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Well, isn’t that ironic? It was Joe Biden who finally did what Wyoming’s governor, legislators and the university’s board of trustees have failed to do. Biden gave meaning to a provision of the Wyoming Constitution intended to protect students from crushing debt.
Those decrying Biden’s plans to forgive some student debt may not know the president is fulfilling the desires of Wyoming’s “Founding Fathers,” which included a provision in the state Constitution designed to make it unnecessary for anyone to forgive student debt.
Article 7, Section 16 of the state Constitution is titled “Tuition Free.” It commands, “The university shall be equally open to students of both sexes, irrespective of race or color; and, in order that the instruction furnished may be as nearly free as possible, any amount in addition to the income from its grants of lands and other sources above mentioned, necessary to its support and maintenance in a condition of full efficiency shall be raised by taxation or otherwise, under provisions of the legislature.”
Today, it sounds like a law that could have been drafted by Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren. Nope. It was a group of 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention that met in Cheyenne in 1889.
Mike Mackey’s 2010 history of the confab is called “Meeting in Cheyenne: Wyoming’s Constitutional Convention.” His account makes clear the “nearly free as possible” provision was not controversial. Unlike the 2022 heirs of their work, the 1889 delegates understood the importance of education to the future of the state.
They didn’t view educated citizens as “elites,” as do many of today’s so-called conservatives. They were among the early pioneers whose vision for the future included well-educated children and adults.
In “America’s Frontier Heritage,” Ray A. Billington’s iconic history of western expansion, it is said of those who first came West that “schools were first on their agenda.” Billington said, “Schools satisfied both the idealism and practical instincts of the pioneers.”
The men and women who wrote the Wyoming Constitution sprinkled their desire for an educated citizenry throughout the document. For example, “The right of the citizens to opportunities for education should have practical recognition. The legislature shall suitably encourage means and agencies calculated to advance the sciences and liberal arts.”
But a lot of brackish water has flowed under the bridge since then. The attitudes about education and the educated exhibited by those writing law have changed. Education is viewed as a luxury that doesn’t deserve the imposition of taxes sufficient to assure its quality and accessibility. Today, the only interest state legislators have in the university is limiting what professors can teach and students can study.
It isn’t only state legislators who fail to read the Constitution. Senators John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis ignore it, as well. The two introduced a bill designed to short circuit Biden. Mr. Barrasso said, “Our bill will hold the administration accountable and make sure taxpayers are not stuck paying other people’s student loan debt.”
Hey John, if you have a copy of the Wyoming Constitution laying around your office, pick it up and read it. You’ll find the drafters of Wyoming’s Constitution intended taxpayers should be “stuck paying” the costs of a university education.
Ms. Lummis called Biden’s proposal “a bailout” and “an appeal to the radical left wing of his party.” The delegates to the 1889 Constitutional Convention who voted to make a college education “as nearly free as possible” had no radical left wing to appease. They only wanted the best for the people. Lummis and Barrasso should take note of their aspirations.
As a result of contemporary conservative attitudes toward education, it has become necessary for concerned citizens to file lawsuits to force the Legislature to do what the state Constitution requires.
Alas, the constitutional requirement that a University of Wyoming education be “as free as possible” has been observed only in its breach. It took a Democrat who couldn’t win a Wyoming election in his wildest dreams to reach for the goal.
Rodger McDaniel lives in Laramie and is the pastor at Highlands Presbyterian Church in Cheyenne. Email: rmc81448@gmail.com.
Rodger McDaniel lives in Laramie and is the pastor at Highlands Presbyterian Church in Cheyenne. Email: rmc81448@gmail.com. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/opinion/guest_column/mcdaniel-biden-did-what-wyomings-founding-fathers-intended/article_b9c8cb10-254c-11ed-bfe8-c33e619e1e56.html | 2022-08-27T12:54:36Z |
Over the past several days, I have fielded an extraordinary number of phone calls asking me to run for Wyoming secretary of state. I am not running for secretary of state.
I first learned of the effort to draft me to run, as an independent, from news sources. I spoke with the authors of the petition and expressed that even if the required number of signatures were gathered, I would not run against the party’s nominee and split a party I love so dearly.
I believe strongly that the Republican Party must unite around the shared principles of historic conservatism, especially at this time in our nation’s history. It is for this reason that I am calling for all Republicans to unite around our Republican nominee, Chuck Gray, and, for that matter, the entire Republican ticket, following the primary.
Please know, if it ever becomes God’s will for me to step back into elective office, I will never run as anything less than a proud Republican. I am a Republican because I have spent my life in the study of the time-tested principles of conservatism. The foundation of the Republican Party is deeply rooted in those great principles, and we must rally around those truths and stand together so that we can pass on our freedoms to the next generation.
Those principles have fully occupied my time over the past four years. I have had the privilege to found and lead a wonderful team at what will soon be known as the Wyoming Family Alliance and Wyoming Family Foundation. I have also had the privilege of helping to bring a Hillsdale College affiliated Classical School to Cheyenne.
Furthermore, I have been back in graduate studies in history, which has led to travel across the state and nation, teaching our historic values. These extraordinary causes are currently fulfilling my great desire to serve our state and carry forward an intellectually muscular conservatism that will stand the test of time. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/no-matter-how-many-times-you-ask-the-answer-is-still-no-im-not-running/article_c145149e-2587-11ed-a18a-53fb0aeab3ad.html | 2022-08-27T12:54:43Z |
Disinformation is the bane of our times. The Aug. 25 edition of the paper has at least two examples of this.
First, Lummis and Barrasso lie about Biden’s student loan forgiveness program. Barrasso says the program “is a boon for Biden’s wealthy supporters,” while Lummis states, “Wyoming … will be forced to foot the bill for the richest 40% of Americans who carry 60% of student loan debt.”
One can discern that these statements by Barrasso and Lummis on page 1 are simply not true by turning to page 2 for the truth, where the program is correctly described. A chart is headlined with the statement, “Nearly 90% of benefits will go to borrowers earning less than $75,000 – and none to those earning more than $125,000.” I ask the reader are these borrowers “wealthy supporters” (Barrasso) or “the richest 40% of Americans?” (Lummis)
The WTE provides a second example of how disinformation breeds unwanted taxpayer expense on page 6, “IRS starts probe after threats to workers.” A lie was spread that the $80 billion program to catch tax fraudsters would target all taxpayers, even though Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has directed agents to not target those in the middle class.
In fact, npr.org states that a major goal of the program is “to help the IRS collect more of the estimated $600 billion in taxes that go unpaid every year, much of it owed by rich people who under-report their income.” Note that is every year, so this program will easily pay for itself if the IRS is successful.
A second lie is that “the IRS would distribute firearms to employees to use[d] deadly force.” The result of that lie is that the IRS now has to spend some of its funds (I remind you, taxpayer money) according to an IRS commissioner, “conducting risk assessments ... by monitoring perimeter security, designations of restricted areas, exterior lighting, security around entrances of facilities and other measures.”
As I stated at the beginning of this letter, disinformation is the bane of our times. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/thursdays-edition-of-wte-has-more-examples-of-federal-disinformation/article_8d1932e6-2586-11ed-8a56-47a9e5669244.html | 2022-08-27T12:54:49Z |
The vast majority of media are liberal-leaning. We have become accustomed to that. Despite that bias in your Our View editorial (“Tuesday’s primary reveals much about politics in Wyoming”), you make some very valid and salient points.
Principal among them is that people need to do their homework about candidates and know where they stand. My opinion only, I think Wyomingites actually do a great job of knowing the candidates and electing officials who represent the majority of us.
Your article does make one critical mistake. As with most left-leaning narratives, invariably Donald Trump is brought into the discussion. The narrative always implies that if you disagree with the left position, you suffer from Trump influence, as if it were a disease. Your article insinuates his endorsement of Harriet Hageman carried her to the landslide victory over Liz Cheney. While it certainly helped, I think that played a very minor role in the outcome.
As I said, Wyomingites do their homework. What is important to us? Reducing inflation, border security, traditional school curriculum, tough against crime, energy independence, bringing jobs to Wyoming and foreign policy strength are always at the top of the list. The Jan. 6 Capitol rally is not important to us. It should have been dealt with in one month, instead of the 20 months that have consumed Liz Cheney’s time and energy.
So why did Liz Cheney get smoked and embarrassed? Her personal animus and self-absorbed agenda distorted any clear thinking and rational decision-making. Cheney is in the House of Representatives, and she failed to do the one critical duty in her job description. She failed to represent us.
That should have been the “most obvious takeaway” in your article. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/wte-editorial-missed-the-most-obvious-takeaway-from-this-years-primary/article_9dd8aea0-2585-11ed-9b1e-ab91026a8ccc.html | 2022-08-27T12:54:55Z |
"I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick." – Part of the modern Hippocratic Oath, written in 1964 by Louis Lasagna, Academic Dean of the School of Medicine at Tufts University, and used in many medical schools today.
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When he first stepped foot in the U.S. Capitol as Wyoming's junior senator in 2007, Casper Republican John Barrasso was seen as someone who would represent the state's residents and their best interests well.
A board-certified orthopedic surgeon, the hope was that Gov. Dave Freudenthal's choice to replace Sen. Craig Thomas after his death would bring his medical experience to bear in ways that would improve health care for Wyomingites and the rest of the country.
Instead, after he was elected to the position in 2008, it seems his main goal became standing in the way of anything Democrats hoped to accomplish, while working to elevate his own status and authority.
Time after time, Sen. Barrasso was pictured standing to one side of Senate President Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as the latter took questions from reporters. And he quickly became the go-to guy for Fox News, standing in the Capitol rotunda's mezzanine and putting President Barack Obama and his goals on blast.
The irony, of course, is that throughout his ultimately unsuccessful fight against the Affordable Care Act, "Dr. Barrasso" failed to offer an alternative that his fellow Republicans could get behind. In fact, it was the senior member of Wyoming's delegation, Sen. Mike Enzi, who presented "Ten Steps to Transform Health Care in America," even before Obamacare became law.
Since being re-elected in 2012 and 2018, Sen. Barrasso has continued to rail against the nation's only successful effort in recent years to extend health insurance to those who can't afford to buy it on the open market. In 2019, he published online several of the speeches he had delivered on the Senate floor under the clever title "Dr. Barrasso's Second Opinion." Each time, he pointed out what was wrong with the ACA without offering any better options, other than saying Republicans were working to lower prescription drug prices.
The most telling evidence of how far the now senior senator from the smallest-populated state in the country was willing to go to gain or retain power was his failure to speak out during the COVID-19 pandemic. If there was anyone in Congress who should have challenged President Trump's ignorant, deadly advice to shun face coverings and drink bleach to combat the novel coronavirus, it should have been the former president of the Wyoming Medical Society and member of the American Medical Association's Council of Ethics and Judicial Affairs.
Where was he when Gov. Mark Gordon stood in front of the media to announce the cancelation of summer 2020 rodeos statewide to try to limit the virus's spread? Where was he when the governor finally imposed a mask mandate in public places? Where was he when anti-maskers demonstrated in front of the state Capitol, and Gov. Gordon stood face to face with people shouting that he was a tyrant and destroying our economy?
Nowhere near Cheyenne, of course.
Now, two years before his next re-election bid, we learn just how far removed from his constituents' health care needs Sen. Barrasso really is.
Recently, Casper resident Kala McWain spoke with a Wyoming Tribune Eagle reporter about her efforts to get our federal lawmakers to support the Medical Nutrition Equity Act. McWain and her husband, Jake, have been told their youngest son has a genetic metabolic disorder called phenylketonuria, or PKU, which prevents his body from processing regular foods properly.
As a result, the McWains will need to feed their son special medical food and formula for the rest of his life, at a cost well over $1,000 per month. Which is why they are pushing for this legislation, which would require private insurance providers and federal health care programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program to cover this type of nutrition when it is required to prevent severe disability or death.
Kala McWain said she met with representatives of both Sen. Cynthia Lummis and Rep. Liz Cheney's offices a year ago, but both took information back without action. She said she was especially hopeful when she met with Sen. Barrasso around the same time, since he was a medical doctor. However, she said she left feeling defeated because although he has said every life is important, he refused to sign on as a sponsor of the bill.
In a statement to the WTE for our story, a spokesperson for Sen. Barrasso said the senator "appreciates the McWain family for meeting with him and raising awareness about this important issue and legislation. As co-chair of the Senate Rare Disease Caucus, he understands how critical it is for families in Wyoming to have access to medically necessary foods and supplements."
If that's true, why didn't he immediately sign on as a sponsor? If he is so supportive, why should the McWains have to continue their lobbying efforts, as they have in the year since those initial conversations?
According to the National PKU Alliance, there are roughly 16,500 people in the U.S. who can't eat or process regular foods. Why are Sen. Barrasso and his colleagues failing to advance this lifesaving legislation for so few people? It's not like doing so would be the tipping point that bankrupts the federal government.
(Late Wednesday afternoon, after being contacted by the WTE for comment for this editorial, Sen. Barrasso's office told Kala McWain the senator has decided that he will sign on as a sponsor of the Medical Nutrition Equity Act. So far, Sen. Lummis had not indicated whether she will join him, and Rep. Cheney has not signed onto the House version.)
Wyoming residents should be asking themselves at this point whether Sen. Barrasso is truly representing all of the people of Wyoming. If he won't readily stand up for folks like the McWains, is he really looking out for you and your needs?
Long ago, we stopped being surprised by most of the unproductive, partisan comments coming from Sen. Barrasso's office. Unlike former Sen. Enzi, who believed in working with Democrats to get things done for the American people, Sen. Barrasso seems determined to be more of a roadblock than a pilot car.
But just because we're not surprised doesn't mean we're not disappointed. In a state with so few representatives elected to speak on our behalf, we believe we could do better. If the senator can't summon the courage to "do no harm" and start supporting those who elected him, it's time to find someone who can. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/opinion/staff_editorials/we-need-wyomings-doctor-to-fight-for-our-health-care-needs/article_51ee8a80-2276-11ed-9640-13cc0bceb712.html | 2022-08-27T12:55:01Z |
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.
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/rawlinstimes/news/continental-divide-trails-gain-in-popularity/article_9c6234b2-23b7-11ed-8361-6b7a1367f814.html | 2022-08-27T12:55:08Z |
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/rawlinstimes/news/fishing-report-for-aug-27-2022/article_0bcd51d6-23ba-11ed-a21a-8724a71b8fcd.html | 2022-08-27T12:55:14Z |
Bondurant citizens’ legal case against Sublette County commissioners and billionaire Joe Ricketts’ Jackson Fork Ranch will no longer be heard in Teton County.
Instead, 9th District Court Judge Melissa Owens, who presides over the Teton County court, assigned the case to Judge Steven K. Sharpe of the First Judicial District in Laramie County.
Owens’ judicial assistant said her boss had a “conflict of interest.”
A Sublette County judge had already reassigned the civil complaint from his courtroom to Owens’.
The legal battle is the latest installment in a years-long fight over the future of the agricultural, northern corner of Sublette County. On one side is Ricketts, who founded TD Ameritrade and once made an 11th hour donation to clinch an $8.75 million buyout of 58,000 acres of natural gas leases to prevent drilling in the Hoback River basin.
On the other: Bondurant dwellers who feel Ricketts’ conservation ethic has gone astray and don’t want to see their town undergo resort-driven development like Jackson Hole.
Dan Bailey and six other Bondurant residents asked the court in January to review and “vacate” the Sublette County Board of County Commissioners’ 3-2 decision to approve a rezone that paves the way for a new 15- to 20-unit resort along Upper Hoback River Road.
While Owens declined to elaborate on the nature of her conflict, attorneys representing the petitioners and respondents in the case said they’d heard from the court that Owens had identified a “familial connection” between herself and one of the petitioners.
Both Kevin Gregory, an attorney representing Dan Bailey and the other Bondurant residents, and Matthew Kim-Miller, an attorney representing Sublette County, said that neither the petitioners nor respondents asked for the case to be moved to another court. Instead, they said, Owens made the decision.
Matthew Turner, an attorney representing the Jackson Fork Ranch, could not be reached by press time.
“No party had any concern, no party raised the issues,” Gregory told the Jackson Hole Daily. “But these judges always try to maintain the utmost fairness and impartiality and to make sure that the appearance of fairness and impartiality is maintained.”
Attorney Kim-Miller added: “She thought it would be best to have everything be fair and impartial.”
Oral arguments in the pending legal battle were originally slated to be heard Aug. 25 in Owens’ Jackson courtroom. But Owens’ decision to assign the case elsewhere has put that hearing on hold. As of press time Sunday, Gregory and Kim-Miller both said they had not heard when the hearing would be scheduled in Laramie County. They also didn’t know whether the hearing would be held in person or virtually, or if there would be an option for the public to listen in virtually.
At issue is the Sublette County commissioners’ December 2021 vote to rezone 56 of the roughly 1,300 acres Ricketts owns in Bondurant for the resort. In addition to founding TD Ameritrade, Ricketts owns the Chicago Cubs.
The seven petitioners — Dan Bailey, Delores Kominsky, Mary Krall, Richard Pearson, Steve Robertson, Dennis Seipp and Marti Seipp — fought Ricketts’ plans, which were reviewed by Sublette County commissioners twice. They were joined by scores of other Hoback Basin residents in opposition.
Sublette County elected officials, however, voted 3-2 to approve Ricketts’ plans when they were last heard in December 2021.
Gregory and attorney James Lubing are representing Bailey and the other petitioners. In their appeal for review of the Sublette County commissioners’ decision, they argued the commissioners who voted for the rezone failed to explain how the project fit the Sublette County Comprehensive Plan’s 10 goals.
The petitioners also asked for a review of the decision under the Wyoming Administrative Procedures Act, according to the Sublette Examiner.
But the attorneys representing Sublette County and Ricketts said the 3-2 vote was a “legislative act” and complied with “the requirements of the commissioners’ procedures.” Kim-Miller and Paula Fleck of Holland & Hart, representing Sublette County, said the three commissioners’ votes complied with the county’s comprehensive plan and argued that the citizens challenging the decision had not shown how they had standing to do so.
Matthew Turner and John Graham of Geittmann Larson Swift LLP, representing Ricketts’ Jackson Fork Ranch, said the county is not required to make “findings” about how a rezone complies with the comprehensive plan’s goals.
Law offices representing the petitioners and respondents are all Jackson-based. Sublette County Attorney Mike Crosson recused his office from representing the Sublette County commissioners, describing votes from the Sublette County Planning and Zoning Board and elected Sublette County commissioners as “inconsistent,” according to the Examiner. The Planning and Zoning Board voted 3-2 to recommend the county commission deny Ricketts’ proposed rezone.
Owens’ decision to assign the case elsewhere comes after petitioners and respondents had all filed legal briefs.
The Jackson judge had asked the citizens fighting the Sublette commissioners’ votes to explain why they had standing to do so and asked attorneys for both sides to show in oral arguments where the commissioners considered the 10 factors outlined in the Sublette County Comprehensive Plan — or failed to.
How Judge Sharpe will structure the hearing in Laramie County remains to be seen. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/rawlinstimes/news/jackson-judges-conflict-of-interest-moves-ricketts-case-out-of-teton-court/article_97d0098e-23b6-11ed-aa72-a707830ce183.html | 2022-08-27T12:55:20Z |
CASPER — A week after one of the most discussed elections in Wyoming’s history, a panel of lawmakers will consider changes to the state’s voting system.
The Legislature’s Joint Corporations Committee will discuss a ranked-choice voting system and whether to implement special elections if one of the state’s top elected officials departs.
The committee will also consider two other important issues in Wyoming: housing and liquor licenses. The meeting, which is open to the public and will be streamed online, will take place in Casper on Thursday and Friday.
As has become the norm over the last couple of years, the corporations committee will consider election reform legislation. That includes implementing a ranked-choice voting system similar to the one used last week in Alaska’s primary.
Ranked-choice usually work like this: The number of votes a candidate gets are determined by how many residents rank the candidate in the top spot. If no one candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, it will trigger the lowest vote-getter to be cut.
Then, on every ballot that had the lowest vote getter ranked first, the No. 2 candidate will move into the No. 1 spot and earns more votes. This process continues until one candidate achieves a majority.
As the bill is currently written, it would permit voters to rank any candidate “without regard to political party affiliation.”
In other words, a voter could rank a Republican first and a Democrat second and not be bound by party.
But the current bill draft will likely be workshopped extensively, said Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, and Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne.
For example, it’s possible that a ranked-choice system could exist within partisan primaries, so voters would only be able to rank Democrats or Republicans depending on their registration.
Ranked-choice opponents often point to the recent New York City mayoral race as an example of why Wyoming should not implement it — getting the results took days as opposed to hours.
“I think [favorability for] ranked choice has dimmed a little bit,” Case said.
The committee will also be reviewing a bill that would trigger a special election if there’s a vacancy in some of the state’s elected offices.
As it stands, the state Republican or Democratic central committee (depending on the politician being replaced) is responsible for nominating three candidates. The governor then picks one of those three.
Case suspects the state GOP will lobby against this bill.
“They’ll come down with steel-toed boots,” he said.
In recent years, the state party and a large portion of its central committee has become increasingly hard-line and MAGA-minded, putting the group at odds with more traditional, big tent Republicans.
The central committee passed over Megan Degenfelder when choosing nominees for schools superintendent earlier this year, although she had administrative experience in the Wyoming Department of Education.
Instead, the group nominated three far-right candidates, including the eventual appointee, Brian Schroeder. Voters, however, picked Degenfelder in last week’s primary.
Sen. John Barrasso, who has since been reelected, also first assumed office through the nomination process.
As Wyoming grapples with housing shortages and rising prices, the committee will begin to look at remedies. The committee does not have any bill drafts slated on housing, but the group will review some memos from the Legislative Service Office, including one on housing trust funds.
Housing trust funds are earmarked pools of money for addressing community housing needs, which could include anything from affordable housing developments to home restoration projects.
Wyoming only has one trust fund — located in Jackson. It is one of three states that does not have a state run trust fund.
Zwonitzer said that the committee will mainly be asking questions about housing and listening to stakeholders.
“What is the government’s role? Can we be doing anything and should we be doing anything?” Zwonitzer asked. “A lot of people want action on cheap housing and affordable housing.”
The Legislative Service Office, however, wrote that there may be some constitutional barriers to implementing a state funded housing trust. The Wyoming Constitution currently has “prohibitions against the State or its political subdivisions loaning or giving credit or making donations to people or entities in certain situations, as well as a prohibition against legislative appropriations for charitable or industrial purposes unless the recipient is under the control of the State,” the LSO wrote.
Constitutional amendments are notoriously hard to pass in Wyoming.
“I’m always skeptical of the government getting involved in markets that by and large work pretty darn well,” said Case, who’s a libertarian-leaning Republican and an economist.
The committee will tackle the liquor license landscape in Wyoming this week as well. The focus of the liquor license discussion will likely center around “tavern and entertainment liquor licenses.”
As it stands, venues that serve food and liquor must make at least 60% of the revenue off of food to satisfy the requirements of the liquor license.
The proposed bill would allow venues that don’t serve food — like arcades, for one — to serve alcohol while still collecting 60% of their revenue from the “entertainment” and no more than 40% from alcohol.
“Whether that 40% is the right number, I’m not sure,” Zwonitzer said.
Zwonitzer said he has concerns — and believes others do as well— over how broad the term “entertainment” could be construed. He expects the committee to try to define it in statute.
One of the main pushes behind this bill was the advent of indoor sport simulation venues, like the SandTrap in Casper, where patrons can go play virtual golf.
“What if the other part of our business is not food? What if the other part of our business is video games?” Case explained.
If the tavern and entertainment bill passed, it would join a long list of different types of liquor licenses in the state covering everything from golf courses to airports.
“We just keep marching towards liquor freedom,” Zwonitzer said. “Every session we have another [liquor license bill]. It never ends.” | https://www.wyomingnews.com/rawlinstimes/news/legislative-panel-already-considers-election-reform/article_11d84422-23b6-11ed-b97c-e347d5e56a8a.html | 2022-08-27T12:55:26Z |
...CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON
THROUGH EARLY EVENING FOR MUCH OF SOUTHEAST WYOMING...
...ELEVATED CONDITIONS ALSO POSSIBLE IN WESTERN NEBRASKA...
...RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 8 PM MDT
THIS EVENING FOR GUSTY WINDS AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR FIRE
WEATHER ZONES 418, 419, 420, 421, 422, AND 432...
* AFFECTED AREA...Fire Weather Zones 417-423, 425, and 430-433.
* WIND...West 15 to 20 MPH with gusts up to 35 MPH.
* HUMIDITY...10 to 15 percent.
* IMPACTS...Any fires that develop will likely spread rapidly.
Outdoor burning is not recommended.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions
are either occurring now, or will shortly. A combination of
strong winds, low relative humidity, and warm temperatures can
contribute to extreme fire behavior.
&&
Saratoga town attorney Jane France, who was in town from Cheyenne for an Aug. 16 Saratoga Town Council meeting, outlined a two-step path that would allow the vacant council seat previously held by Ben Spaulding to appear on the November general election ballot.
France advised the council as to how, according to her interpretation of state statute, a council vacancy that happens after the primary election filing deadline has passed during an election season, can be filled if the seat suddenly becomes vacant.
Her official opinion is that the council can choose one or two names to be placed on the November general election ballot. This would give Saratoga residents an opportunity to choose who will take Spaulding’s place on the council rather than having that seat filled by an appointee for the next two and a half years.
To fill the existing vacancy, France also advised the council it could appoint someone, but only for the next four months until the next council is seated in January, or the seat could be left open for the next council to fill.
A decision to submit two names for the November ballot must be made by Sept. 9 to be accepted for the Nov. 8 election.
She also advised the council that there is no timeline in the statutes for when the seat must be filled. The council also could just appoint someone to fill out the remaining two years of Spaulding’s term without input from voters.
The question of what Carbon County Clerk Gwynn Bartlett thought of these ideas was raised during the discussion. Councilman Jon Nelson said he did not have the same understanding of the statutes as cited by France. France said she would talk with Bartlett and County Attorney Ashley Mayfield Davis about her interpretation of election laws and bring it back to the council.
With Spalding having resigned at the July 19 Saratoga Town Council meeting, so far only one person has submitted a letter of interest in filling the empty seat, said Mayor Creed James.
Kathy Beck, a 20-year resident of Saratoga, has expressed interest. Beck is a member of the Saratoga Recreation Commission and the Platte Valley Community Center Joint Powers Board.
James said he would discuss the options with Beck and see if she would be willing to stand for the seat in the November election.
The council decided to table the discussion and France’s advice pending further investigation until its next meeting Sept. 6. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/rawlinstimes/news/local/empty-sarartoga-council-seat-could-be-on-ballot/article_4cf1839a-23be-11ed-b550-23536404b19b.html | 2022-08-27T12:55:33Z |
Wyoming Game and Fish seeks info on elk poaching
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is seeking information about a bull elk that was poached along Highway 34 in Sybille Canyon in early August.
...CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH EARLY EVENING FOR MUCH OF SOUTHEAST WYOMING... ...ELEVATED CONDITIONS ALSO POSSIBLE IN WESTERN NEBRASKA... ...RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 8 PM MDT THIS EVENING FOR GUSTY WINDS AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR FIRE WEATHER ZONES 418, 419, 420, 421, 422, AND 432... * AFFECTED AREA...Fire Weather Zones 417-423, 425, and 430-433. * WIND...West 15 to 20 MPH with gusts up to 35 MPH. * HUMIDITY...10 to 15 percent. * IMPACTS...Any fires that develop will likely spread rapidly. Outdoor burning is not recommended. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions are either occurring now, or will shortly. A combination of strong winds, low relative humidity, and warm temperatures can contribute to extreme fire behavior. &&
Wyoming Game and Fish seeks info on elk poaching
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is seeking information about a bull elk that was poached along Highway 34 in Sybille Canyon in early August.
Sometime between the evening of Aug. 5 and the morning of Aug. 6, a mature bull elk was shot along Highway 34, approximately two-and-a-half miles west of the Thorne/Williams Wildlife Research Center. The elk’s head and antlers were removed between the evening of Aug. 6, and the morning of Aug. 7.
“It is unfortunate this elk was taken out of season and was left to waste. We are asking for the public’s assistance with bringing forward information with this investigation,” Matt Withroder, Laramie Regional wildlife supervisor, said in a news release.
A reward is being offered for information on this case, and informants are urged to call the Stop Poaching Tip Line at 1-877-WGFD-TIP (1-877-943-3847). Tips can also be made by texting keyword WGFD and message to 847-411, or can be made online at https://wgfapps.wyo.gov/StopPoaching/submitTIp.aspx. Informants can remain anonymous.
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A receipt was sent to your email. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/rawlinstimes/news/out-and-about-aug-27-2022/article_03088fe8-23c4-11ed-abbb-9fee12f002bd.html | 2022-08-27T12:55:39Z |
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/rawlinstimes/news/republicans-search-for-independent-candidate-to-challenge-gray/article_0acd4538-23bb-11ed-9121-73d0b60cad2c.html | 2022-08-27T12:55:45Z |
Anxiety and stress levels are up for many students, parents, staff and teachers as they return to campuses and classrooms for the 2022-23 school year.
Some students and teachers are still wrestling with the return to schools after the remote learning and shutdowns during the coronavirus pandemic.
Others are anxious over mass school shootings and their seemingly too regular occurrence across the country.
The horrific elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in late May, with its bungled police response and slaughter of 19 elementary school kids and two teachers, has added to the stress.
Students and parents want to feel more empowered and in control over potential emergency situations. That is part of a much larger mental and behavioral component to addressing school violence, according to counselors and school safety experts across the country.
“There’s a lot of anxiety — a lot of them feel pretty helpless,” said Willow Goldfarb, a licensed mental health counselor and lead clinician for Thriveworks in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, of students she’s counseled after Uvalde.
She’s worked with those impacted by the 2018 mass shooting, on Valentine’s Day, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Nikolas Cruz, then 19, opened fire there, killing 17 and injuring 17 more.
The wounds of the Parkland massacre and examinations of Cruz’s troubled childhood and mental and behavioral health problems have been reopened this summer with sentencing testimony being heard in a Florida courtroom. Those testifying have included still-grieving parents and relatives.
Goldfarb is hearing from students, parents and teachers in the wake of the Uvalde shooting, on their worries about police responses after it took officers there an hour to confront shooter Salvador Ramos.
Empowerment
Goldfarb said some students are pressing for more of their own options for survival, escape and connections to the outside world.
Some students have questioned why they can’t be armed if teachers and staff have that option in more gun-friendly states and regions.
“It’s the narrative of the good guy shooter shooting the bad guy shooters,” Goldfarb said.
She also said some students don’t like restrictive cell phone policies imposed by some schools. She’s heard from kids who became used to constant communication with their parents during the pandemic, as well as those who want to be able to call 911 or share information during an emergency, that such rules are a source of anxiety.
Goldfarb said students have also shared that they often feel talked down to when it comes to school security and safety. They say districts would be better served if school officials were as collaborative, inclusive and transparent as possible.
“I feel a lot of times kids get talked over. Just tell them what’s going to happen,” Goldfarb said.
She said she tries to empower students who are feeling trepidation about school safety to follow their instincts in school security situations.
“I talk to them about trusting their gut,” Goldfarb said.
Concerned parents also want to feel more empowered and are pushing to be more involved with school security and safety decisions in light of the recent shootings, said Sharon Hoover, a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine and co-director of the National Center for School Mental Health.
“How are you going to keep my kid safe?” is a common refrain Hoover hears from worried parents headed into the new school year.
“Families are certainly wanting to be at the table,” Hoover said.
‘Living hell’
The need to feel empowered and included is just the tip of the mental and behavioral health iceberg when it comes to schools given the continued challenges of bullying and the regularity of contemporary mass shootings.
Addressing bullying and antisocial behavior are essential to addressing the mental health components of school violence, according to Brenda High.
High co-founded Bully Police USA after her 13-year-old son committed suicide after being bullied at a school in Washington State. The Idaho group advocates for tougher anti-bully laws across U.S. states.
High said there are still schoolyards and social cultures that allow bullying and fail to help kids in distress.
“You will still find many places where it’s still ‘boys will be boys’, ‘girls will be girls’,” said High.
Her group helps schools implement more student-focused behavior programs such as peer groups who can help address bullying and mistreatment of classmates.
She said mental health counselors in schools also need to be paid more. School counselors earn a median annual salary of $46,778 with starting pay of $33,000 per year for some, according to San Francisco-based staffing firm Zippia Inc.
Many of the school shooters suffered from mental and behavioral health problems and faced bullying — or felt they were bullied and mistreated, according to reports on those incidents.
Their feelings of ostracization and disassociation can dangerously combine with access to weapons and inadequate responses to mental health challenges by parents, schools and law enforcement.
“It comes back to that sense of connectedness and relationships,” said Amy Klinger, an education professor with Ashland University in Ohio and co-founder of the nonprofit Educators School Safety Network.
Klinger said not all of the mass shooters were bullied — but all of them believe they were mistreated and felt disconnected from their schools and classmates.
Klinger said school can be “a living hell” for some kids who face endless bullying and mistreatment from classmates. Some also live in abusive, traumatic and toxic situations at home.
Some of those same homes might not be supportive of behavioral health counseling while others offer access to guns and ammunition.
Students and their caregivers can also worry about stigmatizations at school and within families and communities that might come with mental counseling.
Goldfarb and other mental health professionals said kids will often follow suit if one or more parents are into guns — or, conversely, are skeptical of behavioral and mental health counseling.
“The kid is picking up on that message and running with it,” she said.
Federal gun measures passed earlier this summer after Uvalde allocated $750 million over five years to help states with crisis intervention programs such as ‘red-flag’ laws that can block purchases and confiscate guns for mental health reasons.
Those efforts run into constitutional protections for gun ownership via the Second Amendment as well as civil liberties concerns about how far police and commitment powers should potentially be expanded.
The federal bill also offers another $510 million in various mental and behavioral health grants for states, localities and school districts.
Disparate reactions
Social division and politically-fueled disagreement over how to address mass shootings also creates disparate reactions to proposed school safety solutions.
Republicans opposed to new federal gun controls have called for more police officers, security guards and security layers on campuses.
That may give confidence to some — but not others.
“I do find students of color or marginalized communities feel a lot more anxious when there are more police officers around,” Goldfarb said.
Some school districts took fresh looks, with some scaling back cops and security guards on campus after the 2020 killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis officer.
But the pendulum is swinging back toward increased security and police footprints on campuses after Uvalde and other recent shootings.
David Moore, police chief of Janesville, Wisconsin, near the Illinois border, said law enforcement agencies need to build trust within communities and at schools in order to get help with early identification and interventions.
“You need to have that trust in the community so they will reach out,” said Moore, who has resources officers at local schools in southern Wisconsin.
Law enforcement officers, like teachers and school staff, have been struggling with how to recognize and deal with behavioral health problems as well as bullying and harassment.
Teachers, many of whom already had high anxiety over COVID-19 and are stressed by labor shortages, are also seeing more training related to shootings including crisis interventions and treating severe gunshot wounds.
Hoover said districts need to be sensitive to what they are adding to teachers’ duties. “We have to be really careful about adding one more thing to their plate,” she said.
There are also continuing problems with societal approaches to mental health — on and off campus.
A person with untreated mental illness is 16 times more likely to be killed by police, according to a study by the Treatment Advocacy Center. And mentally ill persons make up more than 1 in 4 fatal police shootings, according to the Virginia-based group.
A 2020 study Harvard University found Black people are 3.23 times more likely than whites to be killed by police.
The rush to increase security infrastructure, including limiting access points, and installing more cameras and layers of fences and barriers, can ease concerns but create anxiety for others.
“You can set it up like a prison but then who wants to send their kids,” said Klinger, who is concerned that knee jerk reactions to the latest shootings give the appearance of action but can fail to address root challenges such as helping kids in distress and teachers and staff following security protocols and addressing bullying situations.
“When you have an active shooter incident, the immediate response is to do more active shooter drills,” Klinger said.
Hoover said anxiety over shootings and the return to school are combining with some of the stresses, conflict and social isolations of the pandemic.
“We do better when we feel stable and secure,” said Hoover, who is also director of the Maryland-based National Center for Safe Supportive Schools. “We have had nothing that feels stable or secure for two and a half years now.” | https://www.wyomingnews.com/rawlinstimes/news/stress-tests-schools-seek-mental-and-behavioral-health-solutions/article_98ab1b66-23b4-11ed-9ab4-8b9d8301f911.html | 2022-08-27T12:55:51Z |
The Wyoming Department of Health announced this week that the first monkeypox case in a Wyoming resident has been identified in Laramie County.
Dr. Alexia Harrist, state health officer and state epidemiologist with WDH, said public health representatives are following up with the individual to see if additional Wyoming residents are at higher risk of contracting monkeypox due to direct contact with the adult man, who was tested within the last week.
“Because monkeypox spreads through close, intimate contact we do not believe the risk for the virus is now a higher concern for the local community or for most people in Wyoming,” she said in a statement. “Monkeypox does not spread easily like familiar viruses such as influenza or COVID-19.”
As of Aug. 18, there were more than 14,000 monkeypox cases confirmed in the U.S. by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The highest number of cases are located in New York and California.
WDH Public Information Officer Kim Deti told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle that the agency would not be surprised to see additional cases in the state, but can’t predict how many or when those might be identified. She reiterated it is unlike other viruses witnessed during the pandemic, and can’t be spread in situations such as being in an elevator with someone infected or touching a shopping cart.
Monkeypox is characterized by a rash with other symptoms such as fever, chills, headache, muscle aches and tiredness. Monkeypox is rarely fatal, but is unpleasant and painful, and can cause serious illness in some people, according to WDH. Experts have been tracking a growing outbreak of monkeypox in areas that don’t normally report the disease, including across the United States.
“Symptoms usually start within 3 weeks of exposure to the virus. If someone has flu-like symptoms, they will usually develop a rash 1-4 days later,” according to the health organization. “Monkeypox can be spread from the time symptoms start until the rash has healed, all scabs have fallen off and a fresh layer of skin has formed. The illness typically lasts 2-4 weeks.”
Detailed facts, including rash photos, data and prevention recommendations are available from the CDC at https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/index.html.
“We do want to prevent further spread within our state as much as possible. That’s why we will recommend vaccination for people who have been exposed to monkeypox, and also for people who may be more likely to get monkeypox based on the current outbreak and how it has been spreading,” Harrist said in the Monday news release.
The following people are eligible for pre-exposure vaccination if they live or work in Wyoming:
- Men who have sex with men and who have had multiple or anonymous sexual partners in the last year.
- Partners of men who have sex with men who have had multiple or anonymous sexual partners in the last year.
- Transgender and nonbinary persons assigned male at birth who have sex with multiple or anonymous sexual partners who are male or male assigned at birth within the past year.
- Sex workers (of any sex).
“While anyone can become ill with monkeypox, vaccine eligibility is currently limited to people who are at highest risk in connection with this outbreak and how its spreading,” Harrist said in the release. “The goal is to put available vaccine supplies to the best possible use.”
Deti said she doesn’t know the exact amount of vaccination doses the state has, but it is a small supply. She said there are different circumstances in which it would be used, including for someone identified as high risk of infection post-exposure to an individual who tested positive for monkeypox.
Eligible individuals interested in vaccination appointments should contact the public health office in their area. Contact information for county public health offices can be found at https://health.wyo.gov/publichealth/nursing/phn-co-offices/. Wyoming residents may also call WDH at 307-777-6004 for help finding the closest local public health office.
Cheyenne-Laramie County Health Department will offer pre-exposure Jynneous (monkeypox) vaccine to individuals who meet the criteria every Tuesday and Friday. Call 307-633-4000 to schedule an appointment.
There is no proof of eligibility for the pre-exposure vaccination required, and details will be discussed with a local health provider. This applies for patients showing symptoms, as well.
“That would be the best thing to do, because they’re going to know the patient the best,” Cheyenne-Laramie County Health Department Director Kathy Emmons said. “And we always recommend people go with their local provider.”
While available monkeypox vaccine doses are being provided by the federal government through the state at no cost, a small administration fee may be charged.
More Wyoming-related information and updates about monkeypox can be found at https://health.wyo.gov/publichealth/infectious-disease-epidemiology-unit/disease/monkeypox/. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/rawlinstimes/news/wdh-first-wyoming-case-of-monkeypox-identified/article_38904da8-23b6-11ed-87db-cbd6a0bff710.html | 2022-08-27T12:55:57Z |
Veterans service officer reaches out in Sept.
A veterans service officer from the Wyoming Veterans Commission will conduct community outreach services around the state throughout September.
Emily Study is available to meet with veterans and their families to discuss state and federal benefits, Department of Veterans Affairs claims or VA health care issues. Study also can help veterans and their families apply for benefits, file claims or request health care.
Her office is located at 3817 Beech St., Suite 100 in Laramie, and she also will be available at the following locations:
• Laramie: Sept. 5 and 19, at the Veterans Service Center, Student Union, third floor, 1000 E. University Ave., from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Rawlins: Sept. 7 and 21, at the Rawlins Workforce Center, 1703 Edinburgh St., from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Centennial: Sept. 28, at the Centennial Public Library, 27 2nd St., from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Most other weekdays, Study is available by appointment at her office. Contact her at 307-399-1821.
6 more Wyoming residents succumb to COVID-19
Six more Wyoming residents have died from the COVID-19 coronavirus, bringing the state’s pandemic death toll to 1,877. Two of them were from Laramie County.
The Wyoming Department of Health reported Tuesday that four of the newly reported deaths happened earlier this month, while two were in July. They included:
• An older adult Laramie County man died last month. He was not hospitalized and had health conditions known to put patients at higher risk of severe illness.
• An adult Laramie County woman died earlier this month. She was hospitalized and was not known to have health conditions known to put patients at higher risk of severe illness.
• An older adult Campbell County man died earlier this month. He was hospitalized and had health conditions known to put patients at higher risk of severe illness.
• An older adult Carbon County woman died earlier this month. She was not hospitalized and had health conditions known to put patients at higher risk of severe illness.
• An older adult Fremont County woman died earlier this month. She was not hospitalized and had health conditions known to put patients at higher risk of severe illness.
• An adult Natrona County man died last month. He was not hospitalized and had health conditions known to put patients at higher risk of severe illness.
Volunteers sought to show friendship to UW students
Friendship Families of Laramie, a nonprofit organization that works with the University of Wyoming to connect international students with Laramie families is seeking local volunteers.
Many new international students have begun their studies at UW this week. Friendship Families helps match participants with non-live-in host families to foster friendship and understanding.
The flexible program only asks for a minimum of once-a-month contact that can be as simple as a phone call or email. Most students and families hit it off and maintain lifelong friendships, according to a press release from the group.
For more information or to become a Friendship Family, contact Leann Naughton by Aug. 30 at 307-745-0747 or friendshipfamilieslaramie@gmail.com.
Atlas Carbon, UW collaborate on coal refinery
GILLETTE (WNE) — Ground will break soon on a new coal refinery demonstration project north of Gillette.
The University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources, Atlas Carbon and Wood PLC will hold a groundbreaking ceremony in September to launch the project near Atlas Carbon.
The site will be developed and operated collaboratively by the three stakeholders, with the goal of showcasing and developing — at a pre-commercial scale — a sustainable coal refinery process, as well as product technologies using coal from the Powder River Basin.
“Even as we work to protect the existing markets, it is encouraging to see the SER-led team innovate a process that could unlock new markets for Wyoming coal and support the diversification of the economy,” said Randall Luthi, chief energy advisor to the governor, in a press release.
Once fully operational as a demonstration site, the facility will showcase the possibilities of PRB coal to potential industry and commercial stakeholders.
“The main focus of this project is to create new markets for Wyoming coal,” said Richard Horner, the school’s senior adviser to UW’s Center for Carbon Capture and Conversion. “Diversifying the use of coal will create new jobs and new opportunities for coal communities, as well as create new manufacturing and conversion industries that can drive economic growth. We are thrilled that Atlas Carbon and Wood have agreed to be stakeholders in this venture.”
“The manufacturing plant is located near the Wyoming Innovation Center and has the ability and capacity to convert carbon into products, making it an ideal location for a field demonstration,” said Atlas Carbon CEO and chairman Frank Levy.
Foot found in Abyss Pool likely from July accident
JACKSON (WNE) — The human foot found in a shoe in Yellowstone National Park’s Abyss Pool Tuesday in West Thumb Geyser Basin is likely from a July 31 death.
No foul play is suspected, park officials said Friday.
Yellowstone officials didn’t say in a press release why they had tied the incident to the end of July. But they said the investigation is ongoing to determine why the person died.
Yellowstone has not identified a possible victim, and officials have declined to answer questions about the condition or description of the shoe and foot.
Teton County Coroner Brent Blue said that his team has “remains of a victim” from Yellowstone but did not provide further information.
Blue told the Daily that Yellowstone is leading the efforts to identify the victim.
Abyss Pool is approximately 53 feet deep, and its waters are approximately 140 degrees Fahrenheit.Humans and their belongings have a history of falling into Yellowstone’s hot thermal pools. At least 20 people have died from burns they suffered in thermal features after intentionally entering the pool or falling in.
In June 2016, a 23-year-old man walked off the boardwalk near Norris Geyser Basin and died after falling into a hot spring. He was looking for a place to soak, which is not allowed in Yellowstone’s thermal pools. An accident report released a few months after the accident said that extreme heat and the pool’s acidic nature likely caused the young man’s remains to dissolve.
“Hot springs have injured or killed more people in Yellowstone than any other natural feature,” according to the park’s webpage about thermal features.
Unemployment rate down to just 3% in July
POWELL (WNE) — Wyoming’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was down to 3% in July.
The state unemployment rate decreased from 3.1% in June to 3.0% in July, as job gains were seen in leisure and hospitality, construction and professional and business services.
The unemployment rate for the U.S. as a whole was 3.5% in July.
July unemployment rates were lower than their year-ago levels in every county.
Unemployment rates were elevated in 2021 because of the pandemic. Teton County, at 1.7%, had the lowest unemployment rate in the state in July. It was followed by Crook County and Niobrara County, both at 2.2% and Weston County at 2.3%.
The highest rates were found in Sweetwater (down from 5.7% to 3.9%) and Fremont and Natrona County, each at 3.7%.
Total non-farm employment in Wyoming (not seasonally adjusted and measured by place of work) rose from 284,500 in July, 2021 to 291,600 in July 2022, an increase of 7,100 jobs.
Employment was unusually low in 2021 because of economic disruptions related to the pandemic. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/rawlinstimes/news/worth-noting-aug-27-2022/article_ddfb6016-23b6-11ed-bdde-b36fd051aff0.html | 2022-08-27T12:56:04Z |
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/rawlinstimes/opinion/guest_column/capt-ahab-institute-coming-to-jackson/article_813d71a6-23b7-11ed-80de-ff72b80b1c7f.html | 2022-08-27T12:56:10Z |
...CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON
THROUGH EARLY EVENING FOR MUCH OF SOUTHEAST WYOMING...
...ELEVATED CONDITIONS ALSO POSSIBLE IN WESTERN NEBRASKA...
...RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 8 PM MDT
THIS EVENING FOR GUSTY WINDS AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR FIRE
WEATHER ZONES 418, 419, 420, 421, 422, AND 432...
* AFFECTED AREA...Fire Weather Zones 417-423, 425, and 430-433.
* WIND...West 15 to 20 MPH with gusts up to 35 MPH.
* HUMIDITY...10 to 15 percent.
* IMPACTS...Any fires that develop will likely spread rapidly.
Outdoor burning is not recommended.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions
are either occurring now, or will shortly. A combination of
strong winds, low relative humidity, and warm temperatures can
contribute to extreme fire behavior.
&&
The most watched political race in Wyoming history is over.
By the time you read this, the national reporters will have flown back to New York and Washington, D.C. The pundits will have found something else to debate. Cable news viewers will turn their attention to other topics.
Rep. Liz Cheney lost badly to Harriet Hageman, former President Donald Trump’s choice to unseat one of his biggest political enemies. Cheney has made it her mission to talk about the Jan. 6 insurrection and Trump’s attempts to undermine and overturn a legitimate presidential election. But judging by the election results, most of Wyoming’s Republican voters weren’t interested in her message, though her concerns about the undermining of our electoral system are completely on point.
This primary has shown us something else, especially when considering state and local races. Wyoming politics were once something distinct from the national political discourse. Our issues were unique to us. That’s no longer the case. In race after race this primary, the issues that were debated were the same ones you’d find on cable news, regardless of how little they may affect life within our borders. Meanwhile, areas of real concern were overlooked.
Our public school discourse is a notable example. The leading candidates in Wyoming’s schools superintendent race spent plenty of time discussing critical race theory, even though it’s not taught in a single Wyoming school. Yet there was little attention paid to the fact that, according to a recent survey, a shocking two thirds of teachers here would quit if they could. Superintendent Brian Schroeder nearly won the GOP nomination on the heels of his overheated warnings about gender identity. Meanwhile, our state’s education budget is running a major deficit without any clear fix, or for that matter, even a discussion of one.
Our secretary of state race was no different. The winning GOP candidate, Rep. Chuck Gray, campaigned against ballot drop boxes and voter fraud, even though all available evidence shows Wyoming’s elections are secure. All the while, we missed an opportunity to focus on what that office can do better to encourage voter turnout and economic development in Wyoming.
As voters, it’s time to insist our politicians address actual state issues. We can’t afford a disconnect between what we debate in our politics and the actual concerns facing Wyoming. Our state faces serious challenges. In the long term, we don’t have the revenue to support government and school services that our residents rely on. Coal is in decline. Our young people continue to flee for other states. Our population is aging at a time when medical services are receding. You won’t hear about these issues on cable news or talk radio. But ahead of the general election, voters should demand that politicians address these real concerns rather than allowing another round of distractions and nonsense. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/rawlinstimes/opinion/staff_editorials/its-time-wyoming-politicians-focus-on-our-challenges/article_3cc8da06-23b7-11ed-a375-1be9aed926ea.html | 2022-08-27T12:56:16Z |
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 | https://www.wyomingnews.com/rawlinstimes/opinion/staff_editorials/primary-reveals-much-about-politics-in-wyoming/article_33527b5c-23b8-11ed-8cad-2b4ceba3dc4e.html | 2022-08-27T12:56:28Z |
Boise State finished last season with seven wins for its lowest total since 1998.
The Broncos responded with a renewed focus on the roots of the program’s success.
“This has been a work in progress since January, re-establishing this foundation to the things that we know that have been true to this program for a long time,” coach Andy Avalos said. “And it’s fun to see the players lead those things. ... The things that we were trying to get refocused on, to be a staple, a foundation within this program that helped build all this, the players are leading it now.”
For the first time since 2016, Boise State did not end last season in the Mountain West championship game. The Broncos finished third in the Mountain Division — their lowest finish since joining the conference — and had their bowl game canceled following COVID-19 issues within the program.
It would have been a challenging season for any coach, let alone someone like Avalos in his first time as a head coach.
The Broncos believe they have the pieces to move on from last year’s down season and return to being one of prominent teams in the Mountain West. They return Hank Bachmeier at quarterback for his fourth season, but must be better at protecting him to make the offense work. George Holani is back at running back, but the Broncos have to replace Khalil Shakir after the receiver had 43 more catches than anyone else on last year’s roster.
Defensively, Avalos’ arrival paid immediate dividends. The Broncos allowed just 19 points per game and should be better with major contributors returning, led by standout safety JL Skinner.
“For us to have moved the needle so far ahead of where we were last year to where we’re at now, and all phases, it’s been tremendous. I think our guys have confidence because of that,” Avalos said.
HAMMERIN’ HANK
It feels as if Bachmeier has been around the Boise State program forever, even if this will just be his fourth season. He was one of the most highly regarded recruits in school history so his entire career has been viewed through that prism.
So the fact that Boise State’s offense struggled last season fell on Bachmeier, even if he stayed healthy and his numbers were pretty good. Bachmeier threw for more than 3,000 yards and 20 touchdowns with just eight interceptions. But the Broncos averaged 29.2 points per game, the first time they were under 30 points per game since 1998.
One benefit for Bachmeier and the entire Boise State offense will be a second season with offensive coordinator Tim Plough.
“Being in it, learning the scheme for the second year, it’s just been really fun to kind of take it to that next step in regards to your operation and kind of the things that you can do with the freedom that I have,” Bachmeier said.
BY GEORGE
Holani could provide a big boost if he can return to his form of 2019 when he rushed for 1,014 yards and seven touchdowns as a freshman. Holani averaged 4.8 yards per carry last season, but was limited to nine games. Holani was really good late in the season with three straight games of 100 yards against Fresno State, Wyoming and New Mexico, all Boise State wins.
SHUT DOWN SECONDARY
The Broncos secondary last season was exceptional, allowing fewer touchdown passes (12) than interceptions (13). Skinner was part of that shutdown secondary with two interceptions, to go along with being Boise State’s leading tackler.
Skinner is one of several returning defensive backs who had at least two interceptions last season for the Broncos. Tyric LeBeauf led the way with three picks and is likely to be a starter at cornerback along with Caleb Biggers.
ROAD AHEAD
Boise State will get an immediate test opening the season at Oregon State, a trendy pick to make noise in the Pac-12. The Broncos play three of their first four on the road, but it’s consecutive home games against San Diego State and Fresno State that are likely to determine the direction of their season. Boise State’s big nonconference showdown comes late, hosting BYU on Nov. 5. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/rawlinstimes/sports/boise-state-looks-for-rebound-after-surprising-down-season/article_7ec386d6-23bc-11ed-9c64-6fbb8e9f61e8.html | 2022-08-27T12:56:34Z |
...CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON
THROUGH EARLY EVENING FOR MUCH OF SOUTHEAST WYOMING...
...ELEVATED CONDITIONS ALSO POSSIBLE IN WESTERN NEBRASKA...
...RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 8 PM MDT
THIS EVENING FOR GUSTY WINDS AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR FIRE
WEATHER ZONES 418, 419, 420, 421, 422, AND 432...
* AFFECTED AREA...Fire Weather Zones 417-423, 425, and 430-433.
* WIND...West 15 to 20 MPH with gusts up to 35 MPH.
* HUMIDITY...10 to 15 percent.
* IMPACTS...Any fires that develop will likely spread rapidly.
Outdoor burning is not recommended.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions
are either occurring now, or will shortly. A combination of
strong winds, low relative humidity, and warm temperatures can
contribute to extreme fire behavior.
&&
In this Nov. 26, 2021, file photo, Air Force running back Brad Roberts celebrates after rushing for a touchdown during a game against UNLV at Air Force Academy, Colo.
In this Nov. 26, 2021, file photo, Air Force running back Brad Roberts celebrates after rushing for a touchdown during a game against UNLV at Air Force Academy, Colo.
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. — The blue-and-white sign leading into Falcon Stadium certainly grabs an opposing team’s attention: “Warning: Lack of oxygen.”
Set at 6,621 feet above sea level, the stadium celebrating its 60th anniversary this season has provided quite a home-field advantage for the Air Force Falcons. That’s especially true in the 15 seasons under coach Troy Calhoun, whose teams have gone 66-23 at the venue located at the base of the Rampart Range of the Rocky Mountains.
Another warning: The Falcons and their version of the option offense boast a strong returning nucleus. The list of returning starters includes fullback Brad Roberts, outside linebacker Vince Sanford and offensive lineman Isaac Cochran, who each earned a spot on the preseason All-Mountain West team. Air Force is predicted to finish second behind Boise State in the Mountain Division of the conference.
Not that Calhoun is buying into the hype.
“You can’t rely upon memory,” Calhoun said. “You’ve got to rely upon the way we have to move forward. It’s a thousand pieces and you’ve got to find out, ‘All right, how are we going to make this thing fit together?’”
The Falcons already have plenty of pieces in place. Just look at the early accolades coming their way. Junior offensive lineman Everett Smalley was named to the Outland Trophy watch list, while Sanford found his name mentioned for the Chuck Bednarik and Bronko Nagurski awards. Roberts, who is coming off a 1,352-yard season on a school-record 298 carries, was included on the Walter Camp Award watch list for player of the year.
“Who’s going to emerge? That’s the fun part of it,” Calhoun said. “Especially if you have guys who love to push, love to grind and love to work — and our guys do.”
TURNING 60On Sept. 22, 1962, Air Force opened Falcon Stadium with a 34-0 win over Colorado State. They’ve gone 209-119-4 at the venue that turns 60 this season. Over the years, the stadium has received renovations such as permanent lights installed in 2002 and two new scoreboards prior to the 2016 season. The turf was replaced and the home locker room upgraded before the ‘18 season.
There are more plans in place following this season to turn the stadium into a state-of-the-art facility. The blueprints include a new stadium entrance and improvements to seating, concession areas and restrooms. There are also plans to relocate the cadets section.
LONGEVITYSince 1984, the Falcons have only had two head coaches — Fisher DeBerry (1984-2006) and Calhoun, who is entering his 16th season. The only other program with just two head coaches over that span is Iowa, according to Air Force research. The Hawkeyes had Hayden Fry (1979-98) and current head coach Kirk Ferentz, who took over before the 1999 season.
SPECIAL TEAMSJordan Jackson, currently with the New Orleans Saints, blocked an extra point against Utah State last season. That extended the streak by the special teams, which has blocked at least one kick in each of Calhoun’s 15 seasons. Since 2007, the team has blocked 14 field goals, 19 extra points and 10 punts.
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF’S TROPHYAir Force will be looking to win its first outright Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy since 2016. The annual award goes to the round-robin winner between the service academies.
The Falcons host Navy on Oct. 1 and play Army at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, on Nov. 5.
THE SCHEDULEAir Force opens the season by hosting Northern Iowa of the FCS ranks on Sept. 3. The Falcons follow that up by playing Colorado on Sept. 10. It will be the first team from a Power Five program to play at Falcon Stadium since a 13th-ranked California squad led by Aaron Rodgers beat Air Force 56-14 on Sept. 4, 2004. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/rawlinstimes/sports/falcons-quest-air-force-chases-mw-title-stadium-turns-60/article_5554e1aa-23bc-11ed-b257-533a43db5185.html | 2022-08-27T12:56:40Z |
Being a major college football coach is as much a lifestyle as it is a career.
Long hours. Rare days off. It’s a job that can pull those who do it away from their families, so maybe it’s no surprise when coaches try to carve out space at work for their loved ones.
A propensity to follow in Dad’s footsteps is a common one across the sport, but it has also helped perpetuate a lack of racial and ethnic diversity at the highest levels of coaching in college football.
The Associated Press examined the coaching rosters of the 65 schools that compete in Power Five conferences and found 26 instances of family members on the same coaching staff.
Of those, 23 involved white coaches, including at Iowa where coach Kirk Ferentz’s son, Brian, is the offensive coordinator. It also includes Purdue, where coach Jeff Brohm has brothers as offensive coordinator and chief of staff.
“The industry of football that we’re part of is so different from corporate,” said Maryland coach Mike Locksley, who is Black. “It’s corporate, but it is very familial. It crosses the line. Usually when you work somewhere you go home and it’s done. This private life, work life is so intertwined in the game of football and even in it’s hiring practices when you see the number of nepotism hires and the affiliations. The family trees, per se.”
Nepotism is a significant factor in why Black coaches are under-represented in major college football, according to the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches, which was founded by Locksley in 2020 to prepare and advocate for minority coaches at all levels of football.
“I don’t think anyone can debate that,” said attorney Raj Kudchadkar, the group’s executive director. “We can plow our resources into developing minority coaches, but if the top decision-makers are set on hiring family members all the training and advocacy in the world won’t get one of my members that position.”
According to the latest data compiled by the NCAA, 79% of head coaches at Power Five conference schools during the 2020 football season were white, 15% were Black and the rest were from other minority groups. Their teams were comprised of 45% Black players, 37% white and 18% from other groups.
Coaches tend to carefully craft and protect the culture of their programs, so they are apt to hire people they know and trust. And who can you trust more than a family member?
All three of Ferentz’s sons played football at Iowa. When Brian was done playing and expressed an interest in coaching, his father’s advice was to get out of Iowa City.
Brian Ferentz started his career as an offensive quality control/scouting assistant for the New England Patriots; Kirk Ferentz had worked as an assistant for Patriots coach Bill Belichick in Cleveland during the mid-1990s.
Brian Ferentz worked his way up to tight ends coach with New England in 2011, and when his father had an opening at offensive line coach in 2012, he moved back to Iowa.
The hire was met with scrutiny because it seemed to violate the school’s policy that discourages nepotism. A plan was approved by school officials to have athletic director Gary Barta evaluate Brian Ferentz’s performance; Barta at the time said it was his decision to hire the younger Ferentz.
“Why would a head coach not try to get the best possible assistant?” asked Kirk Ferentz, whose 110 Big Ten victories over a 24-year career ranks fourth in league history. “We all understand the economics and how it works, how the world works. But more importantly, we all want to be successful, have good teams. I don’t think there’s anything more important than hiring your staff.”
Half of Kirk Ferentz’s assistant coaches this season are former Iowa football players. Other than Brian Ferentz, the other former Hawkeyes on the staff are Black.
“That’s another form of nepotism, I guess,” Kirk Ferentz said. “I know their DNA, if you will, having been in the program.”
Colorado State quarterbacks coach Matt Mumme did not want a career in coaching when he was done playing college football for his father. But Hal Mumme pulled his son into the business when he became head coach at Southeastern Louisiana in 2003. Hal Mumme’s previous stop at Kentucky had ended in turmoil and NCAA violations.
“After the Kentucky thing, he’s like, ‘I just need to make sure that I have people that are loyal to me. That have my back when I have to be doing other things,’” Matt Mumme said.
The 47-year-old Mumme said Louisiana nepotism rules prevented his father from hiring him as a full-time coach so he worked for free there, and then followed Hal to New Mexico State.
South Carolina’s Shane Beamer is among 21 Power Five head coaches whose father coached football at either the high school, college or professional level. Among the others are Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh and Mississippi’s Lane Kiffin, according to AP research. Only one of those 21, David Shaw of Stanford, is Black.
When Beamer decided to get into coaching, he was determined to do it without the help of his Hall of Fame father, Frank Beamer of Virginia Tech. He said he sent dozens of letters to programs all over the country trying to land a graduate assistant position.
Graduate assistant is a highly coveted, entry-level job in coaching, especially at big programs. Rutgers coach Greg Schiano’s son, Joe, is a graduate assistant for the Scarlet Knights; Kansas State coach Chris Klieman’s son, Deven, is a graduate assistant for the Wildcats; and Indiana coach Tom Allen hired his son, Thomas, as a GA.
Shane Beamer landed his first grad assistant position in 2000 at Georgia Tech, where the athletic director and offensive coordinator at the time had previously worked with his father.
“I’m not naive. I get it,” Beamer said. “So that certainly helped me get my foot in the door. But then ultimately you’ve got to be able to keep yourself in the profession.”
Both Locksley and Kudchadkar are quick to point out that just because someone is the son of a coach it doesn’t mean they are undeserving of a position.
“You can’t blame the coaches that benefit from nepotism. But what I always say is in the same respect, we can’t ignore the issue and simply say it is what it is, right?” Kudchadkar said. “Many schools already have rules that address nepotism. We just need more schools to address it.”
Locksley said he has tried to get his son, Kai, who played quarterback at UTEP and is with the CFL’s Edmonton Elks, to pursue a coaching career.
“When I’ve talked to him about that he’s, like, ‘No, I want to see my kids grow up,’” Locksley said.
For the kids of coaches who are exposed to the game and lifestyle at a young age, the experience can be invaluable preparation for a career.
“I don’t necessarily think it’s a negative that these guys grow up in the profession and they grow up on these practices fields and they become coaches,” Locksley said. “Now the issue is — because we don’t have the minority numbers — you don’t see it very often with us.” | https://www.wyomingnews.com/rawlinstimes/sports/family-matters-nepotism-a-hurdle-to-diversity-in-coaching/article_c88d3442-23bc-11ed-b733-cbc4e0f7b846.html | 2022-08-27T12:56:47Z |
With the University of Wyoming set to open its season Saturday at Illinois, here are five keys to the Cowboys having a successful 2022 campaign.
Efficiency behind center
It’s easy to pin last year’s issues in the passing game solely on the quarterbacks, when, in reality, part of these woes could be attributed to predictable play-calling and a lack of proven receiving options behind Isaiah Neyor, who transferred to Texas during the offseason. Nonetheless, quarterback play must improve in order for the Cowboys to be a threat in the Mountain Division.
With Wyoming’s run-first offense, signal-callers don’t need to put up gaudy numbers. However, consistency is a must. The Pokes went 7-2 last year in games when they completed over 56% of their passes, while going 0-4 with a 41.8% completion rate in their other four games.
Playmaking pass catchers
After showing flashes of promise down the stretch of last season, sophomore Joshua Cobbs appears set to be the Cowboys’ go-to option in the passing game. Cobbs is Wyoming’s top returning receiver after hauling in 25 catches for 245 yards and a touchdown in 2021, and will look to fill a void created by the departure of Neyor and super senior Ayden Eberhardt.
With redshirt junior receiver Gunner Gentry suffering a season-ending injury last week, junior Wyatt Wieland and sophomore Alex Brown – who were already set to be regular contributors – will likely be called upon to step into even bigger roles. The pair combined for seven catches and 93 receiving yards last season, but with seven combined years in the program, their grasp of the offense should be an asset to a first-year starter at quarterback.
The tight ends’ ability to make an impact in the passing game shouldn’t be overlooked, either. Treyton Welch – whose two touchdown receptions in 2021 are the most of any returning player – and Parker Christensen hauled in a total of 32 catches for 290 yards last year. Colin O’Brien and Jackson Marcotte are two more veteran returners who will be in the mix at tight end.
Generate takeaways
The ability to force turnovers played a major role in the Cowboys’ first 4-0 start this century, as they generated eight takeaways and three defensive touchdowns during nonconference play.
They cooled off significantly in this department, however, as the season went on. Wyoming forced just six turnovers during the final nine games of the year, four of which came in rivalry wins over Colorado State and Utah State, as the Pokes went 2-6 against Mountain West competition.
Get to the quarterback
Another area the Cowboys will be looking to improve is their pass rush, with their 1.85 sacks per game in 2021 ranking second-to-last in the MW and 89th nationally. Despite losing several players with starting experience up front, though, there is optimism that they can be better in this area.
One reason why is UW’s speed at defensive end, with guys like Sabastian Harsh, Oluwaseyi Omotosho and DeVonne Harris receiving praise for their pass-rushing abilities during spring practice and training camp. Veteran defensive tackle Cole Godbout is also back after recording a team-high five sacks last season.
Establish the run
Once again, the run game is expected to be the focal point of Wyoming’s offensive attack. Titus Swen has stepped into the feature back role for the Cowboys after coming off a season in which he ranked second in the MW in yards per carry and led the team with seven rushing touchdowns. There’s optimism the Pokes won’t miss a beat, despite losing Xazavian Valladay – the No. 2 all-time leading rusher in school history – to the transfer portal.
Efficiency in the run game had a direct correlation in Wyoming’s success last season. The Cowboys averaged 6.02 yards per carry during their six FBS wins in 2021, while averaging just 4.1 yards per attempt in their six losses. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/rawlinstimes/sports/keys-to-success-for-wyoming-football-in-2022/article_f4e7c792-23bb-11ed-8889-87435612351c.html | 2022-08-27T12:56:53Z |
Hilary Knight is unaccustomed to losing, leaving the face of the U.S. national women’s hockey team still feeling the sting of watching the Canadians celebrate their gold-medal victory at the Beijing Winter Games in February.
The memory following a 3-2 loss had Knight looking ahead to settling several scores before the Americans left for Denmark, where they will open the world championships with a game against Japan on Thursday.
“I truly think we’re the best team in the world. And when that doesn’t show up in a tournament setting, then we haven’t achieved our potential,” Knight told The Associated Press. “So I think we’ve only scratched the surface at the Olympics.”
Informed there might be 23 players north of the border who might differ with her assessment of who’s best, Knight shrugged and said: “That’s fine. I don’t care. Cool.”
There might be 10 nations competing, but as is usually the case in women’s hockey, the focus revolves around the United States and Canada, who will resume the next chapter of one of sports’ fiercest and longest-running rivalries.
Canada has the bragging rights. The Canadians’ win at Beijing came four years after losing to the U.S. at the 2018 Games in South Korea. They’re also the defending world champions after a 3-2 overtime victory a year ago to end the Americans’ run of five straight titles. They handed the U.S. a 3-1 loss Tuesday in an exhibition game in Denmark, too.
Proud as he is of Canada’s accomplishments, coach Troy Ryan was reserved when informed of Knight’s comments.
“Any player or any coach, they have their opinions,” Ryan said. “We definitely don’t pay a whole lot of attention to what the opposition is saying. We focus on what makes us successful.”
Driving Canada’s success has been Ryan introducing a high-octane style of offense the women’s game has not seen in the 24 years since it became an Olympic sport.
Canada went 7-0 at Beijing and outscored its opponents by a combined margin of 57-10, including a 4-2 preliminary round win over the U.S. Led by Sarah Nurse’s 18 points, Canadians ranked first through sixth in the tournament’s points standings, with Knight tied for seventh with 10.
As with other nations, Canada’s roster is different now, with the nation missing five key players due to various other commitments. One player who will be on the ice is captain Marie-Philip Poulin, who scored the decisive goal over the Americans in each of their past two gold-medal meetings, and four times overall.
The Americans also return 18 of 23 Olympians, and feature a new coach in John Wroblewski, who replaces Joel Johnson.
Wroblewski brings an up-tempo approach of his own, and has spread his offense across four lines. That’s a switch from Johnson, who stacked his best players on two lines and heavily played his veterans, who wore down as the Olympic tournament progressed.
Wroblewski, otherwise, isn’t making major changes, except to emphasize more attention on finishing chances. The U.S. finished the Olympics seventh out of 10 teams in scoring efficiency with just 30 goals on a tournament-leading 374 shots.
“This group needs to just believe in us,” goalie Nicole Hensley said. “We have a lot of people in our room that have been successful at every single stage. We’ve done it before. We can do it again.”
One issue which could overshadow the tournament are contract talks involving the American and Canadian players and their respective federations. Both contracts run out at the end of the month, with the tournament’s championship game set for Sept. 4.
“It’s only a distraction if we make it one,” American captain Kendall Coyne Schofield said. “Yeah, of course we’d like to have it done by now, but we don’t for a reason. So we’ll see what happens.”
The annual world championship following each Olympic year has the potential of being the most competitive because of roster turnover and with teams having had little practice time given the quick turnaround following Beijing. That leaves nations such as Finland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and potentially Sweden having a chance to be competitive.
Such was the case in 2019, when Finland upset Canada in the semifinals and was a contentious no-goal call away from knocking off the Americans in the gold medal game.
Finland GM Tuula Puputti is cautiously optimistic her Olympic bronze medal-winning team can once again contend. Following Canada’s lead, the Finns are also introducing a more up-tempo offensive attack under new coach Juuso Toivola.
“Overall, it’s a good thing that we raise up the level of our game because we want to make it a product that is interesting. And the better we play, the more fun to watch,” Puputti said. “Obviously, (the Canadians and Americans) are still the ones to beat, but I’m excited to see if we have something new in our pockets.”
Ryan has put Beijing behind by focusing on the worlds representing a new challenge. To emphasize the point, Ryan brought in a guest speaker to discuss his experience of climbing Mount Everest.
“One of his messages was, you only get a very brief moment at the top, and then you make your descent,” Ryan said. “And that’s been our way of thinking. We were there. That was last year. We’re back at base camp, back to reality.” | https://www.wyomingnews.com/rawlinstimes/sports/knight-proclaims-usa-is-best-entering-womens-hockey-worlds/article_2cb0cb5a-23bd-11ed-a524-03452313b603.html | 2022-08-27T12:56:59Z |
The University of Wyoming made a handful of starting designations when it released its depth chart Tuesday afternoon, but the Cowboys declined to officially name their No. 1 quarterback for Saturday’s season opener at Illinois.
Illini coach Bret Bielema has yet to name a starting signal-caller for this week, as well, although all signs point toward Syracuse transfer Tommy Devito taking the first snaps.
As for Wyoming, Utah State transfer Andrew Peasley worked exclusively with the first-team offense during the 30 minutes of live work at training camp that was open to the media. Returners Hank Gibbs and Jayden Clemons, Snow College product Evan Svoboda and high school signee Caden Becker are the other quarterbacks listed on the Pokes’ roster.
“I don’t know what Bret has said, but we will name a starter to be announced,” UW coach Craig Bohl said.
One aspect about Peasley that his UW teammates and coaches appreciate is his ability to stay even-keeled, and not get too high or too low, regardless of the situation.
The junior notes that this wasn’t always the case. However, learning from former Utah State and current Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love — who was the starter for the Aggies during his first two years at the college level — helped him grow significantly in this area.
“That took some practice for me through the years,” Peasley said. “When I first got to college, I was pretty antsy — I was always up and then down if I made a good play or whatever. I just kind of learned to stay balanced, for the sake of other people, too. If you get too high on things, you build everyone up, and then if they see you get too low, they’re going to follow you.
“A big aspect was Jordan Love. He was the same guy all the time — just mellow. If we’d be losing, he’d still come to the sideline with the same level head. I kind of looked up to him a lot.”
Despite spending the past four years with a Mountain West rival, junior receiver Wyatt Wieland says it didn’t take long for Peasley to emerge as one of the leaders of the offense.
“The first thing that comes to mind is Peasley’s leadership, and how natural it is for him coming into a program he hasn’t been with,” Wieland said. “He really came in clicking with the guys, and nothing was forced. It didn’t seem like he demanded respect from anyone, but he got it pretty quickly from a lot of guys. And also his ability to extend plays and put an accurate ball on you is something that excites us receivers.”
Depth chart notes
There were two notable omissions from the Cowboys’ depth chart, with backup running back Dawaiian McNeely and defensive end Sabastian Harsh both being unavailable this weekend due to injuries. Bohl did not provide further information on the nature of these setbacks, or how long they might be out.
DeVonne Harris, Braden Siders and Oluwaseyi Omotosho are all expected to see playing time at defensive end, with no definitive starters being named. Redshirt freshmen Joey Braasch and D.Q. James are listed as the top backups to junior Titus Swen at running back, although the Pokes intend to lean more heavily on their No. 1 back than they have in recent years, when they’ve utilized at least two players on a regular basis.
Four starters — tackles Frank Crum and Eric Abojei, center Nofoafia Tulafono and right guard Emmanuel Pregnon — are penciled in on the offensive line. Left guard is still up in the air, but Bohl said that Zach Watts and Jack Walsh have “practiced well enough to play,” and both will see the field on Saturday.
Weakside linebacker is a spot that had some competition during the offseason, but sophomore Shae Suiaunoa showed enough over the past month to be declared the starter on Tuesday. Bohl says Michigan State transfer Cole DeMarzo will also see playing time, but the bulk of the reps will go to Suiaunoa.
Returning sophomore Cam Stone is listed as one of the starters at cornerback, with either Deron Harrell and Jakorey Hawkins — who transferred from Wisconsin and Ole Miss, respectively — set to start opposite of him. Regardless of who the No. 1 guy is, though, the Cowboys plan to rotate all three at the position.
UW didn’t name a starting punter, with 2021 starter Ralph Fawaz and Texas State transfer Clayton Stewart competing for the job. Stone and sophomore receiver Joshua Cobbs are slated to return kicks for the Pokes, with junior Caleb Cooley listed as the No. 1 punt returner. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/rawlinstimes/sports/pokes-join-illinois-in-leaving-no-1-qb-unannounced/article_e6cf3ff4-23bc-11ed-824f-7390b638f698.html | 2022-08-27T12:57:05Z |
...CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON
THROUGH EARLY EVENING FOR MUCH OF SOUTHEAST WYOMING...
...ELEVATED CONDITIONS ALSO POSSIBLE IN WESTERN NEBRASKA...
...RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 8 PM MDT
THIS EVENING FOR GUSTY WINDS AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR FIRE
WEATHER ZONES 418, 419, 420, 421, 422, AND 432...
* AFFECTED AREA...Fire Weather Zones 417-423, 425, and 430-433.
* WIND...West 15 to 20 MPH with gusts up to 35 MPH.
* HUMIDITY...10 to 15 percent.
* IMPACTS...Any fires that develop will likely spread rapidly.
Outdoor burning is not recommended.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions
are either occurring now, or will shortly. A combination of
strong winds, low relative humidity, and warm temperatures can
contribute to extreme fire behavior.
&&
The University of Wyoming soccer team dropped its second nonconference match to begin the season with a 4-1 loss against Oregon State this week at Paul Lorenz Field in Corvallis, Oregon.
Wyoming (0-2) scored for the first time this season when sophomore Maddi Chance created the opportunity after she was fouled by Oregon State’s Valerie Tobias in the penalty box in the 40th minute.
UW senior Jamie Tatum took the penalty kick and deposited the ball in the upper-right corner of the net to cut the Beavers’ lead to one goal at 2-1. It marked the 14th score of Tatum’s career.
Oregon State (1-0-1) opened the scoring in the fourth minute from the foot of Ava Benedetti. McKenna Martinez extended the Beavers’ advantage in the 17th minute with a feed from Amber Jackson.
Oregon State gave itself a two-goal cushion early in the second half when Martinez netted her second goal of the game 11 seconds into the half. Jackson closed the scoring by finding the back of the net in the 77th minute.
Oregon State tallied 21 shots, with a third of those on target. The Cowgirls had seven shots, with three of those on frame.
UW senior goalkeeper Miyuki Shoyen made three saves. Oregon State goalie Hailey Coll logged a pair of saves. Chance and Tatum accounted for two shots each, and junior Jazi Barela also had a pair of shots.
Wyoming completes its road trip with a contest against Montana at 2:30 p.m. Thursday at South Campus Stadium in Missoula, Montana. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/rawlinstimes/sports/uw-soccer-drops-match-at-oregon-state/article_2742419a-23bc-11ed-9eb2-6b2a2c41b289.html | 2022-08-27T12:57:11Z |
CHEYENNE – The Cheyenne Central girls swimming and diving team won three events and was second in three others to finish as runners up at the Gillette Relays on Friday.
The Lady Indians team of freshmen Laura VanHorn and Sydney Gough and juniors Izzy DeLay and Emily Meares won the 200-yard medley relay in 1 minute, 58 seconds.
DeLay, Meares and juniors Jaesa Whitesell and Andie Prince touched the wall first in the 200 butterfly relay (1:55.08).
The freshman quartet of Gough, VanHorn, Irelynn Fagan-Bridges and Kayleigh Hood won the 13-14 200 freestyle relay in 1:55.70.
DeLay, Prince, Whitesell and Gough were second in the 400 medley relay (4:27.25), and Whitesell, Gough, Meares and DeLay placed second in the 200 breaststroke (2:17.96).
The tandem of Brinkley Lewis and Addie Dalton joined forces to place second in 1-meter diving with 217.6 points.
Cheyenne South placed eighth at the 10-team meet. The Bison’s top finish came from the 200 butterfly relay team of juniors Janaeh Brown and Paula Musslick, freshman Elsie Gilliland and sophomore hanna Fisher (2:05.70).
East wins four duals in Rawlins
CHEYENNE -- The Cheyenne East girls swimming and diving team picked up four dual victories Friday in Rawlins.
The Lady Thunderbirds downed Rock Springs (98-81), Rawlins (98-84), Lyman (119-52) and Evanston (98-87).
Junior Sydni Sawyer and senior Shannon Bailey both won two events. Sawyer touched first in the 200-yard individual medley (2 minutes, 22.75 seconds) and the 500 freestyle (5:40.00). Bailey won the 100 free (1:00.11) and 100 breaststroke (1:16.44).
East also got a win from senior Denali Bronder in the 200 free (2:23.75). She also was second in the 100 breast (1:21.18).
Bailey, Sawyer, junior Macradee Jackson and freshman Nzelle Ayokosok won the 200 medley relay (2:04.71). Sawyer, Jackson, Ayokosok and freshman Emma Walton won the 400 free relay (4:20.09). | https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyosports/high_school/cheyenne_central/girls-swimming-central-second-at-gillette-relays/article_0caad780-25aa-11ed-b710-0fe23ea6f807.html | 2022-08-27T12:57:17Z |
Cheyenne South’s Santana Trujillo looks upfield as he returns a kickoff during the Bison's 42-0 loss to Thunder Basin on Friday, Aug. 26, 2022, in Gillette.
Cheyenne South celebrates an interception by defensive back Matthew Rivera during the Bison's 42-0 loss at Thunder Basin on Friday, Aug. 26, 2022, in Gillette.
Cheyenne South’s Santana Trujillo looks upfield as he returns a kickoff during the Bison's 42-0 loss to Thunder Basin on Friday, Aug. 26, 2022, in Gillette.
Ed Glazar/Gillette News Record
Cheyenne South celebrates an interception by defensive back Matthew Rivera during the Bison's 42-0 loss at Thunder Basin on Friday, Aug. 26, 2022, in Gillette.
Ed Glazar/Gillette News Record
Cheyenne South quarterback Osayas Garcia, center, takes a snap during the Bison's 42-0 loss to Thunder Basin on Friday, Aug. 26, 2022, in Gillette.
CHEYENNE – Kayden LaFramboise caught four touchdown passes and snared two interceptions to help Thunder Basin to a 42-0 victory over visiting Cheyenne South on Friday night in Gillette.
LaFramboise finished with 131 receiving yards. Quarterback Alonso Aguilar passed for 224 yards.
Nic Black rushed for 110 yards, including a 9-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
Kyle Papenfuss added a 25-yard scoring scamper with 2 minutes, 12 seconds to play.
“We had three trips in the red zone or close to the red zone and came away empty-handed,” first-year South coach Eli Moody told KRAE radio. “... There were too many missed tackles, hitting them in the backfield and having them spin off for 15 yards before someone else got to them.”
South’s Matt Rivera posted 13 tackles (12 solo) and an interception. Damien Pino also posted 13 tackles (11 solo). Michael Munoz also had a pick for the Bison, who host No. 1-ranked Sheridan at 6 p.m. Friday.
Sheridan 24 Chey. Central 21
CHEYENNE – Senior Colson Coon kicked a 22-yard field goal in the final seconds to give No. 1-ranked Sheridan a 24-21 win over visiting Cheyenne Central on Friday night at Homer Scott Field.
Coon had just missed a 41-yarder wide left but Central turned it over on the very next play, giving the reigning Class 4A state champions the ball back deep in Central territory.
No statistics or other information were made available to WyoSports on Friday night. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyosports/high_school/cheyenne_central/prep-football-south-central-both-fall-on-road/article_7ee57e4c-25b7-11ed-a328-57c3d9d3e33e.html | 2022-08-27T12:57:24Z |
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CHEYENNE – Senior Elysiana Fonseca posted 13 kills, nine ace serves and eight blocks to help the Cheyenne East volleyball team down Rawlins and Rock Springs on the opening day of the Cheyenne Invitational.
The Thunderbirds beat Rawlins (25-20, 25-6) and Rock Springs (25-18, 25-18).
Janie Merritt added 10 digs and six kills, while junior Taliah Morris posted five kills. Juniors Bradie Schlabs and Gracin Goff dished out 26 and 12 assists, respectively. Schlabs also had eight digs.
Senior libero Boden Liljedahl added 14 digs.
“We’re trying a lot of different things with different players in different positions, so today was a good day overall,” East coach Nicole Quigley said. “We were pretty composed in what we did and didn’t make many unforced errors.”
Central drops two matches
CHEYENNE – The Cheyenne Central volleyball team opened its season with a pair of losses on the first day of the Cheyenne Invitational.
The Indians lost to Thunder Basin (21-25, 22-25) and Natrona County (25-15, 11-25, 20-25).
Junior Cameron Moyte recorded 18 digs on the day. Joslyn Siedenburg and Brooklynn Sullivan both had eight kills. Sullivan also notched eight digs. Junior Aubrey Trujillo added 12 digs. Sophia Thomas dished out 25 assists to go with four blocks.
Burns goes 1-2 at Douglas
CHEYENNE – The Burns volleyball team opened the season by going 1-2 at the Douglas Invite.
The Lady Broncs lost to Wheatland (23-25, 14-25) and Buffalo (25-15, 17-25, 14-16) before beating SOutheast (25-21, 25-23).
Madison Foley had 31 digs on the day. Savannah Kirkbride posted 10 digs against Buffalo, while Emma Norris had 10 digs against Southeast. Tehya Gallegos dished out 10 assists against Buffalo. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyosports/high_school/cheyenne_central/prep-volleyball-east-opens-with-two-victories/article_1bf5029a-259d-11ed-9aec-3b97cd6cc5db.html | 2022-08-27T12:57:36Z |
CHEYENNE – Cheyenne East opened its season Friday night looking for its seventh consecutive win over Campbell County.
The Thunderbirds were able to do just that, dominating the Camels from the opening kickoff en route to a 47-28 win.
“I was just super proud of how (the kids) came together and did a great job for us,” head coach Chad Goff said. “They proved to themselves that they could do it. I’m proud of the team effort...and how everything ended up.”
The T-Birds scored on their opening drive, thanks to two big plays from Garet Schlabs and Drew Jackson. After turning the ball over on downs on their next drive, they scored on their next five possessions to close out the half.
While everything went right for East in the first half, not much went right for the Camels. Their best chance to score in the half came late in the second quarter. Mason Drube connected with Jeff Pelton on a 41-yard pass to put the Camels inside the T-Birds five-yard line. Two holding penalties hampered them and despite a 21-yard completion to Aidan Dorr on fourth down, the drive stalled out.
East quarterback Cam Hayes connected with Dom Kaszas on a 23-yard touchdown to close out the half.
After a three-and-out by the Camels to start the second half, Hayes connected with Jakob Culver for his third passing touchdown of the night to give East a 47-0 lead.
That proved to be the final nail in the coffin. Despite 28 second half points from Campbell County, they were unable to make up the deficit.
Jackson stole the show in Friday night’s game. Despite only playing one half, Jackson rushed for 100 yards on just 10 carries. He also burned the Camels defense in the passing game, racking up 109 yards on five receptions.
Jackson did not just dominate offensively. He also played well defensively. He had four solo tackles in the game and picked up the game’s lone interception.
“We all came together and we had a good week of practice,” Jackson said. “We all knew what we were going to be able to use and what we would be able to utilize in our offense.Everyone did a great job of executing.”
Jackson was not alone in his efforts. Hayes played outstanding as well. Hayes went 13 of 19 for 272 yards and three touchdowns before his night was over.
“(Hayes) did a great job of spreading the ball around,” Goff said. “I think that makes us pretty tough to cover when every kid does something when they are given that opportunity to do something.”
EAST 47, CAMPBELL CO. 28
Campbell County…… 0 0 7 21 – 28
Cheyenne East…… 19 21 7 0 – 47
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
CE: Kaszas 8 run (Bohlmann kick).
CE: Jackson 11 run (PAT missed).
CE: Kaszas 34 pass from Hayes (Two-point conversion failed).
Second Quarter
CE: Jensen 1 rush (Bohlmann kick).
CE: Schlabs 20 rush (Bohlmann kick).
CE: Kaszas 23 pass from Hayes (Bohlmann kick).
Third Quarter
CE: Culver 5 pass from Hayes (Bohlmann kick).
CC: Pelton 68 pass from Drube (Two-point conversion failed).
Fourth Quarter
CC: Fitzgerald19 pass from Drube (PAT Blocked)
CC: Drube 1 rush (Two-point conversion good).
CC: Vandom 1 pass from Drube (Two-point conversion good)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Campbell County: Drube 7-2, Carter 10-16, Rosenau 2-5, Peterson 2-18. Cheyenne East: Jackson 10-100, Kaszas 2-13, Pachecho 4-1, Mirich 4-23, Schlabs 2-57, Renton 6-19, Hayes 3-27, Fox 2-(minus-23)
Passing
Campbell County: Drube 22-34-1 296. Cheyenne East: Hayes 13-19-0 272, Mirich 3-3-0 16, Fox 1-1-0 3.
Receiving
Campbell County: Sharkey 1-18, Gossel 1-33, Pelton 2-86, Walter 1-4, Miller 2-79, Tompkins 4-70, Dymond 3-42. Cheyenne East: Jackson 5-109, Kaszas 3-62, Hohn 2-7, Mirich 2-35, Schlabs 1-55, Culver 2-11, Whirtright 1-3, Bohlmann 1-9. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyosports/high_school/cheyenne_east/east-dominates-campbell-county-in-season-opener/article_bf63c3ae-25bf-11ed-98aa-1732ec67f5da.html | 2022-08-27T12:57:42Z |
LARAMIE — Casper Natrona took advantage of ideal field position and made plenty of plays in the passing game to open the Class 4A season with a 40-0 win against Laramie Friday night at Deti Stadium.
The game was a defensive battle in the first half with the difference just 14-0 at halftime. But the Mustangs had much shorter fields to work with and the Plainsmen were consistently pinned deep in their territory.
“There’s no question Natrona is vying for a state championship in 4A and one of the best teams in the state,” Laramie coach Paul Ronga said. “What we were able to do for the first half in how we competed with them and stayed with them was very encouraging.
“Then with the old adage of the cream rising to the top, because of their superiority and in terms of their numbers and overall skill, talent, size, speed and strength, it just wore us down. Our guys were losing the leverage and consistency we maintained.”
Several times during the game the field position was dictated by a difference in special teams. When Natrona punter Christopher Tomlinson booted the ball, he was rewarded with forward bounces and rolls for big chunks of yards. When Laramie junior punter Tyler Ennist put his foot to the ball, he was unlucky with sky-high kicks and bounces that went backwards.
“Field position is huge, and I’m big on special teams, which is 30% of the game,” Ronga said. “Natrona punting the ball and having it downed on our 1 forcing us to go 99 yards, no offense can do that. We also had some bobbles on punt and kickoff returns. When Natrona’s punt returner bobbled the ball, they recovered.
“Natrona was really executing special teams at a higher degree than we were, and most notably what really got me was a blocked field goal. (Natrona) did everything right on special teams and we did not measure up to them, and it really made a difference in the game.”
Midway through the first quarter, Laramie couldn’t advance the ball after trying to start from its own 2-yard line. That gave the Mustangs the ball at the Plainsmen’s 31 after a short punt.
Natrona made the quick drive count when senior quarterback Wyatt Powell punched the ball into the end zone with a keeper up the middle for a 2-yard touchdown run for the first score of the game with 2:39 on the clock in the first quarter.
Laramie responded with its best drive of the game, starting at its own 21 and taking the ball to the Natrona 15. Junior quarterback Ben Malone hooked up with senior receiver Adrien Calderon for gains of 25 and 11, the latter being a catch over the middle for a critical first down to the Mustangs’ 31 on 3rd-and-9. Senior running back Mahlon Morris later rumbled for 15 yards to the 15. But three passing plays fell incomplete and Ennist’s 32-yard field goal attempt was blocked.
Natrona then marched down the field on the next possession with timely third-down conversions by virtue of the passing game, ending with a 24-yard pass from Powell to senior tight end Kayden Pharr on a seam route up the middle with 1:12 left before halftime.
The Plainsmen appeared to get back in the game with under a minute left in the second quarter when Morris took off down the left sideline for a 70-yard tackle-breaking touchdown run. But the dreaded yellow flag was laying on the field way back at the line of scrimmage.
The second half was a carbon-copy of the start of the game when it came to the battle of field position going in favor of the Mustangs.
Natrona made the most of it with two touchdowns and one extra point in each of the final two quarters for the final difference.
The Mustangs had 400 yards of total offense with 248 in passing and 152 rushing. Powell was 9-of-13 for 196 yards and a touchdown. He also ran the ball for 44 yards and two scores.
The Plainsmen had 65 yards of offense with 51 of those from the passing of Malone, who was 5-of-12.
Although there were some near fumbles and interceptions, neither team had a turnover.
“We lost five home games last year, we have five home games this year and the first two are at home,” Ronga said. “We are already 0-1 at home with another home game next week. ... For me, I consider it a playoff game and a must-win for us. We have to do something positive at home, and we are trying to get there.”
The Plainsmen will host Campbell County at 6 p.m. Friday. The Camels opened the season with a 47-28 loss to Cheyenne East. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyosports/high_school/laramie_high/mustangs-pull-away-from-plainsmen-in-2nd-half/article_01536a70-2585-11ed-bfab-77973aa551aa.html | 2022-08-27T12:57:49Z |
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MEXICO CITY — Six of the 43 college students "disappeared" in 2014 were allegedly kept alive in a warehouse for days then turned over to the local army commander who ordered them killed, the Mexican government official leading a Truth Commission said Friday.
Interior Undersecretary Alejandro Encinas made the shocking revelation directly tying the military to one of Mexico's worst human rights scandals, and it came with little fanfare as he made a lengthy defense of the commission's report released a week earlier.
Last week, despite declaring the abductions and disappearances a "state crime" and saying that the army watched it happen without intervening, Encinas made no mention of six students being turned over to Col. José Rodríguez Pérez.
On Friday, Encinas said authorities were closely monitoring the students from the radical teachers' college at Ayotzinapa from the time they left their campus through their abduction by local police in the town of Iguala that night. A soldier who had infiltrated the school was among the abducted students, and Encinas asserted the army did not follow its own protocols and try to rescue him.
"There is also information corroborated with emergency 089 telephone calls where allegedly six of the 43 disappeared students were held during several days and alive in what they call the old warehouse and from there were turned over to the colonel," Encinas said. "Allegedly the six students were alive for as many as four days after the events and were killed and disappeared on orders of the colonel, allegedly the then Col. José Rodríguez Pérez."
The defense department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the allegations Friday.
The role of the army in the students' disappearance has long been a source of tension between the families and the government. From the beginning, there were questions about the military's knowledge of what happened and its possible involvement. The students' parents demanded for years that they be allowed to search the army base in Iguala. It was not until 2019 that they were given access along with Encinas and the Truth Commission.
The commission report says the army registered an anonymous emergency call on Sept. 30, 2014, four days after the students' abduction. The caller reportedly said the students were being held in a large concrete warehouse in a location described as "Pueblo Viejo." The caller proceeded to describe the location.
That entry was followed by several pages of redacted material, but that section of the report concluded with the following: "As can be seen, obvious collusion existed between agents of the Mexican state with the criminal group Guerreros Unidos that tolerated, allowed and participated in events of violence and disappearance of the students, as well as the government's attempt to hide the truth about the events."
Later, in a summary of how the commission's report differed from the original investigation's conclusions, there is mention of a colonel.
"On Sept. 30 'the colonel' mentions that they will take care of cleaning everything up and that they had already taken charge of the six students who had remained alive," the report said.
In a witness statement provided to federal investigators in December 2014, Capt. José Martínez Crespo, who was stationed at the base in Iguala, said the base commander for the 27th Infantry Battalion at the time was Col. José Rodriguez Pérez.
Through a driving rain later Friday, the families of the 43 missing students marched in Mexico City with a couple hundred other people as they have on the 26th of every month for years.
Parents carried posters of their children's faces and rows of current students from the teachers' college marched, shouted calls for justice and counted off to 43. Their signs proclaimed that the fight for justice continued and asserted: "It was the State."
Clemente Rodríguez marched for his son Christian Alfonso Rodríguez Telumbre, who was a second student identified by a tiny burned bone fragment.
Rodríguez said the families had been told last week before the report was released about the colonel and the six students.
"It's not by omission anymore. It's that they participated," he said of the military. "It was the state, the three levels of government participated."
He said the families had not been told that any of the arrest orders announced last week for members of armed forces had been carried out yet.
On Sept. 26, 2014, local police took the students off buses they had commandeered in Iguala. The motive for the police action remains unclear eight years later. Their bodies have never been found, though fragments of burned bone have been matched to three of the students.
Last week, federal agents arrested former Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam, who oversaw the original investigation. On Wednesday, a judge ordered that he stand trial for forced disappearance, not reporting torture and official misconduct. Prosecutors allege Murillo Karam created a false narrative about what happened to the students to quickly appear to resolve the case.
Authorities also said last week that arrest warrants were issued for 20 soldiers and officers, five local officials, 33 local police officers and 11 state police officers as well as 14 gang members. Neither the army nor prosecutors have said how many of those suspects are in custody.
It was also not immediately clear if Rodríguez Pérez was among those sought.
Rodríguez, the student's father, said Murillo Karam's arrest was a positive step.
Murillo Karam "was the one who told us the soldiers couldn't be touched," Rodríguez said. "And now it's being discovered that it was the state that participated."
In a joint statement, the families said the Truth Commission's confirmation that it was a "state crime" was significant after elements suggesting that over the years.
However, they said the report still did not satisfactorily answer their most important question.
"Mothers and fathers need indubitable scientific evidence as to the fate of our children," the statement said. "We can't go home with preliminary signs that don't fully clear up where they are and what happened to them."
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has given Mexico's military enormous responsibility. The armed forces are not only at the center of his security strategy, but they have taken over administration of the seaports and been given responsibility for building a new airport for the capital and a tourist train on the Yucatan Peninsula.
The president has said often that the army and navy are the least corrupt institutions and have his confidence.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-26/6-of-the-43-missing-mexican-students-were-turned-over-to-the-army-official-says | 2022-08-27T13:11:31Z |
Many of the individuals recently charged by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' new election crimes unit told investigators they had no idea that with their felony convictions, they were unable to vote when they cast ballots in the 2020 election.
Their experiences shed new light on Florida's controversial program for felons to restore their voting rights.
In a press conference last week, DeSantis announced to a crowd of supporters that the election crimes unit was charging 20 people across the state with voting illegally.
DeSantis described the arrests as the "opening salvo" from the new election and security unit. State lawmakers passed legislation earlier this year, known as Senate Bill 524, that created the policing force. The legislation followed pressure from DeSantis for the state to spend more resources on combating alleged voter fraud, which experts say remains very rare in American elections.
"People weren't getting prosecuted," he said last week. "Before we proposed this [unit] there were examples of this stuff seeming to fall through the cracks."
State law permits felons to try to gain back their voting rights, but not after convictions for certain crimes.
"They were disqualified from voting because they have been convicted of either murder or sexual assault and they do not have the right to vote," DeSantis said of the 20 people charged. "They have been disenfranchised under Florida law."
According to court documents, though, some of the 20 individuals told law enforcement officials that they thought they were able to vote when they cast ballots.
David Christopher Dana in Broward County, just north of Miami, told law enforcement agents in early August, according to an affidavit seeking his arrest, that he filled out a voter registration form "to see if his right to vote had been restored." The 58-year-old, who was convicted of a felony sex offense, later received a voter registration card, and then voted in person on Oct. 22, 2020.
Terry Hubbard, who was convicted in 1989 of sexual battery of a victim under 12 years old, told law enforcement that he registered to vote at the Broward County Property Appraiser's Office. Afterward, he was sent "a ballot and a letter in the mail stating he was eligible to vote," according to court documents. The 64-year-old then returned the mail ballot.
Advocates see a broken system
Florida voting rights advocates say these prosecutions are the result of the state's failure to create a system where individuals and election officials can easily verify whether someone has the right to vote after serving time for a felony conviction.
Some local election officials have told media outlets, including Politico, that counties forward voter registrations to the state, which is supposed to have statewide databases to cross-reference for eligibility.
In 2018, Florida voters approved a ballot measure so that the state would automatically restore the voting rights of people with prior felony convictions — except for people who committed murder or a felony sex offense. But during the following legislative session, the state legislature stepped in and passed legislation that required these returning citizens to fulfill every part of their sentence, including paying any fees or fines, in order to regain voting rights.
Nicholas Warren, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Florida, says state lawmakers essentially created a "pay to vote" system, but they never created a way for these individuals to figure out how much they owe or if they owe anything at all.
"There is no simple way for a person who is coming out of their felony sentence to check whether they are eligible to vote," he told NPR. "And the rules are very complicated in Florida."
Neil Volz, deputy director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, says his group has been asking state officials to solve this issue for years now.
"We need to make sure that our data management system on the front end works in a way that gives assurances and clarity around the eligibility," he said.
Volz says voters should also be able to trust the state when they are issued a voter registration card. "It leads to the question of, if you can't count on the government to tell you if you are eligible to vote, then who can you count on?"
Advocates also say the state shouldn't be prosecuting individuals who say they didn't know they were unable to vote, because, Volz said, Florida law requires "the state to prove that someone willfully, intentionally, knowingly registered or voted while knowing that they were ineligible."
In reality, though, the ACLU's Warren says these kinds of cases play out differently than what the law intends. Like with most criminal prosecutions, those charged face a lot of pressure to plead guilty in order to avoid a jury trial.
"That's why we have seen some of the recent prosecutions of folks who by all accounts really genuinely did not know that they were ineligible when they registered and voted," he said. "They were even registered to vote in registration drives conducted by election officials."
Volz says these prosecutions come with significant human costs. The 20 individuals face up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. He says he hopes these charges become a catalyst for state officials to finally solve this problem.
"We need to focus on solving this problem together rather than turning this into a political punching bag and using the lives of real people — real citizens in Florida — to play politics," he said.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/20-were-charged-for-voter-fraud-in-florida-advocates-say-a-broken-system-is-to-blame | 2022-08-27T13:11:38Z |
Tens of thousands of Afghans are trying to establish new lives in the United States. Many were at-risk and granted special immigration status because of the help they provided the American military.
Copyright 2022 KPBS Radio
Tens of thousands of Afghans are trying to establish new lives in the United States. Many were at-risk and granted special immigration status because of the help they provided the American military.
Copyright 2022 KPBS Radio | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/a-year-after-the-war-ended-some-afghans-in-the-u-s-find-the-transition-difficult | 2022-08-27T13:11:44Z |
Scientists say New England is having more frequent droughts than before. They threaten farmers, deplete water supplies, and increase the risk of wildfires. This summer's been a tough one.
Copyright 2022 WBUR
Scientists say New England is having more frequent droughts than before. They threaten farmers, deplete water supplies, and increase the risk of wildfires. This summer's been a tough one.
Copyright 2022 WBUR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/as-drought-persists-in-northeast-farmers-face-uncertain-future | 2022-08-27T13:11:50Z |
A nuclear power plant in eastern Ukraine is at risk of melting down because of attacks on the surrounding electric grid. European officials want international inspectors to visit the plant.
Copyright 2022 NPR
A nuclear power plant in eastern Ukraine is at risk of melting down because of attacks on the surrounding electric grid. European officials want international inspectors to visit the plant.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/at-ukraines-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-power-plant-officials-try-to-prevent-a-meltdown | 2022-08-27T13:11:57Z |
Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/blind-state-supreme-court-judge-drives-for-first-time | 2022-08-27T13:12:03Z |
Scott Simon gets an update from Nick Higgins, chief librarian of the Brooklyn Public Library, on the Books Unbanned initiative. It makes e-books and audiobooks available to teens nationwide.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Scott Simon gets an update from Nick Higgins, chief librarian of the Brooklyn Public Library, on the Books Unbanned initiative. It makes e-books and audiobooks available to teens nationwide.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/brooklyn-public-library-makes-banned-books-available-to-teens-for-free | 2022-08-27T13:12:10Z |
California wants to drive a stake into the heart of gas-powered vehicles.
State regulators approved a policy Thursday that will ban the sale of new gas cars by 2035 in what is the country's largest auto market.
It's part of an ambitious plan to fight climate change by accelerating the transition to an electric future, and it's a decision a handful of states are expected to follow.
Despite the strong demand for electric cars, sales made up only 3% of total car sales last year.
The race now is for automakers to increase the production of electric vehicles, but that alone won't be enough.
Analysts say the industry faces several challenges in ending sales of gas-powered cars by 2035.
Electric vehicles are still really expensive
The average price of an electric vehicle is currently $66,000 — well beyond the means of many people.
"That's not going to fit in a lot of people's monthly budgets at this point in time," says Jessica Caldwell, executive director of Insights at Edmunds. "They [automakers] have to introduce the more expensive, more costly, higher-margin vehicles first to make the money to start to finance some of the lower-cost vehicles."
Car companies like Chevrolet and General Motors are aiming to release more-affordable options in the coming years. A key provision of President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act also provides a revamped $7,500 tax credit when buying a new electric car, although it has a number of caveats.
But to make cars more affordable, electric vehicles will need to make batteries more cost-effective.
"The batteries are simply more expensive than the internal combustion engine," says Carla Bailo, president and CEO of the Center for Automotive Research. "Most manufacturers are saying by 2025 batteries will be on par with the cost of an internal combustion engine and when that happens, that will definitely help bring the price down."
However, making batteries cheaper presents another challenge.
China dominates the critical minerals market
China currently dominates the rare earth mineral market and the auto industry has long relied on the country to source EV batteries.
The Biden administration is pushing automakers to reduce their dependence on China, but that's easier said than done.
"Something in the order of about 90% of the lithium that's used in batteries is processed in China right now, which is not a desirable situation," says Sam Abuelsamid, an analyst with Guidehouse Insights.
And finding new sources or partners won't be easy.
"Obtaining minerals from places with which we have trade agreements is going to be the biggest challenge because there's huge competition for that," says Michelle Krebs, executive analyst with Cox Automotive. "Everybody's scrambling to cut deals for the minerals."
But even if companies are able to ramp up production, they could run into another problem.
The EV infrastructure is still pretty limited
Not only are there too few charging stations across the country, many existing stations don't always work.
A recent survey by J.D. Power found that the limited availability and reliability of charging stations is a key factor holding people back from buying electric vehicles.
The federal government is spending $7.5 billion to expand the country's charging infrastructure.
But even if it gets there, it's not clear how much an already fragile and vulnerable electric grid can handle.
Then, there's another hurdle.
Adjusting the auto industry's workforce
Embracing an electric future and accelerating the mass adoption of electric vehicles will require automakers to adjust their workforce.
Companies will need engineers with a different set of skills for this transition.
"They're not going to be designing new transmissions, but instead they need people with the skills to design electric motors and electrical architectures," says Abuelsamid.
Analysts expect to see companies lay off some workers while hiring in departments geared toward electric vehicles in the coming years.
From ramping up production to revamping the workforce, the transition is unlikely to be a smooth process for buyers, drivers and — especially — the auto industry, but transitions rarely are.
"They're bumpy and I think there are going to be some things that are unpredictable," says Krebs. "So buckle up."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/california-wants-to-end-sales-of-new-gas-cars-by-2035-here-are-4-key-roadblocks | 2022-08-27T13:12:16Z |
Scott Simon talks with Cecilia Sottilotta, assistant professor of international relations at The American University of Rome, about far-right Italian politician Giorgia Meloni.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Scott Simon talks with Cecilia Sottilotta, assistant professor of international relations at The American University of Rome, about far-right Italian politician Giorgia Meloni.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/far-right-political-leader-giogira-meloni-takes-spotlight-in-italys-general-election | 2022-08-27T13:12:22Z |
Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from past weeks, and new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors and musicians, and often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. This week:
Comic Mo Amer draws on his Palestinian and Texan roots in a new Netflix series: Amer grew up in Kuwait, where he enjoyed a comfortable life — until he was 9, and the first Gulf War forced his family to flee to the U.S. in 1991. His new series is Mo.
Elegant film 'Three Minutes' shows Polish town before it was erased by the Holocaust: Bianca Stigter's documentary, Three Minutes: A Lengthening, brings the past to life with an almost archaeological gaze.
After a career of cracking cold cases, investigator Paul Holes opens up: Holes spent more than 20 years investigating crimes in California and played a critical role in identifying Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. as the so-called Golden State Killer. His new book is Unmasked.
You can listen to the original interviews and review here:
Comic Mo Amer draws on his Palestinian and Texan roots in a new Netflix series
Elegant film 'Three Minutes' shows Polish town before it was erased by the Holocaust
After a career of cracking cold cases, investigator Paul Holes opens up
Copyright 2022 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/fresh-air-weekend-comic-mo-amer-cold-case-investigator-paul-holes | 2022-08-27T13:12:29Z |
Scott Simon speaks to writer and director Owen Kline about his new movie, "Funny Pages," in which a young cartoonist explores the relationship between creativity and craft.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Scott Simon speaks to writer and director Owen Kline about his new movie, "Funny Pages," in which a young cartoonist explores the relationship between creativity and craft.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/in-funny-pages-a-teenage-cartoonist-throws-himself-into-his-drawings | 2022-08-27T13:12:35Z |
Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/lets-revisit-the-1960-film-psycho | 2022-08-27T13:12:42Z |
European sanctions on Russia have caused massive traffic back-ups along the Latvian border. The war has also put the region's inhabitants in the middle of two hostile power blocs.
Copyright 2022 NPR
European sanctions on Russia have caused massive traffic back-ups along the Latvian border. The war has also put the region's inhabitants in the middle of two hostile power blocs.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/long-lines-of-trucks-at-the-latvia-russia-border-show-immense-toll-of-war | 2022-08-27T13:12:48Z |
JACKSON, Miss. — The rental home that Suzannah Thames owns in Mississippi's capital city was filled with dirty, snake-infested flood water when the Pearl River overflowed its banks in 2020.
On Friday, Thames pointed to a column on the front porch to show how deep the water was then — about up to her waist. She's now getting ready for another inundation, days after storms dumped torrential rainfall in Mississippi and other parts of the Deep South.
Hydrologists predict the Pearl River near Jackson will crest by Tuesday somewhat short of the levels it reached two years ago. Emergency officials are telling people in low-lying areas to prepare for flooding of homes and businesses.
Thames hired a crew to move furniture, appliances and other belongings out of the three-bedroom home that she now rents to a newly married couple — a medical student and engineer who will temporarily stay in a short-term vacation rental.
"We're fortunate that we have two trailers," Thames said as she oversaw the move. "There's people who don't have anything. There's people who are going to lose everything."
Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba has urged residents in flood zones to pack enough belongings to get them through several days of evacuation. He said law enforcement officers will increase patrols to protect property.
"Don't allow that to be an impediment for you saving your life and saving the lives of those other individuals in your home," Lumumba said during a news conference Friday.
Second-year medical student Emily Davis and her husband, engineer Andrew Bain, rent the white-brick home from Thames in northeast Jackson. Davis said they knew they were moving into a flood zone, but this is the first time she's ever had to prepare for high water.
"I've felt really stressed because there's so much to do — so much more than I realized to do," Davis said as workers hoisted items into moving vans.
Thames said the rental home is covered by flood insurance, and she lives in an elevated house nearby. She said her house is built 4 feet (1.2 meters) above the line of a massive 1979 flood.
Thames said she wants officials to move forward with a long-discussed plan to build another lake near Jackson to control flooding in the metro area. The project has stalled amid funding problems and opposition from people downstream along the Pearl River.
Thames describes her neighborhood as "paradise" because she can watch deer, alligators and other wildlife less than a mile from the Pearl River, even inside the city limits.
"I've lived in the flood zone for 30 years," Thames said. "I'm not crying, 'Oh, poor me, I've been flooded,' because I knew of the potentiality of it and I prepared for it."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/mississippi-residents-are-preparing-for-possible-river-flooding | 2022-08-27T13:12:55Z |
MANILA, Philippines — Philippine coast guard personnel and volunteers have rescued more than 80 passengers and crew of an inter-island ferry that caught fire as it approached a port south of Manila, prompting many to jump into the water as flames spread fast in windy weather, officials said Saturday.
Only two passengers are unaccounted for and authorities are checking if the two are missing or had been rescued but immediately went home without notifying officials who led the search efforts Friday, the coast guard said. The M/V Asia Philippines was listed as carrying 49 passengers and 38 crewmembers.
The ferry, which came from Calapan city in Oriental Mindoro province, was more than a kilometer (about a mile) away from the Batangas port, when smoke emerged from the second deck followed by flames, according to one of the rescued passengers.
The ferry's proximity to the port allowed the rapid rescue of the victims even after nightfall by coast guard vessels and nearby ships, motor bancas and tugboats. One ship helped the coast guard extinguish the fire, which gutted the ferry that also carried at least 16 cars and trucks, coast guard officials said.
Passenger Benedict Fernandez told DZMM radio Friday night that smoke and flames suddenly rose from the second deck as crew members were apparently trying to turn an engine on and off as the ferry approached the port. There was no immediate order to abandon ship, but when it became hard to see because of the smoke, he said he decided to jump into the water with his two children from the third deck, along with other passengers.
"I pushed my children off because if we didn't jump from the top, we would really get burned because the soles of our feet were already feeling the heat," Fernandez said.
They were rescued from the water by another boat that approached the burning ship and then transferred to a tugboat, which brought them to port, he said.
Pictures released by the coast guard showed its personnel trying to revive a rescued passenger, a 43-year-old woman, at the port before she was taken to a hospital with injuries. Fernandez said he and his two children, who were shaken by the experience, and other passengers were taken to a hotel by officials of the company that owned the ferry.
The ferry, which has been towed to an anchorage area, can carry about 400 passengers, the coast guard said, adding an investigation was underway. In the past, there have been instances when ferries carried unlisted passengers in defiance of regulations.
Sea accidents are common in the Philippine archipelago because of frequent storms, badly maintained boats, overcrowding and spotty enforcement of safety regulations, especially in remote provinces.
In December 1987, the ferry Dona Paz sank after colliding with a fuel tanker, killing more than 4,300 people in the world's worst peacetime maritime disaster.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/more-than-80-people-have-been-rescued-from-a-philippine-ferry-fire | 2022-08-27T13:13:01Z |
Scott Simon talks with Elizabeth Sepper, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin about the legal landscape of abortion access in the state.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Scott Simon talks with Elizabeth Sepper, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin about the legal landscape of abortion access in the state.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/new-texas-trigger-law-makes-abortion-a-felony | 2022-08-27T13:13:08Z |
Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/nomad-century-delivers-a-message-thats-sharp-and-jolting-about-mankinds-future | 2022-08-27T13:13:14Z |
Spoiler alert: this essay may contain endings to films you have not seen. Especially, it seems, if you live in China.
Reuters reports government censors there have spliced a new ending announcement onto the movie "Minions: The Rise of Gru." Instead of just letting Gru and Wild Knuckles, the film's anti-heroes, evade authorities and ride off with smiles, Chinese censors added a message instructing viewers that supervillain Wild Knuckles was arrested and served 20 years in jail, while Gru returned to a quiet life with his family.
China shows a limited number of foreign films, and many of them have some scenes cut, or the endings changed, so those movies don't appear to undermine official authorities.
Undermining authority propels the plot of so many great films, from "The Godfather" to "Breathless," "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" to "Boyz N the Hood."
But in China, that kind of storyline doesn't just earn a low rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
You might consider what kind of new ending could be added to a few well-known movies to make them more agreeable to censors there.
"Jaws" wouldn't end with the shark sinking the boat and then getting blown apart by an exploding air tank, but with a sign that tells viewers, "the pernicious shark was captured by the Armed Maritime Police of the People's Republic of China and released into Australian coastal waters."
At the end of Kurosawa's "Rashomon," which depicts a story from four different viewpoints, officials might splice on an ending to say, "but the viewpoint of the Chinese Communist Party is always correct."
An on-screen coda might announce that Paddington Bear was detained for swiping marmalade. Or that Principal Rooney got Ferris Bueller expelled for skipping class, and sent to reform school. But Ferris has atoned for his transgressions and is happy to be a loyal and productive member of society.
And if "Casablanca" were to be shown today in China, the new ending might have Rick tell Ilsa, "we'll always have Paris, but what a shame it couldn't be Guangzhou." And then all the characters would adjourn to Rick's Cafe to tearfully sing a stirring anthem.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/opinion-in-china-movie-villains-dont-get-away | 2022-08-27T13:13:20Z |
The slide at Belle Isle Park reopened after the pandemic — and promptly closed four hours later after it proved more perilous than anticipated.
Copyright 2022 NPR
The slide at Belle Isle Park reopened after the pandemic — and promptly closed four hours later after it proved more perilous than anticipated.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/pay-a-dollar-grab-a-burlap-sack-and-scooch-down-detroits-slide-of-pain | 2022-08-27T13:13:27Z |
Scott Simon talks with Howard Bryant of Meadowlark Media about Serena Williams' performance and veteran St. Louis Cardinals player Albert Pujols closing in on 700 career home runs.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Scott Simon talks with Howard Bryant of Meadowlark Media about Serena Williams' performance and veteran St. Louis Cardinals player Albert Pujols closing in on 700 career home runs.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/saturday-sports-serena-williams-farewell-us-open-albert-pujuls-looks-toward-700-career-home-runs | 2022-08-27T13:13:33Z |
The chairman of the Federal Reserve surprised the stock market when he said the central bank would continue raising interest rates. The remarks also mean more pain for home buyers and other borrowers.
Copyright 2022 NPR
The chairman of the Federal Reserve surprised the stock market when he said the central bank would continue raising interest rates. The remarks also mean more pain for home buyers and other borrowers.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/stocks-tumble-after-fed-announces-plan-to-keep-interest-rates-up | 2022-08-27T13:13:40Z |
The affidavit for the Mar-a-Lago search earlier this month details what authorities found among earlier batches of documents that former President Donald Trump took with him when he left office.
Copyright 2022 NPR
The affidavit for the Mar-a-Lago search earlier this month details what authorities found among earlier batches of documents that former President Donald Trump took with him when he left office.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/takeaways-from-the-affidavit-in-trump-mar-a-lago-search | 2022-08-27T13:13:46Z |
Democratic candidates pick up momentum as the elections near. The additional revelations surrounding the search of Mar-a-Lago could help them.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Democratic candidates pick up momentum as the elections near. The additional revelations surrounding the search of Mar-a-Lago could help them.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/week-in-politics-inflation-brings-political-pain-fbi-released-mar-a-lago-affidavit | 2022-08-27T13:13:53Z |
As life-preserving medical technology advanced in the second half of the 20th century, doctors and families were faced with a thorny decision, one with weighty legal and moral implications: How should we define when life ends? Cardiopulmonary bypass machines could keep the blood pumping and ventilators could maintain breathing long after a patient's natural ability to perform those vital functions had ceased.
After decades of deliberations involving physicians, bioethicists, attorneys, and theologians, a U.S. presidential commission in 1981 settled on a scientifically derived dividing line between life and death that has endured, more or less, ever since: A person was considered dead when the entire brain — including the brainstem, its most primitive portion — was no longer functioning, even if other vital functions could be maintained indefinitely through artificial life support.
In the decades since, the committee's criteria have served as a foundation for laws in most states adopting brain death as a standard for legal death.
Now, with the overturning of Roe v. Wade and dozens of states rushing to impose abortion restrictions, American society is engaged in a chaotic race to define the other pole of human existence: When exactly does human life begin? At conception, the hint of a heartbeat, a first breath, the ability to survive outside the womb with the help of the latest technology?
A legal and political maelstrom
That we've been able to devise and apply uniform clinical standards for when life ends, but not when it begins, is due largely to the legal and political maelstrom around abortion.
And in the two months since the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, eliminating a long-standing federal right to abortion, state legislators are eagerly bounding into that void, looking to codify into law assorted definitions of life that carry profound repercussions for abortion rights, birth control, and assisted reproduction, as well as civil and criminal law.
When life begins is up to whoever is running your state — whether you agree with them or not.
"The court said that when life begins is up to whoever is running your state — whether they are wrong or not, or you agree with them or not," said Mary Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California-Davis who has written several books on the history of abortion.
Unlike the debate over death, which delved into exquisite medical and scientific detail, the legislative scramble to determine when life's building blocks reach a threshold that warrants government protection as human life has generally ignored the input of mainstream medical professionals.
Instead, red states across much of the South and portions of the Midwest are adopting language drafted by elected officials that is informed by conservative Christian doctrine, often with little scientific underpinning.
A handful of Republican-led states, including Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, and Oklahoma, have passed laws declaring that life begins at fertilization, a contention that opens the door to a host of pregnancy-related litigation. This includes wrongful death lawsuits brought on behalf of the estate of an embryo by disgruntled ex-partners against physicians and women who end a pregnancy or even miscarry. (One such lawsuit is underway in Arizona. Another reached the Alabama Supreme Court.)
In Kentucky, the law outlawing abortion uses morally explosive terms to define pregnancy as "the human female reproductive condition of having a living unborn human being within her body throughout the entire embryonic and fetal stages of the unborn child from fertilization to full gestation and childbirth."
Several other states, including Georgia, have adopted measures equating life with the point at which an embryo's nascent cardiac activity can be detected by an ultrasound, at around six weeks of gestation. Many such laws mischaracterize the flickering electrical impulses detectible at that stage as a heartbeat, including in Georgia, whose Department of Revenue recently announced that "any unborn child with a detectable human heartbeat" can be claimed as a dependent.
Defining the role of government in life and death
The Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade that established a constitutional right to abortion did not define a moment when life begins. The opinion, written by Justice Harry Blackmun, observed that the Constitution does not provide a definition of "person," though it extends protections to those born or naturalized in the U.S. The court majority made note of the many disparate views among religions and scientists on when life begins, and concluded it was not up to the states to adopt one theory of life.
Instead, Roe created a framework intended to balance a pregnant woman's right to make decisions about her body with a public interest in protecting potential human life. That decision and a key ruling that followed generally recognized a woman's right to abortion up to the point medical professionals judge a fetus viable to survive outside the uterus, at about 24 weeks of gestation.
In decisively overturning Roe in June, the Supreme Court's conservative majority drew on legal arguments that have shaped another contentious end-of-life issue. The legal standard employed in Dobbs — that there is no right to abortion in the federal Constitution and that states can decide on their own — is the same rationale used in 1997 when the Supreme Court said terminally ill people did not have a constitutional right to medically assisted death. That decision, Washington v. Glucksberg, is mentioned 15 times in the majority opinion for Dobbs and a concurrence by Justice Clarence Thomas.
Medicine ... can't answer the question 'When does a person begin or end?' because those are metaphysical issues.
Often, the same groups that have led the fight to outlaw abortion have also challenged medical aid-in-dying laws. Even after Dobbs, so-called right-to-die laws remain far less common than those codifying state abortion rights. Ten states allow physicians to prescribe lethal doses of medicine for terminally ill patients. Doctors are still prohibited from administering the drugs.
James Bopp, general counsel for the National Right to Life Committee who has been central to the efforts to outlaw abortion, said that both abortion and medically assisted death, which he refers to as physician-assisted suicide, endanger society.
"Every individual human life has inherent value and is sacred," said Bopp. "The government has the duty to protect that life."
Both issues raise profound societal questions: Can the government keep a patient on life support against his wishes, or force a woman to give birth? Can states bar their own residents from going to other states to end a pregnancy, or prohibit out-of-state patients from coming in to seek medically assisted death? And who gets to decide, particularly if the answer imposes a singular religious viewpoint?
A philosophical quandary
Just as there are legal implications that flow from determining a person's death, from organ donation to inheritance, the implied rights held by a legally recognized zygote are potentially vast. Will death certificates be issued for every lost pregnancy? Will miscarriages be investigated? When will Social Security numbers be issued? How will census counts be tallied and congressional districts drawn?
Medical professionals and bioethicists caution that both the beginning and end of life are complicated biological processes that are not defined by a single identifiable moment — and are ill suited to the political arena.
"Unfortunately, biological occurrences are not events, they are processes," said David Magnus, director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics.
Moreover, asking doctors "What is life?" or "What is death?" may miss the point, said Magnus: "Medicine can answer the question 'When does a biological organism cease to exist?' But they can't answer the question 'When does a person begin or end?' because those are metaphysical issues."
Ben Sarbey, a doctoral candidate in Duke University's department of philosophy who studies medical ethics, echoed that perspective, recounting the Paradox of the Heap, a thought experiment that involves placing grains of sand one on top of the next. The philosophical quandary is this: At what point do those grains of sand become something more — a heap?
"We're going to have a rough time placing a dividing line that this counts as a person and this does not count as a person," he said. "Many things count as life — a sperm counts as life, a person in a persistent vegetative state counts as life — but does that constitute a person that we should be protecting?"
Even as debate over the court's abortion decision percolates, the 1981 federal statute that grew out of the presidential committee's findings, the Uniform Determination of Death Act, is also under review. This year, the Uniform Law Commission, a nonpartisan group of legal experts that drafts laws intended for adoption in multiple states, has taken up the work to revisit the definition of death.
The group will consider sharpening the medical standards for brain death in light of advances in the understanding of brain function. And they will look to address lingering questions raised in recent years as families and religious groups have waged heated legal battles over terminating artificial life support for patients with no brain wave activity.
Bopp, with the National Right to Life Committee, is among those serving on advisory panels for the effort, along with an array of doctors, philosophers, and medical ethicists. The concept of "personhood" that infuses the anti-abortion movement's broader push for fetal rights is expected to be an underlying topic, albeit in mirror image: When does a life form cease being a person?
Magnus, who is also serving on an advisory panel, has no doubt the commission will reach a consensus, a sober resolution rooted in science. What's less clear, he said, is whether in today's political environment that updated definition will hold the same sway, an enduring legal standard embraced across states.
KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. It is an editorially independent operating program of KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation).
Copyright 2022 Kaiser Health News. To see more, visit Kaiser Health News. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/when-does-life-begin-as-state-laws-define-it-science-politics-and-religion-clash | 2022-08-27T13:13:59Z |
Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/will-of-the-people-is-muses-call-for-revolution | 2022-08-27T13:14:05Z |
More than three months into the U.S. monkeypox outbreak, there's a new – and welcome – phrase coming from the lips of health officials who are steering the country's response: cautious optimism.
The change in tone reflects early signs that rates of new infections are slowing in some of the major cities where the virus arrived early and spread quickly, in particular New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco.
Federal officials warn it's still too soon to make pronouncements about the country turning a corner. Still the slowdown in some parts of the U.S. – coupled with data about how those at highest risk are protecting themselves and getting vaccinated – are promising signs.
"Our numbers are still increasing, [but] the rate of rise is lower," Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters on Friday. "We're really hopeful that many of our harm reduction messages and our vaccines are getting out there and working."
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Reported case numbers have been trending down since mid August, based on an NPR analysis of data the CDC released Wednesday. Overall, there's been around a 25% drop in the 7-day average of new cases over the past two weeks.
However, health officials caution that lags in data reporting can offer an incomplete picture of the outbreak in recent weeks, making it hard to know if cases have truly peaked.
The decline in parts of the U.S. mirrors what's already being seen in some European countries, where the virus was detected a few weeks earlier. In both the U.K. and Germany, daily case counts have steadily dropped since late July. In several other countries, including the Netherlands and Italy, the number of new cases have plateaued.
Cases slow down in big cities
In New York City – one of the epicenters of the outbreak – the number of new people being infected has dropped 40% over the past month. San Francisco health officials are also seeing a decline in the rate of new cases.
"I'm cautiously optimistic," says Dr. Susan Philip, health officer for the city and county of San Francisco. "We know, though, it's going to take a lot of work and effort to sustain that downward curve and to make sure that cases continue to go down."
The picture is also improving in other cities like Los Angeles, Houston and Chicago where local health leaders say there are indications that infections are leveling off.
Key metrics – such as the average number of cases and the time it takes for cases to double – have decreased over the past couple of weeks, says Janna Kerins, medical director at the Chicago Department of Public Health. "I'm not sure we're ready to say this outbreak is truly ending," Kerins says, "But all of those things are encouraging."
The changes also track with modeling released this week that suggests the national outbreak is on the decline.
"We are seeing signs of a substantial slowdown and the forecasts suggest that this is going to go in the right direction," at least over the next four weeks, says Gerardo Chowell-Puente, professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the Georgia State University, who's modeling the monkeypox outbreak
Changes in behavior drive the decline
Given the size and diversity of the U.S., there's still considerable uncertainty on how the outbreak will play out in different parts of the country, but infectious disease experts largely attribute the slowdown to efforts to change behavior among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men – a group that accounts for the vast majority of cases.
"Most of us in public health who work on this disease are quite confident that the majority of the reduction is due to change in behavior," says Dr. Jay Varma, director of the Cornell Center for Pandemic Prevention and Response at Weill Cornell Medicine.
More than 94% of monkeypox cases in the U.S. are associated with sexual activity. And on Friday, CDC officials highlighted new data showing that gay and queer communities are modifying their sexual behaviors in response to messaging around monkeypox.
In one online survey, about 50% of respondents said they had reduced "their number of sexual partners, one-time sexual encounters [or] use of dating apps because of the monkeypox outbreak." An accompanying modeling study released by the CDC showed that a "40% reduction in one-time sexual partnership might delay the spread of monkeypox and reduce the percentage of people infected" by up to about 30%.
"What this means is that the LGBTQIA+ people are doing things that are actually reducing their risk, and it's working," said Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, White House monkeypox response deputy coordinator, at a press briefing Friday.
It's not entirely surprising that the virus appears to be slowing down in the U.S. as it has in Europe, says Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, a professor of medicine and infectious diseases, population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.
"Most of the cities will see a decline in cases – that decline may not be as fast or as steep as the ascent," says Klausner.
Klausner notes that monkeypox has stayed mostly within certain relatively small sexual networks – that makes it harder for the virus to maintain momentum as vaccination increases, people build up immunity from infection and those at highest risk change their behavior.
"People who raised concerns about the spread of infection on college campuses and daycares and other kinds of settings where there's close personal contact, at this point, that hasn't occurred," he says.
Uncertainty remains
But other experts are not as sanguine about the trajectory of the outbreak – at least not yet.
"It's great to see some declines," says Anne Rimoin, an epidemiologist at UCLA who has studied monkeypox for years. "But if the downward trend is due to changes in behavior and vaccinations, it's not clear how long behavioral changes can be sustained, and how well the vaccinations actually work to prevent infections."
Health officials are urging members of affected communities to keep taking precautions to slow the spread of monkeypox.
"Let me be clear," Daskalakis said Friday. "The advice about how to reduce risk for monkeypox exposure is for now, not forever, and is an important part of our public health and community response as we urgently surge vaccinations to control this outbreak."
Still, there isn't robust real world data on how well the monkeypox vaccine – approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2019 – protects against infection and transmission. Further complicating the picture is that a shortage of vaccine has led the Biden administration to pursue a new strategy of offering the shots intradermally in order to stretch the supply.
"The laboratory data that we have on the vaccine suggests that it's going to be very effective in humans," says Varma. "But what we know in medicine is that until we see what happens in the real world, we never know for sure."
NPR's Michaeleen Doucleff contributed to this report.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-26/early-signs-suggest-monkeypox-may-be-slowing-in-the-u-s | 2022-08-27T13:28:55Z |
Tens of thousands of Afghans are trying to establish new lives in the United States. Many were at-risk and granted special immigration status because of the help they provided the American military.
Copyright 2022 KPBS Radio
Tens of thousands of Afghans are trying to establish new lives in the United States. Many were at-risk and granted special immigration status because of the help they provided the American military.
Copyright 2022 KPBS Radio | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-27/a-year-after-the-war-ended-some-afghans-in-the-u-s-find-the-transition-difficult | 2022-08-27T13:29:01Z |
Scientists say New England is having more frequent droughts than before. They threaten farmers, deplete water supplies, and increase the risk of wildfires. This summer's been a tough one.
Copyright 2022 WBUR
Scientists say New England is having more frequent droughts than before. They threaten farmers, deplete water supplies, and increase the risk of wildfires. This summer's been a tough one.
Copyright 2022 WBUR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-27/as-drought-persists-in-northeast-farmers-face-uncertain-future | 2022-08-27T13:29:07Z |
A nuclear power plant in eastern Ukraine is at risk of melting down because of attacks on the surrounding electric grid. European officials want international inspectors to visit the plant.
Copyright 2022 NPR
A nuclear power plant in eastern Ukraine is at risk of melting down because of attacks on the surrounding electric grid. European officials want international inspectors to visit the plant.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-27/at-ukraines-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-power-plant-officials-try-to-prevent-a-meltdown | 2022-08-27T13:29:14Z |
Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy. | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-27/blind-state-supreme-court-judge-drives-for-first-time | 2022-08-27T13:29:20Z |
Scott Simon gets an update from Nick Higgins, chief librarian of the Brooklyn Public Library, on the Books Unbanned initiative. It makes e-books and audiobooks available to teens nationwide.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Scott Simon gets an update from Nick Higgins, chief librarian of the Brooklyn Public Library, on the Books Unbanned initiative. It makes e-books and audiobooks available to teens nationwide.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-27/brooklyn-public-library-makes-banned-books-available-to-teens-for-free | 2022-08-27T13:29:26Z |
California wants to drive a stake into the heart of gas-powered vehicles.
State regulators approved a policy Thursday that will ban the sale of new gas cars by 2035 in what is the country's largest auto market.
It's part of an ambitious plan to fight climate change by accelerating the transition to an electric future, and it's a decision a handful of states are expected to follow.
Despite the strong demand for electric cars, sales made up only 3% of total car sales last year.
The race now is for automakers to increase the production of electric vehicles, but that alone won't be enough.
Analysts say the industry faces several challenges in ending sales of gas-powered cars by 2035.
Electric vehicles are still really expensive
The average price of an electric vehicle is currently $66,000 — well beyond the means of many people.
"That's not going to fit in a lot of people's monthly budgets at this point in time," says Jessica Caldwell, executive director of Insights at Edmunds. "They [automakers] have to introduce the more expensive, more costly, higher-margin vehicles first to make the money to start to finance some of the lower-cost vehicles."
Car companies like Chevrolet and General Motors are aiming to release more-affordable options in the coming years. A key provision of President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act also provides a revamped $7,500 tax credit when buying a new electric car, although it has a number of caveats.
But to make cars more affordable, electric vehicles will need to make batteries more cost-effective.
"The batteries are simply more expensive than the internal combustion engine," says Carla Bailo, president and CEO of the Center for Automotive Research. "Most manufacturers are saying by 2025 batteries will be on par with the cost of an internal combustion engine and when that happens, that will definitely help bring the price down."
However, making batteries cheaper presents another challenge.
China dominates the critical minerals market
China currently dominates the rare earth mineral market and the auto industry has long relied on the country to source EV batteries.
The Biden administration is pushing automakers to reduce their dependence on China, but that's easier said than done.
"Something in the order of about 90% of the lithium that's used in batteries is processed in China right now, which is not a desirable situation," says Sam Abuelsamid, an analyst with Guidehouse Insights.
And finding new sources or partners won't be easy.
"Obtaining minerals from places with which we have trade agreements is going to be the biggest challenge because there's huge competition for that," says Michelle Krebs, executive analyst with Cox Automotive. "Everybody's scrambling to cut deals for the minerals."
But even if companies are able to ramp up production, they could run into another problem.
The EV infrastructure is still pretty limited
Not only are there too few charging stations across the country, many existing stations don't always work.
A recent survey by J.D. Power found that the limited availability and reliability of charging stations is a key factor holding people back from buying electric vehicles.
The federal government is spending $7.5 billion to expand the country's charging infrastructure.
But even if it gets there, it's not clear how much an already fragile and vulnerable electric grid can handle.
Then, there's another hurdle.
Adjusting the auto industry's workforce
Embracing an electric future and accelerating the mass adoption of electric vehicles will require automakers to adjust their workforce.
Companies will need engineers with a different set of skills for this transition.
"They're not going to be designing new transmissions, but instead they need people with the skills to design electric motors and electrical architectures," says Abuelsamid.
Analysts expect to see companies lay off some workers while hiring in departments geared toward electric vehicles in the coming years.
From ramping up production to revamping the workforce, the transition is unlikely to be a smooth process for buyers, drivers and — especially — the auto industry, but transitions rarely are.
"They're bumpy and I think there are going to be some things that are unpredictable," says Krebs. "So buckle up."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-27/california-wants-to-end-sales-of-new-gas-cars-by-2035-here-are-4-key-roadblocks | 2022-08-27T13:29:32Z |
Scott Simon talks with Cecilia Sottilotta, assistant professor of international relations at The American University of Rome, about far-right Italian politician Giorgia Meloni.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Scott Simon talks with Cecilia Sottilotta, assistant professor of international relations at The American University of Rome, about far-right Italian politician Giorgia Meloni.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-27/far-right-political-leader-giogira-meloni-takes-spotlight-in-italys-general-election | 2022-08-27T13:29:38Z |
Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from past weeks, and new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors and musicians, and often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. This week:
Comic Mo Amer draws on his Palestinian and Texan roots in a new Netflix series: Amer grew up in Kuwait, where he enjoyed a comfortable life — until he was 9, and the first Gulf War forced his family to flee to the U.S. in 1991. His new series is Mo.
Elegant film 'Three Minutes' shows Polish town before it was erased by the Holocaust: Bianca Stigter's documentary, Three Minutes: A Lengthening, brings the past to life with an almost archaeological gaze.
After a career of cracking cold cases, investigator Paul Holes opens up: Holes spent more than 20 years investigating crimes in California and played a critical role in identifying Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. as the so-called Golden State Killer. His new book is Unmasked.
You can listen to the original interviews and review here:
Comic Mo Amer draws on his Palestinian and Texan roots in a new Netflix series
Elegant film 'Three Minutes' shows Polish town before it was erased by the Holocaust
After a career of cracking cold cases, investigator Paul Holes opens up
Copyright 2022 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air. | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-27/fresh-air-weekend-comic-mo-amer-cold-case-investigator-paul-holes | 2022-08-27T13:29:44Z |
Scott Simon speaks to writer and director Owen Kline about his new movie, "Funny Pages," in which a young cartoonist explores the relationship between creativity and craft.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Scott Simon speaks to writer and director Owen Kline about his new movie, "Funny Pages," in which a young cartoonist explores the relationship between creativity and craft.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-27/in-funny-pages-a-teenage-cartoonist-throws-himself-into-his-drawings | 2022-08-27T13:29:50Z |
Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy. | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-27/lets-revisit-the-1960-film-psycho | 2022-08-27T13:29:56Z |
European sanctions on Russia have caused massive traffic back-ups along the Latvian border. The war has also put the region's inhabitants in the middle of two hostile power blocs.
Copyright 2022 NPR
European sanctions on Russia have caused massive traffic back-ups along the Latvian border. The war has also put the region's inhabitants in the middle of two hostile power blocs.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-27/long-lines-of-trucks-at-the-latvia-russia-border-show-immense-toll-of-war | 2022-08-27T13:30:03Z |
Scott Simon talks with Elizabeth Sepper, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin about the legal landscape of abortion access in the state.
Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy. | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-27/new-texas-trigger-law-makes-abortion-a-felony | 2022-08-27T13:30:09Z |
Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy. | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-27/nomad-century-delivers-a-message-thats-sharp-and-jolting-about-mankinds-future | 2022-08-27T13:30:15Z |
Spoiler alert: this essay may contain endings to films you have not seen. Especially, it seems, if you live in China.
Reuters reports government censors there have spliced a new ending announcement onto the movie "Minions: The Rise of Gru." Instead of just letting Gru and Wild Knuckles, the film's anti-heroes, evade authorities and ride off with smiles, Chinese censors added a message instructing viewers that supervillain Wild Knuckles was arrested and served 20 years in jail, while Gru returned to a quiet life with his family.
China shows a limited number of foreign films, and many of them have some scenes cut, or the endings changed, so those movies don't appear to undermine official authorities.
Undermining authority propels the plot of so many great films, from "The Godfather" to "Breathless," "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" to "Boyz N the Hood."
But in China, that kind of storyline doesn't just earn a low rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
You might consider what kind of new ending could be added to a few well-known movies to make them more agreeable to censors there.
"Jaws" wouldn't end with the shark sinking the boat and then getting blown apart by an exploding air tank, but with a sign that tells viewers, "the pernicious shark was captured by the Armed Maritime Police of the People's Republic of China and released into Australian coastal waters."
At the end of Kurosawa's "Rashomon," which depicts a story from four different viewpoints, officials might splice on an ending to say, "but the viewpoint of the Chinese Communist Party is always correct."
An on-screen coda might announce that Paddington Bear was detained for swiping marmalade. Or that Principal Rooney got Ferris Bueller expelled for skipping class, and sent to reform school. But Ferris has atoned for his transgressions and is happy to be a loyal and productive member of society.
And if "Casablanca" were to be shown today in China, the new ending might have Rick tell Ilsa, "we'll always have Paris, but what a shame it couldn't be Guangzhou." And then all the characters would adjourn to Rick's Cafe to tearfully sing a stirring anthem.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-27/opinion-in-china-movie-villains-dont-get-away | 2022-08-27T13:30:15Z |
Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy. | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-27/pay-a-dollar-grab-a-burlap-sack-and-scooch-down-detroits-slide-of-pain | 2022-08-27T13:30:21Z |
Scott Simon talks with Howard Bryant of Meadowlark Media about Serena Williams' performance and veteran St. Louis Cardinals player Albert Pujols closing in on 700 career home runs.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Scott Simon talks with Howard Bryant of Meadowlark Media about Serena Williams' performance and veteran St. Louis Cardinals player Albert Pujols closing in on 700 career home runs.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-27/saturday-sports-serena-williams-farewell-us-open-albert-pujuls-looks-toward-700-career-home-runs | 2022-08-27T13:30:27Z |
The chairman of the Federal Reserve surprised the stock market when he said the central bank would continue raising interest rates. The remarks also mean more pain for home buyers and other borrowers.
Copyright 2022 NPR
The chairman of the Federal Reserve surprised the stock market when he said the central bank would continue raising interest rates. The remarks also mean more pain for home buyers and other borrowers.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-27/stocks-tumble-after-fed-announces-plan-to-keep-interest-rates-up | 2022-08-27T13:30:35Z |
The affidavit for the Mar-a-Lago search earlier this month details what authorities found among earlier batches of documents that former President Donald Trump took with him when he left office.
Copyright 2022 NPR
The affidavit for the Mar-a-Lago search earlier this month details what authorities found among earlier batches of documents that former President Donald Trump took with him when he left office.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-27/takeaways-from-the-affidavit-in-trump-mar-a-lago-search | 2022-08-27T13:30:41Z |
Democratic candidates pick up momentum as the elections near. The additional revelations surrounding the search of Mar-a-Lago could help them.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Democratic candidates pick up momentum as the elections near. The additional revelations surrounding the search of Mar-a-Lago could help them.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-27/week-in-politics-inflation-brings-political-pain-fbi-released-mar-a-lago-affidavit | 2022-08-27T13:30:48Z |
Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy. | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-27/will-of-the-people-is-muses-call-for-revolution | 2022-08-27T13:30:54Z |
Ukraine: Russia fires on cities not far from nuclear plant
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces fired missiles and artillery on Ukrainian-held areas across the river from Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, authorities said Saturday as concern persisted about safety at the Russian-controlled plant after it was temporarily knocked offline.
Grad missiles and artillery shells hit the cities of Nikopol and Marhanets, each about 10 kilometers (6 miles) and across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, said Valentyn Reznichenko, governor of Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region.
Russian forces occupied the nuclear plant complex early in the war in Ukraine, and Ukrainian workers have kept it running. Each side has repeatedly accused the other of shelling the complex, raising fears that the fighting could trigger a catastrophe.
Authorities began distributing iodine tablets Friday to residents who live near the plant in case of a radiation leak. The move came a day after the plant was temporarily knocked offline because of what officials said was fire damage to a transmission line.
Recent satellite images from Planet Labs showed fires burning around the complex over the last several days.
GRAPHIC WARNING: The following video may contain disturbing content.
The U.N.’s atomic energy agency has been trying to send a team in to inspect and help secure the plant. Officials said preparations for the visit were underway, but it remained unclear when it might take place.
Ukraine has claimed Russia is using the power plant as a shield by storing weapons there and launching attacks from around it. Moscow, for its part, accuses Ukraine of recklessly firing on the nuclear complex.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, one person was killed and another wounded in Russian firing in the Mykolaiv region, local government officials said. Mykolaiv city is an important Black Sea port and shipbuilding center.
The governor of the eastern Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said Saturday that two people were killed in Russian firing on the city of Bakhmut, a significant target for Russian and separatist forces seeking to take control of the parts of the region they do not already hold.
___
Follow AP’s 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/2022/08/27/ukraine-russia-fires-cities-not-far-nuclear-plant/ | 2022-08-27T13:58:47Z |
Woman arrested after racist rant, assault in restaurant lot
PLANO, Texas (AP) — A woman was arrested and faces a possible hate crime charge after she was captured on video in a racist rant and assault on women of South Asian descent in a suburban Dallas parking lot, in another disturbing example of anti-Asian violence seen across the U.S.
Plano police said in a statement Thursday that Esmeralda Upton, 58, of Plano, was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault and terroristic threat charges. She was jailed with bond set at $10,000.
Rani Banerjee told Dallas TV station WFAA that she and three friends had just finished eating dinner at a restaurant when Upton approached them in the parking lot.
“Suddenly, we heard this woman yelling at us and started coming toward us. We were shocked by the racial slurs that she used and combative attitude,” Banerjee said.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the attack.
“The level of vitriol and alleged physical assault against four Indian-American women in Plano is truly appalling,” Faizan Syed, executive director of CAIR-DFW, told the TV station. “This type of hate has no place in North Texas, and we call on law enforcement to investigate this incident as a hate crime.”
The police statement said the incident was being investigated as a hate crime. Jail officials had no attorney listed for Upton.
The confrontation happened shortly after 8 p.m. Wednesday. A widely circulated video showed Upton unleashing a profanity-laced rant on them, challenging their presence in the United States, threatening to shoot them and physically assaulting Banerjee, who was recording the confrontation on her phone.
Anti-Asian violence has risen sharply in recent years. Last year, six women of Asian descent were among the eight killed in a shooting at massage businesses in and near Atlanta, heightening anger and fear among Asian Americans.
Earlier this month, a man accused of shooting three Asian American women at a salon in Dallas’ Koreatown was indicted on hate crime and other charges. And a West Texas man was sentenced to 25 years in prison earlier in August for attacking an Asian family outside a Midland department store in 2020 because he thought they were Chinese and therefore responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/27/woman-arrested-after-racist-rant-assault-restaurant-lot/ | 2022-08-27T13:58:54Z |
Ukraine: Russia fires on cities not far from nuclear plant
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces fired missiles and artillery on Ukrainian-held areas across the river from Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, authorities said Saturday as concern persisted about safety at the Russian-controlled plant after it was temporarily knocked offline.
Grad missiles and artillery shells hit the cities of Nikopol and Marhanets, each about 10 kilometers (6 miles) and across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, said Valentyn Reznichenko, governor of Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region.
Russian forces occupied the nuclear plant complex early in the war in Ukraine, and Ukrainian workers have kept it running. Each side has repeatedly accused the other of shelling the complex, raising fears that the fighting could trigger a catastrophe.
Authorities began distributing iodine tablets Friday to residents who live near the plant in case of a radiation leak. The move came a day after the plant was temporarily knocked offline because of what officials said was fire damage to a transmission line.
Recent satellite images from Planet Labs showed fires burning around the complex over the last several days.
GRAPHIC WARNING: The following video may contain disturbing content.
The U.N.’s atomic energy agency has been trying to send a team in to inspect and help secure the plant. Officials said preparations for the visit were underway, but it remained unclear when it might take place.
Ukraine has claimed Russia is using the power plant as a shield by storing weapons there and launching attacks from around it. Moscow, for its part, accuses Ukraine of recklessly firing on the nuclear complex.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, one person was killed and another wounded in Russian firing in the Mykolaiv region, local government officials said. Mykolaiv city is an important Black Sea port and shipbuilding center.
The governor of the eastern Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said Saturday that two people were killed in Russian firing on the city of Bakhmut, a significant target for Russian and separatist forces seeking to take control of the parts of the region they do not already hold.
___
Follow AP’s 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/2022/08/27/ukraine-russia-fires-cities-not-far-nuclear-plant/ | 2022-08-27T14:18:28Z |
Woman arrested after racist rant, assault in restaurant lot
PLANO, Texas (AP) — A woman was arrested and faces a possible hate crime charge after she was captured on video in a racist rant and assault on women of South Asian descent in a suburban Dallas parking lot, in another disturbing example of anti-Asian violence seen across the U.S.
Plano police said in a statement Thursday that Esmeralda Upton, 58, of Plano, was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault and terroristic threat charges. She was jailed with bond set at $10,000.
Rani Banerjee told Dallas TV station WFAA that she and three friends had just finished eating dinner at a restaurant when Upton approached them in the parking lot.
“Suddenly, we heard this woman yelling at us and started coming toward us. We were shocked by the racial slurs that she used and combative attitude,” Banerjee said.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the attack.
“The level of vitriol and alleged physical assault against four Indian-American women in Plano is truly appalling,” Faizan Syed, executive director of CAIR-DFW, told the TV station. “This type of hate has no place in North Texas, and we call on law enforcement to investigate this incident as a hate crime.”
The police statement said the incident was being investigated as a hate crime. Jail officials had no attorney listed for Upton.
The confrontation happened shortly after 8 p.m. Wednesday. A widely circulated video showed Upton unleashing a profanity-laced rant on them, challenging their presence in the United States, threatening to shoot them and physically assaulting Banerjee, who was recording the confrontation on her phone.
Anti-Asian violence has risen sharply in recent years. Last year, six women of Asian descent were among the eight killed in a shooting at massage businesses in and near Atlanta, heightening anger and fear among Asian Americans.
Earlier this month, a man accused of shooting three Asian American women at a salon in Dallas’ Koreatown was indicted on hate crime and other charges. And a West Texas man was sentenced to 25 years in prison earlier in August for attacking an Asian family outside a Midland department store in 2020 because he thought they were Chinese and therefore responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/27/woman-arrested-after-racist-rant-assault-restaurant-lot/ | 2022-08-27T14:18:35Z |
Scott Simon talks with Cecilia Sottilotta, assistant professor of international relations at The American University of Rome, about far-right Italian politician Giorgia Meloni.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Scott Simon talks with Cecilia Sottilotta, assistant professor of international relations at The American University of Rome, about far-right Italian politician Giorgia Meloni.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-27/far-right-political-leader-giorgia-meloni-takes-spotlight-in-italys-general-election | 2022-08-27T14:38:50Z |
Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy. | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-27/movies-you-missed-psycho | 2022-08-27T14:38:56Z |
Democratic candidates pick up momentum as the elections near. The additional revelations surrounding the search of Mar-a-Lago could help them.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Democratic candidates pick up momentum as the elections near. The additional revelations surrounding the search of Mar-a-Lago could help them.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-27/week-in-politics-inflation-brings-political-pain-fbi-releases-mar-a-lago-affidavit | 2022-08-27T14:39:02Z |
Scott Simon talks with Cecilia Sottilotta, assistant professor of international relations at The American University of Rome, about far-right Italian politician Giorgia Meloni.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Scott Simon talks with Cecilia Sottilotta, assistant professor of international relations at The American University of Rome, about far-right Italian politician Giorgia Meloni.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/far-right-political-leader-giorgia-meloni-takes-spotlight-in-italys-general-election | 2022-08-27T14:42:10Z |
Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/movies-you-missed-psycho | 2022-08-27T14:42:16Z |
Democratic candidates pick up momentum as the elections near. The additional revelations surrounding the search of Mar-a-Lago could help them.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Democratic candidates pick up momentum as the elections near. The additional revelations surrounding the search of Mar-a-Lago could help them.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/week-in-politics-inflation-brings-political-pain-fbi-releases-mar-a-lago-affidavit | 2022-08-27T14:42:22Z |
After a rocky 2021 campaign in which the University of Wyoming went 2-6 in Mountain West play following its first 4-0 start this century, coach Craig Bohl took a hard look at himself.
“After the year, the first place you look at is yourself to see where you can improve,” Bohl said back in February in his first public comments of the offseason. “One of the things I felt like I needed to get better at was connecting more with our players ... I needed to get more engaged, and let players know where they stood and where we were going.”
Fast-forward six months later, and these words appear to have been put into action.
Multiple UW players have noted that, while Bohl wasn’t absent last year, he has been more engaged as the 2022 season approaches. He’s made an emphasis on joining players at meals throughout the off-season and discussing topics that go beyond football, such as family and what’s going on in their lives away from the team facilities.
“He'll come down and sit with us at meals and just have a normal conversation with us, which is always nice to have when you see your head coach cares about that,” sophomore defensive tackle Jordan Bertagnole said. “That's definitely the biggest way I've seen him come around, and he's been coming around with a different energy than he has in the past. It's a good energy, and it's somebody you love to be around.”
With Titus Swen set to take on the feature back role in the offense this fall, there’s been steady communication between him and his head coach. In addition to discussing how to exploit opposing defenses, though, some of these conversations have been of a much more personal nature.
Swen’s father is currently back in Liberia – where the junior was born, before coming to the United States as a refugee around the time he was 5 years old – working to provide clean water to residents of their home country. Bohl has made a point to check in and see how this is going.
When asked about his coach’s presence this off-season, Swen described it as “an old uncle type of energy” – something that’s made him feel even more connected to the program.
“He's around, and you know you can go talk to him, if you need to,” Swen said. “Whether it's at lunch or dinner or breakfast, he's always sitting with you – and he's not only talking about football. When you meet with a coach outside of it, it's usually, 'How's football going?' or whatever, but he's in-depth (about things like) your family.
“He asked me how my family is and how they're doing. My dad is back in Africa right now, so he's engaged with that and seeing how he's doing. It makes me feel like I'm part of a team even more than just being the running back.”
In addition to these mealtime conversations, players also note Bohl has a slightly different demeanor on the practice field.
“He's bringing the energy, so it picks us all up,” sophomore linebacker Easton Gibbs said. “You see him out there bouncing around, and you want to play for him. ... We're all coming out excited, and so is he, and it's good to see.”
One area Bohl placed importance on earlier this year was providing players with feedback, noting that “even if it's negative feedback, they want to know that they matter.” This is something that junior tight end Treyton Welch has particularly appreciated since the end of last season.
Whether it’s providing positive remarks after a play in practice, or correcting errors as they occur, Welch notes this communication has helped the team grow as a whole – both on the field and in terms of cohesion within the program.
“It'll hurt your feelings a little bit sometimes, but that's a good thing, because we come back stronger,” Welch said. “It's really good that we get to hear it from him, especially because he is our head coach, and he spent time recruiting us from the beginning.
“This is my fourth year now, and what he says now matters even more than what he said before. It's just continuing to grow that relationship with him, and being able to build off what he says.”
While outside expectations for UW are modest – they were picked to finish fifth in the Mountain Division in the MW preseason poll, a year removed from being voted second – the Cowboys feel confident with where they are as the season-opener at Illinois approaches.
Part of this optimism stems from the arrival of potential impact players from the transfer portal, as well as growth from those who were with the team last season. Improved team chemistry has also been a significant factor, however, something sophomore running back Dawaiian McNeely says Bohl has played a big part in.
“We're all clicking, so it's going to be a good year,” McNeely said.
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/craig-bohl-brings-different-energy-into-2022/article_0f67397a-2607-11ed-ad72-6f2be2e68477.html | 2022-08-27T15:43:23Z |
University of Wyoming sophomore linebacker Easton Gibbs recorded 89 total tackles, 49 solo stops, two sacks and four pass deflections in his first season as a full-time starter.
Ever since University of Wyoming coach Craig Bohl announced in March that Easton Gibbs would be stepping into the Cowboys’ coveted middle linebacker role, the sophomore can’t seem to escape an interview or news conference without being asked about the All-American NFL draft picks – Logan Wilson and Chad Muma – who came before him.
The converted weakside linebacker, who recorded 89 total tackles, 49 solo stops, two sacks and four pass deflections in his first season as a full-time starter, has no problem with this.
“It's definitely a compliment,” Gibbs said. “Those guys couldn't have asked for a better career, so any time you're compared to two guys like that, I definitely take it as a compliment.”
Obviously, high expectations come along with the territory of filling the shoes of two of the greatest to ever play the position at UW. Similar to answering questions that can seem like a broken record at times, though, the added weight of his new role isn’t something he views in a negative light.
“It’s more excitement than pressure,” Gibbs said. “There's obviously that lurking thing behind it with this spot that those two guys have played in, because they were amazing players. But I'm just excited to get out there and prove I belong out there, as well.
“I've been talking to both of them, and they're always so helpful. They're just telling me to stay locked in, stay the course and use the tools I've had. I've watched them and took tools out of their bag, and learned from them as much as I can. I couldn't have been behind two better guys.”
UW’s coaching staff recognized about this time last year that Gibbs would be called upon to step into a new role as the quarterback of the defense in 2022. After Muma returned a pair of interceptions for touchdowns amid a dominant two-week stretch in nonconference play, it became abundantly clear the Butkus Award finalist was headed to the NFL after the season ended.
UW linebackers coach Aaron Bohl says that learning behind Muma and Wilson, as well as former All-Mountain West honoree Cassh Maluia, helped Gibbs learn what was necessary in order to thrive in his new role.
“He knows how to get ready for a game,” Bohl said. “He knows how to take notes in meetings. He knows that he needs to pay attention all the time, because there might be a rule we cover in fall camp that's going to show up Week 6, whenever, we don't even know that they're going to come out in this formation, and he needs to remember it.
“Whenever you're the guy everyone is going to be looking to, you have to have an ultra work ethic, and he's been doing a great job of that. People gravitate toward him, so we're really excited about where he's at.”
Those close to Gibbs have always recognized leadership traits in the Temecula, California native. Typically, though, this has come in the form of leading by example with his actions.
Becoming more vocal was admittedly a change for him this offseason, and one that’s taken his leadership abilities to the next level.
“The thing is, you can see it throughout the whole team,” Bohl said. “When you're around him, he was always that way with the guys he was close with. The guys he was friends with, he was always a leader to them and everything like that, but he didn't have to be a leader for the whole team.
“You knew he was going to be able to do it, it just wasn't his time yet. Now it is, so it's been good to see him embracing that spot.”
Added Shae Suiaunoa, who is slated to take over Gibbs’ spot at weakside linebacker: “His leadership has taken another step. I came in here with him my freshman year, so me and him have grinded together. Seeing him excel into the person and football player he is today is amazing to see.”
In addition to embracing his enhanced leadership role, Gibbs has placed an emphasis on bulking up over the past few months.
He dropped down to around 215 pounds midway through last season, and noticed the toll the wear and tear of being a full-time starter took on his body. Gibbs says he weighs in the neighborhood of 230 pounds now, with almost all of these gains being in the form of muscle mass – something he hopes will help keep him healthy throughout what is shaping up to be a rigorous 2022 campaign.
More than anything, though, he’ll be leaning on what he learned from Muma, Wilson and Maluia as he looks to excel as the centerpiece of the UW defense.
“The guys that came before me led me in a way where I can look at it and almost step right in seamlessly, because I've been trying to imitate and watch them do it for so long now,” Gibbs said. “It's been really nice. You just have to accept it and run with it.”
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/easton-gibbs-embraces-chance-to-be-next-great-wyoming-lb/article_a48aced2-2606-11ed-a30b-a3988208c2c2.html | 2022-08-27T15:43:29Z |
University of Wyoming running back Titus Swen is no stranger to overcoming the odds, something he hasn’t forgotten on his way to college football stardom.
So, as he readies himself to become the focal point of a rushing attack that’s recently ranked among the most productive in the country, he has a message for those in situations similar to the ones he’s all too accustomed to.
Live life, regardless.
It’s the tagline for Swen’s clothing company – he planned to launch a website in August, after making sure he’s not crossing any lines regarding NIL rules, and was donning a bucket hat emblazoned with the motto across the front at Wyoming’s media day. But it’s also a mantra the former refugee lives his life by, and one he hopes can inspire others as he steps even further into the spotlight.
“I just made it really because there are a lot of refugees or people who are less fortunate and don't have the opportunities to do the things I'm doing,” Swen said. “I just encourage them to live their life, regardless of the situation that's at hand, and just live life to the fullest.”
It hasn’t been an easy path for Swen in getting to where he is today, something that’s a driving force in his desire to be a source of inspiration.
Born in war-torn Monrovia, Liberia, Swen and his family fled to Sierra Leone for a few years, before coming to the United States as part of the United Nations’ refugee program around the time he turned 5 years old.
The Swen family landed in Texas, first in Abilene, then Arlington, before settling in Fort Worth. Poverty was a common theme of their early days in America, and Swen credits the decision to pick up football at age 8 as a pivotal moment that has opened doors to him that he once never could’ve imagined possible.
“It's been a big opportunity,” Swen said. “When we first came to America, we were set in low-functioning housing, and there was a lot of crime and stuff. Playing football got me out of the streets and got me involved with the right people, instead of being involved with the wrong people.”
One of these positive influences was Carlos Codie, a well-known speed coach in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.
Codie recognizes similar traits in Swen as other special players he’s trained. NFL draft pick and former Texas Tech receiver Erik Ezukanma and Notre Dame defensive lineman Nana Osafo-Mensah come to mind in particular.
“The thing that has impressed me the most is his willingness to continue to learn,” Codie said. “Titus has always been so far ahead of kids his age. Just to see him continue to want to get better and learn has been the most impressive thing I've seen from probably any athlete I've trained, and I've been with that kid since he was 14. He comes home, and he calls me, 'Coach, can you open the gym? Coach, can you do this? Coach, can you do that?'
“You don't get that from a lot of collegiate athletes. I have a few of them like that. One is in the NFL, and one will be in the NFL next year, and Titus is probably on his way, as well.”
Swen – who ranked second in the Mountain West last season with 5.9 yards per carry, in addition to rushing for 785 yards and a team-high seven touchdowns – isn’t satisfied, either.
He acknowledges he must continue to develop as an all-around back if he is going to fulfill his dream of playing in the NFL, with pass blocking and receiving being two areas of emphasis he’s been working on. UW running backs coach Gordie Haug notes he’s already seen significant progress in this department.
“Just the importance of understanding being a complete back,” Haug said of the biggest difference he’s seen in Swen over the past year. “Not just running the football, but understanding the pass game and protection part. We've been putting him in different situations, and him truly just learning the game of football and our offense is pretty impressive.
“It’s just the mindset he has in trying to be the best he can be this year, and taking advantage of that. Then, also becoming a leader and leading the young guys. That's important, too, is just maturing.”
In addition to becoming a more well-rounded player, Swen has also developed as a person over the past year.
Knowing that he has an entire team relying on him to carry the load for the offense, he says he’s worked on controlling his emotions and staying calm on the field. With a running back room that, outside of sophomore Dawaiian McNeely, hasn’t gotten meaningful snaps at the college level, he’s also placed an emphasis on being a role model and leader for the younger players at the position, a sentiment echoed by McNeely and veteran offensive lineman Frank Crum.
None of this surprises Codie, who noticed leadership traits in Swen at a young age.
“He's always been a leader,” Codie said. “You could tell sometimes when he was younger, you would look at him and explain something to him, and he's looking at you like a deer in the headlights, and you're thinking he's not understanding. But he has to process everything before he actually speaks, which was pretty impressive to be that age and do that.
“With being an inspiration, he started a clothing line when he was in high school, and his parents are very inspirational. They don't take it easy. They don't let him follow the trends. Texas is a big state, and there was a transfer portal in Texas before there was a transfer portal in college. When stuff was going wrong in high school ... his dad told him, 'No, you don't run from your problems. You face them.' He did, and now he's at Wyoming. You won't find anybody to say anything bad about him – and if they do, they don't know him.”
For now, Swen’s focus is on finding ways to improve on a daily basis, as he looks to help bring UW its first MW championship. This doesn’t mean that he hasn’t looked ahead to the future, though.
Swen is well aware of the platform that playing in the NFL would bring, and is excited about the opportunity to give back to those less fortunate.
“It would mean the world to me,” Swen said. “My dad is back in Africa right now, trying to get reusable water to the neighborhoods and cities that are less fortunate. Doing what I can to raise money and send it back over there means a big deal to me.” | https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyosports/university_of_wyoming/titus-swen-aims-to-inspire-others-as-uw-s-feature-back/article_edae4964-2605-11ed-bf46-f7cf67d07ab3.html | 2022-08-27T15:43:35Z |
Almost a month has passed since the winning numbers were drawn in the $1.34 billion Mega Millions lottery, but the lucky person who won has yet to come forward and claim the prize.
While you might think that the winner would come forward immediately, lottery officials say it's not unheard of for there to be some time between when the numbers are drawn and when the winner comes forward.
"For a prize of this magnitude, it's not unusual for a winner to take a little bit longer to claim the prize as they may want to seek professional, legal and financial advice prior to claiming," said Meghan Powers, director of communications for the Illinois Lottery, to NBC News.
"I'm sure they're going through a range of emotions," Illinois Lottery Director Harold Mays said earlier this month.
The winner has a year from the drawing date to come forward
Whoever won has some time before they must come forward. Because the winning ticket was purchased in Des Plaines, Ill., the winner must follow the rules of the Illinois Lottery.
Mega Millions winnings in Illinois "must be claimed within one year after the drawing date," so there's not necessarily a rush.
But if the winner does not come forward by the end of next July, the money will be returned to the participating state lotteries where the tickets were originally purchased.
The single ticket winnings for the $1.34 billion jackpot in July ranks as the second-largest in Mega Millions history, behind a $1.54 billion prize won in October 2018. The largest overall jackpot, $1.59 billion in January 2016, was split between three tickets.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/someone-won-the-1-34-billion-mega-millions-prize-but-they-havent-claimed-it | 2022-08-27T16:17:10Z |
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — An autopsy report in the death of country singer Naomi Judd that was obtained Friday by The Associated Press confirmed what family members have already said about how she died. Judd, 76, killed herself with a gun on April 30 at her home in Tennessee.
"We have always shared openly both the joys of being family as well its sorrows, too. One part of our story is that our matriarch was dogged by an unfair foe," a statement from the family released on Friday read. "She was treated for PTSD and bipolar disorder, to which millions of Americans can relate."
The autopsy, which is considered a public record in Tennessee, showed several prescription drugs in Judd's system that are used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder.
Naomi and her daughter Wynonna Judd scored 14 No. 1 songs in a career that spanned nearly three decades. Naomi Judd died the day before she and Wynonna were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
The family has asked for privacy as they mourn and encouraged anyone in a similar crisis to seek help. The national suicide and crisis lifeline is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/the-autopsy-for-naomi-judd-confirms-details-of-her-death-that-her-family-released | 2022-08-27T16:17:16Z |
Recorded at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia, with Not My Job guest Eleanor Holmes Norton and panelists Alzo Slade, Roxanne Roberts and Tom Bodett.
Who's Bill This Time
An Ouchie Goodbye; Finland's Dancing Queen; Employees Silently Revolt
Panel Questions
The World's Grossest Straw
Bluff The Listener
Our panelists read three stories about parents using their kids to help with unusual tasks, only one of which is true.
Not My Job: We Quiz D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton on DC Comics
Eleanor Holmes Norton was a trailblazing civil rights lawyer before becoming D.C.'s congresswoman in 1991, a position that she's held ever since. She may know everything about Washington, D.C., but can she answer three questions about DC Comics?
Panel Questions
A Puerile Problem For Probes, CEO TMI, More Benefits of Climate Change
Limericks
Bill Kurtis reads three news-related limericks: A Good Reason To Get Dumber; A Second Chance For Pants; Wind Blown Candy
Lightning Fill In The Blank
All the news we couldn't fit anywhere else.
Predictions
Our panelists predict, after quiet quitting, what will be the next workplace trend
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-27/wait-wait-for-august-27-2022-live-from-wolf-trap | 2022-08-27T16:17:23Z |
Disturbance halts Wiz Khalifa concert in Indiana, 3 injured
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (AP) — Rapper Wiz Khalifa cut short a concert in suburban Indianapolis as people began fleeing the outdoor venue, leaving three with minor injuries, following a disturbance, police said.
People started exiting the Ruoff Music Center in Noblesville about 10:30 p.m. Friday after a reported disturbance on part of the amphitheater’s lawn, with some of them shouting about a possible shooting, The Indianapolis Star reported.
Police said in a news release early Saturday that no weapon was found following a sweep of the area at the venue about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Indianapolis.
The disturbance happened about 45 minutes into Wiz Khalifa’s show that was part of the Vinyl Verse co-headlining tour with fellow rapper Logic, according to The Indianapolis Star. The music stopped and Wiz Khalifa and his band left the stage immediately.
Three people reported minor injuries and were taken to hospitals for treatment after concertgoers “self-evacuated” the amphitheater, where all exits were opened in accordance with the venue’s emergency procedures, police said.
In a parking lot outside, some audience members were making cellphone calls as others wept and held each other, the newspaper reported.
A message seeking comment from Live Nation, the concert promotion company that owns and operates Ruoff, was left Saturday by The Associated Press.
Police did not immediately reply to a message seeking details on the nature of Friday’s disturbance.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/27/disturbance-halts-wiz-khalifa-concert-indiana-3-injured/ | 2022-08-27T17:01:34Z |
Trump search: What may come next in inquiry with legal peril
WASHINGTON (AP) — A newly released FBI document helps flesh out the contours of an investigation into classified material at former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate. But plenty of questions remain, especially because half the affidavit, which spelled out the FBI’s rationale for searching the property, was blacked out.
That document, which the FBI submitted so it could get a warrant to search Trump’s winter home, provides new details about the volume and top secret nature of what was retrieved from Mar-a-Lago in January. It shows how Justice Department officials had raised concerns months before the search that closely held government secrets were being illegally stored and before they returned in August with a court-approved warrant and located even more classified records at the property.
It all raises questions whether a crime was committed and, if so, by whom. Answers may not come quickly.
A department official this month described the investigation as in its early stages, suggesting more work is ahead as investigators review the documents they removed and continue interviewing witnesses. At a minimum, the investigation presents a political distraction for Trump as he lays the groundwork for a potential presidential run.
Then there’s the obvious legal peril.
A look at what’s next:
WHAT IS THE FBI INVESTIGATING?
None of the government’s legal filings released so far singles out Trump — or anyone else — as a potential target of the investigation. But the warrant and accompanying affidavit make clear the investigation is active and criminal in nature.
The department is investigating potential violations of multiple laws, including an Espionage Act statute that governs gathering, transmitting or losing national defense information. The other laws deal with the mutilation and removal of records as well as well as the destruction, alteration or falsification of records in federal investigations.
The inquiry began quietly with a referral from the National Archives and Records Administration, which retrieved 15 boxes of records from Mar-a-Lago in January — 14 of which were found to contain classified information. All told, the FBI affidavit said, officials found 184 documents bearing classification markings, including some suggesting they contained information from highly sensitive human sources. Several had what appeared to be Trump’s handwritten notes, the affidavit says.
The FBI has spent months investigating how the documents made their way from the White House to Mar-a-Lago, whether any other classified records might exist at the property. The bureau also has tried to identify the person or people “who may have removed or retained classified information without authorization and/or in an unauthorized space,” the affidavit states.
So far the FBI has interviewed a “significant number of civilian witnesses,” according to a Justice Department brief unsealed Friday, and is seeking “further information” from them. The FBI has not identified all “potential criminal confederates nor located all evidence related to its investigation.”
___
WILL ANYONE BE CHARGED?
It’s hard to say at this point. To get a search warrant, federal agents must persuade a judge that probable cause exists to believe there’s evidence of a crime at the location they want to search.
But search warrants aren’t automatic precursors to a criminal prosecution and they certainly don’t signal that charges are imminent.
The laws at issue are felonies that carry prison sentences.
One law, involving the mishandling of national defense information, has been used in recent years in the prosecution of a government contractor who stowed reams of sensitive records at his Maryland home (he was sentenced to nine years in prison) and a National Security Agency employee who transmitted classified information to someone who was not authorized to receive it (the case is pending).
Attorney General Merrick Garland hasn’t revealed his thinking on the matter. Asked last month about Trump in the context of a separate investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, he responded that “no person is above the law.”
___
WHAT HAS TRUMP ARGUED?
Trump, irate over the records investigation, issued a statement Friday saying that he and his team have cooperated with the Justice Department and that his representatives “GAVE THEM MUCH.”
That’s at odds with the portrayal of the Trump team in the affidavit and the fact that the FBI search occurred despite warnings months earlier that the documents were not being properly stored and that there was no safe location for them anywhere in Mar-a-Lago.
A letter made public as part of the affidavit forecasts the arguments the Trump legal team intends to advance as the investigation proceeds. The May 25 letter from lawyer M. Evan Corcoran to Jay Bratt, the head of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence, articulates a robust, expansive view of executive power.
Corcoran asserted that it was a “bedrock principle” that a president has absolute authority to declassify documents — though he doesn’t actually say that Trump did so. He also said the primary law governing the mishandling of classified information doesn’t apply to the president.
The statute that he cited in the letter was not among the ones the affidavit suggests that Justice Department is basing its investigation on. And in a footnote in the affidavit, an FBI agent observed that the law about national defense information does not use the term classified information.
___
WHAT HAS THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION SAID?
The White House has been notably circumspect about the investigation, with officials repeatedly saying they will let the Justice Department do its job.
National security spokesman John Kirby, responding to a question this week about whether the administration would do a damage assessment about the sensitive secrets at Mar-a-Lago, responded that he didn’t want to get ahead of the FBI.
President Joe Biden appeared Friday to mock the idea that Trump could have simply declassified all the documents in his possession, telling reporters, “I just want you to know I’ve declassified everything in the world. I’m president I can do — c’mon!”
He then said he would “let the Justice Department take care of it.”
____
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/2022/08/27/trump-search-what-may-come-next-inquiry-with-legal-peril/ | 2022-08-27T17:01:41Z |
Disturbance halts Wiz Khalifa concert in Indiana, 3 injured
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (AP) — Rapper Wiz Khalifa cut short a concert in suburban Indianapolis as people began fleeing the outdoor venue, leaving three with minor injuries, following a disturbance, police said.
People started exiting the Ruoff Music Center in Noblesville about 10:30 p.m. Friday after a reported disturbance on part of the amphitheater’s lawn, with some of them shouting about a possible shooting, The Indianapolis Star reported.
Police said in a news release early Saturday that no weapon was found following a sweep of the area at the venue about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Indianapolis.
The disturbance happened about 45 minutes into Wiz Khalifa’s show that was part of the Vinyl Verse co-headlining tour with fellow rapper Logic, according to The Indianapolis Star. The music stopped and Wiz Khalifa and his band left the stage immediately.
Three people reported minor injuries and were taken to hospitals for treatment after concertgoers “self-evacuated” the amphitheater, where all exits were opened in accordance with the venue’s emergency procedures, police said.
In a parking lot outside, some audience members were making cellphone calls as others wept and held each other, the newspaper reported.
Live Nation, the concert promotion company that owns and operates Ruoff, released a statement Saturday thanking “staff and local authorities for acting quickly to support everyone in attendance.”
Police did not immediately reply to a message seeking details on the nature of the disturbance.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/27/disturbance-halts-wiz-khalifa-concert-indiana-3-injured/ | 2022-08-27T17:18:43Z |
‘Find of a lifetime’: 8-year-old discovers giant prehistoric shark tooth
(WGAL) - A young archaeologist made quite a find while vacationing with his family.
Riley Gracely, 8, recently unearthed a prehistoric shark tooth when the family stopped by an educational fossil-hunting expedition with Palmetto Fossil Excursions.
The 8-year-old and his family have collected hundreds of shark teeth during their annual trips.
And while the family has found some impressive artifacts in the past, Riley was on the lookout.
“When this year came along, he was thinking, ‘OK, it’s my turn, I got to get something this time,’” said Justin Gracely, Riley’s father.
And he did. Riley said he spotted a fossilized shark tooth stuck in a pile of dirt.
“As soon as I saw it, I was like, ‘I’m going to wait until everybody comes around,” Riley said.
The tooth measured nearly 5 inches, and the family believes the giant tooth is from a pretty large and ancient shark, likely dating back more than 22 million years.
“I think it predates the megalodon. It’s called an angustiden,” Justin Gracely said.
The tooth can be identified by the matching cups on each side and is likely worth around $2,000.
Palmetto Fossil Excursions congratulated Riley on its social media, calling it a “find of a lifetime.”
Riley said he’s not done yet in his fossil excursions, even after such a find.
‘I want to go back to find more big teeth so I can add them to my collection,” Riley said.
Copyright 2022 WGAL via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/27/find-lifetime-8-year-old-discovers-giant-prehistoric-shark-tooth/ | 2022-08-27T17:18:50Z |
Football Friday, August 26th: Part 3
A full slate of games across the Two Virginias
Published: Aug. 27, 2022 at 12:14 PM EDT|Updated: 1 hour ago
(WVVA) - Check out some of the final scores from Week 11 of Football Friday:
Princeton 53 - Lincoln 8
Clay Co. 44 - Midland Trail 22
Point Pleasant 37 - Greenbrier East 7
Greenbrier West 33 - Buffalo Bison 0
Van 36 - Meadow Bridge 6
Oak Hill 17 - Nicholas Co. 7
Richlands 27 - Gate City 13
Woodrow Wilson 31 - Riverside 28
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/27/football-friday-august-26th-part-3/ | 2022-08-27T17:18:56Z |
Trump search: What may come next in inquiry with legal peril
WASHINGTON (AP) — A newly released FBI document helps flesh out the contours of an investigation into classified material at former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate. But plenty of questions remain, especially because half the affidavit, which spelled out the FBI’s rationale for searching the property, was blacked out.
That document, which the FBI submitted so it could get a warrant to search Trump’s winter home, provides new details about the volume and top secret nature of what was retrieved from Mar-a-Lago in January. It shows how Justice Department officials had raised concerns months before the search that closely held government secrets were being illegally stored and before they returned in August with a court-approved warrant and located even more classified records at the property.
It all raises questions whether a crime was committed and, if so, by whom. Answers may not come quickly.
A department official this month described the investigation as in its early stages, suggesting more work is ahead as investigators review the documents they removed and continue interviewing witnesses. At a minimum, the investigation presents a political distraction for Trump as he lays the groundwork for a potential presidential run.
Then there’s the obvious legal peril.
A look at what’s next:
WHAT IS THE FBI INVESTIGATING?
None of the government’s legal filings released so far singles out Trump — or anyone else — as a potential target of the investigation. But the warrant and accompanying affidavit make clear the investigation is active and criminal in nature.
The department is investigating potential violations of multiple laws, including an Espionage Act statute that governs gathering, transmitting or losing national defense information. The other laws deal with the mutilation and removal of records as well as well as the destruction, alteration or falsification of records in federal investigations.
The inquiry began quietly with a referral from the National Archives and Records Administration, which retrieved 15 boxes of records from Mar-a-Lago in January — 14 of which were found to contain classified information. All told, the FBI affidavit said, officials found 184 documents bearing classification markings, including some suggesting they contained information from highly sensitive human sources. Several had what appeared to be Trump’s handwritten notes, the affidavit says.
The FBI has spent months investigating how the documents made their way from the White House to Mar-a-Lago, whether any other classified records might exist at the property. The bureau also has tried to identify the person or people “who may have removed or retained classified information without authorization and/or in an unauthorized space,” the affidavit states.
So far the FBI has interviewed a “significant number of civilian witnesses,” according to a Justice Department brief unsealed Friday, and is seeking “further information” from them. The FBI has not identified all “potential criminal confederates nor located all evidence related to its investigation.”
___
WILL ANYONE BE CHARGED?
It’s hard to say at this point. To get a search warrant, federal agents must persuade a judge that probable cause exists to believe there’s evidence of a crime at the location they want to search.
But search warrants aren’t automatic precursors to a criminal prosecution and they certainly don’t signal that charges are imminent.
The laws at issue are felonies that carry prison sentences.
One law, involving the mishandling of national defense information, has been used in recent years in the prosecution of a government contractor who stowed reams of sensitive records at his Maryland home (he was sentenced to nine years in prison) and a National Security Agency employee who transmitted classified information to someone who was not authorized to receive it (the case is pending).
Attorney General Merrick Garland hasn’t revealed his thinking on the matter. Asked last month about Trump in the context of a separate investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, he responded that “no person is above the law.”
___
WHAT HAS TRUMP ARGUED?
Trump, irate over the records investigation, issued a statement Friday saying that he and his team have cooperated with the Justice Department and that his representatives “GAVE THEM MUCH.”
That’s at odds with the portrayal of the Trump team in the affidavit and the fact that the FBI search occurred despite warnings months earlier that the documents were not being properly stored and that there was no safe location for them anywhere in Mar-a-Lago.
A letter made public as part of the affidavit forecasts the arguments the Trump legal team intends to advance as the investigation proceeds. The May 25 letter from lawyer M. Evan Corcoran to Jay Bratt, the head of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence, articulates a robust, expansive view of executive power.
Corcoran asserted that it was a “bedrock principle” that a president has absolute authority to declassify documents — though he doesn’t actually say that Trump did so. He also said the primary law governing the mishandling of classified information doesn’t apply to the president.
The statute that he cited in the letter was not among the ones the affidavit suggests that Justice Department is basing its investigation on. And in a footnote in the affidavit, an FBI agent observed that the law about national defense information does not use the term classified information.
___
WHAT HAS THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION SAID?
The White House has been notably circumspect about the investigation, with officials repeatedly saying they will let the Justice Department do its job.
National security spokesman John Kirby, responding to a question this week about whether the administration would do a damage assessment about the sensitive secrets at Mar-a-Lago, responded that he didn’t want to get ahead of the FBI.
President Joe Biden appeared Friday to mock the idea that Trump could have simply declassified all the documents in his possession, telling reporters, “I just want you to know I’ve declassified everything in the world. I’m president I can do — c’mon!”
He then said he would “let the Justice Department take care of it.”
____
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/2022/08/27/trump-search-what-may-come-next-inquiry-with-legal-peril/ | 2022-08-27T17:19:03Z |
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