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2 men arrested for stealing 57 watermelons, sheriff’s office says
MERCED, Calif. (Gray News) – Two men in California were arrested for stealing 57 watermelons from a field Monday evening, according to officials.
The Merced County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were called to a property for a report of trespassing. When they arrived, they spoke to a man who said that people were stealing watermelons from his field.
Deputies said they witnessed a car leaving the field and were able to stop the vehicle. Deputies found 57 watermelons in the backseat and trunk of the car.
The sheriff’s office said Erick Vasquez, 23, and Brayan Vasquez Buenrostro, 30, were arrested.
According to jail records, the two face numerous charges related to the incident, including felony grand theft of fruit.
The watermelons were returned to the victim.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/18/2-men-arrested-stealing-57-watermelons-sheriffs-office-says/ | 2022-08-18T22:34:15Z |
Apple warns of security flaw for iPhones, iPads and Macs
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple disclosed serious security vulnerabilities Wednesday for iPhones, iPads and Macs.
The software flaws could potentially allow attackers to take complete control of these devices, Apple said in two security reports.
The company said it is “aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited.”
Security experts have advised users to update affected devices — the iPhones6S and later models; several models of the iPad, including the 5th generation and later, all iPad Pro models and the iPad Air 2; and Mac computers running MacOS Monterey.
It also affects some iPod models.
Apple’s explanation of the vulnerability means a hacker could get “full admin access to the device” so that they can “execute any code as if they are you, the user,” said Rachel Tobac, CEO of SocialProof Security.
Those who should be particularly attentive to updating their software are “people who are in the public eye” such as activists or journalists who might be the targets of sophisticated nation-state spying, Tobac said.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/18/apple-warns-security-flaw-iphones-ipads-macs/ | 2022-08-18T22:34:22Z |
Child dies from suspected brain-eating amoeba infection, health officials say
OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT/Gray News) – Health officials in Nebraska said a child died after what they suspect was a brain-eating amoeba infection.
Dr. Lindsay Huse said the CDC is working to confirm that the death was caused by primary amebic meningoencephalitis – the disease caused by infection with the amoeba called Naegleria fowleri – after the child went swimming in the Elkhorn River on Aug. 8.
Dr. Kari Neeman, an infectious disease expert at Children’s Hospital in Omaha, said the child had symptoms about five days after exposure and went to the hospital within 48 hours of the onset of those symptoms.
If confirmed, the death would mark the first Naegleria fowleri case in Nebraska history.
The Douglas County Health Department (DCHD) is now urging extra caution when coming into contact with freshwater sources like rivers, lakes and streams.
Huse said the DCHD will not be releasing further details about the child because of privacy concerns. She said it was possible that others swimming in the same area at the time came in contact with the amoeba but were not infected.
Naegleria fowleri is often present in freshwater, and if it gets up your nose, it can gain access to the central nervous system and into the brain, according to Dr. Mark Rupp, an infectious disease expert at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Officials suggest keeping your head above water when swimming in rivers, lakes and streams. If you do go underwater, officials say to plug your nose when swimming or diving.
Health officials said you cannot be infected by drinking contaminated water.
Symptoms, which typically occur within 12 days of an infection, can include headache, fever, nausea or vomiting, but can progress to stiffness in the neck, confusion and seizures.
While the disease is extremely rare, its mortality rate is more than 97%. Patients are very unlikely to survive.
“The real tragedy behind this is that the treatments are not great, and the mortality is very, very high, almost universal,” Rupp said.
According to the CDC, 154 known cases have been reported since 1962, and only four of those people survived.
Of the 31 cases reported in the last 10 years, 28 people were infected by recreational water, two people were infected after performing nasal irrigation using contaminated tap water, and one person was infected by contaminated tap water used on a backyard slip-n-slide, the CDC said.
The DCHD does not have any plans to shut down access points along the Elkhorn River where the child was infected but is advising swimmers to use awareness and caution.
A similar case led to the death of a Missouri resident who was likely infected while swimming in an Iowa lake last month. The lake was closed to swimmers for several days while the CDC tested the waters to confirm the presence of Naegleria fowleri.
Huse said the recent cases aren’t necessarily related, noting that the case in Iowa was in water not connected to the Elkhorn River. But regions are becoming warmer, and the organism loves heat and thrives in drought conditions — particularly warmer, stagnant, shallow waters, she said.
Health officials said the best way to reduce your chance of infection is to simply not allow water to get up your nose.
Copyright 2022 WOWT via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/18/child-dies-suspected-brain-eating-amoeba-infection-health-officials-say/ | 2022-08-18T22:34:28Z |
Justice Dept.: 3 men charged in Whitey Bulger’s killing
BOSTON (AP) — Three men, including a Mafia hitman, have been charged in the killing of notorious Boston crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger in a West Virginia prison, the Justice Department said Thursday.
The charges against Fotios “Freddy” Geas, Paul J. DeCologero and Sean McKinnon come nearly four years after Bulger’s killing, which raised questions about why the known “snitch” was placed in the general population instead of more protective housing. The men were charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.
Bulger was beaten to death at USP Hazelton in October 2018 hours after he was transferred from a prison in Florida, where he had been serving a life sentence for 11 murders and other crimes. Prosecutors allege Geas and DeCologero struck Bulger in the head multiple times and caused his death.
The Justice Department has also charged Geas, 55, and DeCologero, 48, with aiding and abetting first-degree murder, along with assault resulting in serious bodily injury. Geas faces a separate charge for murder by a federal inmate serving a life sentence, and McKinnon, 36, is charged separately with making false statements to a federal agent.
Geas and DeCologero were identified as suspects shortly after Bulger’s death, according to law enforcement officials at the time, but they remained uncharged as the investigation dragged on for years.
They were placed in solitary confinement throughout the probe, family members told The Boston Globe. McKinnon’s mother told the newspaper that her son, who was Geas’ roommate at the time of Bulger’s killing, told her he didn’t know anything about the slaying.
Emails seeking comment were sent Thursday to lawyers for Geas and Bulger’s family. It wasn’t immediately clear if McKinnon and DeCologero had attorneys to comment on their behalf.
Geas remains in prison in Hazelton and DeCologero is being held in another federal prison facility. McKinnon, who prosecutors say was on federal supervised release when the indictment was handed down, was arrested Thursday in Florida.
Bulger’s family sued the Federal Bureau of Prisons and 30 unnamed employees of the prison system over his death, alleging that it appeared that the murderous gangster was “deliberately sent to his death” at the penitentiary nicknamed “Misery Mountain.”
Bulger was the third inmate killed in six months at USP Hazelton, where workers and advocates had long been warning about dangerous conditions. A federal judge dismissed the family’s lawsuit in January.
Bulger, who ran the largely Irish mob in Boston in the 1970s and ‘80s, served as an FBI informant who ratted on his gang’s main rival in an era when bringing down the Mafia was a top national priority for the FBI. He later became one of the nation’s most-wanted fugitives.
Bulger fled Boston in late 1994 after his FBI handler, John Connolly Jr., warned him he was about to be indicted. With a $2 million reward on his head, Bulger became one of the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted” criminals.
After more than 16 years on the run, he was captured at age 81 in Santa Monica, California, where he had been living in a rent-controlled apartment near the beach with his longtime girlfriend, Catherine Greig.
A prison workers’ union official told The Associated Press in 2018 that sending Bulger to the troubled federal penitentiary that housed other New England gangsters was like giving him a “death sentence.”
His transfer to Hazelton was prompted by disciplinary issues, a federal law enforcement official told The Associated Press in 2018. The official insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to release details. In February 2018, Bulger threatened an assistant supervisor at the prison in Florida, telling her “your day of reckoning is coming.”
DeCologero was part of an organized crime gang led by his uncle on Massachusetts’ North Shore called the “DeCologero Crew.”
He was convicted of buying heroin that was used to try to kill a teenage girl his uncle wanted dead because he feared she “would betray the crew to police.” The heroin didn’t kill her, so another man broke her neck, dismembered her and buried her remains in the woods, court records say.
Geas was a close associate of the Mafia and acted as an enforcer, but was not an official “made” member because he’s Greek, not Italian.
Geas and his brother were sentenced to life in prison in 2011 for their roles in several violent crimes, including the 2003 killing of Adolfo “Big Al” Bruno, a Genovese crime family boss in Springfield, Massachusetts. Another mobster ordered Bruno’s killing because he was upset he had talked to the FBI, prosecutors said.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/18/justice-dept-3-men-charged-whitey-bulgers-killing/ | 2022-08-18T22:34:35Z |
Mother accused of pepper spraying school bus with children on board, authorities say
Published: Aug. 18, 2022 at 5:34 PM EDT|Updated: 59 minutes ago
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (WFOX/WJAX) - A Georgia woman was taken into police custody after reportedly using pepper spray on a school bus on Tuesday.
A witness, who wanted to stay anonymous, said Shaquayle Cuyler got involved in a disagreement with one of her neighbors that day.
Georgia authorities said the 30-year-old mother then had an issue with the school bus driver and monitor that led to her using pepper spray.
According to school officials, the bus driver and monitor had to be taken to a hospital after the reported incident.
Authoroties said 24 students were on the bus. Emergency medical services treated them at the scene, and they were taken to school by another bus.
Copyright 2022 WFOX/WJAX via CNN. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/18/mother-accused-pepper-spraying-school-bus-with-children-board-authorities-say/ | 2022-08-18T22:34:42Z |
Police: Daycare worker arrested for inappropriate, violent behavior towards children
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF/Gray News) - A South Carolina daycare worker is facing criminal charges after a witness reported inappropriate, sometimes violent behavior towards children.
The Horry County Police Department arrested 22-year-old Megan Nicole Sallee Wednesday and charged her with unlawful conduct toward a child, according to WMBF.
The report gathered by the Horry County Police Department says on July 12, a witness saw Sallee leave two children in bouncy seats for half a day, far longer than the Kidzone Day Care permits, causing bruising to their backs.
The warrant states on July 15, while working at the Kidzone Day Care, Sallee violently shook the crib the victim was in, causing the child to hit his head against the crib railing. It also states Sallee pushed the child down in the crib, causing the child’s head to slam into the crib rails.
The report stated Sallee also put a blanket over the child’s head several times.
According to the report, these incidents happened throughout the day while the child was in Sallee’s care.
Signs your child may be experiencing abuse at daycare, according to Stanford Medicine.
Kidzone Day Care said it had closed the business in late July and that the space had been taken over by The Learning Station. According to WMBF, the two businesses are not connected, and The Learning Station said it never employed Sallee.
The Learning Station released the following statement to WMBF:
“Our team at The Learning Station is saddened to hear of a child care worker being arrested. This is a serious and unfortunate incident. We would like it to be clear that Kidzone is no longer in existence and is not our program. Kidzone Child Care Center was run by different owners under a different license numbers. We purchased the real estate upon closing of their center and reopened as The Learning Station on July 25, 2022.”
Sallee remains in jail with a bond set at $10,000.
Copyright 2022 WMBF via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/18/police-daycare-worker-arrested-inappropriate-violent-behavior-towards-children/ | 2022-08-18T22:34:48Z |
2 men arrested for stealing 57 watermelons, sheriff’s office says
MERCED, Calif. (Gray News) – Two men in California were arrested for stealing 57 watermelons from a field Monday evening, according to officials.
The Merced County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were called to a property for a report of trespassing. When they arrived, they spoke to a man who said that people were stealing watermelons from his field.
Deputies said they witnessed a car leaving the field and were able to stop the vehicle. Deputies found 57 watermelons in the backseat and trunk of the car.
The sheriff’s office said Erick Vasquez, 23, and Brayan Vasquez Buenrostro, 30, were arrested.
According to jail records, the two face numerous charges related to the incident, including felony grand theft of fruit.
The watermelons were returned to the victim.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/18/2-men-arrested-stealing-57-watermelons-sheriffs-office-says/ | 2022-08-18T22:48:25Z |
Mayte Lara Ibarra and Larissa Martinez had just finished their senior year of high school when they each decided to go public with their immigration status. Both Texas students came to the U.S. illegally, and they didn't want to keep that fact a secret any longer.
Ibarra identified herself on Twitter as one of the 65,000 undocumented youth who graduate high school in the U.S. Martinez revealed her status in the commencement speech she delivered at graduation.
Their actions sparked support and pointed criticism. That was more than a month ago.
Now, with the media frenzy behind them, they both say they don't regret the choice they made to speak up.
Next month, Ibarra heads to the University of Texas-Austin and Larissa to Yale University. That's no small feat, considering only about half of the 65,000 undocumented high school graduates go on to higher education. Even fewer end up earning a degree.
The NPR Ed team connected with them via video chat so they could talk about the challenges they're facing on the road to college. Our hour-long conversation touched on a host of issues — including the Supreme Court's ruling on the Obama administration's program to expand Deferred Action for Early Childhood Arrivals and the economic roadblocks facing some who are in the U.S. illegally.
Larissa Martinez: What's been the worst experience you've ever had because you're undocumented, what has been the biggest challenge?
Mayte Lara Ibarra: For me, it's basically seeing my parents struggle because they work long hours, they don't get paid enough, they can't really move up. So seeing that has definitely affected me and made me more motivated. Personally, someone attacking me in person, I haven't really seen it in front of my face. It has happened behind my back because I saw it through social media, but no one's ever said anything to my face.
Martinez: It's interesting to see the dynamic of how it works because most people who have bad things to say, they won't come and say it to your face, they'll hide behind their screen and they'll say it there. I feel like the reason why they do that is because it's so much easier to see people as sub-human when you're not looking them in the eye, when you're not actually thinking this is a human being with a life and a family and a person with dreams whose whole life could be turned around if I keep having this ideology of mine.
Martinez: How did you feel about the decision that came out from the Supreme Court? [A ruling that stalled Obama's immigration actions]
Ibarra: I was really disappointed because I was keeping up with it. And although my parents wouldn't qualify for DACA, I do know some people who would have really benefitted from the DACA expansion.
I remember when DACA came out, and I was 14, and I know you have to be 15, so my mom was always reminding me about how when I turn 15, I have to start applying. I remember telling her, "Oh I don't want to apply. What's the point? " She made me apply, and I learned it entitles me to some things, and I'm secured from deportations, but at the same time, it's not much.
I'm grateful I have it because I know people want to at least have a Social Security number, but it's not what I'm looking for, it's not something that's going to help me too much. I know it's different for a lot of people.
How about you?
Martinez: I don't have it, I don't qualify for it because I came into the country too late, and even with the DACA extension, I still don't qualify and my parents don't qualify for DACA either. Really the [Supreme Court] decision itself didn't impact my life directly, it wasn't going to change either way, but I mean obviously I was disappointed because that's the life of 5 million people who could have felt that sense of security. At the same time it's sort of a false security because [the] next president could come and take it away.
Ibarra: So how are you feeling about tuition?
Martinez: Yale offered me a full ride, which included tuition, room and board, meals, travel. There's a student contribution that everyone's required to pay, but they know I can't work on campus, so I went and talked to them. I went to ask, "Am I going to be able to work?" I just needed to know, and they ended up raising my scholarship to pay for student contribution, so I'm set.
NPR: So that's something a lot of people don't think about, that work study isn't an option for a lot of people?
Martinez: Yeah, it's difficult. They asked me how will you pay for student contribution and I told them my mom said she'd work longer hours, that she'd work more to get the money. Obviously the student contribution is like $5,000 a year, which I mean for the education I'm receiving, it's like nothing in comparison, but it is a burden for my mom. Not a burden in a bad way, but it is a heavy load to put on her because it's just her working. It is difficult because I know she'd be willing to sacrifice that for me, but it's the fact that I have to keep asking for more. I can't do anything for myself, it feels, really, you feel a lot of sense of frustration.
Even though you have DACA, your parents obviously aren't protected. How does that affect the way you think about things?
Ibarra: It makes me a little bit cautious just because I remember when I first tweeted it out, and I saw all the reactions. I didn't tell my mom until like three days later because I figured she'd see it on TV eventually. She was extremely worried, she was so worried, and my mom, she already worries a lot. So when she saw that, she was just freaking out, she was just thinking the worst. "We're going to have to go back to Mexico," so just seeing the worry that my parents have, it makes me cautious to not just say my status to just anyone. At the same time, I shouldn't hide this from someone, like if anything, it doesn't define me, it makes me stronger, it makes me motivated. But seeing them like that, I don't like it, so it makes me feel guilty for coming out.
Martinez: I completely understand, it's a difficult situation to be in because it's like, yeah you're protected, but it's silly. They're not thinking about the fact that, if they were to deport your parents, you're protected, but you're gonna be here with no one. No one really thinks about that. I just don't comprehend how humans cannot feel compassion toward the situation of separating families. I don't understand that. It's sad to think that's the way this world works.
NPR: Do you have extra anxiety about going away to college when a lot of these issues related to your family are still very much up in the air?
Ibarra: My tuition is completely covered, however everything else I would have to pay out of pocket, like room and board. I thought I would be able to make up enough scholarship money, but scholarships in general are really hard to find. I didn't make up as much as I needed so I just thought I'll just live at home. I can't really take out loans or work and I wasn't going to place that burden on my family, you know. I already have another older sister that goes to school and that would just be another thing to worry about.
So I don't have to worry about leaving my parents, but if I do end up living on campus it's only 15, 20 minutes. It will still worry me because I know my parents will worry about me. My mom constantly tells me how worried she is, that people at school are going to know who I am, they're not going to like me, they're going to bully me, and you know, she's just like any other mother.
Martinez: For me, it's different. I'm worried in the sense that I don't have my family right with me. And if something was to happen to them, I can't get there fast enough to do something about it myself. So I mean, it is hard to think, what if they get deported, what am I going to do about it. I feel a bit of guilt of leaving them after revealing this. But at the same time, I'm leaving them with all of the support I have from my friends' family, from family friends we've made over the years. I know there are enough good people that protect them and will watch out for them while I'm not there. The way I see it, if there are people who don't accept me due to my documentation, they're probably people I wouldn't want to be around anyone. But I have realized that most people are interested in knowing more. Like they'll approach me and say, "hey Larissa, can we talk? Can I ask you a couple questions?" And I'm like, sure. It's actually like the opposite. I'm here to help people understand, to show them the other side.
Ibarra: Yeah, definitely. I had orientation just a few weeks ago and I had a lot of people come up to me and ask questions. They were so interested and they're actually supportive. It was just really nice to see how interested people were, and now that they have this information, I can clarify a lot of stereotypes about people like us.
Martinez: What have you learned from this experience? How has it changed the way you view the world?
Ibarra: Good question. It's taught me that sometimes it's really easy to just focus on what you're going through and not think about the other millions of undocumented people. And I had always been like that, I had always just focused on my family, which is normal and okay, but the people that I've met from all of this, that are in the same situation, it definitely made me feel more passion. Kind of a sense of responsibility to help these people or do something that's gonna help them, because the majority of them are adults and they tend to be quiet because they're scared. The last generation was always taught to keep it quiet, never say where you're from, don't mention it. But this new generation definitely has more of a voice, so if anything, it's taught me that I have a voice and I need to use it efficiently so I can help people in the same situation.
Martinez: Since I moved here [the U.S.] when I was 13, I know what life is like in a different country, so I always had this idea of America being this place where everyone would accept you. Where you had an equal chance, an equal opportunity to be someone in life. And I think that slowly as I began seeing issues, and not just toward undocumented immigrants, but issues of inequality toward women, toward minorities, toward a lot of things, I realized this country is far from being perfect. But that's not to say I'm not grateful for everything it's given me, I just realized that there is a lot of change that still needs to happen.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2016-08-08/what-its-like-to-be-college-bound-and-worried-about-your-immigration-status | 2022-08-18T22:48:28Z |
Apple warns of security flaw for iPhones, iPads and Macs
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple disclosed serious security vulnerabilities Wednesday for iPhones, iPads and Macs.
The software flaws could potentially allow attackers to take complete control of these devices, Apple said in two security reports.
The company said it is “aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited.”
Security experts have advised users to update affected devices — the iPhones6S and later models; several models of the iPad, including the 5th generation and later, all iPad Pro models and the iPad Air 2; and Mac computers running MacOS Monterey.
It also affects some iPod models.
Apple’s explanation of the vulnerability means a hacker could get “full admin access to the device” so that they can “execute any code as if they are you, the user,” said Rachel Tobac, CEO of SocialProof Security.
Those who should be particularly attentive to updating their software are “people who are in the public eye” such as activists or journalists who might be the targets of sophisticated nation-state spying, Tobac said.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/18/apple-warns-security-flaw-iphones-ipads-macs/ | 2022-08-18T22:48:32Z |
Groups offer $1M in cannabis scholarships to Virginia students
RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - At one point, getting an education in cannabis, also known as marijuana, was unheard of.
“I think this is a period of change. I think this is a period of growth,” Dr. Bobby Vincent III said.
Dr. Vincent is a cannabis pharmacist treating patients at Beyond Hello Cannabis Dispensary in northern Virginia. He’s among the first country to receive a master’s degree in Medical Cannabis Science and Therapeutics.
It’s a groundbreaking degree he hopes more students who look like him will have access to.
“Once I graduated, I actually looked more into this medical program, but also as I get into these rooms, I saw that even though it is emerging, I’m still the only African-American in this room right now,” Vincent said.
The Virginia Cannabis Association and non-profit group Educapital Foundation are working to change that through scholarship.
“A lot of people have 20,30, 40 years of being incarcerated right now for a plant that a lot of people are making money off of,” Juan Silva said. He’s the director of community outreach with Educapital.
Eligible students can receive a one-time $1,000 scholarship through the program.
Silva says low-income students who are disproportionately impacted by marijuana can benefit while boosting their local economy.
“We have cannabis culinary, the business of cannabis, pharmacy tech, and then certified grower which extends into the master’s program also,” Silva said.
The course is now being offered online through the Mitchell School of Business and Greenleaf University, but there are plans to work with Virginia Tech and other Virginia schools in the future. Upon graduation, students will be selected to receive up to $50,000 for their startup business.
It’s a unique opportunity Dr. Vincent wishes he had.
“Ultimately, it’s also a period where we can see some economic opportunities for our state. So I’m excited to see what this looks like for Virginia in the next two to three years,” Dr. Vincent said.
There is still time to apply for the scholarship.
Copyright 2022 WWBT. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/18/groups-offer-1m-cannabis-scholarships-virginia-students/ | 2022-08-18T22:48:38Z |
Justice Dept.: 3 men charged in Whitey Bulger’s killing
BOSTON (AP) — Three men, including a Mafia hitman, have been charged in the killing of notorious Boston crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger in a West Virginia prison, the Justice Department said Thursday.
The charges against Fotios “Freddy” Geas, Paul J. DeCologero and Sean McKinnon come nearly four years after Bulger’s killing, which raised questions about why the known “snitch” was placed in the general population instead of more protective housing. The men were charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.
Bulger was beaten to death at USP Hazelton in October 2018 hours after he was transferred from a prison in Florida, where he had been serving a life sentence for 11 murders and other crimes. Prosecutors allege Geas and DeCologero struck Bulger in the head multiple times and caused his death.
The Justice Department has also charged Geas, 55, and DeCologero, 48, with aiding and abetting first-degree murder, along with assault resulting in serious bodily injury. Geas faces a separate charge for murder by a federal inmate serving a life sentence, and McKinnon, 36, is charged separately with making false statements to a federal agent.
Geas and DeCologero were identified as suspects shortly after Bulger’s death, according to law enforcement officials at the time, but they remained uncharged as the investigation dragged on for years.
They were placed in solitary confinement throughout the probe, family members told The Boston Globe. McKinnon’s mother told the newspaper that her son, who was Geas’ roommate at the time of Bulger’s killing, told her he didn’t know anything about the slaying.
Emails seeking comment were sent Thursday to lawyers for Geas and Bulger’s family. It wasn’t immediately clear if McKinnon and DeCologero had attorneys to comment on their behalf.
Geas remains in prison in Hazelton and DeCologero is being held in another federal prison facility. McKinnon, who prosecutors say was on federal supervised release when the indictment was handed down, was arrested Thursday in Florida.
Bulger’s family sued the Federal Bureau of Prisons and 30 unnamed employees of the prison system over his death, alleging that it appeared that the murderous gangster was “deliberately sent to his death” at the penitentiary nicknamed “Misery Mountain.”
Bulger was the third inmate killed in six months at USP Hazelton, where workers and advocates had long been warning about dangerous conditions. A federal judge dismissed the family’s lawsuit in January.
Bulger, who ran the largely Irish mob in Boston in the 1970s and ‘80s, served as an FBI informant who ratted on his gang’s main rival in an era when bringing down the Mafia was a top national priority for the FBI. He later became one of the nation’s most-wanted fugitives.
Bulger fled Boston in late 1994 after his FBI handler, John Connolly Jr., warned him he was about to be indicted. With a $2 million reward on his head, Bulger became one of the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted” criminals.
After more than 16 years on the run, he was captured at age 81 in Santa Monica, California, where he had been living in a rent-controlled apartment near the beach with his longtime girlfriend, Catherine Greig.
A prison workers’ union official told The Associated Press in 2018 that sending Bulger to the troubled federal penitentiary that housed other New England gangsters was like giving him a “death sentence.”
His transfer to Hazelton was prompted by disciplinary issues, a federal law enforcement official told The Associated Press in 2018. The official insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to release details. In February 2018, Bulger threatened an assistant supervisor at the prison in Florida, telling her “your day of reckoning is coming.”
DeCologero was part of an organized crime gang led by his uncle on Massachusetts’ North Shore called the “DeCologero Crew.”
He was convicted of buying heroin that was used to try to kill a teenage girl his uncle wanted dead because he feared she “would betray the crew to police.” The heroin didn’t kill her, so another man broke her neck, dismembered her and buried her remains in the woods, court records say.
Geas was a close associate of the Mafia and acted as an enforcer, but was not an official “made” member because he’s Greek, not Italian.
Geas and his brother were sentenced to life in prison in 2011 for their roles in several violent crimes, including the 2003 killing of Adolfo “Big Al” Bruno, a Genovese crime family boss in Springfield, Massachusetts. Another mobster ordered Bruno’s killing because he was upset he had talked to the FBI, prosecutors said.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/18/justice-dept-3-men-charged-whitey-bulgers-killing/ | 2022-08-18T22:48:50Z |
Page and Rockingham County Sheriff’s Offices to receive grant funding to add SROs
LURAY, Va. (WHSV) - The Page County Sheriff’s Office has secured $150,018 in grant funding from the state to allow it to hire two additional school resource officers. The new officers will be placed at Luray and Shenandoah Elementary Schools which means every public school in the county will have its own SRO.
“It has always been a vision of mine to make sure that we have resource officers within all of Page County Public Schools. I was very excited to hear that we had received this grant to make this possible. To make sure that we are keeping our children safe within our school system,” said Page County Sheriff Chad Cubbage.
The funding comes from $37.5 million in Criminal Justice Grant funding announced by Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin earlier this summer. The Sheriff’s Office partnered with PCPS to submit a grant application, and now the grant will fund the two positions for four years.
“With the increase in active shooters within schools and the dangers that can potentially be there I think that is definitely a need and I think it’s just about being proactive as sheriff and about being proactive as a school system,” said Cubbage.
Cubbage said the Sheriff’s Office and PCPS have a great working relationship and share a lot of the same visions when it comes to keeping schools and the county safer and more secure.
The Sheriff’s Office hopes to get the new positions filled as soon as possible. Cubbage said the Page County Sheriff’s Office has some certified candidates that have applied and the hiring process is already underway. One thing that does make it a bit more complicated though is the level of experience required for SROs.
“They have to have three years of prior law enforcement experience so with that being said, sometimes it does make it a little more difficult to fill these positions. If you have an officer that has a year or two years of experience they are not eligible for this grant position,” said Cubbage.
SROs do have to complete a one to two-week training program before they can begin working in schools.
The Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office also applied for state funding to add SROs. Currently, it has just six of them across the entire school division.
“We haven’t heard the final word on what the grant would be other than we did get a notification that we are gonna receive something, so we’re very grateful for that. It could be 3 or 4, we’re not exactly sure how many that might be but anything that’s possible is going to be something that’s greatly appreciated. We’re really excited about it already,” said Rockingham County Sheriff Bryan Hutcheson.
Currently, the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office has SROs in each of the county’s four high schools as well as the Rockingham Academy and the Massanutten Technical Center. The hope is to use the grant money to add SROs to middle schools.
“We would be able to have SROs at the middle schools to kind of pair them with the current system where we have one in each high school. We’d put one in each of the four middle schools that go with those high schools and it would double the coverage for each of those respective high school systems,” said Hutcheson.
Hutcheson said that the Sheriff’s Office is blessed to have a great school division to work with and is excited at the prospect of being able to have more SROs across the county.
Copyright 2022 WHSV. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/18/page-rockingham-county-sheriffs-offices-receive-grant-funding-add-sros/ | 2022-08-18T22:48:56Z |
Rockingham County Fair holds Senior Day
ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, Va. (WHSV) - The Rockingham County Fair held its Senior Day on Thursday where those aged 60 and older could get in for just $2.00.
Around 250 seniors, including many from assisted living facilities, came out to the fair in the morning and got to enjoy all it has to offer while avoiding the afternoon crowds.
“It kinda makes you feel special. It’s nice getting old sometimes,” said Debby Fadley, a fairgoer.
Fadley and her husband Wayne have been going to the Rockingham County Fair for 50 years. They joined many other seniors on Thursday for a day that is always a big hit.
“We spend most of the day having golf carts run to pick up the folks and take them all over the fairgrounds. They love the entertainment that’s up here under the tent and then they’ll go to the barn to watch a show or two down there,” said Kathy Burke, a fair volunteer who runs Senior Day.
Over a dozen local assisted living communities took part in the day. It’s something that the senior residents always look forward to.
“A lot of them told us all week that they were ready to get on the buses this morning. Some of them were saying they were excited to see their family’s animals that they have here, and a lot of them were very excited about the food. We’re just thrilled that we could bring them out and enjoy the day with them,” said Kelsey Hartman, manager of culture and training at the Bridgewater Retirement Community.
The day’s events for seniors included musical performances, a one-man circus, and a special show from the Wolves of the World act. For many of the seniors, the day brings back old memories.
“They look forward to it just like we all do and I think for a lot of them they grew up going to the fair. We were just talking about how we all grew up going to the fair and riding rides and checking out the animals so it’s an experience that never gets old,” said Hartman.
While their favorite part of the fair has changed as they’ve aged, Debby and Wayne Fadley still have a great time each year at the fair.
“We enjoy the shows. I guess things have changed because when we were smaller it was the rides but not anymore,” said Debby Fadley.
For those who make the day happen, seeing the joy it brings is a great reward.
“I enjoy just seeing all of their faces light up when we get to see all the different exhibits,” said Hartman. “The volunteers all pull together to help this happen but we’re glad to see the joy that these folks really enjoy doing this,” added Kathy Burke.
Copyright 2022 WHSV. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/18/rockingham-county-fair-holds-senior-day/ | 2022-08-18T22:49:02Z |
Community matriarch, 'From Whence We Came' author Marguerite Stanley dies at 98
Marguerite Stanley, a well-known community and familial matriarch, local historian, and chronicler of local Black history, died on Monday at the age of 98.
Born in Fort Dodge, Iowa, Stanley was raised from early childhood in Port Huron, later working a host of jobs and raising seven children, including six with her second husband James Stanley Sr.
The legacy wall that was unveiled with the Port Huron Museum’s Black history exhibit in early 2021 is named for the couple and honors living community representatives who contributed to local Black culture. The exhibit shares a name with the 1970s’ book, “From Whence We Came,” that Stanley authored to detail the history of Port Huron’s Black families and contributions.
“She had a knack for making people feel special. She had a gift for making people feel included. Anyone who had a chat with her walked away thinking they were surely her favorite,” her granddaughter Kameel Stanley said in a statement on behalf of the family Wednesday. “She taught us so much, instilling the importance of family, friendship and community.
“We are who we are because she was who she was. We know she meant a lot to many people, and that her legacy lives on through all of us. We appreciate the outpouring of love and privacy as we work through our grief. We will miss her terribly.”
Marguerite Stanley held jobs in Port Huron that ranged from industrial work to educational counseling with the local school district, lastly going door to door looking for students for the adult education program. She was involved with the local faith community, dedicating time to the congregation at Faith Christian Community Church.
Frequently called Mother Stanley by supporters and loved ones in the community, she was also heavily involved in local schools as a Black history speaker and the Port Huron chapter of the NAACP.
Stanley used her own expertise to put out an annual themed calendar as a local narrative, help the Port Huron Museum organize previous Black History Month celebrations entitled “Collections in Black," and for several years prior to completing “From Whence We Came,” host a local TV program about minority issues called "Across the Tracks."
“I just want people to be aware of the contributions made by blacks,” she told the Times Herald in 1982 when asked about her efforts and putting together local programs. “… If they see that, they can say, ‘Hey, there’s hope for me. I don’t have to be satisfied with nothing. I can go on and do something with my life.’”
Stanley inspired others to affect change, community members say
Kevin Totty, a Port Huron pastor and also a community figure, remarked on Stanley as someone who used her power to help others embrace the bigger picture.
"It’s wild for me to call her Marguerite Stanley because I know her as Mother. She had that type of way to use the power that she had, that power to make change in any position or wherever it was. … She used her power to impact not only her family but generations. She held the position of power that impacted and inspired folks and encouraged folks to give back, to make the place that they live better and better. Mother Stanley’s power superseded race, superseded gender, socio-economics, all these other barriers that prevent folks from using the power they had.”
NAACP chapter President Kevin Watkins, this year's Stanley Legacy Wall inductee, said each time he encountered or visited Stanley was "a special time" for him, particularly within the last few years.
And when he heard of her passing, he said he meditated on a "magical moment" the two shared in February at his induction ceremony when he leaned in close, "staring into her eyes."
"She was like passing the baton to me and carrying the NAACP's role," which among many roles, Watkins said, "was very much a part of her." Like other community matriarchs, he said, "They've run their race," and that now, it was "for us to pick that up."
Totty also recalled meeting Stanley through church and once serving communion at her home, where he said she "pulled a piece of vinyl out," and they listened to the clear beats and swinging rhythms of jazz for hours.
“That’s when I fell in love with her right there,” he said Thursday with a quick laugh, “and that was one of the fondest moments I have because I see her — her life organized in the rhythms to keep everything going.”
Smith Family Funeral Home is handling the arrangements with a viewing set for 1 to 6 p.m. on Monday at the funeral home, 1525 Hancock St., and services from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday at Restoration Christian Community Church, 3201 Gratiot Ave. The service will be live-streamed through Stanley's obituary page under the photos and videos tab.
Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith. | https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/2022/08/18/community-matriarch-from-whence-we-came-author-marguerite-stanley-dies-at-98/65408424007/ | 2022-08-18T23:13:11Z |
Harrisonburg City Manager search continues
HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) - The search for the next Harrisonburg city manager continues after former City Manager Eric Campbell resigned at the end of 2021.
Michael Parks, the Director of Communications for Harrisonburg, said the search went to a halt earlier in the summer with the resignation of city council member George Hirschmann.
Since the search started to become a long process, a few interested candidates found jobs elsewhere.
“Knowing that we have someone who’s very experienced in this role, who’s been with the city many years and takes part in all the projects that we have been working on this year. That gives the council the piece of mind that they can wait, make sure they get the right candidates, get those 3 to 5 people and interview them and then make a decision,” said Parks.
Parks said he hopes to have several people in for interviews next month.
Copyright 2022 WHSV. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/18/harrisonburg-city-manager-search-continues/ | 2022-08-18T23:13:11Z |
Fort Gratiot resident dies following rollover crash Thursday morning
Laura Fitzgerald
Port Huron Times Herald
A Fort Gratiot resident died following a rollover crash Thursday morning.
St. Clair County Sheriff deputies were dispatched to the 5100 block of Lakeshore Road in Fort Gratiot shortly after 8:30 a.m. for a report of a single-vehicle roll-over crash, according to the sheriff Department.
For an unknown reason, the vehicle rolled several times. The driver died from their injuries, the sheriff department said.
The crash remains under investigation.
Tri-Hospital EMS and the Fort Gratiot Fire Department also assisted at the scene.
Further details have not been released. | https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/2022/08/18/fort-gratiot-resident-dies-following-rollover-crash-thursday-morning/65409431007/ | 2022-08-18T23:13:17Z |
How could climate change impact our area?
(WHSV) - President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act this week which includes the largest investment in tackling climate change of any country.
This summer, several communities across the country have been devastated by flash flooding among other extreme weather events like heatwaves and significant droughts.
Climate change is going to also impact our area one way or another.
“The Shenandoah Valley is uniquely situated. We are surrounded by mountains and we are in a temperate environment that’s relatively buffered from the extreme events of climate change, but that doesn’t mean we won’t feel anything in the very near future. We are feeling it right now,” said Bill Lukens, of the JMU Department of Geology and Environmental Science.
Bill Lukens said flash flooding is a primary event to look out for in our area. However, that’s not the only thing that could significantly impact us.
“The lowest temperature that the night gets is increasing, so we are getting warmer nights. This is something that particularly impacts the elderly and those at risk. For example, heart and pulmonary problems,” said Lukens.
Lukens also said warmer nights can really start to run up your electric bill.
He also said we can expect floods like the one in Staunton two years ago to be more common.
Copyright 2022 WHSV. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/18/how-could-climate-change-impact-our-area/ | 2022-08-18T23:13:17Z |
Blue Water Bridge to begin upgrades to tolling software for eastbound customers
The Michigan Department of Transportation Blue Water Bridge is urging bridge users to be prepared for a freeze period on new deposits to their accounts starting Thursday while the bridge updates its tolling software for eastbound customers.
The upgrades will take place Saturday. Over time the bridge will discontinue the current cards and transition to 6C RFID windshield tags that are automatically read by the bridge tolling system when drivers pull into a lane. More information about the availability of the tags will be released in the future, according to the Michigan Department of Transportation.
The department said current cards will continue to work, although they will eventually be phased out. Customers will be notified when this happens.
All current account information and balances will also automatically transfer to the new system. Customers will need to re-enter payment information in the new system if automatic payments are currently set up. Customers can log in using their previous account number; however, they will be prompted to create a new username and password, the department said.
Creation of new accounts is currently frozen, the department said Wednesday. No deposits to existing accounts can be made beginning 10 p.m. Thursday.
Existing customers will need to ensure they have enough funds on their accounts to cover any crossings between Thursday and Saturday. The freeze will be lifted when the new system goes live.
Bridge customers will continue to use bluewaterbridge.us, but there will be new access instructions and a new web portal to help customers manage their account more effectively. Customers will be able to review transactions, make one-time payments or set up automatic payments, request new or replacement tags, cancel tags and generate statements.
Account holders with the Federal Bridge Corporation Limited (FBCL) can also expect to receive more information in the coming weeks.
Questions regarding the new system can be directed to (810) 984-3131 option one, or e-mail MDOT-BWB-CustomerCare@Michigan.gov.
Contact Laura Fitzgerald at (810) 941-7072 or lfitzgeral@gannett.com. | https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/2022/08/18/freeze-on-blue-water-bridge-payment-accounts-to-begin-thursday-for-tolling-software-upgrades/65408853007/ | 2022-08-18T23:13:23Z |
LONDON, UK, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Atlas ("Atlas" or the "Company") (NYSE: ATCO) announced today that its board of directors (the "Board") has already formed a special committee of independent directors to evaluate the unsolicited non-binding proposal from Poseidon Acquisition Corp. ("Poseidon") received by the Board on August 4, 2022. The special committee has already retained Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC as its financial advisor, and also has already retained legal counsel, in connection with its evaluation of the proposal.
As previously announced, Poseidon is an entity formed by certain affiliates of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited ("Fairfax"), certain affiliates of the Washington Family ("Washington"), David Sokol, Chairman of the Board of Atlas, and Ocean Network Express Pte. Ltd., and certain of their respective affiliates. Poseidon has proposed to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Atlas, other than common shares owned by Fairfax, Washington, Mr. Sokol and certain executive officers of the Company, for $14.45 cash per common share. Fairfax, Washington and Mr. Sokol, together with certain of their respective affiliates, collectively own more than 50% of the Company's outstanding common shares.
Atlas cautions its shareholders and others considering trading in Atlas securities that the Board has only recently received the proposal, the special committee, working with its advisors, is in the process of carefully reviewing and evaluating the proposal, and no decision has been made yet with respect to a response to the proposal. The proposal constitutes only an indication of interest by Poseidon and does not constitute a binding commitment with respect to the proposed transaction or any other transaction. No agreement, arrangement or understanding between Atlas and Poseidon relating to any proposed transaction will be created unless definitive documentation is executed and delivered by the appropriate parties.
Atlas does not undertake any obligation to provide any updates with respect to this or any other transaction, or to provide any additional disclosures to reflect subsequent events, new information or future circumstances, except as required under applicable law.
About Atlas
Atlas is a leading global asset management company, differentiated by its position as a best-in-class owner and operator with a focus on disciplined capital deployment to create sustainable shareholder value. We target long-term, risk-adjusted returns across high-quality infrastructure assets in the maritime sector, energy sector and other infrastructure verticals. For more information, visit atlascorporation.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements included in this press release other than statements of historical fact, including, but not limited to, expectations regarding the proposed transaction, the formation of a special committee of independent directors and the evaluation and any negotiation and consummation of any transaction are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements represent Atlas' estimates and assumptions only as of the date of this release and are not intended to give any assurance as to future results. As a result, you are cautioned not to rely on any forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements appear in a number of places in this release. Although these statements are based upon assumptions Atlas believes to be reasonable based upon available information, they are subject to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this release are estimates and assumptions reflecting the judgment of senior management and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond Atlas' control. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, all forward-looking statements should be considered in light of various important factors listed above and including, but not limited to, those set forth in "Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors" in Atlas' Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2021 on Form 20-F filed with the SEC on March 24, 2022, and in its subsequent filings with the SEC. Atlas does not intend to revise any forward-looking statements in order to reflect any change in its expectations or events or circumstances that may subsequently arise. Atlas expressly disclaims any obligation to update or revise any of these forward-looking statements, whether because of future events, new information, a change in Atlas' views or expectations, or otherwise. You should carefully review and consider the various disclosures included in Atlas' Annual Report and in Atlas' other filings made with the SEC that attempt to advise interested parties of the risks and factors that may affect Atlas' businesses, prospects and results of operations.
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SOURCE Atlas Corp. | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/atlas-corp-board-directors-forms-special-committee-independent-directors-evaluate-previously-announced-take-private-proposal/ | 2022-08-18T23:13:24Z |
St. Clair County Animal Control is at capacity
The animal intake for the St. Clair County Animal Control has tripled in August and the shelter has lowered adoption fees to help reduce capacity.
Adoption fees have dropped from $120 to $50 for dogs and $75 to $25 for cats. This price takes effect immediately and will last until Saturday. Additionally, the shelter will hold an emergency adoption event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
“Our goal is to adopt out at least 15 dogs and 20 cats,” said Melissa Miller, animal control's director.
The shelter currently has 42 dogs and 55 cats.
Miller said they have maintained a high save rate for its animals and the recent influx of animals is difficult for the shelter to sustain. Any open kennels are being used for overnight intake of stray animals or to quarantine biting dogs.
“We don’t euthanize to make space, which is why we’re doing the emergency event to try to get as many pets adopted out as possible,” Miller said.
Additionally, the shelter is no longer taking owner surrenders because there isn’t enough room.
“We look forward to seeing people come out on Saturday,” Miller said.
Animal control is open for adoptions from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Fostering an animal is another way people can help the shelter. The shelter can provide people the supplies they need. The shelter can be reached at (810) 984-3155.
Contact McKenna Golat at mgolat@gannett.com or (810) 292-0122. | https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/2022/08/18/st-clair-county-animal-control-is-at-capacity/65407815007/ | 2022-08-18T23:13:29Z |
Online-wagering platform partner DraftKings readies for timely debut of online and mobile sports betting in Kansas
OLATHE, Kan., Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Butler National Corporation (OTCQB: BUKS), through its wholly-owned subsidiary that manages Boot Hill Casino & Resort in Dodge City, Kansas, has received Sports Wagering Management Contract approval from the Kansas Lottery.
Earlier this summer, Butler National announced sports wagering platform agreements with DraftKings and Bally's Corporation.
The Sports Wagering Management Contract provides for the management of sports wagering, both in-house at the Boot Hill Casino, as well as through three Kansas Lottery approved Interactive Sports Wagering Platforms. The contract term is for five years and provides the statutory revenue share of ten percent to the state.
"We've been working diligently with our current online wagering platform partners to bring online sports betting to Kansans just as soon as regulators give us the green light," said Clark Stewart, CEO, Butler National Corporation. "The approval of the Sports Wagering Management Contract brings us one step closer to that significant achievement."
In anticipation of the launch of sports wagering by the Kansas Lottery, DraftKings expects a timely debut of its Kansas platform on the day the regulators approve the initial launch.
Boot Hill Casino & Resort, located in Dodge City, Kansas, also anticipates unveiling its on-site interim sportsbook and plans to accept wagers shortly after launch of the Interactive Sports Wagering Platform.
"Our team is focused on the timely launch of the DraftKings mobile platform and the DraftKings retail sports book at Boot Hill Casino in Dodge City," said Stewart. "We are thrilled to bring the excitement of sports wagering to our casino guests and to all Kansans."
Butler National is a recognized provider of professional management services in the gaming industry and a leader in special mission aircraft modifications.
Once the Kansas Lottery launches sports wagering, anyone legally permitted within the geographical boundaries of Kansas can place bets directly from their mobile devices or computers by accessing a participating sports book or eventually by visiting a lottery gaming facility.
Butler National Corporation has been a recognized provider of professional management services in the gaming industry for more than 20 years. Following the enactment of the Kansas Expanded Lottery Act (KELA), Butler National competed for a contract to manage a Lottery Gaming Facility for the State of Kansas. In 2008, Butler National Service Corporation (a Butler National Corporation subsidiary) proposed and was awarded a contract to manage the Boot Hill Casino & Resort in Dodge City. When Boot Hill Casino opened in 2009, it was the first state-owned and -operated casino in Kansas. In addition to its gaming division, Butler National manufactures, sells and services support systems for private, commercial and military aircraft.
Boot Hill Casino & Resort, managed by BHCMC, LLC and Butler National Service Corporation, wholly-owned subsidiaries of Butler National Corporation (OTCQB: BUKS), features over 500 electronic gaming machines, 14 table games, and a 150-seat casual dining restaurant known as Firesides at Boot Hill.
The $90 million Boot Hill Casino project opened in December 2009. The lottery facility games at Boot Hill Casino & Resort are owned and operated by the Kansas Lottery. The Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission provides regulatory oversight for the casino. For more information about Boot Hill Casino & Resort, please visit us at www.boothillcasino.com, or call us at 1.877.906.0777.
Statements made in this report, other reports and proxy statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, communications to stockholders, press releases, and oral statements made by representatives of the Company that are not historical in nature, or that state the Company or management intentions, hopes, beliefs, expectations or predictions of the future, may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"). Forward-looking statements can often be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, such as "could," "should," "will," "intended," "continue," "believe," "may," "expect," "hope," "anticipate," "goal," "forecast," "plan," "guidance" or "estimate" or the negative of these words, variations thereof or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or results. They involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. It is important to note that any such performance and actual results, financial condition or business, could differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in Item 1A of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K, incorporated herein by reference. Risk Factors and elsewhere herein or in other reports filed with the SEC. Other unforeseen factors not identified herein could also have such an effect. We undertake no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes in future operating results, financial condition or business over time.
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Please review www.avconindustries.com for pictures of our products and details about Butler National Corporation and its subsidiaries.
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SOURCE Butler National Corporation | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/butler-national-casino-subsidiary-sports-betting-management-contract-with-kansas-lottery-approved/ | 2022-08-18T23:13:30Z |
Temporary St. Clair County medical director may be staying on
The individual temporarily serving in the medical director role for the last two months in St. Clair County may be taking on the full position.
County commissioners are slated to consider a three-year contract with Dr. Najibah Rehman at Thursday’s board meeting. The proposed employment agreement for the position, which is part-time with a minimum of 16 hours weekly and a wage of $123 an hour, would take effect Sept. 1.
According to a memo from County Administrator Karry Hepting to the board, the job listing for medical director has remained listed as open since Rehman was first OK’d as the interim director on June 21.
The hiring committee reportedly interviewed a candidate who did not meet state-required qualifications — namely, having a master’s degree in public health in addition to being a physician — and no others stepped forward.
Earlier this year, Hepting told the Times Herald the director job was a difficult one to fill, and that Rehman was serving on an interim basis after she got “another offer that was attractive to her.” Her interim contract would end next month.
It wasn’t clear what circumstances changed to bring Rehman fully onboard. Hepting didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment Wednesday afternoon.
Her hiring is the second step in filling two St. Clair County Health Department positions after commissioners first voted to split and advertise the openings in February. Liz King, already a health department supervisor, was promoted to the other position of public health officer.
Both positions were previously held by Dr. Annette Mercatante, who departed the county organization at the end of her contract in June. The county board’s decision to separate her dual role followed weeks of outcry from some residents upset with COVID-19-related public health mandates.
King’s role as health officer includes the statutory authority to issue health orders.
According to the job description, the director directs and provides medical consultation in the department’s public health programs and assists in the review of other orders and efforts.
The county board will meet at 4 p.m. on Thursday at the commissioners’ room on the second floor of the administrative building, 200 Grand River Ave., in Port Huron. Agenda items can be found online at http://publicagenda.stclaircounty.org.
Check back for more.
Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith. | https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/2022/08/18/temporary-st-clair-county-medical-director-may-be-staying-on/65407872007/ | 2022-08-18T23:13:35Z |
- Quarterly cash dividend increased four percent to $0.50 per share
- 12th consecutive year Cboe has increased its dividend
CHICAGO, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE), a leading provider of global market infrastructure and tradable products, today announced its Board of Directors has declared an increased quarterly cash dividend of $0.50 per share of common stock for the third quarter of 2022, representing a four percent increase from the prior quarter's dividend of $0.48 per share.
The third-quarter 2022 dividend is payable on September 15, 2022, to stockholders of record as of August 31, 2022.
About Cboe Global Markets, Inc.
Cboe Global Markets (Cboe: CBOE), a leading provider of market infrastructure and tradable products, delivers cutting-edge trading, clearing and investment solutions to market participants around the world. The company is committed to operating a trusted, inclusive global marketplace, providing leading products, technology and data solutions that enable participants to define a sustainable financial future. Cboe provides trading solutions and products in multiple asset classes, including equities, derivatives, FX, and digital assets, across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more, visit www.cboe.com.
CBOE-D
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Cboe®, Cboe Global Markets®, Cboe Volatility Index®, and VIX® are registered trademarks of Cboe Exchange, Inc
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SOURCE Cboe Global Markets, Inc. | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/cboe-global-markets-declares-increased-third-quarter-2022-dividend/ | 2022-08-18T23:13:37Z |
After a dramatic 2021, Marysville girls swimming & diving begins 2022 on steadier terms
It's been nine months since the Marysville girls swimming & diving team got off the rollercoaster.
The Vikings were taken for a wild ride during the 2021 season, one that began with an abrupt coaching resignation and ended with a trip to the state finals.
Fortunately, it's been a smoother path to start 2022.
"It's night and day," said Marysville coach Lisa Staszewski, who took over in the middle of last season. "Having one full year under my belt, I feel so much more confident ... I know the girls have more confidence in themselves and are much more positive. It's a huge difference in our mentalities and excitement levels."
That optimism is warranted. The Vikings return three of their state finalists from last year in Ava Hanners, Alison Jainer and Joanna Roosa.
"They each have their own strengths," Staszewski said. "I'm hoping they will make it to states in individual events and relays."
Hanners is the trio's lone senior. She was on last season's 200- and 400-meter relay teams that set school records at the state championships. But the veteran is back with a new goal in mind.
"She is really set on breaking the school's 100-meter fly record," Staszewski said. "She's killing it in practice and is pushing her limits. (The record) is very close to the state cut as well. So if she gets it, she'll likely qualify for the state meet individually."
Also close to the cut is Jainer, who is Marysville's primary backstroke swimmer. The junior shaved three seconds off her time in the 100-meter backstroke last winter. Like Hanners, she was also on the 200- and 400-meter relay teams in 2021.
"I'm excited for her for to hopefully make an individual event at the state meet," Staszewski said.
Rounding out the returning finalists is Roosa (another part of the 200-meter team). She thrived in the sprint freestyles last year. Now she'll split her time between the freestyle and backstroke events.
However, it was an arduous offseason for the junior. Roosa broke her leg during the winter and is finishing up physical therapy.
"That was one hurdle that she had to get over," Staszewski said. "But she's looking strong in practice. We're working on the mental strength too. Of course, it's hard to get past a broken leg and thinking what could've been. But she's showing that she's both physically and mentally strong. So I'm not worried about her performance."
Hanners, Jainer and Roosa aren't the only ones who have Staszewski amped for the season. There's talent and potential throughout the roster.
Hannah Bockhausen, Izzy Egypt and Aubrey Hanners (Ava's younger sister) are just a few who have impressed with their progress. Staszewski also welcomes six incoming freshmen to the program, including diver Paige Sheldon.
The Vikings are clearly in a much different place than they were a year ago. But come November, they want to finish in a familiar setting.
"Hopefully we'll have a good season and send some girls to the state meet," Staszewski said. "And not just through relays, but individually as well."
Contact Brenden Welper at bwelper@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendenWelper. | https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/sports/2022/08/18/marysville-swimming-diving-begins-2022-on-its-own-terms/10339564002/ | 2022-08-18T23:13:41Z |
SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Clinovo, a technology focused Clinical services provider that accelerates Clinical Development for Life Sciences industry appoints Nandish Poluru as Chief Executive Officer effective immediately.
As an executive at the intersection of Lifesciences, Operations and Technology, Nandish has over two decades of experience in successfully accelerating Research and Development efforts for multiple companies across the Lifesciences industry. He brings expertise across the pharmaceutical value chain including Clinical Development and Operations, Clinical Data Management, Biostatistics and programming, Pharmacovigilance, Regulatory operations and Technology.
Most recently, Nandish was the Vice President of Clinical Innovation at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) where he led efforts to accelerate Clinical Research globally with a focus on Digital Health, Patient Centricity, and Speed to Market. During his tenure at BMS, he also served in various roles to modernize Clinical Development through process and digital solutions. Prior to BMS, Nandish was Executive Director at Allergan (an Abbvie company) and worked at Forest Laboratories in various roles. He also worked in Silicon Valley at the start of his career.
"It is with great excitement and immense pleasure that I welcome Nandish to Clinovo" said Vamsi Maddipatla, President and Chairman at Clinovo. "Nandish is a visionary and innovative leader who brings demonstrated experience and skills along with exceptional leadership abilities. He is uniquely positioned to lead us in our next phase of growth and establish Clinovo as a global leader in the Clinical solutions market".
"I am very excited to join and work with the talented team at Clinovo" said Nandish. "I am thrilled to build on the strong foundations already established and lead the company to further scale the capabilities. I strongly believe that Clinovo is well positioned to create value for our customers by accelerating Clinical trials globally and bring new medicines to market faster."
Nandish has an MBA from Yale school of Management with a focus on Healthcare Management. He also has a Master's in information systems from Cleveland State University and a Bachelor`s in Electrical Engineering from Sri Venkateswara University, India.
Clinovo works with life sciences customers across the globe to accelerate clinical development and bring new medicines to market faster. Together with their customers, they focus on speed to submissions, decrease clinical development cycle times and lower development costs.
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SOURCE Clinovo | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/clinovo-taps-life-sciences-executive-nandish-poluru-its-next-chief-executive-officer/ | 2022-08-18T23:13:44Z |
KANSAS CITY, Mo., Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cloud Inventory®, a leader in mobile-first inventory solutions, and Boomi™, an intelligent connectivity and automation leader, announced an expanded partnership to provide faster, easier integration for customers. The partnership empowers companies using any ERP platform to quickly connect applications, data, people, and devices. This enables the optimization of key processes, including accounting, order management, inventory, and procurement.
"Using Boomi and Cloud Inventory together, companies can enable their employees, trading partners, and customers to engage everywhere across any channel, device, or platform," said Ed Macosky, Chief Innovation Officer, Boomi. "We're pleased to expand our offerings through this partnership with Cloud Inventory to provide an even better, more integrated experience to customers, helping them ensure alignment of their own customers, products, people, and critical financial data."
The partnership leverages integration capabilities from Boomi, a category-leading integration platform as a service (iPaaS) provider with more than 20,000 customers using its AtomSphere™ Platform worldwide. The technology integration enhances the overall Cloud Inventory to ERP experience by increasing transaction throughput, adding scale, and providing greater control over data orchestration.
"Companies are looking for effective ways to move faster with real-time connectivity without sacrificing sophistication in today's marketplace," said Mark Goode, President, Cloud Inventory. "We're excited that our integration with Boomi provides our customers the tools they need to take their operations to the next level, no matter their ERP."
Cloud Inventory® mobile-first applications empower organizations with real-time inventory visibility at all points in the supply chain, from the warehouse to the field. Based in Kansas City, our global team has the supply chain knowledge and mobile-first development expertise to deliver solutions that solve today's business challenges. Visit www.cloudinventory.com to learn more.
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SOURCE Cloud Inventory | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/cloud-inventory-boomi-partnership-accelerates-integration-capabilities-erp-customers/ | 2022-08-18T23:13:50Z |
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- An experienced employment law firm, Davtyan Law Firm (www.d.law) is expanding again, this time to help employees in Lake Tahoe, California and surrounding areas. DLaw's original office opened in 2015 to help protect the rights of the working class in the Los Angeles area. DLaw's attorneys focus on assisting all Californians with navigating employment issues, such as workplace harassment, discrimination, unpaid wages, and wrongful termination. Their passion and dedication are what set them apart from other employment law firms in the area.
Founder and Managing Attorney Emil Davtyan is looking forward to seeing how his firm's experience and knowledge will help workers in and around the Lake Tahoe area. The entire team at DLaw wants to bring accessible, comprehensive, and caring legal services to all employees in this region.
DLaw also has offices in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Fresno, Sacramento, Chico, and San Luis Obispo to protect all Californians from abusive employers.
Since its inception in 2015, DLaw's 50-plus lawyers and staff have helped hundreds of thousands of California workers recover nearly a quarter of $1 billion from their employers. To date, the firm has helped pursue nearly 3,000 cases.
"Hourly and low-wage workers are a collective group of people who make up the backbone of America," said Emil. "These hard-working individuals often don't have the resources and means to pursue their valid claims because employment law projects intimidation. If anyone has experienced unfair workplace treatment, they can look to us as the best place to help. We're always a phone call or online visit away from answering questions and offering free advice."
DLaw's newest office is located near Truckee Tahoe airport at 12242 Business Park Drive, Suite 19, Truckee, CA 96161.
DLaw specializes in the following fields of employment law:
Wage & Hours Claims — California has strict laws regarding lunch breaks, rest breaks, overtime, expense reimbursements, off-the-clock work, minimum wage, etc. These laws change frequently and can be confusing.
Workplace Harassment & Discrimination — Employers are not allowed to discriminate or harass, based on certain protected classes such as race, age, and gender. In addition, California protects more classes including immigration status, sexual orientation and others.
Wrongful Termination — There are several types of wrongful termination including those based on discrimination, contract violations, sexual harassment, and workplace retaliation.
Protected Leave Violations — California employees are entitled to a variety of protected leaves including FMLA (family and medical leave), new parental leaves, military service leave, and more. California's leave laws protect employees from unlawful discrimination, harassment, or retaliation as a result of requesting or taking protected leave. Employees have a right to take these kinds of leaves, and employers cannot take certain actions just because they exercised that right.
Workplace Retaliation — Workplace retaliation occurs when a business takes an adverse action against the employee who initially filed a complaint. If an employer punishes or fires an employee for exercising his or her employment rights, it is considered workplace retaliation and it may be illegal.
Are you a California employee who is treated unfairly at work? If so, please call 888-TRY-DLAW, visit the www.d.law website or email info@davtyanlaw.com. A representative is standing by 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to help with your employment law legal needs.
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SOURCE Davtyan Law Firm, Inc. | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/dlaw-continues-help-california-employees-lake-tahoe-ca-through-more-expansion/ | 2022-08-18T23:13:57Z |
Performing arts lovers will have access to exclusive deals and discounts
HOUSTON, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The first annual Houston Theater Week is the largest consumer promotion celebrating live theater and performing arts in Houston's history. For one week only, August 22-29, 2022, theater enthusiasts and novices alike can take advantage of exclusive Buy One, Get One FREE tickets on more than 90 different shows and performances.
(Important note: August 22-29, 2022 is the designated week where people can purchase tickets at the exclusive discounted rate. The performances run at various times throughout the 2022/2023 performance season.)
"Houston Theater District is thrilled to collaborate with Houston First Corporation on this new cultural tradition that celebrates our wonderfully-diverse performing arts and live event scene. And with 18 professional performing arts organizations joining forces there is truly something for everyone," said Jim Nelson, Chair, Houston Theater District.
Houston Theater Week includes blockbuster shows offered by Houston's permanent resident companies: Houston Symphony, Houston Ballet, Alley Theatre, Houston Grand Opera, DaCamera, Performing Arts Houston, Theatre Under the Stars and The Hobby Center. These groups are joined by several of Houston's outstanding community theater groups and professional music ensembles like: ROCO, Dirt Dogs Theater Company, Main Street Theater, Mercury Chamber Orchestra, Kinetic Ensemble, 4th Wall Theatre Company and more.
Some of the classic and cutting-edge performances include:
- Ain't Misbehavin'
- Bach's Cello Suites
- Chicago The Musical
- Cinderella
- DaCamera Presents Kendrick Scott's Unearthed
- Dance Theatre of Harlem
- Handel's Messiah
- Legally Blonde the Musical
- Mary Poppins
- Rent
- She's Got Soul
- STOMP
- Disney's Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Stage Adaptation
Not only does this offer provide the public with a great bargain, it also supports everyone involved in making these state-of-the-art productions from the elite performers to behind-the-scenes professionals in the downtown Theater District as well as neighborhoods and communities beyond.
"Houston Theater Week was developed to showcase and strengthen Houston's diverse professional performing arts portfolio," said Houston First President & CEO Michael Heckman. "We are proud to partner with resident companies in the heart of downtown as well as community theater groups located throughout our city and look forward to this campaign continuing to grow in popularity and success."
For Houston Theater Week assets including b-roll and images go here.
To view all the offers and purchase tickets, please visit: www.HoustonTheaterWeek.com.
The special offer promo code for Houston Theater Week is: HTXARTS.
ABOUT HOUSTON FIRST CORPORATION
Houston First is the official destination management organization for the city of Houston. In addition, Houston First owns the Hilton Americas-Houston hotel, manages the George R. Brown Convention Center along with 10 city-owned properties and developed the Avenida Houston entertainment district. Learn more at HoustonFirst.com and VisitHouston.com.
Contacts:
PR@houstonfirst.com
Carolyn Campbell 713-530-4778
Jennie Bui-McCoy 832-374-3994
Celia Morales 713-444-0507
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SOURCE Houston First | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/houston-first-corp-launches-first-ever-theater-week/ | 2022-08-18T23:14:04Z |
Quarterly Series Expands Casino's Poker Offerings
JAMUL, Calif., Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Jamul Casino is upping the ante on its poker programming, launching a multi-day series to be held each quarter. The first San Diego Poker Classic will be held August 18-28, 2022 in Jamul Casino's Poker Room and JIVe Lounge with over $150K in prize money offered over multiple events. The series will culminate in a main event with a $100,000 guarantee. The San Diego Poker Classic, presented in partnership with RunGood Events, will extend Jamul Casino's popular poker programming, helping to solidify Jamul Casino's status as San Diego's top destination for entertainment, food, and fun.
Event Highlights
The San Diego Poker Classic features 14 trophy events, including:
- The SDPC $50K Weekend Opener from August 18-21, offering a $50,000 guarantee with a $250 buy-in. Players may also rise through the ranks of the satellite tournament for an $80 buy-in, where one in 10 wins a seat at the main table.
- Seniors Sunrise NLH on August 22, with a $125 buy-in.
- Ladies Event sponsored by Helix Poker and PLON on August 23, with a $250 buy-in.
- The SDPC $100K Main Event from August 23-28, offering a $100,000 guarantee with a $600 buy-in. Satellite table seats have an $85 buy-in for a one in 10 chance to earn a seat at the main event, or $145 with a one in five chance.
Interested players may register in person at Jamul Casino.
Poker Success
Jamul Casino launched its highly successful poker programming in 2019 with the opening of its Poker Room. Since then, Jamul Casino's Poker Room has hosted numerous celebrities including professional players like Tiffany Michelle, Lena Evans, Maria Ho, and World Series of Poker champion Scott Blumstein; former professional athletes like Jeremy Roenick, Nick Barnett, Jim Laslavic, and Charlie Joiner; and celebrities like Survivor legend "Boston Rob" Mariano and former California First Lady Maria Shriver. As the most Genuinely Generous® casino in San Diego, Jamul Casino's Poker Room is a crowd favorite for its large pay-outs and fun atmosphere.
Jamul Casino's Poker Manager, John Rochfort, says, "We're expecting about 600 players for this first San Diego Poker Classic, and we'll continue with a multi-day series every November, February, May, and August. Good luck to all of our aspiring winners!"
About Jamul Casino
Opened in 2016, the Jamul Casino is located in Jamul, California, San Diego County, and is owned and operated by Jamul Indian Village Development Corporation (JIVDC), a wholly owned enterprise of the Tribe. The $430 million, award-winning casino features nearly 1,700 slot machines, 46 live table games, a dedicated poker room, and various restaurants, bars and lounges. Jamul Casino supports more than 1,000 permanent jobs in the region and is the closest casino to downtown San Diego, which is the eighth-largest city in the United States by population. For more information about Jamul Casino, please visit www.jamulcasinosd.com.
Media Contact: Beth Binger
BCIpr
619-987-6658
beth.binger@BCIpr.com
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SOURCE Jamul Casino | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/jamul-casino-launches-inaugural-san-diego-poker-classic-with-over-150k-up-grabs/ | 2022-08-18T23:14:10Z |
PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kodiak Sciences Inc. (Nasdaq: KOD), a biopharmaceutical company committed to researching, developing and commercializing transformative therapeutics to treat high prevalence retinal diseases, today announced that results from the Phase 3 BEACON study in Retinal Vein Occlusion (RVO) of its investigational therapy tarcocimab tedromer (KSI-301) will be presented at two upcoming ophthalmology conferences: the 22nd EURETINA Congress in Hamburg, Germany, and the 2022 American Academy of Ophthalmology Meeting in Chicago, Illinois.
Details of the presentations are as follows:
22nd EURETINA Congress, Euretina Session 8: Late Breakings (Hamburg, Germany)
Title: KSI-301 Anti-VEGF Antibody Biopolymer Conjugate for Retinal Vein Occlusion: Primary 24-Week Efficacy and Safety Outcomes of the BEACON Phase 3 Pivotal Study
Presenter: Arshad Khanani, M.D., M.A., FASRS, Director of Clinical Research, Sierra Eye Associates, Reno, NV
Presentation date and time: September 2, 2022; 16:45 CEST
2022 American Academy of Ophthalmology Meeting, Retina Subspecialty Day (Chicago, Illinois)
Title: KSI-301 Anti-VEGF Antibody Biopolymer Conjugate for Retinal Vein Occlusion: Primary and Secondary 24- Week Efficacy and Safety Outcomes of the BEACON Phase 3 Pivotal Study
Presenter: Michael A Singer, M.D., Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology, University of Texas Health Science Center, and Director of Clinical Research, Medical Center Ophthalmology Associates, San Antonio, TX
Presentation date and time: September 30, 2022; 4:39 PM CST
Kodiak plans to post the slides from these presentations on the "Events and Presentations" section of Kodiak's website at http://ir.kodiak.com/ following each presentation.
About tarcocimab tedromer (KSI-301)
Tarcocimab tedromer is an investigational anti-VEGF therapy built on Kodiak's Antibody Biopolymer Conjugate (ABC) Platform and is designed to maintain potent and effective drug levels in ocular tissues for longer than existing available agents. Kodiak's objective with tarcocimab tedromer is to develop a new first-line agent to improve outcomes for patients with retinal vascular diseases and to enable earlier treatment and prevention of vision loss for patients with diabetic eye disease. The tarcocimab tedromer clinical program is designed to assess the product's durability, efficacy and safety in wet AMD, DME, RVO and non-proliferative DR (without DME) through clinical studies run in parallel. The Company's GLEAM and GLIMMER studies in patients with diabetic macular edema, the BEACON study in patients with retinal vein occlusion, the DAYLIGHT study in patients with wet AMD and the GLOW study in patients with NPDR are anticipated to form the basis of the Company's BLA to support potential approval and commercialization in multiple indications. The global tarcocimab tedromer clinical program is being conducted at 150+ study sites in more than 10 countries. Kodiak is developing and owns global rights to tarcocimab tedromer.
About the BEACON Study
The Phase 3 BEACON study is a global, multi-center, randomized study designed to evaluate the durability, efficacy and safety of tarcocimab tedromer in 568 patients with treatment-naïve macular edema due to retinal vein occlusion, including both branch and central subtypes. Patients are randomized 1:1 to receive tarcocimab 5 mg or aflibercept 2 mg. In the first six months, patients receiving tarcocimab are treated with a proactive, fixed regimen which includes two monthly loading doses followed by treatment every 8 weeks, and patients receiving aflibercept are treated monthly as per its label. In the second six months, patients in both groups will receive treatment on an individualized basis per protocol-specified criteria. Patients can then continue to receive tarcocimab tedromer for an additional six months on an individualized basis. In the BEACON study, tarcocimab tedromer dosed every two months met the primary endpoint of non-inferior visual acuity gains compared to aflibercept dosed every month. Tarcocimab is the first anti-VEGF therapy to achieve non-inferiority in visual acuity gains while doubling the treatment interval in patients with RVO. In the study, tarcocimab was well tolerated with a low rate of intraocular inflammation and no new or unexpected safety signals. Results from the BEACON study are intended to serve as the basis for the potential approval of tarcocimab in RVO. Additional information about the BEACON study (also called Study KS301P103) can be found on www.clinicaltrials.gov under Trial Identifier NCT04592419 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT04592419).
About Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Kodiak (Nasdaq: KOD) is a biopharmaceutical company committed to researching, developing and commercializing transformative therapeutics to treat high prevalence retinal diseases. Founded in 2009, we are focused on bringing new science to the design and manufacture of next generation retinal medicines to prevent and treat the leading causes of blindness globally. Our ABC Platform™ uses molecular engineering to merge the fields of antibody-based and chemistry-based therapies and is at the core of Kodiak's discovery engine. Kodiak's lead product candidate, tarcocimab tedromer, is a novel anti-VEGF antibody biopolymer conjugate being developed for the treatment of retinal vascular diseases including wet age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in elderly patients in the developed world, and diabetic eye diseases, the leading cause of blindness in working-age patients in the developed world. Kodiak has leveraged its ABC Platform to build a pipeline of product candidates in various stages of development. KSI-501 is our dual inhibitor antibody biopolymer conjugate targeting both VEGF (VEGF-trap) and IL-6 (anti-IL-6 antibody) for the treatment of retinal diseases. We are expanding our early research pipeline to include ABC Platform based triplet inhibitors for multifactorial retinal diseases such as dry AMD and glaucoma. Kodiak is based in Palo Alto, CA. For more information, please visit www.kodiak.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are not based on historical fact and include statements regarding our regulatory strategy, including the expected bases on which regulatory approval may be sought; and expansion of our research pipeline. Forward-looking statements generally include statements that are predictive in nature and depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, and include words such as "may," "will," "should," "would," "could," "expect," "plan," "believe," "intend," "pursue," and other similar expressions among others. Any forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations of future events and are subject to a risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, cessation or delay of any clinical studies and/or development of tarcocimab may occur; future regulatory milestones of tarcocimab, including related to current and planned clinical studies, may be insufficient to support regulatory submissions or approval; adverse economic conditions may significantly impact our business and operations, including our clinical trial sites, and those of our manufacturers, contract research organizations or others with whom we conduct business; as well as the other risks identified in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). For a discussion of other risks and uncertainties, and other important factors, any of which could cause our actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see the section entitled "Risk Factors" in our most recent Form 10-K, as well as discussions of potential risks, uncertainties, and other important factors in our subsequent filings with the SEC. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof and Kodiak undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Kodiak®, Kodiak Sciences®, ABC™, ABC Platform™ and the Kodiak logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Kodiak Sciences Inc. in various global jurisdictions.
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SOURCE Kodiak Sciences Inc. | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/kodiak-sciences-announces-upcoming-presentations-tarcocimab-tedromer-ksi-301-phase-3-beacon-study-results-retinal-vein-occlusion-rvo/ | 2022-08-18T23:14:16Z |
WASHINGTON, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Following is a statement by Jen Judson, President of the National Press Club and Gil Klein, President of the National Press Club Journalism Institute marking 100 days since the killing of Al Jazeera Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh who was reporting from the field when she was shot.
"One hundred days after the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh we still do not have justice for Shireen, and we do not think enough has been done to ensure safety for journalists currently working in Gaza and the West Bank.
We stand with Shireen's family and her colleagues at Al Jazeera calling for an independent investigation lead by the United States to determine facts related to the killing of this American citizen and veteran journalist. We appreciate the bipartisan support of members of Congress who are speaking out on this as well.
All known evidence points to the deadly shots being fired from an area where IDF forces were stationed and had control. There is no longer any suggestion that this was crossfire or suppressing fire or involved Palestinian fire of any kind. Secretary Blinken has recently asked to begin a process to renew safety measure related to IDF use of live fire. We applaud his efforts in this matter and are disappointed to read the initial push back from Israel.
We hope that all parties can agree that the best thing to do right now is to take the shooter off duty until an investigation can take place, and to also, as a precaution. Take from the field pending an investigation, the officer who approved the deadly shot. Allowing this team to remain on duty with live ammunition puts all journalists working in the field at great risk. For whatever reasons, they ignored clear markings that Shireen was press.
The Press Club announced earlier this month our plans to recognize Shireen August 31 at the National Press Club by presenting her family with The President's Award during our National Press Club Awards Dinner. We have learned today that the family will be represented by Lina Abu Akleh who will speak at the event after receiving the award for her aunt.
Founded in 1908, the National Press Club is the world's leading professional organization for journalists. With 3,000 members representing nearly every major journalism organization, the Club is a leading voice for press freedom in the U.S. and worldwide.
The National Press Club Journalism Institute promotes an engaged global citizenry through an independent and free press and equips journalists with skills and standards to inform the public in ways that inspire a more representative democracy. As the non-profit affiliate of the National Press Club, the Institute powers journalism in the public interest.
Contact:
Bill McCarren
wmccarren@press.org
(202) 662-7534
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SOURCE National Press Club | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/national-press-club-statement-100-days-since-killing-shireen-abu-akleh/ | 2022-08-18T23:14:23Z |
TACOMA, Wash., Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Speaking jointly on a panel today at the Green Transportation Summit and Expo, representatives from Daimler Truck, Navistar, PACCAR and Volvo Group outlined a shared vision for an industry-wide transition to medium- and heavy-duty (MHD) zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs).
The four OEMs are founding members of Partners for a Zero Emission Vehicle Future (PZEVF), a growing coalition of stakeholders from across the transportation industry that considers ZEVs to be the future of commercial transportation. PZEVF members include trucking associations, private operators, and other stakeholders committed to meeting environmental and economic goals of MHD ZEV deployment.
Members of the panel addressed a wide range of issues, including the benefits of a coordinated national approach to ZEV deployment, the importance of point-of-sale EV sales incentives to defray upfront purchase costs for fleets and operators, the challenges facing electric utilities tasked with upgrading grids, and the interplay of federal and state legislation in aligning policies and programs to support deployment targets. The Inflation Reduction Act, which contains tax credits for the purchase of MHD ZEVs and installation of charging infrastructure, was cited by panelists as an example of policy progress, who cautioned more must be done.
Panelists pointed to California as an example of MHD ZEV leadership, noting that more needed to be done to achieve the aggressive ZEV adoption goals that many states are pursuing, with investment in charging infrastructure as a key example.
"We are committed to zero emission trucks and buses. Successful build out of charging and refueling infrastructure is one of the key drivers to successful adoption of zero emission technologies. As states look to grow deployment of commercial vehicle zero emission technology, infrastructure build out should lead and keep pace with vehicle deployments to drive a smooth technology transition," said Kevin Maggay, Senior Manager of Public Policy, Navistar.
Despite the challenges ahead, OEM representatives were adamant that, through collaboration and cooperation among public and private stakeholders, the end goal of ZEV commercial truck fleets was achievable.
"From consumers to policymakers to OEMs, it is clear the nationwide transition to ZEVs is necessary and imminent," said Kevin Otzenberger, eMobility Product Marketing Senior Analyst, Daimler Truck North America. "We must learn from the earliest lessons this nascent transition has to offer in order to make the long-term, nationwide deployment of ZEVs a success."
For more information about the Partners for a Zero Emission Vehicle Future, visit www.pzevf.org or email info@pzevf.org.
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SOURCE Partners for a Zero Emission Vehicle Future | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/nations-largest-truck-manufacturers-call-investment-coordination-support-zev-rollout/ | 2022-08-18T23:14:34Z |
Funding will support micro-transit strategy, educational enrichment and diverse entrepreneurs
NAPERVILLE, Ill., Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Micro-transit solutions, a K–12 enrichment program and disadvantaged business owners will benefit from the latest round of grant funding from Northern Illinois Community Initiatives. NICI, the nonprofit founded by natural gas distributor Nicor Gas, announces three Impact Grant awards worth $100,000 each to nonprofit organizations serving Rockford, Harvey, south and west suburban Cook County and Will County. The grants, created to provide bridge funding for economic and workforce development, and community revitalization programs, builds upon NICI's mission to attract investment, mobilize partners, and connect vital resources to underserved communities in Nicor Gas' service areas.
Chicago Southland Economic Development Corporation (CSEDC), which identifies and mobilizes public and private resources to expand retail and commercial growth and careers. The NICI grant will support CSEDC's Southland Mobility Collaborative (SMC), created to engage stakeholders in micro-transit solutions (drivers, vehicles, training, transportation agencies, legal requirements, coordination). The SMC will be focused on Chicago's Southland region, which includes more than 50 municipalities in Cook and Will Counties.
The Harvey Brooks Foundation (HBF), which provides programs, services, and a food pantry to improve the quality of life for low-income residents in communities impacted by disinvestment and the loss of manufacturing and logistics jobs. The Impact Grant will be used to support HBF's development of a long-term funding plan to meet demand for more services, as well as its Scholastic Motivation and Literacy Program. That includes a Summer Enrichment Camp; an after-school program for up to 30 students in K-12; the We Will Grow Community Gardening initiative; and programming to motivate students to excel in their academic studies.
Think Big! helps disadvantaged entrepreneurs overcome barriers to establishing and growing their own businesses. The grant will support increased demand for services at the nonprofit's new headquarters and cultivate a culture of investing in businesses owned by women and diverse entrepreneurs. The program will include education and technical support through the Think Big School of Business, as well as networking opportunities for up to 100 entrepreneurs.
NICI was founded by Nicor Gas to bolster investment in under-resourced communities hardest hit by deindustrialization, systemic and environmental racism, and other mitigating factors that affect job creation, wealth-building, healthcare and education. The number of people living below the poverty level in suburban Cook County grew by 77% since 2000, according to the 2018 Community Needs Assessment report completed by the Community and Economic Development Association of Cook County. The data shows that poverty has steadily moved outside the city of Chicago into other parts of northern Illinois, but services and resources have not followed.
"The most impactful revitalization efforts are hyper-local. People living and working in these communities know what they need to thrive," said Tovah McCord, Executive Director, NICI. "These grants were created to help empower and resource them to rebuild their communities."
Northern Illinois Community Initiatives (NICI) builds a more vibrant and equitable region by investing in bold economic development initiatives that help communities thrive. For more information, visit www.nici-il.org.
Nicor Gas is one of four natural gas distribution companies of Southern Company Gas, a wholly owned subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO). Nicor Gas serves more than 2.2 million customers in a service territory that encompasses most of the northern third of Illinois, excluding the city of Chicago. For more information, visit nicorgas.com.
Media contact: Mia Sissac
msissac@beamaninc.com
312-618-0946
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SOURCE Northern Illinois Community Initiatives | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/northern-illinois-community-initiatives-awards-impact-grants-totaling-300000/ | 2022-08-18T23:14:41Z |
GALLIPOLIS, Ohio, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ohio Valley Banc Corp. [Nasdaq: OVBC] (the "Company") announced the Board of Directors has authorized the extension date of its existing stock buyback program to August 31, 2023.
The program was originally approved by the board in 2021 and was set to expire August 31 of this year. With the extension, the share repurchase program will continue to authorize the repurchase of up to $5 million in shares of the Company's outstanding common stock.
Other than the extension of the program for an additional year, no changes were made to the stock buyback program.
As of August 17, 2022, the Company had repurchased approximately $954,000 in common stock. The program may be terminated or amended by the Board at any time prior to the expiration date.
Ohio Valley Banc Corp. common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol OVBC. Ohio Valley Banc Corp. is based in Gallipolis, Ohio. The company owns The Ohio Valley Bank Company, with 16 offices in Ohio and West Virginia, and Loan Central, Inc., with six consumer finance offices in Ohio. The Ohio Valley Bank Company opened a new online consumer direct mortgage company in the fall of 2021 called Race Day Mortgage. Learn more about Ohio Valley Banc Corp. at www.ovbc.com.
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SOURCE Ohio Valley Banc Corp. | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/ovbc-announces-extension-stock-buyback-program/ | 2022-08-18T23:14:48Z |
BETHESDA, Md., Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Walker & Dunlop, Inc. announced today that it structured $57.2 million in financing for three skilled nursing facilities located in Illinois. Walker & Dunlop Senior Managing Director, Joshua Rosen led the origination team, which has considerable experience with seniors housing and healthcare facilities across the country. Leveraging their extensive knowledge of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) financing products, the team utilized the LEAN 232/223(f) for the refinance of two properties and the 232/223(a)(7) program for the other. Both programs provide long-term financing for skilled healthcare facilities. The deals reaffirm the post pandemic upward momentum in the seniors housing market.
The collection of properties includes:
- Avantara Park Ridge – Walker & Dunlop structured a $15.6 million loan through HUD's LEAN refinance program for Avantara Park Ridge, a 154-bed skilled nursing facility in Park Ridge, Illinois.
- Moraine Court Supportive Living – Walker & Dunlop secured a $28.7 million loan through HUD's LEAN refinance program for Moraine Court Supportive Living, a 185-bed Supportive Living Facility located in Bridgeview, Illinois. W&D assisted in structuring and obtaining HUD approval on a surplus cash note prior to application and refinanced the current HUD insured debt and surplus cash note.
- Aperion Care Elgin – Walker & Dunlop secured a $13.3 million loan through HUD's LEAN refinance program for Aperion Care Elgin, a 101-bed skilled nursing facility in Elgin, Illinois.
"Walker & Dunlop's ability to seamlessly navigate the HUD process helps our clients to successfully close on transactions," said Mr. Rosen. "Our team continues to enable our clients to carry out new business ideas and improve existing skilled nursing properties, keeping vulnerable populations safe."
Walker & Dunlop is a leader in seniors housing property sales and financing; the firm has completed more than 850 unique seniors housing and healthcare transactions worth over $9 billion since 2009. For more information about Walker & Dunlop's seniors housing team, visit our website.
Walker & Dunlop (NYSE: WD) is one of the largest providers of capital to the commercial real estate industry in the United States, enabling real estate owners and operators to bring their visions of communities — where Americans live, work, shop and play — to life. Our people, brand and technology make W&D one of the most insightful and customer-focused firms in our industry. With more than 1,400 employees across every major U.S. market, Walker & Dunlop has consistently been named one of Fortune's Great Places to Work® and is committed to making the commercial real estate industry more inclusive and diverse while creating meaningful social, environmental, and economic change in our communities.
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SOURCE Walker & Dunlop, Inc. | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/seniors-housing-market-is-back-stronger-than-ever/ | 2022-08-18T23:14:54Z |
NEW YORK, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --
If you own shares in any of the companies listed above and
would like to discuss our investigations or have any questions concerning
this notice or your rights or interests, please contact:
Joshua Rubin, Esq.
Weiss Law
305 Broadway, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10007
(212) 682-3025
(888) 593-4771
stockinfo@weisslawllp.com
ChemoCentryx, Inc. (NASDAQ: CCXI)
Weiss Law is investigating possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law by the board of directors of ChemoCentryx, Inc. (NASDAQ: CCXI), in connection with the proposed acquisition of CCXI by Amgen Inc. Under the terms of the merger agreement, CCXI shareholders will receive $52.00 in cash for each share of CCXI common stock owned. If you own CCXI shares and wish to discuss this investigation or your rights, please call us at one of the numbers listed above or visit our website: https://www.weisslaw.co/news-and-cases/ccxi
Hanger, Inc. (NYSE: HNGR)
Weiss Law is investigating possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law by the board of directors of Hanger, Inc. (NYSE: HNGR), in connection with the proposed acquisition of HNGR by Patient Square Capital. Under the terms of the merger agreement, HNGR shareholders will receive $18.75 in cash for each share of HNGR common stock owned. If you own HNGR shares and wish to discuss this investigation or your rights, please call us at one of the numbers listed above or visit our website: https://www.weisslaw.co/news-and-cases/hngr
Unity Software Inc. (NYSE: U)
Weiss Law is investigating possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law by the board of directors of Unity Software Inc. (NYSE: U) in connection with U's proposed merger with ironSource Ltd. ("ironSource"). Under the merger agreement, U will acquire each ironSource share for 0.1089 of a U common share, leaving U shareholders owning approximately 73.5% and ironSource shareholders owning approximately 26.5% of the combined company upon closing of the transaction. If you own U shares and wish to discuss this investigation or your rights, please call us at one of the numbers listed above or visit our website: https://www.weisslaw.co/news-and-cases/u
iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ: IRBT)
Weiss Law is investigating possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law by the board of directors of iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ: IRBT) in connection with the proposed acquisition of IRBT by Amazon.com, Inc. Under the terms of the merger agreement, IRBT shareholders will receive $61.00 in cash for each share of IRBT common stock owned. If you own IRBT shares and wish to discuss this investigation or your rights, please call us at one of the numbers listed above or visit our website: https://www.weisslaw.co/news-and-cases/irbt
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SOURCE Weiss Law | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/shareholder-alert-weiss-law-reminds-ccxi-hngr-u-irbt-shareholders-about-its-ongoing-investigations/ | 2022-08-18T23:15:01Z |
WINDSOR, Conn., Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSNC) today announced its Board of Directors has approved a quarterly dividend payout of $0.20 per share, consistent with its quarterly dividend policy. The dividend is payable on September 15, 2022, to stockholders of record as of the close of business on September 1, 2022.
SS&C is a global provider of services and software for the financial services and healthcare industries. Founded in 1986, SS&C is headquartered in Windsor, Connecticut, and has offices around the world. Some 20,000 financial services and healthcare organizations, from the world's largest companies to small and mid-market firms, rely on SS&C for expertise, scale and technology.
Additional information about SS&C (Nasdaq: SSNC) is available at www.ssctech.com.
Follow SS&C on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
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SOURCE SS&C | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/ssampc-announces-common-stock-dividend-020-per-share/ | 2022-08-18T23:15:08Z |
Four years ago, the world learned the name Pussy Riot, a politically active Russian art collective whose members were all women. Members of that group staged a punk rock demonstration in a church in protest of Russian president Vladimir Putin and the Russian church's support of his presidential campaign.
Some members of the group, including founding Pussy Riot member Nadya Tolokonnikova, were arrested and charged with "hooliganism." They spent two years in prison, and during that time, Pussy Riot gained many supporters around the world. Some say their fame put pressure on Putin to release them.
But inside Russia, the protest movement is suffering, as some prominent opposition politicians have been killed. "A lot of Russian people who would consider political action for themselves, they think right now they would be killed," Tolokonnikova says. "Because it's not just words right now."
While she still creates art in protest of Vladimir Putin and his policies, Tolokonnikova has recently set her sights on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. She released a new song and music video called "Make America Great Again." (The video is here, but be aware: It is intense and includes scenes and imagery that will be disturbing to many viewers.)
Tolokonnikova says the U.S. presidential election is important for her as a Russian citizen. "American politics influence the world politics," she says. "In a lot of ways, [the U.S.] really interferes in other countries' politics. I'm not discussing is it a good or bad thing, but it is a thing, so that's why it will influence everybody else's lives outside America."
Tolokonnikova spoke with NPR's David Greene about Donald Trump and the future of Pussy Riot. Hear the full interview at the audio link.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2016-10-28/pussy-riots-nadya-tolokonnikova-on-her-new-anti-trump-song | 2022-08-18T23:19:55Z |
Updated August 18, 2022 at 11:25 AM ET
NEW YORK — Allen Weisselberg, who for decades was one of Donald Trump's most trusted and loyal employees as chief financial officer of the Trump family business, pleaded guilty on Thursday to 15 counts ranging from grand larceny to tax fraud to falsifying business records, becoming the latest person close to the 45th president to plead guilty or be convicted at trial of of a felony.
Weisselberg changed his 2021 plea of not guilty to guilty in state court in lower Manhattan. Under an agreement made with prosecutors and detailed in court, Weisselberg will serve five months in prison and receive five years probation, in exchange for testifying at the trial of his former co-defendant and longtime employer, the Trump Organization. He agreed to pay $1.9 million in back taxes, interest, and penalties, to New York State and New York City.
Weisselberg's demeanor was calm as the judge ran him through the details of his guilty plea, saying little else besides, "Yes, your honor," and, "No, your honor." He wore a dark suit and a surgical face mask, and was flanked by his lawyers.
Afterward, Weisselberg's attorney Nicholas Gravante emailed a statement saying his client had made a difficult decision. "Rather than risk the possibility of 15 years in prison, he has agreed to serve 100 days. We are glad to have this behind him." (He clarified that he expects Weisselberg to ultimately serve less time in jail than five months.)
The Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, says he expects Weisselberg to provide "invaluable" testimony against the Trump family business.
Weisselberg will be formally sentenced after the trial of the Trump Organization, scheduled for this fall. Judge Juan Merchan warned Weisselberg that if he does not truthfully testify at the trial, the plea agreement will be voided, and he could face years in prison.
Weisselberg, who turns 75 this month, was charged in 2021 with conspiring with his employer, the Trump Organization, to evade taxes by concealing his income through off-the-books benefits such as a luxury apartment, private school, tuition, and lease expenses for two Mercedes-Benzes. According to the Manhattan District Attorney, the scheme deprived the federal, state, and New York City governments of taxes due on millions of dollars in non-cash income.
The tax evasion scheme stretched over 16 years, from Donald Trump's early seasons as host of The Apprentice through his entire time in the White House, and into his first year as a former president.
While Donald Trump himself was not charged, the scheme benefited his family business by allowing the Trump Organization to avoid payroll taxes. In addition, prosecutors said the Trump Organization deducted Weisselberg's undeclared non-cash benefits from his paychecks, keeping a detailed leger of rent, utilities, and other living expenses covered by the company. The indictment says Donald Trump personally wrote checks for private school tuition for Weisselberg's relatives, drawing on his own private bank account.
Trump's company could face steep financial penalties if convicted at trial
The Trump Organization remains a defendant, charged with 14 felonies including conspiracy, grand larceny, and fraud. Last week, the judge in the case scheduled jury selection to begin Oct. 24. If convicted at trial, Trump's company could face steep financial penalties.
At one time, it appeared that the criminal case could extend to Donald Trump himself. Last fall, then-Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., convened a grand jury which examined evidence of Trump's role in the scheme. But Vance retired, and in January, a newly-elected D.A., Alvin Bragg, was sworn in. Two senior prosecutors quickly quit the case, after Bragg "reached the decision not to go forward with the grand jury presentation and not to seek criminal charges at the present time," according to the resignation letter of one of the prosecutors, Mark Pomerantz. In April, Bragg allowed the grand jury to lapse, without bringing any new indictments. That month, Bragg insisted that his investigation of Trump and the Trump business was still active.
In pleading guilty, Weisselberg joins a long list of people in Trump's orbit to plead guilty to, or be convicted at trial, of a serious crime. Others have included Trump's former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort (who was pardoned by Trump in 2020), political operative Roger Stone (also pardoned in 2020), and former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn (also pardoned in 2020.) In July, a District of Columbia jury convicted former Trump advisor Steve Bannon of contempt of Congress.
Weisselberg avoided the media spotlight until his publicity-loving boss entered politics
Weisselberg's connection to Trump is deeper, and in some ways more significant than any of the others. He has been privy to Trump family finances since 1973, when he joined the Trump Organization, which was then led by Fred Trump, Donald Trump's father. At the time, the business was centered around middle class housing in the outer boroughs of New York City. As Donald Trump transformed the enterprise to focus on casinos, hotels, and golf clubs, Weisselberg rose from accountant to comptroller to chief financial officer. He stepped aside as CFO in 2021, and took on the role of senior strategic advisor to the firm.
Weisselberg avoided the media spotlight until the spotlight found him, when his publicity-loving boss entered politics. In 2018, an audio recording was leaked, in which then-candidate Trump and Michael Cohen discussed how to buy the silence of Karen McDougal, a woman who claimed she had had an affair with Trump. Cohen suggested setting up a company to buy McDougal's story.
"I've spoken to Allen Weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up," Cohen told Trump on the recording.
The criminal investigation that eventually ensnared Weisselberg began around the time that Cohen pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance charges related to buying McDougal's story. Trump was never charged.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-18/allen-weisselberg-a-trump-org-employee-for-decades-pleads-guilty-to-felony-charges | 2022-08-18T23:35:18Z |
The U.S. is facing a shortage of the monkeypox vaccine as the outbreak grows rapidly. The White House is pursuing a controversial strategy where each person only gets a fraction of the full dose.
Copyright 2022 NPR
The U.S. is facing a shortage of the monkeypox vaccine as the outbreak grows rapidly. The White House is pursuing a controversial strategy where each person only gets a fraction of the full dose.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-18/facing-a-monkeypox-vaccines-shortage-the-u-s-is-pursuing-a-new-dosing-strategy | 2022-08-18T23:35:20Z |
Texas had slightly more than 700 cases of the virus last week, but the total has jumped to 1,078 as of Thursday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s the fourth-highest monkeypox caseload in the country after New York, California, and Florida.
The presumptive pediatric case was found in a child younger than 2-years old. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said Tuesday that county officials are assuming the case is positive, Houston Public Media reported.
“We are still identifying how the child might have contracted monkeypox," Hidalgo said during a news conference, adding that it is a rare case.
“We always knew that any person in this community can contract monkeypox. We knew that it was possible for a child to be exposed. So, this isn't entirely unexpected,” she said.
While Dallas and Harris counties are Texas’ current hotspots, with about 350 cases each, infections have also been reported in the Rio Grande Valley and El Paso within the last week. Travis County reported 93 cases as of Wednesday, with 20 reported in San Antonio, according to local health officials.
Monkeypox is generally associated with a rash that may be located on or near the genitals, anus, or areas like the hands, feet, face, mouth and chest, according to the CDC. Additional symptoms include fever and chills, swollen lymph nodes, muscle and back aches, exhaustion, headaches and congestion or a cough.
The Texas Department of State Health Services defines monkeypox as a “serious illness” that could lead to hospitalization.
“In recent years, the case fatality rate has been 3 to 6%, and the number of deaths from monkeypox disease has been higher in young children,” the Texas DSHS states.
As the virus spreads, some municipalities — including Austin and Dallas — have declared the illness a public health emergency. That is part of an effort to inform the federal government that those need additional vaccines to combat the spread, the Texas Tribune reported.
But more help could be on the way for the state’s hotspots after the White House announced Thursday that 1.8 million doses of the vaccines will be available for distribution by Monday. It follows the Food and Drug Administration’s emergency authorization for intradermal injections of the vaccine, the White House said in a statement. That method, which administers the vaccine between layers of skin, allows for more doses to be administered.
“The action means that each vial of vaccine can be used for up to five doses, since the appropriate dose for intradermal administration is 0.1mL versus 0.5mL required per dose administered subcutaneously,” explained the statement.
Local governments that have adopted the intradermal method of vaccination and have used 90% of their current vaccine allotment will be able to order additional doses.
“The Administration is making these doses available ahead of schedule to encourage rapid distribution of vaccine to individuals at high risk of contracting the virus, particularly gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men,” the White House said.
As of last week, the Texas Department of State Health Services has shipped more than 16,340 vials of the vaccine to local governments and health regions. Distribution is based on the number of people at the greatest risk of exposure to the virus.
Dr. Jennifer Shuford, the state’s chief epidemiologist, recently told the Texas Standard that the spread is mainly being driven by skin-to-skin contact — most of which has occurred after a person has already experienced some symptoms.
Most people affected so far have been gay or bisexual men who have had sex or close contact with an infected individual, said Shuford. That’s led to doctors and authorities to warn against stigmatizing certain segments of the population and prompted officials to remind the public that anyone can catch the illness, such as the case in Houston with the young child.
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.
Got a tip? Email Julián Aguilar at jaguilar@kera.org.You can follow Julián on Twitter @nachoaguilar. | https://www.keranews.org/texas-news/2022-08-18/as-texas-monkeypox-cases-climb-cdc-to-make-1-8-million-doses-of-vaccines-available | 2022-08-18T23:35:23Z |
Ransomware attacks increase by 60%; FBI encourages safe cyber practices
RICHMOND, Va. (WDBJ) - As cyber crimes continue to increase throughout the country and the Commonwealth of Virginia, the FBI is reminding residents to be aware of scammers and hackers.
The FBI Richmond bureau held a roundtable discussion with reporters and Virginia’s cyber task force Thursday to bring awareness to safe cyber practices.
Virginia residents and businesses lost $172.8 million to cyber crimes in 2021. FBI agents explained the best thing to do once the crime is committed is to report it quickly.
“Those first few hours after your computer has been compromised are critical to helping us assess the damage,” Special Agent of National Security David Lewis said. “If you report it within the first 24, to first 72 hours, there’s a very good chance we can get your money back.”
The FBI is reporting a 60% increase in ransomware attacks. Virginia residents and businesses are falling victim to phishing emails, domain spoofing and bitcoin scams.
“Cyber security in the threat, it touches everyone at some point. Whether you’re someone’s mom and you’re just trying to Facetime with your grandkids, or you’re a Fortune 100 company,” Lewis said. “It usually starts with an individual operating to try and leverage somebody else.”
But agents explained you don’t have to be a cyber expert to be cyber-smart.
“Having at least good practices of using proper passwords, complex passwords,” Lewis said. “We know everybody hates that because then you forget it and have to reset it, but the reality is a more complex password system is going to keep you safe.”
Other safe cyber practices for businesses and individuals include:
- Having multi-factor authentication for devices and online accounts.
- Directing a business point of contact in case of a ransomware attack.
- Be weary of who you communicate with online.
- Be aware of romance scams and phony relationships online.
- Regularly update devices and software.
The special agent in charge of the Richmond FBI office explained reporting scams within the first 72 hours can help you get your money back.
“You’ve got to report quickly to us or on ic3.gov/,” Stanley Meador said. “Get that report in there because if you get that report to us quick enough, we may be able to initiate our financial kill chain process and recover if not all of, some of your money.”
Agents are also reminding businesses there’s no company as discreet about ransomware attacks as the FBI. Anyone who suspects they are part of a cyber crime should report it immediately or call the bureau in Richmond at 804-261-1044.
Copyright 2022 WDBJ. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/18/ransomware-attacks-increase-by-60-fbi-encourages-safe-cyber-practices/ | 2022-08-18T23:37:45Z |
Summer Fund Drive benefiting pantries, food banks and more
VERONA, Va. (WVIR) - All week long, NBC29 is making sure no one goes to bed hungry. We’re raising money for our Summer Fund Drive with the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank.
BRAFB supports both food banks and food pantries. A food bank is more of a center or distributor to its food pantries, which are where you can go and shop for food., however, it isn’t really about shopping, because it is free to those who need it.
“If you’re looking for food, I wouldn’t hold back thinking, ‘Oh, there’s somebody else who could use this more than I can. There’s not enough.’ There is enough, please, reach out and see what we can do for you,” Joe Kreiter said.
Kreiter is the partner engagement manager for BRAFB’s Thomas Jefferson Branch. The food bank is a large, wholesale operation centered in Verona. Pantries are smaller, and located all over the region.
“You can literally find pantries all over this geographic region, so it’s not just if you’re in Charlottesville,” he said.
Kreiter says they are seeing more people facing food insecurity in the Blue Ridge area, and he wants to help.
“Go to the pantry first, see what’s available there,” he said. “You’ll be better served in terms of more food and more variety. Many pantries are able to offer what we refer to as guest choice, where people are actually able to go and pick the items that they want.”
Donating to the Summer Fund Drive helps keep groceries free.
“Those funds can go to a variety of different places, but primarily it’s going to be to help us continue to purchase food, to make sure that we have everything,” Kreiter said. “We’re not receiving as many donations from our real retail partners, because there’s just kind of less available on the market for them to then donate out to us. So that’s where making a direct donation to a pantry, you know, looking to buy those items can be extremely helpful.”
If you want to donate, you can here. If you want to use the food finder tool, you can go visit Food Finder - Blue Ridge Area Food Bank (brafb.org)
Do you have a story idea? Send us your news tip here.
Copyright 2022 WVIR. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/18/summer-fund-drive-benefiting-pantries-food-banks-more/ | 2022-08-18T23:37:51Z |
BOSTON — Three men, including a Mafia hitman, have been charged in the killing of notorious Boston crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger in a West Virginia prison, the Justice Department said Thursday.
The charges against Fotios "Freddy" Geas, Paul J. DeCologero and Sean McKinnon come nearly four years after Bulger's killing, which raised questions about why the known "snitch" was placed in the general population instead of more protective housing. The men were charged with conspiracy to commit first degree murder.
Bulger was beaten to death at USP Hazelton in October 2018 hours after he was transferred from a prison in Florida, where he had been serving a life sentence for 11 murders and other crimes.
Geas faces a separate charge for murder by a federal inmate serving a life sentence, and McKinnon is charged separately with making false statements to a federal agent.
Geas and DeCologero were identified as suspects shortly after Bulger's death, according to law enforcement officials at the time, but they remained uncharged as the investigation dragged on for years. They were placed in solitary confinement throughout the probe, family members told The Boston Globe.
Bulger's family had previously filed a lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons and 30 unnamed employees of the prison system, alleging they failed to protect him. Bulger was the third inmate killed in six months at USP Hazelton, where workers and advocates had long been warning about dangerous conditions.
Bulger, who ran the largely Irish mob in Boston in the 1970s and '80s, served as an FBI informant who ratted on his gang's main rival in an era when bringing down the Mafia was a top national priority for the FBI. He later became one of the nation's most-wanted fugitives.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-18/a-mafia-hitman-is-among-three-men-charged-in-whitey-bulgers-prison-death | 2022-08-18T23:44:00Z |
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Let's go to Puerto Rico for our next story. The Commonwealth is still mired in debt to the tune of nearly $70 billion. A federal oversight board is working on a plan to restructure at least some of that debt, but that could mean severe budget cuts. There's talk of shutting down such basic services as schools and hospitals, a prospect that could surely cast a cloud over Christmas for many island residents.
So we thought this would be a good time to check in on Puerto Rico. Luis Trelles is a producer for the podcast Radio Ambulante. He joins us from San Juan to talk about how residents are coping. Luis, thanks so much for joining us.
LUIS TRELLES, BYLINE: Oh, thank you. Thank you, Michel.
MARTIN: So you've been covering the debt crisis over the past year. Could you just talk a little bit about the plan that's being discussed over the summer? As people will probably remember, Congress passed a law putting in place this federal oversight and management board. Can you just tell us a bit more?
TRELLES: Exactly. The oversight board recently started to operate here. It's met three times now, and they recently announced for the people of Puerto Rico that they can expect deep cuts to the government in the coming year. And not only that, but government pensions might be on the table as well. So people are concerned.
MARTIN: Can you tell us a little bit more about how conditions are there now? Are people feeling the effects of this debt crisis in any tangible way?
TRELLES: Yes. Yes, they are. It's been a very hard year for Puerto Rico. It's been one bad news after the other in terms of the economy, in terms of austerity measures and the debt crisis. And so I talked with Teresa Garcia (ph). She's a retired chemist. She's in her 70s. She's very concerned about what's going on, and when I talked to her recently, this is what she told me.
TERESA GARCIA: (Speaking Spanish).
TRELLES: And what she's saying here is that she has definitely been affected because she doesn't receive what she used to get paid by the government. It's been cut down by about a third. And her husband is a diabetic, and he's been having trouble sleeping at night, you know, how economic worries have a tendency to creep up on you. And she's just concerned for herself and for her husband as well.
MARTIN: I understand that, though, the cost of services is actually rising. I wanted to know, first of all, how is that possible? And secondly, how are people like Teresa Garcia coping?
TRELLES: It's getting more expensive to live in Puerto Rico definitely. Gas prices are up. Electricity has usually been very high, and it's getting - the cost of it is getting higher. And people are feeling it. Teresa Garcia - she and her husband have really cut down on anything that is not basic household expenses.
MARTIN: So many people look forward to Christmas at this time of year. What does Christmas look like in San Juan in the middle of all this?
TRELLES: Well, the holiday season is very important. Usually in Puerto Rico people take it seriously. They look forward to it. But this year, it's been different. There's a tense calm that has settled over the island. People are expecting more cuts to come in the coming year. In previous years, you could see Christmas lights and decorations all around, but there's been none of that this year. And almost no one is decorating their house in part because of the rising power bills. But what's really interesting is that she just doesn't see that Christmas spirit this year and that she's not feeling it either.
MARTIN: What lies ahead? Could you just give us some sense of what is coming in the coming months?
TRELLES: Well, the oversight board has taken control of the island's finances, and they have the power to renegotiate some of that debt. But as part of that process, they will be looking for more and deeper austerity measures, so there's a wait-and-see attitude, and people are expecting that something better will come, but they're also bracing for what's ahead.
MARTIN: That's Luis Trelles. He's a producer for NPR's Spanish language podcast Radio Ambulante. Luis, thanks so much for speaking with us.
TRELLES: Thank you, Michel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR. | https://www.keranews.org/2016-12-17/severe-budget-cuts-loom-as-puerto-ricos-debt-crisis-continues | 2022-08-18T23:47:41Z |
Ernest Peterson has spent his entire adult life in Washington, D.C. — almost all of it in Shaw, a neighborhood of colorful row houses and tree-lined side streets about 2 miles from the White House. In Shaw, Peterson bought his first house and started a business. And, for 20 years, on the Saturday before Labor Day, he organized a community picnic at the elementary school near his house. Over the years, friends and neighbors moved away or got locked up. He lost touch with many of them.
But despite living in Shaw for nearly 40 years, Peterson is increasingly starting to feel like an outsider in his neighborhood.
"I go outside, and these people who been here for 15 minutes look at me like, 'Why you here?' That's that sense of privilege they bring wherever they go," he said in his front yard on a sunny Saturday in November. "I been here since '78. They been here six months or a year, and they question my purpose for being here."
In a city facing some of the most intense pressure on housing in the country, the feeling is not uncommon for many of Washington's longtime residents.
Even neighborhoods with the highest concentrations of poverty and crime — places once thought immune to the influx of newcomers — are being eyed by developers.
At Brookland Manor, a housing development in Northeast Washington home to about 1,200 mostly low-income residents, the landlord has stepped up evictions of poor tenants, according to reporting by The Washington Post, as the owners prepare to redevelop the property, often filing lawsuits for late rent payments totaling less than $100. (Update on Feb. 1: A representative from the development company told the Post they have always sued over unpaid rent and lease violations.)
In neighborhoods south of the Anacostia River, so far largely left out of the district's housing boom, activists are fighting to preserve low-income housing as developers anticipate a growing appetite for market-rate units.
But for Shaw, a neighborhood where newcomers began arriving more than a decade ago, gentrification is not a new reality.
Now, several years into a period of dizzying demographic and physical change, longtime residents say they are still trying to negotiate a place for themselves in a neighborhood they've long called home.
Home on P Street
In some ways, Peterson's stretch of P Street looks a lot like it did when he came to Shaw in the 1970s after moving from North Carolina to attend law school at Howard University. The same two historic churches hug corners at either end of the street. The elementary school is a charter now, but the facade has remained mostly unchanged.
Carlos Pyatt grew up across the street from where Peterson lives. Pyatt hadn't been back to this block since he moved away in the early '80s.
When Pyatt looks back at his childhood on P Street, he remembers riding skateboards and bicycles, playing touch football and tag.
The woman who still lives next door to Pyatt's old house, now in her mid-60s, remembers a less rosy picture — a period after the neighborhood's heyday as a center for African-American culture and commerce, when Shaw was still reeling from the effects of the 1968 riots that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and, later, the rise of crack cocaine.
"I left before the epidemic hit," Pyatt said, surveying his old house for the first time in three decades. "I had no idea that was going on. To me, it feels the same, but the people who haven't left, they've seen it."
Pyatt's old next-door neighbor bought her house for $42,000 in 1981. In 2017, the property's tax assessment was more than $888,000. The city's assessment of her home jumped nearly $150,000 in the past year. Developers call her up constantly asking if she wants to sell. Even with all that equity, it can be hard to keep up with the property taxes on a fixed income, which makes the option to sell tempting. Many have taken the offers.
Alex Padro, who represents Shaw on the Advisory Neighborhood Commission, cites this trend as proof that longtime residents benefit from the community's growth.
"They decided to take advantage of the once-in-a-lifetime wealth creation opportunity and sold their family homes and moved to the suburbs," he said. "Grandpa and Grandma were no longer having to climb up several flights of stairs and they have a college fund for the grandkids."
While exploding home prices can generate windfalls for longtime owners who decide to sell, the upward direction of the housing market has also generated concerns about the availability of affordable housing in neighborhoods like Shaw. Even if longtime homeowners or renters aren't displaced, the trend certainly constricts who is able to move in.
Despite initiatives to preserve housing for low- and middle-income residents, census data from the neighborhood point to a period of major demographic change.
In 1980, Shaw was 78 percent black. In 2010, the black population in the neighborhood had dropped to 44 percent. And that's not just because more white people moved in, increasing the overall total population and driving down the neighborhood's black majority. The actual number of black residents, not just their percentage of the population, has been consistently dropping over the past two decades as well.
Home sales also illustrate what's happening. In 1995, the median home price in Shaw was $147,000. Today it's $781,000. In 1979, the average family income was $50,089 when adjusted for inflation. Between 2010 and 2014 it was $145,096.
Curtis Smith, administrator at the historic Third Street Baptist Church down the street, said very few of his congregants still live in the neighborhood. Most commute in from the suburbs or elsewhere in the District.
"In the old days, maybe 80 percent could walk to the church," he said. "Now just turn that around."
Shifts like this one have meant that institutions such as churches preserve some of the few remaining ties drawing former residents back to the community. Smith hopes his church can serve as a centerpiece of the community, not just as a relic of the past.
"We're trying to portray that we're not the black church on the corner, but we're the community church," he said.
Though every now and then someone who is not a longtime congregant will stop in for the free community movie nights or public forums on topics like neighborhood policing, it's not often. Smith said that's something churches throughout Shaw are grappling with — how to play a role in a community that looks less and less like their membership.
A few blocks away, the owner of Hollywood Styles Barbershop is thinking through a similar set of questions. For decades, the shop has occupied this small brick storefront just off Seventh Street, a stretch of Shaw that typifies much of the change here. Convenience stores and Ethiopian takeout joints housed in beat-up storefronts carry on next door to upscale coffee shops, bakeries and bars.
Shop owner DeLonta Dickerson said barbershops are some of the few remaining businesses from the old Shaw.
Like churches, barbershops can remain a link to the neighborhood long after people move away. The chrome and vinyl chairs lined up on each side of the small space have seated generations of the same families. Dickerson started coming here as a kid and took over the business in 2009 when the shop's longtime owner died.
Over the years, Dickerson has seen new condos rise on every corner and a subway station crop up across the street. He leases his storefront, and while he figures the owner could sell out to a developer one day, he doesn't think about it much: "I'm not sure if I'd go for another space, or if it's something that I'd just want to leave behind."
Who benefits?
For those longtime residents who remember Shaw as a riot-scarred neighborhood pockmarked with empty lots and plagued by crime, rather than the hub of African-American commercial and cultural activity experienced by the generation before them, at least some of the improved resources and services such as lighting, a new library and a renovated recreation center are welcome changes.
Dominic Moulden, who has been organizing residents in Shaw for 30 years and represents the tenants rights organization OneDC, said that doesn't mean everyone benefits from the new amenities.
"If you can't spend $100 to eat, $5 or $7 for coffee, you can't buy anything in your own neighborhood," he said.
Peterson puts it this way: Poor African-Americans in Shaw had been asking for improved services for years, and it's only now that white people with money and influence have moved in that they're getting them.
Resources are available now not because of who lives in Shaw, said Padro, but because the city's tax base improved significantly over the past decade. As more people move into the city, its coffers are in a better position to fund new amenities and services.
While the tax base may be in a different position than it was just a decade ago, Moulden said the city is still failing to meet the most basic needs of some residents, particularly when it comes to housing.
A 2015 analysis of census data by the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute found that the number of apartments with rents less than $800 per month — a number that represents 40 percent of monthly income for a family of four living at the poverty line — decreased by 42 percent between 2002 and 2013. That's a decline of more than 24,000 units.
Padro says public strategy sessions, extensive committee work and community surveys have all been employed to bring everybody into the fold when big decisions are made.
Virginia Lee, who is in her late 60s and has lived in Shaw for 17 years, says she still feels longtime residents have lost some political clout, especially when it comes to leverage at ANC meetings. She says African-Americans became less visible at meetings and she began to feel that her input wouldn't be taken seriously.
"It's a sense that I have as a black woman, that my voice has low impact," Lee said.
Building relationships
One week before Thanksgiving, dozens of school-age kids lined up in front of a stretch of long folding tables as volunteers heaped their paper plates with green beans, turkey and mashed potatoes.
Three of the round banquet tables are crowded with older residents.
Harold Valentine is one of them. He moved to Washington in 1981 from Boston, where he struggled to kick a drinking problem. He hasn't had a drink since he moved to D.C.
Valentine said this kind of event wouldn't have happened a couple of years ago — at least not here at Kennedy. And the senior citizens? They would never have crossed the street at night to come to Kennedy.
Valentine said this is a prime example of both the kind of positive change he has seen spring up in Shaw — and of the distance still left to go.
Seated inside a quiet preschool classroom just off the recreation center's front lobby, Valentine cites the programs that now occur here day and night, his pride for the former gang leader he mentored at Kennedy and who now serves as a member of the recreation center's board — all proof, he says, that positive changes really are happening in Shaw.
Valentine also wants the recreation center to be a gathering place for the whole community, though he realizes that dream is not entirely the reality yet. He's not exactly sure how to get there, but said his idea for where to start is rooted in an old saying a pastor once told him.
"I wouldn't go across the street for another program, but I'd go around the world for a relationship," he said.
That's precisely what Valentine thinks Shaw needs. He's optimistic about the progress, and says he is not trying to argue that improving life here won't also require tangibles such as regulations, programs and money. What he is saying is that there has to be something more.
For as much good as Valentine sees happening in his neighborhood, he recognizes there are real lapses when it comes to how people from different backgrounds interact with each other. The neighborhood's changing demographics have created a space where identities such as race, age and class are constantly brushing up against each other. It's a tension Shaw is still dealing with years after "gentrification" began.
"Until I sit down and talk to you, we're not going to get anywhere," he said. "I can say good morning to you, but unless I sit down and say, 'Where are you from?' until I let you into my comfort zone and you're not afraid of what happened once upon a time here in Shaw, there's not going to be that cultural assimilation."
Derek Hyra, an associate professor at American University who has studied gentrification in Shaw, sees building bridges as at least partly a question of policy.
Hyra suggests refining the Community Development Block Grant — federal funding allocated to cities each year for community development work, which fund projects such as affordable housing but can also go toward improvements like sidewalks or parking. He'd like to see some of that money support community gardens, arts programs or festivals — or whatever mutual interest the community identifies.
Peterson wonders if, in the long run, that will really matter. Even if longtime residents are able to stay in their homes, he wonders what the community will look like once his generation begins to die out.
"I see very few people who look like me that will be here in the next five or 10 years," he said.
"You can't stop progress"
Peterson wrestles with the nuance of the shifts he has seen in Shaw. That's because he came here 40 years ago for many of the same reasons that people move in today.
"You can't stop progress," he said. "I understand because we left, a lot of us black folks, in [the] '30s, '40s, and '50, we left small towns to come to urban centers seeking employment. Same thing is happening now. There's nothing in these small towns for these kids anymore."
That doesn't mean he grants newcomers a free pass.
Those conflicting feelings and experiences have left many lifers trying to reconcile the optimism they have for their neighborhood's future with the pain inflicted by cultural or political alienation. For those whom the displacement hasn't been physical, there is still a sense they have been somehow removed or pushed aside amid the tide of newcomers, or that there isn't the sense of community there once was.
"You sometimes get the effect that nothing existed here before they came," said Lee. "All the goodness that has come with the gentrification and certainly the refurbishing and preserving of buildings ... all that has come has been material in nature and very little has been done to preserve the human aspect of a city that's being transformed. We have our gathering spots; they have their gathering spots. The fact that we use the same sidewalks and streets has very little to do with ongoing communication."
When Valentine talks about the future he envisions in Shaw, he repeatedly uses words like integration and reconciliation — the act of making different beliefs compatible. He sees the process as both grand — such as his idea for a "reconciliation square" designed to unite neighboring churches — and rooted in the day-to-day, like the relationships he builds with people at the recreation center.
That's where Lee thinks it will start.
"Every day when I go out my door, I go out and figure just speaking to people who pass by is a way of inserting some humanity in the process," she said.
The type of grand "reconciliation" Valentine talks about may not be possible. But many longtime residents of Shaw say they are confident any progress — in the integration of public spaces, in preserving cultural institutions, in crafting policies that preserve affordable housing and prevent displacement — will also require something that has often proved elusive here: a little bit of empathy.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2017-01-16/old-confronts-new-in-a-gentrifying-d-c-neighborhood | 2022-08-19T00:01:44Z |
Atlanta rapper Young Thug again denied bond in criminal case
ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia judge on Thursday denied bond — again — for Atlanta rapper Young Thug, one of nearly 30 people charged in a 65-count indictment alleging he is the leader of a criminal street gang.
Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville heard a slew of outstanding motions in the case against the musician, whose real name is Jeffery Williams. Rapper Gunna, whose legal name is Sergio Kitchens, is also charged in the racketeering and gang case. Both men have been in jail since their May arrests.
The musicians are accused of conspiring to violate Georgia’s criminal racketeering law, but the indictment outlines more serious crimes allegedly carried out by “Young Slime Life” associates ranging from drug possession to murder.
Of the 28 people charged, three remain at large, while at least eight who are in custody still don’t have attorneys, prosecutors told the judge, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
So far, Glanville has not granted bond to any of the defendants, citing concerns about witness intimidation and the possibility that additional felonies may be committed ahead of January’s trial. Williams’ attorneys have repeatedly asked that their client be given an ankle monitor and allowed to await trial on house arrest.
Appearing via video conferencing from the Cobb County jail, Williams smiled and blew kisses at relatives gathered in the courtroom during breaks in Thursday’s proceedings.
“Mr. Williams is an artist, a role model, a father and a son,” attorney Brian Steel told the judge, urging the rapper be released.
But his request was denied for the third time when Glanville sided with prosecutors to keep the musician behind bars.
The decision came after Glanville heard of at least one associate planning to testify against Williams being placed in protective custody after a document posted online showed his willingness to cooperate.
Fulton County prosecutor Don Geary asked the judge to further restrict the disclosure of certain evidence ahead of trial, saying a page from discovery that was recently shared online jeopardizes the witness’ safety.
“We found a lot of information concerning one of our witnesses on basically a (celebrity news) outlet,” Geary told Glanville.
Defense attorneys contend that YSL, or Young Stoner Life, is simply the name of Young Thug’s record label, not a violent Atlanta street gang as prosecutors allege.
Thursday’s hearing wasn’t the first time prosecutors have raised concerns about the safety of state’s witnesses. Glanville previously issued a temporary order instructing defense attorneys to withhold witness contact information from their clients.
But Kristen Novay, one of Kitchens’ attorneys, asked prosecutors for proof that potential witnesses are actually being threatened.
“We want to know what specific threats there are,” Novay said. “There have been many allegations that there are threats to witnesses, and to date we have received no discovery, not a single shred of evidence from a witness who was actually threatened.”
In June, an 18-year-old relative of one of the defendants was arrested after allegedly threatening to kill the Fulton County sheriff and his wife unless Williams were released, authorities said, the newspaper reported.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/18/atlanta-rapper-young-thug-again-denied-bond-criminal-case/ | 2022-08-19T00:05:30Z |
Best states to live in: Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, report finds
(Gray News) - Are you looking for a new place to call home? Many people have relocated during the current pandemic.
But a lot goes into selecting a new place, especially if that location is in another state.
WalletHub compiled a list ranking the best states to live in this year.
The personal finance website compared 50 states based on 52 key indicators of livability. Those categories included the cost of living, job opportunities, education quality and safety.
According to WalletHub, Massachusetts was the No. 1 overall state, closely followed by New Jersey and New York. Idaho and Virginia rounded out the report’s top five.
Adam McCann, a financial writer with WalletHub, shared that Mississippi was ranked the lowest on the report, coming in at No. 50 overall. Alaska, Louisiana, Arkansas and New Mexico rounded out the bottom five states.
Some other key findings in the report were Iowa and Nebraska had the lowest housing costs in the country, while California and Hawaii had some of the highest prices.
Maine was found to have the fewest violent crimes per 1,000 residents. New Hampshire had the lowest share of residents living in poverty, while South Dakota was said to have the shortest average commute time.
The entire WalletHub report can be found here.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/18/best-states-live-massachusetts-new-jersey-new-york-report-finds/ | 2022-08-19T00:05:37Z |
Officials: At least 2 die after planes collide in California
WATSONVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Two planes collided in Northern California while trying to land at a local airport Thursday and at least two of the three occupants were killed, officials said.
The collision occurred at Watsonville Municipal Airport shortly before 3 p.m., according to a tweet from the city of Watsonville.
There were two people aboard a twin-engine Cessna 340 and only the pilot aboard a single-engine Cessna 152 during the crash, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Officials say multiple fatalities were reported but it was not immediately clear whether anyone survived.
The pilots were on their final approaches to the airport when the collision occurred, the FAA said in a statement. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.
No one on the ground was injured.
Photos and videos from the scene posted on social media showed the wreckage of one small plane in a grassy field by the airport. One picture showed a plume of smoke visible from a street near the airport.
A photo from the city of Watsonville showed damage to a small building at the airport, with firefighters on the scene.
Additional information was not immediately available.
Watsonville, near the Monterey Bay, is about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of San Francisco.
Two other pilots also were hurt in aircraft crashes elsewhere in California on Thursday.
A 65-year-old San Diego man received major but non-life threatening injuries when his single-engine plane crashed on a street near a busy freeway overpass in El Cajon, authorities said.
The plane reportedly struck an SUV but nobody on the ground was hurt in the city nearly 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of downtown San Diego.
Later, the pilot of an ultralight aircraft was critically injured when it crashed upside down on a building at the Camarillo Airport in Ventura County, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) from downtown Los Angeles.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/18/fatalities-reported-after-2-planes-collide-california/ | 2022-08-19T00:05:43Z |
Rides create lasting memories at the State Fair of West Virginia
FAIRLEA, W.Va. (WVVA) - Fair rides like the Ferris Wheel, the Himalaya and the Wild Mouse have been around nearly as long as the fair itself. For almost a century, they have touched the lives of and created memories for millions of people.
“We’re all about memories in our family,” said Wendy Armstrong, who was at the fair with her daughters and niece. “I have one that’s a senior, so after next year, she’s gone to college, so making this time with us is very special.”
Nick Cornwell was also enjoying the atmosphere at the fair on Thursday. He says the state fair is a great place to bring his kids.
“It feels great to be able to take them and let them do what they wanna do and explore all the stuff that I got to do when I was little that they’ve never gotten to do ever, so it’s fun to see the lights come on. They’re experiencing things for the first time that we take for granted.”
And behind every great ride is the operator, who gets to see firsthand how these memories form each and every year. This includes Brian Digisi. He’s been running the fair rides for more than twenty years.
Digisi says his favorite part is seeing happy children and families.
“It feels good to put a smile on all the kids’ faces,” he shared. “It makes them happy.”
The State Fair of West Virginia offers dozens of rides. Some are more thrill-seeking, while others are a little more tame, but, regardless of their speed or scare factor, they all hold a special place in the hearts of fairgoers.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/18/rides-create-lasting-memories-state-fair-west-virginia/ | 2022-08-19T00:05:50Z |
Yemeni-owned bodegas across New York City's five boroughs shut their doors at noon ET Thursday to protest President Trump's executive order barring travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries.
Under the order signed last Friday, travelers from not only Yemen but also Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Syria are barred from entering the U.S. for 90 days. The order also suspends admissions of new refugees for 120 days.
For Sulaiman Al-Audi, who works at the Best and Tasty Grocery on 143rd Street, the travel ban sends the message that he is not welcome here. Audi was born in Yemen but has been in the U.S. since 2002.
"We've been here over a decade, and we've never posed any threat to anybody. We're just here to make a living," he told Annmarie Fertoli of NPR member station WNYC.
Audi says he has started the application process to bring his wife and baby to the U.S. But he doesn't know what happens next.
Debbie Almontaser, who organized Thursday's bodega protests, says about 1,000 shops are participating. She says that restaurants and other stores have also closed in solidarity.
"The message that the merchants are sending is that they are part of the American fabric and the Muslim ban has devastated them and their families," says Almontaser, who is of Yemeni descent. She too, is personally affected by the new travel restrictions.
Follow #BodegaStrike to get news about ~1,000 #NYC bodegas partaking in a strike today from noon to 8 pm to stand against the #MuslimBan. pic.twitter.com/1jKVjgJVf6
— Mai El-Sadany (@maitelsadany) February 2, 2017
"My brother-in-law's wife is still stuck in Jordan," she told me. "She was awaiting her visa and now because of the ban she won't be able to join him and her children."
At Best and Tasty Grocery, a sign greeted customers. It read: "In support of our family, friends and loved ones who are stranded at U.S. airports and overseas, we are closing our business today."
Alina Babar, a hospital worker and regular customer, expressed sympathy for the strike. "I think it's brave of them to take a stand," she told WNYC, "and I think they have every right to do it, and I think that they feel like they're being treated poorly."
Many bodega workers and their supporters have gathered for a rally at in Brooklyn Borough Hall in solidarity with the Yemeni-American community.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
In tears at the amazing turn out for #BodegaStrike by Yemenis and it's only 3pm. pic.twitter.com/JbFbPHwZLJ
— Dr. Debbie Almontaser (@DebbiAlmontaser) February 2, 2017 | https://www.keranews.org/2017-02-02/new-york-city-bodegas-strike-to-protest-trumps-travel-ban | 2022-08-19T00:19:07Z |
Atlanta rapper Young Thug again denied bond in criminal case
ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia judge on Thursday denied bond — again — for Atlanta rapper Young Thug, one of nearly 30 people charged in a 65-count indictment alleging he is the leader of a criminal street gang.
Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville heard a slew of outstanding motions in the case against the musician, whose real name is Jeffery Williams. Rapper Gunna, whose legal name is Sergio Kitchens, is also charged in the racketeering and gang case. Both men have been in jail since their May arrests.
The musicians are accused of conspiring to violate Georgia’s criminal racketeering law, but the indictment outlines more serious crimes allegedly carried out by “Young Slime Life” associates ranging from drug possession to murder.
Of the 28 people charged, three remain at large, while at least eight who are in custody still don’t have attorneys, prosecutors told the judge, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
So far, Glanville has not granted bond to any of the defendants, citing concerns about witness intimidation and the possibility that additional felonies may be committed ahead of January’s trial. Williams’ attorneys have repeatedly asked that their client be given an ankle monitor and allowed to await trial on house arrest.
Appearing via video conferencing from the Cobb County jail, Williams smiled and blew kisses at relatives gathered in the courtroom during breaks in Thursday’s proceedings.
“Mr. Williams is an artist, a role model, a father and a son,” attorney Brian Steel told the judge, urging the rapper be released.
But his request was denied for the third time when Glanville sided with prosecutors to keep the musician behind bars.
The decision came after Glanville heard of at least one associate planning to testify against Williams being placed in protective custody after a document posted online showed his willingness to cooperate.
Fulton County prosecutor Don Geary asked the judge to further restrict the disclosure of certain evidence ahead of trial, saying a page from discovery that was recently shared online jeopardizes the witness’ safety.
“We found a lot of information concerning one of our witnesses on basically a (celebrity news) outlet,” Geary told Glanville.
Defense attorneys contend that YSL, or Young Stoner Life, is simply the name of Young Thug’s record label, not a violent Atlanta street gang as prosecutors allege.
Thursday’s hearing wasn’t the first time prosecutors have raised concerns about the safety of state’s witnesses. Glanville previously issued a temporary order instructing defense attorneys to withhold witness contact information from their clients.
But Kristen Novay, one of Kitchens’ attorneys, asked prosecutors for proof that potential witnesses are actually being threatened.
“We want to know what specific threats there are,” Novay said. “There have been many allegations that there are threats to witnesses, and to date we have received no discovery, not a single shred of evidence from a witness who was actually threatened.”
In June, an 18-year-old relative of one of the defendants was arrested after allegedly threatening to kill the Fulton County sheriff and his wife unless Williams were released, authorities said, the newspaper reported.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/18/atlanta-rapper-young-thug-again-denied-bond-criminal-case/ | 2022-08-19T00:19:28Z |
Best states to live in: Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, report finds
(Gray News) - Are you looking for a new place to call home? Many people have relocated during the current pandemic.
But a lot goes into selecting a new place, especially if that location is in another state.
WalletHub compiled a list ranking the best states to live in this year.
The personal finance website compared 50 states based on 52 key indicators of livability. Those categories included the cost of living, job opportunities, education quality and safety.
According to WalletHub, Massachusetts was the No. 1 overall state, closely followed by New Jersey and New York. Idaho and Virginia rounded out the report’s top five.
Adam McCann, a financial writer with WalletHub, shared that Mississippi was ranked the lowest on the report, coming in at No. 50 overall. Alaska, Louisiana, Arkansas and New Mexico rounded out the bottom five states.
Some other key findings in the report were Iowa and Nebraska had the lowest housing costs in the country, while California and Hawaii had some of the highest prices.
Maine was found to have the fewest violent crimes per 1,000 residents. New Hampshire had the lowest share of residents living in poverty, while South Dakota was said to have the shortest average commute time.
The entire WalletHub report can be found here.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/18/best-states-live-massachusetts-new-jersey-new-york-report-finds/ | 2022-08-19T00:19:35Z |
Officials: At least 2 die after planes collide in California
WATSONVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Two planes collided in Northern California while trying to land at a local airport Thursday and at least two of the three occupants were killed, officials said.
The collision occurred at Watsonville Municipal Airport shortly before 3 p.m., according to a tweet from the city of Watsonville.
There were two people aboard a twin-engine Cessna 340 and only the pilot aboard a single-engine Cessna 152 during the crash, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Officials say multiple fatalities were reported but it was not immediately clear whether anyone survived.
The pilots were on their final approaches to the airport when the collision occurred, the FAA said in a statement. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board, which did not immediately have additional details, are investigating the crash.
No one on the ground was injured.
Photos and videos from the scene posted on social media showed the wreckage of one small plane in a grassy field by the airport. One picture showed a plume of smoke visible from a street near the airport.
A photo from the city of Watsonville showed damage to a small building at the airport, with firefighters on the scene.
The Watsonville Police Department referred calls to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, where a dispatcher had no information.
Watsonville, near the Monterey Bay, is about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of San Francisco.
Two other pilots also were hurt in aircraft crashes elsewhere in California on Thursday.
A 65-year-old San Diego man received major but non-life threatening injuries when his single-engine plane crashed on a street near a busy freeway overpass in El Cajon, authorities said.
The plane reportedly struck an SUV but nobody on the ground was hurt in the city nearly 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of downtown San Diego.
Later, the pilot of an ultralight aircraft was critically injured when it crashed upside down on a building at the Camarillo Airport in Ventura County, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) from downtown Los Angeles.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/18/fatalities-reported-after-2-planes-collide-california/ | 2022-08-19T00:19:41Z |
CHEYENNE – The city of Cheyenne has detected the first pools, or group, of mosquitoes to test positive for West Nile virus this year in Laramie County, according to a news release.
The test was confirmed by technicians at the Wyoming State Veterinary Lab.
The infected mosquitoes were collected from traps near the Sun Valley area and Laramie County Community College during the week of Aug. 8 as part of the city’s ongoing mosquito surveillance efforts, the release said. Precautions should be taken across the Capital City, however, as infected birds can carry the virus over long distances.
No human cases have been reported this season. The last human case of West Nile virus reported in Cheyenne was in 2017, according to the city's release.
“This is typically the time of the year we expect to see a rise in West Nile virus activity, and these positive mosquito pools confirm that,” said Jennifer Escobedo, supervisor of the Cheyenne-Laramie County Health Department, in the release.
Most mosquitoes do not test positive for disease-causing viruses. However, a bite from a West Nile virus-infected mosquito can cause serious illness, and, in some cases, death. Although a person's chances of getting sick are small, those 50 and older are at the highest risk for serious illness.
Not everyone infected with West Nile virus will become ill. However, West Nile can cause serious complications, including neurological diseases, and can also cause a milder flu-like illness, including fever, headache and body aches, nausea, and occasionally a skin rash and swollen lymph glands. If you think you have symptoms of West Nile virus, see your doctor right away.
Reducing mosquito population
Mosquitoes lay their eggs in standing water. The eggs hatch into larvae that develop in the water for seven to 10 days before emerging as adult mosquitoes that fly and bite.
Many types of mosquitoes, including those that can spread disease, lay their eggs in items around the home, such as in birdbaths, unused flowerpots, discarded tires and even bottle caps, as well as in small ponds or other bodies of stagnant water.
"The Health Department, along with Cheyenne Weed and Pest, will continue to visit all known mosquito breeding sites, including sites near these positive mosquito pools. Larval control activities will continue throughout the summer," Escobedo said.
Cheyenne Weed and Pest has initiated Ultra Low Volume (ULV) truck spraying in areas with elevated numbers of mosquitoes that can transmit West Nile virus. These trucks will pass through neighborhoods and recreation areas after sunset. You may see a strobe light and hear a small equipment motor as they pass, but there is no reason to be alarmed. More information on ULV truck spraying can be found at https://www.cdc.gov/mosquitoes/mosquito-control/community/truck-spraying.html.
The best and most effective mosquito control begins in your yard. Eliminating standing water is the first step in reducing mosquito breeding:
- Check your property for any items that can hold water. Anything you choose to keep outside, such as kids' toys, buckets, wading pools, canoes and wheelbarrows, should be flipped over when not used to prevent them from collecting any water.
- Drill holes in the bottoms of recycling containers and remove any discarded tires.
- If you have a swimming pool or spa that is not in use, drain the water off the cover or treat the standing water with mosquito briquettes, and post accordingly. The briquettes are available from the Health Department, at 100 Central Ave., Monday through Friday while supplies last. Call 307-633-4090 or email envhlth@laramiecounty.com to arrange a pickup.
- Tightly cover water storage containers (buckets, cisterns, rain barrels) so that mosquitoes cannot get inside to lay eggs. Use wire mesh with holes smaller than an adult mosquito for containers without lids.
- Use an outdoor flying insect spray where mosquitoes rest. Mosquitoes rest in dark, humid areas like under patio furniture or under the carport or garage. When using insecticides, always follow label instructions.
- If you have a septic tank, repair cracks or gaps. Cover open vent or plumbing pipes. Use wire mesh with holes smaller than an adult mosquito.
- Make sure that roof gutters drain properly, clear vegetation and debris from the edges of ponds, and remove leaf debris from yards and gardens.
To reduce your risk of being bitten, use the 5D method by following these steps:
- DUSK and DAWN – Stay indoors when mosquitoes are more active.
- DRESS – Cover up as completely as possible. Wear shoes and socks, long pants and a long-sleeved shirt when outdoors for long periods or when mosquitoes are more active.
- DRAIN – Reduce the amount of standing water in or near your property by draining and/or removing it. Mosquitoes may lay eggs in areas with standing water.
- DEET – Use mosquito repellent, which should always be applied according to label directions. Do not use repellent on babies younger than 2 months old. Do not use products containing oil of lemon eucalyptus (OLE) or para-menthane-diol (PMD) on children younger than 3 years old.
To learn more, call the Cheyenne-Laramie County Health Department at 307-633-4090 or visit the West Nile page at https://health.wyo.gov/publichealth/infectious-disease-epidemiology-unit/disease/west-nile-virus/. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/city-announces-first-mosquitoes-carrying-west-nile-virus-found/article_3f3f1a92-1f49-11ed-a37a-231f53746871.html | 2022-08-19T00:34:50Z |
LARAMIE – The University of Wyoming Extension’s fall/winter online Master Gardener training will be offered from Sept. 15, 2022-Feb. 16, 2023. The 16-week course, which includes breaks for holidays, features approximately 48 hours of gardening instruction led by subject matter experts in the UW Extension.
“The course is for anyone with an interest in gardening, from beginning gardeners to experienced gardeners. The focus is all about growing in Wyoming,” said Master Gardener Statewide Coordinator Chris Hilgert in a news release.
Live classes take place via Zoom on Thursdays from 6-9 p.m. Class sessions are also recorded.
Registration for the 2022-23 online training is open until the course begins on Sept. 15. To sign up, visit bit.ly/master-gardener-2022. The registration fee is $150.
Topics include an overview of the training; basic botany; soils and composting; plant propagation; season extension; growing vegetables and herbs; fruit trees and berry crops; site analysis and landscape design; herbaceous plants; woody plants; lawn care; weed management; integrated pest management; diagnosing plant problems; entomology; and volunteering in the Master Gardener program.
Instructors include Hilgert and nine other experts from the UW Extension.
Participants will receive an electronic copy of "Sustainable Horticulture for Wyoming: A Master Gardener Handbook," as well as a variety of other resources provided by instructors. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyomingbusinessreport/industry_news/agribusiness/registration-opens-for-uw-extension-s-online-master-gardener-training/article_76e29800-1f41-11ed-a35e-3f42ac351f04.html | 2022-08-19T00:34:57Z |
CHEYENNE – Attorneys had their final opportunity Wednesday afternoon to argue their respective cases in Laramie County District Attorney Leigh Anne Manlove’s disciplinary proceeding, which could lead to the prosecutor being stripped of her law license.
Oral arguments took place Wednesday afternoon before the Wyoming Supreme Court, which then took the case under advisement. Justices will ultimately decide what punishment, if any, is appropriate.
The Wyoming State Bar’s Office of Bar Counsel last year brought charges alleging that DA Manlove had mishandled the prosecution of some cases and fostered a hostile work environment in her office. Following an eight-day hearing in February, a disciplinary panel announced it would recommend she lose her ability to practice law in Wyoming. She also may be on the hook to reimburse the Bar more than $60,000 in costs.
Attorneys on both sides largely reiterated arguments they’d presented before, although they were also subjected to questions from justices. Both attorneys received a total of 30 minutes to speak and answer queries.
Weston Reeves, representing the Office of Bar Counsel, began by stating that this was not a case about separation of powers between the executive branch, represented by the district attorney, and the judicial branch. He said it was also not about prosecutorial discretion – the ability of a prosecutor to decide what cases to pursue – as argued by Manlove, but about a “failure of duty” and lack of candor from an attorney.
He again argued the Bar’s position that state budget cuts during the COVID-19 pandemic “had nothing to do with” a series of case dismissals Manlove said were necessary to ensure her understaffed office could use resources to prosecute more serious charges. Instead, Reeves said, these dismissals were necessary because of the district attorney’s inability to keep her office staffed, which was a result of her treatment of employees and failure at certain points to pursue replacements.
Stephen Melchior, Manlove’s attorney, argued that this case was, in fact, about the separation of powers and prosecutorial discretion. He said the district attorney had taken appropriate steps following drastic budget cuts to try to find solutions, only to be rebuffed and condemned by judges in the county.
This case, he said, “is about, what do you do when a person runs on a political platform in an elected position ... announces the party affiliation, sets forth a platform, comes into office, begins to execute the platform, comes into the executive branch and rubs the judicial (branch) the wrong way? And rubs the Bar Counsel the wrong way?”
In bringing this disciplinary case against Manlove, the Bar chose to ignore state statute, the Wyoming Constitution and “a landmark case” that “specifically addresses many of the issues” in these proceedings, Melchior said.
It’s unclear how long it will be before the high court issues a decision. In another recent disciplinary case, it took nearly nine months to decide on a punishment for Becket Hinckley, a former Teton County prosecutor who was suspended from practicing law in Wyoming for three years following several violations of professional conduct rules.
In the Hinckley case, a panel recommended the former prosecutor be disbarred. The Supreme Court ultimately opted to suspend his license.
Manlove, elected as DA in November 2018, did not file to run for a second term. Her current term ends in January.
Melchior told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle following Wednesday’s hearing that what the Supreme Court decides in this case will have an effect on every prosecutor in each in Wyoming’s 23 counties. This is because it could affect how much judges and the Bar’s disciplinary arm can influence policy, personnel and case management decisions of prosecutors, he said.
“This has been an extremely painful experience for Ms. Manlove, and I would want this (for) no prosecuting attorney,” Melchior said.
Speaking to a reporter after oral arguments, Reeves said only that he’s “happy the Supreme Court is reviewing the case.”
Justices’ questions
At one point, Justice John G. Fenn said Reeves had focused much of his argument on the “mismanagement component” of the case. He asked the attorney for the Bar when the decision not to prosecute certain cases went from prosecutorial discretion to something in need disciplinary action.
“Where’s the line? Where does it become not about prosecutorial discretion?” Fenn asked.
“When there are 1,000 cases dismissed, categories of cases dismissed, categories of cases not prosecuted,” Reeves responded.
“Well, according to briefing, we can’t really even agree on the number of cases that were dismissed ...” Fenn replied, to which Reeves interjected: “Read the exhibit.”
“If the reason given for the dismissal is clearly false,” that’s when it cross the line, Reeves argued.
Fenn then laid out a hypothetical in which a DA decided not to prosecute marijuana cases, and asked Reeves if that DA is “violating professional rules of responsibility, such that he or she is facing discipline.”
“Questions like that are why we have a wise panel of five justices here,” Reeves said, adding that the DA has a statutory responsibility to prosecute certain types of cases.
“It seems to me that is not a prosecutorial discretion – that is a failure to perform the duty to the client. I don’t care if she got elected – she has the duty to prosecute the cases that come before her in the ordinary course of events,” Reeves continued.
Fenn also suggested that, rather than bring a disciplinary case, “if (Manlove) really wasn’t doing her job so bad, she theoretically could have been impeached and removed” under the Wyoming Constitution.
Reeves said he wasn’t sure to what impeachment avenue Fenn was referring. Instead, Reeves seemed to urge the justices to exercise their oversight duties for ensuring “competent and diligent” legal practice in the state.
Later, during Melchior’s arguments, Justice Keith G. Kautz interjected, saying that neither Melchior nor Reeves had yet brought up specific elements of professional conduct violations. Kautz said the justices needed “clear and convincing evidence that those elements were proven.”
Directly after Kautz’s comment, Melchior argued specifically that Manlove had not demonstrated incompetence in management of her office, and complaints from victims’ family members about failing to charge cases came down to prosecutorial discretion. He also denied that Manlove had exaggerated any claims about budget constraints on her office.
At the start of Reeves’ rebuttal, Kautz again challenged the attorney to be specific about what rule violations he was arguing, and that counsel needed to show consequences in specific cases.
“Gosh – the consequence to the victims of all the cases that weren’t prosecuted,” Reeves replied.
“But I didn’t see any specific identifications,” Kautz said. “You paint (with) a big, broad brush.”
Reeves again pointed back to examples given in Bar Counsel’s exhibits. He reemphasized his argument that Manlove’s dismissals were improper if they were done under “the demonstrably false premise that ‘The budget made me do it.’”
It’s yet another challenge, Kautz said, to determine whether a statement was knowingly false, or simply an opinion or “an erroneous opinion.” Reeves argued that could also be demonstrated by evidence in the case.
Hannah Black is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s criminal justice reporter. She can be reached at hblack@wyomingnews.com or 307-633-3128. Follow her on Twitter at @hannahcblack. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyomingbusinessreport/industry_news/government_and_politics/wyo-supreme-court-hears-oral-arguments-in-manlove-disciplinary-case/article_44d1956e-1f41-11ed-8b0b-8b3fcea5c194.html | 2022-08-19T00:34:58Z |
Lexington Police Department raising money in hopes of saddling up
LEXINGTON, Va. (WDBJ) -The new Lexington Police Mounted Unit is raising money in the hopes of saddling up soon.
Jasper and Buddy are donated horses for the new Lexington Police Mounted Unit. Gabriella Jones says it took her a while after she moved to feel a part of the community. She donated Jasper in hopes of creating unity.
“He has already had the good experience needed for these officers who may not have any horse experience,” said Jones. “They can come in and feel safe on him because he definitely picks up on what rider is on him.”
During a fundraiser Thursday, people were able to pet and feed the animals. Police Chief Angela Greene says the department is $20 thousand short of its overall goal to get the mounted unit activated.
“The money that we are raising is to make sure that we always have money available for any emergency situations, the food, the care of the horses,” said Greene.
Once the money is raised, the unit will train for about a year.
“Having an officer on a horse gives us that 10-foot advantage,” explained Greene. “We see much further, and we cover much more distance than individuals on foot.”
Greene says she’s ready to ride Jasper. The horses attract community members to interact with officers.
“Pet the horses, touch the horses. What’s the horse’s name? What do you feed them?” added Greene. “Then we start with our conversation, and they start realizing that officers are human beings. It makes us much more approachable.”
Michael Blouin took his daughter to meet the horses as a surprise. He thinks this is a great idea for the small town.
“Kids alone in the community will be a lot more open and interest in talking to them,” said Blouin. “It makes them more connected.”
You can donate by visiting the department in person or calling them.
Copyright 2022 WDBJ. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/18/lexington-police-department-raising-money-hopes-saddling-up/ | 2022-08-19T00:43:34Z |
Border Patrol: Woman crossing border attempts to smuggle meth, fentanyl in laundry basket
EL PASO, Texas – U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Texas found more than just dirty clothes when they investigated a basket of laundry making its way across the border.
The officers were working at the Paso Del Norte border crossing in El Paso on Aug. 13 when they encountered a 26-year-old female U.S. citizen. They said she was crossing the border from Mexico into the U.S in a vehicle.
The officers stopped the woman and conducted a secondary inspection of the vehicle, which included screening by a K-9 officer and an X-ray inspection. This search led the officers to the discovery of multiple bundles inside a basket of laundry containing 4.27 pounds of methamphetamine and .71 pounds of fentanyl.
In a release, CBP El Paso Port Director Ray Provencio said people attempting to smuggle drugs in baskets of laundry was “out of the ordinary.”
“A seizure like this serves as a reminder that smugglers will use any and all means available in their attempts to introduce contraband into the United States,” he said.
CBP seized the drugs and the vehicle and turned the driver over to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for charges connected to the failed smuggling attempt.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/19/border-patrol-woman-crossing-border-attempts-smuggle-meth-fentanyl-laundry-basket/ | 2022-08-19T00:43:39Z |
2022 Department of Defense Warrior Games Athletes and U.S. Army General Lead Torch Parade at Disney's Magic Kingdom Park
Published: Aug. 18, 2022 at 7:22 PM EDT|Updated: 1 hour ago
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla., Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Walt Disney World Resort proudly hosted 2022 Department of Defense (DoD) Warrior Games athletes on Thursday, celebrating the arrival of the Warrior Games with a parade at Magic Kingdom Park. Commanding General of United States Army's Training and Doctrine Command General Paul E. Funk joined several athletes in serving as Grand Marshals for the Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade and the athletes took turns carrying the Warrior Games torch that will light the cauldron at the Opening Ceremony on Friday at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. The participating athletes represented the Army, Navy, Air Force, Special Operations Command, Canada and Ukraine that will compete in the Warrior Games along with the Marine Corps.
Walt Disney World Resort proudly celebrates the arrival of 2022 Department of Defense Warrior Games athletes.
The Warrior Games, hosted by Army's Training and Doctrine Command, will take place over nine days at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort starting Saturday. The Warrior Games is an adaptive-sports competition that highlights the exceptional physical skills and mental toughness of wounded, ill and injured active-duty and veteran service members. The Games feature 12 adaptive sports including archery, cycling (both road race and time trials), shooting, sitting volleyball, swimming, track, field, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby, indoor rowing, powerlifting, and golf as an exhibition.
The above press release was provided courtesy of PRNewswire. The views, opinions and statements in the press release are not endorsed by Gray Media Group nor do they necessarily state or reflect those of Gray Media Group, Inc. | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/2022-department-defense-warrior-games-athletes-us-army-general-lead-torch-parade-disneys-magic-kingdom-park/ | 2022-08-19T00:43:50Z |
Kendall Jenner's award-winning brand adds ultra-premium product to portfolio
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- 818 Tequila, the award-winning Tequila brand founded by Kendall Jenner, announced today the launch of Eight Reserve by 818 – an ultra-premium Añejo Reserve that will be available for purchase in September.
The debut of Eight Reserve by 818 marks an expansion for the brand to new consumers. This comes on the heels of the company's first year successes including becoming the best-selling new spirit brand of 2021 in the United States (Source: Nielsen & IRI Total US, Multi Outlet + Convenience). The brand has also won 25 blind tasting awards at eight international spirits competitions.
Developed in the heart of Jalisco, Mexico, the new Eight Reserve liquid is a blend of one-year-old Añejo and extra Añejos as old as eight years which creates a level of complexity, softness and depth rarely experienced in Tequila. The result is an elegant expression that is smooth and rich, made to be enjoyed neat while celebrating life's special moments.
"The launch of Eight Reserve is a milestone moment for the 818 Tequila brand," said Kendall Jenner, Founder of 818 Tequila. "We are constantly looking to innovate and with this new liquid we are building on what makes 818 Blanco, Reposado, and Añejo so beautiful and complex and taking it to the next level. It's been incredible to work alongside our team in Mexico to develop Eight Reserve."
The Eight Reserve bottle is just as special as its liquid. The handmade ceramic decanter is produced by artisans in Pachuca, Mexico, and the eight shape symbolizes this moment in 818's history – an unforgettable shape made for passing hands and infinite tequila enjoyment.
Retailing for $200 SRP and coming in 750mL, Eight Reserve will be rolling out for purchase on September 19 starting in New York, Texas, Florida, Nevada, Illinois and California, with more states launching through the end of the year. Eight Reserve will also be available to order online through alcohol marketplaces including ReserveBar. The bottle is available for pre-order starting today by visiting eightreserve.com.
"Our Eight Reserve Tequila Añejo is a blend that is as harmonious as it is unique," said David Yan González, Director of Tequila Operations at 818 Tequila. "Aged in French and American barrels, the Tequila is a masterful Añejo blend that is wonderfully rich and layered. We're proud to introduce this delicious product."
The launch of Eight Reserve will expand 818 Tequila's consumer base, coming to shelves at a time when Americans are spending more on premium Tequila and Mezcal. According to new data from the IWSR, US Tequila consumption jumped 27% in 2021 and is expected to surpass vodka sales by 2023, making it the US's most-purchased spirit category.
Guests attending the brand's annual 8.18 celebration, hosted at Soho House's Little Beach House Malibu, were among the first to taste the new liquid, joined by Kendall Jenner and her 818 Tequila team.
From its 1% for the Planet giveback to partnering with S.A.C.R.E.D. – a nonprofit that supports Mexican communities where heritage agave spirits are made – and working with local, family-owned businesses in Jalisco, Mexico and sustainable suppliers, 818 Tequila embodies an emerging consumer ethos. For more information, visit www.drink818.com.
Founded by Kendall Jenner, 818 Tequila is an award-winning, hand-crafted tequila brand. Produced using traditional methods in Jalisco, Mexico at a family-owned-and-operated distillery, the brand has won 25 blind tasting awards across eight major industry competitions, including Best Reposado Tequila from the World Tequila Awards, Platinum Award from the SIP Awards, Chairman's Trophy from the Ultimate Spirits Challenge, Triple Gold from the MicroLiquor Spirit Awards, Top 100 Spirits from the Ultimate Spirits Challenge, and Innovation Award from the SIP Awards. Sustainably produced from one hundred percent Weber Blue agaves, 818 Tequila features three variations – a Blanco, Reposado and Añejo. For more information, follow @drink818 on Instagram or visit www.drink818.com.
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SOURCE 818 Tequila | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/818-tequila-announces-launch-eight-reserve-by-818/ | 2022-08-19T00:43:51Z |
Florida Polytechnic University's Applied Research Center expands the school's research capabilities and will become a research hub for industry.
LAKELAND, Fla., Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Florida Polytechnic University unveiled its new Applied Research Center, a cutting-edge facility that will strengthen Florida Poly's position as a premier STEM institution and engine for economic development. The $47 million building expands the University's research capabilities and will further its mission to serve students and industry through excellence in education, discovery, and application of engineering and applied sciences.
At more than 90,000 square feet, the Applied Research Center (ARC) houses research and teaching laboratories, student design spaces, conference rooms, faculty offices, and study areas. Students and faculty will have a fuller academic experience as they enjoy vastly expanded lab and research space.
On Aug. 18, the University community was joined by elected officials and local leaders to celebrate the ARC's grand opening. Speakers included University President Randy Avent; Cliff Otto, chairman of Florida Poly's Board of Trustees; Congressman Scott Franklin; Senator Kelli Stargel; and Representative Colleen Burton.
"Since 2014, students from across the country have chosen Florida Polytechnic because of the unique learning environment the university offers," Stargel said. "The ARC will ensure we continue to recruit top faculty and students who can feel confident we have the technology and resources they need to research and innovate."
The Polk County delegation backed Florida Poly as the Legislature approved funding to finalize the building – Florida Poly's second academic facility.
"I am very proud to be a member of the Polk County legislative delegation. Each one of us has worked closely together to make sure this university continues to grow, serve students, bring economic development to Polk County and the entire Central Florida, and continues to enrich the lives of all Floridians," Burton said.
The ARC was designed to become a research hub and a magnet for industry. Its design complements the renowned Innovation, Science, and Technology (IST) Building, featuring reflective windows and expansive views of the campus. The builder was Skanska USA, and the architecture firm was HOK.
"The future is bright for Florida Poly, and our ambitions are high. Our goal is to be a premier STEM university known for producing highly desirable graduates and new technology solutions," Avent said. "I strongly believe that with the new Applied Research Center, we are charging full speed toward that goal."
Media Contact:
Sue Mullins
sue@sachsmedia.com
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SOURCE Florida Polytechnic University | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/florida-polys-new-state-of-the-art-research-building-opens-its-doors/ | 2022-08-19T00:43:53Z |
VANCOUVER, BC, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Kootenay Silver Inc. (TSXV: KTN) (the "Kootenay") would like to clarify that the news release disseminated on August 12, 2022 headlined "Kootenay Resources Inc. Announces Private Placement financing of up to $800,000" is related to Kootenay Resources Inc. a private reporting issuer and is not related to the common stock of Kootenay Silver Inc. a TSX Venture listed company.
Kootenay Resources Inc. is an exploration company actively engaged in the exploration and discovery mineral projects in British Columbia, Canada and was formed as a spin-out of Kootenay Silver Inc. in which prospective Canadian assets were transferred to Kootenay Resources Inc. The transaction was completed in October 2021, Kootenay Silver Inc. currently holds ~3.2 million common shares of Kootenay Resources Inc.
Kootenay Silver Inc. is an exploration company actively engaged in the discovery and development of mineral projects in the Sierra Madre Region of Mexico. Supported by one of the largest junior portfolios of silver assets in Mexico, Kootenay continues to provide its shareholders with significant leverage to silver prices. The Company remains focused on the expansion of its current silver resources, new discoveries and the near-term economic development of its priority silver projects located in prolific mining districts in Sonora, State and Chihuahua, State, Mexico, respectively.
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: The information in this news release has been prepared as at August 17, 2022. Certain statements in this news release, referred to herein as "forward-looking statements", constitute "forward-looking statements" under the provisions of Canadian provincial securities laws. These statements can be identified by the use of words such as "expected", "may", "will" or similar terms.
Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of factors and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Kootenay as of the date of such statements, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors, known and unknown, could cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Except as otherwise required by law, Kootenay expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any such statements to reflect any change in Kootenay's expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.
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SOURCE Kootenay Silver Inc. | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/kootenay-silver-clarifies-august-12-2022-private-placement-announcement-kootenay-resources-inc/ | 2022-08-19T00:43:54Z |
NEW YORK, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Weiss Law is investigating possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law by the board of directors of Farmers Bankshares, Inc. ("Farmers" or the "Company") (OTCPK: FBVA), in connection with the proposed merger of the Company with TowneBank ("TowneBank") (NASDAQ: TOWN). Under the terms of the merger agreement, the Company's shareholders will receive 0.6050 shares of TowneBank common stock for each Farmers share owned, representing implied per-share merger consideration of approximately $18.75 based upon TowneBank's August 17, 2022 closing price of $30.99.
If you own Farmers shares and wish to discuss this investigation or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, visit our website:
https://www.weisslaw.co/news-and-cases/fbva
Or please contact:
Joshua Rubin, Esq.
Weiss Law
305 Broadway, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10007
(212) 682-3025
(888) 593-4771
stockinfo@weisslawllp.com
Weiss Law is investigating whether (i) Farmers' board of directors acted in the best interests of Company shareholders in agreeing to the proposed transaction, (ii) the per-share merger consideration adequately compensates Farmers' shareholders, and (iii) all information regarding the sales process and valuation of the transaction will be fully and fairly disclosed.
Weiss Law has litigated hundreds of stockholder class and derivative actions for violations of corporate and fiduciary duties. We have recovered over a billion dollars for defrauded clients and obtained important corporate governance relief in many of these cases. If you have information or would like legal advice concerning possible corporate wrongdoing (including insider trading, waste of corporate assets, accounting fraud, or materially misleading information), consumer fraud (including false advertising, defective products, or other deceptive business practices), or anti-trust violations, please email us at stockinfo@weisslawllp.com
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SOURCE Weiss Law | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/18/shareholder-alert-weiss-law-investigates-farmers-bankshares-inc/ | 2022-08-19T00:44:15Z |
NEW YORK, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- DotLab, a medical diagnostics company, announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has granted three key patents for its technology focused on the diagnosis, assessment, and characterization of endometriosis. Via its clinical studies, DotLab has pioneered medical tests enabled by single-stranded, non-coding RNAs called microRNAs in circulating body fluids such as blood and saliva. The inventions embodied in the portfolio of granted patents – U.S. Patent No. 10,982,282, U.S. Patent No. 11,220,713, and U.S. Patent No. 11,315,660 B2 – also include the company's proprietary machine learning algorithms to detect, predict, diagnose, and monitor the presence or absence of the disease.
The training set for the DotEndo™ machine learning algorithm was developed via DotLab's EMPOWER clinical study, a prospective, observational, multi-center study run at endometriosis centers of excellence across the United States. EMPOWER is the most robust clinical study of its type ever performed, making it an excellent foundation for the commercial test.
"DotLab tackled a holy grail in women's health - endometriosis - which is notorious for its complex biology and the sheer scale of the unmet medical need," said DotLab's CEO Heather Bowerman. "We're proud to share the news of these inventions and intellectual property achievements, which are ultimately a much-needed win for millions of patients."
DotLab's validation study was published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, the official publication of the American Gynecological & Obstetrical Society, Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Infectious Diseases Society for Obstetrics and Gynecology, Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, and Society of Gynecologic Surgeons.
Dot Laboratories, Inc. ("DotLab") is a female-founded, female-led company solving some of the world's most significant diagnostic challenges via the latest advancements in multiomics and computational biology. The company delivers clinical innovations to areas of significant unmet need. The company is harnessing its expertise with novel, cutting-edge biomarkers and the power of machine learning to deliver non-invasive tests, starting with endometriosis. The company drives a paradigm shift in the identification and management of the disease.
Media Contact: pr@dotlab.com
General Contact: hello@dotlab.com
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SOURCE DotLab | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/19/dotlab-announces-three-granted-patents-its-non-invasive-test-endometriosis-dotendo/ | 2022-08-19T00:44:21Z |
TIANJIN, China, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- From August 19 to 20, the first World Vocational and Technical Education Development Conference (https://m.wvtedc.com/m/en-US?_t=ReI) will be held in north China's Tianjin. Centering on the new changes, new approaches and new skills during the development of vocational and technical education in the post-pandemic era, the conference has attracted about 700 delegates from 123 countries.
This conference is sponsored by the Ministry of Education (MOE), the National Commission for UNESCO of China and the Tianjin Municipal People's Government, and undertaken by the Vocational Education Development Center of the MOE, the Open University of China, the China Association for International Exchange of Education, the China Vocational and Technical Education Association and the Tianjin Municipal Education Commission.
During the conference, the first world vocational college skills competition and the cloud expo of the integration of industry and education of world vocational education will be held, and the initiative of preparing for the world vocational and technical education development alliance will be issued, forming a new platform and paradigm for international exchange and cooperation of vocational education that include a variety of forms.
The opening ceremony and the main forum will be held on August 19. Education ministers or ambassadors from 18 countries, representatives of some international organizations, industry organizations, well-known enterprises and vocational colleges will deliver speeches. On August 20, 14 parallel forums will be held, featuring attendance of more than 250 renowned experts and scholars from various countries. The conference will issue the proposal for the establishment of the world vocational and technical education development alliance and the Tianjin Initiative.
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SOURCE Tianjin Municipal People's Government | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/19/first-world-vocational-technical-education-development-conference-held-north-chinas-tianjin/ | 2022-08-19T00:44:28Z |
KANSAS CITY, Mo., Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A Settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit filed against Defendant Anheuser-Busch, LLC regarding Lime-A-Rita® and other Ritas™ Branded Drinks for alleged violations of false advertising laws for allegedly implying that that Ritas™ Brand Products contain certain distilled spirits (such as tequila) and/or wine when they do not. The Defendant denies all allegations and has settled this lawsuit to avoid further litigation. The Court has not decided who is right. If you purchased one or more Ritas™ Brand Products for personal consumption, and not for resale, from January 1, 2018 through July 19, 2022 you are included in the Settlement and may be eligible to receive a partial refund of up to $9.75 without proof of purchase, or $21.75 if you do have proof of your purchases. However, if you want to receive a payment from the Settlement, you must file a claim. To see a list of the Ritas™ Brand Products, or to file a claim, please visit www.RitasSettlement.com.
The deadline to file a claim is December 16, 2022. You can also download a paper claim from the website or by calling the phone number below. If you do not want to be bound by the Settlement you must exclude yourself by November 11, 2022. If you do not exclude yourself, you may object to the Settlement by November 11, 2022. The Court will hold a Final Approval Hearing on December 2, 2022, to determine whether to approve the Settlement as fair, reasonable, and adequate.
This notice is only a short summary of the lawsuit and your rights. Detailed information about the claims in the lawsuit, the Defendants' reply and all of your rights if you are a Class Member is available at www.RitasSettlement.com or by calling toll-free 1-888-905-0657.
Source: United States District Court, Western District of Missouri, Western Division
URL: www.RitasSettlement.com
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SOURCE United States District Court, Western District of Missouri, Western Division | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/19/if-you-purchased-lime-a-rita-or-other-ritas-branded-drinks-you-may-be-eligible-receive-partial-refund-class-action-settlement/ | 2022-08-19T00:44:34Z |
Expands JFE Shoji America's U.S. steel products business
- CEMCO brand, management structure, employees, and operations will be maintained
- CEMCO Produces more than 300 million lineal feet of high-quality steel framing and building products annually
- Transaction fills galvanized light gauge steel products position in JFE Shoji America's portfolio
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- JFE Shoji Corporation, Tokyo, Japan and its subsidiary JFE Shoji America Holdings, Inc, Los Angeles, California has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all the outstanding shares of California Expanded Metal Products Co. (CEMCO®) from the Poliquin family ownership group. The transaction is expected to close in late September 2022 following customary closing conditions and regulatory approval.
Junji Yamada, CEO of JFE Shoji America Holdings, Inc remarked, "JFE Shoji America has a disciplined acquisition model. We seek valuable franchises with strong brands, similar corporate cultures, and excellent business fundamentals. CEMCO fits our acquisition target profile and fills a business portfolio gap. We want to welcome the CEMCO team to JFE Shoji America."
"CEMCO has built a brand on service, partnership and innovation with employees who are committed to our customers and shareholders who support them. We evolved from a single plant to four manufacturing and distribution locations in over 520,000 square feet with over 1,000 tons of daily production capacity," said Raymond E. (Ted) Poliquin, CEO and Chairman of the Board at CEMCO. "The Poliquin family is very pleased to sell CEMCO to JFE Shoji Corporation. We want to thank Junji Yamada-san and the JFE Shoji America team for the tremendous partnership and collaboration on our transaction. As we explored the potential sale to JFE Shoji, it was clear they have a passion for the CEMCO business and will be strong stewards in the years ahead."
Scott Yessner, CEMCO's Chief Financial Officer commented, "The strong industrial logic of a transaction between our firms was further supported by the alignment of culture and corporate objectives. CEMCO will fit seamlessly into the JFE Shoji group of businesses. We see significant synergy and scale potential in joining with the JFE Shoji Group. Both management and advisor teams worked collaboratively towards a successful transaction for our firms."
Post close, CEMCO will operate identically to its current operations. CEMCO's current management structure will remain in place and will allow CEMCO to provide the same high-level of service that its customers have come to expect. Integration related activities will be limited to back office corporate functions with no impact to customers, vendors, or business partners. Tom Porter, President of CEMCO and President of the SFIA commented, "The transaction is a great outcome for our customers, vendors, employees, and business partners. We will be able to take our great service model forward as it is today. JFE Shoji Group's capital, supply chain, and industrial operations resources will be a great benefit to CEMCO. We are really excited to leverage JFE Shoji's capabilities. CEMCO employs over 500 team members throughout the U.S. Our employees will be part of a larger business complex with even more opportunities."
CEMCO, which has been owned and operated by the Poliquin family since 1981, is one of the largest independent manufacturers of steel framing and lath products in the U.S. Founded in 1974 and headquartered in The City of Industry, CA, CEMCO has manufacturing and distribution operations in City of Industry, CA; Pittsburg, CA; Denver, CO; and Fort Worth, Texas. The company manufactures structural and non-structural light gauge steel framing products, metal lath, proprietary fire-air-sound products and building accessories. With more than one thousand committed jobs a year, CEMCO supplies a full range of commercial projects, including healthcare, office, retail, education, municipal and transportation. SoFi Stadium, Loma Linda Hospital, Hollywood Paladium Residential Towers, U.S. Olympic Museum in Colorado Springs, East 5th Street Hotel in Austin, and the Chase Center in San Francisco are just a few notable projects. CEMCO is also a supplier of solar structural steel framing. For more information, please visit www.cemcosteel.com.
CEMCO's transaction advisors included D.A. Davidson as sole financial advisor, DLA Piper for legal counsel, and KPMG for tax advisory. Mizuho served as financial advisor, Pillsbury Withrop Shaw Pittman as legal counsel, and Deloitte and Touche as tax and due diligence advisor for JFE Shoji America Holdings, Inc.
About JFE Shoji Corporation
JFE Shoji Corporation is working to establish a more stable revenue base by expanding both trade and business. In addition, JFE Shoji strengthens business foundation by accelerating collaborations between business bases based on global four key regions, which focuses on Japan, the Americas, China, ASEAN. By expanding supply chain from upstream to downstream with the focus on steel-related businesses, JFE Shoji opens new possibilities and pursue social and environmental issues such as carbon neutrality and a recycling-oriented society as opportunities for growth. While taking advantage of the management resources and information network, JFE Shoji is working on ESG management to lead during the times ahead. For more information on JFE Shoji Corporation visit https://www.jfe-shoji.co.jp/en/
About CEMCO®
California Expanded Metal Products Co. (CEMCO®) is the premier manufacturer of cold-formed steel framing and metal-lath products in the United States. Its product segments include Viper-X® and ViperStud Drywall Framing Products, Metal Lath, CEMCO® joint firestopping products, ProX Header®, Sure-Span® steel framing floor joist system, Sure-Board® for shear wall panels, and water-management products along with its SFIA Code Certified steel framing products. Founded in 1974, CEMCO is the leader in quality, service, and product development, and offers one of the broadest product lines available in cold-formed steel framing and metal lath and plastering products used for both the commercial and residential construction markets. For more information about CEMCO visit www.cemcosteel.com.
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SOURCE CEMCO | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/19/jfe-shoji-corporation-acquire-california-expanded-metal-products-co-cemco-market-leading-provider-steel-framing-products/ | 2022-08-19T00:44:41Z |
NEW YORK, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Weiss Law is investigating possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law by the board of directors of Hill International, Inc. ("Hill" or the "Company") (NYSE: HIL), in connection with the proposed merger of the Company with Global Infrastructure Solutions Inc. via tender offer. Under the terms of the merger agreement, the Company's shareholders will receive $2.85 in cash for each share of Hill common stock owned. The transaction is valued at approximately $173 million.
If you own Hill shares and wish to discuss this investigation or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, visit our website:
https://www.weisslaw.co/news-and-cases/hil
Or please contact:
Joshua Rubin, Esq.
Weiss Law
305 Broadway, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10007
(212) 682-3025
(888) 593-4771
stockinfo@weisslawllp.com
Weiss Law is investigating whether (i) Hill's board of directors acted in the best interests of Company shareholders in agreeing to the proposed transaction, (ii) the $2.85 per-share merger consideration adequately compensates Hill's shareholders, and (iii) all information regarding the sales process and valuation of the transaction will be fully and fairly disclosed.
Weiss Law has litigated hundreds of stockholder class and derivative actions for violations of corporate and fiduciary duties. We have recovered over a billion dollars for defrauded clients and obtained important corporate governance relief in many of these cases. If you have information or would like legal advice concerning possible corporate wrongdoing (including insider trading, waste of corporate assets, accounting fraud, or materially misleading information), consumer fraud (including false advertising, defective products, or other deceptive business practices), or anti-trust violations, please email us at stockinfo@weisslawllp.com.
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SOURCE Weiss Law | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/19/shareholder-alert-weiss-law-investigates-hill-international-inc/ | 2022-08-19T00:44:48Z |
Two planes collided in Northern California while trying to land at a local airport Thursday and at least two of the three occupants were killed, officials said.
The collision occurred at Watsonville Municipal Airport shortly before 3 p.m., according to a tweet from the city of Watsonville. The city-owned airport does not have a control tower to direct aircraft landing and taking off.
There were two people aboard a twin-engine Cessna 340 and only the pilot aboard a single-engine Cessna 152 during the crash, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Officials say multiple fatalities were reported but it was not immediately clear whether anyone survived.
The pilots were on their final approaches to the airport when the collision occurred, the FAA said in a statement. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board, which did not immediately have additional details, are investigating the crash.
No one on the ground was injured. The airport has four runways and is home to more than 300 aircraft, according to its website. It handles more than 55,000 operations a year and is used often for recreational planes and agriculture businesses.
Watsonville, near the Monterey Bay, is about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of San Francisco.
Photos and videos from the scene posted on social media showed the wreckage of one small plane in a grassy field by the airport. One picture showed a plume of smoke visible from a street near the airport.
A photo from the city of Watsonville showed damage to a small building at the airport, with firefighters on the scene.
The planes were about 200 feet (61 meters) in the air when they crashed, a witness told the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
Franky Herrera was driving past the airport when he saw the twin-engine plane bank hard to the right and hit the wing of the smaller aircraft, which "just spiraled down and crashed" near the edge of the airfield and not far from homes, he told the newspaper.
The twin-engine aircraft kept flying but "it was struggling," Herrera said, and then he saw flames at the other side of the airport.
The manager of the Watsonville Municipal Airport was unavailable for a phone interview in the hours after the crash. The airport accounts for about 40% of all general aviation activities in the Monterey Bay area, according to the City of Watsonville's website.
The Watsonville Police Department referred calls to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office, where a dispatcher had no information.
Two other pilots also were hurt in aircraft crashes elsewhere in California on Thursday.
A 65-year-old San Diego man received major but non-life threatening injuries when his single-engine plane crashed on a street near a busy freeway overpass in El Cajon, authorities said.
The plane reportedly struck an SUV but nobody on the ground was hurt in the city nearly 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of downtown San Diego.
Later, the pilot of an ultralight aircraft was critically injured when it crashed upside down on a building at the Camarillo Airport in Ventura County, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) from downtown Los Angeles.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-18/at-least-2-people-are-dead-after-planes-collide-in-california-officials-say | 2022-08-19T01:16:39Z |
A federal judge in Tennessee has ordered Starbucks to offer to reinstate seven fired baristas following a union organizing drive at a store in Memphis.
The employees, referred to as the Memphis Seven, were fired following an in-store media interview about the store's organizing efforts earlier this year. Starbucks said this violated company policy, but the union, Starbucks Workers United, claims this was all in retaliation for the union drive.
Officials with the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency responsible for enforcing U.S. labor laws, viewed this as retaliation as well and brought the coffee giant to court.
U.S. District Judge Sheryl Lipman on Thursday agreed, saying Starbucks failed to prove that it enforced similar company policies elsewhere and in similar situations.
Lipman said in her order that the NLRB "provides evidence consistent with the theory that Starbucks discriminatorily applied its policies to the Memphis Seven when terminating them."
Starbucks has to offer those workers their jobs back within five days, Lipman ordered. The company also must expunge those employees' disciplinary actions and cease and desist from any other anti-union practices.
Starbucks said in a statement Thursday that it plans to appeal this decision and request a stay of the order pending appeal.
"We strongly disagree with the judge's ruling in this case. These individuals violated numerous policies and failed to maintain a secure work environment and safety standards," the company said. "Interest in a union does not exempt partners from following policies that are in place to protect partners, our customers and the communities we serve."
The Memphis Starbucks employees voted for union representation by Workers United earlier this summer and the NLRB certified this election on June 15.
Starbucks has fought against efforts to unionize its stores. Earlier this month, the retail giant accused NLRB employees of coordinating with union organizers during an election in Overland Park, Kansas, earlier this year.
The first Starbucks union was formed in Buffalo, New York, a year ago, launching what has since become a nationwide organizing campaign in the country's largest coffee chain.
The NLRB claimed in court in June that Starbucks unlawfully fired seven other employees at shops in Buffalo and engaged in illegal anti-union activities to dissuade workers from organizing.
Starbucks Workers United says more than 200 of the company's stores in the U.S. are now unionized.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-18/starbucks-must-rehire-7-memphis-employees-that-supported-a-union-a-judge-says | 2022-08-19T01:16:46Z |
Finally, we have a glimmer of good news about monkeypox: The outbreaks in some countries, including the U.K., Germany and parts of Canada, are starting to slow down.
On top of that, the outbreak in New York City may also be peaking and on the decline, according to new data from the city's health department.
All these outbreaks are "far from extinguished," says infectious disease specialist Dr. Donald Vinh at McGill University in Montreal. But there are signs that, in some places, "they're a bit more under control than they had been."
For example, in the U.K., the number of new cases reported each day has steadily declined since late July, dropping from 50 daily cases to only about 25. (By contrast, here in the U.S., daily cases are still increasing. Since late July, the U.S. daily count has risen from 350 new cases to 450 cases.)
Some health officials credit the monkeypox vaccine – and its quick rollout – as the key factor that's slowing the spread of the virus in the U.K..
"Over 25,000 have been vaccinated with the smallpox vaccine, as part of the strategy to contain the monkeypox outbreak in the UK.," the U.K. Health Security Agency wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. "These 1000s of vaccines, given by the NHS to those at highest risk of exposure, should have a significant impact on the transmission of the virus."
Indeed, the U.K. and parts of Canada rolled out the vaccine in late May, weeks before doses became available in most U.S. cities.
But does the monkeypox vaccine have the ability to stop or curb the spread of the virus? To answer that question, we need to first understand a few basics about this vaccine.
What actually is the monkeypox vaccine? How does it work?
So the monkeypox vaccine is actually the smallpox vaccine. Maybe that sounds a bit strange, but in fact the two pox viruses are related. They're a bit like cousins.
Health-care workers used an earlier version of this vaccine to eradicate smallpox in the 1970s. So versions of this vaccine have been given to hundreds of millions of people over the past century. It has a long track record.
Back in the late 1980s, researchers started to notice something remarkable about this vaccine. During a monkeypox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then called Zaire), people who were immunized against smallpox were less likely to get monkeypox. They were protected. And not by just a little but by quite a bit. In a small study, published in 1988, researchers estimated the smallpox vaccine offered about 85% protection against monkeypox.
Now, the virus in this study was a different variant of monkeypox than the one circulating in the current international outbreak and that variant wasn't spreading primarily through sexual contact, as monkeypox is doing today. So we don't know how well these findings will translate to protection during the current outbreak. Which brings us to the next question.
How well does the vaccine protect against a monkeypox infection?
The short answer is: "We don't know," says infectious disease specialist Dr. Boghuma Titanji at Emory University.
There's no doubt the vaccine will offer some protection, Titanji says. "But right now, we still need studies in people to understand what level that protection actually is."
In North America and Europe, countries are primarily rolling out a vaccine called JYNNEOS, which was developed in the early 21st century. The goal with this vaccine is to increase its safety compared to the older vaccine, whose life-threatening complications, including encephalitis and skin necrosis, occurred in about 4 out of every million people vaccinated. That vaccine also could cause damaging skin lesions in people with eczema or weakened immune systems. (Note: There is a shortage of the JYNNEOS vaccine, and no doses have been shared with or sold to countries in Africa, which have experienced monkeypox outbreaks since the 1970s.)
Although older versions of the vaccine have been tested thoroughly in people, there has never been a large, clinical study to measure JYNNEOS's ability to protect against a monkeypox infection in people – or to stop transmission of the virus.
What is known about the vaccine, in terms of its efficacy against monkeypox, comes from studies in macaques, and immunological studies in people, which demonstrated the vaccine triggers the production of monkeypox antibodies in people's blood.
"So we know that the vaccine does stimulate the immune system and people produce antibodies when they receive the vaccine," Titanji says, "but we don't have a clinical data in humans to actually tell us, 'Okay, that immune response translates to this level of protection against getting infected with monkeypox or reducing the severity of monkeypox disease if you do get infected.' "
And it's not a guarantee of protection. In this current outbreak, scientists have already begun to document breakthrough infection with this vaccine, the World Health Organization reported Thursday. "[This] is also really important information because it tells us that the vaccine is not 100% effective in any given circumstance," said Dr. Rosamund Lewis of WHO. "We cannot expect 100% effectiveness at the moment based on this emerging information."
And so when Titanji gives a person the JYNNEOS vaccine at her clinic, she is very clear about what the vaccine can and can't do. "I tell them, 'We do know that you're going to get some protection from this vaccine. Some protection is better than no protection. We also do know that the vaccine can reduce the severity of the disease if you do get infected. But we don't know for a fact that you would be completely protected from getting monkeypox.' "
Can this vaccine – if given to the people who need it the most – slow down the outbreak?
So the new data from the U.K. and Germany suggest that indeed this vaccine can curb the spread of monkeypox.
But Dr. Vinh at McGill University says it's way too soon to say the vaccine, alone, is the only factor contributing to the slow down in these countries. "No single measure is going to really be the solution here," says Vinh.
In addition to vaccination, people at high risk need to learn how they can protect themselves. And doctors have to learn how to spot monkeypox cases, he says.
Right now the percentage of monkeypox tests coming back positive is still incredibly high, Titanji says. "The positivity rate is close to 40%." And that means doctors are missing many cases. Specifically, they are still mistaking monkeypox for other sexually transmitted diseases such as syphyllis.
"I can tell you, from the lens of a clinician, that monkeypox is very, very easy to mistake for another infectious disease," she says.
Some people have had to visit clinics two or three times – and even have been treated for another STD – before the clinician suspects monkeypox.
"You really have to maintain a very high index of suspicion because some of the lesions are so subtle and the clinical presentation is so variable," she says. "At this phase of the outbreak, we should be over testing rather than under testing. If a doctor even remotely suspects monkeypox, they should be sending a test for it."
Otherwise people can't receive treatment for monkeypox and they can unknowingly spread it to others. And the outbreak will continue to grow while people wait to receive a vaccine – and for that vaccine to begin working.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-18/theres-a-bit-of-good-news-about-monkeypox-is-it-because-of-the-vaccine | 2022-08-19T01:16:52Z |
In the fall of 1974, George Foreman and Muhammad Ali met in the country of Zaire, now called the Democratic Republic of Congo, for the legendary boxing match known as "The Rumble in the Jungle." Although the Rumble had to be postponed until later that autumn, a related promotional event went on as scheduled and turned out to be similarly momentous: Zaire 74, a music festival where some of America's greatest black artists played alongside Africa's leading talent to an audience of tens of thousands.
Documentaries and albums chronicling that festival have concentrated on the American performers, such as James Brown and B.B. King. The African artists have not received the same shine — and disputes over money and control, which kept a tight lid on concert footage, have not helped. Except for the South African legend Miriam Makeba, these musicians were all Congolese, including rumba maestros Franco and Tabu Ley Rochereau.
But now their performances can be heard, many of them in full, on a new live album titled Zaire 74: The African Artists. It was produced by South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela and American record producer Stewart Levine — the same men who organized that festival in Kinshasa more than 40 years ago with the aim of making the world more conscious of African music.
Read on for highlights from Ari Shapiro's interview with Masekela and Levine, and listen at the audio link to hear the full conversation and snippets of music from Zaire 74: The African Artists.
Interview Highlights
On what organizing the festival was like
Hugh Masekela: From the time we started to organize the festival, until after the festival, it was very hard work. I think we both lost about 20 pounds each. ... It was the first thing of its kind and it was very exciting, the artists were excited. The Congolese audience had never been to anything like it. And actually nobody had ever been to anything like it.
Stewart Levine: You must remember one thing: The African artists had never played in front of such a large audience. So they were incredibly inspired. And the audience knew them better than they did James Brown, and they were out to cut James Brown. [Laughter.]
On rediscovering the recordings that would become Zaire 74: The African Artists
Levine: I refer to it as musical archaeology because we in fact had never heard these performances. They were recorded while, like Hugh says, we were running around trying to help get this thing organized and put up onstage. So when we opened these tapes up about a year and a half ago, we were stunned. We were mesmerized. Because with all due respect to the American artists, who were great, these guys were out to do it in front of their own people. You have to realize this was a big moment for this country, and a big moment for these performers. So you really do have this music being played at its highest level. We were lucky to have had these tapes. When we opened them, we just decided maybe after 42 years, we should remember the plot, which was to introduce this music to the world. So it's never too late, I guess.
On the poignancy of these performances seeing the light of day only after the musicians' deaths
Masekela: Louis Armstrong has been dead for a long time, but people still listen to his music. One thing that is great about the music is that you can be dead and [it can] become popular. You can get known whether you are alive or not. Music lasts forever.
Levine: If we didn't think that these things were relevant and vibrant, then we wouldn't have released it, period. If they sounded like field recordings from the '20s, we wouldn't go near it. But they're hot! They're energized. We caught it. It was the golden age of multi-track recording, it was 16-track recording. They hold up, and besides just being a piece of history, it's a great piece of recording. I don't mean technically, I mean the recording is great when it captures the moment, and there you have it. These artists become alive when you put the needle down. Here they are!
Web intern Karen Gwee contributed to this story.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2017-06-14/before-the-rumble-in-the-jungle-music-rang-out-at-zaire-74 | 2022-08-19T01:21:00Z |
Drive east from Washington and eventually you run smack into the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, the massive estuary that stretches from the mouth of the Susquehanna River at Maryland's northern tip and empties into the Atlantic 200 miles away near Norfolk, Va.
The Chesapeake is home to oysters, clams, and famous Maryland blue crab.
It's the largest estuary in the United States.
And for a long time, it was one of the most polluted.
Decades of runoff from grassy suburban yards and farm fields as far north as New York state, plus sewage and other waste dumped by the hundreds of gallons, made the Chesapeake so dirty that by 1983, the crab population had plummeted to just 2 percent of what Capt. John Smith saw when he explored the bay in the 1600s.
For years, people tried to clean it up. States and the federal government spent millions of dollars. The first effort began in 1983 — officially launched by President Ronald Reagan in his 1984 State of the Union Address.
And each time, the cleanup efforts failed. The bay's health wasn't getting much better.
By 2009, when the Chesapeake Bay Foundation sued the Environmental Protection Agency in an attempt to get the EPA to do more to clean up the bay, the Chesapeake's dead zone was so big it often covered a cubic mile in the summer.
Dead zones form when the water becomes too concentrated with nitrogen and phosphorus — allowing algal blooms to grow and block out sunlight from reaching beneath the water and causing populations of fish and crabs to plummet.
Then, last summer, scientists recorded no dead zone in the Chesapeake Bay. And wildlife was returning, too. The EPA's new plan seemed to be working.
"When I first heard that spawning sturgeon were back in the bay, my reaction was, 'Yes! We can get this done,'" says Will Baker, the nonprofit Chesapeake Bay Foundation's president. "It's really exciting. You give nature half a chance and she will produce every single time."
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Scientists and advocates for the bay say that success is fragile. And it may be even more so now. The Trump administration's budget proposal calls for eliminating the program's $73 million in funding.
"I think if we saw the federal government withdraw, you would see the Chesapeake Bay revert to a national disgrace right as it's becoming a great national source of pride," Baker says. "Things are going in the right direction, but nature can turn on a dime and I don't think it's a scare tactic to say within the next eight years, we could see the last 35 years of effort go down the tubes and start to change direction."
And that could have implications not only for the future of the bay cleanup, but for any other states hoping to clean up some of the country's other most polluted waters — from Lake Erie to the Gulf of Mexico.
Out on the Chesapeake Bay
Locals like 22-year-old Matt Gaskins say the difference in the bay's health is noticeable.
He's on a boat with two of his friends. A handful of blue crabs click in a bucket resting in the middle of his small boat. Gaskins says he can tell how the bay's doing by how many crabs he's catching. He was out on the South River the day before.
"Everyone pretty much around the whole river has been doing really well," he says. "The rockfish are doing really well this year, and also the crabs are doing really well."
Scientists from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation say that's proof the cleanup efforts are making a difference.
"The trend is for a smaller volume of the dead zone over time, which is really encouraging. For the last two years, they never measured water that had zero oxygen, which is the first time that it had ever happened in the history of collecting data," says Beth McGee, a scientist with the foundation.
But why is the cleanup finally working now, after all those years of trying?
In 2009, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation sued the EPA, trying to compel the agency to enact a tougher cleanup plan. In the past, a group of six states that make up the Chesapeake Bay watershed — Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware and New York, plus the District of Columbia, had put in place various pollution control plans to limit the fertilizer and sewage they released into the bay.
But without sufficient funding or any real consequences for states that didn't meet benchmarks, things didn't really improve.
The Obama administration needed to change that. To do it, the administration came up with a novel interpretation of the Clean Water Act of 1972, which gives the federal government the power to require that states write a "pollution diet" for any body of water the feds declare polluted. States have to calculate how much of each pollutant a body of water can take on, and then figure out how to hit those numbers.
But actually making the reductions had always been voluntary. Only one in five of these pollution diets had actually been implemented, and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation wanted to ensure states followed through. The Obama administration would use its powers under the Clean Water Act to compel states to take action — by withholding funding from states that didn't follow through on implementing their cleanup plans.
Baker says that's part of the challenge — cleaning up the Chesapeake requires cooperation not just from the places that have the bay in their backyards — but also from states in the whole watershed whose rivers and streams feed into the bay.
"The critical role of the EPA has been to be the glue that holds the six states and the District of Columbia together — working in concert to save the Chesapeake Bay system," Baker says.
How do you convince states without that tangible tie to make sacrifices for a bay they don't even border?
"The Chesapeake Bay is a system of six states, 64,000 square miles," Baker says. "And when you work in Pennsylvania for clean water in the Chesapeake Bay, you're really working for clean water in Pennsylvania."
The EPA's plan was controversial from the start. The American Farm Bureau Federation sued over it. As attorney general of Oklahoma, Scott Pruitt signed an amicus brief supporting the Farm Bureau's position. He's now running the EPA — the agency that is tasked with administering it.
The Supreme Court declined to take up the case — letting a lower court's ruling stand that upheld the program.
Farm to bay
Chip Bowling's farm sits on banks of the Wicomico River in southern Maryland. The Wicomico flows into the Potomac River, which flows into the Chesapeake Bay.
He farms 1,600 acres of corn, soybeans and wheat on land that's been in his family for seven generations.
"When we got our work done, we literally would jump out of our work clothes and put a pair of shorts on and T-shirt, and run down here, and either swim, fish, get on the boat," he says.
He's been doing that more than 50 years.
"If you walked at the end of this pier when I was a kid, you'd see aquatic grass growing," Bowling says. "You actually had a hard time walking through it because the grass was so lush underwater."
That lush grass provided a habitat for crabs and fish. Now, it's beginning to return.
Agriculture was a big focus of the cleanup plan. As chairman of the National Corn Growers Association, Bowling and his organization joined the lawsuit. In Maryland, for example, the state imposed regulations as part of the cleanup that required farmers to write pollution diets for their farms.
The federal government provided money to help, like funds for planting buffer strips between cropland and waterways that feed into the bay. States wrote their own plans to meet federal benchmarks and the federal government could withhold funding from states that didn't comply.
That upset farmers, who felt the EPA was going too far.
But Bowling has come around.
"Nobody likes rules," he says. "Nobody really likes regulations. But you also know that you have to have both."
What changed? The plan appeared to be working.
Bowling, who once joined a lawsuit to rule the program unconstitutional, is fighting for the program's survival.
"It was a struggle to get there," he says. "I was critical in the beginning. What we do know now is that working together, we have figured out a way — with funding — to get those programs in place and to get the bay on track."
But the big part of that, at least for Bowling, is funding. And the Trump administration has proposed cutting it entirely from the federal budget — from $73 million to zero.
For Billy Crook, a commercial crabber who makes runs on the Chesapeake, a healthy bay can have a big impact on his family.
"I got a bunch of little kids. I had a good year last year, so they got a trip to Disney World," he says.
But that doesn't mean he gives the EPA credit.
"The EPA — they do some good, but mostly, they do a lot of talk," he says, leaning over the side of his boat. "They always talk about putting money in the bay. We never see the physical evidence of them doing much."
Bowling may support the Chesapeake Bay's cleanup program, but that doesn't mean he's clamoring for a similar program elsewhere — such as in the Mississippi River watershed. Runoff into the rivers and streams there feed the Gulf of Mexico's dead zone — predicted this year to cover an area the size of New Jersey.
"I can guarantee you, they're not going to ask for one like the Chesapeake Bay," Bowling says. "Hopefully we won't have a mandate nationwide. In my opinion, knowing what we're doing, I think that voluntary is a great way to start. The mandate made us do it, but I can guarantee you we would still change the way we farm."
Lauren Lurkins, director of natural and environmental resources for the Illinois Farm Bureau, says farmers in her state have increasingly prioritized water cleanup over the last few years, but that a Chesapeake-like program would be a step too far for states bordering the Mississippi River.
"It's a huge land mass that is covered and it gets really complicated and it makes for a bigger effort that is pushed down from the federal government," Lurkins says. "(Illinois farmers) don't have the ability to help shape or start to engage in a plan that covers 31 states or even half of that. It's just something that's brought down on top of them."
Even EPA officials under the Obama administration — and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation — have refrained from touting the bay cleanup as a program ready for adoption elsewhere.
"We're not talking about cleaning up the waters of the world. We're talking about one iconic national treasure. If others can use the protocols that have been put in place here so successfully, go for it," Baker says.
Sen. Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat who's been advocating for the Chesapeake cleanup for decades, is more confident the plan can be employed in other places. Even so, he acknowledges adopting the plan elsewhere won't likely happen in the near future.
"I think this model will expand and be used in other parts of the country," he told NPR. "There's no question that if we had a different administration that put a higher priority on the environment, that it would be more aggressive in using this type of model in other places in the country."
During his confirmation hearing, Pruitt told Cardin he promised to preserve the program. The EPA did not respond to a request from NPR for an interview.
But Cardin says he's optimistic about the Chesapeake cleanup's future. White House budgets are just proposals — and almost every federal program has an advocate somewhere in Congress.
"I've talked to my Democratic and Republican colleagues and they're very supportive of the federal role in the Chesapeake Bay program," he says. "It's in everyone's interest to preserve this unique body of water. It's not of one state or one region, but a national treasure."
Bowling is also confident the funding won't disappear.
"We think that when the new administration figures out what they're going to cut and how they're going to cut it, that there's still going to be funding left for programs like environmental cleanup," Bowing says. "I can guarantee you we're doing something in D.C. today to make sure that we pass on to the administration and Administrator Pruitt what we're doing works and we need funding to get there. I don't think they're going to allow something that's come so far to go away."
But funding for new programs? That will be a tough sell.
A couple of years ago, environmentalists outside the watershed may have looked eagerly to the Chesapeake Bay as a model cleanup they could adopt in their own backyards.
But now there's an even more basic worry — whether the model plan itself will continue.
Selena Simmons-Duffin produced and Jolie Myers edited this radio story.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2017-06-28/chesapeake-bay-dead-zones-are-fading-but-proposed-epa-cuts-threaten-success | 2022-08-19T01:21:06Z |
Many Americans have no idea there are actually four official verses to the "Star-Spangled Banner" — and even fewer know about a little-known, unofficial fifth verse, written a half century later by poet Oliver Wendell Holmes. It goes like this:
When our land is illum'd with Liberty's smile,
If a foe from within strike a blow at her glory,
Down, down, with the traitor that dares to defile
The flag of her stars and the page of her story!
By the millions unchain'd who our birthright have gained
We will keep her bright blazon forever unstained!
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
While the land of the free is the home of the brave.
Holmes wrote this extra verse, long after Francis Scott Key wrote the original. The U.S. was in the grip of civil war, and unlike the familiar verse, it's not about a foreign enemy. It's about the foe from within:
Down, down, with the traitor that dares to defile
The flag of her stars and the page of her story!
"He wrote that fifth verse, I believe, with real sorrow at what was happening to his country," explains Stephen Mucher, education professor at Bard College.
Mucher says Holmes' words have new relevance today. "The divisions that we had in this country in 1861 are similar to what we have now," he says.
Of course, it was actual war back then. This verse, which circulated throughout the north, contained hope for the future:
By the millions unchain'd who our birthright have gained
We will keep her bright blazon forever unstained!
"The millions unchain'd" is looking ahead to the emancipation of enslaved people.
Mucher says he can't imagine a country without "O Say Can You See." But he'd like for people to sing both the first and the fifth stanzas, as a way for us to unite around the principles of the constitution — both in pride and protest.
Copyright 2017 KQED | https://www.keranews.org/2017-07-04/the-star-spangled-banner-verse-youve-probably-never-heard | 2022-08-19T01:31:02Z |
When senators come back to Washington on Monday, a handful of Republicans will help decide the fate of legislation that could reshape health care in America.
One of them is Nevada Republican Dean Heller.
Sen. Heller is one of a small bunch of Republicans who have said they will not support the latest draft proposal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Republican leadership can only lose the support of two of its own senators and still pass such a bill.
The Republican senators who say they'll vote no on the latest health care plan fall into two camps. Members of the party's right wing think this proposal is too timid and doesn't go far enough to undo the Affordable Care Act. More moderate Republicans, like Heller, think it is harsh and goes too far.
"I'm telling you right now, I cannot support a piece of legislation that takes away insurance away from tens of millions of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Nevadans," he said.
Nevada's popular governor, Brian Sandoval, was the first Republican governor in the country to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. More than 200,000 uninsured people got coverage after the expansion.
With that expansion of coverage, many people here are watching the fate of this bill to learn whether they'll be able to keep going to the doctor.
Heller's position has prompted advocacy groups and constituents on both sides of the issue to flood his office with calls.
For weeks, protesters have been showing up outside the senator's Las Vegas office urging him to oppose any changes to the health care system that would roll back provisions like the Medicaid expansion or funding for Planned Parenthood.
Cyndy Hernandez, who helped organize the most recent protest, says Heller's opposition to the bill GOP leadership is crafting isn't necessarily a done deal — "not until he marks that button on his desk in the Senate chamber."
Patients at FirstMed clinic, where 80 percent of the patients are on Medicaid, voice their concern on a daily basis, nurse Maria Vital says. Administrators say the clinic would be forced to close without the funding it gets through the Affordable Care Act. Many of these patients went years without seeing a doctor for easily treatable conditions before the clinic opened, Vital says.
"They're very scared," she says. "They're asking us what will happen to them, and I tell them we will try to be here as long as we can for them."
Across town in Henderson, Taylor Lewis lives with her 7-year-old daughter Riley in a modest condo, with a couple of dogs and a large collection of plastic toy dinosaurs. Riley whispers their names as she pulls each one out of a big paper bag: stegosaurus, pterodactyl, Tyrannosaurus rex.
Ten days after Riley was born, a helicopter rushed her to the hospital for emergency heart surgery. When Taylor got over the shock of her daughter's near-death, she got another shock. The helivac bill totaled $20,000.
On top of being a single mom, Taylor has been working part time and studying part time — she just finished her master's in public health.
Until she finds a full-time job, she depends on Medicaid to cover all of her daughter's medical costs.
She sometimes thinks about what her life would be like if Nevada had not expanded Medicaid coverage.
"I mean, I'd be without anything. I'd be without a car, a house," Taylor says.
For people on both sides of this debate, the stakes seem far higher than a typical piece of legislation.
People like Taylor feel that what has been proposed puts their lives on the line; Republicans who support the bill see a chance for lawmakers like Heller to keep a promise that Republicans have made in every campaign for nearly a decade.
Conservative talk radio host Wayne Allyn Root says nearly every caller now talks about voting Heller out of office because of his opposition to the draft proposal that Republicans floated in recent weeks.
"If Heller votes no on the repeal he's got to go, you gotta primary him," he says.
Root broadcasts out of his home studio for three hours each day. He has piles of framed photographs, including images of him with President Trump, Newt Gingrich and Ronald Reagan.
Root says his listeners are aghast that a Republican senator from their own state could be responsible for helping to kill this bill.
National groups on both sides have put millions of dollars into TV ads trying to sway Heller. The senator is home for the July Fourth recess this week, but he isn't spending that time holding town halls.
In the small town of Ely, he rode a horse in the July Fourth parade. He watched the fireworks in Elko, another town in rural northern Nevada. Even there, some people heckled him.
Heller declined the Republican Party's invitation to march in the town of Pahrump, which has the same spectrum of Republican views that's dividing the Senate.
Local party chairman Joe Burdzinski thinks the bill is too timid. He'd stand with senators like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, holding out for a full repeal.
"The Republican Party has said for the last eight years we're gonna repeal and get rid of Obamacare. That's what Donald Trump said he wanted to do, that's what other Republicans running for office have said. Now they have to live up to that commitment to the American people because ... the American people voted for that," he says.
Leo Blundo, another official with the Nye County Republican Central Committee, has more sympathy for Sen. Heller, but doesn't quite believe Republican leaders who say this is the only train leaving the station.
"It's public knowledge we got both houses [of Congress]," he says. "Get some business done. ... Quit mickey-mousing around and get some work done."
For Heller, the considerations about Medicaid expansion and repeal promises might all take a back seat to a more pressing reality. He's up for re-election next year — a Republican in a state that has gone blue for the last three presidential elections.
Whatever position he takes on the final bill, that race will be far from an easy win.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2017-07-07/nevada-voters-divided-over-health-care-put-moderate-republican-in-tough-spot | 2022-08-19T01:31:08Z |
Border Patrol: Woman crossing border attempts to smuggle meth, fentanyl in laundry basket
EL PASO, Texas – U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Texas found more than just dirty clothes when they investigated a basket of laundry making its way across the border.
The officers were working at the Paso Del Norte border crossing in El Paso on Aug. 13 when they encountered a 26-year-old female U.S. citizen. They said she was crossing the border from Mexico into the U.S in a vehicle.
The officers stopped the woman and conducted a secondary inspection of the vehicle, which included screening by a K-9 officer and an X-ray inspection. This search led the officers to the discovery of multiple bundles inside a basket of laundry containing 4.27 pounds of methamphetamine and .71 pounds of fentanyl.
In a release, CBP El Paso Port Director Ray Provencio said people attempting to smuggle drugs in baskets of laundry was “out of the ordinary.”
“A seizure like this serves as a reminder that smugglers will use any and all means available in their attempts to introduce contraband into the United States,” he said.
CBP seized the drugs and the vehicle and turned the driver over to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for charges connected to the failed smuggling attempt.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/19/border-patrol-woman-crossing-border-attempts-smuggle-meth-fentanyl-laundry-basket/ | 2022-08-19T01:35:46Z |
Guns, 2,000 rounds of ammo found in I-85 shootings suspect’s vehicle
LEE COUNTY, Ala. (WSFA/Gray News) - The Auburn Police Department released a video statement Thursday revealing it recovered numerous guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition from a triple-shooting suspect’s vehicle.
Auburn Assistant Police Chief Michael Harris said investigators recovered multiple firearms and more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition from Jerel Raphael Brown’s 1996 Cadillac Fleetwood sedan.
Harris said investigators believe they also recovered the firearm used in all three shootings.
“Because of the alarming amount of weaponry recovered, and combined with the actions of the suspect, there can be little doubt that the immediate, collaborative efforts of all the agencies involved ended an active danger to the public that spanned from multiple communities and into multiple states,” Harris stated.
The first shooting happened early Wednesday morning in Montgomery where police responded to a woman’s report that her vehicle had been damaged along Atlanta Highway. She was not injured.
The second shooting happened around 6:15 a.m. in Auburn, about 50 miles away along a stretch of Interstate 85 northbound. Harris revealed that the victim in that shooting had been shot in the head and remained in critical condition as of Thursday.
The third shooting happened less than an hour later further up I-85 in Troup County, Georgia, where sheriff’s deputies responded to another report of a commuter saying they’d been fired upon by someone driving an older Cadillac. That driver was also uninjured.
After obtaining a photo of the suspect vehicle, law enforcement put out an urgent notice across the Southeast to be on the look out for the vehicle.
Brown’s sedan was pulled over around 12:15 p.m. in nearby Chambers County where he was taken into custody and transferred back to Lee County.
Brown faces multiple charges, including attempted murder, in several jurisdictions.
He remains in the Lee County Jail without bond. A motive remains unclear.
Copyright 2022 WSFA via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/19/guns-2000-rounds-ammo-found-i-85-shootings-suspects-vehicle/ | 2022-08-19T01:35:53Z |
HONOLULU (KITV4) -- Recently passed Federal legislation has transformed the sports landscape. Businesses can enter into Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) Agreements with student-athletes.
Some business leaders say that could be worth millions of dollars in revenue to the community as a whole, starting with the University of Hawaii's Braddahood and Sistahood Grindz programs.
The Hawaii Restaurant Association (HRA) earlier this month launched Sistahhood Grindz in support of the University of Hawaii's women's volleyball and soccer teams. Restaurants will take turns providing one meal per week to players and staff of the participating teams.
The other UH teams signed on are men's football and basketball, and women's basketball.
But it's so much more than a free meal. Head football coach Timmy Chang says this is feeding excitement for UH sports.
"We want to retain as much of the kids on the team and in the state as we can. We want to recruit the best kids in the state. We want the best kids in the country to come and play for our university," Chang noted.
"It's turned some pretty big recruits' heads. I'm really excited about that," UH Women's Soccer head coach Michele "Bud" Nagamine added.
Ryan Tanaka co-owns Giovanni Pastrami and chairs the Hawaii Restaurant Association. He came up with the idea.
"It's a retention tool for the coaches. It's a recruiting tool for the coaches. It shows our players and potential players, 'Hawaii supports all of you,'" Tanaka said.
Why would a businessman whose work doesn't professionally touch athletics have such a vested interest?
"This program can transform our economy and take us out of COVID," Tanaka said.
Tanaka believes it could be worth tens of millions of dollars over the short term in sports tourism. And that appetite for UH sports would build on itself.
"That allows the Legislature to allocate more money to build facilities and increase programs," Tanaka foresees.
Chang agrees that winning sports teams are big business.
"These NILs don't run short of what Ryan's done with the HRA. There's millions of dollars involved in paying kids that haven't even played yet," Chang said.
The partnership can even teach the student athletes some business smarts.
Nagamine emphasizes the soft skills the program teaches the student athletes.
"Many good things like relationships and mentoring opportunities can come out of there," Nagamine said.
The HRA says it's working on signing the men's volleyball and baseball teams next. Tanaka says every win on the field is a win for the community as a whole.
Diane is KITV4’s weekend evening anchor and weekday reporter. She hosts the Aging Well series on Tuesday evenings at 5, 6, and 10 p.m. She is a mother, a cat owner, and a yogi. | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/braddahhood-and-sistahood-grindz-programs-feeding-excitement-for-uh-sports/article_ad4933e4-1ea2-11ed-b9bf-73f83bd50629.html | 2022-08-19T01:41:45Z |
A bubble-breathing lizard, shelter-seeking elephants and a ravenous bat are just a few of the images in a spectacular showcase of nature's weird and wonderful creatures unveiled in this year's BMC Ecology and Evolution Image Competition.
But it's the photo of a "zombie" fungus-infected fly that has been crowned the overall winner in the nature journal's second annual contest.
The striking scene captured by Spanish photographer Roberto García-Roa, from the University of Valencia, was of the fruiting spores of a parasitic fungus erupting from the body of a fly in the Tambopata National Reserve, in Peru.
The image "depicts a conquest that has been shaped by thousands of years of evolution," García-Roa said in a news release.
"The spores of the so-called 'zombie' fungus have infiltrated the exoskeleton and mind of the fly and compelled it to migrate to a location that is more favourable for the fungus's growth," he said. He added that the fruiting bodies of the fungus will later be jettisoned to infect more victims.
Christy Anna Hipsley, a senior editorial board member at the journal, and one of the competition's judges, likened the image to something observed in "science-fiction."
"It illustrates both life and death simultaneously as the death of the fly gives life to the fungus," she said.
Winners and runners-up were also selected in four categories: relationships in nature, research in action, biodiversity under threat and life close up.
Among the winning images was US photographer Brandon André Güell's picture of gliding treefrog embryos developing within their eggs in the Osa Peninsula, in Costa Rica, during an explosive breeding event following a rainstorm.
The competition was created to give ecologists and evolutionary biologists the opportunity to celebrate their research creatively to emphasize the need to protect nature, organizers said. | https://www.kitv.com/news/national/stunning-images-of-natures-weird-and-wonderful-unveiled-in-photo-competition/article_98fd5e8c-e23b-5a85-9a9c-d4c27325fc7a.html | 2022-08-19T01:41:51Z |
For students starting medical school, the first year can involve a lot of time in a lecture hall. There are hundreds of terms to master and pages upon pages of notes to take.
But when the new class of medical students begins at the University of Vermont's Larner College of Medicine next week, a lot of that learning won't take place with a professor at a lectern.
The school has begun to phase out lectures in favor of what's known as "active learning" and plans to be done with lectures altogether by 2019.
Ironically, the man leading the effort loves lectures. In fact, William Jeffries, a dean at the school, wrote the chapter on lectures in two prominent textbooks on medical education. But he's now convinced they're not the best way to learn.
Jeffries spoke with All Things Considered about the thinking behind this move. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Why are lectures bad?
Well, I wouldn't say that they're bad. The issue is that there is a lot of evidence that lectures are not the best way to accumulate the skills needed to become a scientist or a physician. We've seen much evidence in the literature, accumulated in the last decade, that shows that when you do a comparison between lectures and other methods of learning — typically called "active learning" methods — that lectures are not as efficient or not as successful in allowing students to accumulate knowledge in the same amount of time.
So is it because we don't show up or because we're sleeping through lectures?
There's a lot of that, yes. It turns out that the lectures are not really good at engaging the learners in doing something. And I think that's the most important part of learning. We're finding out a lot from the neuroscience of learning that the brain needs to accumulate the information, but then also organize it and make sense of it and create an internal story that makes the knowledge make sense.
When you just tell somebody something, the chances of them remembering it diminishes over time, but if you are required to use that information, chances are you'll remember it much better.
Give us an example of a topic taught in a traditional lecture versus an "active learning" setting.
A good example would be the teaching of what we would call pharmacokinetics — the science of drug delivery. So, how does a drug get to the target organ or targeted receptor?
A lot of the science of pharmacokinetics is simply mathematical equations. If you have a lecture, it's simply presenting those equations and maybe giving examples of how they work.
In an active learning setting, you expect the students to learn about the equations before they get there. And when you get into the classroom setting, the students work in groups solving pharmacokinetic problems. Cases are presented where the patient gets a drug in a certain dose at a certain time, and you're looking at the action of that over time and the concentration of the drug in the blood.
So, those are the types of things where you're expecting the student to know the knowledge in order to use the knowledge. And then they don't forget it.
Have you had pushback to this move?
Certainly, we've gotten some pushback, but what I tell the average clinical faculty member is: "OK, if you like doing appendectomies using an old method because you like it, and you're really good at it, but it's really not the best method for the patient, would you do it?" Of course, the answer is always no. And then you turn around and say, "Well this method of teaching is actually not as good as other methods. Would you do that?" When confronted with a question like that, medical faculty typically tend to understand and agree.
Will this be the norm at every medical school in 10 or 20 years?
I hope so. [The] University of Vermont is not the only medical school that's recognized the value of active learning methods. A number of my colleagues around the country are leading similar efforts because of the incontrovertible evidence that active learning methods are superior to lectures.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2017-08-03/vermont-medical-school-says-goodbye-to-lectures | 2022-08-19T01:53:06Z |
Fitbit murder case: Husband sentenced to 65 years in prison for murdering wife
VERNON, Conn. (WFSB/Gray News) - After nearly seven years of litigation, a Connecticut man has learned his fate.
On Thursday, Richard Dabate was sentenced to 65 years in prison for murdering his wife, Connie Dabate, back in 2015.
WFSB reports Richard Dabate was found guilty earlier this year in the killing that occurred a few days before Christmas.
Prosecutors argued that Richard Dabate’s story of a deadly home invasion didn’t add up when data from Connie Dabate’s Fitbit fitness tracking device showed the mother of two walking around after the time Richard Dabate claimed she was killed.
Experts said that data helped the jury reach its quick verdict in the trial.
Connie Dabate’s family said justice was served, but the case forced them to relive painful memories.
Richard Dabate was not only convicted of murder but also of tampering with evidence and lying to police.
Copyright 2022 WFSB via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/19/fitbit-murder-case-husband-sentenced-65-years-prison-murdering-wife/ | 2022-08-19T01:53:53Z |
Guns, 2,000 rounds of ammo found in I-85 shootings suspect’s vehicle
LEE COUNTY, Ala. (WSFA/Gray News) - The Auburn Police Department released a video statement Thursday revealing it recovered numerous guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition from a triple-shooting suspect’s vehicle.
Auburn Assistant Police Chief Michael Harris said investigators recovered multiple firearms and more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition from Jerel Raphael Brown’s 1996 Cadillac Fleetwood sedan.
Harris said investigators believe they also recovered the firearm used in all three shootings.
“Because of the alarming amount of weaponry recovered, and combined with the actions of the suspect, there can be little doubt that the immediate, collaborative efforts of all the agencies involved ended an active danger to the public that spanned from multiple communities and into multiple states,” Harris stated.
The first shooting happened early Wednesday morning in Montgomery where police responded to a woman’s report that her vehicle had been damaged along Atlanta Highway. She was not injured.
The second shooting happened around 6:15 a.m. in Auburn, about 50 miles away along a stretch of Interstate 85 northbound. Harris revealed that the victim in that shooting had been shot in the head and remained in critical condition as of Thursday.
The third shooting happened less than an hour later further up I-85 in Troup County, Georgia, where sheriff’s deputies responded to another report of a commuter saying they’d been fired upon by someone driving an older Cadillac. That driver was also uninjured.
After obtaining a photo of the suspect vehicle, law enforcement put out an urgent notice across the Southeast to be on the look out for the vehicle.
Brown’s sedan was pulled over around 12:15 p.m. in nearby Chambers County where he was taken into custody and transferred back to Lee County.
Brown faces multiple charges, including attempted murder, in several jurisdictions.
He remains in the Lee County Jail without bond. A motive remains unclear.
Copyright 2022 WSFA via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/19/guns-2000-rounds-ammo-found-i-85-shootings-suspects-vehicle/ | 2022-08-19T01:53:59Z |
Police: Pennsylvania man tried to buy stolen human remains
(AP) - A Pennsylvania man was charged with abuse of a corpse, receiving stolen property and other charges after police say he allegedly tried to buy stolen human remains from an Arkansas woman for possible resale on Facebook.
A spokeswoman for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock confirmed that the remains were to be donated to UAMS’s facility. UAMS spokeswoman Leslie Taylor said they were instead stolen from Arkansas Central Mortuary Services in Little Rock by a female mortuary employee and sold, adding that there is an open federal investigation.
“We are very respectful of those who donate their bodies, and we are appalled that such a thing could happen,” Taylor said.
A representative of the mortuary hung up on a reporter who reached out for comment Thursday.
FBI Little Rock spokesman Conor Hagan said the office was aware of the Pennsylvania incident “but will not comment on ongoing investigations.” No charges had been filed as of Thursday against the Arkansas woman.
East Pennsboro Township Police in Pennsylvania announced the arrest of and charges against 40-year-old Jeremy Lee Pauley, of Enola, Pennsylvania. Pauley had been arrested on July 22 and had an initial court appearance Thursday.
Calls to an attorney representing Pauley were not returned late Thursday. Pauley was released on $50,000 bond, according to court records.
On a Facebook page under his name, Pauley has posted pictures of bags and stacks of femurs, one captioned, “Picked up more medical bones to sort through.” The Facebook page he uses to market his body parts is called “The Grand Wunderkammer,” “Vendors of the odd and unusual, museum exhibits, guest lectures, live entertainment, and so much more! Strange, curious, and unique in every way possible!” It also provides a link to his website.
“I think I’ve seen it all, and then something like this comes around,” said Sean McCormack, district attorney for Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, where Pauley was charged. “The question we had to answer was, Is the sale of body parts or bones and remains illegal ... or legal? Some of it, to our surprise, was legal. And as the investigation went on, it became clear there was illegal activity going on as well.”
Pauley, who described himself as a collector of what he called “oddities,” including human body parts, said the remains were acquired legally when first contacted by police, according to a police affidavit. Police initially found what they described as older human remains including full skeletons that they determined were legally obtained.
However, after a second tip about newer remains in Pauley’s home, investigators returned to the house to find more recent purchases. Police found three five-gallon buckets containing assorted body parts— including of children— and federal and state law enforcement agents intercepted packages addressed to Pauley from the Arkansas woman that contained body parts.
Pauley told investigators that he intended to resell the body parts, according to the affidavit. Investigators allege that Pauley arranged to pay the Arkansas woman $4,000 for the body parts through Facebook Messenger.
Facebook did not respond to messages seeking comments on Pauley’s pages. However, its community standards prohibit human exploitation and explicitly prohibit selling body parts through its commercial policies and advertising policies.
___
Associated Press writer Kantele Franko of Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/19/police-pennsylvania-man-tried-buy-stolen-human-remains/ | 2022-08-19T01:54:05Z |
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
As hard as Hurricane Irma hit Florida, it was much worse when it tore through islands in the Caribbean. Many of the 50,000 people who live on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands are in damaged homes without power. They're also struggling because of the huge amount of debris. It's everywhere, even blocking major roads. NPR's Jason Beaubien walked through the port of Charlotte Amalie to take a look.
JASON BEAUBIEN, BYLINE: Sort of all around St. Thomas at the moment you've just got piles of garbage in little corners, up against walls. You've also got people who've got tons of stuff that has gotten damaged and they're just throwing it out. Like right in front of us at the moment it's a bunch of Christmas stuff - people's stockings and their bulbs that they would be putting up on the trees and, like, an old suitcase and some shelves. People are just clearing out all the stuff that was severely damaged in Hurricane Irma.
LATTIE MAY PERCEVAL: The garbage truck wasn't out there for weeks.
BEAUBIEN: Sixty-eight-year-old Lattie May Perceval, pointing to a pile of trash just down the block from her house, says there hasn't been any garbage collection in her neighborhood since the storm. She says it's causing a lot of problems, like for her neighbor next door.
PERCEVAL: The garbage smells so bad. And she get - she having rat coming in her house, a big, big rat, because the garbage truck is not going out to pick up the garbage. It's time for the garbage truck to go out and pick up the garbage.
BEAUBIEN: But this is more than just a trash problem. Dealing with this issue is critical to the recovery, and crews are making an effort to get to the piles of debris and trash in the streets.
(SOUNDBITE OF TRUCK HORN)
BEAUBIEN: They've been working systematically to clear the streets, starting from the port where desperately needed food and fuel are being brought in. And then the crews are moving block by block up the hills of Charlotte Amalie. This is all happening as most of St. Thomas is still without power, and officials say it could be months before the electricity is fully restored. Downed power lines, tree branches, sheets of metal roofing and other debris still block many roads, making moving anywhere hazardous and difficult. Ten days after Irma hit, the main hospital remains shut. People are still being evacuated out of houses and apartments, some of which don't even have walls. Main roads across the island remain impassable.
ERICSON REVAN: You see, like, the whole island got swashed. So now hard to maneuver, you know?
BEAUBIEN: Ericson Revan is with the private construction company that's been working to clear the streets.
REVAN: It's a big job, and it's really hard.
BEAUBIEN: He says they're separating the debris, including lots of sheets of galvanized roofing material, as they move through the streets to make it easier to dispose of it.
REVAN: Galvanized, you see? That other truck, it carry galvanized. And there's another truck I have carry wood. And this one carry the trash. The big green one carry the trash.
BEAUBIEN: Public works officials have set up a dumping site over by the hospital to deal with the huge volume of hurricane debris. Revan's crew has been working all week through rains that have further hampered cleanup efforts. But his workers, he says, are eager to clear as much as they can.
REVAN: And the guys, them is very young and energetic even though we had this road here, the rain was coming. I asked them if they want to quit for the day. They said no, they want to continue. They've got to get the island back in shape.
BEAUBIEN: Getting the island back in shape is the big goal right now. And that starts with just being able to get the streets open again. Revan, however, says it's unclear exactly how long clearing the streets will take.
REVAN: It's going to be a long time. It will be a long time.
BEAUBIEN: And that's what officials are saying about all the other aspects of this recovery - the electricity, the hospital, reconstructing houses. It's going to take a long time. But to get started, one of the first things you need is for people to be able to move around. Jason Beaubien, NPR News, St. Thomas.
(SOUNDBITE OF SAMIYAM'S "ITALY") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR. | https://www.keranews.org/2017-09-15/st-thomas-starts-to-clean-up-islands-worth-of-debris-after-hurricane-irma | 2022-08-19T02:01:19Z |
Editor's note: The original version of this story said that the iguanas on the U.S. Virgin Islands feed on mosquitoes and that Hurricane Irma decimated the iguana population, which would most likely result in a proliferation of mosquitoes. In fact, iguanas do not feed on mosquitoes and there is no correlation between their reduced number and the mosquito population. We have updated this story.
More than two weeks after Irma hit St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, you can still see how the winds ripped through tin roofs like lids of sardine cans, snapped electricity poles as if they were toothpicks, upended trucks and planes on the airport tarmac. At a nearby marina, a yacht's bow still sticks out of the water.
The strong winds also uprooted trees, cracking their branches and defoliating them to the bare bone. St. Thomas is no longer a lush green rain forest. Instead, it's dull brown with naked trees on the hillsides.
For the thousands of iguanas, this massive destruction of their vegetation is tragic. The tree canopies where they live and hide are all gone. They can't camouflage themselves anymore. The fruit, leaves and hibiscus flowers have disappeared.
Since Hurricanes Irma and Maria, there's also been a lot of rain in the region. That's promising for trees and fruit to grow back so iguanas can hide and eat. But the rains also mean more mosquitoes.
"The debris and receding floodwaters are excellent breeding sites for disease-carrying mosquitoes," says Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. That's a boon for diseases like dengue, chikungunya and Zika.
"Without healthy populations of insect-eating bats, lizards, frogs and birds, our human populations are more vulnerable," says U.S. Virgin Islands wildlife biologist Renata Platenberg.
She adds that these species are a part of a critical ecosystem that ultimately benefits humans on the island.
Iguanas are not a native to the island, but nonetheless they are part of the wildlife that plays a major role in the food chain. They eat fruit that also attracts insects. They've made the Virgin Islands their home because the climate and vegetation had been, until now, just right.
Despite the role these hungry lizards play in the overall ecosystem, islanders either love them or hate them. Love them because they're tame, social reptiles. They don't bite — unless provoked, of course. Their prehistoric look offers great photo ops for tourists.
And they're hated by locals mainly because they eat home gardens and poop on people's properties.
The iguanas might be able to swim to their neighboring island of St. John, but they'll find the forests are all gone there, too.
"All the islands in the same proximity are all devastated," says iguana lover Laural Branick, a park ranger at Virgin Islands National Park. "There's nothing for them to eat."
With the amount of deforestation caused by this year's hurricanes, it could take a long time for the trees to come back. So for the moment, the green lizards are easy to spot, perched on broken branches, running aimlessly across streets — and sometimes getting hit by cars.
"We should just eat them," says St. Thomas native Brigitte Berry. "They're delicious."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2017-09-30/irma-was-bad-news-for-iguanas-good-news-for-mosquitoes | 2022-08-19T02:01:27Z |
Taco Bell testing new vegan meat alternative
Published: Aug. 18, 2022 at 9:50 PM EDT|Updated: 21 minutes ago
(CNN) - Taco Bell is testing a new plant-based meat alternative at some of its locations.
The fast-food chain announced it has debuted a new crispy melt taco at some restaurants in Alabama.
Unlike its other new items, this product is being tested with Taco Bell’s new proprietary plant-based protein.
According to the company, the product is a soy and pea protein blend inspired by classic Taco Bell flavors.
It says the American Vegetarian Association has certified the protein vegan, and it can be added to other menu options.
Testing the new product comes as Taco Bell partners with Beyond Meat for more vegetarian options.
Taco Bell said it plans to have those products available before the end of the year.
Copyright 2022 CNN. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/19/taco-bell-testing-new-vegan-meat-alternative/ | 2022-08-19T02:14:18Z |
TUCSON, Ariz., Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Accelerate Diagnostics, Inc. (Nasdaq: AXDX) ("Accelerate Diagnostics") today announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 17,500,000 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $2.00 per share. The gross proceeds to Accelerate Diagnostics from the offering, before deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses, are expected to be $35.0 million. In addition, Accelerate Diagnostics has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 2,625,000 shares of its common stock at the public offering price, less the underwriting discounts and commissions. Accelerate Diagnostics anticipates using the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes and to fund commercialization efforts. All of the shares are being offered by Accelerate Diagnostics, and the offering is expected to close on or about August 23, 2022, subject to customary closing conditions.
William Blair & Company, L.L.C. is acting as lead book-running manager for the offering. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. is acting as a book-running manager and Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC is acting as co-manager for the offering.
A shelf registration statement relating to the shares was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on January 27, 2021 and declared effective on February 4, 2021. A preliminary prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus relating to the offering were filed with the SEC. A copy of the final prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus relating to the offering, when available, may be obtained from William Blair & Company, L.L.C., Attention: Prospectus Department, 150 North Riverside Plaza, Chicago, IL 60606, or by telephone at (800) 621-0687, or by email at prospectus@williamblair.com or by visiting the EDGAR database on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.
About Accelerate Diagnostics, Inc.
Accelerate Diagnostics, Inc. is an in vitro diagnostics company dedicated to providing solutions for the global challenges of antimicrobial resistance and sepsis. The Accelerate Pheno® system and Accelerate Arc™ system are designed to reduce the time clinicians must wait to determine the most optimal antibiotic therapy for bacteremic patients. These diagnostic systems are designed to serve clinical laboratories with automated solutions to expedite time to identification and antimicrobial susceptibility test results directly from positive blood culture samples.
The "ACCELERATE DIAGNOSTICS" and "ACCELERATE PHENO" and "ACCELERATE PHENOTEST" and "ACCELERATE ARC" and diamond shaped logos and marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Accelerate Diagnostics, Inc.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain of the statements made in this press release are forward looking, such as those, among others, relating to Accelerate Diagnostics' expectations regarding the anticipated closing date and its anticipated use of the net proceeds from the offering. Actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected or implied in these forward-looking statements and Accelerate Diagnostics cautions investors not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Factors that may cause such a difference include risks and uncertainties related to completion of the public offering on the anticipated terms or at all, market conditions and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions related to the public offering. More information about the risks and uncertainties faced by Accelerate Diagnostics is contained in the section captioned "Risk Factors" in the preliminary prospectus supplement filed with the SEC and the documents incorporated by reference therein, which include Accelerate Diagnostics' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 and Quarterly Reports Form 10-Q for the periods ended March 31, 2022 and June 30, 2022. Except as required by law, Accelerate Diagnostics disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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SOURCE Accelerate Diagnostics, Inc. | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/19/accelerate-diagnostics-announces-pricing-public-offering-common-stock/ | 2022-08-19T02:14:24Z |
TORONTO and VANCOUVER, BC, Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - GCM Mining Corp. (GCM Mining) (TSX: GCM) (OTCQX: TPRFF) and Aris Gold Corporation (Aris Gold) (TSX: ARIS) (OTCQX: ALLXF) announce they have filed the joint management information circular and related meeting materials in connection with their respective special meetings of shareholders to be held on September 19, 2022. The purpose of the meetings is to approve the proposed business combination of GCM Mining and Aris Gold announced on July 25, 2022. The combined entity will continue under the name Aris Mining Corporation and will be a gold producer with increased scale, increased diversification of operating and project development risk, have an improved capital markets profile, and reduced overhead costs.
Pursuant to the transaction, Aris Gold shareholders will receive 0.5 of one GCM Mining share for each Aris Gold share held. At closing, based on the respective share values at the date of announcement of the transaction, GCM Mining and Aris Gold shareholders (excluding the 44% of Aris Gold shares held by GCM Mining) will own approximately 74% and 26% of the combined entity, respectively, on a diluted in-the-money basis.
The Board of Directors of GCM Mining and the Board of Directors of Aris Gold have unanimously approved the transaction and recommend that shareholders vote in favour of the transaction at their respective meetings.
On August 16, 2022, Aris Gold obtained an interim order from the Supreme Court of British Columbia authorizing the holding of the Aris Gold special meeting of its shareholders and matters relating to the conduct of the Aris Gold Meeting. Mailing of the joint management information circular and related meeting materials will begin soon and shareholders of both GCM Mining and Aris Gold should receive them shortly. All of the meeting materials are available on GCM Mining's website at www.gcm-mining.com and on Aris Gold's website at www.arisgold.com, as well as on each company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. GCM Mining and Aris Gold shareholders should carefully review all of the meeting materials as they contain important information concerning the transaction and the rights and entitlements of the shareholders thereunder.
Completion of the transaction is subject to customary conditions, including GCM Mining shareholder approval, Aris Gold shareholder approval, final approval from the Toronto Stock Exchange, and other regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to close before the end of September 2022.
GCM Mining is a mid-tier gold producer with a proven track record of mine building and operating in Latin America. In Colombia, the Company is the leading high-grade underground gold and silver producer with several mines in operation at its Segovia Operations. Segovia produced 206,389 ounces of gold in 2021. In Guyana, the Company is advancing its fully funded Toroparu Project, one of the largest undeveloped gold/copper projects in the Americas, which is expected to commence production of more than 200,000 ounces of gold annually in 2024. GCM Mining has equity interests in Aris Gold Corporation (~44%; TSX: ARIS; Colombia – Marmato, Soto Norte; Canada – Juby), Denarius Metals Corp. (~32%; TSX-V: DSLV; Spain – Lomero-Poyatos and Colombia – Guia Antigua, Zancudo) and Western Atlas Resources Inc. (~26%; TSX-V: WA: Nunavut – Meadowbank).
Additional information on GCM Mining can be found at www.gcm-mining.com and www.sedar.com.
Aris Gold is a Canadian mining company listed on the TSX under the symbol ARIS and on the OTCQX under the symbol ALLXF. The Company is led by an executive team with a demonstrated track record of creating value through building globally relevant gold mining companies. In Colombia, Aris Gold operates the 100%-owned Marmato mine, where a modernization and expansion program is under way, and as of April 12, 2022, operates the Soto Norte joint venture, where environmental licensing is advancing to develop a new gold mine. Aris Gold also owns the Juby project, an advanced exploration stage gold project in the Abitibi greenstone belt of Ontario, Canada. Aris Gold plans to pursue acquisition and other growth opportunities to unlock value creation from scale and diversification.
Additional information on Aris Gold can be found at www.arisgold.com and www.sedar.com.
Forward-looking Information
This news release contains "forward-looking information" or forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All statements included herein are forward-looking, other than statements of historical fact, including without limitation statements relating to: approval by the GCM Mining and Aris Gold shareholders; the satisfaction of the conditions precedent to the transaction, and timing, receipt and anticipated effects of court, regulatory and other consents and approvals. Generally, the forward-looking information and forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "will continue" or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Statements concerning mineral resource estimates may also be deemed to constitute forward-looking information to the extent that they involve estimates of the mineralization that will be encountered. The material factors or assumptions used to develop forward-looking information or statements are disclosed throughout this news release.
Forward-looking information and forward-looking statements, while based on management's best estimates and assumptions, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of GCM Mining, Aris Gold and the resulting entity to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information or forward-looking statement
Although GCM Mining and Aris Gold have attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information and forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information or statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information or statements. The forward-looking statements and forward-looking information are made as of the date hereof and each of GCM Mining and Aris Gold disclaims any obligation to update any such factors or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking statements or forward-looking information contained herein to reflect future results. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information.
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SOURCE Aris Gold Corporation | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/19/aris-gold-gcm-mining-file-joint-circular-special-meetings-shareholders-approve-business-combination/ | 2022-08-19T02:14:31Z |
- First full-electric model coming to market in 2024 will be a performance SUV called the Acura ZDX
- Acura Type S performance variants will continue to put the driver experience first in the electrified future with ZDX Type S
- Acura will continue to be the tip of the spear for electrification and digitalization for American Honda
MONTEREY, Calif., Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Acura today announced that its first all-new full-electric SUV coming to market in 2024 will be named the Acura ZDX. Demonstrating its commitment to performance in the electrified era, Acura will also launch with a ZDX Type S variant, as the brand continues to focus on putting the driver experience first. The ZDX will be the first production model to feature many of the styling themes of the new Acura design direction introduced during Monterey Car Week in the form of the Acura Precision EV Concept.
The ZDX is being co-developed with GM utilizing the highly flexible global EV platform powered by Ultium batteries. Acura then will launch additional EV models starting in 2026 based on the company's own global e:Architecture.
"The Acura ZDX represents the start to what will be an accelerated path toward electrification by the end of the decade and the key role the Acura brand will play in our company's global goal to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050," said Emile Korkor, assistant vice president of Acura National Sales. "Acura will remain focused on performance in the electrified era and Type S will continue to represent the pinnacle of this direction."
The ZDX will be Acura's first zero-emissions SUV and the name pays homage to a previous Acura model of the same name, which was the first vehicle styled from the ground up in the Acura Design Studio which opened in Los Angeles in 2007. The new ZDX is now being styled in the same Acura Design Studio.
In April 2021, Honda global CEO Toshihiro Mibe outlined the company's vision for global sales of electrified vehicles as part of Honda's strategy to achieve carbon neutrality for its products and corporate activities by 2050. This vision called for 100-percent of the company's North American sales to be battery-electric and fuel cell electric vehicles by 2040. More details about that announcement are available here.
About Acura
Acura is a leading automotive nameplate that delivers Precision Crafted Performance – a commitment to expressive styling, high-performance and innovative engineering, all built on a foundation of quality and reliability. The Acura lineup currently features five distinctive models – the next-gen Integra sport compact, TLX sport sedan, the RDX and MDX sport-utility vehicles, and the electrified NSX supercar, along with high-performance Type S variants. Acura's first all-electric model, the ZDX SUV, will arrive in 2024. All Acura vehicles sold in America are made in the U.S., using domestic and globally sourced parts.
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SOURCE Acura | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/19/new-acura-zdx-zdx-type-s-will-take-brands-precision-crafted-performance-into-electrified-era/ | 2022-08-19T02:14:38Z |
EDISON, N.J., Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SFERRA Fine Linens, LLC ("SFERRA") is notifying individuals of a data incident. To date, we have no evidence of actual or attempted misuse of information as a result of this incident. This notice provides details about the incident, our response, and resources available to help protect information. Please note, this event did not impact any of SFERRA's e-commerce platforms or any information retained in our e-commerce systems.
What Happened? On or about April 24, 2022, SFERRA became aware of suspicious activity on its computer servers. SFERRA immediately took steps to secure our network, and with the assistance of third-party forensic specialists, deployed countermeasures to contain the event. SFERRA immediately began an investigation to determine the nature and scope of the activity, with the assistance of third-party forensic specialist. The investigation found that certain files may have been subject to unauthorized access between April 14, 2022, and April 24, 2022.
Given that certain files were potentially accessed without authorization, SFERRA undertook a comprehensive review of the data to understand the specific information potentially impacted and to whom it related. Once those efforts were completed, SFERRA worked diligently to provide notification to potentially impacted individuals as quickly as possible.
What Information Was Involved? The impacted information varied by individual but may include name, address, date of birth, Social Security number, driver's license, financial account information, medical and/or health insurance information, passport information, electronic/digital signature, and account access credentials.
What SFERRA is Doing. SFERRA take this event and the obligation to safeguard the information in its care very seriously. After discovering the suspicious activity, SFERRA promptly took steps to confirm its system security, and engaged third-party forensic specialists to assist in conducting a comprehensive investigation of the event to confirm its nature, scope, and impact. SFERRA also promptly notified federal law enforcement. Further, as part of its ongoing commitment to the privacy and security of personal information in its care, SFERRA is reviewing and enhancing existing policies and procedures relating to data protection and security. SFERRA has instituted additional security measures to better protect against future similar events. SFERRA is also notifying relevant regulatory authorities, as required.
What Affected Individuals Can Do. Individuals are encouraged to remain vigilant against incidents of identity theft by reviewing account statements and credit reports for unusual activity and reporting any suspicious activity immediately to their financial institution. Additional detail can be found below in the Steps You Can Take to Help Protect Your Personal Information.
For More Information. Individuals who have questions about this incident or believe they may be impacted by this incident, please call our dedicated call center at 1-800-939-4170, which is available from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday (excluding major U.S. holidays).
Steps You Can Take to Help Protect Your Personal Information
Monitor Your Accounts
Under U.S. law, a consumer is entitled to one free credit report annually from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. To order your free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call, toll-free, 1-877-322-8228. You may also directly contact the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below to request a free copy of your credit report.
Consumers have the right to place an initial or extended "fraud alert" on a credit file at no cost. An initial fraud alert is a 1-year alert that is placed on a consumer's credit file. Upon seeing a fraud alert display on a consumer's credit file, a business is required to take steps to verify the consumer's identity before extending new credit. If you are a victim of identity theft, you are entitled to an extended fraud alert, which is a fraud alert lasting seven years. Should you wish to place a fraud alert, please contact any one of the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below.
As an alternative to a fraud alert, consumers have the right to place a "credit freeze" on a credit report, which will prohibit a credit bureau from releasing information in the credit report without the consumer's express authorization. The credit freeze is designed to prevent credit, loans, and services from being approved in your name without your consent. However, you should be aware that using a credit freeze to take control over who gets access to the personal and financial information in your credit report may delay, interfere with, or prohibit the timely approval of any subsequent request or application you make regarding a new loan, credit, mortgage, or any other account involving the extension of credit. Pursuant to federal law, you cannot be charged to place or lift a credit freeze on your credit report. To request a credit freeze, you will need to provide the following information:
- Full name (including middle initial as well as Jr., Sr., II, III, etc.);
- Social Security number;
- Date of birth;
- Addresses for the prior two to five years;
- Proof of current address, such as a current utility bill or telephone bill;
- A legible photocopy of a government-issued identification card (state driver's license or ID card, etc.); and
- A copy of either the police report, investigative report, or complaint to a law enforcement agency concerning identity theft if you are a victim of identity theft.
Should you wish to place a credit freeze, please contact the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below:
Additional Information
You may further educate yourself regarding identity theft, fraud alerts, credit freezes, and the steps you can take to protect your personal information by contacting the consumer reporting bureaus, the Federal Trade Commission, or your state Attorney General. The Federal Trade Commission may be reached at: 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20580; www.identitytheft.gov; 1-877-ID-THEFT (1-877-438-4338); and TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The Federal Trade Commission also encourages those who discover that their information has been misused to file a complaint with them. You can obtain further information on how to file such a complaint by way of the contact information listed above. You have the right to file a police report if you ever experience identity theft or fraud. Please note that in order to file a report with law enforcement for identity theft, you will likely need to provide some proof that you have been a victim. Instances of known or suspected identity theft should also be reported to law enforcement and your state Attorney General. This notice has not been delayed by law enforcement.
For California residents: Visit the California Office of Privacy Protection (www.oag.ca.gov/privacy) for additional information on protection against identity theft.
For Maryland residents, the Maryland Attorney General may be contacted at: 200 St. Paul Place, 16th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202; 1-410-528-8662 or 1-888-743-0023; and www.oag.state.md.us.
For New Mexico residents, you have rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, such as the right to be told if information in your credit file has been used against you, the right to know what is in your credit file, the right to ask for your credit score, and the right to dispute incomplete or inaccurate information. Further, pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the consumer reporting bureaus must correct or delete inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable information; consumer reporting agencies may not report outdated negative information; access to your file is limited; you must give your consent for credit reports to be provided to employers; you may limit "prescreened" offers of credit and insurance you get based on information in your credit report; and you may seek damages from violator. You may have additional rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act not summarized here. Identity theft victims and active duty military personnel have specific additional rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. We encourage you to review your rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act by visiting https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201504_cfpb_summary_your-rights-under-fcra.pdf, or by writing Consumer Response Center, Room 130-A, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580.
For New York residents, the New York Attorney General may be contacted at: Office of the Attorney General, The Capitol, Albany, NY 12224-0341; 1-800-771-7755; or https://ag.ny.gov/.
For North Carolina residents, the North Carolina Attorney General may be contacted at: 9001 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-9001; 1-877-566-7226 or 1-919-716-6000; and www.ncdoj.gov.
For Oregon residents: Oregon Department of Justice, 1162 Court Street NE, Salem, OR 97301-4096, www.doj.state.or.us/, Telephone: 877-877-9392.
For Rhode Island residents, the Rhode Island Attorney General may be reached at: 150 South Main Street, Providence, RI 02903; www.riag.ri.gov; and 1-401-274-4400. Under Rhode Island law, you have the right to obtain any police report filed in regard to this incident.
For all U.S. residents: Identity Theft Clearinghouse, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20580, www.consumer.gov/idtheft, 1-877-IDTHEFT (438-4338).
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SOURCE SFERRA Fine Linens, LLC | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/19/notice-data-breach/ | 2022-08-19T02:14:45Z |
Just off the Las Vegas Strip, there's a big white building in a run-of-the-mill office complex where tourists can pay as little as $50 to shoot 25 rounds from an AK-47. A billboard out front with a busty woman wielding a machine gun advertises the "ultimate shooting experience."
From the parking lot, you can see the Mandalay Bay. That's the hotel where 58 people were killed and nearly 500 were wounded on Sunday night during a country music festival.
Range 702 is one of nearly a dozen shooting ranges doing business along Las Vegas Boulevard. Las Vegas, and Nevada as a whole, are known for gun-friendly culture and comparatively lax laws.
With Las Vegas now also home to the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, some say lawmakers need to do more to beef up gun control regulations.
At a hastily organized prayer service at Christ Church Episcopal, Dan Edwards, the Episcopal Bishop of Nevada, opened his sermon by calling people to action.
"What is the purpose of 100 round magazine clips, semi-automatic weapons and bump stocks that make a rifle shoot like a machine gun?" he asked. "We saw the purpose this weekend."
But many gun owners don't see new regulations as the right reaction.
One gun owner NPR spoke with said he'd be open to policy changes in light of Sunday's massacre — but only with clear evidence that those changes would have prevented the attack.
He asked us not to use his name, to keep his family and the gun club where he's one of 3,500 members from getting dragged into the headlines. NPR was turned away from all the shooting ranges or clubs where we asked to talk to people about what happened Sunday in Las Vegas.
This particular gun owner is a member of a private gun club in town. He says it's not unusual in Nevada for hunters to own many types of guns. He has many of his own.
"If you are attempting to controlling coyotes, you might use one caliber rifle, if you were trying to control an explosion of prairie dogs on your farm, it would be another type," he said. "If you're hunting elk in one particular type of terrain, it would be another choice of caliber."
But 23 guns in a hotel room on the Strip?
"It'd crazy for there to be one in the hotel room," he said. "None of this makes sense to any of us."
He says there should be consequences for people who are negligent in their responsibilities as firearms owners, but thinks it's unfair to punish them all for the actions of a small number of attackers.
"Was this an awful event? Yes it was. It was. And I can assure you that gun owners are just as upset if not more upset than the general public," he said. "It reflects poorly on something we find enjoyable."
He says he doesn't have any answers to the problem, but says he's willing to engage in dialogue with anyone who thinks they do.
The news that 12 of the guns recovered from the attack had been fitted with bump stocks — a device that uses a semiautomatic rifle's recoil to boost the gun's firing rate to near-automatic — broke after we finished talking.
"Given the circumstances," the gun club member wrote in a text message, "making those devices illegal would be logical and reasonable as part of future proposed legislation."
Don Turner, president of the Nevada Firearms Coalition — the state association for the NRA, representing gun owners, users and clubs — says such a law wouldn't have stopped Sunday's shooter or limited his effectiveness.
"Putting more new laws on the book not going to stop it," he said. "It's just feel-good stuff. If we're going to do anything sufficient or effective, it's got to be more related. I would say probably more mental health examinations and services would probably be more effective in saving lives than worrying about piece of plastic that would or would not go on a gun."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2017-10-04/sorrow-but-little-appetite-for-new-laws-among-nevada-gun-enthusiasts | 2022-08-19T02:22:43Z |
TERRY GROSS, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria have shown how extreme weather can destroy towns, cities and islands. My guest Jeff Goodell is the author of a new book about what cities around the world face in a future of rising seas and increasingly intense storms. It's called "The Water Will Come." Goodell is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and has covered climate change for 15 years. He's also written about fossil fuels, including the coal industry and their impact on the environment.
Jeff Goodell, welcome back to FRESH AIR. So Hurricanes Irma, Harvey, Maria - all the climate people say no one event can be attributed with certainty to climate change. But what about the confluence of these three consequential hurricanes?
JEFF GOODELL: Well, I mean, I think that we're seeing what's happening as we're warming up the earth's climate here. I mean, it's a very well-established fact that as the ocean temperatures heat up, that is going to increase the intensity of these storms. One of the complicated things about what's happening in our - as CO2 levels rise in our climate is that no one can predict exactly how these sort of new impacts are going to play out and what kind of consequences we're going to see.
So you know, these hurricanes, these storms that we've seen this season are an indicator that, you know, we're moving into this sort of new age when the sort of old rules of how our climate works are off the table. And Mother Nature is playing by different rules now.
GROSS: So just to sum up, do you think that these three hurricanes are the result of climate change?
GOODELL: The hurricanes themselves are not the result of climate change. But certainly the additional intensity, the fact that we've had a number of Category 5 hurricanes is likely the result of warmer ocean temperatures and higher CO2 levels.
GROSS: So your book opens with a very upsetting description of what Miami might look like by the end of the 21st century. So give it a go for us. Describe what, like - your dystopian fantasy of what Miami will look like as a result of climate change.
GOODELL: Well, I mean, one of the problems with Miami is that it's very - you know, it's a very low-lying place. There's no high ground to run to. And so you know, with only, you know, 5 or 6 feet of sea level rise, which we could certainly see by the end of the century, you know, you're going to see major parts of the city inundated.
You're going to see more and more flooding in residential areas. You're going to see more and more kind of pollution coming out of those flooded areas like we're seeing in Houston with Harvey - major infrastructure like the airport underwater or not functional, massive losses in real estate investment along the coast, fleeing from low-lying areas inland, which are also going to be flooded out, places like Hialeah and Sweetwater. I think the real thing that you're going to see that people don't really think about is just this sort of economic collapse and economic problems that are going to be caused by a plummet in real estate values, which are really important to the Florida economy.
GROSS: What actually is happening in Miami now? You spent some time in Miami Beach, and you saw flooding just caused by high tides. Describe what you saw.
GOODELL: Well, I started this book, you know, shortly after Hurricane Sandy hit New York. And you know, there was nine feet of storm surge that came into New York. And I was talking to some scientists after that, and they said, you know, think about this as a sort of, you know, experiment of what sea level rise will look like. Imagine if you had nine feet that came in and didn't go away the way it did with Sandy. So then I started thinking about that, and other scientists said, well, if you're going to really think seriously about this, you need to go to Miami.
So I did. And I happened to be there on king tides, which is the time of - in the fall when the high tides are particularly high. And I started wandering around through Miami Beach on the western side of it in this sort of very wealthy neighborhood, and there was water up to my knees. I mean, there were people kayaking through the streets of Miami Beach on king tide. And it didn't take a whole lot of thinking to figure out that if you had 2 or 3 feet of sea level rise, much less 6 or 8 feet of sea level rise, this place was in big trouble. And thinking about that and thinking about what the kind of trouble it would be in and the kind of trouble that other coastal cities would be in was really the genesis of the book.
GROSS: What do the people who live there do about those waters that you can kayak in?
GOODELL: Well, since then - this was four years ago, and since then, they've, you know, invested $500 million in building - improving the storm drainage, improving - putting in a bunch of pumps. And so some of these areas are - you know, in short term, you know, the flooding has been better. But that's just a sort of short-term fix. And so what people are doing now is they are, you know, kind of living in a kind of denial.
They are hoping that - you know, a lot of people who live in Miami Beach aren't there for - they're not thinking about being there for the next 50 years. They're thinking about being there for the next five years and how much fun they can have and, you know, how they can enjoy their retirement or their parties on the beach. And there's not a lot of long-term thinking going on in a place like Miami Beach. And so basically people's time horizon is the next five years. And will I be OK for the next five years - you know, probably. And so that's where it's at. People who think more broadly about it - and there are a number that I know - are selling and moving.
GROSS: What makes Miami Beach so vulnerable?
GOODELL: Well, it's interesting. Miami Beach is a barrier island not unlike the Outer Banks or Galveston, Texas, or - you know, there's many barrier islands around on the East Coast and on the Gulf Coast. So that's one thing. It's low-lying. Its elevation is 4, 5, 6 feet at max. But the real problem with Miami that makes it different than a lot of other places is that it's built on this sort of porous limestone. The particular kind of limestone it's on is full of holes. And so what that means is that you can't build sea walls in the traditional sense around Miami Beach. In New York and in Boston and of course in the Netherlands, there's lots of sea walls, and they can be an effective, if problematic, way of keeping water back for a while.
But in Miami, that's not really possible because of this porous limestone, which means the seawater can just go right underneath a wall and just pop up on the other side. And this has complications not just for kind of protection of the place but also because as that seawater rises and begins to seep underneath, it gets into the freshwater drinking aquifer, which is very shallow in Miami. And so there's going to be impact. There's already problems with the salinization of drinking water. So there's going to be a problem with drinking water in the very near term also.
GROSS: What's Governor Rick Scott's position - the Florida governor - on climate change?
GOODELL: Rick Scott is, you know, a pioneering climate denier. Rick Scott has, you know, unofficially kind of prohibited government employees from using the phrase climate change in any kind of government communication. I mean, he's this sort of prototype for what we're seeing in the Trump administration with EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and others who are basically just trying to deny that this is a problem.
And it's a particular disservice in Florida because Florida is, you know, so obviously at risk. It's not like he's the governor of Oklahoma or something where, you know, sea level rise is not going to be a problem. In Florida, it's a direct risk not only to people's lives with flooding but also just to the economic future of the state.
GROSS: If you're just joining us, my guest is Jeff Goodell. He's a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine and author of the new book "The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, And The Remaking Of The Civilized World." He's been covering climate change for about 15 years. We're going to take a short break, and then we'll be right back. This is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF LOOP 2.4.3'S "ZODIAC DUST")
GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. And if you're just joining us, my guest is Jeff Goodell. He's a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and the author of the new book "The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, And The Remaking Of The Civilized World." And he's been writing about climate change for 15 years.
So let's talk about the ice sheets. Many of them are melting, and that's affecting sea levels, causing them to rise. And that's affecting climate change and ocean levels. So let's start with the ice sheets. You say that there's much more melting in the Arctic than in Antarctica. Why is that?
GOODELL: Well, a lot of the heat from the warming of the Earth is sort of concentrating itself up in the north in the Arctic right now, and that's the, you know, fastest melting place on the planet right now. And when we think about sea level rise, you know, there's a number of factors - the thermal expansion of the ocean, the melting of glaciers on land, you know, land-based glaciers around the world - but it's really - when it comes down to it, it's really all about Greenland and Antarctica. Those are the only two sort of big ice cubes on the planet that if they - when they go, that's big trouble. So what we've seen mostly right now is a lot of surface melting up in Greenland, and that's been a big cause for concern.
We've seen - in 2012 there was a record ice melt up there. And, you know, we're seeing acceleration of the glaciers in Greenland. But ice physics is very complex and, you know, scientists up until recently sort of had this idea that they could calculate how fast a big ice sheet like Greenland can melt and have a good idea of what sea level rise rates might be like in the future. But recently, a lot of attention is being focused in West Antarctica, especially this couple of glaciers there called Thwaites and Pine Island Glacier where the real problem is that you have a warming ocean - the ocean absorbs a lot of the heat of - as the atmosphere warms. And that warming ocean is getting underneath the ice sheets there, and that can cause big problems because you have melting from below.
And one of the things that scientists are figuring out is that you can calculate to a pretty good degree how fast an ice sheet will melt, but calculating how fast it can collapse is a whole a different thing. And some of the ice sheets in West Antarctica are a mile or two high. And if the water gets underneath them and they start to collapse, that could mean very rapid sea level rise.
GROSS: Yeah, why is a collapse so catastrophic?
GOODELL: Well, because you have an ice sheet that's, you know, a mile or two high. Imagine, you know, everyone - a lot of people have seen pictures of El Capitan. Imagine something like that or twice as high as that of sheer ice melting from below. And the physics of ice structure tells us that a cliff like that of ice can't stand on its own. So it will collapse, and as it collapses, it falls into the sea, and as it falls into the sea, sea levels rise. And so the risks of this are a really new idea that are only in the last three or four or five years are scientists really beginning to understand. And that's why when you talk to the best ice scientists in the world you hear a rising alarm in their voice about what we might potentially be facing.
GROSS: You've been to Greenland, and you say you actually stood on land that you might have been among the first people to stand on because it wasn't - it was ice before.
GOODELL: Yeah, it was a very surreal experience. I was there with a scientist named Jason Box, and we were flying a helicopter over the Jakobshavn Glacier, which is the fastest-moving glacier in the world. And he spotted this bare spot of ice, and he said, we have to land there, we have to land there. So we brought the helicopter down, and we jumped out and, you know, he shouted out new climate land. You know, this is - this patch of Earth has never been - you know, no human has stood here before and it hasn't been seen - you know, it hasn't been uncovered in tens of thousands of years. It was very profound because standing there and being on that bare patch of ground and seeing these enormous glaciers all around me, I had just been in Miami Beach, I mean, a few weeks before.
And you really connected, you know, I really connected in a visceral way, you know, what was happening in this faraway, distant place on this bare piece of ground that was being uncovered where I could actually see the ice going away fast with the rising waters in Miami Beach that I had seen and been wading through, you know, a few weeks earlier. And so this sort of connectedness of these places, which is so hard for most of us, including myself, to really grasp, I really felt in a very powerful way at that moment.
GROSS: I've seen film images of some of the ice and snow - I guess it's mostly ice - in the Arctic darkened by soot. Like, why is there soot there?
GOODELL: That's an interesting question. That's one of the things that I was up there to look at with the scientist who I traveled up there with, Jason Box, is, you know, we talked about wildfires earlier. As the wildfires in California and other - in Russia and in China and other places burn, that soot gets picked up and carried up into the circulatory patterns in the atmosphere and gets dropped places. And one of the places a lot of it gets dropped is in Greenland and in the Arctic. And it's really remarkable that even a small amount of darkening of snow has a big impact on how fast it will melt. It's the same reason why you wear a light-colored shirt on a hot day and you feel a lot hotter if you're wearing a black shirt. It absorbs the heat.
And in Greenland, where you have these vast ice sheets, if you get even a modest amount of soot on those ice sheets, both from wildfires or from industrial pollution like coal plants, it can really speed up the melting. And one of the things that's happening as scientists think harder and harder about what's happening on the ice sheets is they're understanding that there's a lot of new factors that they didn't consider before. Like, you know, 10 years ago, not very many scientists were really thinking about the impact that darker soot would have on the melt rate of the ice sheets in Greenland. But now they know that it's a significant factor.
And there's a lot of other factors that they think they have not considered very well that - including the friction on the bottom of the glaciers and the friction on the sides of the canyons as the glaciers move through them, the warming of the ocean on the bottom of the glaciers. There's just - it's a - you would think it's a very sort of simple idea of trying to calculate melt rate of ice, but it's in fact incredibly complex.
GROSS: Let's look at Alaska. Alaska's in a kind of interesting situation in that it's very dependent on fossil fuel. It raises a lot of money from fossil fuel. And at the same time, temperatures are rising in Alaska because of the whole phenomenon that we've been talking about - about how, you know, the Arctic is warming and ice is melting. So what are political leaders in Alaska saying about climate change and the impact it's having on the state and the connection of that to fossil fuels?
GOODELL: Well, they're not saying much. I'm actually just back from Alaska. I was just there for a few days. I just got back yesterday. So I've - and I talked to a number of politicians there, and, you know, the basic problem in Alaska is that, you know, their economy is dependent upon fossil fuels. Eighty percent or so of the revenues of the state come from oil and gas.
And so there's no real way that the state can continue to function by, you know, reducing the drilling and pumping of oil and gas. It's - they're just completely dependent upon it. So there is no conversation, basically, about, you know, reducing that. And in fact, they're talking about expanding it, looking into offshore drilling.
Right now, Congress is, you know, moving towards opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, and nobody there that I talked to in the sort of political establishment is anything but, you know, sort of embracing that. What is beginning to happen, though, is they are beginning to realize that, you know, no matter what they do, they're going to be feeling impacts. They are feeling impacts.
When I was there with President Obama in 2015, we visited the villages on the - in the Arctic Circle that are already in trouble because of erosion from sea level rise. They're just going to have to relocate many coastal villages because of - they're just at risk now because the seas are higher and the storm surges are bigger.
So they're facing hundreds of millions of dollars in helping people adapt there. So they're beginning to have this, like, OK-so-how-are-we-going-to-adapt conversation. What are we going to do about this? And they're beginning to think more about the future in diversifying their economy and trying to encourage kind of what they call this, you know, sort of transition from an oil economy to a salmon economy. That's a big issue. But basically, it - they're in a really tough spot because they are really, you know, dependent upon the very fossil fuels that're doing them in. And it's a very vicious circle to be caught in.
GROSS: Do you think political leaders are acknowledging, OK, we're dependent on fossil fuels, but we acknowledge, at the same time, that fossil fuels are helping to lead to climate change, which is having an altering effect on the geography, the landscape, the life of Alaska?
GOODELL: Yeah. I mean, I don't think that they're - the political leaders that I've talked to up there - it's very hard to be a denier there in the sort of classic way of say, you know, Florida Governor Rick Scott or EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt because it's just all around. And the permafrost is melting. It's just, you know, obvious there.
But the question is, what can you do about it? And it's a really - for - if you're, you know, the governor or a senator from Alaska - and I'm not giving them a get-out-of-jail-free card, but, you know, for any politician, you know, keeping the economy going is the No. 1 job. And in Alaska, keeping the economy going for the moment means, you know, oil and gas drilling. And that's just the fact, and that's the way it's going to be in the near term.
The question is, how quickly can they diversify away from that? How quickly can they begin to build another, a new kind of economy based on clean energy? I mean, there's a lot of engineering ability in Alaska. I mean, look at the pipelines they've built. I mean, this is the headquarters of sort of big, you know, brilliant engineering.
And the idea of beginning to, you know, apply some of that to adaptation, to diversifying, to building new kinds of clean energy, you know, is really appealing. And I was, you know, trying to make the pitch to them up there that they can be a real leader in showing how to adapt to these massive changes that're coming and how to change from a fossil-fuel-dependent economy to something else. I mean, West Virginia's a classic example of a state that never did make that turn and has been sort of beholden to coal for, you know, 150 years, and it's just been, you know, devastating for the economy of that state.
GROSS: My guest is Jeff Goodell. His new book is called "The Water Will Come." After we take a short break, he'll describe how climate change is affecting the military, and we'll talk about climate deniers in the Trump administration, including the head of the EPA, Scott Pruitt. I'm Terry Gross, and this is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF STEFON HARRIS AND BLACKOUT'S "UNTIL")
GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross back with Jeff Goodell, the author of a new book about cities around the world that are being threatened by extreme weather caused by climate change. It's called "The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, And The Remaking Of The Civilized World." He's a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and has covered climate change for 15 years.
Although your book is largely about how climate change is affecting cities, you also write about how it's affecting the military because there's a lot of military bases at risk because of flooding. You want to describe that a little bit?
GOODELL: Oh, there certainly are. I mean, the military is really an interesting piece of this whole conversation. I spent a - I made several visits to the naval station in Norfolk, which is the largest naval station in the world, home to six aircraft carriers, played a central role in, you know, the military operations in Afghanistan and the Middle East. And about 75,000 sailors and civilians work there. It's just this giant complex.
And, you know, I was there at high tide and, you know, it was flooding. I mean, the military barracks, the roads on the base were flooding. The - you know, downtown Norfolk had several feet under water. I mean, it's a huge problem for a base like Norfolk, which is - you know, the idea of relocating it - besides the fact that it's, you know, politically kind of toxic to even have that discussion and would be economically devastating for the region, it's just - the logistics of it are mind-boggling.
But what's really striking is that the military - you know, not everyone - but, by and large, the military gets it because as one commander said to me, you know, our job is to deal with the world as it is, not as we would like it to be. So they get sea level rise. They get climate change. They understand this. But, you know, because of the way our political structure works and because of Congress, they can't really talk about it openly.
So at Norfolk, for example, they had built several new - these enormous piers that cost millions of dollars. And they, you know, built them, you know, 4, 5, 6 feet higher than the old piers. And I said to the commander, well, did you do this for sea level rise? And he basically said, yes, but we didn't say that because if we would have said that, then we wouldn't have got funding from Congress. They would have zeroed it out because they, you know, don't want to talk about climate change in any way.
So the military's in this - stuck in this position of, like, having to deal with this thing called climate change - which is, you know, changing sea level rises, you know, destabilizing populations, doing - having all kinds of impacts on their operations with water supplies and stuff - but not being able to talk about it because Congress won't - you know, won't fund anything that has to do with that.
GROSS: So the military is not only concerned about direct damage to military bases caused by climate change. It's also worried about the possible national security consequences of climate change. What are some of the consequences the military is envisioning in terms of national security?
GOODELL: What the military is really concerned about is, you know, the sort of increasing political destabilization of volatile places in the world. Secretary Kerry a few years ago called climate change a weapon of mass destruction. And by that he meant that, you know, increasing hurricanes like we're seeing, droughts which caused political instability in places like Syria, which we've already seen. And the National Academy of Sciences did a study on the causes of the uprising in Syria, and they determined that the drought there had a catalytic effect on that.
So in the biggest sense, what they're concerned about is just the increasing destabilization of the world. And as we know right now, we can see the problems of refugees, of people moving around, all of the political problems that that is causing.
And when you add climate change to that, when you add droughts and floods and destruction of places like Puerto Rico and where those millions of people who live there are going to go - are they going to rebuild their lives there? Or are they going to move to Florida or somewhere else? And if they do, what will the impacts of that be? That's in the broadest sense what they're concerned about. They're concerned about what is essentially the operating system of the planet kind of going a little haywire and what the implications of that will be.
GROSS: You've - in writing about climate change, you've also been investigating climate deniers, the climate denial movement. There are a lot of people who deny that climate change is a reality who are in the Trump administration now. Would you just do a roll call of some of the climate deniers in the administration?
GOODELL: We could just do a roll call of the entire administration. I'm not sure there's anyone in the administration that I'm aware of who would acknowledge climate change. I mean, you know, it starts with the president himself, who famously called climate change a kind of Chinese hoax and has done nothing to kind of dispel that kind of absurd characterization despite being given many opportunities to.
EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, who was essentially brought in to run the EPA explicitly to roll back some of the plans like the Clean Power Plan and other initiatives that the Obama administration did to help reduce emissions and kind of meet the Paris climate deal goals - you know, virtually the head of every agency, especially, you know, in the Interior, Department of Energy. I mean, it's just a kind of empire of climate denial that is now running Washington, D.C.
GROSS: What do you attribute that to?
GOODELL: Money. You know, I think it's pretty clear that, you know, the debate in America politically is skewered by enormous contributions from oil and gas industry, from, you know, the Koch Industries - the Koch brothers. You know, they've done a very good job of planting doubt about this and making it clear that, you know, this for them is a kind of cultural - a kind of litmus test. If you want our support, you know, you need to get on board with this.
And one of the hard things about the climate change sort of debate in America now is that it's become this kind of cultural litmus test. It's like abortion or something like that. It's like - it's very difficult to have a kind of reasoned discussion about it anymore because it's one of those things that you're sort of either for or against. And it's very disheartening.
GROSS: What are some of the things you fear will be undone? Trump is - President Trump is pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord. What are some of the other climate change policies and regulations that you see being undone?
GOODELL: Well, part of it is the, you know, rollback of the Clean Power Plan and things like that that were designed to sort of accelerate the advancement of clean energy. And that's really important. But, you know, I also think that there's a lot of investment in clean energy right now. And a lot of states, like California and Washington and New York and others, are really pushing forward on this.
And it's very clear to everyone around the world - except, you know, the climate deniers in the center of the Trump administration, and I don't even think they actually believe it - that the economic future not only of the United States, but of the kind of global economy is in this clean energy revolution. We're not going back to coal. We're not going back to oil and gas. We may use them for a little bit longer. But the future is in solar and wind and other renewables. So there's the slowing down of that - is one issue.
But, you know, and then there's another issue of the sort of lack of funding and thinking about any kind of adaptation for this. We need to think about things like sea level rise. I mean, no matter how fast we cut carbon emissions - even if everybody sells their SUVs and rides skateboards to work tomorrow, we're still going to have a lot of sea level rise. And places need to start thinking about that. We need to start thinking in a kind of bigger picture about this - not just about building sea walls, but about moving people who are in high-risk areas out of those areas and doing things like relocating major infrastructure like airports and things like that. I mean, this is - those kinds of things take a long time to plan and think about. And we need to start doing that now.
And then the final thing that concerns me about what's happening is just this whole debasement of science, just the whole question of, like - you know, that we don't make decisions about our future and about our future risk based on good science. And I think that is really what is the - when you get down to it the most disturbing and frankly frightening thing about what's happening in the Trump administration. It's just the - you know, the complete politicalization of science. And not just about climate change, but we're seeing it about, you know, air pollution, toxic chemicals, all kinds of things. And once you throw science out, that's a very scary world.
GROSS: Scott Pruitt, the head of the EPA under President Trump, you said that he is, among other things, trying to destroy the legal foundation for greenhouse gas regulations of any kind. How is he trying to do that?
GOODELL: Well, I think - I mean, I don't think it's too much to say that that was why he was given the job. I mean, as the attorney general in Oklahoma, he, you know, led the assault on Obama's Clean Power Plan. And, you know, he - that is the state where he - a very big oil and gas state and they do not like this because it hurts the oil and gas industry, they believe. And so they want to get rid of that. So Pruitt is right now in the process of trying to rollback this - Obama's Clean Power Plan, which reduced emissions from coal plants, existing coal plants around the country.
But, you know, it's not clear that he's really going to be successful in the long term on this because, you know, there's a Supreme Court decision that basically found that, you know, CO2 is an endangerment to human welfare and that as a - and is a pollutant and that as a pollutant, the EPA is required to regulate it. So he's got to come up with some kind of a plan to replace the Clean Power Plan, and it's not clear exactly what that will be. But, you know, it will be some sort of pale shadow of what we have now.
GROSS: Well, let's take a short break, and then we'll talk some more. If you're just joining us, my guest is Jeff Goodell. He's the author of the new book "The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, And The Remaking Of The Civilized World." He's been writing about climate change for 15 years. We'll be right back. This is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF YO LA TENGO'S "HOW SOME JELLYFISH ARE BORN")
GROSS: This is FRESH AIR, and if you're just joining us, my guest is Jeff Goodell who has been reporting on climate change for 15 years. His new book is called "The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, And The Remaking Of The Civilized World."
Something funny in the book because on the whole it's not a very funny book.
(LAUGHTER)
GROSS: But something I thought was kind of funny is when you're in the Arctic looking at melting ice there. You're staying at a hotel, and you say it's the hotel that Al Gore stays at when he's in the Arctic (laughter). I thought that was hilarious. Did - do you find yourself following some of the same, like, being in the same - some of the same places he's been in looking at climate change?
GOODELL: Certainly not knowingly, but, you know - and I have lots of respect for Al. It wouldn't bother me if I did, but that particular hotel in the Arctic is sort of, you know, there's - everyone goes to this one place to see this famous glacier called the Jakobshavn. And, you know, there's a lot of sort of, you know, climate change tourism that's happening now.
And when I first went to Greenland, I was struck by all the sort of middle-aged people in North Face jackets who were wandering around, and I was like, well, what are all these people doing here? And it's like they all come to see the ice sheets before they melt or to watch them melt. And this one hotel is particularly nice. It's, you know, there's not like - there's only, like, two hotels in the town, so it's not like there's a huge selection. But you have an incredible view of the bay and the icebergs going out, and you can drink - sit there and, you know, have your after-dinners whiskey and watch the icebergs and think about the end of the world.
GROSS: (Laughter) That sounds so pleasant (laughter).
GOODELL: It's really nice.
GROSS: A happy hour (laughter).
GOODELL: Yeah, exactly.
GROSS: Or unhappy hour. So some of the people who are trying to plan for climate change are trying to build floating islands, and one of the people behind this is Peter Thiel, who was the founder of PayPal. He's - is or was on the board of Facebook, and I think now he's a venture capitalist. Am I right about that?
GOODELL: Mhmm (ph).
GROSS: So he's one of the people behind The Seasteading Institute, which I think they have two goals. One is to have, like, floating islands that will protect them against the rising ocean problem because they'll be rising with the ocean. But the other is to kind of get away from government regulations and be at a part in the ocean where they're not subjected to any kind of laws and restrictions pertaining to any particular government. So from what you know about the science of rising oceans, will these kind of floating islands be protected because they're floating?
GOODELL: Well, I think that floating islands are a really interesting idea. And in my - when I was reporting my book, I went to places like Lagos in Nigeria where I visited these water slums that are, you know, hundreds of thousands of people living in, you know, stilts, you know, essentially tents on stilts in the water. And yeah, you talk to them about sea level rise, and they're like, well, no problem. You know, we'll just put on stilts a little bit higher, and, you know, they're very adaptable.
And I think that, you know, for all the sort of darkness about sea level rise and what the impacts it will have on places like Miami, which are certainly real and it will cause huge amounts of economic devastation and, you know, put a lot of people at risk, there's also this sort of other side of it, which is this sort of creative new ways of living. And people love living by the water. I love being by the water, you know? And everybody does, and - you know? And so the idea of figuring out a way to live on a floating island, you know, I think is - might be quite wonderful. And it - and one way to think about this is - the sort of dawn of a kind of new age of living with water.
I mean, you go to a city like Venice, and you're there two seconds, and you realize, oh, my God, this is fabulous, you know? I mean, Venice has other problems. But this idea of, can we live with and - you know, in water - of course we can. We just haven't had a reason to do that until now.
GROSS: And a lot of what we do have might be destroyed along the way before we find an alternative.
GOODELL: Oh, absolutely, absolutely. I mean, you know, there's - you know, the problem, basically, with sea level rise is the built infrastructure, that we've built billions of dollars' worth of real estate in roads, and airports, and railroad tracks and everything, you know, very close to the water with this notion in the kind of classic human way that, you know, what we see is the way it will always be. We never thought, oh, well, the Earth has changed a lot before, maybe the Earth will change again. Seas will come up, go down. You know, maybe this is not a fixed boundary.
And so all this stuff that's built on the fixed boundary is doomed. And - but that doesn't mean that, you know, we humans are doomed. It means that we may figure out really cool, new ways of thinking about this and being adaptable. I mean, primitive cultures were really good at living on the coast because they didn't have, you know, multibillion-dollar condos there - they - you know, buildings there. They had flexible infrastructure that could move around, and there's no reason we can't do that again.
GROSS: Is there an example of something you've seen in a city that's prone to flooding because of climate change that has come up with a good adaptation to deal with it?
GOODELL: Well, yeah, there's a lot of really interesting things happening. I mean, so - you know, simple things like in Rotterdam and other places in Europe - but the one I saw was in Rotterdam - are these sort of water squares. They're big sort of public squares that are - that if you look at them on a normal day, they just look like a kind of sunken concrete - you know, like a big pool, except sort of nicely done, with places to sit and everything.
But they're designed so that when there's big flooding, the water all goes in there, and it kind of drains the water from all the neighborhood nearby. It's all designed to run that way, and then it drains out. So it's a way of, like, dealing with the water in that way.
You know, in Lagos, I saw a floating kind of community center that was built very - in a very simple way by a Dutch architect, essentially using plastic oil drums, you know, lashed together, and then, you know, this kind of elegant structure on top of it - a two-story structure that was hugely popular and became the sort of center of this community - that was, you know, one example of it.
In the Netherlands, I went to a place where there was flooding problems with a river. And so instead of building sea walls or river walls along the river, they just moved an entire town next - that was having problems with flooding and allowed the river to sort of run out onto this plane where the town had been.
So they essentially relocated a bunch of people in order to give the river room to expand. And I think that that's the sort of trend that I'm seeing - is this idea that, you know, as one scientist said to me, you know, you never want to fight a war with water because water will always win. And people are beginning to get that and to stop trying to block it off and build walls but live with it in various ways.
GROSS: Well, Jeff Goodell, thank you so much for talking with us.
GOODELL: Thank you for having me, Terry.
GROSS: Jeff Goodell is the author of the new book "The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, And The Remaking Of The Civilized World." After we take a short break, self-identified feminist and Muslim comic Zahra Noorbakhsh will tell us how hate crimes against Muslims have affected her fear level. This is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF GERALD CLAYTON'S "SOUL STOMP") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR. | https://www.keranews.org/2017-10-24/climate-change-journalist-warns-mother-nature-is-playing-by-different-rules-now | 2022-08-19T02:22:50Z |
In January 2016, Yoandra, a 37-year-old single mother taking care of her four-year-old son, faced a stark choice.
Along with her son and older brother, Yoandra had left home in Cuba the year before, seeking a better life. For nearly a year, she'd been living in Ecuador as an undocumented immigrant, without a job or prospects.
She could stay put and hope for the best. Or she could take her chances and leave.
Yoandra, who wishes to be identified only by her first name because she fears reprisals against her family in Cuba, decided it was time to go. Ecuador had just tightened its borders and was beginning to crack down on Cubans living there illegally. She didn't want to risk deportation. Her aim was to reach the United States.
Diplomatic ties between the United States and Cuba were improving. But many Cubans living in South America worried that the normalization of relations would mean that the so-called wet-foot, dry-foot policy — which since 1996 had granted Cubans coming to the U.S. without a visa the right to stay and get on a fast track to citizenship — might be coming to an end.
It fueled Yoandra and her brother's decision to get to the border, step onto U.S. soil and become legal residents — and then U.S. citizens.
Their plan was to walk, take buses, boats, planes — whatever it took to cross eight borders through Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala — and then finally, from Mexico into the United States.
The first leg of their journey was an 11-day bus ride from Quito, Ecuador, to Turbo, Colombia. After this, they boarded a boat to the Panamanian town of Puerto Obaldía, near the Colombian border.
That's when the trip started to look grim.
Yoandra thought they could catch a puddle jumper to Panama City. But they found thousands of other Cubans already waiting to catch the same plane, which only left once a month. There was no telling when they could get out.
Worried about running out of time and money, she and her brother stuffed a backpack with as much food as they could carry and joined a small group of Cubans who paid a local guide some $30 to lead them out of the area on foot.
"When your son gets up and says to you, 'Mom, I'm hungry,' and you don't have anything to give him, you get desperate," she said. "So that's why we decided to hike through the jungle."
That jungle was the Darien Gap — a natural rainforest along the Panama-Colombia border, a place notorious for its sometimes deadly dangers. The area is so dense that the Pan-American Highway ends and then picks up again some 50 miles on the other side.
Everything Yoandra had been warned about it was true. There were steep hills and steep drops, narrow paths and rivers with swift currents. There was rain, mud, impenetrable underbrush.
"It was very difficult to climb the hills," she said. "You had to try to grab a branch from a tree, and if the branch broke off, you could fall down the gorge."
The jungle was teeming with snakes, spiders, jaguars and crocodiles.
"I saw the biggest ants I had ever seen in my life there," she said. "I had to keep my eye on my son the whole time."
Yoandra didn't just fear the wildlife. Armed guerrilla forces and paramilitary groups control certain routes in the jungle used for the drug trade and human trafficking. Some guides couldn't be trusted and took advantage of the migrants by robbing, abandoning or assaulting them.
Yoandra's guide might have been one of them. He moved at such a fast clip that she, her brother and her son couldn't keep up with the group.
"There was a moment where I couldn't go any further," she said.
The little boy was also showing signs that the hike was too much, so to keep his spirits up, Yoandra started to sing favorite children's songs.
"I started to sing 'Los pollitos dicen pio, pio, pio' [the chicks say 'pio pio pio']," she said.
Singing gave the boy a little boost, she said. But they were still falling behind and eventually got lost. The three trekked through the jungle aimlessly for five days, along with a few others from their group who were also left behind.
"One night," she said, "we used fallen palm tree branches to shelter ourselves from the rain."
They ran out of food and had to eat whatever they could get from other migrants. They ate avocados right off the trees.
Eventually, they found and joined up with another group of Cuban migrants trekking through the jungle. It took nearly seven days total to find their way out.
They arrived in a town called Bajo Chiquito, where Panamanian humanitarian groups came to their rescue. There were many pregnant women, infants and children coming out of the Darien Gap. Some needed medical attention. They slept outdoors in makeshift shelters.
A few days later, Yoandra and her son and brother boarded a bus to the western side of Panama, to a town near the Costa Rican border where Panamanian authorities were housing Cuban migrants in a warehouse turned shelter.
But Costa Rica and other nearby Central American countries had in the meantime closed their borders to the surge of northbound Cubans, stranding thousands.
Realizing the problem wasn't going to go away anytime soon, the Panamanian and Mexican governments agreed to an airlift — a series of flights for Cubans to get to Ciudad Juarez.
Broke and distraught, Yoandra managed to scrounge the money for the plane tickets. Once she was aboard the plane, it was the first time she felt her dream would become a reality.
"I was very grateful," she said, "but I also knew that a lot of people were left behind who wouldn't be as lucky as us."
On May 14, 2016 — 13 months after she'd first left Cuba — Yoandra finally crossed the U.S. border at El Paso, Texas, with her son and brother. They had traveled some 3,000 miles. They were among the more than 100,000 Cubans who entered the United States between 2014 and 2016, before President Obama announced the end of the wet-foot, dry-foot policy in January 2017.
Yoandra has since settled in Emporia, Kansas. She has steady work, six days a week, earning roughly $16 an hour. Her son is enrolled in school and making new friends.
This story is part of the "New Era in Cuban Migration" series, a collaborative project between the Miami Herald, 14ymedio and Radio Ambulante, made possible by a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2017-10-28/one-cuban-familys-long-and-risky-journey-to-a-new-life-in-the-u-s | 2022-08-19T02:22:56Z |
ELISE HU, HOST:
This next story is about hearing someone in a new light - an elderly woman who recently heard her son sing. It was the first time she heard him since he had lived as a girl. Chloe Veltman of member station KQED was there for that moment.
CHLOE VELTMAN, BYLINE: Joyce Arterberry takes her seat front and center in the Knoxville Civic Auditorium. She's driven five and a half hours from Indianapolis with her daughter, Amy, to see her son perform with the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus on tour. Joyce is excited and a little bit nervous.
AMY: Are you ready, Mom?
JOYCE ARTERBERRY: I'm ready.
VELTMAN: Joyce's son, Tom Kennard, is backstage, also nervous. He's one of 250 singers on tour and wants to make sure his mom and sister get a good view of him up there under the lights.
TOM KENNARD: Do you think they can see me?
VELTMAN: It's been many years since Joyce last saw her 67-year-old son perform. A lot has happened. Tom remembers with horror his mom dressing him up like a doll when he was a child.
KENNARD: She always had me in these frilly dresses and frilly socks.
VELTMAN: Joyce is something of a traditionalist, a churchgoer who met her husband in high school.
ARTERBERRY: We were together 67 years, raised five children. Tom was the oldest.
VELTMAN: So it was tough on Joyce when Tom came out as a lesbian in his 20s, and even tougher when, at age 47, he decided to take hormones and eventually undergo gender reassignment surgery.
ARTERBERRY: And honestly, I was very shocked. I had a hard time accepting it.
VELTMAN: She's since come around.
ARTERBERRY: I realized after a while that I loved my child, and that I didn't want to lose my child.
VELTMAN: Making human connections is one of the reasons the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus is on this tour.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SAN FRANCISCO GAY MEN'S CHORUS: (Singing) If I dance with the storm, I'll be safe. I'll be warm. I can run. I can rise. I can face all the lies if I dance with the storm.
VELTMAN: The country's biggest and oldest gay choir changed its international travel plans soon after the 2016 presidential election to instead visit five southern states. The singers are doing concerts and outreach events in places where LGBTQ rights are in conflict with conservative Christian views. The chorus is traveling between stops by bus. On the journey from Birmingham, Ala., to Knoxville earlier in the day, Tom is fretting about whether his mom will like the scarf he's crocheted for her.
KENNARD: So she picked green to go with her pea coat. I mean, I didn't wrap them up nicely, but...
VELTMAN: He'll give her the scarf after the concert.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Boys, let's go.
VELTMAN: It's show time. The singers file onstage and perform a set that ranges from the serious to the silly.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SAN FRANCISCO GAY MEN'S CHORUS: (Singing, unintelligible) Mississippi.
(CHEERING)
VELTMAN: There are close to a thousand people in the audience. The mayor of Knoxville is there. Everyone seems to be having a great time.
(CHEERING)
VELTMAN: Once the curtain goes down, Tom rushes to the lobby to find his family.
KENNARD: What did you think, family?
AMY: Oh, it was so wonderful. It was so wonderful.
ARTERBERRY: Oh, I thought it was wonderful.
KENNARD: (Laughter) You have to get the new album.
ARTERBERRY: But it was beautiful.
KENNARD: Thank you.
ARTERBERRY: I told Amy, I need a new needle for my little record player.
KENNARD: Oh, well.
VELTMAN: Like any mother, Joyce is worried about her child's safety, especially since the chorus is headed to North Carolina, where the state Legislature is still trying to resolve whether trans people are legally allowed to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity. Not that Tom would be mistaken for a woman in the men's restroom. He's bald and sings low bass in the choir.
KENNARD: (Humming).
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SAN FRANCISCO GAY MEN'S CHORUS: (Singing) I see your true colors, and that's why I love you. So don't be afraid to let them show.
VELTMAN: Tom is just happy his mom got to see him sing and relieved that she likes her new crocheted scarf. For NPR News, I'm Chloe Veltman in San Francisco.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SAN FRANCISCO GAY MEN'S CHORUS: (Singing) Show me your... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR. | https://www.keranews.org/2017-11-13/trans-singer-performs-for-his-mother-while-on-tour-with-gay-mens-chorus | 2022-08-19T02:31:45Z |
When you're facing a major life change, it helps to talk to someone who has already been through it. All Things Considered is connecting people on either side of a shared experience, and they're letting us eavesdrop on their conversations in our series Been There.
At 70 years old, Camille Miller was not excited about leaving her home. For 35 years, it had been her refuge.
"When you walk through the threshold, your blood pressure just drops," she says. "I almost start crying when I talk about it."
Camille had just finished a big renovation, and had finally gotten her dream kitchen. And after a time-intensive career at a Texas nonprofit, she'd been looking forward to the day when she could try out all the recipes she'd saved up over the years.
Then her husband Bill got sick.
He'd always been responsible for paying the taxes and taking care of the bills. Then the Millers' phone got shut off. Bill had forgotten to pay the telephone company. His memory problems were getting worse and he needed a scooter to get around. Camille had her hands full.
So the Millers found themselves making a difficult decision. They needed to move into senior housing — an apartment in a continuing care community in Austin, Texas.
Morris Gordon made the move seven months ago, shortly after his wife died.
Morris is 86. His kids live far from his home in Minneapolis, and they insisted he couldn't live alone anymore. Like Camille, Morris was uneasy about the change.
"I thought that being in a nursing home was a place where you sat all day and clapped your hands to 'Ring Around the Rosie' or other childhood things," he says. "I didn't see myself sitting in there and waiting for the day to die."
But he tells Camille that he's now happier in his new digs.
"Nobody was able to tell me the outcome of my move," he says. "But I'm so happy that things seem to be turning out in ways that I can accept and feel comfortable with."
This has been lightly edited for clarity.
Advice from Morris Gordon
On integrating into the community
The biggest help I think, is I'm part of the meal program. We have five dinners a week that they cook. It's pretty communal. And the people that I was eating with became friends. I found out that instead of being timid, because I was afraid they wouldn't approve of me or whatever it was, I discovered over time that they were a very interesting group and very hospitable, gentle and welcoming and warm-hearted people, and day by day the relationships kind of thickened and, if you compare it to cooking, made a good soup with a good flavor and the right temperature.
On what he's had to give up
I had hoped to invest more time in travel in my old age — and that doesn't look like it's on the horizon. But you know something? It's not something that I lament. There's other stuff around beside the traveling. I'm traveling whilst remaining at the same place with my new experiences that I have here at the home.
On the best part of the move
It's not as scary as I thought it would be. I've learned to put up with old age, I enjoy being with the new people, the things I was afraid of, it was just a story I told myself which didn't correspond to real life.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2017-11-21/adjusting-to-life-in-a-retirement-home-not-as-scary-as-i-thought | 2022-08-19T02:31:52Z |
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United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary
People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe | https://www.wyomingnews.com/milestones/obituaries/henderson-nancy/article_afca9793-b633-51a7-a3c9-ade5d39f1a4f.html | 2022-08-19T02:33:32Z |
Jon (Magdaleno) Ornelas 1949-2022 Jon Ornelas,72, peacefully passed away at Davis Hospice Center, on August 16, 2022. A Cheyenne native, Jon's parents were Magdaleno (Mel) J. and Mary P. Ornelas. Blest with the gift of gab, a heart of gold, and a genuine love of people, Jon was a loving, loyal, supportive, fun-loving, and trusted friend. Jon graduated from East High School in 1968; attended Mayville State College on a football scholarship; and graduated from Laramie County Community College. His education continued at the Colorado State Law Enforcement Academy and the Wyoming State Law Enforcement Academy, after which he had a long and distinguished career as a Weld County Colorado sheriff's deputy and special unit's officer, a deputy sheriff for Larimer County Colorado, and an officer for the Cheyenne Police Department - retiring law enforcement after 19 years. He then worked as an educator and athletic coach for Laramie County School District. His love of people and gift for gab allowed him to have another career as a successful automobile salesman. Throughout his life, Jon was actively involved in various community activities and organizations, including the Maverick Boys Club, Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Sons of American Legion, Kiwanis Club, Knights of Columbus, Hispanic Organization for Progress in Education, various youth and adult athletic teams. He particularly was proud to be serving on the federal Civil Rights Commission. Coaching his children and countless other youth and adults allowed him to share his athletic talents, as well as develop life-long friendships. He became a skilled and respected member of the Cheyenne Umpires Association and Wyoming High School Athletics Association. In December 2018, Jane, his beloved, devoted, caring, and fun-loving wife of 46 years passed away. On January 2, 2021, he married current wife, Susan Stoll. Jon's surviving family includes his loving, wife Susan; children - Stacey Tompkins (Simon), Mathew Ornelas (Stephanie), & Mandi Alonso; sister - Sandy (John) Ross; and step-daughters -- Maria, Melissa, and Miranda. Also surviving are his beloved and cherished grandchildren: Sagan Tompkins, Saxon Tompkins, Sinji Tompkins, Laina Ornelas, Martin Ornelas, Miah Alonso, Micah Alonso, Maleah Page, step-granddaughter, Evie, and numerous nieces, nephews, and extended family and friends. In addition to his parents and wife Jane, Jon was preceded in death by brother Jerry Ornelas and sister-in-law Debra Ornelas. The family extends sincere gratitude for all the prayers, support, well-wishes, and enduring friendships. Memorials may be made to Davis Hospice, or a charity of choice. A Viewing will be on Monday from 10-4 at Wiederspahn-Radomsky Chapel with a Vigil to follow at 6:00 p.m. A Funeral Liturgy will be Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. at Saint Mary's Cathedral with interment to follow at Olivet Cemetery.
To plant a tree in memory of Jon Ornelas as a living tribute, please visit Tribute Store. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/milestones/obituaries/ornelas-jon-magdaleno/article_f5231144-9d7f-54b8-8971-b4372318b354.html | 2022-08-19T02:33:38Z |
CHEYENNE – Two local community food pantries recently received donations from the Cheyenne Elks Club #660.
Needs Inc. and St. Joseph’s Food Pantry each received $3,000 to help address the food insecurity requirements of residents in the community. In the Cheyenne area, approximately 11% of households struggle with food insecurity, with the number increasing to 14% for households with children. A large proportion of these hungry individuals rely on food pantries to assist with their nutritional requirements.
The funding for these donations was provided by a Beacon Grant and a Spotlight Grant from the Elks National Foundation. The Beacon Grant allows an Elks Club the opportunity to support pressing needs in its own backyard while the Spotlight Grant allows a club to shine a light on important community issues. Food insecurity issues, which have grown during the time of the pandemic, meet both of these grant criteria.
Needs Inc. was founded in 1972 and provides services to the community through its food pantry, clothing store and low-cost thrift store. Its services are funded by grants and donations, which help feed nearly 15,000 individuals annually. It is the largest food pantry in Laramie County, and is funded from donations from local businesses, churches, organizations and private individuals.
St. Joseph’s Food Pantry was founded in the 1980s in the basement of the church parish’s office, but has grown and expanded greatly over the years. It now provides food to nearly 900 households each calendar quarter, with clients allowed to pick up needed food once a week. It is supported by donations from local churches, businesses and individuals.
Cheyenne Elks have been providing community service to the Cheyenne area and its residents for more than 120 years. As a charitable organization, the Elks are dedicated to helping members of the local community – in particular, the homeless, struggling veterans, others in need and youth organizations. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/cheyenne-elks-club-donates-3-000-to-local-food-pantries/article_3d19b180-1f5a-11ed-94b1-d3f52744d6d6.html | 2022-08-19T02:33:45Z |
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