supporting childcare, supporting better prenatal care, supporting better schools, all that actually costs money," she says. "Voting for an abortion ban, you don't need to pay for it in the state budget even if it is going to drive up your healthcare or other costs."
One clear example: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, is harder to come by — both in terms of amount and availability — in states with restrictive abortion policies. (The federal government gives states grants to provide low-income families with financial assistance and other support services, and leaves funding allocation and eligibility for cash assistance largely up to states to decide.)
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities measures this with its "TANF-to-poverty ratio" (TPR), which calculates how many out of every 100 families in poverty receive TANF assistance each year. In a brief released earlier this year, it said that nationwide number had reached its lowest point in history in 2020 and pointed to states where access is especially limited.
Seven of the 14 states with the lowest TPR's (of 10 or less) have abortion bans, while several others have bans pending or on hold. The worst-ranking states are Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas, where four out of every 100 families in poverty have access to TANF.
The Center also tracks what percentage of TANF funds each state gives as cash benefits directly to lowest-income families. That number tends to be lower in abortion-restrictive states.
Research associate Diana Azevedo-McCaffrey tells NPR over email that some states, especially those that spend less on basic assistance, use a sizable amount of TANF funds on "other areas," including after-school programs, youth and children services and short-term benefits to help families in crisis situations.
"While these are worthy and important investments, states should use funding sources other than federal and state TANF funds for them — particularly when states spend so little on providing cash assistance and supporting work for families with the lowest incomes," Azevedo-McCaffrey added.
Fifteen states spent 10% or less of their TANF funds on basic assistance in 2020, the Center found. Six of them (Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas) have banned abortions, while two others (Indiana and North Dakota) have bans pending.
"Cash assistance almost might as well not exist in some of these states, it is so hard to access," Lower-Basch adds.
She said in states with such low benefit levels, and so many hoops to jump through, people may decide it's not worth the effort or insult to their dignity to apply in the first place. Some require people to apply to a certain number of jobs before considering their applications, and Lower-Basch notes that in today's economy, someone can find a job during that process and no longer be eligible for TANF, even if their salary is low.
And making a low salary is not an unlikely scenario, especially in restrictive states. Only eight of the 24 states that have banned or are likely to ban abortion have minimum wages above the federal level of $7.25 per hour, Lower-Basch says. She also notes that none of the states that have banned abortion have paid family and medical leave programs — only 11 states and Washington, D.C., do.
In fact, North Dakota passed a law last year banning cities and counties from enacting local paid family leave laws. Lawmakers in the abortion ban states of Oklahoma and Tennessee have introduced — but not passed — such legislation.
Lack of paid leave can pose a sizable problem for working parents, especially if they need to find and pay for childcare for their kids not yet in school. Six states have no publicly funded prekindergarten programs at all — including Idaho, Indiana, South Dakota and Wyoming, which have either banned or moved to ban abortion.
Lower-Basch says that while the trends are "most glaring" in certain states, the U.S. as a whole is not doing enough to support families with children.
What can people do?
The data doesn't look promising for people forced to carry unwanted pregnancies in abortion-restrictive states. So what options do they have, and what can lawmakers and reproductive rights advocates do?
Lower-Basch says there is very little evidence that people are moving to states to get better economic benefits and opportunities, particularly if they want to stay close to family or don't have the money or resources to move.
Zephyrin of the Commonwealth Fund agrees, noting that the most marginalized groups are those that will feel the effects of abortion bans the hardest.
"We're assuming that people that are most affected have the resources — the time, money — to be able to up and travel to another state, and I don't think that's a realistic or fair expectation," she says. "There's also an importance to think bottom-up in terms of what are ways to get resources to people, to communities on the ground so that some of these impacts can be mitigated."
That work can include helping people access abortion funds to have more decision-making power over their own bodies, as well as investing in community organizations and health care infrastructure on the ground. There are also top-down solutions, like conducting research and changing policies.
There's also voting, Lower-Basch adds, noting that many of these states are "not as red as their legislatures" in part due to gerrymandering and voter suppression.
Abortion is shaping up to be a major issue this midterm election season. Kansans recently voted resoundingly to keep abortion legal, but lawmakers elsewhere have campaigned on the false notion that Democrats support abortion until the moment of birth.
Zephyrin stresses the need for urgency.
"We can't sit in our doom and gloom while people are just experiencing these inequitable outcomes," she says. "We have to act, and we have to act now."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-18/states-with-the-toughest-abortion-laws-have-the-weakest-maternal-supports-data-shows | 2022-08-18T11:32:20Z |
Men who have sex with men are still, overwhelmingly, the people most affected by monkeypox, according to the World Health Organization. And that's caused some hurdles when it comes to public health messaging about how people can protect themselves. Everything from what we call the virus to offering advice on preventing transmission runs the risk of further stigmatizing gay and bisexual men.
But experts said that in spite of that risk, it's important to keep sex at the front and center of the monkeypox conversation.
"You have to be specific about who's actually at risk, and what are the transmission routes," said epidemiologist Chris Beyrer, incoming director of Duke Global Health Institute.
While it is possible to get monkeypox through ways besides sex, such as touching fabrics that have been used by someone with monkeypox, those instances remain extremely rare. So far in the current outbreak, sexual contact between men remains the primary mode of transmission, which is important to keep in mind, especially during a shortage of vaccines. "In a period of vaccine scarcity, you have to try and use vaccines, to interrupt chains of transmissions," said Beyrer. "It's important to try and contain the outbreak by getting higher rates of population immunity in the networks where this is spreading."
One of the biggest public health challenges has been limiting risky behavior involving sex, said Beyrer. That is, advising queer and gay people to reduce the number of sexual partners and avoid close contact with strangers.
Messaging which harkens back to the messaging of the early HIV/AIDS.
"And people found it to have some kind of elements of homophobia, and anti-sex when sexuality is a very big part of identity," said Beyrer.
How To Have Sex In An Epidemic
Jennifer Brier is a historian of HIV/AIDS at the University of Illinois Chicago. As the debates over how to talk about monkeypox went around – such as does monkeypox count as an STI? How should we think about bad-faith actors calling it a "gay disease" – she pointed back at one of the formative texts of public health, titled How to Have Sex in an Epidemic. Written by two men Michael Callen and Richard Berkowitz, in response to a dearth of information coming from the government.
While the booklet contained direct and detailed information about the dangers of sex during the HIV/AIDS crisis, it first started as a screed titled "We Know Who We Are: Two Gay Men Declare War on Promiscuity."
"And people went banana pants at that article," said Brier. "Like, 'you're attacking gay liberation, that's who we are.' And I understand that at some level. But they were also trying to figure out a model of harm reduction before it existed."
It's a playbook people are still learning lessons from today. Nick Diamond is a co-investigator with RESPND-MI, a community-driven effort to anonymously collect data on sexual networks among queer and trans people in New York City. And in July, in response to a dearth of information about monkeypox from local, state and federal officials, Diamond co-wrote a document titled "Six Ways We Can Have Safer Sex in the Time of Monkeypox."
"I'll be the first to say that we have been leaning on activists from the AIDS response to develop these actions around our response to monkeypox," said Diamond.
But he adds that it's an imperfect line to draw. HIV/AIDS was a much deadlier disease and broke out during a politically different time. That said, Diamond says people still have a hard time talking about queer and trans sex.
"We have to talk about sex when we're talking about monkeypox. I think that these are uncomfortable conversations but it is one of the determinants of our health and rights," said Diamond.
And it's important to talk about the totality of human sexuality when doing so. While men who have sex with men are currently at the center of the monkeypox outbreak, HIV/AIDS historian Jennifer Brier says that specific turn of phrase can be limiting. Men who have sex with men don't only have sex with men, and vice-versa.
"Our sexual desires and our sexual practices are way more complicated than any phrase can give us," she said.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-18/talking-about-monkeypox-then-you-should-be-talking-about-sex | 2022-08-18T11:32:26Z |
A strong geomagnetic storm will interfere with the earth's magnetic field — making the Northern Lights visible in more areas. The storm could mess with satellites, GPS tracking and the power grid.
Copyright 2022 NPR
A strong geomagnetic storm will interfere with the earth's magnetic field — making the Northern Lights visible in more areas. The storm could mess with satellites, GPS tracking and the power grid.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-18/the-aurora-borealis-may-be-visible-in-the-u-s-northern-tier-this-week | 2022-08-18T11:32:33Z |
The Northern Lights may be visible in the mainland U.S. this week due to a strong geomagnetic storm, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The phenomenon, known scientifically as the aurora borealis, typically occurs closer to the North Pole, near Alaska and Canada.
But the storm could push the aurora lights farther south Thursday and Friday, and if weather conditions permit, could be seen in regions of Pennsylvania, Iowa and Oregon.
What happens during a geomagnetic storm?
During the storm, a coronal hole (the spots that appear black on the Sun) prompts high winds, which in turn, trigger coronal mass ejections, or CMEs. A CME projects plasma and pieces of the Sun's magnetic field into the atmosphere.
The storm started Sunday and is expected to peak Thursday to a G3 level — G5 is the highest measurement of the storm's intensity — and end Friday.
While multiple CMEs have been ejected from the Sun, "most are expected to have little to no impact at Earth, however, at least four have potential Earth-directed components," the NOAA said.
What is an aurora?
The Sun's activity is volatile, and in some cases, the disturbances are so strong they can pull the Earth's magnetic field away from our planet.
But, like a taut rubber band when it's released, the magnetic field snaps back, and the force of that recoil creates powerful ripples known as Alfvén waves about 80,000 miles from the ground. As those waves get closer to Earth, they move faster thanks to the planet's magnetic pull.
Sometimes electrons hitch a ride on these superfast Alfvén waves, reaching speeds as high as 45 million miles per hour as they hurtle downward.
"Think about surfing," said Jim Schroeder, an assistant physics professor at Wheaton College who has led research on the process. "In order to surf, you need to paddle up to the right speed for an ocean wave to pick you up and accelerate you, and we found that electrons were surfing. If they were moving with the right speed relative to the wave, they would get picked up and accelerated.
When the electrons reach Earth's thin upper atmosphere, they collide with nitrogen and oxygen molecules, sending them into an excited state. The excited electrons eventually calm down and release light, which is what we see as the aurora.
How to view the aurora
You don't need any special equipment to see auroras.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-18/the-northern-lights-may-move-farther-south-into-the-mainland-u-s-this-week | 2022-08-18T11:32:39Z |
NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to ex-federal prosecutor Elie Honig about cases against Trump and his allies — including a court hearing that will consider unsealing the affidavit in the Mar-a-Lago search.
Copyright 2022 NPR
NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to ex-federal prosecutor Elie Honig about cases against Trump and his allies — including a court hearing that will consider unsealing the affidavit in the Mar-a-Lago search.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-18/whats-at-stake-for-trump-in-multiple-court-cases-that-are-unfolding-this-week | 2022-08-18T11:32:46Z |
ATLANTA–Idris Elba is going to test his box-office appeal as a lead in a big, brawny thriller with the upcoming film “Beast,” in which he plays a dad protecting his two teenage daughters from a rampaging lion in South Africa.
It’s also a major test for Atlanta producer Will Packer, best known for comedies like “Ride Along” and “Girls Trip” and his recent stint as the Oscar producer. He has never done a project like “Beast” before, but in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he said he’s happy with the results.
“It’s different for me in terms of genre, scope and location,” Packer said. “We wanted to create a film that felt big. And South Africa felt like an authentic backdrop for the story. We considered doing it in Atlanta, but it would have been all green screen.”
They shot the movie, which comes out in theaters Friday, on a real animal sanctuary. The plot line is simple and moves quickly.
Elba plays Dr. Nate Samuels, a widower whose wife died five years earlier of cancer. He takes his two daughters to South Africa to rebuild their frayed relationships and revisit the past. They visit a South African game reserve managed by Martin Battles, an old family friend and wildlife biologist. But poachers have killed off a family of lions, save for the patriarch, who loses his mind and starts attacking every human in sight.
Elba’s character soon finds his family in mortal danger.
For Packer, Elba is an old friend and longtime collaborator in multiple Packer films like “The Gospel” (2005), “This Christmas” (2007) and “No Good Deed” (2014). “We have a shorthand and a great camaraderie,” Packer said. “I called him and I only call him when it’s something he can win at. He sparked to it before we even had a completed script.”
The film stylistically uses extended one-shot takes, which Packer said was inspired by Alfonso Cuarón’s 2006 film “Children of Men” and draws viewers into the action.
And the backdrops are all real. The only thing that was fake, he said, were the lions. They are all CGI creations but look convincingly real. The actors instead had to react to lion puppets or a stuntman in a gray lion suit.
The film crew and actors spent three months almost entirely outdoors.
“It was a tough shoot,” Packer said. “Everything out there crawls, slithers and growls. We stayed in tents with thatched roofs. In the middle of the night you could see eyes peering at you. They’re bush babies, which are like raccoons. They were everywhere. It was unnerving.”
During a day off, Packer and his wife, Heather, went animal tracking on the reserve and met up with some elephants. A young elephant in heat charged them. To neutralize them, the guide in the open-roof jeep had to charge back. “If you retreat, they will chase you down,” Packer said. “It was the scariest thing I ever experienced.”
“Beast” is tailor made for movie theaters, he said, and he hopes people will go, even if it’s not a film featuring a superhero or Tom Cruise in an aviator suit.
“The response so far has been incredible,” he said. “People at the screening were screaming and cheering. It was really really impressive and validating.”
Will Carpenter is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s Arts and Entertainment/Features Reporter. He can be reached by email at wcarpenter@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3135. Follow him on Twitter @will_carp_. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/features/a-lion-goes-cujo-in-will-packers-beast-starring-idris-elba/article_f690ba46-1e60-11ed-bef3-2b07174e95dc.html | 2022-08-18T11:36:15Z |
Army Spc. Matthew Bolar was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq five years ago. He was 24 years old.
"He was a young man who knew what he wanted to do. And military service was the way that he chose to go," his father, Gordon Bolar, recently told his friend StoryCorps founder Dave Isay.
Matthew served with the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division based at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. His first tour of duty was in Mosul.
"I will not forget the day that he called me and he said, 'I had to bury my sergeant today. He was in his vehicle; he stuck his head out and then fell back. And we tried to revive him and we couldn't.' So he knew all about casualties in the field. He'd seen it right in his lap, and he chose to volunteer and go back for a second tour," said Gordon, who is also the general manager of public radio station WMUK in Kalamazoo, Mich.
"He called me about a week to 10 days before he was killed in action," Gordon continued. "He said, 'You know, I heard there was a shooting on a campus at a university in the United States. And that's all I know. And I know you work on a campus and just wanted to know that you were OK.' Now, of course I was fine, but here he is in a combat situation. He's calling to make sure I'm OK. That was the last phone conversation I ever had with him."
Matthew was killed on a road south of Baghdad on May 3, 2007.
"The next morning I went to the bedroom window, and I looked out. And I saw a uniformed Army sergeant and a uniformed chaplain standing on my doorstep," Gordon said. "And you tell yourself, maybe they're going to tell me he's wounded. But ... but you know."
The hardest moment for Gordon after losing his son was at the funeral home.
"Casket was open. He was whole. I touched his forehead knowing that we would close the lid and bury him the next day, in Arlington in section 60, and not see him again. That was tough," he said.
But Gordon wants Matthew to be remembered as someone who cared about other people.
"He cared about his family back home. And he served his country, and that was his highest calling. And he did it with honor. That's how I want him to be remembered."
Audio produced for Morning Edition by Katie Simon. In December, StoryCorps will launch the Military Voices Initiative, highlighting the stories of veterans, active duty military and their families.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2012-11-23/a-father-remembers-the-son-he-lost-to-war | 2022-08-18T11:36:15Z |
From the sticky, slippery opening frames of “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” director Halina Reijn lets the audience know that we’re in for one silly-smart and deeply self-aware roller-coaster ride. This blackly comic horror riff is heavy on the social satire and sprinkled with scares, as Reijn, along with writers Sarah DaLappe and Kristen Roupenian (who contributed the screenplay and story, respectively), have intelligently pulled together and reinterpreted traditional horror tropes in order to send up the youth of today. The result is a horror film that’s a true triple threat: stunning, smart and wildly entertaining.
“They’re not as nihilistic as they seem on the internet,” Sophie (Amandla Stenberg) reassures her new girlfriend Bee (Maria Bakalova), en route to a “hurricane party” at the mansion of her childhood best friend David (Pete Davidson). Bee, with her quiet demeanor, accented English and humble, tomboyish clothing, is very different from Sophie and her longtime posse of outrageous rich kids. Sophie has her own sordid history with the group, and the tension among them bubbles, roiling to a boil throughout the long, bloody night that ensues.
Set within this coterie of chatty, privileged, quasi-sociopathic 20-somethings, “Bodies Bodies Bodies” is the Zoomer offspring of its Gen X parents “Scream” and “Shallow Grave.” It also follows certain folk horror tropes that have been mainstreamed in films like “Get Out.” Bee, a stranger in a strange land, makes her way into the inner sanctum of a closed, cult-like group, becoming intoxicated and inculcated to their rituals and mischief-making, in this case, a game called Bodies Bodies Bodies. The game draws out jealousy and long-simmering conflict, and escalates the toxic atmosphere, which is aided and abetted by the hurricane-induced power outage.
DaLappe’s screenplay is biting, sharp and dense with pop cultural references and lore, targeting everything from self-important podcasters, to TikTok dances, to “Hedda Gabler.” Most importantly, she nails the precise language of socially aware and terminally online Zoomers, littered with virtue signaling, performative allyship and advanced psychological analysis. Still, the characters are far more than just parody, as they actually feel like real people with real stakes.
The young cast tackle the script and their performances energetically. “Shiva Baby” star Rachel Sennott is a standout as the vapid, but often insightful Alice, while the always reliable Sternberg is fantastic playing against type, and “Borat” star Bakalova proves she’s no flash in the pan. The male leads, Davidson and Lee Pace, have their own extra-textual baggage outside of the film — Davidson’s character references the specific kind of energy that has marked speculation about the “SNL” star’s dating life, while the strapping Pace has happily embraced his role as the internet’s thirst object, and his character Greg seems to do the same as the older oddball in the group.
But what makes “Bodies Bodies Bodies” so electric is Reijn’s excellent direction. Smartphones are integral to the plot, as phones often are in horror movies, but they are also extensions of the character’s bodies and brains. They complain about the group chat, ask for the Wi-Fi, Google the new girl, listen to meditation apps and hurl directives at each other like “check her texts!” The chaos begins and ends with the phone, but beyond their storytelling function, Reijn brilliantly utilizes the phones in the cinematic visual design and as an element of suspense.
Reijn and cinematographer Jasper Wolf use phone flashlights as the primary light source in the darkened estate, which is a plausible choice for the characters, plus it makes for delightfully rich images, the shadows concealing dark secrets, bodies caught in the glare of a spotlight like wild animals caught on camera. It’s an evolution of the chiaroscuro lighting of film noir and German Expressionism of the early 20th century that set the template for the horror aesthetic we know today, but “Bodies Bodies Bodies” doesn’t look like any other horror movie out there, and that’s a good thing. Reijn’s use of space, light, shadow and the bodies within the space is wholly unique, beautiful and spooky. The use of glow necklaces as a lighting source is transcendent.
As the bodies hit the floor, we come to realize that what’s truly scary about “Bodies Bodies Bodies” are the absolutely chilling insights about the world we live in. It’s the collective hysteria, narcissistic myopia and casting of blame that fuels the bloodshed in the film, reminding us that the only thing to fear is fear itself. It’s a worldview that is as bleak, absurd and yes, nihilist, as the whole world feels right now, perfectly capturing this moment.
Will Carpenter is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s Arts and Entertainment/Features Reporter. He can be reached by email at wcarpenter@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3135. Follow him on Twitter @will_carp_.
Will Carpenter is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s Arts and Entertainment/Features Reporter. He can be reached by email at wcarpenter@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3135. Follow him on Twitter @will_carp_. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/features/movie-review-bodies-bodies-bodies-an-impressive-cutting-look-at-modern-existence/article_cb92a170-1e50-11ed-bc4d-17c1be66ad68.html | 2022-08-18T11:36:19Z |
Here’s a list of movies now playing in Cheyenne. Local theaters are noted at the end of each capsule. Summaries provided by IMDB.
NEW! “Beast” (R) A father and his two teenage daughters find themselves hunted by a massive rogue lion intent on proving that the Savannah has but one apex predator. With Idris Elba, Sharlito Copley, Iyana Halley. Written by Ryan Engle, Jaime Primak Sullivan. Directed by Baltasar Kormakur. (1:33) Capitol 16
NEW! “Bodies Bodies Bodies” (R) When a group of rich 20-somethings plan a hurricane party at a remote family mansion, a party game turns deadly. With Amandla Stenberg, Meria Bakalova, Rachel Sennott. Written by Sarah DeLappe, Kristen Roupenian. Directed by Halina Reijn. (1:34) Capitol 16
“Bullet Train” (R) Five assassins aboard a fast moving bullet train find out their missions have something in common. With Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Written by Zak Olkewicz, Kotaro Isaka. Directed by David Leitch. (2:6) Capitol 16
“DC League of Super-Pets” (PG) Krypto the Super-Dog and Superman are inseparable best friends, sharing the same superpowers and fighting crime side by side in Metropolis. However, Krypto must master his own powers for a rescue mission when Superman is kidnapped. Voiced by Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Vanessa Bayer. Witten by Jared Stern, John Whittington. Directed by Jared Stern, Sam Levine. (1:46) Capitol 16
NEW! “Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero” (PG-13) The Red Ribbon Army from Goku’s past has returned with two new androids to challenge him and his friends. Voiced by Masako Nozawa, Toshio Furukawa, Yuko Minaguchi. Written by Akira Toriyama. Directed by Tetsuro Kodama. (1:40) Capitol 16
“Easter Sunday” (PG-13) Stand-up comedy sensation Jo Koy (Jo Koy: In His Elements, Jo Koy: Comin’ in Hot) stars as a man returning home for an Easter celebration. With Jo Joy, Lydia Gaston, Brandon Wardell. Written by Kate Angelo, Ken Cheng. Directed by Jay Chandrasekhar. (1:36) Capitol 16
“Elvis” (PG-13) The film explores the life and music of Elvis Presley, seen through the prism of his complicated relationship with his enigmatic manager, Colonel Tom Parker. Tom Hanks, Austin Butler, Olivia DeJong. Written Baz Luhrmann, Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce. Directed by Baz Luhrmann. (2:39) Capitol 16
“Fall” (PG-13) Best friends Becky and Hunter find themselves at the top of a 2,000-foot radio tower. With Grace Caroline Currey, Virginia Gardner, Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Written by Jonathan Frank, Scott Mann. Directed by Scott Mann. (1:47) Captiol 16
“Mack & Rita” (PG-13) A woman in her 30s is struck by lightning and wakes up as a 65-year-old, which isn’t like what she imagined. With Diane Keaton, Elizabeth Lail, Taylour Paige. Written by Madeline Walter, Paul Welsh. Directed by Katie Aselton. (1:35) Capitol 16
“Minions: The Rise of Gru” (PG) The untold story of one twelve-year-old’s dream to become the world’s greatest supervillain. Voiced by Steve Carrell, Pierre Coffin, Alan Arkin. Written by Mattew Fogel, Brian Lynch. Directed by Kyle Balda, Brad Ableson, Jonathan del Val. (1:27) Capitol 16
“Nope” (R) The residents of a lonely gulch in inland California bear witness to an uncanny and chilling discovery. With Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Brandon Perea. Written by Jordan Peele. Directed by Jordan Peele. (2:15) Capitol 16
“Thor: Love and Thunder” (PG-13) Thor enlists the help of Valkyrie, Korg and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster to fight Gorr the God Butcher, who intends to make the gods extinct. With Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale. Written by Taika Waititi, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, Stan Lee. Directed by Taika Waititi. (1:59) Capitol 16
“Top Gun: Maverick” (PG-13) After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. With Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller. Written by Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr., Peter Craig. Directed by Joseph Kosinski. (2:11) Capitol 16
“Where the Crawdads Sing” (PG-13) A woman who raised herself in the marshes of the deep South becomes a suspect in the murder of a man she was once involved with. With Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith, Harris Dickinson. Written by Delia Owens, Lucy Alibar. Directed by Olivia Newman. (2:5) Capitol 16
OTHER AREA THEATERS
LOVELAND
Metrolux 14
“Beast”
“Bodies, Bodies, Bodies”
“Bullet Train”
“DC League of Super Pets”
“Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero”
“Easter Sunday”
“Elvis”
“Fall”
“Jurassic World: Dominion”
“Mack & Rita”
“Minions: The Rise of Gru”
“Nope”
“Thor: Love and Thunder”
“Top Gun: Maverick”
“Where the Crawdads Sing”
FORT COLLINS
Cinemark 16
“Beast”
“The Black Phone”
“Bodies, Bodies, Bodies”
“Bullet Train”
“DC League of Super-Pets”
“Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero”
“Elvis”
“Emily the Criminal”
“Laal Singh Chaddha”
“Mack & Rita”
“Minions: The Rise of Gru”
“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris”
“Nope”
“Orphan: First Kill”
“Thiruchitrambalam”
“Thor: Love and Thunder”
“Top Gun: Maverick”
“Where the Crawdads Sing”
The Lyric
“Bodies, Bodies, Bodies”
“Bullet Train”
“Emily The Criminal”
“The Fifth Element”
“Inu-Oh”
“Marcel The Shell With Shoes On” | https://www.wyomingnews.com/features/todo/film-caps-8-18-22/article_2b49fbc7-82d1-5746-b4c7-2daf84c0ec82.html | 2022-08-18T11:36:21Z |
Cheyenne and Laramie County
Tales Together
– Aug. 18, 10:15-10:45 a.m. An interactive early literacy class for preschool children and their caregivers. Practice new skills incorporating books, songs, rhymes, movement and more. Laramie County Library, 2200 Pioneer Ave. 307-634-3561
Fridays on the Plaza
– Aug. 19, 5:30 p.m. A weekly summer concert series featuring acts from around the country. This week’s headliner is Jeremiah Tall, with an opening performance by Dirty Grass Players. Cheyenne Depot Plaza, 1 Depot Square. 307-637-6200
Country Dance Lessons with David Uriquidez
– Aug. 19, 6-8 p.m. $15 per person, $25 per couple. Be the star of the country bar after attending this swing dance class. Bring water and dance appropriate shoes. Tickets available via
Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum, 4610 Carey Ave. 307-778-7290
Cheyenne Farmers Market
– Aug. 20, 7 a.m.-1 p.m. Local and regional vendors sell their produce, honey, jams, meat, bakery and specialty items, and much more. Proceeds benefit Community Action of Laramie County and its programs. B Parking Lot, Frontier Park, 4610 Carey Ave. 307-635-9291 or www.calc.net/farmers-market
NRA Action Pistol Regional and Wyoming State Championship
– Aug 20-21, 9 a.m. Some of the top Action Pistol competitors in the U.S. will compete in the “Steamboat Challenge” shooting competition. NRA Action Pistol is best described as “precision pistol shooting at speed.” Otto Road Shooting Range, 1531 Otto Road. 307-640-3847
Historic Cemetery Walk
– Aug 20, 9:30 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. $10. The living history program, “Cheyenne’s Melting Pot,” presented by the Cheyenne Genealogical & Historical Society, begins at the main gate of Lakeview Cemetery and features interesting characters who played large and small parts in Cheyenne’s frontier history. Lakeview Cemetery, 2501 Seymour Ave. 307-630-0924
Cheyenne Arts Celebration
– Aug. 20, 12:30-7 p.m. Free. The Cheyenne Arts Celebration may be young, but it’s in the middle of rapid growth. This festival features live music, vendors, food, drinks and more. Lions Park, Lions Park Drive. 307-637-6423
Puddle of Mudd
– Aug 20, 8-10 p.m. $30. This Kansas City, Missouri-based rock band enjoyed mainstream success in the ‘90s, and now they’re on their way to downtown Cheyenne. The Lincoln Theatre, 1615 Central Ave. 307-369-6028
Healing and the Mind
– Aug. 21, 1:30-2:30 p.m. Free. Join Dr. Ken Kranz for Part VIII of the “What’s the Next Step?” presentation series. This installment will focus on different ways that we can use the power of our mind to improve the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of our life. Laramie County Community College Library, 1400 E. College Drive. 307-778-1206
Cultural Blind Spots series
– Aug. 21, 2 p.m. Join St. Mark’s in the second installment of its Cultural Blind Spots series, which will explore the experiences of minority ethnic groups in Cheyenne. St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 1908 Central Ave. 307-634-7709
Animal Collective @ The Lincoln
– Aug 22, 7-10 p.m. $25. Renowned indie rock group Animal Collective will perform at the historic downtown theater. The Lincoln Theatre, 1615 Central Ave. 307-369-6028
Open Mic Night at Blue Raven
– Aug. 24, 7-10 p.m. A musical open mic night, presented in collaboration with Wyoming Wave Studios. Blue Raven Brewery, 209 E. 18th St. 307-369-1978
”’Twilight of the Gods:’Defeat, Memory, and Legacy of World War II and the Holocaust” presentation
– Aug. 25, 6-8 p.m. The third and final installment in a series of expert presentations from Adam Blackler, associate professor of history at the University of Wyoming, all of which will provide context and historical background for the themes and concepts presented in Americans and the Holocaust, a traveling exhibition for libraries, currently on display. Laramie County Library, 2200 Pioneer Ave. 307-634-3561
New Frontier Cheyenne Gun and Western Collectibles Show
– Aug. 26, 12-5 p.m.; Aug. 27, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; Aug. 28, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. This Western collectible and firearms show will have a large assortment of new and antique firearms, accessories, knives, edged weapons, cowboy and Indian artifacts, relics, Western memorabilia, antiques and jewelry. Laramie County Events Center at Archer, 3801 Archer Parkway. 307-633-4670
Fridays on the Plaza
– Aug. 26, 5:30 p.m. A weekly summer concert series featuring acts from around the country. This week’s headliner is Jocelyn & Chris, with an opening performance by The Patti Fiasco. Cheyenne Depot Plaza, 1 Depot Square. 307-637-6200
Cheyenne Farmers Market
– Aug. 27, 7 a.m.-1 p.m. Local and regional vendors sell their produce, honey, jams, meat, bakery and specialty items, and much more. Proceeds benefit Community Action of Laramie County and its programs. B Parking Lot, Frontier Park, 4610 Carey Ave. 307-635-9291 or www.calc.net/farmers-market
End of Summer Foam Party
– Aug. 27, 10 a.m.-noon. Summer is over, and it’s time to go back to school. Join the library for outdoor games and sipping on lemonade as we enjoy the last rays of summer with a foam party. Performance Park, 2200 Pioneer Ave. 307-634-3561
University of Wyoming Football Fest
– Aug. 27, 2-6 p.m. Prepare your best University of Wyoming football cheer, don your brown and gold, and get ready for game day at the library. Join fellow fans to watch the first game of the season as the Cowboys take on Illinois. Laramie County Library, 2200 Pioneer Ave. 307-634-3561
New Frontier Cheyenne Gun and Western Collectibles Show Auction
– Aug. 27, 4 p.m. This year’s auction includes antique Native American and cowboy items, Old West memorabilia and eight special items worn on-screen by famous (now deceased) actor John Wayne. Laramie County Events Center at Archer, 3801 Archer Parkway. 307-633-4670
Edge Fest 2022
– Aug. 27, 5-11 p.m. Experience Tones & I, Claire Rosinkranz and Joe P at the seventh installment of this free outdoor music festival. There will be food and drink on site, as well. Civic Commons Park, Bent Avenue and 20th Street. info@edgefest.com
Tales Together
– Aug. 30-31, 10:15-10:45 a.m. An interactive early literacy class for preschool children and their caregivers. Practice new skills incorporating books, songs, rhymes, movement and more. Laramie County Library, 2200 Pioneer Ave. 307-634-3561
Open Mic Night at Blue Raven
– Aug. 31, 7-10 p.m. A musical open mic night, presented in collaboration with Wyoming Wave Studios. Blue Raven Brewery, 209 E. 18th St. 307-369-1978
Cheyenne First Friday Artwalk
– Sept. 2, 5 p.m. Free. The Cheyenne Artwalk is a monthly event that highlights a local gallery or studio on the first Friday of every month. This month, look for the mobile ArtHaus unit parked out front the Clay Paper Scissors, along with food trucks and live music. Cheyenne Artist Guild, 1701 Morrie Ave. 307-632-226 Ongoing
Habitat: Artist’ Books
– Through Aug. 21. Curated by University of Wyoming art professor Mark Ritchie, this year’s iteration of Laramie County Library’s annual book arts exhibit features collaborative work by artists and writers from Wyoming, Wales and around the United States. Each artist/writer pairing was challenged with creating a broadside or folio to include text interpreting habitat. Laramie County Library, 2200 Pioneer Ave. 307-634-3561
Americans and the Holocaust Exhibit
– Through Aug. 28, library hours. Laramie County Library is one of 50 U.S. libraries selected to host Americans and the Holocaust, a traveling exhibition from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum that examines the motives, pressures and fears that shaped Americans’ responses to Nazism, war and genocide in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s. Laramie County Library, 2200 Pioneer Ave. 307-634-3561
Righting a Wrong: Japanese Americans and World War II
– Through Aug. 28, library hours. Smithsonian poster exhibition traces the story of Japanese national and Japanese American incarceration during World War II and the people who survived it. Laramie County Library, 2200 Pioneer Ave. 307-634-3561 Laramie and Greater Wyoming
7220’ Music Fest
– Aug. 27, 3-10 p.m. $20. A music festival to raise money for Albany County Search and Rescue and Laramie Chamber Business Alliance. There will be street vendors, food trucks and music. Bond’s Brewing Company, 411 S. Second St. 307-460-3385
307 Film Festival
– Aug. 27-28. $49 for weekend pass. A festival that celebrates films and filmmakers from across Wyoming, the United States and internationally. Studio City UW, 2422 Grand Ave. 307-460-1598 Fort Collins, Colorado
Foodie Walk
– Aug. 19, 5-8 p.m. Free. A monthly self-guided food walk through downtown Fort Collins. Various locations, Fort Collins, Colorado. 970-484-6500 Boulder, Colorado
Hiatus Kaiyote @ Boulder Theater
– Aug. 31, 8 p.m. $39.50-$40. A performance by Melbourne-based, genre-transcending alternative band Hiatus Kaiyote. Boulder Theater, 2042 14th St., Boulder, Colorado. 303-786-7030 Denver
Mt. Joy @ Mission Ballroom
– Aug. 18, 8 p.m.; doors at 7 p.m. A performance from indie-rock band Mt. Joy, fresh off their latest studio album, “Orange Blood.” Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St., Denver. 720-577-6884
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats @ Red Rocks
– Aug. 23-24, 7:30 p.m.; doors at 6 p.m. Folk artist Nathaniel Rateliff is stopping by Red Rocks with support from Caroline Rose for his 2022 North American Tour. Red Rocks Amphitheater, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison, Colorado. 720-865-2494
My Morning Jacket @ Red Rocks
– Aug. 26-27, 7:30 p.m.; doors at 6 p.m. A two-night performance from alternative-rock band My Morning Jacket. Red Rocks Amphitheater, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison, Colorado. 720-865-2494
Nine Inch Nails @ Red Rocks
– Sept. 2-3, 7:30 p.m.; doors at 6 p.m. A two-night performance from critically acclaimed industrial/electronic/metal band fronted by Trent Reznor. Red Rocks Amphitheater, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison, Colorado. 720-865-2494 To submit an item to the events calendar, email ToDo@wyomingnews.com or call WTE features editor Niki Kottmann at 307-633-3135.
Cheyenne and Laramie County
Tales Together
– Aug. 18, 10:15-10:45 a.m. An interactive early literacy class for preschool children and their caregivers. Practice new skills incorporating books, songs, rhymes, movement and more. Laramie County Library, 2200 Pioneer Ave. 307-634-3561
Fridays on the Plaza
– Aug. 19, 5:30 p.m. A weekly summer concert series featuring acts from around the country. This week’s headliner is Jeremiah Tall, with an opening performance by Dirty Grass Players. Cheyenne Depot Plaza, 1 Depot Square. 307-637-6200
Country Dance Lessons with David Uriquidez
– Aug. 19, 6-8 p.m. $15 per person, $25 per couple. Be the star of the country bar after attending this swing dance class. Bring water and dance appropriate shoes. Tickets available via https://cfdoldwestmuseum.org/products/country-dance-lessons Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum, 4610 Carey Ave. 307-778-7290
Cheyenne Farmers Market
– Aug. 20, 7 a.m.-1 p.m. Local and regional vendors sell their produce, honey, jams, meat, bakery and specialty items, and much more. Proceeds benefit Community Action of Laramie County and its programs. B Parking Lot, Frontier Park, 4610 Carey Ave. 307-635-9291 or www.calc.net/farmers-market
NRA Action Pistol Regional and Wyoming State Championship
– Aug 20-21, 9 a.m. Some of the top Action Pistol competitors in the U.S. will compete in the “Steamboat Challenge” shooting competition. NRA Action Pistol is best described as “precision pistol shooting at speed.” Otto Road Shooting Range, 1531 Otto Road. 307-640-3847
Historic Cemetery Walk
– Aug 20, 9:30 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. $10. The living history program, “Cheyenne’s Melting Pot,” presented by the Cheyenne Genealogical & Historical Society, begins at the main gate of Lakeview Cemetery and features interesting characters who played large and small parts in Cheyenne’s frontier history. Lakeview Cemetery, 2501 Seymour Ave. 307-630-0924
Cheyenne Arts Celebration
– Aug. 20, 12:30-7 p.m. Free. The Cheyenne Arts Celebration may be young, but it’s in the middle of rapid growth. This festival features live music, vendors, food, drinks and more. Lions Park, Lions Park Drive. 307-637-6423
Puddle of Mudd
– Aug 20, 8-10 p.m. $30. This Kansas City, Missouri-based rock band enjoyed mainstream success in the ‘90s, and now they’re on their way to downtown Cheyenne. The Lincoln Theatre, 1615 Central Ave. 307-369-6028
Healing and the Mind
– Aug. 21, 1:30-2:30 p.m. Free. Join Dr. Ken Kranz for Part VIII of the “What’s the Next Step?” presentation series. This installment will focus on different ways that we can use the power of our mind to improve the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of our life. Laramie County Community College Library, 1400 E. College Drive. 307-778-1206
Cultural Blind Spots series
– Aug. 21, 2 p.m. Join St. Mark’s in the second installment of its Cultural Blind Spots series, which will explore the experiences of minority ethnic groups in Cheyenne. St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 1908 Central Ave. 307-634-7709
Animal Collective @ The Lincoln
– Aug 22, 7-10 p.m. $25. Renowned indie rock group Animal Collective will perform at the historic downtown theater. The Lincoln Theatre, 1615 Central Ave. 307-369-6028
Open Mic Night at Blue Raven
– Aug. 24, 7-10 p.m. A musical open mic night, presented in collaboration with Wyoming Wave Studios. Blue Raven Brewery, 209 E. 18th St. 307-369-1978
”’Twilight of the Gods:’Defeat, Memory, and Legacy of World War II and the Holocaust” presentation
– Aug. 25, 6-8 p.m. The third and final installment in a series of expert presentations from Adam Blackler, associate professor of history at the University of Wyoming, all of which will provide context and historical background for the themes and concepts presented in Americans and the Holocaust, a traveling exhibition for libraries, currently on display. Laramie County Library, 2200 Pioneer Ave. 307-634-3561
New Frontier Cheyenne Gun and Western Collectibles Show
– Aug. 26, 12-5 p.m.; Aug. 27, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; Aug. 28, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. This Western collectible and firearms show will have a large assortment of new and antique firearms, accessories, knives, edged weapons, cowboy and Indian artifacts, relics, Western memorabilia, antiques and jewelry. Laramie County Events Center at Archer, 3801 Archer Parkway. 307-633-4670
Fridays on the Plaza
– Aug. 26, 5:30 p.m. A weekly summer concert series featuring acts from around the country. This week’s headliner is Jocelyn & Chris, with an opening performance by The Patti Fiasco. Cheyenne Depot Plaza, 1 Depot Square. 307-637-6200
Cheyenne Farmers Market
– Aug. 27, 7 a.m.-1 p.m. Local and regional vendors sell their produce, honey, jams, meat, bakery and specialty items, and much more. Proceeds benefit Community Action of Laramie County and its programs. B Parking Lot, Frontier Park, 4610 Carey Ave. 307-635-9291 or www.calc.net/farmers-market
End of Summer Foam Party
– Aug. 27, 10 a.m.-noon. Summer is over, and it’s time to go back to school. Join the library for outdoor games and sipping on lemonade as we enjoy the last rays of summer with a foam party. Performance Park, 2200 Pioneer Ave. 307-634-3561
University of Wyoming Football Fest
– Aug. 27, 2-6 p.m. Prepare your best University of Wyoming football cheer, don your brown and gold, and get ready for game day at the library. Join fellow fans to watch the first game of the season as the Cowboys take on Illinois. Laramie County Library, 2200 Pioneer Ave. 307-634-3561
New Frontier Cheyenne Gun and Western Collectibles Show Auction
– Aug. 27, 4 p.m. This year’s auction includes antique Native American and cowboy items, Old West memorabilia and eight special items worn on-screen by famous (now deceased) actor John Wayne. Laramie County Events Center at Archer, 3801 Archer Parkway. 307-633-4670
Edge Fest 2022
– Aug. 27, 5-11 p.m. Experience Tones & I, Claire Rosinkranz and Joe P at the seventh installment of this free outdoor music festival. There will be food and drink on site, as well. Civic Commons Park, Bent Avenue and 20th Street. info@edgefest.com
Tales Together
– Aug. 30-31, 10:15-10:45 a.m. An interactive early literacy class for preschool children and their caregivers. Practice new skills incorporating books, songs, rhymes, movement and more. Laramie County Library, 2200 Pioneer Ave. 307-634-3561
Open Mic Night at Blue Raven
– Aug. 31, 7-10 p.m. A musical open mic night, presented in collaboration with Wyoming Wave Studios. Blue Raven Brewery, 209 E. 18th St. 307-369-1978
Cheyenne First Friday Artwalk
– Sept. 2, 5 p.m. Free. The Cheyenne Artwalk is a monthly event that highlights a local gallery or studio on the first Friday of every month. This month, look for the mobile ArtHaus unit parked out front the Clay Paper Scissors, along with food trucks and live music. Cheyenne Artist Guild, 1701 Morrie Ave. 307-632-226
Ongoing
Habitat: Artist’ Books
– Through Aug. 21. Curated by University of Wyoming art professor Mark Ritchie, this year’s iteration of Laramie County Library’s annual book arts exhibit features collaborative work by artists and writers from Wyoming, Wales and around the United States. Each artist/writer pairing was challenged with creating a broadside or folio to include text interpreting habitat. Laramie County Library, 2200 Pioneer Ave. 307-634-3561
Americans and the Holocaust Exhibit
– Through Aug. 28, library hours. Laramie County Library is one of 50 U.S. libraries selected to host Americans and the Holocaust, a traveling exhibition from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum that examines the motives, pressures and fears that shaped Americans’ responses to Nazism, war and genocide in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s. Laramie County Library, 2200 Pioneer Ave. 307-634-3561
Righting a Wrong: Japanese Americans and World War II
– Through Aug. 28, library hours. Smithsonian poster exhibition traces the story of Japanese national and Japanese American incarceration during World War II and the people who survived it. Laramie County Library, 2200 Pioneer Ave. 307-634-3561
Laramie and Greater Wyoming
7220’ Music Fest
– Aug. 27, 3-10 p.m. $20. A music festival to raise money for Albany County Search and Rescue and Laramie Chamber Business Alliance. There will be street vendors, food trucks and music. Bond’s Brewing Company, 411 S. Second St. 307-460-3385
307 Film Festival
– Aug. 27-28. $49 for weekend pass. A festival that celebrates films and filmmakers from across Wyoming, the United States and internationally. Studio City UW, 2422 Grand Ave. 307-460-1598
Fort Collins, Colorado
Foodie Walk
– Aug. 19, 5-8 p.m. Free. A monthly self-guided food walk through downtown Fort Collins. Various locations, Fort Collins, Colorado. 970-484-6500
Boulder, Colorado
Hiatus Kaiyote @ Boulder Theater
– Aug. 31, 8 p.m. $39.50-$40. A performance by Melbourne-based, genre-transcending alternative band Hiatus Kaiyote. Boulder Theater, 2042 14th St., Boulder, Colorado. 303-786-7030
Denver
Mt. Joy @ Mission Ballroom
– Aug. 18, 8 p.m.; doors at 7 p.m. A performance from indie-rock band Mt. Joy, fresh off their latest studio album, “Orange Blood.” Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St., Denver. 720-577-6884
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats @ Red Rocks
– Aug. 23-24, 7:30 p.m.; doors at 6 p.m. Folk artist Nathaniel Rateliff is stopping by Red Rocks with support from Caroline Rose for his 2022 North American Tour. Red Rocks Amphitheater, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison, Colorado. 720-865-2494
My Morning Jacket @ Red Rocks
– Aug. 26-27, 7:30 p.m.; doors at 6 p.m. A two-night performance from alternative-rock band My Morning Jacket. Red Rocks Amphitheater, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison, Colorado. 720-865-2494
Nine Inch Nails @ Red Rocks
– Sept. 2-3, 7:30 p.m.; doors at 6 p.m. A two-night performance from critically acclaimed industrial/electronic/metal band fronted by Trent Reznor. Red Rocks Amphitheater, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison, Colorado. 720-865-2494
To submit an item to the events calendar, email ToDo@wyomingnews.com or call WTE features editor Niki Kottmann at 307-633-3135. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/features/todo/friday-calendar-8-18-22/article_66dfd898-1e63-11ed-8f45-bb335c20ea56.html | 2022-08-18T11:36:27Z |
Well, isn’t election season fun? I, for one, have long soldiered through the anticipation, clamoring for the argumentative onslaught between polarized political parties for months on end – foaming at the mouth, as I believe its colloquially referred to. Just before the election, I scoured Facebook for the most rage-inducing, dopamine-signaling posts, just to get the juices flowing in preparation for Tuesday night.
I had the misfortune of arriving at the Wyoming Tribune Eagle just before the previous election cycle, and now I get more than a front row seat.
This sucker for political discourse got to ride in the cockpit this time around, as did my coworkers.
We reporters and editors sat around the newsroom until just past midnight, methodically stuffing our faces with pizza, caffeine and poll results as we clawed our eyes out, waiting for results to show up online as our press deadline rapidly approached, loving every second of it along the way.
Even better? The entire nation was watching this one. Thank you, Fox News; salutations, CNN. We local outlets thank you for your service, but we’ve got it from here.
I have to remind myself that this trepidatious time is an important part of the American way, an even more important cycle for a local news team.
Here’s an idea to cut the tension – I vote we turn this all into a celebration.
There isn’t much summer left, so break out the neighborhood barbecue grills, invite the friends and family, get outside and go find a lake to jump in. If it gets dark, have a bonfire and stare at the stars – or, you can lock yourself away from the world, sit in your room and read for a while, or have a movie night in.
Wow, the options seem limitless! Just stay away from the television news cycle.
I think we all need to take a load off.
Despite all of the elevated cynicism I just shared, I’m entirely serious about that last part. Amid election season and all of the anxiety that it brings (if you let it get to you, that is), this community needs to find some creative ways to come together.
If nothing else, it’s encouraging to see an upward trend in voter turnout. Such a community response is the first step to creating a governmental body more representative of our community, regardless of political affiliations.
Hey, here’s another idea – flip over to the ToDo calendar and see what events catch your eye this weekend.
There’s always Fridays on the Plaza, where Virginia neo-folk artist Jeremiah Tall is taking the stage. The second installment of this fall’s Cheyenne Farmers Market will also be held bright and early Saturday morning.
Being held around the same time is the Historic Cemetery Walk, a living history program hosted by the Cheyenne Genealogical and Historical Society that explores interesting characters in Cheyenne’s history. Each of the two tours are scheduled to last around two hours.
The experience is accompanied by narration from a tour guide, as well as appearances by costumed characters representing the historical figures.
Throughout the rest of Saturday, head over to Lions Park for the Cheyenne Arts Celebration, which should have enough festivities to keep you captivated for the remainder of the day. Live music, food and plenty of crafts and artwork from local artists will provide a much-needed creative escape after this week.
The Lincoln Theatre is hosting 2000’s post-grunge band Puddle of Mudd at 8 p.m. Saturday, known for hit songs “Blurry,” “She Hates Me” and “Control.” Get a sense of what to expect from the show in last week’s Q&A with lead singer and founder Wes Scantlin.
In other big name concert, head back to The Lincoln on Monday night for a performance from critically acclaimed experimental pop group Animal Collective.
Of course, local events can only distract you so much from the everyday cycle. And if I’m being candid, the voting season always reminds me of the constant changes that creep up on us.
The changes of graduating from college, moving to Cheyenne, fostering and losing close friendships and a relationship. Deaths, births and the memories that persist. The departure of longtime co-workers and the welcome arrival of newcomers.
Recently, I wished my best friend and longtime roommate all the luck as he vacated our apartment and headed to New Orleans for law school. If you stopped by The Crown Bar on a weekend night at any point in the past year, he probably served you your drink.
Family matters, personal changes, “till next times’” and misfortunes – there’s always something around the bend. But change isn’t all so melancholy.
I’ll be moving to live in a new location in town myself, hopefully finding a K-9 companion to come along for the ride.
My little brother is making the trip up from central Arkansas on Friday for a tight 48-hour visit. Since it’s his first time in Cheyenne, and his first time in the vast American West, I’m looking for the most efficient way to give him the full Front Range experience.
Enough of all that – I figure this weekend’s about making the best out of what you have. Around here, we’ve got a lot more opportunity than we like to think.
Will Carpenter is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s Arts and Entertainment/Features Reporter. He can be reached by email at wcarpenter@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3135. Follow him on Twitter @will_carp_.
Will Carpenter is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s Arts and Entertainment/Features Reporter. He can be reached by email at wcarpenter@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3135. Follow him on Twitter @will_carp_. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/features/todo/weekend-picks-things-are-bound-to-change/article_8fbcdaae-1e5e-11ed-b933-bbcc3caed1a2.html | 2022-08-18T11:36:33Z |
From left, Taylour Paige, Luka Sabbat, Lena Dunham, Jon Bernthal, Liam Michel Saux and Scott Speedman attend the Lena Dunham’s “Sharp Stick” premiere at Brain Dead Studios LA on July 25, 2022, in Los Angeles. Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images/TNS
Writer/director Lena Dunham’s latest film “Sharp Stick,” arrived on digital rental platforms Tuesday after bowing at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and playing in theaters this summer. It’s the first film that Dunham has written and directed since her breakout feature, “Tiny Furniture” catapulted her into the limelight in 2010. She also has another film premiering this fall, “Catherine, Called Birdy,” adapted from the historical novel by Karen Cushman.
Dunham is largely known for her work on TV, specifically the cultural lightning rod that was her HBO series “Girls,” which she created, produced, wrote, starred in and directed 19 episodes. That series made her somewhat of a polarizing figure, but Dunham, as a filmmaker is much more than just “Girls,” and the sexy, spiky “Sharp Stick” is a welcome reminder that she’s a fantastic, and daring, director as well.
Starring Kristine Froseth, “Sharp Stick” explores the same coming-of-age issues that Dunham tackled in “Tiny Furniture” and “Girls,” but with a tighter focus. Froseth’s character, Sarah Jo, is a young woman attempting to explore her own sexuality, which has been divorced from her own fertility, having had a hysterectomy at a young age. A torrid affair with Josh (Jon Bernthal), the father of the child she nannies, sets her head spinning, and Sarah Jo attempts to process her feelings through sexual experimentation, for better or for worse.
Dunham co-stars as Josh’s wife in a supporting role, so it’s her incisive writing and directing that take center stage, as well as the astonishingly honest performance from Froseth. “Sharp Stick” fits neatly in with Dunham’s oeuvre, but it’s also a fascinating progression of her artistry. Rent it on all digital platforms and VOD.
It also may inspire a revisit or catch up with Dunham’s filmography — beyond “Girls” — including her breakout, “Tiny Furniture,” in which she stars, opposite her mother and sibling, in her childhood home, and alongside future “Girls” stars Alex Karpovsky and Jemima Kirke (longtime friend). It set the template for “Girls,” about the struggles of coming of age, and establishes her sensibility as a writer and director. Stream “Tiny Furniture” on Criterion Channel, AMC+ or rent it elsewhere. While you’re on Criterion Channel, give Dunham’s debut feature, the hourlong “Creative Nonfiction” a spin.
Dunham has also spearheaded other HBO series, including the Jennifer Garner vehicle “Camping,” alongside former collaborator Jenni Konner. While that one didn’t light the world on fire, the ensemble cast, including Bridget Everett, Juliette Lewis, David Tennant and Brett Gelman, is a charming group, and it’s worth a gander. Rent it on Prime Video or Google Play. Also check out Mickey Down and Konrad Kay’s HBO series “Industry,” currently airing its second season, about the 2008 financial crisis in the world of young financial professionals. Dunham directed the pilot, “Induction.” Stream it on HBO Max.
Lena Dunham moves beyond “Girls” in 2022, but she remains focused on expressing the unique experiences of young women, with the piercing “Sharp Stick” and upcoming “Catherine, Called Birdy.” Her stacked filmography and varied body of work is always worth the revisit, outside of the cultural discourse its stirred up. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/features/todo/what-to-stream-sharp-stick-and-the-best-of-lena-dunham-beyond-girls/article_bcfb2613-dc83-5ec4-902a-3e83deba78f7.html | 2022-08-18T11:36:35Z |
The Oscar winner, 57, is joining the “Hunger Games” prequel as the villainous head game-maker Dr. Volumnia Gaul in “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” based on the novel by the original trilogy’s scribe, Suzanne Collins, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“The ‘Hunger Games’ films have always been elevated by their exceptional casting, and we are thrilled to be continuing that tradition with Viola Davis as Volumnia Gaul. Her formidable and powerful presence will add layers of complexity and menace to this story,” said Nathan Kahane, Lionsgate motion picture group president.
“Dr. Gaul is as cruel as she is creative and as fearsome as she is formidable,” said director Francis Lawrence, according to the outlet.
Lawrence, unrelated to the original franchise’s star Jennifer Lawrence, is a staple of the “Hunger Games” cinematic universe, having directed all but the first film.
The film will center on the origin of the original films’ President Coriolanus Snow (played in those installments by Donald Sutherland) tyrannical legacy by focusing on him as a teenager, brought to life by “Billy the Kid” star Tom Blyth.
In the prequel, Snow has to prepare for the 10th Hunger Games — a competition until the death — by mentoring tribute Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) of District 12, from which the original films’ and books’ heroine Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) hailed. Through that relationship “thinks he might be able to turn the odds in their favor,” according to the outlet.
Davis — whose resume boasts an Oscar, Emmy and two Tony awards — isn’t the only acclaimed actor to be lending her talents to the dystopian universe of Panem in the decades before Katniss dismantled the sadistic Capitol.
Also starring in the film are Josh Andres Rivera, Peter Dinklage and “Euphoria” breakout Hunter Schafer.
In addition to actress Lawrence — whose 2012 debut in the series occurred the year after her first Oscar nomination and the year prior to her first win — the “Hunger Games” films also starred the likes of Emmy winner and Oscar nom Woody Harrelson, Grammy winner Lenny Kravitz, Oscar winner Julianne Moore, Oscar nominee Stanley Tucci and the late Academy Award winner Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Will Carpenter is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s Arts and Entertainment/Features Reporter. He can be reached by email at wcarpenter@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3135. Follow him on Twitter @will_carp_.
Will Carpenter is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s Arts and Entertainment/Features Reporter. He can be reached by email at wcarpenter@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3135. Follow him on Twitter @will_carp_. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/features/viola-davis-joins-hunger-games-prequel-in-cruel-fearsome-role/article_27994238-1e62-11ed-8043-3bac04f151f8.html | 2022-08-18T11:36:42Z |
THURSDAY
Caregivers for loved ones with Alzheimer’s/dementia: 3 p.m., meet for coffee, pie, understanding and comradeship at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery, 204 S. 30th St. For more information, call 307-745-6451.
Al-Anon Family Group meets: 5:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church, 215 S. 11th St. For relatives and friends of alcoholics. For information, call Jane at 307-760-4683 or Mark at 307-760-4716.
FRIDAY
Open house for renovated LFD training facility: 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Laramie Fire Department drill grounds, 2451 County Shop Road.
Downtown Laramie Farmers Market: 3-7 p.m., parking lot north of Depot Park on South 1st Street.
SATURDAY
‘The Legacy of Wyoming’ performed by Buffalo Bill and Dr. Jo: 5-8 p.m., Wyoming Territorial Prison. For tickets, call 307-745-6161.
Revive the Wyo fundraiser: 5-9 p.m., historic train depot in downtown Laramie. Enjoy a Cajun-themed meal and entertainment. Cost $35 a person. For tickets, visit https://htru.io/Ssrf.
SUNDAY
Walk with a Doc: 1:30-2:30 p.m. at the Washington Park west shelter No. 3. Bring walking shoes and a friend. For more information, email questions@ivinsonhospital.org.
Laramie Connections free Meet and Eat dinner and faith gathering: 4:30 p.m., First Baptist Church, 1517 E. Canby St.
Al-Anon Family Group meets: 6:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church, 215 S. 11th St. For relatives and friends of alcoholics. For information, call Jane at 307-760-4683 or Mark at 307-760-4716.
MONDAY
Alcoholics Anonymous meets: Daily at various times in person or on Zoom. For more information, call 307-399-0590 or visit area76aawyoming.org or aa.org.
Survivors of Suicide Support Group: Meets from 5:30-6:45 p.m. at Hospice of Laramie House, 1754 Centennial Drive.
Women for Sobriety meet: 6:30-8:30 p.m. via Zoom. For meeting details, email 1093@womenforsobriety.org.
TUESDAY
Prayers & Squares Quilting Group meets: 9 a.m., Room 1 of Hunter Hall at St. Matthews Cathedral.
WEDNESDAY
Laramie Tai Chi and Tea meets: 1:30 p.m. outdoors at Harbon Park, North 14th and Gibbon streets. For more information, visit laramietaichiandtea.org.
Aug. 25
Caregivers for loved ones with Alzheimer’s/dementia: 3 p.m., meet for coffee, pie, understanding and comradeship at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery, 204 S. 30th St. For more information, call 307-745-6451.
Al-Anon Family Group meets: 5:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church, 215 S. 11th St. For relatives and friends of alcoholics. For information, call Jane at 307-760-4683 or Mark at 307-760-4716.
Aug. 26
Downtown Laramie Farmers Market: 3-7 p.m., parking lot north of Depot Park on South 1st Street.
Aug. 27
Thrown-Out Bones performs: 5:30-7p.m., Washington Park band shell, 18th and Sheridan streets. Popcorn, pretzels and beer.
UW Planetarium presents “Back to the Moon For Good”: 8 p.m., UW Planetarium. What’s up in the sky around Wyoming.
Aug. 28
Laramie Connections free Meet and Eat dinner and faith gathering: 4:30 p.m., First Baptist Church, 1517 E. Canby St.
Al-Anon Family Group meets: 6:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church, 215 S. 11th St. For relatives and friends of alcoholics. For information, call Jane at 307-760-4683 or Mark at 307-760-4716.
Aug. 29
Alcoholics Anonymous meets: Daily at various times in person or on Zoom. For more information, call 307-399-0590 or visit area76aawyoming.org or aa.org.
Survivors of Suicide Support Group: Meets from 5:30-6:45 p.m. at Hospice of Laramie House, 1754 Centennial Drive.
Women for Sobriety meet: 6:30-8:30 p.m. via Zoom. For meeting details, email 1093@womenforsobriety.org.
Aug. 30
Prayers & Squares Quilting Group meets: 9 a.m., Room 1 of Hunter Hall at St. Matthews Cathedral.
Aug. 31
Laramie Tai Chi and Tea meets: 1:30 p.m. at outdoors Harbon Park, North 14th and Gibbon streets. For more information, visit laramietaichiandtea.org.
Sept. 1
Caregivers for loved ones with Alzheimer’s/dementia: 3 p.m., meet for coffee, pie, understanding and comradeship at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery, 204 S. 30th St. For more information, call 307-745-6451.
Al-Anon Family Group meets: 5:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church, 215 S. 11th St. For relatives and friends of alcoholics. For information, call Jane at 307-760-4683 or Mark at 307-760-4716.
Diabetes Support Group meets: 5:30-6:30 p.m. via Zoom. Email questions@ivinsosnhospital.org for the link.
Sept. 3
Walk with a Doc: 1:30-2:30 p.m. at the Washington Park west shelter No. 3. Bring walking shoes and a friend. For more information, email questions@ivinsonhospital.org.
Sept. 4
Laramie Connections free Meet and Eat dinner and faith gathering: 4:30 p.m., First Baptist Church, 1517 E. Canby St.
Al-Anon Family Group meets: 6:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church, 215 S. 11th St. For relatives and friends of alcoholics. For information, call Jane at 307-760-4683 or Mark at 307-760-4716.
Sept. 5
Alcoholics Anonymous meets: Daily at various times in person or on Zoom. For more information, call 307-399-0590 or visit area76aawyoming.org or aa.org.
Survivors of Suicide Support Group: Meets from 5:30-6:45 p.m. at Hospice of Laramie House, 1754 Centennial Drive.
Women for Sobriety meet: 6:30-8:30 p.m. via Zoom. For meeting details, email 1093@womenforsobriety.org.
Sept. 6
Prayers & Squares Quilting Group meets: 9 a.m., Room 1 of Hunter Hall at St. Matthews Cathedral.
Sept. 7
Laramie Tai Chi and Tea meets: 1:30 p.m. outdoors at Harbon Park, North 14th and Gibbon streets. For more information, visit visit laramietaichiandtea.org.
Ivinson’s women’s health team hosts prenatal education: 5:30 p.m. in the Summit conference room. For more information and registration, visit ivinsonhospital.org/childbirth.
Sept. 8
Caregivers for loved ones with Alzheimer’s/dementia: 3 p.m., meet for coffee, pie, understanding and comradeship at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery, 204 S. 30th St. For more information, call 307-745-6451.
Al-Anon Family Group meets: 5:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church, 215 S. 11th St. For relatives and friends of alcoholics. For information, call Jane at 307-760-4683 or Mark at 307-760-4716.
Sept. 10
22nd annual Wyoming Buddy Walk: 9 a.m. to noon, Washington Park band shell.
Summer Market Day at the fairgrounds: 3-6 p.m., beef barn.
Sept. 11
Laramie Connections free Meet and Eat dinner and faith gathering: 4:30 p.m., First Baptist Church, 1517 E. Canby St.
Al-Anon Family Group meets: 6:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church, 215 S. 11th St. For relatives and friends of alcoholics. For information, call Jane at 307-760-4683 or Mark at 307-760-4716.
Sept. 12
Alcoholics Anonymous meets: Daily at various times in person or on Zoom. For more information, call 307-399-0590 or visit area76aawyoming.org or aa.org.
Survivors of Suicide Support Group: Meets from 5:30-6:45 p.m. at Hospice of Laramie House, 1754 Centennial Drive.
Albany County Historic Preservation Board meets: 6 p.m. via Microsoft Teams. To attend and receive an invite, email a request to kcbard@charter.net.
Women for Sobriety meet: 6:30-8:30 p.m. via Zoom. For meeting details, email 1093@womenforsobriety.org.
Sept. 13
Prayers & Squares Quilting Group meets: 9 a.m., Room 1 of Hunter Hall at St. Matthews Cathedral.
Albany County Republican Party meets: 6 p.m., Albany County Public Library.
Sept. 14
Laramie Tai Chi and Tea meets: 1:30 p.m. outdoors at Harbon Park, North 14th and Gibbon streets. For more information, visit visit laramietaichiandtea.org.
Ivinson’s women’s health team hosts prenatal education: 5:30 p.m. in the Summit conference room. For more information and registration, visit ivinsonhospital.org/childbirth.
Sept. 15
Caregivers for loved ones with Alzheimer’s/dementia: 3 p.m., meet for coffee, pie, understanding and comradeship at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery, 204 S. 30th St. For more information, call 307-745-6451.
Al-Anon Family Group meets: 5:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church, 215 S. 11th St. For relatives and friends of alcoholics. For information, call Jane at 307-760-4683 or Mark at 307-760-4716.
Sept. 16
Albany County CattleWomen meet: 11:30 a.m., location tbd. Visit wyaccw.com in the week before the meeting for location and more information.
Sept. 17
Walk with a Doc: 1:30-2:30 p.m. at the Washington Park west shelter No. 3. Bring walking shoes and a friend. For more information, email questions@ivinsonhospital.org.
Sept. 18
Laramie Connections free Meet and Eat dinner and faith gathering: 4:30 p.m., First Baptist Church, 1517 E. Canby St.
Al-Anon Family Group meets: 6:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church, 215 S. 11th St. For relatives and friends of alcoholics. For information, call Jane at 307-760-4683 or Mark at 307-760-4716.
Sept. 19
Alcoholics Anonymous meets: Daily at various times in person or on Zoom. For more information, call 307-399-0590 or visit area76aawyoming.org or aa.org.
Survivors of Suicide Support Group: Meets from 5:30-6:45 p.m. at Hospice of Laramie House, 1754 Centennial Drive.
Women for Sobriety meet: 6:30-8:30 p.m. via Zoom. For meeting details, email 1093@womenforsobriety.org.
Sept. 20
Prayers & Squares Quilting Group meets: 9 a.m., Room 1 of Hunter Hall at St. Matthews Cathedral.
Sept. 21
Laramie Tai Chi and Tea meets: 1:30 p.m. outdoors at Harbon Park, North 14th and Gibbon streets. For more information, visit visit laramietaichiandtea.org.
Ivinson’s women’s health team hosts prenatal education: 5:30 p.m. in the Summit conference room. For more information and registration, visit ivinsonhospital.org/childbirth.
Sept. 22
Caregivers for loved ones with Alzheimer’s/dementia: 3 p.m., meet for coffee, pie, understanding and comradeship at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery, 204 S. 30th St. For more information, call 307-745-6451.
Al-Anon Family Group meets: 5:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church, 215 S. 11th St. For relatives and friends of alcoholics. For information, call Jane at 307-760-4683 or Mark at 307-760-4716.
Sept. 25
Laramie Connections free Meet and Eat dinner and faith gathering: 4:30 p.m., First Baptist Church, 1517 E. Canby St.
Al-Anon Family Group meets: 6:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church, 215 S. 11th St. For relatives and friends of alcoholics. For information, call Jane at 307-760-4683 or Mark at 307-760-4716.
Sept. 26
Alcoholics Anonymous meets: Daily at various times in person or on Zoom. For more information, call 307-399-0590 or visit area76aawyoming.org or aa.org.
Survivors of Suicide Support Group: Meets from 5:30-6:45 p.m. at Hospice of Laramie House, 1754 Centennial Drive.
Women for Sobriety meet: 6:30-8:30 p.m. via Zoom. For meeting details, email 1093@womenforsobriety.org.
America Sewing Guild Laramie Chapter meets: 7 p.m., United Methodist Church, 1215 E. Gibbon St.
Sept. 27
Prayers & Squares Quilting Group meets: 9 a.m., Room 1 of Hunter Hall at St. Matthews Cathedral.
Sept. 28
Laramie Tai Chi and Tea meets: 1:30 p.m. outdoors at Harbon Park, North 14th and Gibbon streets. For more information, visit visit laramietaichiandtea.org.
Sept. 29
Caregivers for loved ones with Alzheimer’s/dementia: 3 p.m., meet for coffee, pie, understanding and comradeship at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery, 204 S. 30th St. For more information, call 307-745-6451.
Al-Anon Family Group meets: 5:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church, 215 S. 11th St. For relatives and friends of alcoholics. For information, call Jane at 307-760-4683 or Mark at 307-760-4716.
Oct. 2
Laramie Connections free Meet and Eat dinner and faith gathering: 4:30 p.m., First Baptist Church, 1517 E. Canby St.
Al-Anon Family Group meets: 6:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church, 215 S. 11th St. For relatives and friends of alcoholics. For information, call Jane at 307-760-4683 or Mark at 307-760-4716. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/announcements/whats-happening-aug-18-2022/article_254c8086-8cca-539a-9a83-25b2291da915.html | 2022-08-18T11:36:48Z |
WASHINGTON — Liz Cheney’s resounding primary defeat marks the end of an era for the Republican Party as well as her own family legacy, the most high-profile political casualty yet as the party of Lincoln transforms into the party of Trump.
The fall of the three-term congresswoman, who has declared it her mission to ensure Donald Trump never returns to the Oval Office, was vividly foreshadowed earlier this year, on the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
As the House convened for a moment of silence, Cheney, who is leading the investigation into the insurrection as vice chair of the 1/6 committee, and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, stood almost alone on the Republican side of the House floor.
Democratic lawmakers streamed by to shake their hands. Republicans declined to join them.
“Liz Cheney represents the Republican Party as it used to be. ... All of that is gone now,” said Geoff Kabaservice, vice president of political studies at the center-right Niskanen Center.
What comes next for Liz Cheney is still to be determined.
“Now the real work begins,” she said in an election night concession speech in Wyoming, summoning the legacy of both Abraham Lincoln and his Civil War-era military and presidential successor Ulysses Grant in her campaign against Trump.
Cheney could very well announce her own run for the White House — unlikely to win a hostile Republican Party’s nomination but to at least give those opposed to Trump an alternative.
Overnight, she transferred leftover campaign funds into a new entity: “The Great Task.” That’s a phrase from The Gettysburg Address.
“I will be doing whatever it takes to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office,” Cheney told NBC’s “Today” show early Wednesday. Pressed, she said that running for president “is something I’m thinking about and I’ll make a decision in the coming months.”
Whether she runs or not, her belief that Trump poses a danger to democracy is a conviction that runs deep in her family.
But it’s a view that has no home in today’s GOP.
Trump is purging the Republican Party, ridding it of dissenters like Cheney and others who dare to defy him, shifting the coast-to-coast GOP landscape and the makeup of Congress.
Of the 10 House Republicans including Cheney who voted to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, at the Capitol, only two remain candidates for re-election. The others have bowed out or, like Cheney, have been defeated by Trump-backed challengers.
If Republicans gain control of the House and Senate in the November elections, the new Congress is destined to be remade in Trump’s image. However, his influence may in fact cut two ways, winning back the House for Republicans but costing the party the Senate if his candidates fail to generate the broader appeal needed for statewide elections.
“It’s just a party of Donald Trump’s fever dreams,” said Mark Salter, a former longtime Republican aide to the late Sen. John McCain.
“It’s just Donald Trump’s club.”
For 50 years, the Cheneys have had important influence in Washington, from the time Dick Cheney first ran for Congress – later being elected vice president – to the arrival of his daughter, elected in 2016 alongside Trump’s White House victory.
Identified with the hawkish defense wing of the Republican Party, the Cheneys with the Presidents Bush represented a cornerstone of the GOP in the post-World War II era, when it thrived as a party of small government, low taxation and muscular foreign policy.
Liz Cheney never wavered, chosen by House GOP colleagues to the same position her father held, the No. 3 Republican in the House, its highest-ranking woman.
But the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol changed all that.
Cheney was unequivocal, laying blame for the attack on the defeated president and his false claims of voter fraud and a rigged election.
Trump “summoned this mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack,” she said at the time, announcing her vote to impeach.
“There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy initially defended Cheney but quickly reversed as Republicans booted her from party leadership. When Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi named Cheney to the 1/6 panel, her exile was all but complete.
Trump gloated at Cheney’s GOP primary defeat Tuesday night, deriding her as “sanctimonious” and a “fool” for suggesting his claims of a rigged election were false.
Trump had swooped into the Cowboy State to rally for Harriet Hageman, who was once highly critical of him but beat Cheney by embracing the former president, backed by McCarthy and other party leaders.
Cheney’s defeat follows that of the last Bush in public office, Jeb’s son George P. Bush, who was defeated in the Republican primary for Texas attorney general by Trump-backed Ken Paxton in May.
On Fox News, conservative author Charlie Kirk called Tuesday’s election a “mass repudiation” of the Bush-Cheney-McCain era.
Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, who replaced Cheney in House GOP leadership and endorsed Hageman, said in a statement she was glad to see Pelosi’s “puppet” defeated.
Former Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming who served in Congress alongside Dick Cheney and has known Liz Cheney since she was a child, says he can no longer recognize the party that he joined, casting his first presidential vote for Dwight Eisenhower.
“What’s happened to our party is a fear of Donald J. Trump,” Simpson said.
Founded in the mid-19th century, the Republican Party’s core conservative values have shifted in the Trump era into a strain of politics that is more inward focused on grievances at home and isolationism abroad.
Those running for Congress include many Republican incumbents who voted against certifying Joe Biden’s election, amplifying Trump’s relentless false claims of a rigged election and fueling the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
And many of the new GOP candidates for Congress are also election deniers, according to a tally by Democrats.
“The House is – should be – the people’s House,” said former Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo of Florida. Instead, he said, “It’s controlled by Mr. Trump,”
Cheney walks alone many days at the Capitol, flanked by plain-clothes Capitol police who guard her amid an onslaught of violent threats.
Her mission of denying Trump a return to the presidency can be seen in her daily schedule, much of her time devoted to the 1/6 committee deepening and completing its work.
Fellow Wyoming Republican Simpson said he has no doubt what’s next for Cheney: “She’ll mount a new set of horses and ride to the finish line.” | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/cheneys-defeat-means-its-trumps-party-now/article_86f97bcc-1e66-11ed-b0d1-5b0929802b50.html | 2022-08-18T11:36:54Z |
Gov. Mark Gordon defeated his two Republican opponents in the primary election for another term in a landslide Tuesday.
In another key race, Rep. Chuck Gray, R-Casper, was chosen to become the next secretary of state, in an open race because the current office-holder is becoming a judge.
Around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, all 23 counties had reported their unofficial results to the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office.
Gray and Gordon were among the candidates in five key Republican primary state races, including the secretary of state, state treasurer and state superintendent of public instruction. These races were highly contested.
Gordon won with 101,092 votes in the gubernatorial campaign, among GOP members.
Rival Brent Bien had 48,549, while Rex Rammell earned 9,373 votes and James Scott Quick got 4,725. There were 533 write-ins.
Gordon will face Theresa Livingston, the winner of the Democratic primary, in the general election, after she defeated Rex Wilde. Livingston garnered 4,989 votes from Democrats, while Wilde had 2,016.
The incumbent Gov. Gordon said he will fight for a second term heading into the general election, and that he and his wife, Jennie Gordon, take nothing for granted.
“We’re very encouraged by what we’re seeing, and it feels good,” said Gordon from his election party in Buffalo. “I really want to thank all the supporters for doing such an incredible job.”
He faced Rammell and Bien in the Republican primary, both of whom accused Gordon of not standing by the Republican Party’s platform strictly enough.
Bien told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, before polls closed at 7 p.m. local time, it was an incredible experience to campaign throughout the state. He said he was privileged to meet so many Wyoming residents. He said because Wyoming is geographically so vast, and the incumbent, by virtue of being in office, has an advantage, it’s hard to overcome.
“It’s a challenge, but it’s very rewarding at the same time,” he said.
Bien also faced backlash from Rammell in the weeks before election night and accused him of running in the race illegally because he hadn’t lived in the state long enough.
Bien retired from active duty in the Marine Corps in 2019. He has repeatedly said he kept his residency throughout the entire time he served.
The Committee to Elect Rex Rammell Governor of Wyoming stated that outgoing Secretary of State Ed Buchanan did not say Bien was eligible to run for governor when Rammell’s camp made the complaint.
Rammell told the WTE Tuesday afternoon that he felt he ran a good campaign, but Buchanan should have never allowed Bien to run for governor. He said if Bien was not on the ballot, the votes would not have been split between the two of them.
“Mark Gordon was probably the weakest incumbent,” Rammell told the WTE. “And I really feel like I could beat him if Bien wasn’t in the race.”
Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, Rep. Gray and Mark Armstrong were the three candidates vying to be the secretary of state.
According to the unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s Office, the winner of the race was Gray. Wyoming voters cast 75,938 votes for him, and Nethercott received 63,044.
Buchanan had earlier dropped out of the race. He later was appointed by Gordon to be a district court judge for the Eighth Judicial District serving Goshen County.
The secretary of state race was contentious leading up to primary election night as Nethercott and Gray made accusations against one another.
Nethercott said more than a week in advance that Gray should be disqualified following a complaint to the Federal Election Commission against him. The complaint was filed by former Secretary of State Max Maxfield, who questioned the financial disclosure from Gray when he previously sought the U.S. House seat for Wyoming.
Gray, in turn, says he got the money legitimately, and an expert told the Casper Star-Tribune the candidate was free to contribute the money to his own campaign.
Maxfield endorsed Nethercott, alongside other political leaders in the state who said they doubted the qualifications of Gray and his stance the 2020 election was stolen.
Neither Nethercott or Gray commented Tuesday night.
Gray was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, and has made claims of his own against the Cheyenne attorney. WyoFile reported Monday that text messages paid for by the Committee to Elect Chuck Gray said his opponent was being sued for lying and slander, investigated for violating state campaign law and gave herself a $30,000 taxpayer-funded raise, which Nethercott denied.
Armstrong reflected on the campaign Tuesday before polls closed. He said it had been a long battle against Nethercott and Gray, and he didn’t have the funds they did.
“The other two have spent over $800,000 on their campaigns,” he told the WTE. “I don’t want them anywhere near public money.”
Armstrong garnered 14,292 votes, syphoning a significant portion from Nethercott. Dan Dockstader, who withdrew his candidacy after ballots had been printed, received 3,465 votes, and there were 410 write-ins.
There were no declared Democrats for secretary of state.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Brian Schroeder was seeking a first full term in office and lost to challenger Megan Degenfelder by more than 3,500 votes.
He was appointed to the office by Gordon after the former state superintendent, Jillian Balow, went to serve in a similar job under newly elected Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Degenfelder received 59,301 votes across the state. Schroeder followed closely behind with 55,746.
He told the WTE his campaign did everything humanly possible and left no stone unturned. He said he did the very best to get across the state to every event. He also received an endorsement from Trump.
The two other contenders in the Republican primary were Jennifer Zerba and Robert White III, who together received just over 18,000 votes.
Degenfelder will face Democratic candidate Sergio Maldonado Sr. in the general election, who received 6,690 votes in an uncontested primary.
Incumbent State Treasurer Curt Meier also won his primary election against challenger Bill Gallop, and was recently endorsed by Trump. According to unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s Office, Meier received 97,489 votes to Gallop’s 40,643.
Kristi Racines is currently the Wyoming state auditor and was the only candidate in the Republican primary. She received 133,724 votes. She doesn’t face an opponent in the general election for a second term, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/gov-gordon-wins-gop-primary-degenfelder-gray-also-win/article_37a0eece-1e67-11ed-93ff-f7328be9d300.html | 2022-08-18T11:36:56Z |
While Albany County voters turned out in force to support embattled U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, the vocal critic of former President Donald Trump found herself at the bottom of a Cowboy State landslide after Tuesday’s primary results were tabulated.
In unofficial results released a little before 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, the U.S. House race seems to have fueled a record-breaking turnout for Albany County voters.
The 9,881 total ballots cast are by far the most for a primary election in the county for at least the last 20 years. The previous high mark was 8,001 votes cast in the 2020 primary.
Of those 9,881 votes, 8,453 were Republican, or 85.5%, signaling a large crossover movement at the polls. In contrast, 1,225 Democrat ballots were cast, along with 203 nonpartisan and 4 ballots that were blank.
“Oh my,” said longtime Albany County Clerk Jackie Gonzales upon hearing of the large gap. “I know from the comments I received from my staff is that there were a lot of changes to voter registration.”
While final numbers on crossovers won’t be known for a little while, Gonzales said she’ll be interested to see how many change affiliation back to Democrat for the November general election.
Statewide, Albany was one of only two Wyoming counties to favor Cheney. Teton county was overwhelmingly for the incumbent with 5,955 votes to Hageman’s 1,928, according to results posted on the Secretary of State’s website.
Overall, however, Hageman outperformed even the most optimistic pre-election polls. With all 23 Wyoming counties reporting, Hageman has 113,025 votes to Cheney’s 49,316, according to unofficial results. Hageman got 66% of the 170,584 votes cast in the U.S. House race across the Cowboy State in a landslide over Cheney’s 29%.
Gonzales said she was pleased with the high overall local turnout, crediting her staff of election workers.
“I know that it was steady in most of the polling places all day long,” she said. “I was really, really pleased with the work they did.”
While Hageman unseated the incumbent Cheney statewide, the embattled Republican U.S. House rep was the choice in Albany County with 4,218 votes to Hageman’s 3,967.
As Gov. Mark Gordon also seemed to cruise in a big win in the Republican primary in his bid for a second term, Laramie resident Megan Degenfelder held a lead of about 1,000 votes over Brian Schroeder for the Republican slot on the ticket for Superintendent of Public Instruction. In her home county, Degenfelder won big with 3,206 votes to Schreoder’s 2,201.
The race was less intensive for most local Wyoming legislative candidates as only two races for the state House of Representatives were contested in the primary election.
Current Laramie City Council member Bryan Shuster won the Republican nod for House District 14 with 1,060 votes. His opponent, Julie McCallister, earned 935 votes. Shuster will run against Democrat Trey Sherwood for the seat in the November election.
“I’ve been on city council 20 years,” Shuster said. “Each time I ran it was great. It wasn’t as tough as this was. This has been the toughest race I’ve ever been in.”
He said that one of his primary goals in the next phase of his campaign is to focus on creating jobs for Laramie and keeping young people in Wyoming.
“This is Laramie,” he said. “I want to help the entire state. What we do for the state is going to be good for Laramie. Right now, economics is really what I’m pushing for.”
House District 46 incumbent Ocean Andrew earned more than three times the votes of his opponent, Richard “RJ” Lennox, with a total of 1,786 votes. The Republican will run against Democratic candidate Merav Ben-David in the general election.
Crossing the line
While a focused push to convince Wyoming Democrats to register as Republicans to vote for Cheney may have worked to some degree, the numbers indicate high overall turnout by GOP voters more than made up for that.
The 182,142 votes cast in Tuesday’s primary was a considerable jump over the 140,042 in 2020. Also, the 171,964 Republicans casting ballots represent another significant bump for the Wyoming GOP, representing 94.4% of all ballots cast. That compares to 79% in the 2020 primary and 84% in 2018.
While she likely won’t have numbers about Albany County party-switchers until next week after the results have been certified (the local canvasing board meets at 9 a.m. Friday to certify the results), Gonzales said local voters historically turn out for elections.
“We have had great turnout in Albany County,” she said before the polls closed Tuesday.
She also said there were no hiccups or issues with the state’s new voter ID law that requires people to show a valid state-issued identification to vote. It was passed by the Legislature last year and Tuesday was the first time it’s been put into practice.
She said that typically, the main issues are people who were unaware of the change in law rather than people having a problem with the rule.
“Probably, the one thing that I’ve noticed maybe is that with changes in the statute, trying to get that information out to the electors so they’re well-informed” was a main focus for her office, Gonzales said.
The showdown
With the win, Hageman is the favorite to be the state’s lone U.S. House member against Democrat Lynnette Grey Bull, who won the blue side of the primary Tuesday.
Early Wednesday morning, the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office reported results from all 23 counties. In the final, unofficial tally, Hageman received 113,025 votes to Cheney’s 49,316.
Even before the county numbers began showing up online, the other members of Wyoming’s congressional delegation quickly weighed in with their congratulations to Hageman, who pre-primary polls had consistently forecast as the winner.
Hageman was joined by family, friends and some supporters here, as media outlets far and wide reported, just an hour after polls closed in Wyoming, that she was the winner. As the results were discussed on television at Hageman’s election party, the crowd cheered and hollered in celebration.
Many said in interviews they were there to congratulate her in person and had known she would beat the incumbent by a landslide.
“By our vote today, Wyoming has put the elites on notice – we are no longer going to tolerate representatives who don’t represent us,” Hageman said in her victory speech. “Wyoming has made clear that we are done being governed by the Washington, D.C., uniparty – those Democrats and Republicans who don’t really care which party is in power, just so long as they are.”
Cheney acknowledged Hageman had won and said she had called her rival. Cheney also continued her comments against former President Donald Trump and those like him who have denied the results of the 2020 election that he lost.
“Two years ago, I won this primary with 73% of the vote. I could easily have done the same again,” Cheney said in televised remarks. “But it would have required that I go along with President Trump’s lie about the 2020 election.
“Tonight, Harriet Hageman has received the most votes in this primary. She won. I called her to concede the race,” Cheney said. “This primary election is over. But now the real work begins.”
Other political leaders in the state made statements congratulating Hageman in the minutes after Cheney accepted defeat. U.S. Sen. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, both R-Wyo., each said they were looking forward to her joining them in Washington to represent the Equality State.
“Harriet will be a tremendous ally in the fight to unleash American energy, combat inflation and secure our southern border,” Barrasso said. “Along with Cynthia Lummis, the three of us will be a strong, conservative and effective team for the people of Wyoming.”
A news release from Lummis said the lawmaker “extended her congratulations to Harriet Hageman on her primary win for Wyoming’s lone seat in Congress.” In the emailed announcement, Lummis said of “my friend” Hageman that she will now hold the seat that Lummis herself occupied for eight years.
Cheney has been pushing against backlash from the Republican Party following her vote to impeach Trump in January 2021, which resulted in a censure from the Wyoming GOP and county delegations. She was also criticized by party leaders for leading the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot as the vice chairwoman, and for arguing the 2020 election was not stolen.
Barbara Carlsverg told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle she was disappointed with Cheney when she heard she was going after Trump, because she wasn’t representing the state well. It was the deciding factor in her vote for Hageman.
“She turned her back on the Wyoming people; she’s supposed to represent us,” said Carlsverg. “And then, on the other side, people say we admire her for her courage. I said that’s not why she was elected to office.”
Cheney’s decision to impeach Trump and investigate his relationship with the riot cost her more than her support from her party. The former president endorsed Hageman, and has continued to campaign for her. He joined her Memorial Day weekend in Casper for a Save America rally, where he bashed Cheney for abandoning her Republican values.
In her own remarks, Grey Bull said that “if this primary season seemed exceptional to you, it’s because it was. Some national political leaders asked Wyoming Democrats to switch their party affiliation to save the GOP from itself.”
The candidate went on to say, in written remarks, that “while I share their concern about extremism, the best way to safeguard against that threat is by defending the democratic system’s intrinsic values, and by supporting a candidate who will fight for everyone, not just the 1%. The myth that the 2020 presidential election was stolen is a dangerous lie that has cost lives and empowered toxic people. My Republican opponent has married herself to that lie and that campaign, and to the former president.” | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/hageman-plays-trump-card-wyoming-voters-send-decisive-message-with-huge-cheney-defeat/article_4fcffc9d-a9db-574a-9e1b-a4c12d2006fc.html | 2022-08-18T11:37:02Z |
Regional Overview
After the drenching last weekend, the potential for rain eases at least until the end of the week. Temperatures cool slightly into the weekend, with an uptick in the potential for afternoon thunderstorms. This is the third weekend in a row where monsoonal conditions could increase thunderstorm possibilities. Keep an eye to the sky, since some of those showers can turn dangerous to those caught unaware in the backcountry. The flooding last Saturday in Laramie is proof that dark clouds can mean business.
Ranking Categories
H (One fish): To ensure fish dinner, go to the local grocery store
HHHHH (Five fish): Toss a line and get a fish; the fish aren’t picky
Granite, Crystal and North Crow reservoirs
HH½
The buzz: The fishing is slow in the middle of the day, when the heat is on. Toss a line early or late in the day for the best action. With the slightly cooler weather by the weekend, the fishing could pick up. There is a cyanobacterial bloom advisory at the west causeway of Granite Reservoir.
Suggested bait, lures and flies:
Worms
Salmon eggs
Panther Martins
Small spinners
Woolly buggers
Renegades
Ants
Hornbergs
Sloans and Absarraca lakes
HH½
The buzz: The action is hit or miss in the middle of the day, but good in the early mornings and evenings. A cyanobacterial bloom advisory has been posted for Sloans Lake, so be on the lookout for the algae growth along the shoreline.
Suggested bait, lures and flies:
Worms
Salmon eggs
Stink bait (chicken liver flavor)
Assorted spinners
Pole Mountain
HHH
The buzz: The fishing is good on the beaver ponds across the area. Take a hike to get to some of the more remote ponds for the best action and to find the ponds with less moss.
Suggested bait, lures and flies:
Small worms
Ants
Beetles
Olive and orange scuds
Elk hair caddis
Copper Johns
Zug bugs
Renegades
Laramie Plains lakes
HHH
The buzz: The fishing is good in the mornings and evenings, but slow in the middle of the day. Anglers report lots of fish rising, but the catching is slow at Meebour. The action is good in the mornings and evenings at Twin Buttes and Lake Hattie. Cyanobacterial bloom advisories are in effect at Leazenby and Diamond lakes. These blooms can be harmful to dogs that might frolic in the water. While the fishing is fine, it might be prudent to avoid these areas if your outing includes a furry friend.
Suggested bait, lures and flies:
Salmon eggs
Slender spoons
Bead head prince nymphs
Aggravators
Jumbo juju chironomids
Damselfly nymphs
San Juan worms
Egg patterns
Laramie River
HH
The buzz: The river remains low, and, with the warm weather, the water heats up during the day. Toss a line early or late in the day.
Suggested bait, lures and flies:
Panther martins
UV leeches
Copper Johns
Bead head prince nymphs
San Juan worms
Pat’s rubber legs
Foam beetles
Pheasant tails
Snowy Range
HHH½
The buzz: The high country continues to offer excellent fishing with nice action throughout the day. Lake Owen is fishing well, while it’s slower at Rob Roy Reservoir. Douglas Creek is also a hot spot. A cyanobacterial bloom advisory is in place at Miller Lake, and it is under investigation at Sheep Lake.
Suggested bait, lures and flies:
Nightcrawlers
Bead head prince nymphs
Renegades
Timberline emergers
Lightning bugs
Foam ants
Stimulators
Hot head leeches
North Platte River and Encampment River – Saratoga Valley
HH½
The buzz: Flows on the upper reaches of the North Platte River are low. This provides excellent wade fishing, but avoid fishing in the heat of the day to reduce stress to the fish if you plan to catch and release. Watch for trico hatches in the mornings and caddis hatches in the evenings. The Encampment River is also running low. Fishing in the heat of the day should be avoided for those doing catch and release.
Suggested bait, lures and flies:
Trico spinners
Chubby Chernobyl
Elk hair caddis
Goldies
Thin mints
Red San Juan worms
Pale morning duns
Parachute Adams
North Platte River – Grey Reef
HHH
The buzz: The flow remains steady at 2,000 cubic feet per second. The action is good to very good. Weeds can be a problem. Having good aim when casting is needed. Look for trico hatches in the mornings, and then caddis and mayflies coming off in the evenings.
Suggested bait, lures and flies:
Copper rib RS2s
PMD nymphs
Pine squirrel leeches
Parachute Adams
Theo’s emergers
Sparkle worms
Flossy worms
Grasshoppers
North Platte River – Miracle Mile
HHH
The buzz: The flow is down to 500 cubic feet per second, while the fishing action gets mixed reviews. There’s more elbowroom than at Grey Reef, though, for those looking to escape the crowds.
Suggested bait, lures and flies:
Golden stones
Caddis
Midges
Rock worms
Hothead leeches
San Juan worms
Scuds
Wheatland Reservoir No. 3
HHH
The buzz: The fishing is good, with the best action early and late in the day. A cyanobacterial bloom advisory continues for the reservoir. Avoid contact with water in areas where the algae are dense. The Sugarloaf Fire continues to burn 22 miles northeast of the reservoir and, as of the start of the week, it is 60% contained. Very little smoke has been reported recently for this fire.
Suggest bait, lures and flies:
Bead head prince nymphs
Black or olive woolly buggers
Squirrel leeches
San Juan worms
Glendo
HH½
The buzz: The water level continues its annual drop, but it’s a big reservoir with plenty of angling. Boats can launch at Whiskey Gulch low water, Reno Cover low water, and the Marina boat ramps. The fishing is slow with the heat, but should improve once it cools. The mountain bike trails are in excellent shape for those looking for a change of pace from fishing.
Suggest bait, lures and flies:
Bottom bouncers
Crank baits
Jigging spoons
Grayrocks Reservoir
HHH
The buzz: The fishing is very good, and is best early and late. The fishing should pick up with the cooler weather.
Suggest bait, lures and flies:
Worm harnesses with leeches
Nightcrawlers with worm harnesses (gold, silver, burnt orange blades)
Reservoir levels
Alcova: 98.2% full
Boysen: 92.5% full
Guernsey: 61.9% full
Glendo: 43.4% full
Grey Reef: 89.4% full
Keyhole: 66.6% full
Pathfinder: 39.3% full
Seminoe: 53.8% full
River flows
North Platte River at Northgate: 184 cubic feet per second
North Platte River above Seminoe Reservoir: 300 cfs
North Platte River near Miracle Mile: 542 cfs
North Platte River at Gray Reef: 1,966 cfs
Encampment River near town of Encampment: 73 cfs
Encampment River at Hog Park: 44 cfs
Laramie River near Laramie: 19 cfs
Boat ramp openings
Glendo Reservoir: All ramps are open except Elk Horn, Indian Point and Bennett Hill.
Guernsey Reservoir: All ramps are open.
Boysen Reservoir: All ramps are open.
Seminoe Reservoir: All ramps are open. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/outdoors/fishing-report-for-aug-17-2022/article_aae8f608-87e1-5f44-bea4-7850af82aa94.html | 2022-08-18T11:37:08Z |
It sure beat running around on a cinder track.
That was a comment from marathon runner Denis McCarthy from St. Louis, Missouri, who registered for the Med Bow Rail Marathon and Half Marathon just a couple days before the event.
“I was looking for a running event for the weekend and came across this race,” McCarthy said. “I was eying an event that involved running around a cinder track for hours, then found this mountain trail event instead.
“The drive was a little longer, but it sure was worth it to run in the mountains on this wonderful trail instead of going in circles.”
McCarthy is one of a rather colorful group of runners with a goal of running a marathon or half marathon in every state. Mark Bonderud came from Monmouth, Maine, while Jo May and Doug Beagle traveled all the way from Houston, Texas. All three competed in the 60 and over age category.
For this second Med Bow Rail Marathon and Half Marathon, runners came from 16 states and eight Wyoming communities. Attracting 123 registered runners, the race was put on by the Friends of the Medicine Bow Rail Trail and directed by a marathon planning committee.
Laramie was well represented with 41 runners. The number of women slightly edged out the men.
In contrast to the marathon and half marathon veterans, for others this was the first event at their chosen distance. One unidentified runner, relaxing after she ran the full 26.2 miles, said it was her first marathon, and now she could barely move to get up out of her chair.
“It was tough,” she said. “Really tough. I swear, going to and from the turnaround point at Dry Park was uphill both ways.”
That turnaround point is the northern-most trailhead on the Rail Trail and is only included on the marathon route.
Some used the race to train for other marathons. One of those was well-known Cheyenne runner Brent Weigner, who runs marathons around the globe. This was his 376th marathon.
“I was by myself around 2 miles down the trail when a deer crashed through the woods 20 yards in front of me,” Weigner said. “This was my last long run before the Liberia Marathon next week, so I entered it with the plan to run easy.
“I finished last overall, so I succeeded in my goal to keep it easy. Next I run in Monrovia, Liberia, in a week.”
Others had goals to set personal records or garner one of the engraved railroad spikes reserved for the top three finishers in each race. Top overall runners also went home with a certificate for a six-pack of beer from Bond’s Brewing Co., one of the event sponsors. Those finishing in the top three of their age groups were awarded special running caps.
Top marathon finisher was Andrew Bodley from Fort Collins with a time of 3 hours, 38 minutes and 47 seconds. Not far behind was the top female finisher, Laramie runner Kaley Holyfield, with a time of 3:43:40.
Top finisher in the half marathon was Casper runner Jarod McDaniel with a time of 1:41:46, and top female finisher was Laramie runner Sommer Stevens with a time of 1:44:43.
A small army of volunteers maintained aid stations, helped with parking and manned the start and finish lines. The University Amateur Radio Club provided communication along the course since much of the area lacks cell coverage.
Grand Avenue Urgent Care was on hand for medical emergencies; thankfully they remained on alert, but were not called. Other sponsors include Albany Lodge, Premier Bone and Joint Centers, WWC Engineering and Hammond Land Surveying.
Volunteers also took on the herculean effort of preparing the Medicine Bow Rail Trail for the event. That is no easy feat with a 21-mile pathway accessed only via non-motorized travel. Those efforts began when the snow melted, but really accelerated a couple weeks before the race.
Georgia Carmen, one of those trail preparation volunteers, spent hours using a scythe or electric weed-whacker in an effort to keep Mother Nature from encroaching too far onto the trail. Other volunteers used shovels to repair erosion areas and snippers to keep willows at bay on the foot path around Lake Owen, which is a portion of both courses.
Those efforts paid off with many runners stating they were impressed by the beauty along the pathway. A few even had the opportunity to ogle moose that meandered on and the off the trail.
Full race results are available on UltraSignup (ultrasignup.com) and more information about the event and the Medicine Bow Rail Trail are on the website maintained by the nonprofit group Friends of the Medicine Bow Rail Trail at medicinebowrailtrail.org. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/outdoors/go-the-distance-goals-vary-at-the-med-bow-rail-marathon-and-half-marathon/article_63bb04c8-71ea-5da8-b62b-937a81afad23.html | 2022-08-18T11:37:14Z |
Boomerang Writer
Albany County sheriff candidates on both sides of the political aisle won by large margins in Tuesday’s primary election.
Current Sheriff Aaron Appelhans, who won the Democratic nomination, will face Republican Joel Senior in the general election Nov. 8.
Appelhans won the Democratic primary with 937 votes, well ahead of Curtis Lee Moore with 157 votes and Zeb Gladney with 75.
“We’re pleased with the result,” Appelhans said, adding he wants “to continue) helping people out in mental health crisis and getting a lot of different people from different areas to not only be involved in the Sheriff’s Office, but increasing those services we provide to everybody in the county.”
Appelhans referred to his past experience in the office as an important platform for his ongoing campaign.
“I think we did a good job during the campaign making sure that people got the message that we sent out and seeing the good work that I’ve done and cleaning things up with ACSO to get us moving in the right direction, and providing that transparent, professional law enforcement service,” he said Tuesday evening.
Senior won the Republican ballot with 4,696 votes — more than double the 2,149 votes that went to his opponent, Rafael Q. Delgadillo.
“I am honored to have received all of the votes that I did and we are going to continue working hard up to the general (election),” Senior said. “All the calls and texts of support yesterday and today were overwhelming and much appreciated.”
Senior added that campaigning for the primary was a learning experience, and that he feels voters appreciate his sincerity.
Democrats were curious to learn whether or not Appelhans would move through to the general election for a chance to retain the office he was appointed to i 2020n. He replaced former Sheriff David O’Malley, who resigned amid controversy.
The decision made Appelhans the first Black sheriff in Wyoming, with local and national media questioning whether his appointment signaled a period of reform in local law enforcement.
While their opinions varied on certain law enforcement practices and accountability mechanisms, each of the candidates ran their campaigns on promises to improve operations at the Albany County Sheriff’s Office after a history of mismanagement and local unrest at the department.
Before results came in, Delgadillo said he was happy with his ability to share his message clearly on his website and during candidate events.
“I’m very confident that the electorate here will send a strong message that they want to vote to restore the authority and legitimacy of an elected sheriff,” he said. “I think that a sheriff with that kind of support can accomplish more things and I’m looking forward to being that person.”
A primary goal for Moore was to give local votes more choices, which he said he was glad to be part of.
“I think you should always have choices,” he said. “That’s why I did it and we shall see what happens.” | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/stage-is-set-for-albany-county-sheriffs-race/article_8c906716-251d-5dc9-a63c-3aaa18ef8356.html | 2022-08-18T11:37:16Z |
Plenty going on news-wise these days — not all of it political — so let’s tag up on some bases.
TRY TO IMAGINE the hoots of disbelief, the ridicule and the din of derision if Donald Trump’s economic experts had attempted to change the definition of a recession like Joe Biden’s minions are doing.
Imagine what knuckleheads we conservatives would have been dubbed by the vast majority of news outlets if we bought the argument that two quarters of negative growth in the economy suddenly did not constitute a recession.
Even though potentates like Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer (who got a perfect score on his SAT) have patiently explained to rustics like us for years that two quarters of negative growth does constitute a recession.
Imagine the eye-rolling that would have gone on by our liberal superiors — who done gone to college — if we bought into “The Evil Trump’s” contention that two quarters of negative growth did not constitute a recession.
Of course that never happened (didn’t have to) because, well, the economy was going great guns for most of Trump’s four embattled years in office, even though geniuses like Paul Krugman predicted a stock market crash if Trump were elected.
Didn’t happen.
Krugman now patiently explains, using short words that even slack-jawed stump jumpers like us can understand, that two quarters of negative growth does not necessarily constitute a recession, even if Obama and Schumer say so.
The liberal media buys this not a recession argument hook, line, sinker, bait bucket, tackle box and trolling motor.
I passed both econ and micro when (surprise!) I done went to college. But I’m certainly no Krugman when it comes to defining recessions. For the sake of my individual retirement account, I prefer the “new think” that we’re not in a recession, as opposed to the “old think” that we are.
I HEARD ON THE NEWS that Jimmy Carter banned staffers from uttering the word “recession,” and his underlings resorted to calling his truly awful economy “the banana.”
Carter’s denial was about as effective as Gerald Ford’s “Whip Inflation Now!” buttons.
WHILE WE’RE IMAGINING stuff, imagine the firestorm in the media if Donald Trump Jr. left laptop computers lying around documenting years of drug abuse, sex with prostitutes, pictures of same and references to passing on millions in easy money from foreign countries to “The Big Guy.”
Now imagine social media outlets banning any talk of Donald Trump Jr. doing stuff like that. And imagine the FBI doing its best to deep-six stuff like that about a Republican candidate’s son.
Is that a knee-slapper or what?
WHEN PEOPLE ASK what line of work I was in before I retired (the news media) I think I’ll tell them I was a piano player in a bordello.
I CAME ACROSS this quote from C.S. Lewis, which seems apt in these bossy, woke times:
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of the victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
MEANWHILE, up in the Snowy Range in beautiful Carbon County, it has been a wet summer. Hail littered the ground like snow one afternoon not long ago. It’s as green as I’ve seen it in years, and the trees filling in after the great bark beetle invasion 15 years ago are now as tall as I am.
No burn bans so far, knock on, well, wood.
Laramie was inundated last weekend. And in Cheyenne, we had our annual Frontier Days gully washer right on time. You have to wonder if the organizers wish some other time than monsoon season had been selected for the Daddy of ‘Em All.
My wife grew up in Oklahoma, where speaking “truth to power” is referred to as telling someone “how the cow ate the cabbage.”
Where she grew up, gully washers are known as “Oklahoma toad stranglers.” | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/opinion/contributed_columns/sometimes-the-truths-enough-to-strangle-a-toad/article_d18641c6-1423-510b-9459-259a962dd483.html | 2022-08-18T11:37:22Z |
Disappointed in Wyo voters Aug 18, 2022 34 min ago Comments Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Wyoming voters have thrown away a national treasure for a lump of fool's gold.Kristine McGovernDenver Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Tags Treasure Voter Kristine Mcgovern Fool's Gold Wyoming Lump Denver Recommended for you Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. comments powered by Disqus Latest e-Edition Laramie Boomerang To view our latest e-Edition click the image on the left. Latest Special Section Laramie Election Guide To view our latest Special Section click the image on the left. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/opinion/letters_to_editor/disappointed-in-wyo-voters/article_ee848f6b-2d04-5a21-9264-c80a02483ae9.html | 2022-08-18T11:37:28Z |
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When I started using trails that now comprise the Pilot Hill recreation area a few years back, I thought it was an incredible place to walk a dog and get a little exercise at the edge of Laramie.
However, about a year and a half ago I abruptly ended my use of the area. I was absolutely disgusted over the density of dog feces on and adjacent to trails and upset over people’s irresponsibility and unwillingness to pick up after their dogs.
I didn’t return to Pilot Hill until recently, and the contrast couldn’t have been more stark or more appreciated!
I walked my dog over a longer outer loop and saw only one old dog pile. As I approached the Willet Street trailhead from the opposite direction, I found three piles, picked them up and disposed of them in the trash barrel provided at the trailhead (along with an ample supply of plastic bags for dog owners to pick-up after their dogs).
Thanks to both the staff of the recreation area and a longtime Laramie resident, retired University of Wyoming zoology professor, local conservation champion and now part-time poo master Harold Bergman, Pilot Hill is now significantly cleaner.
Harold is a friend and would periodically mention he was out filling bags of dog droppings, making sure the Pilot Hill bag containers were full and reminding dog owners to carry plastic bags. But until last week, I had no idea just how much difference the efforts of Harold and others have made to restore Pilot Hill to such a wonderful and welcoming trail system.
Harold’s efforts are worthy of recognition and community appreciation. I hope his example will encourage more people to clean up after their dogs, both at Pilot Hill and other recreation areas. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/opinion/letters_to_editor/volunteer-helps-pilot-hill-clean-up-its-act/article_fb14c4aa-ae57-5b56-93ea-f387abd20124.html | 2022-08-18T11:37:36Z |
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
CHEYENNE – As the dust settled the morning after candidates prevailed in primary races, they looked ahead to the general election.
There are three key races at the state level that will decide whether Republican political leaders will remain in power, and seven local races in Laramie County where Democratic candidates have the opportunity to win an office. The winners of the Cheyenne City Council nonpartisan races will also move forward to the general election in order for voters to choose one member in each ward.
The general election will take place on Nov. 8.
U.S. House: Hageman v. GreyBull
Former President Donald Trump backed the winner of the U.S. House Republican primary race, Harriet Hageman, and his support paid off.
Incumbent Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo, was defeated by a landslide. She received only 49,316 votes, as reported in the Wyoming Secretary of State’s unofficial summary, while Hageman was victorious with 113,025.
“Congratulations to Harriet Hageman on her great and very decisive WIN in Wyoming,” Trump wrote on TRUTH Social following the win. “This is a wonderful result for America, and a complete rebuke of the Unselect Committee of political Hacks and Thugs.”
The three other contenders came nowhere near the two rivals in the U.S. House race. Sen. Anthony Bouchard, R-Cheyenne, received the third-highest number of votes at 4,505, Denton Knapp came in fourth with 2,258 votes, and Robyn Belinskey was last at 1,305.
Lynette GreyBull won the Democratic primary election against two competitors for the sole U.S. House seat, and will face Hageman. She received 4,503 votes, while Meghan Jensen and Steve Helling brought in less than 3,000 votes combined.
Constitution Party candidate Marissa Selvig and registered independent candidate Casey Hardison are also set to be on the November U.S. House ballot.
Governor: Gordon v. Livingston
The Republican incumbent, Gov. Mark Gordon, easily won his primary race. He defeated three challengers with 101,092 votes, and told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle he will keep working for constituents’ support heading into the general election.
“We take nothing for granted,” Gordon said in a phone call from his election party in Buffalo. “I’ve always fought for every election, that’s just the way Jennie and I are. We want to make sure that we do the best job we can.”
Rival Brent Bien received less than half of the votes Gordon did, managing to secure 48,549. He was followed by Rex Rammell with 9,373, and James Scott Quick with 4,725 across the state’s 23 counties
Theresa Livingston achieved success in the Democratic primary, and brought in 4,989 voters. She defeated Rex Wilde, who received 2,016. There were 214 write-ins.
She’s said Wednesday she’s looking forward to competing with Gordon for Wyoming votes on Nov. 8.
“It’s going to be a good election,” she told the WTE. “I hope it’s really positive. I want people to talk about what they’re going to do instead of bad-mouthing other candidates.”
State Superintendent: Degenfelder v. Maldonado
Despite Gordon’s success, another Republican incumbent at the state level fell to a challenger in the primary. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Brian Schroeder lost less than a year after he was appointed by the governor, and the difference was fewer than 4,000 votes.
Megan Degenfelder won the primary election with 59,301 votes, and Schroeder fell short with 55,746.
“It’s just so humbling, realizing all of the support that we received across the state,” Degenfelder told the WTE on Wednesday. “We had hundreds of individual donors, 90% of which were based in Wyoming, and just dozens of volunteers and folks around the state.”
She said it was amazing to see the grassroots effort come to fruition, and she plans to keep the momentum going as the general election approaches. Degenfelder is set to run against the sole Democratic candidate for state superintendent, Sergio Maldonado Sr.
Robert White III and Jennifer Zerba were also vying for the position in the Wyoming Department of Education, but received only 4,392 and 13,656 votes, respectively, in the GOP primary.
Other statewide races
While Republican state secretary and state treasurer candidates who won Tuesday night will not face Democrats on Nov. 8, there were notable successes by two Trump-endorsed candidates.
State Rep. Chuck Gray, R-Casper, defeated his rival, Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, in the Secretary of State race with 75,938 votes. She received 63,044, but it was not enough to head into the general election. They were both campaigning for the seat along with Mark Armstrong, who received 14,292 votes.
Gray took to Twitter the day after the election and thanked the people of Wyoming for their support.
“I am honored and humbled by our victory last night,” he wrote. “This is the people of Wyoming’s victory. Thank you to those who voted yesterday and made their voices known.”
Incumbent Curt Meier took home a win in the state treasurer’s race. His 97,489 votes bested Bill Gallop’s 40,643.
Senate District 5: Hutchings v. Hanlon
Neither incumbent state Sen. Lynn, Hutchings, R-Cheyenne, nor Democratic challenger Ted Hanlon faced opponents in the primary election. They will face one another in the general election for the seat in Senate District 5.
Senate District 7: Pappas v. Kindred
Wyoming Guard veteran Rachel Bennett and former City Council candidate JC Manalo were hoping to unseat Sen. Stephan Pappas, R-Cheyenne, in the Republican primary, but were unsuccessful. Pappas coasted into the general election with 2,199 votes, followed by Bennett with 1,283 and Manalo with 717.
Pappas is up against Democratic candidate Marcie Kindred, who launched her campaign officially the morning after the primary.
“In Wyoming, we like our taverns local. While we are grateful for the service Pappas has given to our community, decisions are made by the people that show up,” she said in a statement. “There is no substitute for presence. He made a promise to represent the people of SD 7, and he has failed to deliver on that promise. With our current political climate, we need leaders who are committed to this district and show up to advocate for the needs of their constituents.”
House District 7: Nicholas v. Coppinger
Prior to redistricting, Rep. Bob Nicholas, R-Cheyenne, served in House District 8 since 2011. He decided to run against Nick Coppinger in House District 7 in order to be re-elected to the Wyoming Legislature, and he succeeded. Nicholas received 1,514 votes, and Coppinger earned 1,150.
In the general election, Nicholas will compete for votes with Democratic candidate Jordan Evans.
House District 9: Brown v. Latham
Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, faced harsh campaigns from both Dean Petersen and Alan Sheldon in an effort to remove him from office. He was criticized for being a RINO (Republican In Name Only), as well as for applauding Cheney in her investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots.
Although he was attacked throughout the weeks leading up to the election, his constituents came out in support. He won with 1,192 votes, while Sheldon received 545 and Petersen 489.
His success moved him forward to the general election, where is challenger will be Democratic candidate Stephen Latham.
House District 11: Olsen v. Herman
The only Democratic primary race in Laramie County resulted in a win for current Laramie County School District 1 trustee Marguerite Herman. She defeated former House District 11 state representative Jim Byrd with 162 votes. Byrd received 90.
This seat is held by incumbent Rep. Jared Olsen, R-Cheyenne, who was the sole Republican candidate in the primary race.
House District 44: Trujillo v. Burlingame
The only Republican incumbent taken down in local legislative races was Rep. John Romero-Martinez. He lost to Tamara Trujillo, who the incumbent said he endorsed officially the day after the election.
Trujillo received 404 votes, while Romero-Martinez had 293. Michael Reyes was the other Republican vying for the seat, and he got 261 votes.
Trujillo will face Democratic candidate Sara Burlingame, who previously held the seat before she lost to Romero-Martinez in 2020.
“I have a pretty good chance of winning,” said Trujillo. “I feel when I entered the race in May, I entered it with expectations to win all the way through November.”
Other Laramie County legislative seats
Among the winners Tuesday who won’t face general election challengers were: Republican Evie Brennan in SD 31, Republican Jeremy Haroldson in HD 4 (uncontested), Republican Dave Zwonitzer in HD 8, Republican incumbent John Eklund in HD 10, Republican incumbent Clarence Styvar in HB 12, Republican incumbent Bill Henderson in HD 41 (uncontested), Republican Ben Hornok in HD 42, Republican incumbent Dan Zwonitzer in HD 43 and Republican Daniel Singh in HD 61.
Laramie County sheriff
Former Cheyenne Police Chief Brian Kozak came out on top of the Republican primary for Laramie County sheriff with 9,370 votes. Don Hollingshead came in second with 8,463, and Boyd Wrede finished with 6,038.
There was no incumbent to challenge, since Laramie County Sheriff Danny Glick announced he would not seek re-election.
Kozak moves on to face two registered candidates in the general election. Jess Fresquez is running as a Democrat, and Jeff Barnes is campaigning as an independent.
County commissioners
Since there are no Democratic challengers to the Republican primary winners in the county commissioners race, incumbents remained successful in keeping their three seats.
Gunnar Malm received 12,536 votes, Troy Thompson received 12,305, and Linda Heath won another term with 10,171.
The current office holders faced four other Republicans in the primary. Bryce Freeman followed Heath with 7,424 votes, Brian Casey had 6,332, Abbie Mildenberger got 6,024 and Sam Eliopoulos finished with 5,302.
Cheyenne City Council
City Council races are nonpartisan, but if there are more than two candidates in a race for a seat, an election takes place during the primary. This was the case in two out of three wards, with incumbents moving forward in both.
Ward 1 council member Scott Roybal received the most votes at 2,010, and Cameron Karajanis received the second-largest amount with 1,176. They both defeated Michael Blakeley in the primary, and will compete for the Ward 1 seat in the general election.
Mark Rinne, one of the longest-serving City Council members ever, will face Lynn Storey-Huylar in the Ward 2 general election race. Rinne received 2,956 votes, while Storey-Huylar received 1,787. The other contenders, Matt Miller and Brian Eicholtz, lost with 1,203 and 796 votes, respectively.
Incumbent Ken Esquibel in Ward 3 did not have to campaign in the primary election. He automatically moved forward in the general election along with Joe Shogrin.
Jasmine Hall is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s state government reporter. She can be reached by email at jhall@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3167. Follow her on Twitter @jasminerhphotos and on Instagram @jhrose25. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/elections/primary-race-winners-look-ahead-to-general-election/article_177a7324-1e60-11ed-b243-8f8d1fd36f32.html | 2022-08-18T11:37:42Z |
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CHEYENNE – The end of summer is traditionally marked by the Labor Day holiday, and is a time for friends and families to enjoy pool parties, backyard barbecues and late-summer road trips. The holiday weekend is also one of the deadliest times of the year in terms of impaired-driving fatalities, according to a Cheyenne Police Department news release.
With the holiday weekend fast approaching, the department is partnering with law enforcement agencies across the state on the annual “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” safety campaign to help prevent impaired driving.
Friday, Aug. 19, through Monday, Sept. 5, officers will be increasing patrols to lookout for motorists under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
“Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” is not about citations; it is about saving lives, according to the release. From 2017 through 2021, nearly 40.6% of all fatal crashes in Wyoming were impaired crashes, resulting in 257 fatalities, according to the Wyoming Department of Transportation.
“The goal of the enforcement campaign is to drastically reduce deaths and serious injuries caused by impaired driving,” Police Chief Mark Francisco said in the release. “This should be a time for friends and family to enjoy the final days of summer. Impaired driving puts everyone at risk.”
CPD recommends these safe alternatives to drinking and driving:
Remember that it is never OK to drink and drive. Designate a sober driver or plan to use public transportation or a ride service to get home safely.
If you see a drunken driver on the road, contact the dispatch center at 307-637-6525 or dial 911.
If you see a friend or family member about to drink and drive, take the keys away and make arrangements to get them home safely. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/cheyenne-police-join-national-drive-sober-or-get-pulled-over-campaign/article_25ba2ee7-12cb-5011-a892-9795fb217cba.html | 2022-08-18T11:37:54Z |
Recently, Kansas voters soundly rejected a referendum that would have ensured more abortion restrictions in the solidly red state. This led to predictions that conservatives may pay a price in upcoming elections for the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization, which undid the constitutional protection for abortion rights long established by Roe v. Wade. But while abortion debates grab headlines, for many women, especially poor ones, the battle for reproductive justice begins in the classroom, with the fight for comprehensive sex education.
Only 29 states, and Washington, D.C., require that sex education be taught, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Only 16 states require that the information taught in sex education be medically accurate. Meanwhile, 39 states mandate that sex education must cover abstinence, with 28 of those states requiring that abstinence be stressed. Before the Dobbs ruling, that meant that plenty of young people were not being provided with sufficient tools and resources to avoid unplanned pregnancies. In a post-Roe world, it means students will have increasingly limited options should an unplanned pregnancy occur.
The battle over sex education in Texas, which has historically had one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the country, is being fought by people like Abril Vazquez, whom I first met while working on my 2018 documentary “Reversing Roe.” Vazquez grew up in a Texas community where public schools and the local government emphasize abstinence-only education over comprehensive sex education. After becoming an unwed mother twice while still in her teens, Vazquez has spent much of her adult life working to have Texas provide more complete sexual education to high school students in the state.
While the U.S. birth rate for teens has been declining since 1991, it remains significantly higher in America than in other Western nations. Girls from a low-income background are at greater risk of becoming young mothers, and data show that close to 20% of teen moms give birth to more than one child before they reach the age of 20. Becoming a teen parent decreases the chance of rising above one’s economic circumstances.
Before Roe became the law, women of means had better access to abortion, partly because they had connections and the money to pay for procedures. Without these options, poor women’s futures were at greater risk, often choosing between unsafe providers, if they could find one, or having a baby without the means to support it. With abortion access now significantly diminished, and inconsistent and incomplete sex education available to help young people prevent unwanted pregnancies, poor women will be less likely to escape this cycle of poverty.
Federal education policy can have a significant effect on teenage motherhood. Many studies have found abstinence-only education to be largely ineffective, yet federal funding for such instruction increased under the Trump administration. This was to be expected, as funding for sexual education programs tends to shift, depending on the political party of the president, rather than being decided based on the research of what is most effective and best serves our young people.
As someone who has interviewed countless pro-choice and pro-life activists, I know good people can disagree over abortion policy. However, it is hard to understand why anyone would consider it humane to deprive young people of the tools and resources they need to avoid an unplanned pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease and then limit their options when they end up with either.
At a bipartisan gathering of Southern women legislators, I was once asked to address concerns that teaching comprehensive sex education would increase sexual activity, something data have consistently shown is not true. I noted that we teach driver’s education before kids can legally get behind the wheel to make sure they’re prepared and will be as safe as possible. Shouldn’t the same care and concern be applied to sexual education, since it is also a matter of life and death?
In light of the Dobbs decision, sex education should be viewed as a defining reproductive justice issue and should be a priority for candidates in upcoming elections. Regardless of political party, those running for office could elevate the discourse on sexual health in our country by prioritizing this important issue in their platforms.
For one to truly care about reproductive rights, getting more schools to support comprehensive sex education should elicit just as much activism, advocacy and financial support as abortion policy and other reproductive health issues. While Republicans, Democrats, evangelical leaders and irreligious activists battle over the future of abortion in America, they should all be able to find common ground around the idea that we should be providing young people with the tools that will make them less likely to have an unplanned pregnancy in the first place – regardless of the circumstances and communities in which they are born.
Keli Goff was nominated for two Emmy Awards for producing “Reversing Roe.” She is a contributor to KCRW’s “Left, Right & Center.” was nominated for two Emmy Awards for producing “Reversing Roe.” She is a contributor to KCRW’s “Left, Right & Center.”
Keli Goff was nominated for two Emmy Awards for producing “Reversing Roe.” She is a contributor to KCRW’s “Left, Right & Center.” was nominated for two Emmy Awards for producing “Reversing Roe.” She is a contributor to KCRW’s “Left, Right & Center.” | https://www.wyomingnews.com/opinion/guest_column/goff-better-sex-education-in-schools-can-help-young-people-affected-by-abortion-bans/article_4c4245b6-1e59-11ed-a521-6fa5d0aeae49.html | 2022-08-18T11:37:56Z |
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