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Court upholds temporary block on Arkansas gender care ban for transgender youth
Published: Aug. 25, 2022 at 12:00 PM EDT|Updated: 16 minutes ago
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal appeals court has agreed with a judge’s ruling preventing the state from enforcing a ban on transgender children receiving gender affirming medical care.
A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling temporarily blocking the state from enforcing the 2021 law.
Arkansas was the first state to enact such a ban.
The law also prohibits doctors from referring patients elsewhere for gender affirming care.
Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson vetoed the ban last year, but GOP lawmakers overrode him and enacted the measure.
\Multiple medical groups, including the American Medical Association, opposed the ban.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/25/appeals-court-upholds-temporary-block-arkansas-gender-care-ban-transgender-youth/ | 2022-08-25T16:17:59Z |
Flash flooding: Toddlers rescued, fish flop in parking lot
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Law enforcement officers in central Mississippi carried toddlers out of a flooded day care center after storms dumped rain that caused creeks to overflow.
The Rankin County Sheriff’s Department posted video on Facebook of deputies walking through brown, knee-deep water Wednesday to take children to an elevated truck, placing them gently on benches. News outlets reported more than 100 children and 14 workers were rescued from the flooded facility in the Jackson suburb of Florence.
The National Weather Service reported a second day of heavy rains and flash flooding was expected Thursday in parts of Louisiana and Mississippi. Weather radar also showed heavy rainfall in Thursday near the Mississippi-Alabama state line.
Tony Banks said Thursday that when he returned to his apartment in the Jackson suburb of Flowood after work Wednesday, the parking lot was knee-deep in water. He said a creek overflowed, flooding some cars and trucks. Banks said he caught a fish near the vehicles.
“He was flopping around in the parking lot and I grabbed his mouth,” said Banks, 35. He said he tossed the bass back into the water.
After the deluge Wednesday, Rankin County sheriff’s deputies helped move more than 40 residents out of a flooded nursing home in Brandon.
The Mississippi Highway Patrol said flowing water washed away parts of a state highway in rural Newton County, between Jackson and Meridian.
In Alabama, vehicles traveling along flooded roads created boat-like wakes on low-lying Dauphin Island, a popular beach community off the coast, but police said the water wasn’t deep enough Thursday morning to pose a major threat. Flooding was likely across southwestern Alabama through nightfall, forecasters said, and Mississippi closed a welcome station on Interstate 10 because of flooding.
Three Mississippi cities set one-day rainfall records Wednesday, the weather service said. Jackson received just over 5 inches (12.7 centimeters), Meridian received 4.6 inches (11.7 centimeters) and Vicksburg received 2.9 inches (7.4 centimeters).
On Wednesday, Jackson also surpassed its previous record for rainfall for the month of August, at 11.57 inches (29.4 centimeters). The previous record for the month was 11.51 inches (29.2 centimeters) in 2008, the weather service said.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/25/flash-flooding-toddlers-rescued-fish-flop-parking-lot/ | 2022-08-25T16:18:05Z |
‘Magic mushroom’ psychedelic may help heavy drinkers quit
(AP) - The compound in psychedelic mushrooms helped heavy drinkers cut back or quit entirely in the most rigorous test of psilocybin for alcoholism.
More research is needed to see if the effect lasts and whether it works in a larger study. Many who took a dummy drug instead of psilocybin also succeeded in drinking less, likely because all study participants were highly motivated and received talk therapy.
Psilocybin, found in several species of mushrooms, can cause hours of vivid hallucinations. Indigenous people have used it in healing rituals and scientists are exploring whether it can ease depression or help longtime smokers quit. It’s illegal in the U.S., though Oregon and several cities have decriminalized it. Starting next year, Oregon will allow its supervised use by licensed facilitators.
The new research, published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry, is “the first modern, rigorous, controlled trial” of whether it can also help people struggling with alcohol, said Fred Barrett, a Johns Hopkins University neuroscientist who wasn’t involved in the study.
In the study, 93 patients took a capsule containing psilocybin or a dummy medicine, lay on a couch, their eyes covered, and listened to recorded music through headphones. They received two such sessions, one month apart, and 12 sessions of talk therapy.
During the eight months after their first dosing session, patients taking psilocybin did better than the other group, drinking heavily on about 1 in 10 days on average vs. about 1 in 4 days for the dummy pill group. Almost half who took psilocybin stopped drinking entirely compared with 24% of the control group.
Only three conventional drugs — disulfiram, naltrexone and acamprosate — are approved to treat alcohol use disorder and there’s been no new drug approvals in nearly 20 years.
While it’s not known exactly how psilocybin works in the brain, researchers believe it increases connections and, at least temporarily, changes the way the brain organizes itself.
“More parts of the brain are talking to more parts of the brain,” said Dr. Michael Bogenschutz, director of the NYU Langone Center for Psychedelic Medicine, who led the research.
Less is known about how enduring those new connections might be. In theory, combined with talk therapy, people might be able to break bad habits and adopt new attitudes more easily.
“There’s a possibility of really shifting in a relatively permanent way the functional organization of the brain,” Bogenschutz said.
Patients described life-changing insights that gave them lasting inspiration, Bogenschutz said.
Mary Beth Orr, 69, of Burien, Washington, said her psilocybin-induced hallucinations — flying over breathtaking landscapes and merging telepathically with creative people throughout history — taught her she wasn’t alone.
Before enrolling in the study in 2018, Orr had five or six drinks every evening and more on weekends.
“The quantity was unacceptable and yet I couldn’t stop,” she said. “There was no off switch that I could access.”
During her first psilocybin experience, she saw a vision of her late father, who gave her a pair of eagle eyes and said, “Go.” She told the therapists monitoring her: “These eagle eyes can’t see God’s face, but they know where it is.”
She stopped drinking entirely for two years, and now has an occasional glass of wine. More than the talk therapy, she credits psilocybin.
“It made alcohol irrelevant and uninteresting to me,” Orr said. Now, “I am tethered to my children and my loved ones in a way that just precludes the desire to be alone with alcohol.”
Patients receiving psilocybin had more headaches, nausea and anxiety than those getting the dummy drug. One person reported thoughts of suicide during a psilocybin session.
In an experiment like this, it’s important that patients don’t know or guess if they got the psilocybin or the dummy drug. To try to achieve this, the researchers chose a generic antihistamine with some psychoactive effects as the placebo.
Still, most patients in the study correctly guessed whether they got the psilocybin or the dummy pill.
Paul Mavis couldn’t guess. The 61-year-old from Wilton, Connecticut, got the placebo, but still quit drinking. For one thing, the talk therapy helped, suggesting to him that his emotional life stalled at age 15 when he started drinking to feel numb.
And he described a life-changing moment during a session where he was taking the dummy drug: He imagined the death of a loved one. Suddenly, an intense, incapacitating grief overcame him.
“I was crying, which isn’t typical for me. I was sweating. I was bereft,” he said. “As I’m trying to reconcile this grief, like, why am I feeling this?
“Instantly, I thought, ‘Drinking equals death.’” He said he hasn’t had a drink since.
Dr. Mark Willenbring, former director of treatment research at the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, said more research is needed before psilocybin can be considered an effective addition to talk therapy. He noted that talking with a therapist helped both groups — those who got psilocybin and those who didn’t — and the added benefit of psilocybin appeared to wear off over time.
“It’s tantalizing, absolutely,” Willenbring said. “Is more research required? Yes. Is it ready for prime time? No.”
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/25/magic-mushroom-psychedelic-may-help-heavy-drinkers-quit/ | 2022-08-25T16:18:12Z |
Oklahoma executes James Coddington for 1997 hammer killing
Published: Aug. 25, 2022 at 11:37 AM EDT|Updated: 40 minutes ago
McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma has executed a man for a 1997 killing despite a recommendation from the state’s Pardon and Parole Board that his life be spared.
Fifty-year-old James Coddington received a lethal injection on Thursday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He was pronounced dead at 10:16 a.m.
Gov. Kevin Stitt rejected Coddington’s clemency petition and declined to commute Coddington’s sentence to life in prison without parole.
Coddington was convicted and sentenced to die for beating 73-year-old Albert Hale to death with a hammer.
Prosecutors say Coddington, then 24, became enraged when Hale refused to give him money to buy cocaine.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/25/oklahoma-executes-james-coddington-1997-hammer-killing/ | 2022-08-25T16:18:18Z |
Ukrainian nuke plant near fighting cut off from power grid
NIKOPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainians are once again anxious about the fate of a nuclear power plant in a land that was home to the world’s worst atomic accident in 1986 at Chernobyl — and alarm only increased Thursday when the plant operator said the facility has been cut off from the electrical grid.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, has been occupied by Russian forces since the early days of the war, and continued fighting near the facility has heightened fears of a catastrophe that could affect nearby towns in southern Ukraine — or potentially an even wider region.
On Thursday, the plant was cut off from the power grid for the first time after fires damaged the only working transmission line, according to Ukraine’s nuclear power operator. It was not clear if the plant had been reconnected. As long as it remains off the grid, it will have to rely on emergency diesel generators to run cooling systems that are essential for the safe operation of the reactors.
The cutoff underscored concerns about the plant, which the government in Kyiv alleges Russia is essentially holding hostage, storing weapons there and launching attacks from around it. Moscow, meanwhile, accuses Ukraine of recklessly firing on the facility, which is located in the city of Enerhodar.
“Anybody who understands nuclear safety issues has been trembling for the last six months,” Mycle Schneider, an independent policy consultant and coordinator of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report, said before the latest incident at the plant.
Ukraine cannot simply shut down its nuclear plants during the war because it is heavily reliant on them, and its 15 reactors at four stations provide about half of its electricity. Still, an ongoing conflict near a working atomic plant is troubling for many experts who fear that a damaged facility could lead to a disaster.
That fear is palpable just across the Dnieper River in Nikopol, where residents have been under nearly constant Russian shelling since July 12, with eight people killed, 850 buildings damaged and over the half the population of 100,000 fleeing the city.
Liudmyla Shyshkina, a 74-year-old widow who lived within sight of the Zaporizhzhia plant before her apartment was bombarded and her husband killed, said she believes the Russians are capable of intentionally causing a nuclear disaster.
Fighting in early March caused a brief fire at the plant’s training complex that officials said did not result in the release of any radiation. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia’s military actions there amount to “nuclear blackmail.”
No civilian nuclear plant is designed for a wartime situation, although the buildings housing Zaporizhzhia’s six reactors are protected by reinforced concrete that could withstand an errant shell, experts say.
The more immediate concern is that a disruption of electricity supply — like the one nuclear power operator, Energoatom, reported Thursday that meant two remaining reactors at the plant were disconnected from the grid.
The operator said it couldn’t immediately comment on the operation of safety systems at the plant, where emergency diesel generators are sometimes unreliable.
External power is essential not just to cool the two reactors still in operation but also the spent radioactive fuel stored in special facilities onsite — and only one of the plant’s four power lines connecting it to the grid has been operational.
“If we lose the last one, we are at the total mercy of emergency power generators,” said Najmedin Meshkati, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Southern California.
Another concern about the fighting nearby is that pools where spent fuel rods are kept to be cooled also are vulnerable to shelling, which could cause the release of radioactive material.
Kyiv told the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, that shelling earlier this week damaged transformers at a nearby conventional power plant, disrupting electricity supplies to the Zaporizhzhia plant for several hours.
The atomic agency’s head, Rafael Mariano Grossi, said Thursday he hopes to send a mission to the plant within “days.”
Negotiations over how the mission would access the plant are complicated but advancing, he said on France-24 television after meeting in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron, who pressed Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call last week to allow the U.N. agency to visit the site.
“Kyiv accepts it. Moscow accepts it. So we need to go there,” Grossi said.
At a U.N. Security Council meeting Tuesday, U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo urged the withdrawal of all military personnel and equipment from the plant and an agreement on a demilitarized zone around it.
He and Schneider expressed concern that the occupation of the plant by Russian forces is also hampering safety inspections and the replacement of critical parts, and is putting severe strain on hundreds of Ukrainian staff who operate the facility.
“Human error probability will be increased manifold by fatigue,” said Meshkati, who was part of a committee appointed by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences to identify lessons from the 2011 nuclear disaster at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant. “Fatigue and stress are unfortunately two big safety factors.”
If an incident at the Zaporizhzhia plant were to release significant amounts of radiation, the scale and location of the contamination would be determined largely by the weather, said Paul Dorfman, a nuclear safety expert at the University of Sussex who has advised the British and Irish governments.
The massive earthquake and tsunami that hit the Fukushima plant destroyed cooling systems, which triggered meltdowns in three of its reactors. Much of the contaminated material was blown out to sea, limiting the damage.
The April 26, 1986, explosion and fire at one of four reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear plant north of Kyiv sent a cloud of radioactive material across a wide swath of Europe and beyond. In addition to fueling anti-nuclear sentiment in many countries, the disaster left deep psychological scars on Ukrainians.
Zaporizhzhia’s reactors are of a different model than those at Chernobyl, but unfavorable winds could still spread radioactive contamination in any direction, Dorfman said.
“If something really went wrong, then we have a full-scale radiological catastrophe that could reach Europe, go as far as the Middle East, and certainly could reach Russia, but the most significant contamination would be in the immediate area,” he said.
That’s why Nikopol’s emergency services department takes radiation measurements every hour since the Russian invasion began. Before that, it was every four hours.
___
Jordans reported from Berlin. Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed.
___
Follow AP coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/25/ukrainian-nuke-plant-near-fighting-cut-off-power-grid/ | 2022-08-25T16:18:25Z |
Unvaccinated Djokovic out of US Open; can’t travel to States
NEW YORK (AP) — Novak Djokovic will not play in the U.S. Open, as expected, because he is not vaccinated against COVID-19 and thus is not allowed to travel to the United States.
Djokovic announced his withdrawal from the year’s last Grand Slam tournament on Twitter on Thursday, hours before the draw for the event was revealed.
“Sadly, I will not be able to travel to NY this time for US Open,” Djokovic wrote, wishing luck to his fellow players, and said he would “keep in good shape and positive spirit and wait for an opportunity to compete again.”
Play is scheduled to begin at Flushing Meadows on Monday.
Djokovic is a 35-year-old from Serbia who owns 21 major championships, one behind Rafael Nadal for the men’s record. Three of Djokovic’s Slam trophies came at the U.S. Open, in 2011, 2015 and 2018.
He also was the runner-up there a half-dozen times, including last season, when his pursuit of the first calendar-year Grand Slam in men’s tennis since 1969 ended with a loss in the final to Daniil Medvedev.
Foreign citizens who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 are currently unable to enter the U.S or Canada, and Djokovic has said he won’t get the shots, even if that prevents him from playing in certain tournaments.
The U.S. Tennis Association has said all along it will follow government rules about vaccination status for this year’s Open. There is no vaccine mandate at the tournament for players or their support teams — meaning that an unvaccinated American would be allowed to compete — and spectators will not be required to wear masks.
“Novak is a great champion and it is very unfortunate that he will be unable to compete at the 2022 U.S. Open, as he is unable to enter the country due to the federal government’s vaccination policy for non-U.S. citizens,” said Stacey Allaster, the U.S. Open tournament director. “We look forward to welcoming Novak back at the 2023 U.S. Open.”
Djokovic missed the Australian Open in January after a protracted legal saga ended with his deportation from that country because he isn’t vaccinated against COVID-19. He also sat out four significant tournaments in North America in 2022, including in Montreal and Cincinnati recently.
He did play in the French Open, where he lost in the quarterfinals to Nadal, and at Wimbledon, where Djokovic won the title.
After beating Nick Kyrgios in the Wimbledon final on July 10, Djokovic said he “would love” to participate in the last Grand Slam tournament of the year at Flushing Meadows, but he also acknowledged, “I’m not planning to get vaccinated.”
About three weeks later, Djokovic posted on social media that he was holding out hope of getting the chance to play in the U.S. Open, writing: “I am preparing as if I will be allowed to compete, while I await to hear if there is any room for me to travel to US. Fingers crossed!”
Djokovic has spent more weeks at No. 1 than anyone else in the history of the ATP rankings. He is No. 6 this week, in part because no rankings points were awarded at Wimbledon this year.
Among the other players who will not be at the U.S. Open for various reasons are No. 2-ranked Alexander Zverev, the 2020 runner-up in New York; 2016 champion Angelique Kerber; 2019 French Open finalist Marketa Vondrousova; Gael Monfils and Reilly Opelka.
___
More AP coverage of U.S. Open tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/us-open-tennis-championships and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/25/unvaccinated-djokovic-out-us-open-cant-travel-states/ | 2022-08-25T16:18:32Z |
VDH expands eligibility for Monkeypox vaccination
Published: Aug. 25, 2022 at 10:53 AM EDT|Updated: 1 hour ago
RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - The Virginia Department of Health is expanding eligibility for the monkeypox vaccine, JYNNEOS.
VDH says it’s doing this to align with the current vaccination criteria laid out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The expanded criteria for vaccination include Virginia residents who meet one of the following:
- People of any sexual orientation or gender, who have had anonymous or multiple (more than one) sexual partners in the past two weeks
- Sex workers of any sexual orientation or gender
- Staff of any sexual orientation or gender at establishments where sexual activity occurs such as bathhouses, saunas, and sex clubs
VDH says it’s received a limited supply of JYNNEOS vaccine, redistributed 8,899 vials to the state’s 35 health districts, and administered 5,875 vials through local health departments and other healthcare providers.
JYNNEOS is a two-dose vaccine, and VDH is managing the supply to ensure second doses are available.
Copyright 2022 WWBT. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/25/vdh-expands-eligibility-monkeypox-vaccination/ | 2022-08-25T16:18:38Z |
Working smoke alarms credited for saving Harrisonburg family
HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) - Harrisonburg’s fire chief said working smoke alarms saved the lives of a city family after a fire at their home on Saturday.
On the morning of August 20, city firefighters responded to the 1400 block of Country Club Court where they found smoke showing from the second and third-floor windows. Crews were able to quickly put out the fire and the situation was marked under control around 9:45 a.m.
According to Chief Matthew Tobia, an unattended smoking device was to blame for the fire but functioning smoke alarms alerted the family of four there was danger in their home. They were able to evacuate quickly and suffered minor injuries.
“Fire can grow and spread through a home in a matter of seconds,” Tobia said in a statement on Thursday. “That’s why the advance warning provided by smoke alarms is essential to saving lives.”
Tobia reminds everybody to follow these fire prevention tips to make sure you and your family stay safe:
• Have smoke alarms in every sleeping room, outside each separate sleeping area, and on every level of the home, including the basement.
• Make a home escape plan. Draw a map of each level of your home and two ways out of each room.
• Practice what to do in case there is smoke. Get low and go. Get out fast.
The Harrisonburg Fire Department offers free smoke alarms to all city residents. For those interested or have questions about fire safety, call the department at 540-432-7703 or visit any city fire station.
Copyright 2022 WHSV. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/25/working-smoke-alarms-credited-saving-harrisonburg-family/ | 2022-08-25T16:18:51Z |
Australian filmmaker George Miller’s latest cinematic exploration of humanity is a far cry from the dusty, diesel-fueled “Mad Max” franchise for which he is known, and it proves a moment of respite between 2015’s “Mad Max: Fury Road” and the currently filming prequel to that film, “Furiosa.” Based on the short story “The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye” by A.S. Byatt, adapted by Miller and Augusta Gore, “Three Thousand Years of Longing” is a philosophically ambitious project, a cerebral exploration of the function of storytelling in human existence and the meaning of desire.
“Three Thousand Years of Longing” is a nested Matryoshka doll of story. The outer layer is told by Alithea (Tilda Swinton), a narratologist who has made her way to Turkey for a conference. Upon arrival, she starts to encounter mysterious, magical figures, what she calls djinn (another word for “genie,” referring to the Muslim belief in invisible spirits that inhabit the world and take the form of humans or animals). While giving a talk about the continuing purpose of myth in our modern, science-based world, she is spooked by a djinn in the audience and faints.
The script is so densely packed with mythological insight that some scenes almost gloss over interesting concepts like the one Alithea discusses in her talk, which questions the function of gods, monsters and creation myths in everyday life, when we have science to tell us where we came from. But even if Miller doesn’t linger on these ideas, they remain in the background of “Three Thousand Years of Longing,” constantly informing the rest of the film.
The story inside Alithea’s belongs to the main djinn she encounters, after purchasing a mysterious glass bottle in the bazaar and scrubbing it clean. The Djinn (Idris Elba), explodes into her hotel room, requesting that she make three wishes. Alithea declines, insisting that stories about making wishes are cautionary tales, and there’s really nothing she needs or desires in her independent, solitary, academic life. The pair, clad in white hotel robes, sit down for a chat, and the Djinn tells her his story, of the three times he’s been “incarcerated” in his bottle, and the danger of wishes unfulfilled, which rob him of his purpose.
Rendered with stunning beauty and daring visuals by Miller, these 3,000 years of history, from the Queen of Sheba, through various slaves and sultans and trips to the bottom of the Bosporus, the Djinn’s journey is an exploration through the danger of wishing and the undeniable power of desire. Though Alithea claims she has no desire for wishes, in hearing his story, she comes to understand her purpose, which is to love him. Whether or not they can harmoniously coexist in the modern world, full of so many busy frequencies and electromagnetic fields, is another question altogether.
Miller’s vision is an earnest and high-minded one, with more insights about humanity and storytelling packed into a tossed off moment than most films contain. But it’s also a deeply odd film, spanning centuries, but contained to the interaction between Alithea and the Djinn. In line with core tenets of Miller’s genre-spanning work, it most clearly espouses the questions of human existence, human desire, and how it’s desire that make us human, whether it’s for love or survival, or both.
But while Miller asks the audience to level up to their existential exploration, in posing questions about the purpose of storytelling, and perhaps, about the lack of magic in our technological, science-driven world, the film doesn’t offer up any concrete answers, leaving us adrift in a sea of provocative queries. For a film about narrative, it meanders, losing focus. The only messages or lessons in “Three Thousand Years of Longing” are to be gleaned ourselves from the clues left behind, which is a fascinating, if a bit frustrating experience.
Will Carpenter is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s Arts and Entertainment/Features Reporter. He can be reached by email at wcarpenter@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3135. Follow him on Twitter @will_carp_.
Will Carpenter is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s Arts and Entertainment/Features Reporter. He can be reached by email at wcarpenter@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3135. Follow him on Twitter @will_carp_. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/features/movie-review-three-thousand-years-of-longing-has-more-questions-than-answers/article_52653fc4-23f5-11ed-9fd6-4b2e6ed41f0c.html | 2022-08-25T16:30:04Z |
Chicago Tribune
Part rom-com, part legal drama, “Partner Track” is the kind of frothy programming Netflix has been doubling down on that’s ideal viewing when your brain is fried and your feet are barking. It’s the glossy magazine equivalent of TV: Doesn’t require your undivided attention to be enjoyable, but is just engrossing enough to keep you watching.
Landing somewhere between “Suits” and “Ally McBeal,” the show is based on the 2013 novel by Helen Wan and centers on a young New York lawyer named Ingrid Yun (Arden Cho) looking to make partner. The high-end law firm where she’s employed is a sea of white men – patrician, fratty, sharklike, you name it – which means Ingrid and her two nonwhite guy besties at work are forever batting away aggressions micro and overt.
If putting up with this kind of racist, sexist hazing means they’ll eventually make partner – putting them in a position to effect real change at the firm – well, fine, these three pals grudgingly surmise. Whether this strategy actually bears fruit is one of the season’s ongoing questions.
Ingrid works in mergers and acquisitions, so her lawyering is done in the conference room rather than the courtroom. That can be just as compelling if it’s written with some energy and flair when it comes to workplace chicanery, which is the case about half the time here. As played by Cho, Ingrid is a winning combination of glamour and a desperation to prove herself. The child of Korean immigrants, there’s a lot riding on her success: Money is security, her mother tells her. Money is safety. There are all kinds of compromises she will be asked to make as she pursues her goal and the firm’s phony baloney diversity gala – which she’s forced to chair – is a very sharp depiction of how these things usually go down. All talk, no action. Smile for the camera.
But really, mergers and acquisitions? Ingrid is experiencing legitimately unfair and damaging workplace biases, but in the grander scheme of things, she is not the underdog! She is very much part of the apparatus (at least initially) that ruthlessly crushes everything in its path!
It’s a series that asks you to not think too deeply about any of that, and I’m inclined to go along with it because the show does indeed have a moral compass amid its sleek wardrobes, glorious apartments and a trio of handsome love interests. Ingrid’s potential suitors are somewhat blandly rendered, but the show has giddily contrived moments wherein each shows up shirtless, and who knew all these business guys secretly had abs!
I also like the way the show gives real storylines to Ingrid’s two office pals – Tyler (Bradley Gibson) and Rachel (Alexandra Turshen) – who share a sarcastic sense of humor and have independent lives that are separate from Ingrid’s romantic intrigue and workplace drama. As one of the few Black lawyers at the firm, Tyler is at a crossroads, feeling the same tokenized pressures as Ingrid and realizing it may not be worth it in the long run. Rachel is a good lawyer, but less ambitious about her future at the firm; she’s over it and would rather be doing something else with her life. How each navigates these issues is treated as just as important as Ingrid’s dilemmas.
In fact, Tyler actually gets all the best lines. To a co-worker: “We’re pitching to the hottest underground fashion label in town and you’re dressed like a dollar store ‘American Psycho.’” Or scolding Rachel when she doesn’t get a pop culture reference: “How many times have we watched ‘Sex and the City’ and you still have not seen ‘Living Single’? It’s disrespectful.” Or replying to a text saying “Wish you were here” with the barfy face emoji. He also has an amazing mustard-colored wool coat that is to die for.
If only the show were a tick or two better. I haven’t read Wan’s book (which draws from her own experiences as a lawyer) but I’ve seen it described as “smart, incisive and fast-paced.”
That’s not how I would describe the TV adaptation from showrunners Georgia Lee and Sarah Goldfinger, which resorts to some cringey “Emily in Paris”-style goofiness in the early going. There are also missed opportunities to subvert expectations. When a client mistakes Ingrid for a paralegal and asks her to fetch some Pellegrino, she politely sets him straight. “Well, shoot,” he says chuckling, “no hard feelings, I hope. You just don’t look at day over 18. You folks (Asian people) are lucky that way, right?” Ingrid’s expression as he’s talking is sort of a half-eye roll, and I wish Cho had been allowed to play more with her reaction. There’s a lot going through a person’s mind in these situations – you’re livid and embarrassed, while also knowing this is a client you have to keep happy – and allowing more of those conflicted emotions to subtly play across Cho’s face is the kind of thing that would have elevated the moment.
Gradually, though, the show takes itself more seriously as the season progresses. Light TV can be intelligent. “Partner Track” works best when it remembers that.
Will Carpenter is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s Arts and Entertainment/Features Reporter. He can be reached by email at wcarpenter@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3135. Follow him on Twitter @will_carp_. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/features/partner-track-review-part-rom-com-part-light-legal-drama-100-easy-watching-on-netflix/article_b8b6c532-23f9-11ed-b9a8-d3534c7714a7.html | 2022-08-25T16:30:11Z |
The Orange County Register
Albert Hammond Jr. says it felt both strange and incredible when the Strokes headed back out on tour earlier this year to play live.
“Not to be obvious, but it feels like I’ve spent two years at home as the world is trying to get back on its feet,” the guitarist says. “So it has its hiccups, but to actually be doing it? Yeah, it’s amazing.”
The Strokes have toured in Europe and Australia, playing a lot of festivals, as well as opening some shows for Red Hot Chili Peppers’ stadium tour.
So does it feel different, touring post-pandemic?
“Doesn’t everything feel different than what it was before?” Hammond replies. “The whole world’s a little (worse).
“We try to go up and make it exciting,” he says. “I’m always looking at every night as a new way to bring the crowd to you. See what they connect with. So I mean that element, that part is still there.
“So maybe that takes you out of thinking about it too much – you’re just in the moment. But apart from that, everything feels so different.”
On the road again
So far this year, the Strokes have played about 30 shows, their most since 2011 when they played about 40, and still far fewer than earlier years in the aughts when they racked up more than 100 nights on stage in a handful of years.
Hammond says that while he’d generally prefer to play more shows, the decision has to work for all five members of the group, which includes singer Julian Casablancas, guitarist Nick Valensi, bassist Nikolai Fraiture, and drummer Fabrizio Moretti.
“That’s a hard one to answer as one-fifth of the whole entity,” Hammond says. “What I would want to do or what we decided as a band are two different things, and there’s compromise between them.
“Early on, I don’t think you have a choice but to do it, especially if you are lucky enough to get a break where people are excited to come see you and believe in you,” he says. “You really believe in the record and shows keep popping up and you just kind of go with it.”
Since 2011 and the tour for the “Angles” album, most of the Strokes have also taken time for their own projects. Casablancas has the Voidz and Fraiture has the side project Summer Moon.
Hammond tours with his eponymous solo band. He also moved to Los Angeles from New York with his wife and daughter and most recently has launched a wine seltzer line called Jetway.
Still, it’s not the same as touring with the Strokes, he says.
“From my point of view, yeah, it’s a bummer,” Hammond says. “I would have loved to be touring the whole time. But yeah, if you’re asking, ‘Why didn’t you do that?’ there’s no answer I could give that would be able to describe a dynamic that’s what makes us us.”
The old new album
This tour might have taken place a few years earlier. The Strokes’ most recent album arrived in April 2020, and its title – “The New Abnormal” – is an oddly apt name for the way life changed in the pandemic.
And, of course, most bands will tour behind a new album, even though “The New Abnormal” has been around long enough to earn the band its first-ever Grammy nomination and win for best rock album a year ago.
“It got old while everyone was just sitting there,” Hammond says, laughing. “No, it’s still new.”
For this sixth album from the Strokes, the band chose acclaimed producer Rick Rubin to lead the project in the studio, a decision Hammond says worked wonderfully.
“The coolest thing that I felt was that he kind of allowed us to be a band again,” he says. “And as more happened, whenever something was good we’d kind of go with it. I don’t know. It allowed room to just exist and stay in a certain kind of head space during the whole process.”
Rubin’s presence in the studio allowed the band members to relax and trust that they, their songs, and the album were in good hands.
“He has ideas to push you in directions when you’re maybe overwhelmed,” Hammond says. “And then he was an older figure, and someone who’d made so many big records and worked with so many big artists, it would just make you feel like five kids again, and there’s someone older and in charge.
“People make fun of that Peter Pan complex, but I feel like bands in some ways have to stay like that at some level because it’s part of it.”
Then and now
Next year marks the 25th anniversary of the Strokes’ formation in New York City, though their debut album, “Is This It,” didn’t arrive until 2001.
Sometimes the magic of those early days feels present still today, Hammond says. In other moments, it’s like ancient history.
“I mean, time is a weird thing,” he says. “It’s been 25 years and in some ways, it’s exactly the same; and in some ways, it looks completely different.
“Sometimes backstage chatting after a show or just randomly meeting somewhere, maybe meeting at our managers, we still talk and hang out,” Hammond says. “It just still feels like we’re 18, we’ve finished rehearsals, and we’d stay somewhere for a while talking to each other.
“And then other times, you feel so distant. Everyone’s got families. You’re older, you realize your time feels less.
“You know it feels like forever, and then you get older and you’re like, ‘God …’,” he says, laughing.
Making music, live or in the studio, is when the Strokes still feel best.
“I remember the one thing we always talked about is that we wanted to create music that we felt was good, and something that could compete with what was out there,” Hammond says. “Like be another mix into whatever the rock and pop world was out there, but not have to sacrifice what we wanted to get there. Like still make it sound like music we would want to hear.
“I think we’ve achieved that,” he says. “From wanting to be like an art band – I don’t want to say ‘art band,’ because that gives a whole lot of feelings I already hate. Just like, a weirder band. That fits.
“That tries to fit in some kind of mainstream is probably too far, but some kind of world where it’s successful and not just hidden. Where it’s almost like you found a hidden gem.” | https://www.wyomingnews.com/features/the-strokes-albert-hammond-jr-talks-touring-and-being-a-weirder-band/article_7a4b76a6-23f1-11ed-aef9-af27a5a7e091.html | 2022-08-25T16:30:17Z |
Cheyenne and Laramie County
Chancey Williams @ Frontier Park
– Aug. 25, 7 p.m. Free. In celebration of a successful Cheyenne Frontier Days, the CFD committee is hosting a free concert. Country musicians Chancey Williams and Josh Dorr will perform. B Stand, Frontier Park, 1230 W. Eighth Ave. 307-778-7200
New Frontier Cheyenne Gun and Western Collectibles Show
– Aug. 26, 12-5 p.m.; Aug. 27, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; Aug. 28, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. This Western collectible and firearms show will have a large assortment of new and antique firearms, accessories, knives, edged weapons, cowboy and Indian artifacts, relics, Western memorabilia, antiques and jewelry. Laramie County Events Center at Archer, 3801 Archer Parkway. 307-633-4670
Fridays on the Plaza
– Aug. 26, 5:30 p.m. A weekly summer concert series featuring acts from around the country. This week’s headliner is Jocelyn & Chris, with an opening performance by The Patti Fiasco. Cheyenne Depot Plaza, 1 Depot Square. 307-637-6200
Cheyenne Farmers Market
– Aug. 27, 7 a.m.-1 p.m. Local and regional vendors sell their produce, honey, jams, meat, bakery and specialty items, and much more. Proceeds benefit Community Action of Laramie County and its programs. B Parking Lot, Frontier Park, 4610 Carey Ave. 307-635-9291 or www.calc.net/farmers-market
End of Summer Foam Party
– Aug. 27, 10 a.m.-noon. Summer is over, and it’s time to go back to school. Join the library for outdoor games and sipping on lemonade as we enjoy the last rays of summer with a foam party. Performance Park, 2200 Pioneer Ave. 307-634-3561
University of Wyoming Football Fest
– Aug. 27, 2-6 p.m. Prepare your best University of Wyoming football cheer, don your brown and gold, and get ready for game day at the library. Join fellow fans to watch the first game of the season as the Cowboys take on Illinois. Laramie County Library, 2200 Pioneer Ave. 307-634-3561
New Frontier Cheyenne Gun and Western Collectibles Show Auction
– Aug. 27, 4 p.m. This year’s auction includes antique Native American and cowboy items, Old West memorabilia and eight special items worn on-screen by famous (now deceased) actor John Wayne. Laramie County Events Center at Archer, 3801 Archer Parkway. 307-633-4670
Edge Fest 2022
– Aug. 27, 5-11 p.m. Experience Tones & I, Claire Rosinkranz and Joe P at the seventh installment of this free outdoor music festival. There will be food and drink on site, as well. Civic Commons Park, Bent Avenue and 20th Street. info@edgefest.com
Tales Together
– Aug. 30-31, 10:15-10:45 a.m. An interactive early literacy class for preschool children and their caregivers. Practice new skills incorporating books, songs, rhymes, movement and more. Laramie County Library, 2200 Pioneer Ave. 307-634-3561
Open Mic Night at Blue Raven
– Aug. 31, 7-10 p.m. A musical open mic night, presented in collaboration with Wyoming Wave Studios. Blue Raven Brewery, 209 E. 18th St. 307-369-1978
Cheyenne First Friday Artwalk
– Sept. 2, 5 p.m. Free. The Cheyenne Artwalk is a monthly event that highlights a local gallery or studio on the first Friday of every month. This month, look for the mobile ArtHaus unit parked out front the Clay Paper Scissors, along with food trucks and live music. Cheyenne Artist Guild, 1701 Morrie Ave. 307-632-2263
Cheyenne Farmers Market
– Sept. 3, 7 a.m.-1 p.m. Local and regional vendors sell their produce, honey, jams, meat, bakery and specialty items, and much more. Proceeds benefit Community Action of Laramie County and its programs. B Parking Lot, Frontier Park, 4610 Carey Ave. 307-635-9291 or www.calc.net/farmers-market
VFW Craft and Flea Market Show
– Sept. 3, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Support local veterans by shopping for different crafts, including jewelry, crochet items, candles and more. Lunch will be available. VFW 1881, 2816 E. Seventh St. 307-632-4053.
Labor Day Pig Roast
– Sept. 5, 11:30 a.m. Free. American Legion Post 6 is sponsoring a free pig roast that is open to the public. There will be barbecue pork, hot dogs and hamburgers with fixings. American Legion Post 6, 2001 E. Lincolnway. 307-256-4138
Cheyenne Heritage Quilters Meeting
– Sept. 6, 7 p.m. Guest speaker Angela McPherson of Cheyenne will give a trunk show of art quilts. She will have an emphasis on the use of many mediums to create an art quilt, and will also talk about a class she will be teaching to create an art quilt on Oct. 15. First United Methodist Church, 108 E. 18th St. info@chquilters.org
Spanish Storytime (Hora de cuentos en español)
– Sept. 7, 6-7 p.m. In collaboration with the Hispanic Heritage Celebration, the library will be presenting a special Spanish Storytime. Come enjoy stories, songs, snacks and a craft, all in Spanish. Laramie County Library, 2200 Pioneer Ave. 307-634-3561
– Sept. 7, 6-7 p.m. En colaboración con La Celebración de la Herencia Hispana, presentaremos una hora de cuentos en español. Disfrute de cuentos especiales, canciones, meriendas y manualidades – ¡todo en español! Biblioteca del condado de Laramie, 2200 Pioneer Ave. 307-634-3561
Capital City Car and Bike Club: Show and Shine
– Sept. 8, 5-8 p.m. Enjoy a free car show at the library before the club’s big event at the Cheyenne Hispanic Festival on Sept. 10. Laramie County Library, 2200 Pioneer Ave. 307-634-3561
The Purple Society Meeting
– Sept. 8, 6-7 p.m. Join members of the LBGTQ+ and allies community. This group meets to chat about LGBTQ+ related issues, work on crafts and enjoy some snacks in a safe environment. This group seeks to offer understanding, support and acceptance. Laramie County Library, 2200 Pioneer Ave. 307-634-3561
Nonprofits: Introduction to Proposal Writing
– Sept. 8, 12:30–1:30 p.m. Are you new to proposal writing or wanting a quick refresher? This class will provide participants with an introductory overview of the nonprofit proposal writing process. RSVP for this event at lclsonline.org/calendar/. Laramie County Library, 2200 Pioneer Ave. 307-634-3561
Open Jam Night
– Sept. 8, 7 p.m. Free. The Lincoln Theatre is hosting its monthly Open Jam Night. Musicians are encouraged to bring their guitar, bass, etc., and come jam with other local musicians! Backline provided. A full bar will be available for those who just want to come and watch. The Lincoln Theatre, 1615 Central Ave. 307-369-6028
Ongoing
Americans and the Holocaust Exhibit
– Through Aug. 28, library hours. Laramie County Library is one of 50 U.S. libraries selected to host Americans and the Holocaust, a traveling exhibition from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum that examines the motives, pressures and fears that shaped Americans’ responses to Nazism, war and genocide in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s. Laramie County Library, 2200 Pioneer Ave. 307-634-3561
Righting a Wrong: Japanese Americans and World War II
– Through Aug. 28, library hours. Smithsonian poster exhibition traces the story of Japanese national and Japanese American incarceration during World War II and the people who survived it. Laramie County Library, 2200 Pioneer Ave. 307-634-3561
Laramie and Greater Wyoming
Tails and Trails
– Aug. 26, 6-7 p.m. Bring your pups for a group hike on Stone Temple Circuit. This will be a great opportunity to meet others who like to hike with their pets. Curt Gowdy State Park, 1264 Granite Springs Road. 307-777-7878
7220’ Music Fest
– Aug. 27, 3-10 p.m. $20. A music festival to raise money for Albany County Search and Rescue and Laramie Chamber Business Alliance. There will be street vendors, food trucks and music. Bond’s Brewing Company, 411 S. Second St. 307-460-3385
307 Film Festival
– Aug. 27-28. $49 for weekend pass. A festival that celebrates films and filmmakers from across Wyoming, the United States and internationally. Studio City UW, 2422 Grand Ave. 307-460-1598
Fort Collins, Colorado
Off the Shelf: Contemporary Book Arts in Colorado
– Aug. 26-Dec. 18, museum hours. Free. This exhibit features artists that innovate and defy our conceptual framework of the book and its contents. The artist book, a medium spanning the public and private sphere of creators and viewers, reflects on issues intimate and grand. Colorado State University Gregory Allicar Museum of Art, 1400 Remington Street, Fort Collins, Colorado. 970-491-1989
World’s Biggest Pizza Party
– Aug. 27, noon-4 p.m. Fort Collins pizza maker Project Pizza Co. is hosting an event to beat the world record for the world’s biggest pizza party. There will be six pizza trucks making pizzas, a DJ and a celebration for pizza lovers in Fort Collins. City Park Fort Collins, 1500 W. Mulberry St. info@projectpizzaco.com
Boulder, Colorado
Hiatus Kaiyote @ Boulder Theater
– Aug. 31, 8 p.m. $39.50-$40. A performance by Melbourne-based, genre-transcending alternative band Hiatus Kaiyote. Boulder Theater, 2042 14th St., Boulder, Colorado. 303-786-7030
Denver
My Morning Jacket @ Red Rocks
– Aug. 26-27, 7:30 p.m.; doors at 6 p.m. A two-night performance from alternative-rock band My Morning Jacket. Red Rocks Amphitheater, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison, Colorado. 720-865-2494
Nine Inch Nails @ Red Rocks
– Sept. 2-3, 7:30 p.m.; doors at 6 p.m. A two-night performance from critically acclaimed industrial/electronic/metal band fronted by Trent Reznor. Red Rocks Amphitheater, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison, Colorado. 720-865-2494
Courtney Barnett & Japanese Breakfast @ Mission Ballroom
– Sept. 3, 5 p.m.; doors at 4 p.m. $52-$124. Courtney Barnett, as a part of her “Here and There Festival Series,” is stopping in Denver with indie outfit Japanese Breakfast, Arooj Aftab and Bedouine. Barnett is coming off the release of her third studio album, “Things Take Time, Take Time.” Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St., Denver. 720-577-6884
Echo & The Bunnymen @ The Ogden
– Sept. 4, 9 p.m.; doors at 7 p.m. Legendary Liverpool band Echo & the Bunnymen are announcing their return to the U.S. for a tour in support of their 12th studio album and first since 2009, “Meteorites.” Ogden Theatre, 935 E. Colfax Ave, Denver. 303-832-1874
To submit an item to the events calendar, email ToDo@wyomingnews.com or call WTE features editor Niki Kottmann at 307-633-3135. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/features/todo/friday-calendar-8-25-22/article_7af2f476-23fb-11ed-bd49-4b03f9ea3724.html | 2022-08-25T16:30:23Z |
I’ll be the first to say it: I’m looking forward to the first snowfall of the brutal Cheyenne winter season.
No, it won’t be here for another couple of months, and no, I’m not some psychopathic sadistic.
Sure, the roads will be bad, air even travel worse, and as we know, our city tends to go into a sort of hibernation around the same time that the trees go bare.
On the other end of the spectrum, I spent Saturday up in the Snowy Range, sitting by Mirror Lake and Lake Marie with my Wyoming Tribune Eagle coworkers and brother, who was visiting from Central Arkansas. Each of the lakes, chilled beneath the stainless steel sky, was calm. Periodically, an elusive fish would break the surface and draw our attention.
Earlier in the day, I yanked off my boots, slipped off my socks, and rolled my pant legs to the knee to take a tender walk out into the water. Just four steps in, I wished I had prepared to submerge myself beneath the reflection of looming Medicine Bow Peak.
The wind blew. Thunder clapped. Once the sun was gone and it was strikingly cold, we covered up in wool blankets. Rather than complain (OK, I might have whined a bit), we absorbed the increasingly frigid breeze and collectively realized that we’ve had our hearty fill of summertime Cheyenne.
At least, I think I have.
There are still some great things coming as we transition into the season that meteorologists and the majority of the human race have designated as “fall.” Here in southeast Wyoming, we might more readily recognize the same stretch of time as “winter, part one.”
Tonight, Cheyenne Frontier Days is thanking the community for their support with a free concert from Wyoming country singer Chancey Williams, with help from Josh Dorr. Visit the B Stand in Frontier Park and take advantage of the rare opportunity.
Signaling the end of the summer, tomorrow night, Fridays on the Plaza will conclude with a performance from Jocelyn & Chris, while regional mainstays Patti Fiasco open the show at 5:30 p.m.
Saturday kicks off with the weekly Cheyenne Farmers Market and concludes with the long-awaited Edge Fest 2022. Tones and I, Claire Rosinkranz and Joe P will perform in Civic Commons Park, turning the focal point of the West Edge District into one lively block party in one of the most popular events of the year.
It’s beginning to feel a bit like the end of a chapter.
(Well, aren’t I getting sentimental?)
Maybe I’m not quite ready for summer to fade away. I reckon I’m just nostalgic for some of the things I remember about those brisk winter months.
Not quite everything in winter comes as a welcome return, but I’m at the point where I can reminisce about my first several months in town, as much of a difficult adjustment as they proved to be.
Sometimes, the cold forces people to come together.
I think of the bustling bars filled with residents, free of tourists, just trying to get out of the sub-freezing temperature outside. It’s a scene that can only be rivaled by a weekend crowd during these warm summer nights.
To wax philosophically, adverse conditions bring people together.
Transitioning to another tangent, can I risk saying that I feel there’s a tide turning in our city?
I’m young and naive, but in the past several months, I’ve developed a pride for the city that I can hardly call my own – a pride for its people, as well. I have often heard Cheyenne being discussed in the negative, and the state of Wyoming being discussed in the negative, which, as we know, is taking the easy way out.
It is easy to critique without offering a constructive suggestion for improvement. It is as easy to make an enemy as it is to avoid a daunting situation, simple enough to turn your nose up at the unfamiliar and grow numb toward the exuberant joy once coupled with what you’ve now come to expect.
Abandoning something is also, more often than not, easy. Caring, fighting for something, is difficult.
In a very short span of time, I’ve witnessed a degree of effort that I hadn’t seen during my initial residency. Vacant spaces are being replaced with budding new businesses, events are proposed, pursued and participated in. The WTE is seeing an uptick in people reading the news and keeping up with what’s going on around the city, region and country.
Again, maybe it’s just my imagination running away with me. This feeling could very well be the product of a sixth sense that, admittedly, fails me on the regular.
But what does a man have, if not hope?
My hope is that, as a bright future approaches, we begin to see a visible change of heart around some residents’ desire to abandon and downplay Cheyenne. As explored to a similar effect in the first column I ever published, change requires owning up to the problem in order to identify a solution.
Doing so takes acceptance, responsibility. If these two things come together, they may result in pride. Not arrogance, not delusion, but dignity through the unabashed understanding of who one is and who one can be.
It’s a lot like learning to love the snow. We cannot slow down when things get tough.
I’m interested to see how Cheyenne responds this time around.
Will Carpenter is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s Arts and Entertainment/Features Reporter. He can be reached by email at wcarpenter@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3135. Follow him on Twitter @will_carp_. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/features/todo/weekend-picks-learning-to-love-the-snow/article_f509b8d6-23d7-11ed-9815-f3544980d2cc.html | 2022-08-25T16:30:29Z |
From left, Nicholas Hoult, Courtney Eaton, Riley Keough, Charlize Theron and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in “Max Max: Fury Road.” Village Roadshow/Entertainment Picture/Zuma Press/TNS
Australian director George Miller has a new film out this weekend, his first since his action movie magnum opus “Mad Max: Fury Road” roared into theaters in 2015, and subsequently took the Academy Awards by storm. While that film’s prequel, “Furiosa” is still filming, Miller’s new project, a heady, fascinating tale about storytelling, desire and humanity, “Three Thousand Years of Longing,” starring Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba, hits theaters this Friday.
This film is far more cerebral and philosophical than the diesel-fueled delights of the “Mad Max” movies, but Miller’s oeuvre is a delightfully varied one, not boxed in by genre or medium. He creates films that are wild, wacky and always deeply human. Inspired by “Three Thousand Years of Longing,” take a spin through the world of George Miller with the best of his films on streaming.
Miller is best known for his post-apocalyptic “Mad Max” films, starting with the 1979 “Mad Max,” which introduced us to the concept of the desert-based road warrior, speeding through the end of the world in leathers. Mel Gibson starred as Max Rockatansky in three of Miller’s films before Tom Hardy took over in “Fury Road.” The movies are known for their incredible stunts and of unique aesthetic and fashion, essentially setting the template for “post-apocalyptic chic” as we know it. Watch “Mad Max” on AMC+ or rent it everywhere, follow that up with “The Road Warrior” (1981) on HBO Max, and don’t forget to take in the resplendent Tina Turner in “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” (1985), available to rent everywhere. “Mad Max: Fury Road” is available on HBO Max.
Between “Thunderdome” and “Fury Road” Miller branched out, directing the dark horror-inspired comedy “The Witches of Eastwick” (1987) starring Jack Nicholson, Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer and the iconic Cher. He re-teamed with his “Eastwick” star Susan Sarandon on the 1992 real-life drama “Lorenzo’s Oil,” about a couple searching for a cure for their young son’s rare disease. Both films are available to rent on all platforms.
Miller also dabbled in more family-friendly fare, starting with the 1998 sequel to “Babe,” “Babe: Pig in the City” (Amazon Freevee or rent everywhere). He also directed the Oscar-winning blockbuster animated hit, “Happy Feet” (2006) as well as the sequel “Happy Feet Two” (2011) about a dancing penguin named Mumble. Both “Happy Feet” movies are available on HBO Max or to rent. This era also marks the start of his creative collaboration with his wife, editor Margaret Sixel, who has edited his films since “Babe: Pig in the City” and won the Academy Award for editing “Fury Road” (considered by many to be one of the best edited action films of all time).
So in preparation for Miller’s latest film, a trip through his body of work is always worth the watch, especially since there’s truly a film for every taste. But, when in doubt, “Mad Max: Fury Road” is always the number one Miller pick. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/features/todo/what-to-stream-take-a-drive-down-fury-road-with-the-best-films-from-director/article_1bbcf154-2339-11ed-a166-d7a5f3047a74.html | 2022-08-25T16:30:35Z |
THURSDAY
Caregivers for loved ones with Alzheimer’s/dementia: 3 p.m., meet for coffee, pie, understanding and comradeship at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery, 204 S. 30th St. For more information, call 307-745-6451.
Al-Anon Family Group meets: 5:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church, 215 S. 11th St. For relatives and friends of alcoholics. For information, call Jane at 307-760-4683 or Mark at 307-760-4716.
FRIDAY
Downtown Laramie Farmers Market: 3-7 p.m., parking lot north of Depot Park on South 1st Street.
Free walking tour “Second Story Secrets: Laramie’s Brothels”: 5:30 p.m., meet at the Wyoming Women’s History House, 317 S. 2nd St. Bring masks; some stair climbing required and recommended for ages 18 and older.
SATURDAY
Fusion Feast culinary event: 1-4 p.m., Lincoln Community Center, 365 W. Grand Ave. Hosted by Friends of Internationals and High Plains Christian Fellowship. Taste delicious dishes from around the world and play games. It’s free.
Thrown-Out Bones performs: 5:30-7p.m., Washington Park band shell, 18th and Sheridan streets. Popcorn, pretzels and beer.
UW Planetarium presents “Back to the Moon For Good”: 8 p.m., UW Planetarium. What’s up in the sky around Wyoming.
SUNDAY
Laramie Connections free Meet and Eat dinner and faith gathering: 4:30 p.m., First Baptist Church, 1517 E. Canby St.
Al-Anon Family Group meets: 6:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church, 215 S. 11th St. For relatives and friends of alcoholics. For information, call Jane at 307-760-4683 or Mark at 307-760-4716.
MONDAY
Alcoholics Anonymous meets: Daily at various times in person or on Zoom. For more information, call 307-399-0590 or visit area76aawyoming.org or aa.org.
Survivors of Suicide Support Group: Meets from 5:30-6:45 p.m. at Hospice of Laramie House, 1754 Centennial Drive.
Women for Sobriety meet: 6:30-8:30 p.m. via Zoom. For meeting details, email 1093@womenforsobriety.org.
UW Music presents Diego Caetano on piano: 7:30 p.m., Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts Recital Hall. Free to attend and all are invited. Program focuses on French-inspired music by an artist who’s been described as “a gifted pianist with a brilliant technique and musicality.”
TUESDAY
Prayers & Squares Quilting Group meets: 9 a.m., Room 1 of Hunter Hall at St. Matthews Cathedral.
WEDNESDAY
Laramie Tai Chi and Tea meets: 1:30 p.m. at outdoors Harbon Park, North 14th and Gibbon streets. For more information, visit laramietaichiandtea.org.
Sept. 1
Caregivers for loved ones with Alzheimer’s/dementia: 3 p.m., meet for coffee, pie, understanding and comradeship at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery, 204 S. 30th St. For more information, call 307-745-6451.
Al-Anon Family Group meets: 5:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church, 215 S. 11th St. For relatives and friends of alcoholics. For information, call Jane at 307-760-4683 or Mark at 307-760-4716.
Diabetes Support Group meets: 5:30-6:30 p.m. via Zoom. Email questions@ivinsosnhospital.org for the link.
Sept. 2
Spaghetti fundraiser dinner: 5:30-7:30 p.m., Elks Lodge, 103 S. 2nd St. Cost is $15 for a spaghetti dinner with meatballs and sausage. Limited quantities, so please call for a reservation, 307-742-2024.
Sept. 3
Walk with a Doc: 1:30-2:30 p.m. at the Washington Park west shelter No. 3. Bring walking shoes and a friend. For more information, email questions@ivinsonhospital.org.
Sept. 4
Laramie Connections free Meet and Eat dinner and faith gathering: 4:30 p.m., First Baptist Church, 1517 E. Canby St.
Al-Anon Family Group meets: 6:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church, 215 S. 11th St. For relatives and friends of alcoholics. For information, call Jane at 307-760-4683 or Mark at 307-760-4716.
Sept. 5
Alcoholics Anonymous meets: Daily at various times in person or on Zoom. For more information, call 307-399-0590 or visit area76aawyoming.org or aa.org.
Veterans service office hours: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Veterans Service Center at the UW Student Union, 1000 E. University Ave.
Survivors of Suicide Support Group: Meets from 5:30-6:45 p.m. at Hospice of Laramie House, 1754 Centennial Drive.
Women for Sobriety meet: 6:30-8:30 p.m. via Zoom. For meeting details, email 1093@womenforsobriety.org.
Sept. 6
Prayers & Squares Quilting Group meets: 9 a.m., Room 1 of Hunter Hall at St. Matthews Cathedral.
Sept. 7
Laramie Tai Chi and Tea meets: 1:30 p.m. outdoors at Harbon Park, North 14th and Gibbon streets. For more information, visit visit laramietaichiandtea.org.
Ivinson’s women’s health team hosts prenatal education: 5:30 p.m. in the Summit conference room. For more information and registration, visit ivinsonhospital.org/childbirth.
Sept. 8
Caregivers for loved ones with Alzheimer’s/dementia: 3 p.m., meet for coffee, pie, understanding and comradeship at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery, 204 S. 30th St. For more information, call 307-745-6451.
Al-Anon Family Group meets: 5:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church, 215 S. 11th St. For relatives and friends of alcoholics. For information, call Jane at 307-760-4683 or Mark at 307-760-4716.
Sept. 10
22nd annual Wyoming Buddy Walk: 9 a.m. to noon, Washington Park band shell.
Tailgate party for Wesley Foundation’s 100th anniversary: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., United Methodist Church parking lot, 1215 Gibbon St. The student ministry is marking 100 years at the University of Wyoming and First United Methodist. Free lunch picnic.
Summer Market Day at the fairgrounds: 3-6 p.m., beef barn.
Sept. 11
Special worship service for Wesley Foundation: 10 a.m., First United Methodist Church, 1215 Gibbon St., followed by a potluck. Special guest Bishop Karen Olivetto will attend and preach. All are invited to reminisce with former Wesley Foundation members and meet the recent generation of the organization.
Laramie Connections free Meet and Eat dinner and faith gathering: 4:30 p.m., First Baptist Church, 1517 E. Canby St.
Al-Anon Family Group meets: 6:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church, 215 S. 11th St. For relatives and friends of alcoholics. For information, call Jane at 307-760-4683 or Mark at 307-760-4716.
Sept. 12
Alcoholics Anonymous meets: Daily at various times in person or on Zoom. For more information, call 307-399-0590 or visit area76aawyoming.org or aa.org.
Survivors of Suicide Support Group: Meets from 5:30-6:45 p.m. at Hospice of Laramie House, 1754 Centennial Drive.
Albany County Historic Preservation Board meets: 6 p.m. via Microsoft Teams. To attend and receive an invite, email a request to kcbard@charter.net.
Women for Sobriety meet: 6:30-8:30 p.m. via Zoom. For meeting details, email 1093@womenforsobriety.org.
Sept. 13
Prayers & Squares Quilting Group meets: 9 a.m., Room 1 of Hunter Hall at St. Matthews Cathedral.
Albany County Republican Party meets: 6 p.m., Albany County Public Library.
Sept. 14
Laramie Tai Chi and Tea meets: 1:30 p.m. outdoors at Harbon Park, North 14th and Gibbon streets. For more information, visit visit laramietaichiandtea.org.
Ivinson’s women’s health team hosts prenatal education: 5:30 p.m. in the Summit conference room. For more information and registration, visit ivinsonhospital.org/childbirth.
Sept. 15
Caregivers for loved ones with Alzheimer’s/dementia: 3 p.m., meet for coffee, pie, understanding and comradeship at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery, 204 S. 30th St. For more information, call 307-745-6451.
Al-Anon Family Group meets: 5:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church, 215 S. 11th St. For relatives and friends of alcoholics. For information, call Jane at 307-760-4683 or Mark at 307-760-4716.
Sept. 16
Albany County CattleWomen meet: 11:30 a.m., location tbd. Visit wyaccw.com in the week before the meeting for location and more information.
Sept. 17
Walk to End Alzheimer’s: 9 a.m., Optimist Park, with music and food following the walk.
Higher Ground Fair: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site in Laramie. A celebration of the six Rocky Mountain states and the native first nations that also call the region home. Proceeds from ticket sales (kids admitted free) help support Feeding Laramie Valley. Fore more information or to volunteer, call 307-223-4300 or email info@highergroundfair.org.
Walk with a Doc: 1:30-2:30 p.m. at the Washington Park west shelter No. 3. Bring walking shoes and a friend. For more information, email questions@ivinsonhospital.org.
Sept. 18
Higher Ground Fair: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site in Laramie. A celebration of the six Rocky Mountain states and the native first nations that also call the region home. Proceeds from ticket sales (kids admitted free) help support Feeding Laramie Valley. Fore more information or to volunteer, call 307-223-4300 or email info@highergroundfair.org.
Laramie Connections free Meet and Eat dinner and faith gathering: 4:30 p.m., First Baptist Church, 1517 E. Canby St.
Al-Anon Family Group meets: 6:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church, 215 S. 11th St. For relatives and friends of alcoholics. For information, call Jane at 307-760-4683 or Mark at 307-760-4716.
Sept. 19
Alcoholics Anonymous meets: Daily at various times in person or on Zoom. For more information, call 307-399-0590 or visit area76aawyoming.org or aa.org.
Veterans service office hours: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Veterans Service Center at the UW Student Union, 1000 E. University Ave.
Survivors of Suicide Support Group: Meets from 5:30-6:45 p.m. at Hospice of Laramie House, 1754 Centennial Drive.
Women for Sobriety meet: 6:30-8:30 p.m. via Zoom. For meeting details, email 1093@womenforsobriety.org.
Sept. 20
Prayers & Squares Quilting Group meets: 9 a.m., Room 1 of Hunter Hall at St. Matthews Cathedral.
Sept. 21
Laramie Tai Chi and Tea meets: 1:30 p.m. outdoors at Harbon Park, North 14th and Gibbon streets. For more information, visit visit laramietaichiandtea.org.
Ivinson’s women’s health team hosts prenatal education: 5:30 p.m. in the Summit conference room. For more information and registration, visit ivinsonhospital.org/childbirth.
Sept. 22
Caregivers for loved ones with Alzheimer’s/dementia: 3 p.m., meet for coffee, pie, understanding and comradeship at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery, 204 S. 30th St. For more information, call 307-745-6451.
Al-Anon Family Group meets: 5:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church, 215 S. 11th St. For relatives and friends of alcoholics. For information, call Jane at 307-760-4683 or Mark at 307-760-4716.
Sept. 25
Laramie Connections free Meet and Eat dinner and faith gathering: 4:30 p.m., First Baptist Church, 1517 E. Canby St.
Al-Anon Family Group meets: 6:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church, 215 S. 11th St. For relatives and friends of alcoholics. For information, call Jane at 307-760-4683 or Mark at 307-760-4716.
Sept. 26
Alcoholics Anonymous meets: Daily at various times in person or on Zoom. For more information, call 307-399-0590 or visit area76aawyoming.org or aa.org.
Survivors of Suicide Support Group: Meets from 5:30-6:45 p.m. at Hospice of Laramie House, 1754 Centennial Drive.
Women for Sobriety meet: 6:30-8:30 p.m. via Zoom. For meeting details, email 1093@womenforsobriety.org.
America Sewing Guild Laramie Chapter meets: 7 p.m., United Methodist Church, 1215 E. Gibbon St.
Sept. 27
Prayers & Squares Quilting Group meets: 9 a.m., Room 1 of Hunter Hall at St. Matthews Cathedral.
Sept. 28
Laramie Tai Chi and Tea meets: 1:30 p.m. outdoors at Harbon Park, North 14th and Gibbon streets. For more information, visit visit laramietaichiandtea.org.
Sept. 29
Caregivers for loved ones with Alzheimer’s/dementia: 3 p.m., meet for coffee, pie, understanding and comradeship at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery, 204 S. 30th St. For more information, call 307-745-6451.
Al-Anon Family Group meets: 5:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church, 215 S. 11th St. For relatives and friends of alcoholics. For information, call Jane at 307-760-4683 or Mark at 307-760-4716.
Oct. 2
Laramie Connections free Meet and Eat dinner and faith gathering: 4:30 p.m., First Baptist Church, 1517 E. Canby St.
Al-Anon Family Group meets: 6:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church, 215 S. 11th St. For relatives and friends of alcoholics. For information, call Jane at 307-760-4683 or Mark at 307-760-4716. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/announcements/whats-happening-aug-25-2022/article_e86489fa-23d5-11ed-a1eb-8741c1d1665b.html | 2022-08-25T16:30:42Z |
With several projects catching the attention of Laramie City Council, the city continues a handful of improvement projects to local roads and signals.
City Council has given the go-ahead for a professional services agreement with Loveland, Colorado-based Altitude Signal to create a network outline for more than half the city’s traffic signals.
“Near each traffic signal we have a cabinet that houses the controllers and camera detection equipment,” Laramie Public Works Director Brooks Webb told the council during a meeting last week. “Basically, there’s a computer inside these cabinets that operates the traffic signals. This project wirelessly networks 13 of our 22 traffic signals.”
Creating a network to connect the 13 traffic signals would allow for remote repairs during late nights or in cases of severe weather where technicians may be in danger on the job. Council member Andrea Summerville said she’s concerned about cyber safety with the online network.
“(Cybersecurity) is definitely something we’ve talked about and we’re working with the city’s IT folks on firewalls and all the security. They’re aware of the system and have no concerns at this time,” said Webb.
A recent cybersecurity threat in downtown Laramie punctuates the point that in the virtual world, there isn’t anyplace too rural or off the beaten path to be a target.
A June 21 “swatting” incident closed several streets and prompted an evacuation of an area of downtown for more than two hours. Someone called the local dispatch center claiming to be armed with a rifle and threatening to shoot people at a business.
The male suspect also claimed he had planted an explosive device in a vehicle in the area.
Although the threats were ultimately determined to be unfounded, an investigation showed the suspect made the threat from afar after viewing a part of downtown through a public webcam.
City Council was unanimous in its approval of the road and signal work.
Additionally, the council heard the second public reading of a vacation notice between 14th and 15th streets on Lewis Street. Council member Bryan Shuster proposed an amendment on this agenda item, which would require the Willett entrance to the University of Wyoming Lab School to be at least 45 feet wide for parents to safely drop their children off.
Summerville seconded this amendment, but Mayor Paul Weaver said the council may not be the appropriate venue to propose traffic-related changes.
“I would advise against trying to amend an ordinance with details of changes that UW would agree to and that the council might like. I think that’s a very awkward way to do things,” said City Attorney Bob Southard.
He encouraged the council to speak to representatives from UW about those details.
Vice Mayor Jayne Pearce added that the area Shuster proposed the effort for does not belong to the city, and confirmed that UW representatives would be the necessary group to make these arrangements with. Summerville said that UW representatives had recommended a co-written letter instead of this amendment which would be signed by UW and the city.
Additionally, Summerville brought attention to the transportation needs of the UW Lab School and would bring more info to the council this week.
With these two projects, the city also posted an update on its construction project on 9th Street from Harney to Shield streets. Work in the neighborhood is expected to be completed sometime in mid to late September after reconstruction of the roadway, concrete improvements and limited utility adjustments are completed. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/laramie-moves-ahead-with-road-improvements/article_4d2517a2-1f20-11ed-be7d-33b725ae2845.html | 2022-08-25T16:30:48Z |
CASPER — Wellspring Health Access, the Casper abortion and health clinic that was set to open this summer, is offering free Plan B to anyone who requests it. Plan B One-Step is an emergency contraceptive meant to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex or if a birth control method fails.
It would still be legal under Wyoming’s abortion ban law, which has been temporarily blocked from taking effect following a lawsuit challenging the law’s constitutionality.
Wellspring Health Access Founder Julie Burkhart said the organization has an initial supply of about 250 pills.
Spikes in demand for Plan B following the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade in late June led some top pharmacy chains to impose purchase limits on the emergency contraceptive, according to USA Today.
A spokesperson for CVS, one of the pharmacies that initially put in place a purchase limit, said in an email that the company doesn’t have any updates on the sales trends of Plan B.
CVS no longer has a purchase limit on emergency contraceptives, according to the spokesperson.
Walgreens did not respond by the Star-Tribune’s deadline to an inquiry about demand for Plan B at its stores in Wyoming.
Burkhart said that Plan B isn’t something that community members were actively asking for. Wellspring Health Access hasn’t gotten requests for Plan B since posting a notice about the availability of the contraceptive on its Facebook page last week, although the organization’s website hadn’t been updated yet to include the service.
Burkhart said the website will be updated on Wednesday to include information about the emergency contraceptive and how to request it.
“In terms of the Plan B, this is something that we’re being proactive about,” Burkhart said. “We just want to give people that opportunity.”
Wellspring Health Access was originally set to open over the summer. But the opening date was pushed back after someone set fire to the clinic building, which damaged most of the structure’s inside.
Burkhart said that demolition is done and contractors are now working on repairs. She expects the clinic to open its doors sometime toward the end of the year.
Burkhart said the clinic team is still planning to provide abortion services since Wyoming’s abortion ban was temporarily blocked by a legal challenge. Wellspring Health Access is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit contesting the ban.
“We’ve got physicians licensed and ready to go,” Burkhart said. “We’re just trying to figure out exactly how we’re going to navigate in this environment now.”
She said Wellspring Health Access has already gotten about a half dozen calls from community members asking about abortion care.
For now, the team is referring people to other clinics, including the Jackson Women’s Health Center and Family Care Clinic in Jackson.
Giovannina Anthony, one of the doctors at the Jackson clinic, is also a plaintiff in the abortion lawsuit.
“I do think that it illustrates the level of confusion and concern that people have,” Burkhart said of the inquiries about the Casper clinic’s abortion services. “People aren’t entirely sure where they can go for care.”
People can have the free Plan B mailed to them by emailing hello@wellspringaccess.org or going to the Wellspring Health Access website and providing their name and mailing address. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/casper-abortion-clinic-offers-free-plan-b/article_643e7676-23e5-11ed-a080-6b9edd5b427f.html | 2022-08-25T16:30:54Z |
JACKSON — To its former owners, Wyoming’s priciest listing was far more than a cash gem.
“It was our home,” said Julie Givens, describing a 233-acre plot on the banks of the Snake River that has been in her family for almost 40 years. Earlier this summer, Jackson Hole Ranch was listed for $35 million — the highest priced offering in the state when it was listed in July.
When Givens’ parents saw a Wall Street Journal article calling their 233-acre ranch “Wyoming’s Priciest Listing,” they cried.
“That’s not what this was about for them,” Givens said. “It was about this very special piece of land and protecting it.”
The ranch came under contract in two days and sold a month later.
With 96% of the 233 acres barred from development under a conservation easement through the Jackson Hole Land Trust, the listing represents one of the highest valuations of protected land ever seen in Jackson, according to listing agency Live Water Properties.
It could also be one of the highest prices for non-developable land in the nation, though Live Water’s founding partner Alex Maher said it’s difficult to differentiate the value of the protected acres from the opportunities to build.
“I think people have become more tolerant or more willing to buy property under easement than they were 10 years ago, or 15 or 20 years ago, absolutely,” he said.
Many naturalists view conservation easements as a win for ecology. Jackson Hole Ranch, for instance, abuts Grand Teton National Park and serves as a migratory corridor for 600 elk.
Buyers often see the protection as a limitation.
“People are used to placing structures wherever they would like within the confines of the property. And that’s not the case in these conservation easements,” said listing agent Latham Jenkins, who tries to educate and inform buyers about the less-obvious virtues of protected land.
“You think you’re buying a property that has restrictions on it that, in essence, distract from the value,” he said. “I would argue no, it actually increases the value. Because it will never change.”
Jenkins said people interested in Jackson Hole Ranch asked about installing a dirt bike track and helicopter pad. Another potential buyer wanted to hunt.
There was some interest from so-called “conservation buyers” looking to carry on a stewardship legacy. But most people had no idea what a conservation easement meant.
Givens said that when her father first bought land next to the Snake River he was approached by several interested buyers, including the Anheuser-Busch family, which offered him $10 million. Instead they chose to work with the Land Trust to put a conservation easement on the ranch to benefit wildlife.
Bill Givens ran a tech company in the printing industry and came to the Tetons to climb and backpack. Until recently he held the record for being the oldest person to ever complete the Grand Traverse, his daughter said.
She hoped Jenkins would find a similarly outdoor-loving steward to take over the ranch, rather than someone looking to add a “jewel” to their crown.
“My parents saw it as an honor to protect it. And I feel the same way,” Givens said. “You’re doing something good for the world by maintaining this land that has restrictions on it.
“Really, we should all think like that. You’re the steward of your own little backyard,” she said.
Jenkins wouldn’t disclose the buyers out of respect for their privacy.
“It’s raising what people are willing to pay per acre for protected land,” he said of the sale. “But in my opinion the mindset has turned to seeing the value of it being protected versus historically thinking of it having been stripped of its development entitlements, and someone else already got the tax benefits.”
One third of Teton County’s limited private lands are already conserved in some way. When landowners choose to put their property under voluntary easement, they receive a tax break.
Those purchasing land already under easement — like the buyer of Jackson Hole Ranch — don’t receive the tax incentive of the donation, but they are generally able to buy acreage at a cheaper price.
A similar deal also applies to ranching land on the market.
The Mead family is currently asking $40 million for 257 acres of the ranch that has been in the family for more than a century. Of those acres, 193 are protected by an easement through the Jackson Hole Land Trust.
The easement was originally secured in the early 2000s by Brad Mead’s grandfather, Cliff Hansen, a Wyoming governor from 1963 to 1967 and the state’s two-time U.S. senator, from 1967 to 1978.
Mead previously told the News&Guide easements have helped protect the remaining ranches in the area from the pressure of subdivision.
“A lot of the credit goes to the Land Trust, and the community which supported it,” he said.
The national Land Trust Alliance defines a conservation buyer as “a real-estate purchaser whose interest in the natural, agricultural, scenic, or historic attributes of a property steers them toward working with a land trust to protect these values in perpetuity.”
In mountain towns like Bend, Oregon, local land trusts are working with Realtors to attract conservation buyers and explicitly promote conservation easements. At a national level, The Nature Conservancy is working to leverage “increasing interest of the private sector to take part in conservation.”
And with a third of Teton County’s limited private land already shielded from development, buyers have become more willing to purchase protected land — not because of stewardship interest, but just because it’s the only plot available.
The limited supply has effectively meant that “people are willing to pay the same price for an encumbered piece of ground as they are for an unencumbered piece of ground,” said Max Ludington, president of Jackson Hole Land Trust since 2020.
The nonprofit is continuing to pursue easements, and Ludington said there will probably come a time when every parcel in the valley that can be developed will have a plan for development and “every piece of ground that can be conserved will be conserved.”
The Land Trust secured three new conservation easements in Teton County last year.
At the same time, Maher, of Live Water Properties, said high prices are merely a reflection of Jackson’s overall popularity.
“It’s a function of property values in general,” he said. “It’s not that land under conservation easement is appreciating faster than land not under conservation easement.
“There’s just a high demand for a very small supply, and then you’ve got all of these scenic and wildlife characteristics and airport accessibility, etc. That’s the reason our land is worth more than other places.”
Last year the median home value was $850,800 in Teton County, according to the Wyoming Economic Analysis Division. Median household income was $87,053.
Ludington said one of the most common complaints the Land Trust hears is actually a misconception.
People assume that conservation easements limit the possibility of affordable housing developments, he said, when in reality that restriction comes from local land development regulations, or LDRs.
“The focus of our work is not the amount of development, it’s the location,” he said.
Taking the location concept a step further, listing agent Jenkins said it doesn’t make sense to build affordable housing on a place like Jackson Hole Ranch. Instead, he said, a community housing fund should look at “downtown” properties that are in the transportation network.
He pointed to a $38.5 million, 50-acre parcel on Highway 22, right next to the Stilson parking area where skiers park to catch shuttles to Teton Village, which is now on the market.
“I think its highest and best use is to partner with Stilson and the metro center and build community housing there,” Maher said.
Asked if the Stilson lot could be a candidate for workforce housing, listing agent Ted Dawson said “1000% but the county doesn’t want anything to do with that.”
Current single-family and rural zoning allows only one home per 35 acres. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/high-ranch-prices-show-interest-no-longer-limited-to-stewards/article_0edccb1a-23e5-11ed-8e38-03068015914e.html | 2022-08-25T16:31:00Z |
The Continental Divide Trail is a hiking path covering some 3,100 miles from Canada to Mexico. There’s also the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route spanning some 2,700 miles and following as close to the Continental Divide as possible.
It is the longest off-pavement bicycle route in the world and now has a Canada section that begins in Jasper and runs all the way to Mexico.
Both routes pass through Wyoming, with the CDT covering 550 miles from the Idaho border into Yellowstone, then exiting in the Sierra Madre Mountains at the Colorado border. The slightly shorter mountain bike route enters Wyoming just south of Yellowstone and rolls over mostly dirt and gravel roads for 475 miles.
The mountain bike version was developed and mapped by the Adventure Cycling Association in 1997. A year later, I was one of the early riders, pedaling the Wyoming section from Idaho to Colorado.
I retain many wonderful memories of that adventure. I went solo in a time well before cellphones and GPS receivers. I had paper maps and tried to find a phone whenever possible to let my husband know where I was and how I was doing.
Both the hiking route and the mountain bike route cross Wyoming’s Great Divide Basin. That’s about 120 miles of tree-free desert beginning at Atlantic City and ending in Rawlins.
It is where the Continental Divide separates briefly, with rain falling into the Basin and flowing neither east nor west, but just evaporating under the desert sun.
Water is the big issue whether crossing on foot or via bicycle. I solved it by carrying a lot of water as I left Atlantic City. It was so heavy I ended up pushing my bike on the steep climb out of town. When I crossed the Sweetwater River, I topped off my water supply. According to my map, the next reliable watering hole was A&M Reservoir about 80 miles away.
That evening I had an unexpected gift: a tailwind. I kept pedaling past sunset, wind at my back beneath a pink sky. Coyotes howled in stereo — one slightly south of me and the other slightly to the north.
I smiled, thinking maybe they were crooning about my passing. Pronghorn and wild horses stared at me, as if they couldn’t decide if I was friend or foe.
I decided to keep pedaling until I got to Antelope Creek. I arrived as stars began to appear.
Alas, rather than a flowing stream, it was a ribbon of sand. At least it provided a nice cushion where I rolled out my sleeping bag and, instead of pitching my tent, just relaxed looking up at the Milky Way as I nodded off.
In the nearly two days it took me to cross the Great Divide Basin, I saw the dust from one vehicle off in the distance until I joined the main highway heading into Rawlins.
Until then it was just me, the coyotes, pronghorn and wild horses. I feared running out of water, so I doled it out sparingly. As a result, I was eternally thirsty.
Fast forward 24 years. My work as a wildlife biologist takes me to the Great Divide Basin occasionally. Now I drive a cushy truck, although I hop on my mountain bike every morning to enjoy a little spin with my Australian shepherd, Dobby.
To my surprise, during every trip I see or meet trekkers, either on foot or mountain bike, along the CDT or GDMBR. The two routes intersect at the A&M Reservoir.
The popularity of both routes has risen considerably. Where I saw nary a soul back when I pedaled through, today there is a rather steady stream of trekkers.
On my most recent trip a couple weeks ago, I pulled alongside a couple from Germany. Their goal was to hike the entire CDT, ending up at the Canadian border eventually. A mile later I bumped into another hiker; this was a lone trekker from Texas.
About 15 minutes later I pulled in at A&M Reservoir. I noted two tents pitched on the far side of the reservoir with a couple of parked bicycles; more trekkers.
It was downright crowded out there – at least in comparison to my 1998 journey.
To those I saw on the trail, no matter what, I stopped and offered water.
“Do you need some water?” I ask every time. So far nobody has taken me up on the offer, but smile and thank me for asking.
I know back in 1998 I would have relished such an offer even though I made it to Rawlins with water to spare. Just talking to another human being, though, would have been a treat. It was a little lonely out there back then. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/local_news/continental-divide-trails-gain-in-popularity/article_59ac3898-2303-11ed-9b13-7b062cd697a0.html | 2022-08-25T16:31:06Z |
DOUGLAS — A Converse County jury took about three hours Thursday to convict Solomon Bolen on 13 of 15 felonies stemming from the attempted murder of three California hunters just short of a year ago.
The 42-year-old Douglas-area resident was charged with a slew of crimes stemming from a spree along Irvine Road in October 2021, with burglaries involving weapons and pickup trucks and culminating with the shooting of the three out-of-state hunters – George Heger, John Cleary and Richard Cleary – as they sat in their truck. A few minutes earlier, the hunters had an encounter with Bolen, whom they found lurking at their hunting camp set up on the Prado Ranch.
Following his conviction, the hunters said that Bolen had appeared to be looking for a place to stay but was acting strangely. They chased him away and called the landowners, the Prados, to find out what they wanted to do about him.
Then they saw him head toward the ranch house, so the men drove down toward the house to see what was going on. As they sat in their truck watching, Bolen stepped out of a house. He immediately lifted the rifle he was carrying.
“I didn’t see him at first. Richard said he had a rifle. I looked at the house and was looking down the barrel of a rifle,” Heger recalled.
The men started driving away. Bolen gave chase on foot and began firing. Heger was hit in the leg, his tissue splattering against the inside cab and his blood quickly filling the floorboard.
“Hunters being the hunted . . .,” is how Heger described the scene. “Fortunately, Bolen wasn’t good at what he was doing. He wasn’t a good burglar, and he wasn’t a good killer.”
John Cleary, who was in the driver’s seat, was shot in the foot. Bullet holes riddled the truck.
Richard Cleary, who was sitting in the back seat, wasn’t hit.
“He shot, pulled the bolt back . . . and fired again and again . . . in rapid succession,” the men said, finishing each other’s sentences as they recounted the horrors of the afternoon and making the “air motion” of a bolt-action rapid fire.
Heger said he knew he was “bleeding out” even as he found his cell phone and called 9-1-1, but a quick-thinking deputy who responded applied a tight tourniquet and stopped the bleeding, saving his life, he said.
While calling dispatch, he finally said he had to hang up because he was “bleeding out.” He thought he was about to die. The dispatcher kept him talking.
At the time, he thought it was about nothing important and he just wanted to hang up; now he realizes, it was to keep him alert and talking. And he was lucky.
The deputy, Andrew Smart, was the first responder on the scene – and Heger’s luck was that a large group of deputies were at the shooting range three miles away when the call about the shootings came in, according to those at the scene.
Smart and many other deputies raced into action. Smart removed a bungee cord from Heger’s leg, which one of the Clearys had used along with a belt to try to stem bleeding. Heger said the bungee cord slowed the bleeding but didn’t stop it. Smart applied the medical tourniquet, telling Heger it might hurt, as the blood continued squirting from his leg.
As first responders worked to save the men and secure the scene and other locations such as the house, other law enforcement pursued Bolen, who had fled in a stolen truck through hay fields until he went into a house owned by the late Lewis Stock, sat down at a table, laid a rifle down and waited for them after telling someone in the house, “I think I just shot someone.”
Stock, who died recently from an unrelated medical condition, had told the Budget he knew Bolen previously but made it clear the man was not staying at this house nor was he welcome on his property.
At the time, Stock declined to say specifically who Bolen talked to in the house, saying instead he would explain it once the trial was over.
The three hunters testified in the opening days of the trial last week, but then were sequestered for the remainder of the four days of testimony as they awaited the verdict, which came Thursday evening.
The trio said Friday that the experience was traumatic but made better by the quick actions of the first responders and law enforcement as well as prosecutors who got justice for them, especially for Heger who was the most injured.
The jury found Bolen guilty of three counts of attempted second degree murder, three counts of aggravated assault and battery, two counts of aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery with use of a deadly weapon and intentionally inflicting serious bodily injury, property destruction for the guns taken from Tracy Sanborn’s home, eluding law enforcement, possession of a controlled substance and unauthorized use of a vehicle.
He was found not guilty of property destruction for the truck belonging to Stock and property destruction for the damage to the hay field belonging to Prado.
Judge John Brooks ordered a pre-sentence investigation for Bolen before scheduling sentencing, which could be in 60-90 days or longer. Bolen remains in jail pending sentencing. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/man-found-guilty-of-13-felony-charges-in-shooting-of-hunters/article_c81bae26-23e4-11ed-867d-d372326c03ee.html | 2022-08-25T16:31:13Z |
Regional Overview
The weather the rest of the week and into the weekend is ideal conditions for getting outside to toss a line, hike a trail or pedal some singletrack. It is not too hot and not too cold. There’s a chance for afternoon thundershowers, especially later in the week and heading into the weekend. Those thundershowers could be intense in localized areas, bringing wind and small hail. There were reports of a dusting of snow in the high country this past weekend, but the snow melted quickly and left nary a trace by mid-morning. Still, it’s a reminder that the season change is fast approaching. It’s best to get out now and enjoy the warm days; go prepared for cool nights.
Ranking Categories
H (One fish): To ensure fish dinner, go to the local grocery store
HHHHH (Five fish): Toss a line and get a fish; the fish aren’t picky
Granite, Crystal and North Crow reservoirs
The fishing is good at both Granite and Crystal reservoirs, but slow at North Crow. The Antelope Dash trail race takes off from the Aspen Grove trailhead starting at 8 a.m. Saturday, with runners opting for a 4- or 8-mile course. Cheer them on if you see runners out on the trail. There is a cyanobacterial bloom advisory at the west causeway of Granite Reservoir. It’s best to avoid that area for now.
Suggested bait, lures and flies:
Sloans and Absarraca lakes
The buzz: The fishing is good, especially early and late in the day.
Suggested bait, lures and flies:
Pole Mountain
The buzz: The beaver ponds continue to offer some excellent action. Some of the ponds are getting low, but those with good water levels offer lively fishing. Moss and other surface vegetation can be problematic in many of the ponds.
Suggested bait, lures and flies:
Laramie Plains lakes
The buzz: The fishing is fair to good across the basin. Fall is often one of the best times of year to cast a line in these lakes and reservoirs, so expect the action to pick up as temperatures continue to cool. The action at Alsop picked up, and is best late in the day. Twin Buttes and Meeboer are also fishing well. Avoid Leazenby Lake due to the cyanobacterial bloom advisory.
Suggested bait, lures and flies:
Laramie River
The buzz: The river is low, but the fishing is fairly good; aim for the deep holes.
Suggested bait, lures and flies:
Snowy Range
The buzz: The high country continues to offer good fishing, with nice action throughout the day. Rob Roy Reservoir is on the slow side, but best for those out in a boat. Lake Owen has lots of fish rising, but the catching is slow. Douglas Creek, as it exits Rob Roy, is a good bet this time of year. The first dusting of snow arrived at the higher elevations last weekend, but it all melted very quickly; still, it is a sign that the summer season is on the wane.
Suggested bait, lures and flies:
North Platte River and Encampment River – Saratoga Valley
The buzz: The upper reaches of the North Platte River are running low, as is the Encampment River. On the plus side, both have more flow than a year ago. Aim for the deeper pools, and it’s best to toss a line early or late in the day.
Suggested bait, lures and flies:
North Platte River – Grey Reef
The buzz: The fishing continues to be very good, but it has slowed recently. Moss is problematic in some areas. As overnight temperatures cool, the fishing should take off. The cooler weather signals the transitioning to streamer action, but there’s still plenty of dry fly activity in the mornings. Grasshoppers are the ticket in the middle of the day.
Suggested bait, lures and flies:
North Platte River – Miracle Mile
The buzz: The Mile is running clear, and the fishing is good to very good. The flow has been steady around 550 cubic feet per second, making for excellent wade fishing conditions.
Suggested bait, lures and flies:
Wheatland Reservoir No. 3
The buzz: The reservoir is quite low, but the boat ramp is still usable. There’s a cyanobacterial bloom advisory. It is not present along the entire reservoir, though, since it is a very large body of water. There’s still plenty of fishing, but anglers need to be aware of the possible hazard.
Suggest bait, lures and flies:
Black or olive woolly buggers
Glendo
The buzz: The fishing is slow, as is typical this time of year. Going into September, the fishing typically picks up with the cooler weather. Anglers going for perch are doing well.
Suggest bait, lures and flies:
Grayrocks Reservoir
The buzz: The fishing is good, and is best early and late. A few walleye and bass are also being taken in the middle of the day.
Suggest bait, lures and flies:
Worm harnesses with leeches
Nightcrawlers on worm harnesses (gold, silver, burnt orange blades)
Reservoir levels
River flows
North Platte River at Northgate: 136 cubic feet per second
North Platte River above Seminoe Reservoir: 300 cfs
North Platte River near Miracle Mile: 542 cfs
North Platte River at Grey Reef: 2,505 cfs
Encampment River near town of Encampment: 71 cfs
Encampment River at Hog Park: 38 cfs
Laramie River near Laramie: 39 cfs | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/outdoors/fishing-report-for-aug-25-2022/article_ce948c08-23b9-11ed-8a74-bff9ead30869.html | 2022-08-25T16:31:19Z |
The most high-profile Albany County primary race also generated the most campaign contributions and spending.
Campaign finance reports for the 2022 primary show candidates for Albany County sheriff brought in nearly $65,700 total contributions and spent about $55,620 on their election efforts. Republican hopeful Rafael Delgadillo by far grew the largest war chest among local primary candidates with more than $40,345 in contributions. The $38,411 he spent also was the most.
The candidate with the next highest was reported by Republican Joel Senior, who won the GOP primary, with $15,178. He’ll face current Sheriff Aaron Appelhans, who won the Democratic primary. Appelhans reported $8,788 in contributions and spent $6,301.
Local political candidates were required to submit their campaign finance reports detailing contributions they received and money spent during the 2022 primary election campaign season.
The candidates self-report their financials, which for local candidates are available to view at the Albany County Clerk’s Office and for state candidates online at wycampaignfinance.gov.
Albany County Sheriff
Aaron Appelhans, Democrat: Spent $6,301.09 and received a total of $8,788.46 in contributions; $4,225 was from personal or family money.
Rafael Delgadillo, Republican: Spent $38,441.26 and received a total of $40,345.13 in contributions; $34,900.13 was from personal or family money.
Zeb Gladney, Democrat: Spent $270.12 and received a total of $722.55 in contributions. $270.12 was from personal or family money.
Curtis Moore, Democrat: Spent $655.15 from personal money.
Joel Senior, Republican: Spent $10,952.18 and received a total of $15,178 in contributions; $1,070 was from personal or family money.
Albany County Commission
Pete Gosar, Democrat: Spent $2,024.56 and received a total of $11,064.99 in contributions; $1,819.15 was from personal or family money.
Terri Jones, Republican: Spent $2,961.02 and received a total of $7,450 in contributions; $5,000 was from personal or family money.
Heber Richardson, Republican: Spent and received $0.
Laramie City Council Ward 1
Allison Cunningham: Spent $361.98 and received a total of $1,436.98 in contributions; $361.98 was from personal or family money.
Micah Richardson: Spent $2,826.47 and received a total of $3,975 in contributions; $2,000 was from personal or family money.
Laramie City Council Ward 2
Brett Glass: Spent $1,106.91, from personal or family money.
Brandon Newman: Spent $1,974.87 and earned a total of $3,257.67 in contributions; $2,000 was from personal or family money.
Laramie City Council Ward 3
Erin O’Doherty: Spent $1,441.49 and received a total of $2,321.66 in contributions; $887.93 was from personal or family money.
Joe Shumway: Spent and received $103.29.
Wyoming Senate District 9
Chris Rothfuss, Democrat: Spent a total of $105 and received a total of $750 in contributions.
Diana Seabeck, Republican: Spent a total of $888.96 and received a total of $2,995 in contributions.
Wyoming House District 13
Ken Chestek, Democrat: Spent $3,071.91 and received a total of $6,255 in contributions.
Wayne Pinch, Republican: Spent $0 and received a total of $100 in contributions from personal money.
Wyoming House District 14
Trey Sherwood, Democrat: Spent $2,562.35 and received a total of $7,982.92 in contributions; $2,500 was from personal or family money.
Bryan Shuster, Republican: Spent $2,064.06 and received a total of $2,550 in contributions; $300 was from personal or family money.
Wyoming House District 45
Karlee Provenza, Democrat: Spent $1,901.21 and received a total of $1,220 in contributions.
Wyoming House District 46
Ocean Andrew, Republican: Spent $5,430.81 and received a total of $9,200 in contributions.
Merav Ben-David, Democrat: Spent $2,519.92 and received a total of $3,160.64 in contributions. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/reports-sheriff-candidates-top-local-spending/article_af8a3d0e-23d1-11ed-a603-fbeae15815d1.html | 2022-08-25T16:31:25Z |
Moderate Republicans across the state are searching for an independent candidate to run in the general election for secretary of state.
Sources told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle the desire to find a challenger came in response to state Rep. Chuck Gray, R-Casper, defeating Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, in the Aug. 16 Republican primary, but the deadline is quickly approaching.
An independent candidate for a statewide seat must file by Monday with the Secretary of State’s Office, as well as secure 5,418 valid signatures. Efforts to find a candidate to even consider putting their hat in the ring have remained unsuccessful.
“People are really leery of the political environment right now,” said Rebekah Fitzgerald, a local political consultant scouting candidates. “And frankly, it’s a really tall order to ask someone to stand up a campaign from scratch and run in 70 days.”
She runs Fitzgerald Strategies Group, which is a communications and political firm out of Cheyenne, and was approached by some Republicans seeking a contender to challenge Gray. (Fitzgerald also is a member of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s editorial board.)
Another individual searching for a second option is state Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander. He has been on his own mission separate from Fitzgerald, but has similar motivations. Gray faces no Democrat in the primary, and will otherwise take office in January unless a write-in candidate receives enough votes.
“The voters have spoken, and it’s regrettable that Cale Case is refusing to listen to their voice,” Gray said via text message to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle on Tuesday. “We are going to continue to reach everyone in Wyoming and listen.”
Gray received significant support during the primaries. He was publicly endorsed by former President Donald Trump just days before the election, and was backed by other Wyoming Republicans, such as the U.S. House GOP primary winner, Harriet Hageman.
Gray was announced the winner late Tuesday night, with 75,938 votes reported in the unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s Office. Nethercott received 63,044 votes, and 14,292 went to Republican contender Mark Armstrong. Dan Dockstader, who withdrew from the race to support Nethercott after his name was printed on ballots, received 3,465 votes.
Criticisms of Gray
Despite securing the Republican spot in the general election, Gray has been criticized by fellow party members for his stances on election security and his leadership qualifications. Former Republican Secretary of State Max Maxfield also filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission at the beginning of August, voicing his concern over Gray’s income reports during his U.S. House campaign.
Maxfield endorsed Nethercott, and is hoping to have an independent candidate to vote for in the wake of her loss. Maxfield said he believes Gray lacks the professional experience to manage the office, and he objected to the doubts Gray cast on some positions related to the office.
Maxfield said to come out and argue there were cases of voter fraud in previous elections, and to advocate for the removal of absentee ballot drop boxes and reverting to paper ballots is ridiculous.
“I watched the process of the election, and saw the kind of campaign that Mr. Gray ran, and looked at his qualifications and looked at his personal views toward the second-highest office in the state,” Maxfield told the WTE. “It concerns me enough that I want to support someone else.”
These criticisms of the Republican primary winner were echoed by candidate seekers.
Case said he would not be comfortable with a secretary of state who has claimed the 2020 election was stolen being in charge of the Elections Division.
“There’s concerns with his FEC filing and the paperwork, and how his assets may or may not align, and then there’s just the concerns about his fitness and aptness to do the job,” Fitzgerald said. “He has been in the Legislature for a period of time now, and he hasn’t gotten many bills passed, and so that makes me question and others question his ability to work with others.”
She said since the responsibilities of secretary of state are largely administrative, there are significant consequences if the work is done incorrectly. She is worried employees may not want to work in the environment created by Gray, and that would lead to difficulties executing elections or working with small businesses.
Although there are doubts regarding his capability, Fitzgerald said this doesn’t translate to doubting the results of the election. She said it was fair and based on the ballots cast, and Gray was the clear winner.
Disinterest among candidates
The reason Fitzgerald has hope an independent candidate could win is because of the close to 63,000 votes Nethercott received, but it has been an uphill battle to find a contender. Fitzgerald said she doesn’t want to reveal the names of individuals considered so far due to the nature of the race, but they’ve expressed their weariness.
A candidate Case has been vying for openly turned down the opportunity to challenge Gray. Laramie County GOP vice-chairman Nathan Winters told the WTE he has received an extraordinary number of calls asking him to consider running, but his focus lies in other areas.
“We are in a very pivotal moment of bringing a charter school to Cheyenne that would be an affiliate of Hillsdale College, and we are one of only seven in the United States that was selected this year,” he said. “We are actually standing before the State Loan and Investment Board in just a few weeks, so this is important.”
Winters is also the president and executive director of the Family Policy Alliance of Wyoming, and doesn’t want to step down from that position.
He said he has spoken with Gray in recent days and expressed his support for the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office. He said he believes the Republican primary winner will be successful if he works closely with the longtime employees.
“The staff that has been built up over the last number of years is one of the very best in the state of Wyoming,” he said he told Gray. “Secondly, (current Secretary of State) Ed Buchanan has made election integrity one of the foremost things that he has fought for over the last four-and-a-half years.”
He said he agreed with U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., in her belief that there were major questions raised regarding other states in the 2020 election, but he knows there were strong efforts that went into ensuring secure elections in Wyoming.
Although Gray has cast doubt on the election process in this state, Winters said he will support the most conservative candidate in the general election, and right now it is the Republican primary winner.
Uphill battle
Despite Winters telling Case he didn’t want to run against Gray, the state senator moved forward with trying to get the 5,418 signatures needed for Winters before Monday. Case hoped seeing the encouragement from residents would convince Winters to run.
Case sent a letter to Kai Schon, Elections Division director at the Secretary of State’s Office, arguing the petition could be circulated without pre-approval by the possible candidate. Case wrote that he agreed with Wyoming Statute 22-5-301 (a) in that the proposed candidate needed to approve the submission it was presented to the Secretary of State’s Office, but disagreed that the petitions couldn’t be sent out across the state if there was no such authorization.
“These petitions beforehand are not binding and have no effect. Only with the candidate’s signature do they become binding,” Case said. “Your existing policy prohibits a draft where people can express their support for a candidate. It is a free speech issue and a bureaucratic encumbrance of a process that has no effect on your office until the signatures are submitted with the candidate’s approval and countersignature.”
Case followed up with the WTE and said the Secretary of State’s Office would not accept his interpretation of the statute as of Tuesday.
Winters was the most viable candidate Case wanted to run, because he said others don’t have the name recognition or strong qualifications.
“I served with Nathan Winters in the Wyoming Legislature. He is a very honorable, thoughtful and kind person. He is very conservative and holds immense faith in our savior,” Case said in his testimonial. “No one ever will be able to tag him as a RINO.”
Facing the Wyoming GOP
The difficulty in finding a candidate doesn’t just revolve around a sprint campaign being unappealing, or the laws the Secretary of State’s Office must follow.
Both Fitzgerald and Case said some don’t want to put themselves in the crosshairs of the Wyoming Republican Party.
Fitzgerald said she believes leadership and members of the party showed support exclusively for Hageman. She said this, in turn, benefited Gray, who was backed by the U.S. House candidate.
“It’s clear the large majority of the state party was supporting her efforts there, and I think that just speaks more to the current environment of Wyoming politics and the Wyoming GOP,” she said.
The political consultant said she knows the state party and others have been careful not to host events endorsing specific candidates, but there has been a lot of bleed-over where voters might have had a hard time telling what was an independent event versus what was a county or state GOP-sponsored event.
“The messaging was blurred, and that may have been intentional to only invite certain people to certain events,” Fitzgerald said. “But the rules are very clear that the party has to remain neutral in the primary, and I think a lot of people are questioning whether that really happened.”
Case is a Republican who believes the GOP has overstepped its bounds when it comes to showing support for candidates. He pointed to the Save Wyoming Rally, which only hosted one Republican candidate in each statewide race, including Gray. Wyoming GOP Chairman Frank Eathorne attended the event, as well as the Hageman campaign rally in Casper over Memorial Day weekend attended by Trump and her campaign party on primary election night.
“We need to restore a fair primary, which Frank Eathorne didn’t give us,” Case said. “And if you just look at the attendees at the Lander rally, you tell me that the Republican Party wasn’t up to their ears behind the scenes for that, even though they said they weren’t. They only invited one candidate from each slot, and they put all their efforts behind that.”
Case argued it was another reason Winters decided not to run against Gray. Winters said he cares very deeply about the Republican Party and conservative principles, and would never run for office without the letter “R” following his name.
“I don’t blame him for saying no, because you’re up against the Republican Party leadership now, and you don’t want to buck that,” said Case. “That’s what he would be doing.”
Wyoming GOP National Committeeman Corey Steinmetz said in a statement the state party didn’t support a specific candidate in the primary race for secretary of state. He said they neither campaigned nor advertised for or against any candidate in the race.
He said the party congratulated all Republican primary winners, and it looks forward to continuing its work in support of those who represent Republican values, as expressed in the party’s platform.
“The voters have spoken in the primary, Representative Gray was elected with a margin of over 13,000 votes,” Steinmetz said. “Senator Case has the freedom to do whatever he feels he should, however ... the handpicked candidate by Mr. Case has said clearly that he is not interested in running for the office of secretary of state.”
Both Case and Fitzgerald said the hunt will continue for a contender over the next five days. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/republicans-search-for-independent-candidate-to-challenge-gray/article_be3354fa-23d4-11ed-9fbc-13b8f4d779b5.html | 2022-08-25T16:31:32Z |
Wyoming health officials are again warning of dangerous summer blooms in lakes, ponds and reservoirs, blooms that can kill dogs and make people ill.
As of publication, only three lakes or reservoirs have toxin advisories listed: Goshen Hole Reservoir, Leazenby Lake and Eden Reservoir. Many additional bodies of water have bloom advisories.
Harmful cyanobacterial blooms vary in appearance, usually ranging from bluish-green to green or brown in color. Blooms can look like floating mats, grass clippings, cottage cheese, discolored water, scum or spilled paint and can last up to months, according to the Department of Environmental Quality.
Suspected cyanobacteria blooms can be reported to the DEQ. Related illnesses can be reported to the Wyoming Department of Health.
The DEQ saw harmful cyanobacterial blooms as late as November last year, Kelsee Hurshman, HCB coordinator at the agency, said.
At low concentrations, in which they occur naturally, cyanobacteria can be harmless, and sometimes they don’t produce toxins at all. In warm, stagnant and nutrient-rich water, however, they can accumulate to dangerous levels.
“Multiple toxin types may be produced by a single species and cyanotoxins can persist in the ecosystem after a bloom subsides with length of time varying between toxin type and environmental conditions,” University of Wyoming Ph.D. student Ashleigh Pilkerton told WyoFile via email. “As a scientific community, we still have much to learn about cyanotoxins and why they are produced.”
Cyanobacteria aren’t all bad. Scientists even believe they provided the oxygen leading up to the “Great Oxidation Event” of Earth’s atmosphere over two billion years ago, paving the way for the evolution of multicellular organisms.
Because awareness, reporting and monitoring of blooms have improved, it can be difficult to tell if blooms are getting worse or just drawing more attention. Sam Sillen, a graduate student at UW, looked at satellite imagery dating back to 1984 to address that question.
Sillen used the images to predict concentrations of chlorophyll a in lakes around the state. Chlorophyll is a green pigment used in photosynthesis, and chlorophyll a is just one form of the substance. Also present in algae and plants, it isn’t a perfect indicator for cyanobacteria but can still act as a helpful proxy.
“Looking at the chlorophyll a predictions over this 40-year timespan, what we find is a lot of lakes have a history of either being relatively eutrophic or having a high chlorophyll a concentration, and few lakes are rapidly increasing in terms of their chlorophyll a, likely leaning towards this historical baseline of a lot of algal blooms in Wyoming,” Sillen said. “On the other hand, there is a subsection of lakes that are becoming more eutrophic or increasing in chlorophyll a.”
Eutrophic refers to bodies of water with excessive nutrients and an overabundance of photosynthetic organisms. Sillen is working to understand what factors are driving changes in that subsection of lakes.
Another portion of Sillen’s research is to evaluate the remote sensing tool used by the DEQ to monitor blooms. He is comparing results from samples to the remote sensing estimates gathered from satellite images.
Pilkerton’s research focuses on the ecological consequences of harmful cyanobacterial blooms including impacts on other microbial communities, effects on zooplankton species and changes in fish diets.
People should avoid cyanobacteria blooms and keep their animals away too, Hurshman said. Anglers should only eat fillets from their fish. If humans or animals are exposed to a cyanobacteria bloom, WDH advises to rinse with clean water and seek medical attention if symptoms arise.
While contact with skin can be harmful, ingestion poses the greatest health risks, Lindsay Patterson, the DEQ’s water quality standards supervisor, said. Treatments like filtration and boiling do not remove toxins, according to WDH.
Dogs and other animals can die as a result of ingesting bloom materials, and while more uncommon, humans can also get seriously ill from exposure.
Sometimes called “blue-green algae,” the toxin-producing organisms that proliferate across Wyoming’s waters around this time of year are instead a type of photosynthetic bacteria, distinct from algae in both their evolution and cellular biology.
Cyanobacteria blooms can be distinguished from algae and aquatic plants because “individual cyanobacteria are small and do not form long, filamentous networks.” Because of that, scums or mats of the dangerous cyanobacteria can be easily broken apart, according to the DEQ. Their FAQ site suggests simple tests using a stick or jar to help distinguish a cyanobacteria bloom.
In addition to looking for visual evidence of cyanobacteria, Wyoming recreationists can check an advisories map of the state to see where toxin and bloom advisories are listed and those that are still under investigation. WDH issues advisories based on data provided by the DEQ.
The map provides information about the types and concentrations of cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins that have been tested for, as well as sampling dates and locations.
A water body may have a bloom advisory but no toxin advisory because samples are still being analyzed or because sampling demonstrated elevated cyanobacteria levels but not elevated toxin levels. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the waters are safe.
“The conditions of cyanotoxin concentrations on the water body can change very quickly,” Hurshman said.
Routine monitoring for harmful cyanobacterial blooms in the state occurs through both on-the-ground sampling and via satellite imagery processed by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Cyanobacteria Assessment Network and evaluated by Hurshman.
“There’s a number of water bodies that blooms occur on every single summer, pretty much like clockwork, so to speak,” the DEQ’s Patterson said. “Then there’s a handful that we’ll be made aware of.”
Before 2021, the DEQ only investigated for cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins in response to reports of blooms or as prompted by the CyAN satellite imagery. Last year the agency implemented an additional monthly monitoring system for 25 high-priority bodies of water with heavy recreation use and where harmful blooms are common.
Every month, the DEQ conducts visits to high-recreation locations at each water body on the list, investigates for signs of cyanobacteria blooms and collects samples for analysis where blooms appear.
While the routine monitoring program has already helped the DEQ figure out where elevated levels of cyanotoxins occur frequently, Patterson and Hurshman are hoping that it will also help them better understand the conditions that lead to toxin production and whether blooms are becoming more or less toxic.
Hurshman reviewed last year’s data but didn’t discover any trends. Information from this year will be added to the dataset for further analysis.
Nutrient availability is an important factor, and “nitrogen and phosphorus are the two most important nutrients” for driving harmful blooms, Pilkerton said.
The DEQ is collaborating with the Wyoming Nutrient Work Group, a diverse stakeholder group, to tackle nutrient pollution in Wyoming waters. The group will work to “identify water bodies where there are excess nutrients and then develop restoration plans for those water bodies,” Patterson said.
One of those is Boysen Reservoir, where the group is already coordinating with stakeholders to reduce nutrient inputs and resulting blooms.
Nutrient sources can include stormwater and agricultural runoff, lawn fertilizers, septic tanks, wastewater treatment plants, industrial discharges, atmospheric deposition, and lake turnover, Patterson said.
This story is supported by a grant through Wyoming’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) and the National Science Foundation. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/toxic-blooms-again-prompt-health-worries-warnings/article_154a8730-22fa-11ed-a741-7b05d4843a9b.html | 2022-08-25T16:31:38Z |
Epoxy striping work may cause highway delays
Crews with S&L Industrial and the Wyoming Department of Transportation has started applying epoxy striping in various locations around the region, weather permitting.
Epoxy striping work may cause highway delays
Crews with S&L Industrial and the Wyoming Department of Transportation has started applying epoxy striping in various locations around the region, weather permitting.
Epoxy striping is more durable than traditional striping, especially in high-traffic areas, the WDH says in a press release.
Work includes mobilizing and minor work in intermittent locations around Rawlins. Next week, crews will focus on a portion of U.S. Highway 287 in Laramie. Finally, they will address various locations around Cheyenne, including a section on Interstate 80 near Pine Bluffs.
This will be a mobile work zone with slow-moving striping equipment. Motorists are encouraged to drive slowly and obey all traffic control. Avoid passing the heavy equipment where epoxy is still wet as it can be hard to remove if it gets on a vehicle. Cones will be in place to help indicate where epoxy may still be wet.
Crews will be working in other areas throughout the duration of the project, with locations varying based on traffic levels, weather, material availability and other factors. Stay alert for work zones along your travels and plan to give yourself a little extra time to reach your destination.
‘Offensive’ sign protected as free speech
PINEDALE (WNE) — A Big Piney resident’s large sign fastened to the front fence that says “F– Biden” is protected free speech, even if neighbors are concerned about the “offensive” F word.
That was the consensus of the town’s attorney Doug Mason and Sheriff KC Lehr, which they presented to the Big Piney Town Council, at its Aug. 16 meeting.
Town clerk Kristi Gray said five or six callers complained to town staff, and the sheriff said a deputy reportedly went to the house to check it out.
The sign reads: “F– Biden and F– you if you voted for him.”
Mayor Tyler Maxfield brought up the possibility of an ordinance, which Mason said would have “to be narrowly tailored” to avoid violating the sign poster’s freedom of speech.
Maxfield said he hoped the resident might understand that the language offends some people.
“I haven’t spoken with Deputy Winer yet,” Lehr said of the sign. “It’s worth a try. That’s a sticky one” because posting the F word is not a crime.”
“Even if he can X out the words,” Maxfield said. “See if he’ll reason with us.”
The sign was still in place Friday afternoon, legible from the church parking lot across the street.
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A receipt was sent to your email. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/worth-noting-aug-25-2022/article_51c60a26-23e6-11ed-be17-df295f03f56c.html | 2022-08-25T16:31:44Z |
Some observations before the afterglow from our exciting time in the national spotlight fades and we go back to being flyover country hayseeds.
POLITICAL REPORTERS were drawn to Jackson Hole in their coverage of the Cheney-Hageman race because the anticipated concession speech by Liz would happen there.
But the constant reporting from Jackson – a rare county where Cheney was stronger than Hageman – created the impression that the Tetons and the Jackson Town Square represent all of Wyoming.
It’s a nice image to project, but anyone who thinks all of Wyoming looks like the view from Moran Junction has never been to Wamsutter. Or Bill. Or Tie Siding. Or Hubbard’s Mountain Cupboard.
Outsiders sometimes assume that Cheyenne looks like Jackson, not realizing that the Tetons are a very long day’s drive from Cheyenne.
Like coastal elites who figure that if you visit Denver, you’ve logically spent an afternoon taking in the Grand Canyon. Geography eludes many coastal elites, and it’s not worth their precious time to learn about gomers like us.
Whatever!
For a while there, we were like the girl with a half-dozen guys asking her to the prom. Every newscast included fresh takes on what was going on in Wyoming, and our least populated state was on everyone’s mind. We were the belle of the ball.
For a moment.
ON THE WAY TO JACKSON, a Fox political correspondent reported from downtown Cheyenne, and (obligatory) rodeos in Laramie and Wheatland, where the take on Liz was either that she’s feisty Wyoming gal with grit or a politician gone hopelessly D.C. native in her relentless pursuit of former President Donald Trump.
Unless Liz opens the “Captain Ahab Institute for the Pursuit of The Great White Donald Trump Whale” in Jackson Hole (because she says pursuing the evil Trump is now the most important job she has ever had) I predict our news media appeal will quickly fade.
It will be like that old song “You Don’t Send Me Flowers Anymore.”
My wife (pretty smart) says that’s probably a good thing, because people who don’t live in Wyoming don’t understand Wyoming.
And never will.
I KEPT SEEING a video on TV of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy with Jackson Hole Ski Area trams in the background and wondered what the ding-dong heck he was doing in Jackson, where there are precious few GOP votes.
Turns out McCarthy was in pursuit of the only thing more precious than votes: dollars. He was there for a fat-cat fundraiser, at which even the biggest fat cat of all, Elon Musk, was in attendance.
I don’t know about you, but the prospect of McCarthy as speaker of the House come January does not fill me with confidence. (No surprise that Liz agrees.) I think he lacks the heft of a Newt Gingrich. But he would be far better than that State-of-the-Union-speech-ripping embarrassment Nancy Pelosi.
In the words of Mick Jagger, “You don’t always get what you want.”
That goes double in politics.
TWO OLD FRIENDS – one from Cheyenne, the other from Casper, both lifelong residents of Wyoming – laughed when I asked if Liz Cheney could hold onto her seat in Congress with the help of Democrats crossing over to vote in the Republican primary. Both found the concept patently ridiculous in Wyoming, where Democrats are roughly as plentiful as black-footed ferrets.
Right they were.
ANOTHER LIFELONG RESIDENT, this one from charming Rawlins, told me she wrote to Liz awhile back telling her that she had never written to a politician before, but that she was writing to say she would never vote for Liz again.
In the words of pop star Taylor Swift: “Ever, ever, ever.”
One of the endearing things about lifelong Wyoming residents is their crustiness.
TUCKER CARLSON reported on election night that Liz Cheney’s net worth is now $43 million, up from $7 million when she took office six years ago. So we don’t have to worry about her living on the street somewhere in northern Virginia.
And there will be plenty of seed money for the Captain Ahab Institute in Jackson. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/opinion/contributed_columns/capt-ahab-institute-coming-to-jackson/article_1e697e8c-2306-11ed-a0ff-4b3e35a1d34a.html | 2022-08-25T16:31:50Z |
Last week’s primary election revealed many things about the current state of politics in Wyoming – some good, some bad.
Let’s start with some good news. Regardless of your party affiliation, this week’s primary once again showed that the state’s election process is trustworthy, and our county clerks and their staff are dedicated to preserving its integrity. Not only did we hear no complaints of voting irregularities, results are canvassed by independent boards at the county and state levels to certify that was the case.
That’s unlikely to silence those like Republican Secretary of State primary winner Chuck Gray, however, who have parroted the false election fraud claims coming from former President Donald Trump and his supporters ever since the 2020 election results didn’t go his way. We just hope this week and another well-handled election in November will cause Mr. Gray and others to stop sowing seeds of distrust about a system in Wyoming that clearly works well.
The next post-election takeaway isn’t that surprising, but should concern anyone who had hopes the Legislature would stop wasting time on highly partisan, mostly far-right boilerplate legislation. With an economy desperately in need of diversification, a K-12 education funding crisis, tens of thousands of residents without health insurance and many other top-shelf issues facing them, lawmakers shouldn’t be wasting their time on the pet issues of the American Legislative Exchange Council and other groups.
Yet, based on the results, it seems many of the state’s Republican voters either don’t care or failed to do their homework about certain candidates. For example, in Natrona County, Casper developer Bob Ide narrowly defeated former Senate President Drew Perkins. Of course, we have no evidence of how he will perform as a lawmaker, but the fact Mr. Ide was photographed with state GOP Chairman Frank Eathorne at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, gives us some indication.
Rural eastern Wyoming, especially, is growing ever more conservative. In Goshen County, Rep. J.D. Williams lost his seat to Allen Earl Slagle, and Rep. Shelly Duncan lost her seat to Scott Smith. And in Converse County, Rep. Aaron Clausen narrowly lost his seat to Tomi Strock, who encouraged her campaign Facebook followers to attend a Chuck Gray-sponsored screening of “2000 Mules” because “it is trully (sic) an eye opening documentary” about the 2020 election.
All of this sets up the 67th Wyoming Legislature to be even more radical than the one that wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars on a special session about vaccine mandates.
Which brings us to a key point: If more people don’t start doing their homework, asking questions of candidates and voting, this radicalization of our political system will continue. And, sorry, folks, we hate to say it, but there’s really no excuse for this other than simple laziness.
Today, thanks to the internet and social media, there are more ways than ever to find out where each candidate stands on the key issues. In addition to stories and news briefs in publications like the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, there are candidate questionnaires on our website, WyomingNews.com, and answers to online surveys by other organizations.
Not plugged in? There’s still the old-fashioned method of picking up the phone and calling those you’re wondering about (yes, the phone numbers can be found on the Secretary of State and Laramie County Clerk’s Office websites, but we’ll soon be publishing a list of all of the phone numbers and email addresses they provided when they filed to run for office).
Another disturbing lesson to be learned from this year’s primary field is that some people seem to want to get elected so they can destroy the system from the inside. While we certainly hope that isn’t the case with Mr. Gray and Republican U.S. House nominee Harriet Hageman, we saw evidence of this trend from people like current State Superintendent of Public Instruction Brian Schroeder, gubernatorial candidate Rex Rammell, U.S. House candidate and current state Sen. Anthony Bouchard and others.
Thankfully, many of these folks failed to advance to the general election, but some did. And with all of the noise made lately at school board meetings here and across the state about books in school libraries and district mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic, voters must be extra careful to vet trustees candidates this fall.
Of course, with the attention placed on the race between Ms. Hageman and incumbent Rep. Liz Cheney, it would be easy to say that the days of Wyoming going unnoticed on the national political scene are over. We’re not sure, though.
Certainly, the high-profile battle between Ms. Cheney and Mr. Trump drew the attention of journalists and political insiders from the Beltway and across the country. It also generated a lot of attention from average residents nationwide with an opinion about Ms. Cheney and her service on the congressional committee investigating the 1-6-21 Capitol riot. That attention led to millions of dollars from outside the state pouring into Ms. Cheney’s campaign account, as well as Mr. Trump endorsing in down-ballot races.
We can’t help but wonder if this is a one-time blip on the radar, however. How likely is it that, once the current battle of wills fades away, the least-populated state in the union will continue to garner such attention? As is the case with Alaska other than when Sarah Palin’s on the ballot, we think it’s pretty unlikely.
Of course, the most obvious takeaway is that the former president still has a lot of influence in the Equality State. Ms. Hageman’s landslide victory over Ms. Cheney is all the evidence we need to see that. Unlike the attention that came with it, that likely will take much longer to fade into the past, especially if the Republican Party continues to be the Party of Trump.
OK, that’s enough looking back. With less than 80 days to go until the general election, it’s time to grab a notebook, make a list of candidates to research and get to work.
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Aug. 20
WE WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU THINK: Contact us via email at opinion@wyomingnews.com. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/opinion/editorials/primary-reveals-much-about-politics-in-wyoming/article_5e3d4348-23d5-11ed-867f-c7264e157a09.html | 2022-08-25T16:31:56Z |
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
CHEYENNE – A former Cheyenne day care worker sentenced to probation for her role in the death of an 8-month-old girl intends to appeal her felony conviction to the Wyoming Supreme Court.
Kristina Eileen Croy was sentenced in late July to five years of probation, with a suspended sentence of five to seven years imprisonment, by Laramie County District Judge Peter Froelicher. She was also ordered to pay $5,482.04 in restitution.
Croy is also not allowed to care for any children under the age of 3 during her probationary period, excluding family members, and is not permitted to run a day care or offer babysitting services.
In early April, a jury found Croy guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the September 2019 death of Malia Gavagan. Croy had been accused of placing the infant in a too-small swaddling device against her mother’s wishes and against state guidelines, leading to her death. Croy was also accused of directing an employee of her day care to lie to police following the incident, and of changing her story about the incident.
An autopsy report concluded Malia died of positional asphyxia, meaning the infant’s position had prevented her from breathing properly, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Croy’s attorney, Dion Custis, filed a notice of appeal Aug. 17 in Laramie County District Court. On Wednesday, Custis told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle that he and his client will “draft an appeal brief with errors made at trial.”
Following Croy’s sentencing last month, Custis told the WTE that he felt the sentence given to his client was “very appropriate.”
“She’s the ideal candidate for probation. There’s nothing in her background to warrant any type of prison sentence, and her conduct was obviously unintentional,” Custis said at the time.
Marcia Bean, who prosecuted the case on behalf of the state, gave a statement to the WTE on Wednesday regarding the notice of appeal.
“Every defendant has a right to appeal their convictions. Ms. Croy is no different,” Bean said in an email. “However, having said that, Judge Froelicher was very careful and diligent in overseeing the presentation of the state and defendant’s case. And the jury carefully deliberated before returning their verdict that Ms. Croy was guilty in causing the death of the infant.
“I cannot conceive of any issue that will be successful on appeal,” she continued. “Unfortunately, this just continues the pain the victim’s family is already suffering.”
After Croy’s sentencing, Bean told the WTE that, while the state believes “an imposed prison sentence was warranted,” the court has the final say, and that it understands a court “may see cases differently than the parties who litigate them.” She emphasized the “severity” of the case and its impact on the Gavagan family, and said she hoped the conclusion of sentencing would begin to bring them peace.
Bean, the county and prosecuting attorney for Big Horn County, had been appointed to prosecute the case because of the victim’s family’s ties to the Laramie County District Attorney’s Office.
Bean had asked for Croy to receive a prison sentence of three-and-a-half to 10 years. The judge rejected that proposal, in part because the crime was nonviolent and not intentional, and because he said Croy had done well on bond, he said.
In Wyoming, manslaughter is described as “unlawfully” killing a person “without malice, expressed or implied.” It carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine. Involuntary manslaughter under this statute is assumed to be a result of recklessness.
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/news/local_news/cheyenne-day-care-worker-to-appeal-manslaughter-conviction/article_4a6e89dc-23d8-11ed-b423-bf2a47632c4a.html | 2022-08-25T16:32:03Z |
Laramie Boomerang
LARAMIE – The University of Wyoming will make a supplemental budget request of $54.65 million to the Wyoming Legislature for unforeseen financial needs this academic year.
If approved, UW officials says the additional money will account for gaps in the university budget created by inflation, and help address low wages for university staff and faculty members.
“This is very much in line with what you may have seen in previous years,” UW spokesperson Chad Baldwin said of the request.
He said it’s normal for the university to make supplemental budget requests because it is difficult to know exactly how much money will be needed at the time the Legislature makes its budget allocations.
The requests also are tailored to the amount of money and programs the Legislature has in any given year. This year, Gov. Mark Gordon noted that budget requests should be emergency in nature, with some flexibility in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing issues with inflation.
The request includes more than $13 million to go toward capital construction projects that have been impacted by inflation. The projects include buying scientific equipment for the new Science Initiative Building and building a roundabout at 22nd Street.
An additional $4.3 million is requested to help with inflation in other areas, such as campus utilities, insurance premiums and operating costs of UW extension centers.
The largest chunk of the request, $14.5 million, is earmarked for increasing salaries of university staff and faculty. If approved, the university will increase wages to a minimum of $15 per hour, as well as provide relative increases for higher-paid employees.
“We understand that there is some movement in the Legislature for a possible second round of salary increase funding, and we want to make sure they’re considered,” Baldwin said.
The request comes at a time when staff at the university have voiced concerns over issues with low wages and overwhelming workloads during UW Board of Trustees meetings.
There are now several hundred employees at the university who make less than $15 per hour, Baldwin said.
While the university announced base pay raises for employees in May, the increases were more of a “Band-Aid” fix than a change that adequately addresses issues of inflation and increased housing costs, UW Staff Senate President Tim Nichols told trustees during a meeting in July.
The newest round of raises will only be given if the supplemental budget request is approved, and would go into effect in the upcoming fiscal year, Baldwin said.
The proposal will be discussed with the governor in September or October and go before the Joint Appropriations Committee in December, according to UW Board of Trustees documents. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/uw-wants-another-54m-from-legislature/article_1d21c05c-240a-11ed-8daf-43b30b057a8e.html | 2022-08-25T16:32:09Z |
In a blockbuster, landmark ruling that rolled back the tides of racism and White Supremacy, the Supreme Court, in Loving v. Virginia (1967), affirmed marriage as a fundamental right protected by the 14th Amendment when it struck down a state law that banned interracial marriage.
Just a dozen years after the Court had held in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional and, in a historical context in which racial violence and Southern resistance to civil rights laws and rulings captured daily headlines, the Court proceeded to deliver a powerful blow for the cause of racial justice, equal protection and due process of law.
The Court acknowledged in Loving that it was addressing an issue that it had never heard: Whether a state law to prevent marriages between persons based solely on racial classifications violates the 14th Amendment?
In 1967, Virginia was one of 16 states that prohibited and punished interracial marriages, one of the badges and incidents of slavery dating back to the colonial period. Some 14 states had recently rescinded their miscegenation statutes. The Virginia law was somewhat distinct from others that prohibited interracial marriage. The Virginia statute – “An Act to Preserve Racial Integrity” – extended only to the integrity of the “white race.”
Virginia prohibited whites from marrying nonwhites, subject to the exception for descendants of Pocahontas, but permitted Blacks, Asians and any other racial class to intermarry without interference from the state. The Virginia law, as the Court noted, was “designed to maintain White Supremacy.”
Two Virginians, Richard Loving, a white man, and Mildred Jeter, a woman of mixed African American and Native American descent, had grown up, fallen in love, and wanted to create and build their family in the only state that they had ever known. Because of the state ban on interracial marriage, the young couple, in 1958, drove from Caroline County, Virginia, to Washington, D.C., to get married.
The Lovings returned to Central Point, Virginia ,and hung their marriage certificate on a wall in their bedroom. Several weeks later, law enforcement officials, acting on an anonymous tip, burst into their bedroom around 2 a.m., shined a flashlight in the eyes of the Lovings and demanded of Richard: “Who is this woman you are sleeping with?” Richard pointed to the marriage certificate on the wall, and a sheriff responded: “That’s no good here.”
Richard and Mildred were arrested and taken to jail. Richard spent the night in jail; Mildred, a woman of color, spent the next five days and nights behind bars.
The Lovings, without benefit of legal counsel, appeared before a local judge and entered guilty pleas to charges of violating the miscegenation statute. The judge imposed a one-year jail sentence, but said he would suspend the sentence if Richard and Mildred agreed to leave the state and did not return for 25 years. The judge lectured the Lovings: “Almighty God created the separate races, white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents,” which meant God “did not intend for them to mix.”
Roughly five years later, the Lovings, exiled from their childhood homes, wrote Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy about their plight. Kennedy advised them to contact the American Civil Liberties Association, which agreed to represent them. On June 12, 1967, Chief Justice Earl Warren, in a 9-0 opinion, delivered the Court’s landmark ruling.
“There can be no doubt,” Warren wrote, referring to the 14th Amendment, “that restricting freedom to marry solely because of racial classifications violates the central meaning of the Equal Protection Clause.” In essence, Warren declared, the clause means what it says: equal means equal. He stated, as an additional holding, that the Virginia prohibition on interracial marriage also “deprived the Lovings of liberty without due process” of law.
The Court recognized the deep racial prejudice that informed Virginia’s law. Employing the “most rigid scrutiny” in cases involving racial classifications, which the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment required, the Court concluded that there “is patently no legitimate overriding purpose independent of invidious discrimination which justifies this classification.” The goal of the measure, Chief Justice Warren concluded, was to “maintain White Supremacy.”
The prohibition discriminated against racially mixed couples and those wishing to marry outside their race, both of which were regarded as “they” groups. The fact that the law carried criminal penalties rankled the Court. In a concurring opinion, written only to emphasize his previously stated opinion that miscegenation statutes violated the 14th Amendment, Justice Potter Stewart stated: “It is simply not possible for a state law to be valid under our Constitution which makes the criminality of the act depend on the race of the actor.”
Richard and Mildred Loving were neither educated nor sophisticated citizens. Nor were they interested in making political statements or starting fights, let alone leading a constitutional crusade for enforcement of the 14th Amendment’s equal protection and due process clauses. As Mildred said, they “were just in love and wanted to be married.”
The Supreme Court, Chief Justice Warren explained, thought that was sufficient. “Under our Constitution,” he wrote, “the freedom to marry, or not to marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State.”
David Adler, Ph.D., is a noted author who lectures nationally and internationally on the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and presidential power. Adler can be reached at david.adler@alturasinstitute.com.
David Adler, Ph.D., is a noted author who lectures nationally and internationally on the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and presidential power. Adler can be reached at david.adler@alturasinstitute.com. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/opinion/guest_column/adler-loving-v-virginia-equal-means-equal/article_63b05dc0-23de-11ed-8407-479dc9d1f520.html | 2022-08-25T16:32:15Z |
What is the "visitor economy"?
For us in Laramie County, it is creating a community where people have a high quality of life, businesses are thriving, and we continue to honor the unique and spectacular place we call home while opening our hearts and arms to people who want to experience our home.
At its core, a visitor economy is the economic impact of visitors to our area. At Visit Cheyenne, we take it a step further and help to develop the destination, creating a great place to live AND visit.
Everything we do and support is intentional, with our economic success the ultimate return on investment. From signature events we have created – like Cheyenne Restaurant Week, Hell on Wheels Rodeo and Old West Holiday – to all the events we support – like EdgeFest, CultureX, Fridays on the Plaza, Pine Bluffs Kite Festival, Harvest Feast, etc. – everything has a positive impact on our community, and it reaches the entire county.
In June of 2021, we unveiled our Laramie County Tourism Master Plan and hit the ground running. In the last year, we created additional signature events, started the 15th Street Railroad Experience, merged with the Downtown Development Authority, started on the Belvoir Ranch/Big Hole project, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
In addition to all the extra projects we have worked on, we have also expanded and enhanced our core operations.
We took our marketing efforts to new levels during the last few years. Using good data analysis, and working closing with partners, many of our campaigns returned numbers like 28-to-1 and 19-to-1 direct spend impact. This means that people saw our ads, clicked on our ads, and then traveled to our community and spent their money here.
Even the best brands need an update from time to time, and we’ve updated our logo and our marketing campaign. A new, fresh approach to “Living the Legend” was unveiled to industry acclaim, winning a Gold Hermes Creative Award. We took this new identity and completely rebuilt and refreshed our website, continuing to provide the most comprehensive listings of events, attractions, dining options, shopping and places to stay in the area. Our campaigns focus on the diversity of people and experiences available to visitors to our great city.
Our group and convention sales have had a strong recovery after 2020, and we have hosted numerous conferences, including Select Traveler and Small Market Meetings, which brought travel and meeting planners here to experience our community. We have already seen the fruits of our labor, as many groups from these conferences have planned group tours or meetings here in Cheyenne in future years.
Our PR efforts have netted us numerous national and regional digital and magazine articles in publications like NASCAR.com, Cowboys and Indians and True West. We have also added thousands to our various social media channels that include organic growth from people that love our brand.
I would be remiss if I did not mention that one of the great things about our community is the people. We have heard numerous claims of how nice, knowledgeable and willing to help our residents are by countless visitors. So, thank you for helping to make us a destination.
So far in 2022, visitors have spent nearly $40 million in our community, providing $3.1 million in sales tax revenue in Laramie County. That's money that builds fire stations, funds road repairs and enhances our downtown. Money that we don’t have to pay as residents, but amenities that we all get to enjoy.
Forty-seven hundred of our neighbors work in the tourism industry, equating to one out of every seven jobs in the county.
Our visitor economy is very strong in Laramie County, and thanks to the voters who continue to trust us with investing the proceeds from the lodging tax, we will continue to grow and innovate, bringing new experiences for our residents and visitors to our community.
Editor's note: The Laramie County lodging tax is up for renewal on the Nov. 8 general election ballot. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/opinion/guest_column/bravo-combined-efforts-allow-us-to-grow-our-visitor-economy/article_599aaf5a-23d1-11ed-99cd-dfd9f46be8b3.html | 2022-08-25T16:32:21Z |
Wyoming has the highest suicide rate in the country. Suicide is a complex public and mental health challenge, and experts have not found the exact cause. Doctors, mental health experts and scientists all agree that suicide comes from untreated mental health and medical disorders.
Learning about suicide can be hard, but there are many ways that we can work toward stopping suicide. These can include trainings on suicide prevention, ending stigma around mental health and suicide, and learning warning signs of suicide. It is crucial to know that mental health and suicide are medical conditions, and there are many ways that these can be successfully treated. Suicide is not, and has never been, a moral failing.
Although people who are at risk for suicide might have feelings of not belonging, feeling like they are a burden or feeling like suicide might be the only option, there are many different resources to help with these. If you or someone you know is feeling lonely, isolated from family or friends, shameful or overwhelming guilt, please call Grace for 2 Brothers (307-256-3344) to connect with someone.
Finding help in the community can include speaking to a doctor, calling Grace for 2 Brothers, talking to family, connecting with friends and reaching out to a faith-based community. There are many different ways that suicide can be prevented, and it is very important to know what is offered in Wyoming that can help if you are feeling at risk.
Grace for 2 Brothers believes in connecting people with resources and programs that include trainings, preventing suicide, helping when someone is at risk for suicide and helping with healing after a suicide death. We can also provide trainings that can help our community better understand the medical nature of suicide, while reducing the stigma of mental health and suicide.
If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out to Grace for 2 Brothers, mental health professionals or call/text 988. You are not alone! | https://www.wyomingnews.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/grace-for-2-brothers-offers-many-resources-to-help-prevent-suicides/article_273ca54a-23e5-11ed-b8ce-d749ea56a009.html | 2022-08-25T16:32:27Z |
In response to search of Mar-a-Lago, it's time to defund the FBI Letter from Ronald G. Pretty | Cheyenne Aug 25, 2022 5 hrs ago Comments Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save In light of what recently happened at Mr. Trump's residence, the only response is for the Republicans to defund the FBI.You can't reform them.They didn't do anything as to Clinton's emails!They have done nothing as to the Biden computer! Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Tags Letter To The Editor Fbi Fund Republicans Trump Email Response Computer Recommended for you Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. comments powered by Disqus Trending Now Laramie County DA declines to charge woman arrested in stabbing death Hageman beats Cheney, will face Grey Bull in November First Wyoming case of monkeypox identified in Laramie County Kozak wins sheriff primary, Hackl presumptive DA WDE social media hacked, shares school choice survey Latest Special Section Cheyenne Frontier Days To view our latest Special Section click the image on the left. Latest e-Edition Wyoming Tribune Eagle To view our latest e-Edition click the image on the left. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/in-response-to-search-of-mar-a-lago-its-time-to-defund-the-fbi/article_f303877e-23e1-11ed-9198-a7ef04d9805e.html | 2022-08-25T16:32:34Z |
Today/tomorrow Aug 25, 2022 Aug 25, 2022 Updated 56 min ago Comments Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Today in Wyoming history: In 2010, Gov, Dave Freudenthal signed an executive order increasing protected sage grouse habitat by a net of 400,000 acres.Tomorrow in Wyoming history: In 1980, Guernsey State Park was added to the National Register of Historic Places.(Thanks Wyoming Historical Society and On This Day) Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Tags Dave Freudenthal Wyoming Executive Order Sage Grouse Habitat Park Society Recommended for you Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. comments powered by Disqus Trending Now Laramie County DA declines to charge woman arrested in stabbing death Hageman beats Cheney, will face Grey Bull in November First Wyoming case of monkeypox identified in Laramie County Kozak wins sheriff primary, Hackl presumptive DA WDE social media hacked, shares school choice survey Latest Special Section Cheyenne Frontier Days To view our latest Special Section click the image on the left. Latest e-Edition Wyoming Tribune Eagle To view our latest e-Edition click the image on the left. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/today-tomorrow/article_90df1266-2486-11ed-bfe7-939173ec8724.html | 2022-08-25T16:32:40Z |
Cheyenne East senior Shannon Bailey placed 12th in both the 100-yard breaststroke and 500 freestyle at last year’s state meet. Alyte Katilius/Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Cheyenne East senior Shannon Bailey placed 12th in both the 100-yard breaststroke and 500 freestyle at last year’s state meet. Alyte Katilius/Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Cheyenne East senior Shannon Bailey practices her breaststroke in East's pool on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022. Alyte Katilius/Wyoming Tribune Eagle
CHEYENNE – Any doubts Shannon Bailey may have had about her passion for swimming were nullified this summer.
While most high school swimmers train and compete with club teams during the off-season, Bailey and her Cheyenne East teammate, Sydni Sawyer, competed as unattached athletes.
They occasionally were able to connect with East coach Jon Andersen and use East’s pool. They largely trained on their own, hitting the Cheyenne Aquatic Center to log yards nearly every morning.
“We’d go at 5 some morning and 6 other mornings, because I had to get my yards in before I went to work,” said Bailey, who spent the summer as a lifeguard at the aquatic center. “We had to figure out how to plan workouts that benefitted us both as we were getting ready for state.”
The last part was easier said than done. Bailey is primarily a sprinter, while Sawyer is a distance swimmer. Whatever they did worked, though.
Sawyer won the 200- and 400-meter freestyles in the 15- and 16-year-old age group, while Bailey took second in the 200 breaststroke and third in 100 breast among the 17- and 18-year-olds.
“The dedication they showed over the summer is huge,” Andersen said. “The cool thing about Shannon is she came in as a basketball player who decided to give swimming a try as a freshman.
“She has fallen in love with it, made state meet times and decided this is where she wants to be and what she wants to do.”
Added Sawyer: “It has been so cool to see her work so hard and improve since I moved here last year. She is so dedicated, and it’s great to have someone to put in the time and work with.”
Bailey placed 12th in both the 500-yard freestyle and 100-yard breast at last fall's Class 4A state meet. She had the 10th-fastest preliminary time in the 100 breast, dropping nearly four seconds off her personal best.
“That was a big surprise and a really big wow moment,” Bailey said. “Breaststroke has always been a good stroke for me, and I’ve gradually gotten faster and faster in it, but that was a really big jump.”
That success convinced Bailey she needed to commit herself to the sport during the off-season.
“I want to go somewhere with this sport past high school,” she said. “If I’m going to do that, I have to keep training hard and compete the best I can at every meet, and drop the time that needs to be dropped.”
East did a pentathlon Friday that featured five 50-yard races of various strokes. Bailey was encouraged by her results at the intra-squad meet.
“I feel like I’m where I need to be,” she said. “I’m about where I ended last season in most everything, and a little faster in some.”
Bailey isn’t all that fond of the 500. She views high school swimming’s longest event as a chore. She hopes to swim the 200 individual medley at state in November.
“We’ve been working on the IM, and I’m getting better at it,” she said. “I just wasn’t good enough to swim that at state last year. I could help our team more in the 500, so that’s what I swam. Hopefully, I can get good enough to swim my two favorite events at state.”
If she can’t, it won’t be because she didn’t work hard enough.
Jeremiah Johnke is the WyoSports editor. He can be reached at jjohnke@wyosports.net or 307-633-3137. Follow him on Twitter at @jjohnke. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyosports/high_school/cheyenne_central/easts-shannon-bailey-has-found-a-passion-for-swimming/article_c7337f38-23ea-11ed-97a1-8331b3b7c212.html | 2022-08-25T16:32:46Z |
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Cheyenne East senior lineman Trevor Eldridge recorded 59 tackles (19 solo), six tackles for loss, two sacks and an interception last season. Alyte Katilius/Wyoming Tribune Eagle
CHEYENNE – Trevor Eldridge’s Cheyenne East teammates describe him as nice, kind and funny.
He’s often the first person to try to lift someone’s spirits when they’re down and the first to help a teammate try to grasp a concept they’re struggling with.
The senior is a different person when he steps on the football field, however.
“When he crosses those lines, it’s like a switch flips and you can see his eyes change, and he just goes out there and wreaks havoc,” East coach Chad Goff said. “From the first kickoff until the last whistle, he’s going to give it his all and try to help the team win.”
“It doesn’t matter if he’s tired or not. He never takes a play off. That’s the way he has always been.”
Eldridge said his approach to the game was shaped by his father, Travis Eldridge, who is a longtime East assistant coach.
“He always taught me that when you’re on the field, it’s not play time,” Trevor said. “You have to be ready to work, have that taste for blood and really go for it.”
Goff also was quick to note that Eldridge’s work ethic extends beyond athletic arenas. Most days, Eldridge works for a landscaping crew after doing his strength and conditioning work.
That effort and motor helped Eldridge post 59 tackles (19 solo), six tackles for loss, two sacks and an interception to help the Thunderbirds go 8-3 and reach the Class 4A semifinals. Those stats earned the 5-foot-10, 190-pounder a spot on WyoSports’ inaugural All-Laramie County team.
“He is one of the hardest-working guys on our team, and he’s really becoming a vocal leader,” senior linebacker Ethan Brinkman said. “He takes a lot of pride in doing his job well.”
Eldridge attributes much of his defensive success to his now-graduated linemates Gavyn Aumiller and Braxton Rosner.
“I was put in a really good position by the seniors and coaches,” Eldridge said. “They helped me shine as a player and helped me do my thing and be a little bit of a wild card.
“Aumiller would take on three or four guys at a time. Without him, me and Braxton wouldn’t have been able to make plays.”
Eldridge gets to do one of those thankless jobs on the other side of the ball where he lines up at right tackle. He relishes the role.
“I take a whole lot of pride in doing my job as a lineman. I take pride in helping the guys behind me be successful,” he said. “I don’t have to have the spotlight. I can shine quietly and do my job.
“It’s always a great compliment to the offensive line if you have a running back that just goes off. I’ve been really lucky to have great running backs playing behind me.”
Goff – who played center in high school and college – tells his offensive linemen to think about themselves as the team’s dads.
“They’re the people around them helping everyone else be successful,” Goff said. “He’s bought into that, he believes it, and that’s why he is so good. He could play any spot on the line if we needed him to.”
Jeremiah Johnke is the WyoSports editor. He can be reached at jjohnke@wyosports.net or 307-633-3137. Follow him on Twitter at @jjohnke. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyosports/high_school/cheyenne_east/trevor-eldridge-thrives-on-both-lines-for-east/article_670503ae-2401-11ed-8ed9-f7f40edd747c.html | 2022-08-25T16:32:58Z |
Court upholds temporary block on Arkansas gender care ban for transgender youth
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal appeals court on Thursday said Arkansas can’t enforce its ban on transgender children receiving gender-affirming medical care.
A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a judge’s ruling temporarily blocking the state from enforcing the 2021 law. A trial is scheduled for October before the same judge on whether to permanently block the law.
Arkansas was the first state to enact such a ban, which prohibits doctors from providing gender-confirming hormone treatment, puberty blockers or surgery to anyone younger than 18 years old, or from referring them to other providers for the treatment. There are no doctors who perform gender-affirming surgery on minors in the state.
“Because the minor’s sex at birth determines whether or not the minor can receive certain types of medical care under the law, Act 626 discriminates on the basis of sex,” the court’s ruling Thursday said.
The American Civil Liberties Union challenged the law on behalf of four transgender youth and their families, as well as two doctors who provide gender-confirming treatments.
Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson vetoed the ban last year, but GOP lawmakers overrode him to enact the law.
Multiple medical groups, including the American Medical Association, oppose the ban and have said the care is safe if properly administered. The Justice Department has also opposed the ban as unconstitutional.
Arkansas argued that the restriction is within the state’s authority to regulate medical practices. An attorney for the ACLU told the appeals panel in June that reinstating the restriction would create uncertainty for families around the state.
Hutchinson vetoed the ban following pleas from pediatricians, social workers and the parents of transgender youth who said the measure would harm a community already at risk for depression and suicide. Hutchinson said the law went too far, especially since it wouldn’t exempt youth already receiving the care.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/25/appeals-court-upholds-temporary-block-arkansas-gender-care-ban-transgender-youth/ | 2022-08-25T16:33:03Z |
Baseball
Mustangs tryouts: The Cheyenne Mustangs competitive youth baseball organization will hold a makeup tryout for its 2022-23 teams from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 28, at Pioneer Park, 1335 Talbot Court.
The Mustangs are looking for players 8-15 years old. Players’ ages are determined by how old they will be May 1, 2023.
Registration for tryouts can be completed at cheyennemustangsyouthbaseball.com.
Basketball
YMCA youth league: Registration for the YMCA’s youth fall basketball league ends Sept. 17. Late registration runs Sept. 18-24 and includes a $20 late fee.
The league is for children ages 3-12, and the season starts Oct. 1.
The cost is $52 for YMCA members and $73 for nonmembers for the 3-4- and 5-6-year-old divisions. The cost for the 7-8 division is $65 for members and $80 for nonmembers. The cost for the 9-10 division is $70 for members and $85 for nonmembers, and the 11-12-year-old division is $80 for members and $95 for nonmembers.
Registration can be completed under the youth sports tab at cheyenneymca.org.
K-2 co-rec youth league: Registration for the city’s co-rec league for kindergartners through second graders starts Sept. 6. Late registration runs Oct. 21-Nov. 3. The cost is $60 per player, with a $25 late fee, if space is available.
Practices start Dec. 12, and the season includes a six-game schedule. Players will receive a team shirt, basketball, picture and award.
For more information, contact David Contreras at dcontreras@cheyennecity.org or 307-637-6425.
Third-sixth grade league: Registration for the city’s youth league for third through sixth graders has started. Late registration runs Sept. 16-29.
The cost is $60 per player, with a $25 late fee, if space is available. Practices start Oct. 17, and the season and will include six games. Players will receive a team shirt, basketball, picture and award.
For more information, contact Harley Tekerman at htekerman@cheyennecity.org or 307-637-6408.
Registration can be completed under the Recreation Division link at www.cheyennerec.org.
Officials training: Registration for adult league officials training ends Friday, Aug. 25.
The training will be held from 6-8 p.m. Sept. 2 at the Youth Activity and Community Center at Romero Park, 1317 Parsley Blvd. Officials will be paid $35 per game.
Registration for the youth league officials training starts Aug. 22.
The training will be held from 6-8 p.m. Oct. 25 at the Youth Activity and Community Center at Romero Park, 1317 Parsley Blvd. There is no charge.
For more information, contact David Contreras at dcontreras@cheyennecity.org or 307-637-6425.
Wrestling
Gladiator Academy: The Gladiator Wrestling Academy will hold registration from 5-6:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 1, in the Cheyenne South High wrestling room.
Gladiator Wrestling Academy is open to all girls and boys age 4 and older.
There are four different types of registration. The two-week trial includes basic technique, fundamentals, drills, team games and a round-robin tournament. The $25 fee for the trial is non-refundable, but can be applied to any of the other three registrations if the child decides to continue with the club.
The basic registration covers one season with a USA Wrestling membership and competition singlet for $115. The black registration covers one season with a USA Wrestling membership, competition singlet, T-shirt and shorts for $150. The gold registration covers two seasons with USA Wrestling membership, competition singlet, T-shirt, shorts, crew neck sweatshirt and embroidered duffle bag for $250.
Practices start Sept. 5. Wrestlers with less than two years of experience will practice Mondays and Wednesdays from 4-5:15 p.m. Wrestlers with two or more years of experience will practice Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4-5:15 p.m.
More information can be found by searching for Gladiator Wrestling Academy on Facebook. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyosports/other_sports/community/community-sports-bulletin-board-for-aug-25-2022/article_f23dcbb8-23e3-11ed-9277-ab161e805f8c.html | 2022-08-25T16:33:05Z |
University of Wyoming running back Dawaiian McNeely, center, carries the football during the Cowboys’ annual Brown and Gold scrimmage Saturday at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie. Michael Smith/For the Wyoming Tribune Eagle
LARAMIE – In an age of college football when high-octane passing attacks have become commonplace, Saturday’s season opener between the University of Wyoming and Illinois will feature two teams that pride themselves of physicality and setting the tone at the line of scrimmage.
Both teams possess offenses that are predicated on establishing the run. The Cowboys ranked among the top 10 in the FBS with rushing attempts accounting for more than 60% of their offensive plays last season, while the Illini weren’t far behind with a rushing play percentage above 57%.
UW linebacker Easton Gibbs believes the physical nature that both teams like to play with will make this a quality starting point for the Pokes to see where they stand, with their Mountain West opener against Air Force – which has boasted the nation’s top rushing attack each of the last two seasons – just over three weeks away.
“It’s going to be a challenge, and it’ll be a good challenge to start the year and see where we are at,” Gibbs said. “It will definitely set the tone. It’s a tone-setting game, so we’re just excited to get out there and get after it. It’s kind of both of our brands of football, so it should be a good one.”
Illinois has what is expected to be one of the nation’s top running back tandems in Chase Brown and Josh McCray, who combined to rush for 1,554 yards and seven touchdowns in 2021. Brown is seeking to become just the third running back in Illinois history to rush for 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons.
Wyoming has a talented running back of its own, however, in Titus Swen. The junior rushed for 785 yards and a team-high seven touchdowns last season, while ranking second among MW running backs with an average of 5.9 yards per carry.
Swen showcased all-conference potential last November in rivalry wins over Colorado State and MW champion Utah State, during which he racked up 335 yards and two touchdowns on an average of 9.3 yards per attempt. Defensive tackle Cole Godbout believes going up against the Cowboys’ feature back during practice has prepared the defense to face any rushing attack that comes their way.
“I think he’s one of the best in the country, if not the best in the country,” Godbout said. “He gives us the best possible look we can get, so it’s been very helpful going up against him every day.”
The run-heavy approach of each team will challenge defensive lines that return two key pieces – Godbout and Jordan Bertagnole for Wyoming, and Keith Randolph and Jer’Zhan Newton at Illinois – but have some unknowns outside of that, at least in terms of having made significant contributions to their respective programs.
Adding to the uncertainty for the Cowboys is the fact that defensive end Sabastian Harsh, who worked with the first-team defense for much of the offseason, is sidelined with an injury. However, Godbout is confident in the progress that DeVonne Harris, Braden Siders and Oluwaseyi Omotosho have made since the end of last season.
“I think the sky is the limit,” Godbout said. “They control what they can control, and they all have shown great improvement from last year. I’m just really excited to see them play and see what they can do on the field.”
Wyoming is currently listed as a 10- to 11-point underdog, depending on the sportsbook, for this weekend’s game. There is also the perceived notion that the Illini will have an advantage in the size and talent departments, given that they play in a Power Five conference.
UW offensive tackle Eric Abojei has heard the chatter, and is looking forward to the opportunity to prove the Cowboys’ doubters wrong.
“Everyone is looking at it as, ‘They’re a Big Ten team, so they have a lot more to bring to the table,’ but for us, on both sides of the ball, we’ve put in a lot of work,” Abojei said. “It’s just kind of been one of those things where we go at it with each other, and it shows our toughness within ourselves, but also as a team.
“I’m sure that will be one of the things that shows out on Saturday, especially on the offensive line. We’ve been preaching being tough and pushing through blocks, and making sure guys are in the right fits and putting the defenders on their butts.”
Josh Criswell{span} covers the University of Wyoming for WyoSports. He can be reached at jcriswell@wyosports.net or 307-755-3325. Follow him on Twitter at @criswell_sports.{/span}
Josh Criswell covers the University of Wyoming for WyoSports. He can be reached at jcriswell@wyosports.net or 307-755-3325. Follow him on Twitter at @criswell_sports. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyosports/university_of_wyoming/football/wyoming-set-for-physical-first-test-against-illinois/article_a04a39d8-23fa-11ed-a6ff-03ced1802e1c.html | 2022-08-25T16:33:05Z |
Flash flooding: Toddlers rescued, fish flop in parking lot
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Law enforcement officers in central Mississippi carried toddlers out of a flooded day care center after storms dumped rain that caused creeks to overflow.
The Rankin County Sheriff’s Department posted video on Facebook of deputies walking through brown, knee-deep water Wednesday to take children to an elevated truck, placing them gently on benches. News outlets reported more than 100 children and 14 workers were rescued from the flooded facility in the Jackson suburb of Florence.
The National Weather Service reported a second day of heavy rains and flash flooding was expected Thursday in parts of Louisiana and Mississippi. Weather radar also showed heavy rainfall in Thursday near the Mississippi-Alabama state line.
Tony Banks said Thursday that when he returned to his apartment in the Jackson suburb of Flowood after work Wednesday, the parking lot was knee-deep in water. He said a creek overflowed, flooding some cars and trucks. Banks said he caught a fish near the vehicles.
“He was flopping around in the parking lot and I grabbed his mouth,” said Banks, 35. He said he tossed the bass back into the water.
After the deluge Wednesday, Rankin County sheriff’s deputies helped move more than 40 residents out of a flooded nursing home in Brandon.
The Mississippi Highway Patrol said flowing water washed away parts of a state highway in rural Newton County, between Jackson and Meridian.
In Alabama, vehicles traveling along flooded roads created boat-like wakes on low-lying Dauphin Island, a popular beach community off the coast, but police said the water wasn’t deep enough Thursday morning to pose a major threat. Flooding was likely across southwestern Alabama through nightfall, forecasters said, and Mississippi closed a welcome station on Interstate 10 because of flooding.
Three Mississippi cities set one-day rainfall records Wednesday, the weather service said. Jackson received just over 5 inches (12.7 centimeters), Meridian received 4.6 inches (11.7 centimeters) and Vicksburg received 2.9 inches (7.4 centimeters).
On Wednesday, Jackson also surpassed its previous record for rainfall for the month of August, at 11.57 inches (29.4 centimeters). The previous record for the month was 11.51 inches (29.2 centimeters) in 2008, the weather service said.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/25/flash-flooding-toddlers-rescued-fish-flop-parking-lot/ | 2022-08-25T16:33:10Z |
‘Magic mushroom’ psychedelic may help heavy drinkers quit
(AP) - The compound in psychedelic mushrooms helped heavy drinkers cut back or quit entirely in the most rigorous test of psilocybin for alcoholism.
More research is needed to see if the effect lasts and whether it works in a larger study. Many who took a dummy drug instead of psilocybin also succeeded in drinking less, likely because all study participants were highly motivated and received talk therapy.
Psilocybin, found in several species of mushrooms, can cause hours of vivid hallucinations. Indigenous people have used it in healing rituals and scientists are exploring whether it can ease depression or help longtime smokers quit. It’s illegal in the U.S., though Oregon and several cities have decriminalized it. Starting next year, Oregon will allow its supervised use by licensed facilitators.
The new research, published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry, is “the first modern, rigorous, controlled trial” of whether it can also help people struggling with alcohol, said Fred Barrett, a Johns Hopkins University neuroscientist who wasn’t involved in the study.
In the study, 93 patients took a capsule containing psilocybin or a dummy medicine, lay on a couch, their eyes covered, and listened to recorded music through headphones. They received two such sessions, one month apart, and 12 sessions of talk therapy.
During the eight months after their first dosing session, patients taking psilocybin did better than the other group, drinking heavily on about 1 in 10 days on average vs. about 1 in 4 days for the dummy pill group. Almost half who took psilocybin stopped drinking entirely compared with 24% of the control group.
Only three conventional drugs — disulfiram, naltrexone and acamprosate — are approved to treat alcohol use disorder and there’s been no new drug approvals in nearly 20 years.
While it’s not known exactly how psilocybin works in the brain, researchers believe it increases connections and, at least temporarily, changes the way the brain organizes itself.
“More parts of the brain are talking to more parts of the brain,” said Dr. Michael Bogenschutz, director of the NYU Langone Center for Psychedelic Medicine, who led the research.
Less is known about how enduring those new connections might be. In theory, combined with talk therapy, people might be able to break bad habits and adopt new attitudes more easily.
“There’s a possibility of really shifting in a relatively permanent way the functional organization of the brain,” Bogenschutz said.
Patients described life-changing insights that gave them lasting inspiration, Bogenschutz said.
Mary Beth Orr, 69, of Burien, Washington, said her psilocybin-induced hallucinations — flying over breathtaking landscapes and merging telepathically with creative people throughout history — taught her she wasn’t alone.
Before enrolling in the study in 2018, Orr had five or six drinks every evening and more on weekends.
“The quantity was unacceptable and yet I couldn’t stop,” she said. “There was no off switch that I could access.”
During her first psilocybin experience, she saw a vision of her late father, who gave her a pair of eagle eyes and said, “Go.” She told the therapists monitoring her: “These eagle eyes can’t see God’s face, but they know where it is.”
She stopped drinking entirely for two years, and now has an occasional glass of wine. More than the talk therapy, she credits psilocybin.
“It made alcohol irrelevant and uninteresting to me,” Orr said. Now, “I am tethered to my children and my loved ones in a way that just precludes the desire to be alone with alcohol.”
Patients receiving psilocybin had more headaches, nausea and anxiety than those getting the dummy drug. One person reported thoughts of suicide during a psilocybin session.
In an experiment like this, it’s important that patients don’t know or guess if they got the psilocybin or the dummy drug. To try to achieve this, the researchers chose a generic antihistamine with some psychoactive effects as the placebo.
Still, most patients in the study correctly guessed whether they got the psilocybin or the dummy pill.
Paul Mavis couldn’t guess. The 61-year-old from Wilton, Connecticut, got the placebo, but still quit drinking. For one thing, the talk therapy helped, suggesting to him that his emotional life stalled at age 15 when he started drinking to feel numb.
And he described a life-changing moment during a session where he was taking the dummy drug: He imagined the death of a loved one. Suddenly, an intense, incapacitating grief overcame him.
“I was crying, which isn’t typical for me. I was sweating. I was bereft,” he said. “As I’m trying to reconcile this grief, like, why am I feeling this?
“Instantly, I thought, ‘Drinking equals death.’” He said he hasn’t had a drink since.
Dr. Mark Willenbring, former director of treatment research at the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, said more research is needed before psilocybin can be considered an effective addition to talk therapy. He noted that talking with a therapist helped both groups — those who got psilocybin and those who didn’t — and the added benefit of psilocybin appeared to wear off over time.
“It’s tantalizing, absolutely,” Willenbring said. “Is more research required? Yes. Is it ready for prime time? No.”
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/25/magic-mushroom-psychedelic-may-help-heavy-drinkers-quit/ | 2022-08-25T16:33:18Z |
Oklahoma executes James Coddington for 1997 hammer killing
Published: Aug. 25, 2022 at 11:37 AM EDT|Updated: 55 minutes ago
McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma has executed a man for a 1997 killing despite a recommendation from the state’s Pardon and Parole Board that his life be spared.
Fifty-year-old James Coddington received a lethal injection on Thursday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He was pronounced dead at 10:16 a.m.
Gov. Kevin Stitt rejected Coddington’s clemency petition and declined to commute Coddington’s sentence to life in prison without parole.
Coddington was convicted and sentenced to die for beating 73-year-old Albert Hale to death with a hammer.
Prosecutors say Coddington, then 24, became enraged when Hale refused to give him money to buy cocaine.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/25/oklahoma-executes-james-coddington-1997-hammer-killing/ | 2022-08-25T16:33:24Z |
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Ukrainian nuke plant near fighting cut off from power grid
NIKOPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainians are once again anxious about the fate of a nuclear power plant in a land that was home to the world’s worst atomic accident in 1986 at Chernobyl — and alarm only increased Thursday when the plant operator said the facility has been cut off from the electrical grid.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, has been occupied by Russian forces since the early days of the war, and continued fighting near the facility has heightened fears of a catastrophe that could affect nearby towns in southern Ukraine — or potentially an even wider region.
On Thursday, the plant was cut off from the power grid for the first time after fires damaged the only working transmission line, according to Ukraine’s nuclear power operator. It was not clear if the plant had been reconnected. As long as it remains off the grid, it will have to rely on emergency diesel generators to run cooling systems that are essential for the safe operation of the reactors.
The cutoff underscored concerns about the plant, which the government in Kyiv alleges Russia is essentially holding hostage, storing weapons there and launching attacks from around it. Moscow, meanwhile, accuses Ukraine of recklessly firing on the facility, which is located in the city of Enerhodar.
“Anybody who understands nuclear safety issues has been trembling for the last six months,” Mycle Schneider, an independent policy consultant and coordinator of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report, said before the latest incident at the plant.
Ukraine cannot simply shut down its nuclear plants during the war because it is heavily reliant on them, and its 15 reactors at four stations provide about half of its electricity. Still, an ongoing conflict near a working atomic plant is troubling for many experts who fear that a damaged facility could lead to a disaster.
That fear is palpable just across the Dnieper River in Nikopol, where residents have been under nearly constant Russian shelling since July 12, with eight people killed, 850 buildings damaged and over the half the population of 100,000 fleeing the city.
Liudmyla Shyshkina, a 74-year-old widow who lived within sight of the Zaporizhzhia plant before her apartment was bombarded and her husband killed, said she believes the Russians are capable of intentionally causing a nuclear disaster.
Fighting in early March caused a brief fire at the plant’s training complex that officials said did not result in the release of any radiation. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia’s military actions there amount to “nuclear blackmail.”
No civilian nuclear plant is designed for a wartime situation, although the buildings housing Zaporizhzhia’s six reactors are protected by reinforced concrete that could withstand an errant shell, experts say.
The more immediate concern is that a disruption of electricity supply — like the one nuclear power operator, Energoatom, reported Thursday that meant two remaining reactors at the plant were disconnected from the grid.
The operator said it couldn’t immediately comment on the operation of safety systems at the plant, where emergency diesel generators are sometimes unreliable.
External power is essential not just to cool the two reactors still in operation but also the spent radioactive fuel stored in special facilities onsite — and only one of the plant’s four power lines connecting it to the grid has been operational.
“If we lose the last one, we are at the total mercy of emergency power generators,” said Najmedin Meshkati, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Southern California.
Another concern about the fighting nearby is that pools where spent fuel rods are kept to be cooled also are vulnerable to shelling, which could cause the release of radioactive material.
Kyiv told the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, that shelling earlier this week damaged transformers at a nearby conventional power plant, disrupting electricity supplies to the Zaporizhzhia plant for several hours.
The atomic agency’s head, Rafael Mariano Grossi, said Thursday he hopes to send a mission to the plant within “days.”
Negotiations over how the mission would access the plant are complicated but advancing, he said on France-24 television after meeting in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron, who pressed Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call last week to allow the U.N. agency to visit the site.
“Kyiv accepts it. Moscow accepts it. So we need to go there,” Grossi said.
At a U.N. Security Council meeting Tuesday, U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo urged the withdrawal of all military personnel and equipment from the plant and an agreement on a demilitarized zone around it.
He and Schneider expressed concern that the occupation of the plant by Russian forces is also hampering safety inspections and the replacement of critical parts, and is putting severe strain on hundreds of Ukrainian staff who operate the facility.
“Human error probability will be increased manifold by fatigue,” said Meshkati, who was part of a committee appointed by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences to identify lessons from the 2011 nuclear disaster at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant. “Fatigue and stress are unfortunately two big safety factors.”
If an incident at the Zaporizhzhia plant were to release significant amounts of radiation, the scale and location of the contamination would be determined largely by the weather, said Paul Dorfman, a nuclear safety expert at the University of Sussex who has advised the British and Irish governments.
The massive earthquake and tsunami that hit the Fukushima plant destroyed cooling systems, which triggered meltdowns in three of its reactors. Much of the contaminated material was blown out to sea, limiting the damage.
The April 26, 1986, explosion and fire at one of four reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear plant north of Kyiv sent a cloud of radioactive material across a wide swath of Europe and beyond. In addition to fueling anti-nuclear sentiment in many countries, the disaster left deep psychological scars on Ukrainians.
Zaporizhzhia’s reactors are of a different model than those at Chernobyl, but unfavorable winds could still spread radioactive contamination in any direction, Dorfman said.
“If something really went wrong, then we have a full-scale radiological catastrophe that could reach Europe, go as far as the Middle East, and certainly could reach Russia, but the most significant contamination would be in the immediate area,” he said.
That’s why Nikopol’s emergency services department takes radiation measurements every hour since the Russian invasion began. Before that, it was every four hours.
___
Jordans reported from Berlin. Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed.
___
Follow AP coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/25/ukrainian-nuke-plant-near-fighting-cut-off-power-grid/ | 2022-08-25T16:33:40Z |
WV Turnpike closed following tractor-trailer crash
Published: Aug. 25, 2022 at 11:53 AM EDT|Updated: 40 minutes ago
CHARELSTON, W.Va. (WVVA) - All lanes of the West Virginia Turnpike are closed after a tractor-trailer carrying hazardous chemicals crashed.
The crash has both the north and southbound lanes blocked.
Travelers are being asked to take an alternate route.
WV Department of Transportation:
“Traffic heading north will follow Turnpike Detour A and detour at the North Beckley Exit 48 (US 19), proceed past Summersville to Interstate 79 Exit 57, then south to Charleston. Southbound traffic will also follow Turnpike Detour A. From Charleston, traffic should follow Interstate 79 north from Charleston to Exit 57, then proceed south on US 19 to North Beckley, Exit 48.”
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/25/wv-turnpike-closed-following-tractor-trailer-crash/ | 2022-08-25T16:33:51Z |
Apply for Grant from Coalition to Back Black Businesses
WASHINGTON, D.C. (press release) – The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and American Express have announced that the Coalition to Back Black Businesses is now accepting applications for its 2022-23 grant program, which will provide $5,000 grants to 272 Black-owned small businesses to help them meet critical needs and invest in long-term growth. Eligible business owners can apply for the grant online here through Sept. 6.
The CBBB is a multi-year initiative created by the U.S. Chamber Foundation and American Express to support the long-term success and resilience of Black-owned small businesses. The program is a first-of-its-kind collaboration with four leading national Black business organizations, including the National Black Chamber of Commerce, the National Business League, the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc., and Walker’s Legacy. To date, the CBBB has awarded more than $6.4 million in grants to 1,091 Black-owned small businesses in 40 states to help fund essential expenses such as payroll, utilities, and expanding or replacing inventory, among other needs.
“The funding and mentorship opportunities this program offers are crucial to helping small employers adapt to the ever-evolving landscape of running a business,” said Carolyn Cawley, president of the U.S. Chamber Foundation. “We’re proud to work with our coalition of partners to build on the impact we’ve made over the last two years and support the continued growth of America’s Black-owned small businesses.”
“Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and local communities,” said Jennifer Skyler, chief corporate affairs officer at American Express. “American Express and our partners are proud to see that the grants are making an impact on the small business community, with 50% of our grant recipients seeing a real increase across sales revenue in the second half of 2021.”
“The grant was essential in helping us keep our doors open. The funds were used to pay for one month of rent and utilities for the barbershop, as well as invest in advertising,” said Perry Petit-Beau, owner of Petit Beau-ty & Grooming Company in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “This helped establish us as reputable in the community, and we are now ranked in the top five barbershops in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. and have a 5-star rating online.”
In addition to $5,000 grants, the CBBB provides additional resources for sustained support, such as one-on-one mentorship and training for small businesses based on individual business needs, offered in partnership with Ureeka. This year, the program will also receive additional support from Cummins and Shopify. Selected grantees will also have the opportunity to apply for $25,000 enhancement grants in Spring 2023 to further grow their business.
To be eligible for the grant program, businesses must meet certain criteria, including having between three and twenty full-time, part-time, or otherwise contracted employees, and must be located in an economically vulnerable community. Business owners can check their eligibility and express their interest in the program by filling out a short form on the CBBB’s website. In mid-September, eligible finalists will be invited to complete a full grant application, and 272 businesses will receive a $5,000 grant. Business owners will be notified of their status in mid-October. Businesses that are not selected to receive a grant are encouraged to apply again as the program will continue to run through 2024. | https://www.bizneworleans.com/apply-for-grant-from-coalition-to-back-black-businesses/ | 2022-08-25T16:51:29Z |
Entergy Completes Transmission Line Segment Over Mississippi River
JEFFERSON, La. – From Entergy:
Entergy Louisiana recently completed the Mississippi River transmission crossing from Avondale to Harahan.
The rebuilt 230kV powerline segment, which includes a large tower on both sides of the river, was upgraded to withstand winds of up to 175 mph. Each tower stands around 475 feet and weighs approximately 658,000 pounds.
“The completion of the Avondale to Harahan Mississippi River crossing is another example of how we’re continuing to upgrade the electric system through strategies aimed at increasing service reliability and shortening the amount of time it takes to restore power following major storms,” said Phillip May, Entergy Louisiana president and CEO.
The project began in September 2021 when engineers and others were engaged to develop a plan to rebuild and upgrade the river crossing. After tower and foundation designs were finalized, crews began pile driving work and demolished a tower on the Harahan side of the river. In March, crews began installing the concrete pile cap foundations on the Avondale side and pile driving on the Harahan side. Then crews completed foundation work and started constructing the towers. Lastly, wires were strung across the river and the powerline was put into service on Aug. 17.
The Avondale to Harahan transmission line is one of eight transmission lines serving the metro New Orleans area. | https://www.bizneworleans.com/entergy-completes-transmission-line-segment-over-mississippi-river/ | 2022-08-25T16:51:34Z |
Gulf Coast Bank Announce Sponsorship of UNO Student Athletics
NEW ORLEANS – Gulf Coast Bank & Trust Company and University of New Orleans Athletics have announced a new, two-year partnership agreement. The bank is paying an undisclosed sum to sponsor the school’s athletic department, and the bank will develop a series of interactive financial literacy classes to inform student athletes about credit, taxes, saving and investing. The education program is designed to help athletes as UNO Athletics ramps up its name image and likeness (NIL) programming.
“We at Gulf Coast Bank are very happy to partner with the University of New Orleans to support Privateer Athletics. The student athletes at UNO are an incredibly impressive group,” said Gulf Coast Bank & Trust Company President & CEO Guy Williams at an Aug. 24 event announcing the partnership. “Our desire is to help even more people understand the value and opportunities to see great college athletes compete here in New Orleans.”
New Orleans Athletics said it will use sponsorship funds to enhance the experience for each Privateer student athlete.
“I’m so excited to partner with Gulf Coast Bank as the official bank of #NOLAsTeam. Finding a community bank with that personal feel was an important metric for us when looking for a partner,” said New Orleans Vice President for Athletics & Recreation Tim Duncan. “One of the reasons this relationship made sense for us is that Guy Williams and his leadership team were adamant in providing financial literacy programming for our student athletes. As educators at heart, we knew we had the right partner when that was the primary focus of Gulf Coast Bank.”
As part of the deal, Gulf Coast will be the official bank of UNO Athletics, and it will have signage at UNO sports events. | https://www.bizneworleans.com/gulf-coast-bank-announce-sponsorship-of-uno-student-athletics/ | 2022-08-25T16:51:35Z |
LED Secretary Don Pierson Appointed to U.S. Investment Advisory Council
LED Secretary Don Pierson is among 34 international business and economic leaders appointed to the U.S. Investment Advisory Council by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. The group will serve a two-year term, advising Raimondo on how government policies and programs affect the United States’ ability to attract and facilitate foreign business investment.
“For the last decade, the United States has held the position as the No. 1 destination for foreign direct investment thanks to our incredible customer base, innovative culture and world-class workforce,” Raimondo said. “The U.S. Investment Advisory Council will play a vital role in providing recommendations on programs and policies to continue to attract and retain foreign investment in the United States. Representation from business and economic leaders on the council is critical to our global success, and I am excited to welcome our new members and look forward to working with them.”
The council serves as the principal advisory body to the secretary of commerce on the promotion and retention of foreign direct investment to the United States. Since its inception in 2016, the council has promoted initiatives to attract and retain FDI. Past recommendations include programs and policies related to infrastructure investment priorities, improving U.S. workforce development initiatives and improving digital tools to support economic development.
“The attraction of foreign direct investment is an important aspect of our successful economic development effort in Louisiana,” Pierson said. “Louisiana has ranked first among all states for per capita FDI for each of the past 10 years, and No. 4 for total FDI during the same period. I appreciate the opportunity to represent Louisiana on the Investment Advisory Council for the next two years, and look forward to further strengthening FDI productivity on a national level.”
Pierson is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and served as an infantry officer in the 82nd Airborne Division. He has more than three decades of economic development experience, including 17 years as executive director of the Greater Bossier Economic Development Foundation. Gov. John Bel Edwards appointed him secretary of Louisiana Economic Development in 2016. Under Secretary Pierson’s leadership, LED became the only state agency in the U.S. recognized as an Accredited Economic Development Organization by the International Economic Development Council. He received the 2018 Eugene J. Schreiber Award from the World Trade Center of New Orleans, recognizing lifetime achievement in international trade. | https://www.bizneworleans.com/led-secretary-don-pierson-appointed-to-u-s-investment-advisory-council/ | 2022-08-25T16:51:35Z |
M C Bank Hires Megan Eustis as Director of Marketing & Communications
NEW ORLEANS – M C Bank has hired Megan Beer Eustis as senior vice president, director of marketing and communications.
Eustis was the community relations director at IberiaBank (now First Horizon Bank) for five years. She managed nonprofit partnerships and supported market leadership in strategic initiatives. Eustis identified and assisted in implementing business development opportunities to attract new clients and expand existing relationships. Prior to her time at IberiaBank, Eustis worked in fundraising at Audubon Nature Institute and now serves on its board of directors. Additionally, she is a board member for the Youth Empowerment Project.
Christopher LeBato, M C Bank’s chief executive officer, said “Megan is an integral hire for the bank, and I am looking forward to working with her again. She will be a wonderful asset to help us share who we are, why we are, and where we are going to our legacy and new communities.”
LeBato and Eustis worked together at IberiaBank.
“I’m excited to serve the M C Bank clients and communities, as well as join this talented and energized team,” said Eustis. | https://www.bizneworleans.com/m-c-bank-hires-megan-eustis-as-director-of-marketing-communications/ | 2022-08-25T16:51:41Z |
New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity Hires Leo Marsh
NEW ORLEANS — Leo Marsh is the new advocacy and community engagement manager at New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity, where he will work to raise awareness and resources to further affordable homeownership opportunities throughout the New Orleans area.
Marsh recently retired from his position as AT&T’s regional director of external affairs for the New Orleans area. He started with AT&T in 1982 and held a variety of leadership and operational positions throughout his career. He has served on the boards of the Louisiana Museum Foundation, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Louisiana and many other nonprofit organizations. In 2016, he was honored by the Young Leadership Council as a Role Model. He is a graduate of Louisiana State University.
“NOAHH is thrilled to welcome Leo to our advancement team. His many years of community engagement experience in the New Orleans market will no doubt create even more opportunities for the working people of New Orleans to achieve the dream of home ownership,” said Marguerite Oestreicher, executive director of New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity. | https://www.bizneworleans.com/new-orleans-area-habitat-for-humanity-hires-leo-marsh/ | 2022-08-25T16:51:49Z |
Salvation Army: Last-Minute Donations Allow Weekly Food Pantry to Continue
NEW ORLEANS – Earlier this week, the Salvation Army of Greater New Orleans announced it was facing a “dire food shortage” in its community food pantry. A spokesperson said that a significant uptick in requests for help and a decrease in food and financial donations nearly emptied the shelves that dozens of families, individuals and seniors rely on to keep food on the table.
But what a difference a few days can make.
The nonprofit said that media coverage of the problem inspired several generous donations — and now the Aug. 25 pantry distribution will take place as originally planned.
Moving forward, the Salvation Army said it will continue to monitor its pantry supplies and provide as many goods as possible to those in need who are registered to receive food assistance.
Distribution starts at 1 p.m. Thursday, Aug, 25 at the Salvation Army Center of Hope, 4526 S Claiborne Ave. | https://www.bizneworleans.com/salvation-army-last-minute-donations-allow-weekly-food-pantry-to-continue/ | 2022-08-25T16:51:55Z |
Stories about vengeful women are nothing new — just ask Medea — yet the new millennium has seen a boom in tales of heroines, or anti-heroines, violently righting wrongs. Whether it's Beatrix Kiddo in Kill Bill, the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, or Arya Stark in Game of Thrones, today's pop culture finds a special frisson in bad-ass women who get revenge.
We find the latest example in Netflix's thriller Kleo, a cheerfully murderous German series that will make you think of Killing Eve. Here's why: Its heroine, Kleo, is a cocky female assassin who wears wigs, struts around in disguises and knocks people off to the accompaniment of pop songs. Set shortly before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, her story equally recalls Tarantino movies like Inglourious Basterds and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood that fool around with historical facts. It puts a playful spin on the end of communism.
The year is 1987, and Jella Haase is Kleo, the granddaughter of an East German big shot, who works as a crack assassin for the secret police, the Stasi. She does her job with great skill and panache. But after completing a successful hit at the Big Eden nightclub in West Berlin, she's falsely charged with treason and sentenced to life in prison. Then history saves her. When the Wall comes down, Kleo is set free. Naturally, she sets about discovering who betrayed her — and making them pay.
As in Killing Eve, Kleo has a pursuer with whom she forms a bond. In this case, he's a man named Sven (Dimitrij Schaad) a shaggy West Berlin cop who nobody takes seriously. Sven had been present at the Big Eden murder and has been obsessed with tracking her down ever since. But it's a dangerous business, for her investigations threaten some exceedingly powerful people, including actual historical figures like Erich Mielke, head of the Stasi.
As Kleo zips from Germany to Mallorca to Chile in search of her betrayers, she and Sven are surrounded by assassins, double agents, false friends, a few random goofballs and a mysterious West German spy of Chinese origin who quotes Sun Tzu and may be the smartest person in the whole show.
Kleo's story is juicy enough that I'd like to tell you that the series is a knockout like Killing Eve. But the show is, alas, uneven. The Germans aren't exactly known for their light touch, and the show often goes awry when it labors to make Kleo a "fun" killer like Villanelle or serves up the failed quirkiness of a side-character who claims to be from the planet Sirius. If Killing Eve was a soufflé, Kleo is a dumpling.
But a tasty one. I gobbled down all eight episodes in two days. This is partly because its lead actors are excellent. With hints of both Elisabeth Moss and Florence Pugh, Haase drives the series with a spiky star turn that makes us feel the deep sense of loss eating away the core of Kleo's lethal bravado. As Sven, Schaad starts out so annoying that I wanted to smack him, yet by the end I realized that his performance was nicely modulated to gradually win over both Kleo — and us.
One of the real pleasures here is the sense of period detail — there are lots of bouncy '80s German pop songs — and the show has fun capturing the contrast between the West Germans, smug in their material success, and dutiful East Germans still bound to a communist system they can't quite accept is doomed. Kleo spends several episodes chasing a red suitcase that she feels sure will provide the key to why her superiors sold her out. When it's finally opened, well — a cynic would laugh with delight at what it irreverently suggests about the Cold War.
Now, with stories like this, the question always is, Will the hero get the satisfaction of happily offing all the baddies — you know, like John Wick — or will they come to discover that vengeance isn't the answer? I won't spoil things by telling you what Kleo decides, but I can say that she doesn't think that revenge is a dish that's better served cold.
Copyright 2022 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-25/netflixs-cheerfully-murderous-kleo-is-reminiscent-of-killing-eve | 2022-08-25T16:53:09Z |
What does quiet quitting mean to you?
Since this TikTok about the phrase was posted in July, the term has gone viral, with #quietquitting gaining millions of views on the platform.
Closing your laptop at 5 p.m. Doing only your assigned tasks. Spending more time with family. These are just some of the common examples used to define this latest workplace trend. Some experts say it's a misnomer and should really be defined as carving out time to take care of yourself.
NPR and Consider This want to hear from workers about what they think of this term. If you want to share your story, please fill out the form below and a producer or reporter may follow up with you.
Your submission will be governed by our general Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. As the Privacy Policy says, we want you to be aware that there may be circumstances in which the exemptions provided under law for journalistic activities or freedom of expression may override privacy rights you might otherwise have.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-25/the-term-quiet-quitting-is-everywhere-now-we-want-to-hear-your-thoughts | 2022-08-25T16:53:15Z |
Idaho’s near-total abortion ban will not take full effect Thursday as planned after a federal judge temporarily blocked parts of the law.
“Idaho’s choice to impose severe and sweeping sanctions that decrease the overall availability of emergency abortion care flies in the face of Congress’s deliberate decision to do the opposite,” wrote Idaho District Court Judge Lynn Winmill.
The law would’ve banned all abortions with just three exceptions.
Survivors of rape and incest would need to file a police report and share that with their doctor, which advocates argue is unrealistic. Police reports aren’t public documents until an investigation is complete, which can take months or years.
The third exception applies when the life of the mother is in jeopardy, and that’s where the conflict lies.
A federal law regulating emergency rooms requires hospitals receiving Medicare dollars to treat anyone with severe health conditions, which the Biden administration argues can include abortions.
The Idaho Attorney General’s office argued hospitals are only required to stabilize a patient under that federal law – not cure them.
Under emergency circumstances, Winmill wrote "...the physician may well find herself facing the impossible task of attempting to simultaneously comply with both federal and state law."
Winmill went on to outline how a physician’s defense – that they thought the life of the mother was at risk – doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be risking arrest, prosecution and potential conviction based on their medical judgment for every abortion they performed.
“So even though accused healthcare workers might avoid a conviction, the statute still makes it impossible to provide an abortion without also committing a crime,” he wrote, calling the exception “an empty promise.”
Winmill did not stay implementation of the law as it related to other, non-emergency abortions. The case remains ongoing.
He foreshadowed his ruling during a hearing Monday when he said there seemed to be an “absolute conflict” between the ban and federal law prior to oral arguments.
During oral arguments, an attorney for the Idaho legislature claimed both the state ban and federal law could operate in harmony. He said no prosecutor “in the real world” would bring charges against a physician for trying to save the life of a patient by performing an abortion.
Winmill wasn’t swayed.
“Even if the Court accepted this invitation to ignore what the law says, the Legislature’s speculations about how the law will work in practice are belied by the actual, “real-life” experience of medical professionals in Idaho who regularly treat women in these situations.”
Last Friday, a six-week abortion ban took effect in Idaho, though the U.S. Department of Justice questions whether it’ll actually be prosecutable come Thursday.
That’s because the language of the six-week ban states that the near-total ban would supersede it if both are “enforceable.”
During Monday’s hearing, a lawyer for the DOJ said he believes both laws would simultaneously be included under Idaho code, despite Winmill’s stay.
The Idaho Attorney General’s office declined to comment on that potential, as well as Winmill’s decision.
Idaho House Republicans say they will appeal the ruling.
"To protect the lives of as many of these children as possible, the Idaho Legislature will pursue all legal means to bring this injunction to an end as quickly as possible."
Follow James Dawson on Twitter @RadioDawson for more local news.
Copyright 2022 Boise State Public Radio
Copyright 2022 Boise State Public Radio News. To see more, visit Boise State Public Radio News. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/politics-government/2022-08-25/federal-judge-partially-stays-idahos-near-total-abortion-ban | 2022-08-25T16:53:22Z |
Stories about vengeful women are nothing new — just ask Medea — yet the new millennium has seen a boom in tales of heroines, or anti-heroines, violently righting wrongs. Whether it's Beatrix Kiddo in Kill Bill, the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, or Arya Stark in Game of Thrones, today's pop culture finds a special frisson in bad-ass women who get revenge.
We find the latest example in Netflix's thriller Kleo, a cheerfully murderous German series that will make you think of Killing Eve. Here's why: Its heroine, Kleo, is a cocky female assassin who wears wigs, struts around in disguises and knocks people off to the accompaniment of pop songs. Set shortly before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, her story equally recalls Tarantino movies like Inglourious Basterds and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood that fool around with historical facts. It puts a playful spin on the end of communism.
The year is 1987, and Jella Haase is Kleo, the granddaughter of an East German big shot, who works as a crack assassin for the secret police, the Stasi. She does her job with great skill and panache. But after completing a successful hit at the Big Eden nightclub in West Berlin, she's falsely charged with treason and sentenced to life in prison. Then history saves her. When the Wall comes down, Kleo is set free. Naturally, she sets about discovering who betrayed her — and making them pay.
As in Killing Eve, Kleo has a pursuer with whom she forms a bond. In this case, he's a man named Sven (Dimitrij Schaad) a shaggy West Berlin cop who nobody takes seriously. Sven had been present at the Big Eden murder and has been obsessed with tracking her down ever since. But it's a dangerous business, for her investigations threaten some exceedingly powerful people, including actual historical figures like Erich Mielke, head of the Stasi.
As Kleo zips from Germany to Mallorca to Chile in search of her betrayers, she and Sven are surrounded by assassins, double agents, false friends, a few random goofballs and a mysterious West German spy of Chinese origin who quotes Sun Tzu and may be the smartest person in the whole show.
Kleo's story is juicy enough that I'd like to tell you that the series is a knockout like Killing Eve. But the show is, alas, uneven. The Germans aren't exactly known for their light touch, and the show often goes awry when it labors to make Kleo a "fun" killer like Villanelle or serves up the failed quirkiness of a side-character who claims to be from the planet Sirius. If Killing Eve was a soufflé, Kleo is a dumpling.
But a tasty one. I gobbled down all eight episodes in two days. This is partly because its lead actors are excellent. With hints of both Elisabeth Moss and Florence Pugh, Haase drives the series with a spiky star turn that makes us feel the deep sense of loss eating away the core of Kleo's lethal bravado. As Sven, Schaad starts out so annoying that I wanted to smack him, yet by the end I realized that his performance was nicely modulated to gradually win over both Kleo — and us.
One of the real pleasures here is the sense of period detail — there are lots of bouncy '80s German pop songs — and the show has fun capturing the contrast between the West Germans, smug in their material success, and dutiful East Germans still bound to a communist system they can't quite accept is doomed. Kleo spends several episodes chasing a red suitcase that she feels sure will provide the key to why her superiors sold her out. When it's finally opened, well — a cynic would laugh with delight at what it irreverently suggests about the Cold War.
Now, with stories like this, the question always is, Will the hero get the satisfaction of happily offing all the baddies — you know, like John Wick — or will they come to discover that vengeance isn't the answer? I won't spoil things by telling you what Kleo decides, but I can say that she doesn't think that revenge is a dish that's better served cold.
Copyright 2022 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air. | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-25/netflixs-cheerfully-murderous-kleo-is-reminiscent-of-killing-eve | 2022-08-25T17:10:52Z |
When Ariana Diaz’s top college pick notified her she had been accepted into the class of 2026, she quickly imagined having to explain to her New York University classmates what corner of smalltown Texas she came from.
But that was before her former Uvalde High School classmate shot and killed 19 children and two adults inside Robb Elementary School. Before her tiny town of 16,000 was thrust into the national spotlight for months and was forced to endure what she calls “the worst few months ever.”
High school graduation was postponed. Media swarmed the town.
“The traffic was so bad. We never have traffic issues here,” recalled Diaz, 18, as she prepared to leave for Manhattan’s West Village.
Overnight, the last summer she was meant to spend with friends before leaving town to start a new chapter elsewhere was shrouded with feelings of grief and helplessness.
“I didn’t know what to do. It was a crazy feeling, going around and asking if they needed volunteers anywhere,” she said.
Three months later, as Diaz prepares to move into her NYU dorm room this weekend, she’s now bracing herself for how the tragedy in her town will follow her throughout the fall.
Her best friend, Jaime Cruz, 18, who started his freshman year at the University of Houston this week, says he dreads others’ reactions, that people will always link him with the shooting.
“When I say I’m from Uvalde, they’re gonna know exactly where that is, know exactly what happened and, like, instantly associate one and one together,” he said.
Students leaving home for college often experience a flood of emotions: apprehension, excitement and anxiety. But for college-bound students from Uvalde, like Diaz and Cruz, there’s the weight of this summer when they experienced both searing grief and fear, but also excitement and relief.
There’s the guilt they feel about how they won’t be there for younger siblings who are afraid of returning to school this fall. There’s the fear of how emotions could bubble up in a new environment without friends and family beside them who understand what they’re going through. There’s also the apprehension about how people might react upon hearing they’re from Uvalde. But there’s also excitement for a new experience and relief that every time they turn a corner they don’t see a reminder of the shooting.
“It’s just going to be a little bit more room to breathe in a way,” Cruz said. “But at the same time, I don’t think we’re ever gonna forget. No matter where we are, what time zone, what city we’re in, I don’t think we’re ever just going to forget the 21 people.”
Struggles to leave Uvalde
Right after the May 24 shooting, Diaz said she didn’t want to leave her family or her town. Cruz said all the conversations ceased among their friends about their new schools, their dorm rooms and meeting new people.
“All of us felt that iffyness,” Cruz said. “Is it OK to even be excited to move somewhere at the same time that your community is going through something?”
In Uvalde, leaving town after high school graduation is not that common. A little more than half of Uvalde public school graduates each year directly enroll in a two- or four-year college after high school, with a majority attending the local community college or the University of Texas at San Antonio.
In 2021, just 17% directly enrolled in a four-year university, according to data from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
Diaz said her high school doesn’t aggressively push students to apply for college, but she has lots of family who left Texas for college and she has dreamed of living in New York since she was a child. Plus, she wanted to be a role model for future students.
“[For] the kids that are going to be seniors after me: It is possible to leave and go to the city you’ve always wanted to live in and go to college,” she said.
In Uvalde, it is impossible not to know someone impacted by the tragedy. Diaz’ father, Eulalio Diaz, Jr., is one of Uvalde County’s justices of the peace, a government official whose job requires him to identify the dead in this town 80 miles west of San Antonio. It was her father who was called to identify the 21 killed last May.
“I can’t even imagine what he had to see in there,” Diaz said. “But I’m just very proud of him.”
Diaz said she remembers on the day of the shooting there were rumors flying around town that other schools were also being targeted. As her mother went to pick up her brother from the junior high school, he heard an untrue rumor that a shooter was at his school and begged his mom not to come and possibly put herself in danger.
“He was so worried and so scared,” Diaz said, choking back tears. “I feel so bad that all of these kids are so scared to go back to school. I’m scared. I don’t like the idea of leaving my family to go out of state so far right after this … I do know I’m just a call away and just a flight away. But it’s still difficult having to come to terms with the fact that you’re not going to be here, present for your family.”
Diaz finds herself still processing that she actually knew the shooter and had a class with him her sophomore year before he dropped out of school, one detail she’s not sure she’s ready to tell people who inevitably ask about the experience throughout her first year of college.
“It almost makes me nauseous,” she said.
Still, there are signs that she’ll have a support system when she arrives in New York. Her future roommate has already reached out and said she was open to being a listening ear if Diaz needed to talk. While she occasionally gets pangs of guilt that she has the opportunity to even leave Uvalde, Diaz is trying to focus on the future. “I am ready to get my education and see what’s next for me.” she said.
Worries about what the future holds
Cruz isn’t going as far away as Diaz for college, but Houston still feels like a different world from Uvalde. He is the first in his family to attend college. Even before the tragedy, he faced pushback from his parents who wanted him to attend school closer to home.
“It was more frightening, I guess, sending a child off to a city he’s never been to,” he said.
When the shooting occurred miles away from their homes, followed by shootings in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Highland Park, Illinois, it cemented his parents’ fear.
Cruz said he saw the worry in his mom’s face. But he said he has the same fears about his family staying in their small town. His mother works in the school system, and his younger brother will return this year. Cruz said his younger brother has especially struggled with returning to school, asking if he can stay home or do virtual school instead.
All of it makes Cruz feel guilty for leaving his town at this moment. That apprehension was slightly exacerbated when he visited UH for summer orientation two weeks after the shooting.
When he and his parents arrived at orientation, he told a woman at the check-in desk his name. As she started reading out his nametag, she stopped halfway through when she came to his hometown’s name.
“You heard like the stutter in her voice when she didn’t finish reading,” he said. “All throughout orientation, like having to meet people [who ask], ‘where are you from?’ I was like, ‘Oh, Uvalde.’ The blank stare you would get in everyone’s face. Or like instant apologies.”
He said people he didn’t know came up to him throughout orientation to offer support and resources if he needed help during the semester. While he appreciated the gesture, he knows it will take time to find people who he’ll trust and feel comfortable sharing when he might be struggling.
“I’m very frightened of like, OK, what if one day it gets to me and I need to cope, I need to talk to somebody? I know that first couple weeks, I don’t know if I might have someone to talk to,” Cruz said. “That part’s the scary part.”
Healing in a new space
Diaz and Cruz aren’t the first students to enter college processing the trauma from a mass shooting.
Jai Gillard always knew she wanted to leave Texas for college, but by the time she started applying to schools in 2020, she was adamant she wanted to leave for a fresh start.
One reason was she thought students in Texas would be more familiar with Santa Fe High School, where she survived the 2018 shooting during her freshman year that killed 10 people and wounded 13 others. Gillard survived the shooting by hiding in a storage closet in the art room next door to the one where the shooter first entered. A student who ended up hiding with her ultimately died from injuries.
“I feel like most people would know my story,” she told The Texas Tribune. “It’s not that I don’t want people to know my story. But I didn’t [want to] go in being labeled as that. … Going out of state, it’s … like reinventing yourself and not being defined by something.”
Gillard attends Harvard University, where she is about to enter her sophomore year. When she arrived last fall, it had been three years since the attack and she said few people automatically made the connection when she shared her high school, which made it easier.
She empathizes with the students from Uvalde who might have a harder time being anonymous, given that it’s only been three months since their town made international news.
“Going in, they could be closed off or maybe not want to talk to anybody because of the fear that people may define them as what they’ve been through and what their community experiences,” Gillard said. For them, she had some advice.
“As individuals, we have the power to create the narrative that we want,” she said. “But also set boundaries and have conversations with people that you need to have conversations with so that you can get the help that you need and make sure that you feel comfortable and safe at the school that they attend. I think that’s very important for them.”
Gillard said when she first arrived at Harvard, it was difficult at times for others to understand why she might act a certain way due to the trauma she was still processing. In class, she would always take a seat in the back of the room because that’s where she was in her art room when the shooting began and she credits her location with helping her survive. When a similar incident happens — like the school shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan during her first semester in college — she avoids watching the news.
She also was hesitant to share her story with others because she was afraid people would assume that’s why she got accepted to such a prestigious school.
“I knew that I still had work to do,” she said. “And I still had to do what was best for me. So I had to advocate for myself, even when people didn’t understand.”
But grief and healing do not happen in a straight line. Her return home from college this year was especially tough. It coincided with the mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, where 10 people were killed and three others were injured. Then, the fourth anniversary of the shooting at her high school. And then the shooting in Uvalde. She said she now just associates May with these kinds of events, something she’ll have to prepare herself for each year as she continues to heal.
But she credits college for helping her process that trauma.
“Once you go to a new place, it doesn’t really have — if you want to use teen slang — that vibe,” she said. “[Y]ou’re surrounded by something other than maybe a school or things that remind you of what you lost or what you’ve been through that really traumatized you. The healing process … it was sped up exponentially because I moved away.”
Turning trauma into advocacy
Ultimately, both Diaz and Cruz are trying to see their ability to leave their small town for college as an opportunity to be advocates for those still there, for the families who lost loved ones and those who died three months ago this week. They both want to advocate for stricter gun control measures that they believe are necessary to prevent other towns from experiencing the same horrific event.
They both marched for gun control in Uvalde weeks after the shooting. Diaz said she was overwhelmed by the large turnout, given that she had attended a Black Lives Matter protest in her town in 2020 that was sparsely attended.
Gillard, who wants to major in psychology, has also started to speak publicly about mental health awareness, something she became intimately involved in as a way to process her trauma and find meaning in her survival. She’ll give a talk this upcoming semester at Harvard’s Institute of Politics about her experience during and after the shooting.
As Diaz spends a few days in New York before moving into her dorm, she hopes the simple act of leaving can inspire those back home, too.
“It shows them that we’re still moving forward. And that even though this happened, we’re still struggling, we’re still working through these things,” Diaz said. “We can still do the things that are important to us and try to make the difference in those spaces.”
Cruz said it took him a few months to realize he could be doing similar things in Houston and potentially have an even bigger impact, which made leaving his family a little easier to process.
“It helps,” he said. “Not the guiltiness, but more like it makes the moving feel a little better.”
Cruz moved into his dorm in Houston last weekend with the help of his parents and two brothers.
It rained that day, which Cruz said he knows is normal in the Bayou City. But he also took it as a sign.
“I like to think that the rain was symbolizing a new beginning.” | https://www.keranews.org/health-wellness/2022-08-25/college-bound-uvalde-students-grapple-with-leaving-a-hometown-in-mourning | 2022-08-25T17:10:59Z |
2 plead guilty in scheme to sell Biden’s daughter’s diary
NEW YORK (AP) — Two people have pleaded guilty in a scheme to peddle a diary and other items belonging to President Joe Biden’s daughter to the conservative group Project Veritas for $40,000, prosecutors said Thursday.
The two, both from Florida, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams’ office said.
While authorities didn’t identify Biden, the type of property stolen or the organization that paid, the details of the investigation have been public for months.
Ashley Biden stored the diary, tax records, a digital device with family photos and a cellphone in September 2020 in a Delray Beach, Florida, home where one of the defendants was living at the time, prosecutors said in a release.
They said the woman stole the items and got in touch with the other defendant, a man who contacted Project Veritas, which asked for photos of the material and then paid for the two to bring it to New York.
They said the woman stole the items and got in touch with the other defendant, a man who contacted Project Veritas, which asked for photos of the material and then paid for the two to bring it to New York.
Project Veritas staffers met with the two in New York and dispatched them back to Florida to retrieve more of Ashley Biden’s items from the home, which they did and turned the material over to a local Project Veritas worker who brought it to New York, prosecutors said.
The activist group, which considers itself a news organization, paid the two $20,000 apiece, prosecutors said.
Project Veritas has said it received the diary from “tipsters” who said it had been abandoned in a room. The activist group said it turned the journal over to law enforcement and never did anything illegal.
Founder James O’Keefe has said that Project Veritas ultimately did not publish information from the diary because it could not confirm it belonged to Ashley Biden.
Project Veritas is best known for conducting hidden camera stings that have embarrassed news outlets, labor organizations and Democratic politicians.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/25/2-plead-guilty-scheme-sell-bidens-daughters-diary/ | 2022-08-25T17:47:36Z |
Airlines, gov’t trade blame as air travel woes continue
(CNN) - Air travel troubles continue. Day after day, there are thousands of flight delays and cancellations.
But whether it’s an airline issue or a Federal Aviation Administration issue depends on who you ask.
After another week of air travel pain across the country, with the Labor Day rush fast approaching, pressure is increasing on airlines to perform better.
Monday alone, more than 14,000 flights were canceled nationwide, the fourth highest of the summer.
Both Southwest and American Airlines delayed more than 40 percent of all their flights.
“Our flight was canceled yesterday. Now we’re back again today. It was canceled this morning and now we’re back again,” passenger Sylvia Ibarra said.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said hiring at its training center in Denver has made its pandemic recovery quicker than others.
Since the start of this year, United has hired 1,500 new pilots in hopes of alleviating staffing shortages and canceled flights.
In total, U.S. airlines have canceled more than 44,000 flights since June.
“All airlines are not created equal,” Kirby said.
In an exclusive interview, he put some of the blame back on the federal government.
Last week, the FAA said a shortage of air traffic controllers delayed flights into Newark, JFK and LaGuardia by up to two hours.
“Frankly, the bigger challenges are not the airlines themselves; they’re all the support infrastructure around aviation that hasn’t caught up as quickly,” Kirby said.
United has had 5,000 cancellations this summer.
When asked what he would say to somebody who sees this as an airline issue rather than some other cause, Kirby responded, “Well, first I would say we’re doing everything we can to get the airline running reliable. We know that’s the most important thing for customers. It’s our No. 1 priority. We had ground stops for the entire day, and when the FAA says you can’t land airplanes at the airport, you’re going to have delays and cancellations.”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg insisted air traffic control issues do not account for many cancellations this summer.
In a letter to airline executives, he said, “The level of disruption Americans have experienced this summer is unacceptable” and told airlines to “review their customer service commitments to passengers. I’m calling on the airlines to step up their game before we have to do even more.”
For United, that starts with training that focuses on quality.
“Our growth plan, the most aggressive growth plan of any airline in the history of aviation, is really the driver behind the need for our pilots,” said Mike Bonner, a captain and United Airlines pilot.
With Labor Day on the horizon, United is expecting big numbers, close to what was seen July 4, when air travel numbers were the highest since March 2020.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/25/airlines-govt-trade-blame-air-travel-woes-continue/ | 2022-08-25T17:47:42Z |
Chick-fil-A grilled nuggets contain dairy allergen due to supplier error
Published: Aug. 25, 2022 at 1:16 PM EDT|Updated: 28 minutes ago
(CNN) - People with dairy allergies should avoid certain Chick-fil-A products for the moment.
The fast-food giant says some of its grilled nuggets and grilled filets contain a dairy allergen.
Officials say their supplier accidentally added the ingredient to the Chick-fil-A recipe.
This mistake is affecting locations nationwide.
The dairy item may not matter to most customers, but it poses a threat to people with related allergies.
Chick-fil-A says it is taking actions toward preventing a mistake like this from happening again.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/25/chick-fil-a-grilled-nuggets-contain-dairy-allergen-due-supplier-error/ | 2022-08-25T17:47:49Z |
Justice Dept. provides judge with redacted Trump affidavit
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Thursday submitted to a judge a redacted version of the affidavit it relied on when federal agents searched the Florida estate of former President Donald Trump to look for classified documents.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart will decide whether the sealed FBI affidavit, which presumably lays out a detailed factual basis for the search, will become public — and if so, how much is disclosed.
“The United States has filed a submission under seal per the Court’s order of Aug. 22,” Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley said in a statement. “The Justice Department respectfully declines further comment as the Court considers the matter.”
Reinhart had given the department until Thursday at noon to propose to him the redactions to the affidavit it wanted to make before any portion of it was released to the public. But he acknowledged on Monday that it was possible that the redactions, or blacked-out portions, would be so extensive as to leave the public version of the document without any meaningful information.
The affidavit is likely to contain key information about the FBI’s basis for executing a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach on Aug. 8. Documents already made public as part of the investigation show that the FBI retrieved from the property 11 sets of classified documents, including information marked at the top secret level.
The documents also showed that the FBI was investigating the “willful retention of national defense information,” the concealment or removal of government records and obstruction of a federal investigation.
Multiple news media organizations, including The Associated Press, argued in court last week for the disclosure of the affidavit, citing the extraordinary public interest in the federal search of a former president’s home. Trump and some of his supporters have also encouraged the document’s release.
The Justice Department has opposed the release, saying the disclosure risks compromising an ongoing criminal investigation, revealing information about witnesses and divulging investigative techniques.
Reinhart has said that though he was sensitive to the department’s concerns, he was not inclined to keep the entire document sealed and directed officials to submit to him redactions of the document reflecting the information it wants to keep secret.
____
Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP
___
Find more on Donald Trump-related investigations: https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/25/justice-dept-provides-judge-with-redacted-trump-affidavit/ | 2022-08-25T17:47:55Z |
2 plead guilty in scheme to sell Biden’s daughter’s diary
NEW YORK (AP) — Two people have pleaded guilty in a scheme to peddle a diary and other items belonging to President Joe Biden’s daughter to the conservative group Project Veritas for $40,000, prosecutors said Thursday.
The two, both from Florida, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams’ office said.
While authorities didn’t identify Biden, the type of property stolen or the organization that paid, the details of the investigation have been public for months.
Ashley Biden stored the diary, tax records, a digital device with family photos and a cellphone in September 2020 in a Delray Beach, Florida, home where one of the defendants was living at the time, prosecutors said in a release.
They said the woman stole the items and got in touch with the other defendant, a man who contacted Project Veritas, which asked for photos of the material and then paid for the two to bring it to New York.
They said the woman stole the items and got in touch with the other defendant, a man who contacted Project Veritas, which asked for photos of the material and then paid for the two to bring it to New York.
Project Veritas staffers met with the two in New York and dispatched them back to Florida to retrieve more of Ashley Biden’s items from the home, which they did and turned the material over to a local Project Veritas worker who brought it to New York, prosecutors said.
The activist group, which considers itself a news organization, paid the two $20,000 apiece, prosecutors said.
Project Veritas has said it received the diary from “tipsters” who said it had been abandoned in a room. The activist group said it turned the journal over to law enforcement and never did anything illegal.
Founder James O’Keefe has said that Project Veritas ultimately did not publish information from the diary because it could not confirm it belonged to Ashley Biden.
Project Veritas is best known for conducting hidden camera stings that have embarrassed news outlets, labor organizations and Democratic politicians.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/25/2-plead-guilty-scheme-sell-bidens-daughters-diary/ | 2022-08-25T18:04:26Z |
Airlines, gov’t trade blame as air travel woes continue
(CNN) - Air travel troubles continue. Day after day, there are thousands of flight delays and cancellations.
But whether it’s an airline issue or a Federal Aviation Administration issue depends on who you ask.
After another week of air travel pain across the country, with the Labor Day rush fast approaching, pressure is increasing on airlines to perform better.
Monday alone, more than 14,000 flights were canceled nationwide, the fourth highest of the summer.
Both Southwest and American Airlines delayed more than 40 percent of all their flights.
“Our flight was canceled yesterday. Now we’re back again today. It was canceled this morning and now we’re back again,” passenger Sylvia Ibarra said.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said hiring at its training center in Denver has made its pandemic recovery quicker than others.
Since the start of this year, United has hired 1,500 new pilots in hopes of alleviating staffing shortages and canceled flights.
In total, U.S. airlines have canceled more than 44,000 flights since June.
“All airlines are not created equal,” Kirby said.
In an exclusive interview, he put some of the blame back on the federal government.
Last week, the FAA said a shortage of air traffic controllers delayed flights into Newark, JFK and LaGuardia by up to two hours.
“Frankly, the bigger challenges are not the airlines themselves; they’re all the support infrastructure around aviation that hasn’t caught up as quickly,” Kirby said.
United has had 5,000 cancellations this summer.
When asked what he would say to somebody who sees this as an airline issue rather than some other cause, Kirby responded, “Well, first I would say we’re doing everything we can to get the airline running reliable. We know that’s the most important thing for customers. It’s our No. 1 priority. We had ground stops for the entire day, and when the FAA says you can’t land airplanes at the airport, you’re going to have delays and cancellations.”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg insisted air traffic control issues do not account for many cancellations this summer.
In a letter to airline executives, he said, “The level of disruption Americans have experienced this summer is unacceptable” and told airlines to “review their customer service commitments to passengers. I’m calling on the airlines to step up their game before we have to do even more.”
For United, that starts with training that focuses on quality.
“Our growth plan, the most aggressive growth plan of any airline in the history of aviation, is really the driver behind the need for our pilots,” said Mike Bonner, a captain and United Airlines pilot.
With Labor Day on the horizon, United is expecting big numbers, close to what was seen July 4, when air travel numbers were the highest since March 2020.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/25/airlines-govt-trade-blame-air-travel-woes-continue/ | 2022-08-25T18:04:33Z |
Chick-fil-A grilled nuggets contain dairy allergen due to supplier error
Published: Aug. 25, 2022 at 1:16 PM EDT|Updated: 48 minutes ago
(CNN) - People with dairy allergies should avoid certain Chick-fil-A products for the moment.
The fast-food giant says some of its grilled nuggets and grilled filets contain a dairy allergen.
Officials say their supplier accidentally added the ingredient to the Chick-fil-A recipe.
This mistake is affecting locations nationwide.
The dairy item may not matter to most customers, but it poses a threat to people with related allergies.
Chick-fil-A says it is taking actions toward preventing a mistake like this from happening again.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/25/chick-fil-a-grilled-nuggets-contain-dairy-allergen-due-supplier-error/ | 2022-08-25T18:04:39Z |
High school student killed at school bus stop in Indiana
Published: Aug. 25, 2022 at 1:55 PM EDT|Updated: 9 minutes ago
GREENWOOD, Ind. (WISH) - A 16-year-old was shot and killed Thursday morning while he was waiting for his school bus.
He was just a sophomore in high school.
The student’s name hasn’t been released yet, but police said he was targeted, though that’s all they’ve said at this point as they work to find the shooter.
Several schools in the area were put on lockdown.
Copyright 2022 WISH via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/25/high-school-student-killed-school-bus-stop-indiana/ | 2022-08-25T18:04:51Z |
Trump search: Judge given proposed redactions to affidavit
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Thursday submitted to a judge proposed redactions to the affidavit it relied on when federal agents searched the Florida estate of former President Donald Trump to look for classified documents.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart will decide whether the sealed FBI affidavit, which presumably lays out a detailed factual basis for the search, will become public — and if so, how much is disclosed.
“The United States has filed a submission under seal per the Court’s order of Aug. 22,” Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley said in a statement. “The Justice Department respectfully declines further comment as the Court considers the matter.”
Reinhart had given the department until Thursday at noon to propose to him the redactions to the affidavit it wanted to make before any portion of it was released to the public. But he acknowledged on Monday that it was possible that the redactions, or blacked-out portions, would be so extensive as to leave the public version of the document without any meaningful information.
The affidavit is likely to contain key information about the FBI’s basis for executing a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach on Aug. 8. Documents already made public as part of the investigation show that the FBI retrieved from the property 11 sets of classified documents, including information marked at the top secret level.
The documents also showed that the FBI was investigating the “willful retention of national defense information,” the concealment or removal of government records and obstruction of a federal investigation.
Multiple news media organizations, including The Associated Press, argued in court last week for the disclosure of the affidavit, citing the extraordinary public interest in the federal search of a former president’s home. Trump and some of his supporters have also encouraged the document’s release.
The media coalition responded to Thursday’s filing by asking the judge to unseal portions of the department’s brief and to direct the government, “going forward,” to file publicly a redacted version of any sealed document it submits. The groups noted that significant information about the investigation is already public.
“At a minimum, any portions of the Brief that recite those facts about the investigation, without revealing additional ones not yet publicly available — in addition to any other portions that pose no threat to the investigation — should be unsealed,” the news organizations wrote.
They added: “If and when additional facts come to light and are confirmed to be accurate, or certain facts no longer pose a threat to the investigation for any other reason, there is no justification for maintaining them under seal either.”
The Justice Department has opposed the release, saying the disclosure risks compromising an ongoing criminal investigation, revealing information about witnesses and divulging investigative techniques.
Reinhart has said that though he was sensitive to the department’s concerns, he was not inclined to keep the entire document sealed and directed officials to submit to him redactions of the document reflecting the information it wants to keep secret.
____
Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP
___
Find more on Donald Trump-related investigations: https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/25/justice-dept-provides-judge-with-redacted-trump-affidavit/ | 2022-08-25T18:04:57Z |
Truck driver arrested for DUI following crash on West Virginia Turnpike
FAYETTE COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) - A truck driver was arrested for DUI Thursday morning after the semi he was driving overturned blocking all lanes of the West Virginia turnpike.
The accident happened in the northbound lane on the Skitter Creek Bridge just after midnight when the driver lost control, jackknifed, and crossed the barrier wall.
The crash blocked both northbound and southbound lanes.
According to the criminal complaint, when officers made contact with the driver, Dennis Eugene West, of Moncks Corner, SC they could smell alcohol on his breath.
The complaint states West failed field sobriety tests and a breath test at the scene of the accident.
West was placed under arrest for DUI and taken to the West Virginia State Police Turnpike office in Beckley to be processed.
Another breath test revealed West’s blood-alcohol level to be .128, officers say.
Further information has not been released.
Keep checking the WSAZ app for the latest information.
FAYETTE COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) - All lanes of the West Virginia Turnpike are closed Thursday morning after a tractor-trailer carrying hazardous chemicals crashed just north of Pax.
The accident happened in the northbound lane on the Skitter Creek Bridge just after midnight when the driver lost control, jackknifed, and crossed the barrier wall.
The crash has blocked both northbound and southbound lanes.
Traffic heading north will follow Turnpike Detour A and detour at the North Beckley Exit 48 (US 19), proceed past Summersville to Interstate 79 Exit 57, then south to Charleston.
Southbound traffic will also follow Turnpike Detour A. From Charleston, traffic should follow Interstate 79 north from Charleston to Exit 57, then proceed south on US 19 to North Beckley, Exit 48.
The DEP emergency response team, Pax Fire Department, West Virginia State Police, and West Virginia Parkways Authority crews are all on scene and have the spill contained. An environmental contractor is in route from Poca to begin the cleanup process.
Keep checking the WSAZ app for the latest information.
Copyright 2022 WSAZ. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/25/truck-driver-arrested-dui-following-crash-west-virginia-turnpike/ | 2022-08-25T18:05:03Z |
Voters in Los Angeles will decide if the homeless can be housed in vacant hotel rooms
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (CNN) – Los Angeles is considering a new solution to its homelessness problem, and it has already become a contentious debate.
In L.A. County, more than 60,000 people are homeless while more than 20,000 hotel rooms lie empty on the average night.
Union Here Local 11, led by Kurt Peterson, represents hotel workers in L.A. The union has gathered signatures, and now L.A. County residents will vote on a bill in 2024 that would force every hotel to report vacancies at 2 p.m. everyday. The hotels would then welcome homeless people into those rooms.
“We think this is one part of the solution,” Peterson said. “By no means do we think this solves the homelessness crisis. But do hotels have a role to play? Of course they do.”
Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry & Commerce Association, disagrees.
“It’s just insane. It isn’t going to solve the problem,” he said.
Manoj Patel is the manager at an L.A. Motel 6. He voluntarily rents some rooms to homeless people who are vetted and paid for by a local church.
“Honestly, would you check into a hotel knowing that the chance of your neighbor to the left or right is a homeless individual?” he said.
Patel said that he is against a bill that would make this mandatory for hotels.
“We barely are surviving, number one. Number two, we have to think of the safety of our staff. And number three, we’re not professionally or any otherwise equipped with any of the supporting mechanisms that the homeless guest would require,” he said.
What services would be provided for the homeless remains unclear. Also unclear is how it would be funded.
Peterson said a pandemic-era program, which is now winding down, inspired the new bill by placing more than 10,000 people in hotels that volunteered.
“It’s up to the city. I mean, they did it during Project Room Key,” Peterson said.
Shawn Bigdeli was a recipient of the program.
“Well, first of all, it’s a blessing,” he said. “It’s a great room. The technology is not up to par, but, you know, what technologies do you have in the tent?”
This bill would also force developers to replace housing demolished to make way for new hotels, and hotel permits would be introduced.
Additionally, every hotel, from a Super 8 to the Biltmore, will have to accept homeless people as guests.
Bigdeli said he’s not so sure that would be a good idea.
“Maybe for some, but, you know, there’s a lot of people with untreated mental health, and some people do some damage to these poor buildings, man,” he said.
Manoj said his hotel sustained some damage from a homeless person.
“She marked all walls, the curtain she burnt, thank God there was no fire. Even marked the ceiling,” he said.
This is what some opponents of the bill to house the homeless in hotels are afraid of. They’re also afraid tourists could be put off from even coming to L.A.
“I wouldn’t want my kids around people that I’m not sure about,” Waldman said. “I wouldn’t want to be in an elevator with somebody who’s clearly having a mental break. The idea that you can intermingle homeless folks with paying normal guests just doesn’t work out.”
Peterson said the language the bill opponents are using may lead to backwards thinking about homeless people.
“There’s a certain class of people less than humans, animals, they’re almost described as, to be honest with you,” he said. “They don’t seem to understand who the unhoused are. We’re talking about seniors, students, working people. That’s who the voucher program would benefit the most.”
Some opponents say the union is pushing this bill as a negotiating tactic for leverage, but the union denies that.
They say they do want to make sure the hotels play their part in tackling a growing problem in Los Angeles.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/25/voters-los-angeles-will-decide-if-homeless-can-be-housed-vacant-hotel-rooms/ | 2022-08-25T18:05:09Z |
Algonac football cancels 2022 varsity season
Communities have been waiting nine months for the return of high school football. But one in the Blue Water Area will have to wait a little longer.
Algonac has canceled its 2022 varsity football season.
Coach Nick Matzka confirmed the news to the Times Herald Wednesday. Players were notified of the decision Sunday, which was made due to lack of participation.
"The most we had was 12 (varsity players)," Matzka said. "And that's not enough for a season. So we made a tough decision. Rather than pulling up some sophomores that weren't necessarily ready, we decided we needed to get rid of the varsity season. I never even imagined that it would come to this. But here we are."
Algonac Community Schools superintendent Al Latosz and athletic director Mitch Landrum could not be reached for comment.
Matzka was hired as coach back in June. He graduated from the high school in 2000 and is also a teacher in the district. But despite his best efforts, the numbers just weren't there.
"(The whole staff) recruited extremely hard," Matzka said. "But when Aug. 8 came, we only had six varsity players show up. And by varsity, I mean juniors and seniors. In the past couple seasons, our younger kids — freshman and sophomores — had really been asked to step up and play a varsity role. In the opinion of the staff, we made a decision not to do that because they were not physically ready."
Even if enough kids suddenly decided to play, he explained that it would take a few months to get them in proper shape and adapted to a new system.
"By the time we'd get them to that point, the season would be over," Matzka said. "With two small classes — our juniors and our seniors — this year, it really snuck up and hit us."
Algonac will still field a junior varsity team with roughly 30 players, according to a school district release. The Muskrats' marching band will perform at all home games, while the cheer team will follow suit at both home and away contests. A powder puff football game is scheduled for homecoming on Oct. 14.
As for Matzka and his assistants, they'll turn their attention to the junior varsity squad.
"The whole staff is still on board," Matzka said. "We are working exclusively at the high school level with JV."
The goal is to have a varsity team ready for the 2023 season.
"The numbers look respectable everywhere else," Matzka said. "There is nothing to suggest that this is more than a one-year, temporary thing. It's just to get the program back on its feet."
Contact Brenden Welper at bwelper@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendenWelper. | https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/sports/high-school/2022/08/25/algonac-football-cancels-its-2022-varsity-season/65418414007/ | 2022-08-25T18:12:43Z |
Here & Now‘s Jane Clayson speaks with Michelle Krebs, an executive analyst at Cox Automotive, about California’s move to ban the sale of new cars that run only on gas by 2035.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-25/california-to-ban-sale-of-new-gasoline-powered-cars | 2022-08-25T18:23:48Z |
Demand for low or no alcohol wine is skyrocketing. In France, entire vineyards are dedicated to wine without alcohol and winemakers have special tastings for their non-alcoholic offerings.
Rebecca Rosman reports.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-25/demand-for-low-or-no-alcohol-wine-skyrockets | 2022-08-25T18:23:55Z |
The Biden administration released a student debt forgiveness program, a plan that applies to former students who took out federal loans. Under the program that takes effect in January, eligible students will have between $10,000 and $20,000 of debt wiped out. Of course, there are critics — the Republican National Committee has called it a “bailout for the wealthy;” others argue it’ll fuel inflation.
Yet for millions of students and former students, it means relief. Among them are Orlando, Fla. resident John Palm and Baltimore, Md. resident Joe Hamilton. They join Here & Now‘s Jane Clayson to talk about what the debt cancellation will mean for them.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-25/for-these-former-students-student-debt-forgiveness-will-be-life-changing | 2022-08-25T18:24:01Z |
Journalist Jesse Eisinger says a trove of IRS data acquired by ProPublica shows that many of America's billionaires avoid paying any taxes — sometimes by claiming big deductions from posh hobbies.
Copyright 2022 Fresh Air
Journalist Jesse Eisinger says a trove of IRS data acquired by ProPublica shows that many of America's billionaires avoid paying any taxes — sometimes by claiming big deductions from posh hobbies.
Copyright 2022 Fresh Air | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-25/how-the-ultrawealthy-devise-ways-to-not-pay-their-share-of-taxes | 2022-08-25T18:24:08Z |
The government approved the COVID-19 vaccine for children under five in June, but across the country, there aren’t many takers. In Chicago, only 1 in 10 children under 5 has received their first dose.
WBEZ’s Lisa Phillip reports.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-25/parents-reluctant-to-get-kids-under-5-vaccinated-against-covid-19 | 2022-08-25T18:24:14Z |
For the first time ever, federal water managers have declared a “Tier 2” shortage on the Colorado River. As a result, Arizona will lose 21% of its river water next year — a crushing blow to local farmers.
But the latest round of cuts are just the beginning of what could become a prolonged period of scarcity and conflict in the West.
Here & Now‘s Jane Clayson speaks with Sarah Porter, director of the Kyle Center for Water Management at Arizona State University.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-25/states-that-rely-on-the-colorado-river-brace-for-cuts-and-conflicts | 2022-08-25T18:24:20Z |
In the Sonora Desert in Southwest Arizona, the saguaro cacti grow tall and live long. One of them in particular was well known to locals. The “Strong Arm” stood more than 40 feet high and had 34 arms. It lived an estimated 150 years. And this week, it died.
Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd talks about it with Jason Grodman, natural resources supervisor with the Marana Parks and Recreation Department.
Strong-Arm saguaro dies in the Tortolita Preserve on Aug. 4, 2022. (Courtesy)
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-25/strong-arm-saguaro-cactus-dies-in-arizona-desert | 2022-08-25T18:24:26Z |
Here & Now‘s Scott Tong talks with Ali Velshi, MSNBC anchor and economics correspondent about the politics behind the Biden administration’s decision to forgive $10,000 in loans for certain borrowers.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-25/the-politics-behind-bidens-student-loan-forgiveness-plan | 2022-08-25T18:24:33Z |
Here & Now‘s Scott Tong talks with NPR’s Sarah McCammon about where we are and where we’re headed, two months after the ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-25/the-state-of-abortion-restrictions-across-the-u-s-2-months-after-scotus-overturned-roe | 2022-08-25T18:24:39Z |
On Wednesday, rockets were fired at coalition bases in Syria by Iranian-backed groups after U.S. airstrikes hit key infrastructure targets. The back and forth comes as the U.S. and Iran inch closer to agreeing to a return to the nuclear deal that the Trump Administration walked away from.
Here & Now‘s security analyst Jim Walsh breaks down the latest developments with host Scott Tong.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-25/u-s-and-iran-backed-forces-exchange-fire-in-syria-as-nations-get-closer-to-new-nuclear-deal | 2022-08-25T18:24:45Z |
Samuel Mariño is a young Venezuelan singer who chose to leave his unusually high voice intact so he could embrace a career in opera and sing soprano arias.
Here & Now‘s Jane Clayson talks to Mariño about his gender-defying and groundbreaking new recording.
Find Australian tour dates here.
Music from the segment
“Che Farò Senza Euridice” by Christoph Willibald Gluck, from “Orfeo ed Euridice”
“Voi Che Sapete” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, from “The Marriage of Figaro”
“Son amour, sa constance extrême” by Joseph Bologne de Saint Georges, from “L’Amant Anonyme”
“Cara parte de Mio Cor” Domenico Cimarosa, from “Oreste”
“L’amerò sarò costante” Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, from “Il Re Pastore”
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-25/venezuelan-opera-singer-samuel-marino-is-gifted-with-a-soprano-voice | 2022-08-25T18:24:52Z |
The Biden administration announced it will cancel some federal student loan debt and that it will continue the pause on repayment through the end of the year.
The news has brought relief to millions of borrowers. Here & Now‘s Scott Tong goes over who qualifies, what borrowers should be doing during the pause, and what more could be done to reform the student loan system and address the growing cost of college with Betsy Mayotte, founder of The Institute of Student Loan Advisors.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-25/what-borrowers-should-know-about-the-biden-administrations-student-loan-debt-forgiveness | 2022-08-25T18:24:58Z |
Washington Post Ukraine bureau chief Isabelle Khurshudyan joins Here & Now‘s Jane Clayson to discuss the latest in a series about the 6-month-long war in Ukraine and how Ukrainian valor and Russian military mistakes helped save Ukraine’s capital city.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-25/why-kyiv-didnt-fall-to-russia | 2022-08-25T18:25:04Z |
Journalist Jesse Eisinger says a trove of IRS data acquired by ProPublica shows that many of America's billionaires avoid paying any taxes — sometimes by claiming big deductions from posh hobbies.
Copyright 2022 Fresh Air
Journalist Jesse Eisinger says a trove of IRS data acquired by ProPublica shows that many of America's billionaires avoid paying any taxes — sometimes by claiming big deductions from posh hobbies.
Copyright 2022 Fresh Air | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-25/how-the-ultrawealthy-devise-ways-to-not-pay-their-share-of-taxes | 2022-08-25T18:44:33Z |
Gale and Power Trip brought North Texas metal to the world's stage, touring with headlining artists Ozzy Osbourne, Anthrax, Danzig and Testament.
Gale passed away two years ago from a fentanyl overdose.
The benefit concert, "Riley Gale & Friends Day Volume 2", will be held at The Studio at the Factory in Deep Ellum on Saturday, August 27th. North Texas metal and hardcore bands Frozen Soul, Judiciary and Semantix are currently slated to perform. Tickets to the show are free, with the option to donate to the foundation.
Proceeds will go to the Riley Gale Foundation, which was established by Gale's family after the musician's death in 2020.
Riley's younger brother, Zachary Gale, is the foundation's spokesperson.
"Right after Riley's death, our parents came to me and my siblings and said, 'Hey, we want to give you Riley's royalties and future earnings,'" Gale said. "It was just one of those intuitive moments where we all decided we don't want it. That's his money. We want to do something better with it . . . something that we feel like he would appreciate. And Riley, being as vocal as he was on social justice issues - we already knew what he cared about and what charities he was already working with and supporting."
The foundation works closely with two Texas-based organizations: Dallas Hope Charities and Dog Ranch Rescue.
Dallas Hope Charities provides assistance to young LGBTQ people in Dallas, primarily those without a safe place to stay and those struggling with mental health crises. Their current shelter houses a library named after Riley, and the second shelter they plan to open will be named after the musician as well.
Dog Ranch Rescue is a rescue and adoption service that has helped rehabilitate thousands of dogs found in unsafe conditions. The organization focuses on dogs rescued from "puppy mills," businesses that breed and sell purebred dogs in large quantities with little regard for their wellbeing.
Outside of Riley's legacy as an ardent supporter of the marginalized in our society, he is also fondly remembered as a trailblazing artist who inspired many North Texas musicians throughout his decade-plus in the North Texas underground scene.
"He paved the way for a lot of really talented musicians in Texas that didn't necessarily believe they could do it themselves," said the artist's brother. "[Riley] came along and said, you know what? We have a voice, we have the artists. Let's make Texas a force to be reckoned with within the music industry because we have such great artists down here and they deserve to be recognized."
Tickets to the benefit concert can be found here. More information about the Riley Gale Foundation is here. | https://www.keranews.org/arts-culture/2022-08-25/concert-for-late-heavy-metal-frontman-to-benefit-charities-for-animal-rescue-and-lgbtq-youth | 2022-08-25T18:44:39Z |
It's been a year and a half since the blackout in Texas that left hundreds dead and millions of people in the dark and cold. In that time, state leaders, regulators and the electric industry have been talking a lot about how to prevent another disaster.
But several calls for power conservation this summer have left regular people wondering just how much has changed. So what exactly has been fixed? How much better off is the Texas power grid?
Let's look at each point of failure in the 2021 blackout to see what's different.
The wires
The first stop on our journey is the wires that bring power to your house — your local distribution grid. If your power has gone out at any point since February 2021, it's most likely because of a problem with local distribution wires or equipment.
It's not unusual for severe weather and extreme temperatures to knock out wires and equipment on the local level. In 2021, a nationwide report from the Illinois Citizens Utility Board found Texas ranked 29th in power grid reliability — mostly because of the frequency and duration of local power outages.
"The problems on the distribution grid in Texas are enormous and barely recognized, and it's a lot of the same problems," Doug Lewin, an energy consultant in Austin, said. "When you get super hot [or] super cold, transformers don't work as well; they start breaking."
Utilities say burying millions of miles of power lines underground is prohibitively expensive. Short of doing that, little can be done to stop them from getting knocked down in severe weather — though more effective tree trimming could help.
Local distribution companies also contributed to the severity of the blackout through their inability to "roll."
When ERCOT ordered local distribution companies to turn off parts of their service area to save the rest of the grid, they were supposed to rotate those blackouts; that is, turn one area off, then switch to another to give people power at least some of the time.
It helps to imagine your local distribution grid like a pizza.
"The smaller you can cut the pizza, the more people you can feed at least some portion of pizza," said Alison Silverstein, a former staffer for the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
The problem during the blackout was that the slices of local distribution were too big. So huge areas with critical facilities — like hospitals or water plants — were left on, but other areas were left in the dark for days on end. So, what if you could cut smaller slices? Make more sections of the local grid so that a future blackout could roll?
"You may still be out until Thursday, but you've got a few hours in service, and you're rotating the available electricity among smaller circuits so that people's homes and pipes might not have frozen at all," Silverstein said.
Have local distribution companies done this?
There's no evidence they have. In Austin, officials at the city-owned utility have said it's too expensive to cut the local grid into smaller circuits. In a statement, CenterPoint Energy, the local distribution company for Houston, said it has done some work around this, but did not provide details. There's been no public discussion from state regulators about requiring these kinds of changes.
Is it fixed? No.
The power plants
The biggest culprit in the blackout was nuclear, coal and natural gas power plants. Wind and solar underproduced in the extreme weather, too, but to a lesser extent. So, why did they fail?
First, they froze up. The subfreezing temperatures damaged equipment and forced the plants to shut down. It was similar to what happened to a smaller number of plants in less severe weather back in February 2011. After that storm, federal regulators recommended winterization standards for Texas power plants. But the state didn't make those standards mandatory.
Now, they're mandatory. The Public Utility Commission finalized those standards last year. By this past winter, ERCOT had sent inspectors to power plants that had failed in 2021 and found all but a handful were in compliance with the new standards.
Is it fixed? Yes.
But: We don't yet know how these plants will fare in winter conditions as bad — or worse — than the winter storm in 2021. This past winter was relatively mild in comparison. And climate change could bring even more extreme weather.
The natural gas system
Thermal power plants need fuel to run. Coal plants need coal. Natural gas plants need natural gas. But some of the same problems that afflicted power plants also slowed down the natural gas system in Texas.
Gas wells in West Texas froze up. Equipment used to move gas from one place to another froze up. And getting gas to power plants to turn it into electricity became a huge problem.
The natural gas system was just not built for such extreme cold. Most infrastructure in Texas is built for the heat, because that's what it has to endure most of the time.
After this failure, lawmakers and regulators decided to implement some standards for winterizing natural gas infrastructure. The Railroad Commission of Texas, the agency that regulates oil and gas production in the state, has proposed rules for requiring weatherization of gas facilities, including fines of up to $1 million a day for noncompliance. But exactly which facilities the requirements will apply to are still up in the air. The oil and gas industry is lobbying the Railroad Commission to limit the number of facilities subject to the new rules.
Is it fixed? No. The rules have not been finalized.
But there was another problem: Many natural gas facilities actually had their power cut during the blackout, meaning they couldn't send gas to power plants and power plants couldn't produce electricity. It created a negative feedback loop that made the blackout worse for everyone.
The problem was many gas facilities had not completed a simple form and sent it to their local distribution company to tell them, "Hey, we're a critical facility; don't turn our power off."
Many of these gas facilities have since sent in this form.
Is it fixed? Probably yes.
The market
So far, we've discussed only the physical parts of the grid. But we also need to mention what's changed with the thing that controls all of that stuff: the market.
The rules of the market are what dictate a lot of what happens on the grid — from what gets built to which power plants turn on and when. The Texas market is built on the concept of scarcity. When power is plentiful, prices are lower. When power is scarce, prices go up. They went way up during the blackout — up to the cap of $9,000 per megawatt — because electricity was so scarce that there wasn't enough of it to go around. The huge bills that piled up over several days of maxed-out prices triggered a financial catastrophe Texans are still paying for.
At the start of this year, the state-imposed cap on electricity prices was lowered to $5,000 per megawatt. That could mitigate some of the financial damage if Texas finds itself in a situation similar to the 2021 blackout. But in addition to the lower price cap, the Public Utility Commission is allowing prices to start rising sooner.
Basically, the idea is to encourage power plant owners to switch on before the power grid gets tight by giving them a chance to make more money.
"These power plants that are being ordered online are generally the oldest and least efficient power plants. It's like asking your 1972 Pinto, can you drive 100 miles an hour every day? No — at some point something's going to break." Beth Garza, a former independent market monitor for ERCOT
"It's driving the incentives for more generation to be online, providing higher level of reserves," Beth Garza, a former independent market monitor for ERCOT, said.
So while this doesn't necessarily address a factor that contributed to the blackout, the idea is to keep us further away from a crisis by encouraging more reserves to be online. However, the changes have also cost Texas electricity customers $1 billion in the first half of 2022.
There's another change that happened over the past year or so: ERCOT is commanding power plants to come online more often.
The way the market has historically worked, power generators choose to sell power when it benefits them financially. But since the blackout, ERCOT is more often taking that control away from them. If the grid operator sees a situation where demand could come too close to supply, instead of waiting for the market to encourage power plants to turn on, it simply orders them online.
"I think it's being done prematurely and being done in a way to potentially feel better about reliability in the short term without recognizing that there are long-term risks of that," Garza said.
Forcing them online has also added another $1 billion to Texans' electricity bills so far this year, and it could wear them down over time.
"These power plants that are being ordered online are generally the oldest and least efficient power plants," Garza said. "It's like asking your 1972 Pinto, can you drive 100 miles an hour every day? No — at some point something's going to break."
That could mean failures when we need the plants the most.
Is it fixed? No. The changes made to the ERCOT market are band-aids.
But there are discussions about bigger picture changes — perhaps as far as overhauling the entire operating principle: scarcity. There are proposals to move to a model that many other grids use, where power plants are simply paid for being available — not just when they're producing power, like the current system in Texas.
Copyright 2022 KUT 90.5. To see more, visit KUT 90.5. | https://www.keranews.org/energy-environment/2022-08-25/so-is-the-texas-power-grid-fixed | 2022-08-25T18:44:45Z |
Caroline Shaw's new album, Orange, is a love letter to the string quartet. The North Carolina native burst onto the music scene in 2013, when she was the youngest composer to win a Pulitzer Prize. She's still in her 30s and now, for the first time, there's a recording devoted entirely to her work.
The album is like a garden, Shaw says in the liner notes. The soil contains musical remnants of the old masters which nourish her own new compositions — a refreshing twist on a centuries-old genre. In a piece called "The Cutting Garden," she grafts sprigs of Mozart then Ravel onto her own new quartet.
The musicians playing Shaw's music — tending her garden, as she puts it — are members of the Attacca Quartet. It takes agility and precision to pull off this music, which tends to shift gears suddenly. The album's opener, Entr'acte, is all about abrupt juxtapositions and was inspired by a particularly lovely transition in a string quartet by Haydn. At one luminous point in Shaw's piece, the Attacca players negotiate a thicket of pizzicato, then pivot to a single viola bowing across all four strings.
Shaw is inspired by more than just the classic composers. In a piece called Limestone & Felt, she imagines herself in a Gothic cathedral, where shards of melody bounce off the walls and intertwine. In another, Valencia, she creates an ode to the noble, store-bought orange, marveling at its architecture, its tiny sacks of juice explode via a pulsating spray of plucked notes.
Shaw doesn't like to be called a "composer." She's more comfortable with just "musician." And, I guess, that's appropriate. Shaw has a master's degree from Yale in violin. She's also an accomplished singer with a quirky a cappella group called Roomful of Teeth, for which her Pulitzer-winning piece was composed. And she's contributed vocal tracks to songs by Kanye West and Nas. Still, when you hear all the imaginative sounds on Orange, you know you're listening to the voice of a strong composer.
If you thought everything that could be said through the medium of the 250-year-old string quartet has already been said, the conversation just got a lot more interesting with Caroline Shaw's Orange.
(Caroline Shaw's Orange, performed by the Attacca Quartet, is released April 19 on New Amsterdam and Nonesuch Records.)
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2019-04-19/caroline-shaws-love-letter-to-the-string-quartet | 2022-08-25T19:22:01Z |
More than a decade ago, Anaïs Mitchell was running late for one of her shows. The singer-songwriter, in her 20s at the time, was trying to get from one gig to another and found herself lost. Along the drive, a song lyric popped into her head. "The lines that came were, 'Wait for me I'm coming. In my garters and pearls with what melody did you barter me from the wicked underworld,'" she remembers.
Those lyrics never made it into one of Mitchell's productions, but as the musician says, they pointed her to the story of Eurydice, the Greek myth that follows two lovers, Eurydice and Orpheus. Eurydice goes to the underworld and Orpheus follows to bring her back. In the story, Orpheus sings a song so sweet, it melts the heart of Hades.
Mitchell's fascination with this story has taken her on journey across mediums, one that is as winding as her hero's quest. She's turned these lyrics into a song, then a concept album in 2010 called Hadestown, stage productions in the U.S., Canada and London and on April 17, Hadestown finally opened on Broadway.
In Mitchell's DIY folk-opera, Mitchell makes some changes to the myth. In Mitchell's version, Eurydice chooses to go to the underworld.
"The underworld is a place of wealth and security, in contrast to the above ground world where there's freedom but it's also unpredictable and the weather is unpredictable," Mitchell explains. "And Eurydice makes a choice. She chooses the security of Hadestown, which comes with this kind of lifelessness. So she chooses kind of her gut. She chooses her stomach over her heart."
When tackling the show's climax, Mitchell admits it was no easy task to write a song that melts the heart of King Hades.
"I just can't tell you how many times I've rewritten it," Mitchell says. "I mean, there's just like sheets and sheets on the cutting room floor of the epics. It's totally ridiculous. But I think that what we hit upon a couple productions ago that took some pressure off and made a lot of sense is that the gift that Orpheus brings to King Hades isn't necessarily like the eloquence of his poetry. It's actually that he has channeled this melody."
As Mitchell explains, there's no words that approach the simple beauty of his melody. "He even says that to the king: 'There were no words for the way that you felt. So you open your mouth and you started to sing.'"
Mitchell's song "Build The Wall," was written in 2006 and appears in the production when Hades sings it, supported by this chorus of workers in the underworld. With today's current debate over border control, reality has caught up to the fiction Mitchell created.
"That was one of those songs that just felt like it was a gift, like, I didn't even know what it meant when it came," Mitchell says. "For so long, I've played that song. Then to start to hear that language during the campaign. Here we are and it's still happening ... I don't quite understand it. It feels like a collective unconscious weird thing. And I'm not the first person to write a song about a wall. There's many, but I think that it's like an image that speaks to people and it's an image that works well on people who feel scared."
Mitchell spoke with NPR's Ari Shapiro about the themes of Hadestown imitating life, the beauty of Greek tragedy and the road to Broadway. Hear their conversation at the audio link.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2019-04-22/anais-mitchells-hadestown-musical-makes-its-broadway-debut | 2022-08-25T19:22:08Z |
Congress wants to hear what Twitter whistleblower has to say
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. lawmakers are anxious to hear from Twitter’s former security chief, who has alarmed Washington with allegations that the influential social network misled regulators about its cyber defenses and efforts to control fake accounts.
Leaders of several congressional panels are pouring over the disclosures by respected cybersecurity expert Peiter Zatko, and calls on Capitol Hill for investigations are mounting. Zatko is due to testify next month at a Senate hearing.
In addition to informing Congress, Zatko filed a complaint last month with the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Among Zatko’s most serious accusations is that Twitter violated the terms of a 2011 FTC settlement by falsely claiming that it had put stronger measures in place to protect the security and privacy of its users.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., called on the FTC to investigate.
“These troubling disclosures paint the picture of a company that has consistently and repeatedly prioritized profits over the safety of its users and its responsibility to the public,” Blumenthal wrote to FTC Chair Lina Khan.
Twitter has said Zatko’s complaint is “riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lacks important context.”
Zatko also accused the San Francisco-based company of deceptions involving its handling of “spam,” or fake, accounts, an allegation that is at the core of billionaire tycoon Elon Musk’s attempt to back out of his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter.
The Senate Judiciary Committee announced Wednesday that Zatko will testify at a hearing on Sept. 13 — the same day Twitter’s shareholders are scheduled to vote on the company’s pending buyout by Musk. The Twitter board is recommending approval of the buyout.
A trial on Twitter’s lawsuit against Musk to force him to go through with the acquisition is scheduled for October.
The Judiciary Committee’s chairman, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and its senior Republican, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a joint statement Wednesday that if Zatko’s claims are accurate, “they may show dangerous data-privacy and security risks for Twitter users around the world.”
They said the panel “will investigate this issue further with a full committee hearing ... and take further steps as needed to get to the bottom of these alarming allegations.”
The SEC is questioning Twitter about how it counts fake accounts on its platform. In June, the securities regulators asked the company about its methodology for calculating the number of false or spam accounts and “the underlying judgments and assumptions used by management.” The numbers are key to Twitter’s business because it uses them to attract advertisers, whose payments make up a little more than 90% of its revenue.
Twitter, with an estimated 238 million daily active users, said last month that it removes 1 million spam accounts daily.
Senior members of the Senate Intelligence and Commerce committees, as well as the House Energy and Commerce panel, also have publicly signaled their engagement on the issue. The Senate Intelligence Committee is planning a meeting with Zatko to discuss his allegations, a spokeswoman said, adding, “We take this matter seriously.”
With the midterm elections looming in early November, many lawmakers may wish to appear before TV cameras expressing concern about online privacy, an issue that resonates with consumers. That means camera lights glaring and outrage thundering from elected representatives as a lone whistleblower stands and takes the oath behind a table ringed by a photographers’ mosh pit — a scene that would mirror former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen’s testimony late last year.
“If Twitter whistleblower (and head of security) Peiter Zatko left you asking, ‘How could it possibly be this bad???,’ you’re not alone,” Haugen tweeted Thursday. “Twitter’s problems aren’t unique, and we should worry.”
Haugen’s far-reaching condemnation of Facebook and her allegation that it prioritized profits over safety of the platform were buttressed by a trove of internal Facebook documents. Zatko’s complaint, by contrast, appears to stand alone, though there may be references to other documents in the unredacted version of the complaint. The Associated Press has been able to view only a redacted version.
Other possible witnesses at congressional hearings could include former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and current CEO Parag Agrawal.
Zatko’s attorneys have said that in late 2021, after Twitter’s board was given “whitewashed” information about security problems, Zatko escalated his concerns, “clashed” with Agrawal and board member Omid Kordestani, and was fired two weeks later.
The Twitter debacle has raised hopes among some lawmakers that it could give a boost to comprehensive data-privacy legislation, which has been stalled for years but recently cleared a key House committee — bringing it closer than ever to final passage. It has been held up in the Senate, however.
Rep. Frank Pallone, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and its senior Republican, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, issued a joint statement saying the panel “is actively reviewing the Twitter whistleblower disclosure and assessing next steps.”
“There are still a lot of unknowns and questions that need to be answered,” they said. “Many of these allegations, if true, are alarming and reaffirm the need for Congress to pass comprehensive national consumer privacy legislation to protect Americans’ online data.”
__
Follow Marcy Gordon at https://twitter.com/mgordonap
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/25/congress-wants-hear-what-twitter-whistleblower-has-say/ | 2022-08-25T19:22:29Z |
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Healthwise: Camp Lighthouse
By
Jordan Wood
Published: Aug. 25, 2022 at 2:20 PM EDT
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HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) -
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Omicron-specific booster could be ready by early fall | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/25/healthwise-camp-lighthouse/ | 2022-08-25T19:22:36Z |
High school student killed at school bus stop in Indiana
Published: Aug. 25, 2022 at 1:55 PM EDT|Updated: 1 hour ago
GREENWOOD, Ind. (WISH) - A 16-year-old was shot and killed Thursday morning while he was waiting for his school bus.
He was just a sophomore in high school.
The student’s name hasn’t been released yet, but police said he was targeted, though that’s all they’ve said at this point as they work to find the shooter.
Several schools in the area were put on lockdown.
Copyright 2022 WISH via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/25/high-school-student-killed-school-bus-stop-indiana/ | 2022-08-25T19:22:42Z |
Patient dies after waiting 5+ hours in hospital’s emergency department, regulators say
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT/Gray News) – Federal regulators believe a woman in North Carolina died in the waiting room of a hospital’s emergency department, according to a report they issued.
The report said an investigation revealed a 77-year-old patient went to New Hanover Regional Medical Center on June 6 for “complaints of vomiting, weakness, unable to stand, fever at home and had a history of rectal cancer receiving chemotherapy.”
According to the document obtained by WECT, the patient initially met with triage at 8:43 p.m. and was given an urgent designation at that time but was told to sit in the waiting room.
Findings of the investigation revealed she was not reassessed until June 7 at 2 a.m., almost five hours after her initial vitals were taken, the report stated.
According to the report, the woman coded at 2:04 a.m. and was pronounced dead at 4:25 a.m. after family members decided to withdraw life support measures.
At the time a nurse told WECT the problem was not necessarily a shortage of beds at the hospital, but a shortage of nurses to staff those beds.
She said entire halls in the hospital had been blocked off for use because of staffing shortages.
WECT was told that at one point the hospital was short about 400 nurses.
According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), inspectors were at the hospital June 21-29 to investigate complaints about the patient’s death, among other issues.
Their inspection prompted federal regulators to notify hospital officials the Medicare contract would be terminated on Aug. 12 because of deficiencies.
Officials reinspected the hospital in early August, however, and recommended the hospital be returned to good standing with CMS, WECT reported.
Whether CMS will accept that recommendation remains to be seen.
“We are currently reviewing the revisit findings and do not have a set date for the review to be completed. More information will be available once that review is complete,” a spokesperson for the federal agency said.
A Novant Health Spokesperson issued the following statement in response to the release of the survey:
We’re disappointed that patients experiencing delayed care led to the CMS survey on June 21. We respect and value the review process and the additional insight it provides, and we’re glad that following our August 8 reinspection, CMS found we were in compliance with Medicare guidelines. It’s been a challenging few months at the hospital and we’ve been working diligently to improve and recruit additional clinical staff. Thanks to those efforts by our dedicated team members, wait times have decreased, more beds have reopened, and our clinical teams are getting more members every week.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/25/patient-dies-after-waiting-5-hours-hospitals-emergency-department-regulators-say/ | 2022-08-25T19:22:49Z |
Tweaked COVID boosters close but how much will they help?
COVID-19 vaccines tweaked to better match today’s omicron threat are expected to roll out in a few weeks but still up in the air is how much benefit the booster shots will offer, who should get one -- and how soon.
Pfizer and rival Moderna both asked U.S. regulators this week to authorize modified versions of their booster vaccine — shots that are half the original recipe and half protection against BA.4 and BA.5, the newest versions of omicron.
The Food and Drug Administration ordered that recipe at the end of June, and now has to decide if this combination -- what scientists call a “bivalent vaccine” -- is ready.
The Biden administration hopes updated boosters could help blunt a winter COVID-19 surge in a population weary of the virus — and of vaccinations. But while the first-ever modification to these vaccines is momentous, it’s more of an expected next step — like how flu vaccines get updated every year — than a true next-generation shot.
“We need to give a clear, forward-looking set of expectations,” said University of Pennsylvania immunologist E. John Wherry, who compares vaccine tweaks to periodically updating your computer software.
WHY DID FDA ORDER COMBO SHOTS?
BA.5 currently is causing nearly all COVID-19 infections in the U.S. and much of the world. Current COVID-19 vaccines match the coronavirus strain that circulated in early 2020. And while those vaccinations still offer strong protection against serious illness or death from COVID-19, there’s little effectiveness against infection from the wildly mutated omicron family.
The gamble is that BA.5, or something similar, still will be circulating when cold weather hits so the combo shots will be a good match. (Vaccines target the spike protein that coat the coronavirus, and the BA.4 and BA.5 spikes are identical although those strains vary in other ways.)
HOW WERE THE MODIFIED SHOTS TESTED?
Pfizer and Moderna both studied an earlier tweak to their vaccines that targets the original omicron, called BA.1, that hit last winter, plus even earlier variants.
FDA will use data from human testing of the BA.1-tweaked doses plus mice tests of the BA.5-targeted version to decide if the newest update spurs virus-fighting antibodies enough to warrant another shot.
But data on the newest tweak will come later in the year, to help assess the value of modified shots. Moderna has started a human study of its BA.5 combo shot; Pfizer and its partner BioNTech expect to open a similar study soon.
WILL THEY WORK BETTER?
No one knows. Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and an FDA vaccine adviser, said the antibody jump from that earlier BA.1-tweaked candidate was “underwhelming.”
“What the administration is asking us to do is to accept this bivalent vaccine as significantly better” than another dose of today’s vaccine, he said. “It would be nice if there were data to support that.”
Plus, antibodies wane over time. That’s why protection against infection doesn’t last as long as protection against serious illness, which depends on a different part of the immune system, its “memory” cells.
Still, current shots are so outdated that an update makes sense, said Dr. Walter Orenstein of Emory University, a former vaccine director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While he’d like to see more data, he plans to get the new booster.
WHO SHOULD GET AN UPDATED SHOT?
That’s up to the CDC, which called a meeting of its influential vaccine advisers next Thursday and Friday to help decide.
Pfizer wants to open its updated boosters to everyone 12 and older who’s already had a primary series of today’s vaccine, while Moderna has applied only for adult use. CDC will determine if people at highest risk should go first.
A government rollout plan anticipates that people who’ve already gotten their initial vaccinations would qualify for one of the new combination shots, regardless of how many boosters they’ve already had.
WHEN SHOULD THOSE ELIGIBLE GET THE NEW BOOSTER?
Again, the CDC will weigh in, after considering how many doses will be available in early September versus later in the fall. The Biden administration has purchased more than 170 million doses.
But immunologists caution not to race out for a new shot if you recently had a dose of the original vaccine or an infection. That’s because if you still have a lot of antibodies in your bloodstream, they’ll recognize and attack the brand new antibodies that vaccine dose is supposed to produce.
So if you already got a booster in July or August and then seek the new combo shot in September, “you’ll receive very little additional boosting from that,” Wherry said. He recommends waiting four to six months.
WILL PEOPLE ROLL UP THEIR SLEEVES AGAIN?
Americans have been reluctant to keep up with COVID-19 vaccinations. While three-quarters of Americans 12 and older have gotten their initial vaccinations, only half got a first booster shot -- deemed crucial for the best protection against variants. And just a third of people 50 and older who were advised to get a second booster when omicron arrived did so.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/25/tweaked-covid-boosters-close-how-much-will-they-help/ | 2022-08-25T19:22:56Z |
USDA issues alert for frozen chicken tenders that may contain plastic pieces
(CNN) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued a public health alert for a frozen chicken product that may contain foreign material.
The USDA issued the alert for Perdue’s frozen ready-to-eat chicken breast tenders labeled gluten-free.
The agency says the product may contain small pieces of clear plastic and blue dye.
The 42-ounce plastic bags of chicken tenders were produced on July 12 and have a “best if used by” date of July 12, 2023, establishment number “P-33944,” and a lot number of 2193.
They were shipped to BJ’s Wholesale Clubs nationwide, and while the stores no longer sell them, some people could already have the product in their homes.
There have been no reports of injuries, but the USDA says you should not eat the tenders.
Instead, the bag should be thrown away or returned to the store.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/25/usda-issues-alert-frozen-chicken-tenders-that-may-contain-plastic-pieces/ | 2022-08-25T19:23:02Z |
Voters in Los Angeles will decide if the homeless can be housed in vacant hotel rooms
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (CNN) – Los Angeles is considering a new solution to its homelessness problem, and it has already become a contentious debate.
In L.A. County, more than 60,000 people are homeless while more than 20,000 hotel rooms lie empty on the average night.
Unite Here Local 11, led by Kurt Peterson, represents hotel workers in L.A. The union has gathered signatures, and now L.A. County residents will vote on a bill in 2024 that would force every hotel to report vacancies at 2 p.m. everyday. The hotels would then welcome homeless people into those rooms.
“We think this is one part of the solution,” Peterson said. “By no means do we think this solves the homelessness crisis. But do hotels have a role to play? Of course they do.”
Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry & Commerce Association, disagrees.
“It’s just insane. It isn’t going to solve the problem,” he said.
Manoj Patel is the manager at an L.A. Motel 6. He voluntarily rents some rooms to homeless people who are vetted and paid for by a local church.
“Honestly, would you check into a hotel knowing that the chance of your neighbor to the left or right is a homeless individual?” he said.
Patel said that he is against a bill that would make this mandatory for hotels.
“We barely are surviving, number one. Number two, we have to think of the safety of our staff. And number three, we’re not professionally or any otherwise equipped with any of the supporting mechanisms that the homeless guest would require,” he said.
What services would be provided for the homeless remains unclear. Also unclear is how it would be funded.
Peterson said a pandemic-era program, which is now winding down, inspired the new bill by placing more than 10,000 people in hotels that volunteered.
“It’s up to the city. I mean, they did it during Project Room Key,” Peterson said.
Shawn Bigdeli was a recipient of the program.
“Well, first of all, it’s a blessing,” he said. “It’s a great room. The technology is not up to par, but, you know, what technologies do you have in the tent?”
This bill would also force developers to replace housing demolished to make way for new hotels, and hotel permits would be introduced.
Additionally, every hotel, from a Super 8 to the Biltmore, will have to accept homeless people as guests.
Bigdeli said he’s not so sure that would be a good idea.
“Maybe for some, but, you know, there’s a lot of people with untreated mental health, and some people do some damage to these poor buildings, man,” he said.
Manoj said his hotel sustained some damage from a homeless person.
“She marked all walls, the curtain she burnt, thank God there was no fire. Even marked the ceiling,” he said.
This is what some opponents of the bill to house the homeless in hotels are afraid of. They’re also afraid tourists could be put off from even coming to L.A.
“I wouldn’t want my kids around people that I’m not sure about,” Waldman said. “I wouldn’t want to be in an elevator with somebody who’s clearly having a mental break. The idea that you can intermingle homeless folks with paying normal guests just doesn’t work out.”
Peterson said the language the bill opponents are using may lead to backwards thinking about homeless people.
“There’s a certain class of people less than humans, animals, they’re almost described as, to be honest with you,” he said. “They don’t seem to understand who the unhoused are. We’re talking about seniors, students, working people. That’s who the voucher program would benefit the most.”
Some opponents say the union is pushing this bill as a negotiating tactic for leverage, but the union denies that.
They say they do want to make sure the hotels play their part in tackling a growing problem in Los Angeles.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/25/voters-los-angeles-will-decide-if-homeless-can-be-housed-vacant-hotel-rooms/ | 2022-08-25T19:23:08Z |
Amber Alert: 3-year-old girl from N.D. missing, in danger
MANDAREE, N.D. (KVLY/Gray News) - An Amber Alert has been issued in North Dakota for a missing 3-year-old girl believed to be in danger.
The Three Affiliated Tribes Law Enforcement Services says Amirae Driver was taken from her home in Mandaree by her father, Myron Johnson. Authorities say she was taken Wednesday, and their direction of travel is unknown.
Amirae is described as about 3 feet tall and 40 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. Johnson is described as a 45 year old man, 5-foot-11 and 172 pounds with short black hair and brown eyes.
Authorities say he is likely driving a 2014 white Chrysler Town & Country van with ND plates 983-BBG. The van has front end damage and damage to the rear lift gate.
Copyright 2022 KVLY via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/25/amber-alert-3-year-old-girl-nd-missing-danger/ | 2022-08-25T19:35:40Z |
Congress wants to hear what Twitter whistleblower has to say
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. lawmakers are anxious to hear from Twitter’s former security chief, who has alarmed Washington with allegations that the influential social network misled regulators about its cyber defenses and efforts to control fake accounts.
Leaders of several congressional panels are pouring over the disclosures by respected cybersecurity expert Peiter Zatko, and calls on Capitol Hill for investigations are mounting. Zatko is due to testify next month at a Senate hearing.
In addition to informing Congress, Zatko filed a complaint last month with the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Among Zatko’s most serious accusations is that Twitter violated the terms of a 2011 FTC settlement by falsely claiming that it had put stronger measures in place to protect the security and privacy of its users.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., called on the FTC to investigate.
“These troubling disclosures paint the picture of a company that has consistently and repeatedly prioritized profits over the safety of its users and its responsibility to the public,” Blumenthal wrote to FTC Chair Lina Khan.
Twitter has said Zatko’s complaint is “riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lacks important context.”
Zatko also accused the San Francisco-based company of deceptions involving its handling of “spam,” or fake, accounts, an allegation that is at the core of billionaire tycoon Elon Musk’s attempt to back out of his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter.
The Senate Judiciary Committee announced Wednesday that Zatko will testify at a hearing on Sept. 13 — the same day Twitter’s shareholders are scheduled to vote on the company’s pending buyout by Musk. The Twitter board is recommending approval of the buyout.
A trial on Twitter’s lawsuit against Musk to force him to go through with the acquisition is scheduled for October.
The Judiciary Committee’s chairman, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and its senior Republican, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a joint statement Wednesday that if Zatko’s claims are accurate, “they may show dangerous data-privacy and security risks for Twitter users around the world.”
They said the panel “will investigate this issue further with a full committee hearing ... and take further steps as needed to get to the bottom of these alarming allegations.”
The SEC is questioning Twitter about how it counts fake accounts on its platform. In June, the securities regulators asked the company about its methodology for calculating the number of false or spam accounts and “the underlying judgments and assumptions used by management.” The numbers are key to Twitter’s business because it uses them to attract advertisers, whose payments make up a little more than 90% of its revenue.
Twitter, with an estimated 238 million daily active users, said last month that it removes 1 million spam accounts daily.
Senior members of the Senate Intelligence and Commerce committees, as well as the House Energy and Commerce panel, also have publicly signaled their engagement on the issue. The Senate Intelligence Committee is planning a meeting with Zatko to discuss his allegations, a spokeswoman said, adding, “We take this matter seriously.”
With the midterm elections looming in early November, many lawmakers may wish to appear before TV cameras expressing concern about online privacy, an issue that resonates with consumers. That means camera lights glaring and outrage thundering from elected representatives as a lone whistleblower stands and takes the oath behind a table ringed by a photographers’ mosh pit — a scene that would mirror former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen’s testimony late last year.
“If Twitter whistleblower (and head of security) Peiter Zatko left you asking, ‘How could it possibly be this bad???,’ you’re not alone,” Haugen tweeted Thursday. “Twitter’s problems aren’t unique, and we should worry.”
Haugen’s far-reaching condemnation of Facebook and her allegation that it prioritized profits over safety of the platform were buttressed by a trove of internal Facebook documents. Zatko’s complaint, by contrast, appears to stand alone, though there may be references to other documents in the unredacted version of the complaint. The Associated Press has been able to view only a redacted version.
Other possible witnesses at congressional hearings could include former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and current CEO Parag Agrawal.
Zatko’s attorneys have said that in late 2021, after Twitter’s board was given “whitewashed” information about security problems, Zatko escalated his concerns, “clashed” with Agrawal and board member Omid Kordestani, and was fired two weeks later.
The Twitter debacle has raised hopes among some lawmakers that it could give a boost to comprehensive data-privacy legislation, which has been stalled for years but recently cleared a key House committee — bringing it closer than ever to final passage. It has been held up in the Senate, however.
Rep. Frank Pallone, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and its senior Republican, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, issued a joint statement saying the panel “is actively reviewing the Twitter whistleblower disclosure and assessing next steps.”
“There are still a lot of unknowns and questions that need to be answered,” they said. “Many of these allegations, if true, are alarming and reaffirm the need for Congress to pass comprehensive national consumer privacy legislation to protect Americans’ online data.”
__
Follow Marcy Gordon at https://twitter.com/mgordonap
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/25/congress-wants-hear-what-twitter-whistleblower-has-say/ | 2022-08-25T19:35:51Z |
Letter: School shooter fixated on guns, dreamed of killing
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Four years before Nikolas Cruz murdered 17 people at a Florida high school, therapists at another school wrote a letter to his psychiatrist saying he was fixated on guns and dreamed of killing others and being covered in blood, testimony at his penalty trial showed Thursday.
Dr. Brett Negin, testifying for the defense, said he never received it.
Negin and another psychiatrist who treated Cruz in the decade leading up to the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School testified during Thursday’s abbreviated court session about the various medications he was given for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other issues. Both said under cross-examination by prosecutors they never saw anything that would have led them to believe he was capable of mass murder.
But Negin, who treated Cruz from 2012 into August 2017, was then shown by the defense a June 2014 letter written to him by a psychiatrist and therapist at Cross Creek School, a campus attended by students with emotional and behavioral problems.
Dr. Nyrma N. Ortiz and therapist Rona O’Connor Kelly’s two-page letter addressed to Negin says Cruz, then 15, was experiencing extreme mood swings, adding, “He is usually very irritable and reactive.” They said he is “inappropriately” obsessed with guns and the military, defiant, verbally aggressive toward his teachers, paranoid and places the blame on others for the problems he creates.
“At home, he continues to be aggressive and destructive with minimal provocation,” the two wrote. He destroyed a television after losing a video game, punched holes in walls and used sharp objects to cut up the furniture and carve holes in the bathroom. He had a hatchet that he used to chop a dead tree in the back yard, but his mother reported she could no longer find it.
Cruz shared at school “he dreams of killing others and is covered in blood.”
The two said he had been assessed for hospitalization, but that never happened. They said they were writing Negin so he could adjust Cruz’s medication.
Negin testified Thursday he never received the letter and no one followed up with him when he didn’t respond. He said Cross Creek’s typical procedure if the staff was having problems with one of his patients was to have a counselor come to his office with the student and parents to discuss the issue.
“This did not happen one time with Mr. Cruz,” Negin said.
Negin also testified that in 2013 he wrote a letter for Cruz’s mother supporting his voluntary hospitalization. That also never happened.
Office and home numbers for Ortiz were disconnected. O’Connor Kelly did not immediately respond to an email Thursday seeking comment.
The defense is trying to show that Cruz, 23, had a long history of mental health issues that were never fully treated. He pleaded guilty in October to the murders — the trial is only to decide whether he is sentenced to death or life without parole.
The defense is trying to overcome the prosecution’s case, which ended earlier this month. It featured surveillance video of Cruz, then 19, mowing down students and staff with an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle as he stalked a three-story building for seven minutes, photos of the aftermath and a jury visit to the building.
For Cruz to receive a death sentence, the seven-man, five-woman jury must be unanimous. If one juror votes for life, that will be his sentence.
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Associated Press writer Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale contributed to this report.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/25/letter-school-shooter-fixated-guns-dreamed-killing/ | 2022-08-25T19:35:58Z |
Motorcycle benefit ride set for Saturday to help Ronald McDonald House
BECKLEY, W.Va. (WVVA) - A fundraiser to benefit Ronald McDonald House will be held Saturday in Beckley in honor of one of WVVA’s own.
Keith Vonscio died in a motorcycle accident on April 23, 2019. He was a beloved member of the WVVA Sales team and a beloved member of the Beckley community.
To honor his legacy, his friend and owner of Calacino’s, Jeff Weeks, will be hosting the first annual Keith Vonscio Motorcycle Memorial Ride this Saturday starting at the restaurant.
“Keith was always smiling. Everybody liked Keith. He was a really good guy and my life has not been the same since we lost him.”
Registration starts at noon and the ride starts at 1 p.m. It will start at the restaurant and go through Lewisburg and Rainelle before circling back to the restaurant, where free pizza will be provided to participants.
The cost is $20 for a single rider and $25 for a couple. All proceeds will go to benefit the Ronald McDonald House.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/25/motorcycle-benefit-ride-be-held-beckley-benefit-ronald-mcdonald-house/ | 2022-08-25T19:36:05Z |
Patient dies after waiting 5+ hours in hospital’s emergency department, regulators say
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT/Gray News) – Federal regulators believe a woman in North Carolina died in the waiting room of a hospital’s emergency department, according to a report they issued.
The report said an investigation revealed a 77-year-old patient went to New Hanover Regional Medical Center on June 6 for “complaints of vomiting, weakness, unable to stand, fever at home and had a history of rectal cancer receiving chemotherapy.”
According to the document obtained by WECT, the patient initially met with triage at 8:43 p.m. and was given an urgent designation at that time but was told to sit in the waiting room.
Findings of the investigation revealed she was not reassessed until June 7 at 2 a.m., almost five hours after her initial vitals were taken, the report stated.
According to the report, the woman coded at 2:04 a.m. and was pronounced dead at 4:25 a.m. after family members decided to withdraw life support measures.
At the time a nurse told WECT the problem was not necessarily a shortage of beds at the hospital, but a shortage of nurses to staff those beds.
She said entire halls in the hospital had been blocked off for use because of staffing shortages.
WECT was told that at one point the hospital was short about 400 nurses.
According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), inspectors were at the hospital June 21-29 to investigate complaints about the patient’s death, among other issues.
Their inspection prompted federal regulators to notify hospital officials the Medicare contract would be terminated on Aug. 12 because of deficiencies.
Officials reinspected the hospital in early August, however, and recommended the hospital be returned to good standing with CMS, WECT reported.
Whether CMS will accept that recommendation remains to be seen.
“We are currently reviewing the revisit findings and do not have a set date for the review to be completed. More information will be available once that review is complete,” a spokesperson for the federal agency said.
A Novant Health Spokesperson issued the following statement in response to the release of the survey:
We’re disappointed that patients experiencing delayed care led to the CMS survey on June 21. We respect and value the review process and the additional insight it provides, and we’re glad that following our August 8 reinspection, CMS found we were in compliance with Medicare guidelines. It’s been a challenging few months at the hospital and we’ve been working diligently to improve and recruit additional clinical staff. Thanks to those efforts by our dedicated team members, wait times have decreased, more beds have reopened, and our clinical teams are getting more members every week.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/25/patient-dies-after-waiting-5-hours-hospitals-emergency-department-regulators-say/ | 2022-08-25T19:36:11Z |
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